PS3 News: BioWare On Dragon Age III: Decisions, Freshness, And Equipment - PS3 News

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BioWare On Dragon Age III: Decisions, Freshness, And Equipment

Some role-playing fans didn't like the direction Dragon Age II took, and BioWare plans to address those complaints in the upcoming third installment.

Creative Director Mike Laidlaw revealed a bunch of new ideas the team has for Dragon Age III and first and foremost, they don't plan to reuse the levels. They did so in DAII and it didn't go over well. BioWare will instead seek variety with the locations and environments, which is probably music to any RPG fan's ears.

Furthermore, Laidlaw said decisions will matter this time around and in the end, they want to deliver a "game you want to play and the world you want." Lastly - and thank goodness for this - we'll finally be able to equip our companions with equipment. This was by far the strangest omission from DAII; you could only equip your allies with full armor sets (four for each character in the game) and a weapon, but that's it. No individual pieces like boots or gloves. Only the main character could equip all that. ...decidedly weird.

But anyway, here's hoping DAIII is everything we want it to be. Just be careful with that promise of decision-making, BioWare...you now know where that can lead...

Tags: dragon age 3, dragon age iii, dragon age sequel, bioware

4/12/2012 9:36:19 PM John Shepard

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Comments (15 posts)

bebestorm
Thursday, April 12, 2012 @ 9:59:49 PM
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Sounds promising but no mention of gameplay I really disliked the hacknslash in DA2

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maxpontiac
Thursday, April 12, 2012 @ 10:45:40 PM

There was an option to make the game like DA1 if I remember correctly.

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maxpontiac
Thursday, April 12, 2012 @ 10:44:35 PM
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I had great fun with both the Dragon Age games, so I am sure DA3 will be good to me.

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LowKey
Friday, April 13, 2012 @ 2:05:32 AM
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I am actually on DA 2 as we speak, and I enjoy the hack n slash aspect. gives it a baulders gate dark alliance 2 feel. That being said, The issues mentioned do need to be fixed. also I would like a more adventury type of game. no more map travel. And let me go to Fereldin, the free marches, even the Uncharted southern Icy wastes and The grey warden HQ. I felt rather trapped and confined in both games. DAO was far better with equipment. And equipment making would make it that much better. DA2 is mediocre at best. The story and history through the codex is amazing. I have an imagination but I know I could never come close to that level of story telling. Here is hoping for the Third DA to knock me off my chair like dao did.

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Beamboom
Friday, April 13, 2012 @ 3:56:57 AM
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They actually explained why they did make the companions non-equipable at the PAX conference (video clip in the news thread in the PSXE forums): It's cause they wanted to make the characters more recognizable and identifiable. They then asked the entire first row at the conference to stand up and face the crowd: It was cosplayers who all were dressed as one of the characters in the recent BioWare rpgs.

But with DA3 they have merged the wish to keep individual styles of the characters with the fans wish for customization. So in DA3 you can equip your companions, but the appearance of the different armor pieces will vary slightly depending on who you put them on, so a mage will not look like a warrior if you put on heavy armor.

On the other hand, we will now be able to choose color and even "material", whatever that means in practice.

Last edited by Beamboom on 4/13/2012 4:11:14 AM

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Crabba
Friday, April 13, 2012 @ 5:21:30 AM

There's a really easy solution to that. A lot of RPG's have character-type restricted armor, then you still get both the individual look and the customization.

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Crabba
Friday, April 13, 2012 @ 5:23:06 AM

This sounds good in theory at least, as long as they keep the core RPG gameplay of DAO...

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Beamboom
Friday, April 13, 2012 @ 7:09:05 AM

Yeah that works well for those kind of RPGs where the party members are more anonymous, and not so clearly defined personalities as in the Bioware RPGs. Typically even within the different classes the various armor sets tend to look very different, and that's what BioWare wanted to avoid.

Like Morrigan in DA:O, and her signature look. If you took off her shirt and replaced with another type of mage armor she looked just like any other mage. She lost her identity. That's what they want to avoid.

With the plans they got for DA3 the storyline characters will maintain their distinct overall "design style" regardless of what armor you put on them. The different armor will still look different from each other, just never breaking from the design decisions for that character. It's easier seen than explained, but I think this might work. We'll see!


Last edited by Beamboom on 4/13/2012 7:21:28 AM

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Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Friday, April 13, 2012 @ 10:12:01 AM

I'm not going with that at all. What a character wears doesn't define his or her personality in a game, and if there's enough character development going on, such cosmetic stuff won't even be noticed.

It's not like you can change the character's actual appearance; i.e., facial features, body type, etc. Just being able to equip an ally the same way you would equip any party member in a fantasy quest wouldn't strip them of personality. I'm sorry, but that's just a dodge...BioWare effed that up.

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Beamboom
Friday, April 13, 2012 @ 12:16:33 PM

No doubt it was a mistake. I thought it was a bug the first time I discovered it. And I think they too admit it was a mistake.

But with "personality" I don't mean the characters performance in cutscenes and dialogues and so on, but maybe "visual presence" is a better choice of words... You know, something that makes the character recognizable on posters and cosplay and on the battle field ingame and so forth. You know... Visually recognizable. That's what they were after and I can understand that goal.

But Bioware explained this much better than I will ever be able to. The video is at the forum news thread, skip to around half way through and onwards. There they demonstrate how they chose to solve it in da3 too.

Last edited by Beamboom on 4/13/2012 12:23:38 PM

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Fane1024
Saturday, April 14, 2012 @ 3:01:25 AM

Ben,

Think of it this way: DA2 characters were not allowed to have freely interchangeable armor for the same reason most JRPG characters don't show changes in their appearance when they wear different armor. Their appearance is part of the character design.

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___________
Friday, April 13, 2012 @ 6:02:53 AM
Reply

sure sure.
sorry bioware but you lost all your credibility with ME3!
you fed us nothing but bullsh*t with that, so whats stopping you from doing the same with this?

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WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, April 13, 2012 @ 2:27:09 PM
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Funny thing about DAII though, it DID offer the multiple endings that come from your decisions that ME3 promised. So Bioware CAN deliver that.

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Nerull
Sunday, April 15, 2012 @ 7:21:07 PM
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a lot of people will be anxious to see what the endings are like, but keep in mind bioware doesn't just have one team between all games. At least DAII had more than just colours.

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Qubex
Sunday, April 15, 2012 @ 10:50:54 PM
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Some interesting ideas coming through for Dragon Age III... let us hope they don't foul up the ending like Mass Effect 3. If decisions are supposed to matter make sure they do, and carry through till the end of the adventure... otherwise what is the point!

Q!

"play.experience.enjoy"

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