Certified Alistair Theirin Enthusiast @allmightprint BREAKING NEWS: Dragon Age 4 will release on December 32nd 2025 at 09:21:17 PM
ALIX WILTON REGAN @alixwiltonregan Ha ha ha ha….
…. (If only you knew)….!
😳
- Uhh...
This "news" is 10 days early.
John Epler @eplerjc: Having been in this industry for a while, one thing has proven out, time and time again. Success belongs to the team, and failure belongs to leadership. No game is a one-person show, or even close.
I’ve gotten more Witcher 4 news in 2022 than da4. How about something
I don't see it happening, people are vastly more forgiving to CDPR then they are to BioWare so BioWare is going to be a lot more careful with statements they make then CDPR.
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mass Effect Legendary Edition Prime Posts: 19631 Posts: 6,292 Likes: 8,147
Member is Online
I’ve gotten more Witcher 4 news in 2022 than da4. How about something
I don't see it happening, people are vastly more forgiving to CDPR then they are to BioWare so BioWare is going to be a lot more careful with statements they make then CDPR.
Overall, yes, although the statement was more about quantity and not quality of the news. CDRP said basically nothing except that they'll use UE5. The medallion is something but it could be interpreted in a myriads of ways.
Also, while people might be less forgiving towards Bioware, I don't think CDPR is exactly in a good spot right now, overall. Cyberpunk and the whole issues behind it, crunch included, hit them hard.
I don't see it happening, people are vastly more forgiving to CDPR then they are to BioWare so BioWare is going to be a lot more careful with statements they make then CDPR.
Overall, yes, although the statement was more about quantity and not quality of the news. CDRP said basically nothing except that they'll use UE5. The medallion is something but it could be interpreted in a myriads of ways.
Also, while people might be less forgiving towards Bioware, I don't think CDPR is exactly in a good spot right now, overall. Cyberpunk and the whole issues behind it, crunch included, hit them hard.
Fair enough. I think the discourse I have been seeing recently put my opinions into a more negative light.
The interesting part, to me, is that I recalled some tweets from Alix where I got the impression she wasn't involved in the project, at least at that point. It might've been simply my impression, though.
I guess this could mean that the Inquisitor would be back in some form, which wasn't something I would've bet 100% on.
While I think there there's almost no chance of happening, it's also possible that through all the issues in developement and change of the last two years, that they reversed the decision on the protagonist. If the game is going to be released deep in 2023 (at least) having the Inquisitor's VAs already booked *now* could at least mean that their role won't be as little as Hawke was in DAI.
Could be fun having the Inquisitor back in a major supporting role, if so though I'd really like more input about what they say/do - Hawke was mostly in line with how I imagined them, but I know for many others that wasn't the case and there shouldn't be such room for discrepancies with player created characters.
Hm... perhaps, but
I'm of the opinion that the Quizzy's DA:I mission has nothing to do with the upcoming game. In other words, it's not a continuation of DA:I. Rather, a new protagonist will take over and I'm basing this on past DA games. I see no reason other than a cameo, for the Q to show up. While I love to see Cassandra and Leliana as major players, only Varric appears to be a sure thing. Dorian as a Magister is a good bet. Sten as the Arishok and a war with the Quanri is also a good bet. And Baldy? Yeah... he may very well be the main attraction.
(◔‿◔)
___________________
Morpheus: "know what happened happened and that it could not have happened in any other way".
The Inquisitor shows up, but is insta-killed by Solas if you failed to find all of the shards to the Temple of Pride in the Forbidden Oasis.
Well I have to admit that is recorded in the Keep and it would be good to know there was some significance to that quest and being forced to use those terrible occulara. I think, though, that if they are going to kill off the Inquisitor it might be something beyond our control.
Unless Sten comes back so I can pummel his ugly mug into the afterlife I really don't fancy ever seeing that guy again.
Well, I prefer the Arishok in DA2 myself. He at least had more depth whereas taciturn Sten acted like a filler character.
(◔‿◔)
_____________________
No cookies for you!
John Epler @eplerjc: Having been in this industry for a while, one thing has proven out, time and time again. Success belongs to the team, and failure belongs to leadership. No game is a one-person show, or even close.
CD Projekt is switching to UE5 for the next Witcher game from their in house developed REDengine.
REDengine gave the CD Projekt devs all kinds of problems for W2, W3 and Cyberpunk 2077. They had to practically re-build the engine for every new W game including Cyberpunk 2077. Plus, the engines themselves still have problems which gives them additional grief when trying to patch game bugs. Just remember, they have three different REDengines that also need to be maintained.
Why the switch? Cyberpunk 2077 had a rough launch and maybe it was the last straw or the prospect of maintaining four engines.
OK, let's look at Bio and Dice with FB. Oh gee, same/similar problems.
So, should EA/Bio switch to UE5 for DA4? Well, the Witcher series and the Dragon Age series are practically similar. ... swords, bows, armour, magic, crafting, battles, similar background settings (ie: medieval)... etc. I don't see any tech issues that prevent using UE5.
For W4, CD Projekt chose to develop their new game around a technical solution first. EA/Bio, it seems, are doing the same for Mass Effect 5. Maybe, just maybe, Bio did the same for DA4 and maybe...we will get HAIR !!!
(◔‿◔)
__________________________
Morpheus: "know what happened happened and that it could not have happened in any other way".
Looks like a new hero and new school for Witcher. That’s now double the news for Witcher vs da4 in 2022. Also more mass effect talk than da4 (2022 not overall)
Post by Lebanese Dude on Mar 24, 2022 15:26:29 GMT
Mass Effect is the more popular franchise that also got a massive boost from Legendary edition.
It's become quite clear that DA4 is being treated as a sort of relaunch of the DA series. It's being given all the time and leeway to be a successful game to reach a larger audience.
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
CD Projekt is switching to UE5 for the next Witcher game from their in house developed REDengine.
REDengine gave the CD Projekt devs all kinds of problems for W2, W3 and Cyberpunk 2077. They had to practically re-build the engine for every new W game including Cyberpunk 2077. Plus, the engines themselves still have problems which gives them additional grief when trying to patch game bugs. Just remember, they have three different REDengines that also need to be maintained.
Why the switch? Cyberpunk 2077 had a rough launch and maybe it was the last straw or the prospect of maintaining four engines.
OK, let's look at Bio and Dice with FB. Oh gee, same/similar problems.
So, should EA/Bio switch to UE5 for DA4? Well, the Witcher series and the Dragon Age series are practically similar. ... swords, bows, armour, magic, crafting, battles, similar background settings (ie: medieval)... etc. I don't see any tech issues that prevent using UE5.
For W4, CD Projekt chose to develop their new game around a technical solution first. EA/Bio, it seems, are doing the same for Mass Effect 5. Maybe, just maybe, Bio did the same for DA4 and maybe...we will get HAIR !!!
(◔‿◔)
__________________________
They're likely too invested at this point to switch engines. That and - quite frankly - I can easily see such a change at this point in development completely breaking their morale. It would probably lead to a lot of walk-outs as well. While I do hope there's a strong consideration for moving to UE5 with Mass Effect, Frostbite is going to be the defacto engine for Dragon Age for the foreseeable future; in my eyes.
I’m just wondering out loud why is this particular franchise so top secret and it’s been in the works a long time. We got some information 2 years ago and now nothing to show really since then.
Obviously those here it’s a special franchise and as fans we have loyalty but why the shutdown.
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mass Effect Legendary Edition Prime Posts: 19631 Posts: 6,292 Likes: 8,147
Member is Online
I’m just wondering out loud why is this particular franchise so top secret and it’s been in the works a long time. We got some information 2 years ago and now nothing to show really since then.
Obviously those here it’s a special franchise and as fans we have loyalty but why the shutdown.
Because they went through development issues, and likely, a shift in direction towards a more focused SP experience. It’s likely that the shift wasn’t quite smooth. Either that, or the game was/is in serious development hell.
We can’t know for sure because BioWare/EA didn’t publicly confirm anything about the shift, and even if happened (I do think it happened), we don’t know *when* it happened, and we’re unlikely to ever know, unless the game will show some major changes from the teaser shown…which except the protagonist or antagonist changing, it’d be difficult to know.
It's become quite clear that DA4 is being treated as a sort of relaunch of the DA series. It's being given all the time and leeway to be a successful game to reach a larger audience.
Not the feeling I've been getting. It's more like: The higher ups don't want us to do some things because that last game flopped HARD, now we need to restructure the game and we're bleeding talent left and right! Help- uurrghlblrb...
Also that radio silence is fishy.
“Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.” ― Terry Pratchett, Hogfather #istandwithjkrowling
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
So, should EA/Bio switch to UE5 for DA4? Well, the Witcher series and the Dragon Age series are practically similar. ... swords, bows, armour, magic, crafting, battles, similar background settings (ie: medieval)... etc. I don't see any tech issues that prevent using UE5.
Whether or not both have a fantasy setting is much less important than both being action RPGs, though DA have a party based model with some “pause and play” introduces some mechanical differences. “This game engine is bad for this type of game” is usually an oversimplified take though. Game engines are not inherently bad for certain types of games. Rather, think of it as the toolsets provided and architecture having features that make certain types of game features easier to implement. This can be changed by making changes to the engine. For example, Frostbite lacked support for event triggers and so BioWare devs and Frostbite devs worked to add support for those while developing Dragon Age Inquisition. It isn’t that Frostbite is inherently bad for making RPGs, it’s that more upfront work needs to be done to adapt it for the development in process. In theory this work will pay off as future games take advantage of these features.
What’s really going on here though has less to do with “this particular engine is bad” so much as difficulties inherent to maintaining in-house engines versus licensing a 3rd party engine. Maintaining an in-house engine to modern standards is difficult and expensive. Adding new features to accommodate a new type of game you want to make (Cyberpunk) is also difficult and expensive. It also means every new hire needs to learn the engine from scratch because it’s proprietary and nobody else uses it. It may be very good at the particular things you need it to do at least at first and you avoid licensing costs. On the other hand, using a 3rd party engine mains you can draw on the support of engine devs and don’t have to maintain it yourself, all at the expense of licensing costs. It also means new hires may already be familiar with the engine.
CDProject has just reached the same point BioWare did after Dragon Age II. The in-house Eclipse engine was increasingly becoming difficult to maintain and non-viable for the demands of future modern game development. EA’s solution to this sort of problem was to encourage multiple studios to adopt the Frostbite engine. In theory this would allow them to get some of the benefits of an in-house engine, avoiding licensing costs, while having some benefits of a 3rd party. As multiple studios have features developed in Frostbite they can benefit from new developments instead of each studio having to develop them in-house. In practice this was more complicated and didn’t seem to work as well as hoped, but that was the theory.
There is, however, a cost/benefit to moving existing work from one engine to another. In the case of the Witcher, as a new game it’s a no brainer since the trade off is low. They don’t have existing work they are looking to reuse. Take Mass Effect though. When making the Legendary Edition, the devs moved the games to a new engine. Since these were just different versions of the Unreal Engine, this was fairly compatible. However, they could not use the latest version of Unreal Engine since they had dropped support for some animation language (I think that’s what it was) that Mass Effect uses. So a lot of animation work would have presumably had to be redone. Now imagine two entirely unrelated engines: it would take a lot of work and a lot would probably have to be rebuilt from scratch. This is why a Dragon Age remaster is unlikely, the first two games were built in proprietary in-house engines that have no modern version. It would be too much work.
So in terms of Dragon Age 4, if there’s a lot of work already done in Frostbite then switching engines would probably be a massive development setback and not worth it. Maybe a future game.
BioWare Brand Ambassador: 20% off of BioWare merch purchased at the BioWare Gear Store with this code: BWP61E0B (Expires 1/6/2024)
My Gaming Lore Channel (Mostly Dragon Age): See Here
CD Projekt is switching to UE5 for the next Witcher game from their in house developed REDengine.
REDengine gave the CD Projekt devs all kinds of problems for W2, W3 and Cyberpunk 2077. They had to practically re-build the engine for every new W game including Cyberpunk 2077. Plus, the engines themselves still have problems which gives them additional grief when trying to patch game bugs. Just remember, they have three different REDengines that also need to be maintained.
Why the switch? Cyberpunk 2077 had a rough launch and maybe it was the last straw or the prospect of maintaining four engines.
OK, let's look at Bio and Dice with FB. Oh gee, same/similar problems.
So, should EA/Bio switch to UE5 for DA4? Well, the Witcher series and the Dragon Age series are practically similar. ... swords, bows, armour, magic, crafting, battles, similar background settings (ie: medieval)... etc. I don't see any tech issues that prevent using UE5.
For W4, CD Projekt chose to develop their new game around a technical solution first. EA/Bio, it seems, are doing the same for Mass Effect 5. Maybe, just maybe, Bio did the same for DA4 and maybe...we will get HAIR !!!
(◔‿◔)
__________________________
They're likely too invested at this point to switch engines. That and - quite frankly - I can easily see such a change at this point in development completely breaking their morale. It would probably lead to a lot of walk-outs as well. While I do hope there's a strong consideration for moving to UE5 with Mass Effect, Frostbite is going to be the defacto engine for Dragon Age for the foreseeable future; in my eyes.
I can just see the news now if BioWare delays the game again especially for an engine change. It would be three to four years for the next game for they would have to toss the majority of work out the window aside from art assets which they might be able to use again. I am still skeptical about moving Mass Effect just due to it increasing the development time and costs. If the next Mass Effect game is successful enough I can see them considering it again, but I would think banked experience and crossover development would save money if they continue for at least the next game.
Postcards from Thedas 📪 @starfinderjenn omg I just went into the Hanged Man and they did the "HAWKE!!!" thing 😂 #dragonage2
David Gaider @davidgaider I'll take "Somewhat Dated Pop Culture References" for 300, Alex. 😅
After I put "I did it all for the wookiees" into KotOR and made an entire quest in BG2 an ode to the Blair Witch Project, the DA writers started giving me the hairy eyeball whenever this particular madness overtook me.
Every now and again, however, it was too contagious.
Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett ”I like big boats, I cannot lie” was the perfect balance of ‘Oh god’ and ‘Oh god…’
David Gaider @davidgaider I'm pretty sure @sherylchee did that. Maybe even the "Hawke!" thing, too? I was so proud.
Sheryl Chee @sherylchee I did the boats thing but @biomarykirby did the "Hawke!" thing?
Mary Kirby @biomarykirby I did the "Hawke!" thing. It was Chris Corfe's specific request. How could I refuse?
When my level designer comes to me and says, "I have a terrible idea!" My only possible reply can be, "I support this 300%."
Sheryl Chee @sherylchee Oh, yeah! Corfe had some great ideas. Like "Hey, can you put in a line for if someone kisses Blackwall thirty times?" And for Andromeda: "So what if we put a giant cheese wedge in space?"
Mary Kirby @biomarykirby I want to visit the Space Cheese...