Dragon Age III: Inquisition

[Boss Llama]

We've known it was somewhere in the pipe for a while, but BioWare has now officially announced that DA3 will be coming out, called Dragon Age III: Inquisition.

I'm a bit nervous about this.

Dragon Age: Origins is, in my mind, the best computer RPG ever made, as well as one of the best games ever, of any type. It has depth, development, flavor, replayability, and choice. The endings, without spoiling anything, can range from you being dead to you being king, and most places in between, entirely dependant on your personal choices and actions. It begins to feel like it's you, the player, who are actually in the game, and despite nearly 500 hours played in single player, starting from every possible combination of backgrounds, there are still things I haven't done and dialogues I haven't pursued, because I can't bring myself to be that evil/rude/uncaring/immoral, despite it just being a game. You have precise control over your group at every moment, and combat follows logical progressions based on strategy and tactics. I love that.

Dragon Age II is a horrifyingly bad experience, that goes backwards in every conceivable way. It's not just that it didn't live up to expectations - it's that they completely ignored everything that their fan base liked in the first game, and then stomped on the players' faces just for good measure. It's repetitive, makes no sense, combat is a pointless farce, tactics are meaningless, you have almost no control over your party, and you're railroaded through so-called plot-points without so much as a how-do-you-do. It isn't a matter of not improving - that would be fine. I love DA:O's system and would have been delighted if DA2 was pretty much just the same thing in a different place. It's a matter of actively (and in some cases intentionally) going backwards on nearly everything. It's one of the least enjoyable RPGs I've ever played.

Dragon Age III... it could be amazing, it could be terrible, most likely it'll be somewhere in between. I have some hope that they've been listening to their fans, and will actually put the "role" back in role playing game, instead of treating it like a console-based fighter. Their presentation at PAX East certainly honed in on the major problems with 2 - hopefully they continue to focus on those, and are able to keep their dirtbag publisher from forcing another half-baked trash release. I've been on boycott against anything EA has had a hand in ever since the DA2 debacle, and will continue until the player reviews come in on DA3. If things are better, I'll end it and give it a try. I hope it's a good one!

[Jesus_Faction]

I don't have high hopes for it after what they did with 2

[BigBiker05]

Looking at Mass Effect, 1 was amazing, 2 was crap, 3 was a bit better then they threw it all away in DLCs.

Bioware and EA have screwed me over more times than I'd like to admit. If I took my car to a bad mechanic I wouldn't go back no matter the promises. Why have I caved in to Bioware and EA so many times? Enough is enough, I will never pay for a product again with either names on it.

[bz]

As much as I will try not to be hopeful for this. I won't be able to help myself. I adored DA:O. There was so much I wanted to like about DAII, the same greatness was there, it was just buried under so much garbage. It was just such a slap in the face to the original.

There's an acute analogy to be made here about addiction. It doesn't matter, I'll end up looking forward to this as much as every other BioWare game. And I'll be awaiting the almost surely inevitable, crushing disappointment.

[Cpt._Keyes]

exactly what bz said...I loved DA:O I convinced myself I loved DA2...but I knew I didnt...alas...I will probably convince myself I love DA3

[Clay Pigeon]

The EAification of bioware is complete. Don't get your hopes up.

[Earthworm James]

Same thing happened with warhammer online, EA FTL!

[majine3765]

I share the concern. DA:O was one of the most engaging games I had played in quite a while . However DA:2 I couldn't wait for it to be over. Sadly I will admit despite my reservations on is DA:3 will be any good or not I will still purchase it in hopes it will be comparable to origins.

As far as ME series... I remain neutral to the comments as I both enjoyed and despised the series.

[Clay Pigeon]

I didn't buy ME3 because it's origin exclusive. I won't be picking up DA3 if it is origin exclusive. I hope EA ends up like THQ.

[Boss Llama]

I won't be picking up DA3 if it is origin exclusive. I hope EA ends up like THQ.

Yeah... that sounds about right.

[ShiftyDevil]

First DA was awesome, second was garbage. ME3, garbage, no faith in fake Bioware, will not buy.

[l33tOMGlolz!11!shift]

Yup BioWare is no longer what it once was.

Anyway anything EA or Ubisoft is on my no-buy list. EA for the Origin thing and Ubisoft because of their DRM. I got kicked out of heroes of m&m 6 numerous times because it couldn't contact their DRM server in the middle of a game. I uninstalled it and stopped playing. SUPPOSEDLY they are not doing that anymore but I haven't seen conclusive info one way or the other.