Leaks about game direction and pre-alpha (combat and design spoilers)

I'd be okay with coming up with a way into the Eluvians. Preferably not something that uses ancient elven techniques: I'd like to see the hero's team come up with their own different solution.

If that does happen, hopefully the main character and others will figure out a way to trap the elf in some region where he will be stuck for however long.

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I mean Inquisitor should know that from Trespasser,  Especially if they questioned him Solas outright tells Inquistor he controls Eluvians, so putting eluvian into your base is like letting Andres post da 2 into Orlesian Grand Cathedral. Solas clearly has better comprehension of, power and background to utilize Eluvians than anyone from Post-veil Thedas. Even people who studied it quite extensively like Morrigan appear to have rather limited understanding of those and was unaware they could be redirected to the fade as opposed to crossroads and how exactly Kieran (or Flemeth) did it.    

So it's leaning towards Mass Effect in Thedas (combat and gameplay), with Dragon Age story layered over the top.

Makes tactical sense, Mass Effect is commercially bigger and despite annoying some with a more tactical DAO preference, this may well be a crowd pleaser, if not the specific crowd that was pleased before.

And we're nearly 10 years on, this will game will likely be mostly new players.

I'm under the impression that you're unaware of what was discussed with this individual, to whom I specifically replied, as your argument doesn't really pertain to what was discussed with that individual.



By "they" I mean Bioware in relation to their release and development of DAO as a tactical RPG, not an action RPG, which this individual I replied to mentioned in the context of me discussing overall direction bioware intended to take their games. In addition, I'm not sure why you use my usage "they" as a reference to marketing, as I didn't bring up marketing for either of the games (other than perhaps implicitly in referencing at one point the total costs of hypothetical game in relation to the large profit made from selling over 3 million copies by a triple-A producer, which usually will be around 60 dollars per copy, and discussing issues arising from changing genre, in particular to a specific genre). I didn't say anything about the official marketing of DA:D in this discussion. My comments when referencing DA:D and my criticisms of it were either talking about leaks or supposed prior intent to move toward action-oriented games like God of War, and if they were moving into such an industry, talking about massive competition, they would be facing a huge disadvantage as Dragon Age is a franchise outside of that genre with a built-in customer base of specific preferences that attracted them to this specific franchise (as people that preferred ARPGs probably would pick different franchises or games to play). If they enter a specific genre's market with no established franchise or customer base (within that genre) and strong competition from already established franchises, they will be at a significant disadvantage. The only advantage Bioware has over the average developer (and I don't mean average in the triple-A game industry) is that Bioware is a large developer (meaning they have more potential resources and renown than the average developer in the overall gaming industry). However, they don't have much experience in that genre of ARPGs or recognition among that group of players. The last ARPG in a fantasy setting (notable at least) was Jade Empire, which was almost two decades ago. Then there are their two most recent ARPGs but in sci-fi genre, both of which have recently flopped (at least in terms of general reception) and have a bad reputation (I'm talking about ME:A and Anthem).  

Aside from the fact that playing it solely for the story and gameplay would be a bad idea, I (and others) could always just watch it on the internet like a movie. That way, you can avoid the game's negative aspects while still getting something positive out of it, even if you believe it's immoral to do so because you're not paying the developer (which is highly unlikely for many people). You could just buy the game and then watch it, you would still be better off than having to put up with poor game mechanics to get to the story.

That ship technically sailed with Dragon Effect 2 back in 2011. That's how people nicknamed Dragon Age 2 after BioWare started the game marketing on the forum I used to hang out at.

The first two Dragon Age games were TRPGs, with DA 2 introducing a bit more visually dynamic combat than in Dao (which was visually pretty stiff). DAI was hybrid that you could sort of play via tactical interface or just try to hack and slash your way (albeit in terms of effectiveness you would be better off using tactical interface). I could see DAI an attempt to bring it closer to Skyrim than predecessor but still being far cry from dynamic and action driven like Skyrim. Additionally, in Skyrim, level progression focuses solely on PC and can easily be played without a companion, while you don't have any control over the development of a potential companion (which is more of a mule for carrying items or cannon fodder). In DAI (unless you make a solo build), you will need companions, have direct control over them, and some degree of control over how they develop (albeit less than in previous games). Overall Skyrim was more dynamic in combat relying on PC to aim and miss and hit relying on player abilities/reflexes and allow for quick retreats or change of positions for PC. Game also allowed PC to be versatile (master all abilities) which allowed quickly to change approach and for PC to adapt, instead relying on companions to compensate for inadequacies of class you've picked. Not that I was fond of that change in Inquisition (albeit to be fair considering flaws of DA 2 combat such as wave based combat and repetitive enemies, combat in dai was an overall improvement, not that says much).   

Bleh, I wouldn't worry so much about it. DAI despite people claiming that it's been sanitized actually tackled issues such as faith, religion, war, identity, and uncovering the true roots of your past. Sure, there's folks with opinions that are shall we say out there but If anything, the soul of Dragon Age despite each game looking different remains the same.

Agree.

I'd say what kneecaps a lot of it in Inquisition is the presentation; there's a bunch of stuff that's tucked away into notes, letters and codex entries instead of being verbal. An early example in the Hinterlands is the traumatized hunter who killed a templar that was going to rape a badly burnt mage. Because we read it instead of having the traumatized hunter tell us the story, it's subdued. Its effect isn't connected to something human - like it would be if we saw the hunter's reaction while relaying it or just some of it - we are emotionally detached from it. It's horrifying, sure, but it's like us reading something horrible in an article: we think about it for a few minutes and then it's been archived. That's why stories go for pictures, quotes and descriptions - it's not just informative, it's more impactful.

A game works much the same way: a character's face is the picture, their words the quotes/description etc.

I've been re-playing the Dragon Age series in a sort of "remake" run to prepare for DA:D and it's been interesting to see the differences and similarities between DAO and DAI. DAO actually has quite a number of quests that are the same to the way DAI generally does quests. You know, the "click on thing, get quest entry, find thing, click, get quest entry, eventually reward." Of course, nobody really remembers those quests because they aren't memorable. I didn't remember the puzzles or the click-quests in the Broken Circle but I remembered each conversation-encounter, like with the blood mage survivor on the second floor. It's also reinforced to me that they should bring back the "cinematic" style for NPC-Player conversations: I automatically engage with what an NPC is saying when I can "see" their face and they have a body language, even if it's just exposition or a mundane conversation. I remembered the conversation with the Spoiled Princess' owner, even though it's not important at all. It's just a brief conversation about this rando's life that's never going to be relevant and you know that even then. There's so many conversations in the DAI that I do not remember and I talk to every NPC even when I'm on my fourth playthrough. 

Imagine if the Chateau d'Onterre quest in the Emerald Graves wasn't just presented through entries, but had actual cutscenes and (non-companion) dialogue. 

DAI has a ton of dark shit: another example is in Emprise Du Lion where the leader of Sarnia sold a quarry site to the templars and ended up supplying them with her citizens for meager supplies (a consequence of the civil war) because she feared the alternative was everyone dying of either hunger or the templars just deciding to take all of them at once. You fight your way to the old quarry where you find people are being turned into a growing ground for red lyrium. It's all horrying, but the presentation dulls it.