Dragon Age 4 Release Date and 10 Exciting Things About It

That link goes right back to this page. I just want the next game to be well written and have likable characters and lots of dialougue

I don't really view it as exciting. Any other deicision would seem brainless.

After it was announced that all the multiplayer and 'live service' bollocks were to be removed completely my feelings about the forthcoming game went from 'mostly indifferent' to 'mildly interested'.

I'm pretty sure that the original plan, following the cancellation of 'Joplin', (which was based on the very interesting concept of a heist-based games set in Tevinter) was to pretty-much make a clone of Anthem set in Thedas which would basically have been an online looter shooter featuring horde mode battles. Thank God that's no longer the case!

There's still plenty of scope to completely mess up the game, so many things that could go wrong. They could decide to stick with the semi-open world format and make another game stuffed to the brim with tedious fetch quests and collectibles. They could completely mess up the combat (as they did with Inquisition) and make a game with completely flat, boring mechanics, limited scope for strategy and tactics. They could completely screw up the story, fill it with senseless retcons, plot holes, abandon existing canon... all kinds of nasty things. They could create a game in which choices don't matter and players are simply railroaded into doing things their characters wouldn't want to do.... the list for potential disasters is endless, and we all know that this version of Bioware is not the same Bioware who made Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect and Dragon Age Origins - thus the potential for screw-ups rises exponentially as more of the old crew leave the company, and the more they focus upon 'broadening the game's appeal', rather than on 'making a great RPG'.

In short, despite the welcome removal of online and live service elements, we might still potentially end up with a shallow, dumbed down looter shooter designed to appeal mostly to the Call of Duty/Assassin's Creed crowd.

... but....

Assuming they actually get it right, what I'd expect to see (to satisfy my wish for a deep, story/character-focused RPG) is:

- Ditch the open world thing entirely in favour of a tight, semi-linear story-orientated experience.

- For the love of God, bring back the customisable tactics. Have spell and talent trees with rich, interesting spells and abilities to select from. Inquisition's spell and talents were (to me at least) just something to click when levelling up, few of them were very interesting, whereas DA:O and DA:2's spells and talents were fascinating, to the extent that I couldn't wait to level up and get a chance to try them out after carefully planning my build.

- For mercy's sake, ditch the eight-spell restriction on the hotbar! That utterly, utterly sucked. In many ways I think it was the worst part of Inquisition, and actually came close to ruining the game entirely for me.

- Bring back healing magic! Spirit Healing is a canonical part of Thedas' lore. Removing it entirely was ridiculous, and it's replacement (potion spam) was not only dumb, but severely limited my ability to explore the world. What's the point in having a vast, explorable world when I have only eight potions to share between four characters, and so we have to constantly go back to base to stock up - it was like a case of constant 'two steps forward, three steps back'. OK it was better in the late game when I had the tools to properly mitigate damage, but even so...

- Keep the deep crafting system, that was one thing I actually liked.

- Try to make plot elements and quest make both literal and mechanical sense whenever possible. OK, you can't always do this, sometimes videogame mechanics need to trump 'real life' mechanics, but not always. Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts is a classic example. A fascinating idea trashed by the fact that it's outcome relied upon finding a bunch of stupid Halla statues and rushing through plot areas at breakneck speed thanks to a damnable timer based upon the baffling concept of 'approval' if you stay away from the main ballroom for too long. It made zero sense. Instead it could have been based entirely upon how cleverly your character reacted to the plot, the questions you asked, the manner in which you resolved situations, your willingness to investigate... In short they took a potentially very interesting scenario and ruined it by making it 'videogamey', rather than RPG-focused.

- Side quests and missions with actual meaning that properly tie into the main plot, and have actual consequences. "I left my socks in a tower, go fetch them"... "thanks for my socks, here's some gold coins". I don't mind this kind of thing now and again. If a major quest sends me to this tower then fair enough, having an NPC get me to look out for something as an optional fetch quest is fine, but making an entire game around this kind of thing just doesn't cut it.

Want to know what the best kinds of side quests are? Ones that take you by surprise, and turn into something much bigger than you initially expected. Mass Effect 1 did this beautifully with the whole Cerberus chain that started as a simple 'find missing colonists', and then blossomed out into a full-on side plot about a rogue black ops organisation with multiple missions.

Imagine the guy asking you to find his socks in a tower, only for the same guy to be revealed as a major lore character - the socks were simply an excuse to enter the tower, there's a note embedded in one of the socks, which leads to a revelation that Sock Guy is actually a Grand Poobah, who is plotting to overthrow a powerful Magister, leading to you infiltrating the Magister's home.....etc. etc. etc.... all of which impacts the main story in a meaningful way as the Magister you chose to assassinate was actually a potential ally against the game's Big Bad, who could have aided you with vital information and resources... etc. etc....

Those kind of 'unexpected, surprise' sub-quests are brilliant when they occur. You could actually miss them entirely if not paying attention, but it rewards those who are prepared to explore, investigate and put the work in.

And I've rambled long enough.

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Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5

Open worlds dilute potential.

"After it was announced that all the multiplayer "

Exact opposite for me, with no mp it goes from a day one or pre order to wait an see some reviews. I'll undoubtably get it but my enthusiasm for it being a well worth it long term buy is much lessened.

GTA, Elder Scrolls, Red Dead Redemption 2, and If it really does well: Halo Infinite. There's a ton of Open World games that are really good or have the potential to be really good.

Though I do prefer Witcher 2 as well.

Lol, they're hardly empty open worlds especially GTA and Elder Scrolls. Halo got something interesting combining open world with its roots though. Could end up in a class of its own.

I really just can't stand any of them just my feelings on the matter.

TES and Bethesda's RPGs I find particularly without any merit to me.

I enjoyed quite a bit of Inquisition, but then it kept on going, and a lot of the stuff from prior entries I loved's just... gone completely, like having access to every feat, amongst others.

So I definitely think it can work for Dragon Age, just not quite nailed it yet, but I really hope it will.

I want nothing more than to launch a complete Dragon Age 4 in 2024, and say, yes it's the best one yet.