Something I really hope the next mass effect game or dragon age game takes from bethesda is..

But weren't the mods made by fans?

AskAGameDev has a pretty lengthy post about game mods, I would recommend giving it a read to why developers might not want to go down that route anymore. AskAGameDev talks about mods


Now with that out of the way my opinions of the subject. Unless a developer or publisher are going to go to the effort of not having third party software in their game engine I cannot see those developers or publishers allows mods in their games. The reason why Bethesda still has mods for their games is their game engine is out of date, I would even say its probably older then many of their players and with each new game they are just slapping more code on top of old code to get the new and old features to work. Frostbite was not designed in any way for mods to be part of the experience from using third party software to using a client server network structure (non-tech speak: you need a centralized computer for all computers to access to make content). Everything I have read it could take years before Frostbite had a true mod set that players could use and then they would have to make sure it works for players and keep it updated for them.

Its a lot of work to allow mods and Bethesda can get around it for if I recall correctly their developers pretty much use the same mod tools that they give to players. With all the problems BioWare has had getting games themselves ready for shipping adding mods just adds more work that probably only a portion of their playerbase and then BioWare needs to weigh the pros and cons to see where the development time is best spent.

Edit: The other thing is BioWare cannot make a menu system to save their life, its been one of the biggest problems I have with their game is the user experience and its just clumsy and awkward to use.  They would need to get a handle of that first.

Well theres FrostyModManager which is super easy to use though.. unpack files, run it, choose mods and run the game. Used it with both DAI and MEA.

I've not updated my version of Fallout 4 since around 2017 for precisely that reason. I disabled all auto updates, and just left the game as it was, using the Script Extender shortcut to launch the game. Every time the game updates it breaks the Script Extender and all the mods that rely upon it, meaning you have to laboriously muck around waiting for, and then installing the newest version of SC, and more often than not updating all your mods too.. and the only purpose of those game updates is to add more stuff to their silly Creation Club - which almost entirely consists of skins, more skins and nothing but skins.

Mods. Definitely mods.

The more mods the better as far as I'm concerned. They massively extend the life of the game, and allow me to tailor the experience precisely according to my needs, while at the same time fixing all kinds of issues and flaws (on Caveat that what may be a 'flaw' for jill is 'gameplay working as intended for Jack').

As far as I'm concerned Dragon Age Origins is, near as damnit, the closest thing to a perfect videogame I've ever experienced on all my years abiding upon Earth. If I was to bend my brain in attempts to nitpick things to criticise about it I'd say:


- The lack of options to respec characters and party members is a problem, given that most of the parrty members' default builds are less than optimal.

- There's still one of two bugs.

- Some of the spell effects can be annoying or distracting (i.e constant 'boom' sound from Warrior's Rally ability, over the top visuals on rock armor etc.)

- Some of the textures are a bit drab in certain areas.



The respec issue has been fixed with mods, such as the aptly-named 'Respec Mod'.
The bugs are fixed in the unofficial patches.
Annoying spell effects are removed entirely via mods.
The game's somewhat dated visuals are brought up to date by a combination of high resolution texture packs, new light maps, ENB presets etc. etc. making the game look surprisingly decent, even now in 2020.

Mod support for video games is such a massive boon, and allowing it opens up a world of possibilities.

Skyrim is another example - a game with absolutely full mod support. With mods I can tailor my entire Skyrim roleplay expoerience to a form of my own choosing; completely discarding the vanilla plot in vavour of an entirely custom experience. If I so choose I can, with the help of mods, have a character who is not a hero, not the Dragonborn, but simply plays as a lowly hunter in the wilderness with no magic or combat skills, save some basic archery, who brings his wares into town to sell on a small fleamarket..... at the other extreme I can become High King of Skyrim.