Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General "Gaming's moved on from Neverwinter Nights...

DO:S still doesn't compete with Bioware's games, financially. Game quality you could argue but I honestly don't think it holds a candle to ME2/3 or Dragon Age: Origins and Inquisition will probably be the same story.

EA is your typical large publisher that wants to target the largest demographic group(s) they can for low risk. You're not going to see them go after nostalgic older gamers. That doesn't mean Bioware can't put out good RPGs, but they're not going to go for a more niche style.

Whether you agree with EA/Bioware's approach or not, Bioware fans should just be aware being under EA comes with certain changes. All game companies want to make money of course, but there are different levels of sacrifices they make when it comes to artistic integrity or creative freedoms. EA clearly does not care about those things, and while Bioware probably still does they're going to be somewhat limited by EA.

However, to be fair, having more resources/bigger budgets allows them some other advantages that are considerable. The Mass Effect games you could really feel the difference that big budget made - even if it wasn't used as well as possible the polish and smooth feeling combat was something few games match.

DA2 was a disgrace, an obvious rushed cash grab, but ME3 wasn't that bad, other than the stupid ending any DLC debacles. Still the best combat system Bioware has ever pulled off in any game. Their old DnD based games were good too, but in a different way and not very original.

Mass Effect 1 was made before Bioware merged with EA (and Dragon Age Origins was only a few months from release).

A self-owned developer can find whatever balance between profitability and artistic quality it likes (as long as it stays in business, obviously).

It could be said that EA and other large publishers don't care about quality, but it's actually more accurate to say that they CAN'T care about it.

They answer to their investors who want the biggest margins possible and don't (usually) care about artistic quality, especially if it comes at the expense of better profits. Likewise, risks - such as trying new things or innovating on existing genres - are to be avoided at all costs, because investors don't want the company to be gambling with their money. And when it comes down to it, investors tend to get antsy about anything other than big projects with big returns because small projects that return a small profit still tend to drive share prices down, and you know how well investors take to that.

While yes, EA has also undertaken a number of boneheaded policies that have made things worse than they have to be, they - and every other big publisher - can't really escape that underlying problem no matter how well intentioned they might actually be. This isn't limited to the computer game market either; it affects tabletop games (including tabletop RPGs) just as much.

I'm trying to leave my personal thoughts out of it and going in general gaming base. Most would say Daggerwhat as that game is super old now. But it also wasn't a comparison between any game, other than Skyrim is beloved, meaning there are a lot of happy players of that game.

For a couple other responses about DA:I not being open-world, I will go back and catch some movies I may have missed. It looked fairly open to me, one mentioned maybe closer to Witcher than Skyrim, perhaps. Witcher another beloved series so that is high praise still. The deal with me is this is a much more open game than any Bioware game prior and I'm excited to see what they do with a world class engine vs one that was behind the curve. I'm not holding this game to be some type of turn-based phenom, that said it can be paused into a TB game where even Skyrim or Witcher cannot do that at all.

D:OS and DA:I to me are very different. I am seeing it more in the Skyrim/Witcher/Risen area, it will have great production values, it does have the AI scripting which if one uses it, to me it is great and no other game has that. I don't get that caught up in game names and treat each individually for the most part. That I do surrender perhaps is against the grain, people really do get hung up on names. I wasn't a large fan of DA:O, it was shallow for a TB style game for me and I hated the constant loads, lost tons of immersion and had no sense of adventure.

Hmm? DA:O wasn't TB, it was RT/P.

Exactly people will say "Daggerwhat". It still doesn't give my comment any less legitimacy since people don't know any better. In comparison to the earlier games in the series I think, and still stand by the statement, that the game has an identity issue.

The whole subject matter is really just my disappointment with Bioware really. Maybe DA:I will be a good game but if they want the game to be "like Skyrim" then I will play Skyrim.

I dont see why Bioware has to aim fairly low and why they aren't confident enough to set their own path.

I know, but if you paused at every action which many pc gamers enjoyed, it was pseudo turn based, which I am referring. It sucks that I have to type sentence after sentence to describe the style clearly, but in general if you used pause a lot one was going for that pseudo turn base gameplay which I refer to.

To me it was a huge win when D:OS stated it would be true turn, I actually look down largely on pause based gaming, it is a master of none choice. D:OS is way deeper vs any Dragon Age game when it comes to stopping/tb action. I thought DA:O was perhaps an ok first attempt less the horrid engine, but no where as grand as many hoist it.

Ok I'll give you that you like DF better than Skyrim, that doesn't change that Skyrim is a beloved game and that is all that I referenced in my point.

Of course Obsidian didn't just make KOTOR2 but also NWN2, so yeah... it doesn't apply to BioWare.

Personally, I can't care less for DA:I. It's dead to me... I'll see what happens, but I seriously don't pay attention to it. Release date? I don't know.
So many good RPG series are going to waste.
The Witcher was good. Twitcher was starting to get somewhat dubious... and now they want to make it open-world too? TW3 is now dead to me as well.
So little remains, just the Kickstarter games. And I have little faith in InXile so that scraps Wasteland 2 and Torment (till they prove they can actually make them proper).

True, I didn't have faith in D:OS either (turnbased? Co-op gameplay?) but of course it blew me out of the water, so we'll just see if any of those other games also surprise me by actually being really good despite my fears.
The only one I really look forward to is Pillars of Eternity... and sadly it seems Obsidian got into rough times as it's working on 2 MMO's (the horror, the horror) aside .
Dark times for RPG lovers, but hopefully soon there will be plenty of light to brighten it up...