Larian Studios Forums General Chat After Seeing the new Dragon Age Trailer so glad BioWare didn't get to make Bg3

Here's a 27-minute deep-dive into the new gameplay footage release by Obsidian for Avowed. It confirms that we will be able to switch between first and third person perspective at will:
https://news.xbox.com/en-us/podcast/xbox-games-showcase-deep-dive-avowed/

And here's the just-released extended gameplay reveal just released for DA4. Eurogamer is right. BioWare is back. This looks like what DA:O would look like if made in 2024:
https://www.eurogamer.net/whisper-i...nthinkable-it-looks-like-bioware-is-back

Finally! Some real RPGs I can play and enjoy! I am stoked!

My longstanding beef with the Dragon Age franchise is that it gave awesome party control in the form of programable decision trees for each character in Origins, and then successively reduced this ability in each subsequent game. DA2 still had the programable decision trees, but the top down control was nerfed to give it a more action oriented feel.

DA:I restricted the top down even more, to make it feel even more actiony, and eliminated the programming altogether. I absolutely hated that. The mmo grind did not help.

If they make it full action game (like ME2 and onward) then I might be able to play it, but if they stick with the pseudo party controls without actually giving me tactical control of the party then I won't play or buy.

(I would certainly prefer the old DA:Origin style party control, but I do not expect that to be on offer).

This explains so much about your tastes.

Well to each their own. The consensus seems to be - and I agree - is that the party control is nonexistent, the combat is a boring and repetitive laser light show, the dialogue is banal, and the Art direction is hilariously cartoonish - like they are courting pre-teens and their parents.

This isn't surprising, BioWare really hasn't made a decent game since ME2.

I am impressed by how they seem to have taken the worst aspects of every Dragon Age game (except Origins which was basically perfect) and really dialed them up.

I have no doubt that it will sell reasonably well, but I don't see any awards in its future. It doesn't really take any risks and it just recycles other games.

Technically, it looks competent. As of the format, it's pretty much like most cinematic scripted triple-A action/adventure/RPG types that have come out since. This makes sense, as the risk averseness is strong in the bigger budget space. Plus Bioware can't afford to take any risk at this point. They're still entering a market with competition though.

I wish DA fans for something to enjoy again. But personally I am glad that the market has massively opened up again for all kinds of games. When just 10-15 years that wasn't at all the case.

Speaking about DA getting the Mass Effect and action treatment: It's interesting to note that DA2 was actionified already DESPITE Origins actually selling better than Mass Effect (at least the first one). But then David Gaider had pretty much argued already that EA wouldn't care, they'd pick what they think is easier to market and sell and run with that.

Thanks so much for the information about Avowed. First person view literally makes me sick so I'm glad that I'll be able to play the game at all.

As far as DA4 goes, after watching the gameplay video, I'm convinced that it will indeed be a Dragon Age game. (The folks who thought that first trailer was a good idea need a stern talking to.) This old lady will not be able to keep up with that jumpy combat, though, so I hope they will have a Story mode and some other control scheme besides WASD. The combat does look like Inquisition's, and man, that was so hard for me even on easy mode. And I'm ten years older now!

Yeah the acrobatic leaping about and hack'n'slash (mashing?) did nothing for me - From what I read you have very limited control over 'party' members, and the number of actions they can perform is less than previous DA incarnations. Still, I quite liked DA:I except for the grindy MMO bits (esp insane respawns) but this seems to have moved away from the kind of party based RPG's I like. Mass Effect 2/3 were fine for what they were - but why must everything morph into that? I'll see how it turns out, but based on the extended footage, I won't get this in a hurry and certainly not at afull price.

Dragon Age is interesting series of games, where first one was so incredible hit ... so the studio decided to never do anything the same way ever again.
Why you ask? I have no idea, asking the same question for years ... maybe they just dont like money or sucess.

Looking at trailer OP posted ... i had same feeling as many other people, that this was just some skins upcoming for Fortnite ... zero interest, maybe even worse.

Looking at gameplay reveal we got yesterday ... well, its 100% not Fortnite, thats good i gues ... but it felt like hybryd between DA-II. aka, the worse one of series and DA-Inq. aka, the most annoying of series.

I keep saying this for years and will keep to saying it on ... all 3 Dragon Age games were awesome ... Origins, Awakening, and Witch Hunt!

Yay for third person!!!!!! I haven’t been following Avowed because I thought it was first person only. Will check it out and see if it is something I would like!

"Consensus." Sure. LOL

I'm with you on jumping around, as I strictly play with mouse and keyboard and have zero controller experience. But from what I can gather, those are animations. The player simply gives their command to their character, and based on the action chosen the game puts in the appropriate animation. So the player isn't necessarily jumping around.
Also, based on interview material, the player does get a lot of control over the party members during combat, and can issue orders to them. Or else, have the AI run them. It's our choice. But they didn't show this feature in the trailer because it's a trailer. Party size though is now down to two companions instead of three, which I'm not happy about.

That's good. I hope future gameplay videos will go into more detail about how the combat works.

As far as only having two companions, well, let's just say that none of them really excite me besides possibly Lucanis. And I sure hope he doesn't act as gay as Astarion.

Just watch, I am betting they either totally removed the desire demons or they massively re-designed them to make them more 'sanitized'. Just going by how they re-skinned everything else so far to make it more generic.

I mean you have to know that bare nipples are clearly going to upset the parents of the pre-teen children that this game is marketed towards.

It also looks like they simplified combat to make it more repetitive for players. A max of three skills/spells are available in combat, and you don't have direct control of the rest of your party.

My prediction:
Fanboys will buy it, and then it will be forgotten, because it's not anything special. No awards. it won't be a cult classic, and in a year after playing it most people won't even be able to remember what it was about because it's so shallow that it won't leave an impression on anyone.

There's so much neon piping, it looked a bit like Cyberpunk

@Liarie Judging by the appearance he made in one of the short stories of Tevinter Nights, Lucanis doesn't strike me as flamboyant like that, no. The press release describes him as a poised and pragmatic Antivan Crow.

As for the rest, I liked the gameplay reveal. But I play mostly for the story, and what I like the most in the continuation of that franchise is the story, and as long as the rest is nice enough, well. In passing, they confirmed there would be nudity, at least in the romance, so... I played the previous games multiple times, and I enjoyed them all for what they were. Not that I can't understand that some are disappointed or why. I'll still be happy to play it, see what it's like. It doesn't have to appeal to everyone and be held on a pedestal to matter to me specifically. Hell, some things that are supposed to be the pinnacle of whatever elude me completely. But that's the nice thing, we can have different things for different tastes.

Yeah, I just put that book on my Kindle since for some reason I missed it when it released. Also he's featured in "The Wake", which I'll read after the book.

I also play Dragon Age games just for the stories and characters, even going so far as to turn on AI for every single party member including myself just to get the combat over with. My most complete trilogy playthrough I call "Mages Love Templars", and you can probably figure out who romanced who. Back when Origins came out I played a Dalish archer with a Lae'zellian attitude who romanced Zevran. I may have to play through DA2 and Inquisition just to set up that world state in preparation for Veilguard. (Unlike many, I really like DA2. Sarcastic Garrett Hawke FTW.) I know I can just set it up on the Keep, but it would be nice to have the history fresh in my mind.

There's also one short story with Neve in that book, also one with Emmrich.

Yeah, my first trilogy playthrough was along those lines too, mages and templars. I also loved my rogue shenanigans one, and the elven lore one. Which I can see fitting with some of the factions we can choose at the start (among the 6 shared by the companions, minus Harding), to stay in flavour.

I love Dragon Age 2. Sarcastic Hawke, the different setting with the companions, which gives me more friends and family vibes.

Just for info, the Keep won't be used for that one, there will apparently be a way to set everything important at the start within the game.

I'm interested by Emmrich, looking forward to meeting him.

General impressions, even after the gameplay reveal: ehhhh. I'll play it and enjoy it anyway, I'm sure, but the aesthetic of the whole place being some overloaded steampunk overwatch copy doesn't convince me. It, to me, looks ugly. Most if not all of the outfit designs are... a choice. I love V Rising, but the DATV clothes remind me of an even worse version of their armor sets, which I already don't love.

@jinetmoranco Yeah, I guess I can kind of see what you mean, at least understand the steampunk (cyberpunk for others) thing. It starts in Minrathous, the capital of the Tevinter Emperium, though, so I'm willing to see how it goes, given the context. And to see the rest, other places outside Tevinter. Maybe it's just me being too nice, but I don't really mind if well done and incorporated, with the style's specifics.

In general, I also guess it depends of one's references too. I never played Overwatch, Fortnite, V Rising, for example. I'd have to google it all to understand what people saw. Again, not a big fan of Marvel movies (my only foray into related media has been old X-Men comics) and what not, since I saw those mentioned too in places.

When I watched the trailer, I saw a punchy introductions of the companions (factions and places too), some of whom I was already familiar with through other things in the franchise. And the Heroes song, which, yeah, but that still has nuances in lyrics and meaning that worked for me. I love the artwork at the end, and for some reason it reminds me of some others from the movie Dark Crystal, with a tiny pinch of Discworld (mostly for the tone, in Emmrich and is skeletal factotum). Same for Minrathous by night in the gameplay reveal, not that much of a problem for me. But, like I said, I can understand that it's my own take, and it's not the same for everyone. And, of course, Larian's style was better suited to Baldur's Gate than what Bioware has turned to.

I must say, that I do like the premisse and the setting of DAV. I'm also happy, that you can choose your faction and not be forced to play a religious figure like in the last game. I really dig the veil jumpers and the Lords of Fortune.
I find some of the companion reveals interesting and no matter if I play the game or not, I will read Tevinter Nights and The Missing.
As for the gameplay trailer: I liked the grittier darker look, but disliked what I saw from the combat. I heard, that most devs came from ME and that was a game trilogy, I never finished, because I didn't really like the combat system.
I really hope, they don't plan on Varric getting sacrificed in that prologue. If he dies, I'm not buying the game. I had too many books, movies, games, where my favourite character died and I don't want to see it in one of my favourite gaming fandoms. I don't care, if it makes for good storytelling, leave Varric alone.

Baseline is, that back in the days, I would have preordered the game blindly, but sadly, Bioware doesn't have that bonus anymore with me. I wasn't a huge fan of DAI either and was really mad, that the ending was in a DLC, you had to buy. But mostly I disliked the empty world and the fact, you have to team up with the Andraste church, which is too close for comfort with our christian church (nodisrespect, but I'm not a huge fan of religions, but I can get on board with fantasy religions like in DnD or the elven pantheon in DA). So I will wait and see, what reviewers have to say.

In all honesty, I'm not a big fan of religion either, for myself. And I quite agree with the Herald thing and those other things about Inquisition.

Apparently there are rumors that there will be more videos, for the combat for example. All I've seen in addition about it for the moment is this : https://www.rpgsite.net/interview/1...rees-being-inspired-by-final-fantasy-xii

And the world supposedly won't be open the same way it was in Inquisition : https://www.gamespot.com/articles/b...eilguard-is-not-open-world/1100-6524197/

So yeah, we'll see.