@Liarie and @KlarissA, I agree with you both. I also love the DA franchise (as well the PoE, Pathfinder, and Witcher franchises) for the stories, characters, and world. And no matter what else is said about BioWare, their storytelling and character/world building have always been excellent as far as I am concerned. In all the RPGs I love, combat has always been something I viewed as that thing I had to tolerate in order to enjoy all the other things about RPGs I love so very much. And while turn-based combat is the worst, real-time combat, especially of the hack and slash variety, is not that much better. So with both Avowed and DA4, it is based on my expectations about storytelling, character development, and world building that I am so very excited for those games.
I would agree with you on the older Bioware games, but DAI did seriously put me off. I couldn't get myself to get engaged in that game. I played it twice (with the other games I have well over 15 playthroughs under my belt) - and that only to really understand the lore behind Fen'Harel and everything. I did like some of the companions, but the world seemed dead.
As for Mass Effect: I think there are a lot of elements from Babylon 5 in it (which is good in my book - Babylon 5 is the best scifi show and I die on that hill), but the combat was too shootery for me - and I tried all classes. I finally gave up mid through game 2.
I heard terrible things about Anthem, but granted, I have never played it, since the premisse didn't interest me.
I will make a decision about DAV, when it was reviewed - I'm a bit on teh fence, similar to you with BG3, well, maybe a bit more positive, since I still hope, the game could be up my alley. But then, it is EA and I don't have faith in them.
Edit: Varric is among my favourite alltime game characters alongside Jaheira, Beckett, Gary Golden (both from Vampire Bloodlines), Isabela and Karlach. SO him dying would be a deal breaker for me.
