Dragon Age 2 Incoming. - Part 1

[iamlegend]

But I don't see why they couldn't finish out the end of the Dragon Age with a third game. By the end of the Fifth Blight it was already 9:31. DAO encompassed only a year (9:30-9:31) and Awakening was set only six months later and consists of only a very small amount of time. Varric's telling of Hawke's story happens ten years later, so it's 9:40. All the next game has to do is be set during the most important portions of the remaining 60 years, where all the major pieces are on the boards, to finish the tale.

I'm not denying the possibility of it... just noting that it'd be difficult to tell 60 odd years of story in a game that's presumably going to stick with its predecessor's very character-driven center.

I suppose whatever they've got planned could take another 10-15 years of time (ala DA2) and then have the last half-century pass with no major development.

 

[El Bastardo]

Yeah, that's just it - there's no need to squeeze ~60 years into a final game, unless, I suppose, ~60 years was the timespan with no drop in importance. Then I'd agree, it'd be hard to pull off.

 

[iamlegend]

I gotta admit, the creators talking about during further games in Thedas (but not in the direct DA line) is... intriguing.

I'm not quite sure how the fans wouldn't just refer to a future game as Dragon Age 4, etc, but I like that they're looking into continuing to let us play in this massive world they've built.

 

[Drz]

Dragon Age comic coming, now with less Orson Scott Card

Saturday at New York Comic Con, Dark Horse and BioWare announced that the "Dragon Age" universe would return to comics in February, in a series of six biweekly twelve-page issues available through Dark Horse's iOS app and online for $.99 each. The world of this fantasy role playing game for PC, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3 has previously been explored in web comics and in a miniseries from IDW Publishing. For Dark Horse's inaugural outing, David Gaider, BioWare's Lead Writer for both "Dragon Age: Origins" and "Dragon Age II," will head up the comic miniseries, joined by Alexander Freed writing the script and artist Chad Hardin. Comic Book Resources spoke with Gaider about the growing world of "Dragon Age," the value of expanding into several media, and what to expect from the miniseries.

"The 'Dragon Age' miniseries follows Alistair of 'Dragon Age: Origins' and Isabela and Varric of 'Dragon Age II,' Gaider told CBR. "The three of them have traveled to Antiva, an exotic land of assassins, to chase a secret from Alistair's past that will draw all three of them into danger -- and also reveal a surprising truth about the nature of dragons in Thedas.
"It follows a few things that fans of 'Dragon Age' have probably been wondering about for some time, and a few plot threads that we haven't been able to pick up elsewhere," Gaider continued. "I'm writing it, and as the Lead Writer on both of the 'Dragon Age' games I can say pretty confidently that it fits seamlessly into the overall narrative. These are characters the fans love, and there's some lore here that they won't find anywhere else. It should be a treat."

Dark Horse's "Dragon Age" comics will be presented as 12-page digital exclusives through the publisher's iPad/iPhone app and online at digital.darkhorse.com. "I think the majority of Dragon Age fans are pretty tech-savvy -- I mean, they'd have to be, wouldn't they?" Gaider said of the format choice. "This is a good way to introduce them to the possibilities of 'Dragon Age' in comic form without them necessarily having to be comic book fans and needing to go to a store in order to check it out."

 

[El Bastardo]

Could be interesting.

 

[iamlegend]

I'm curious about the continuity. They say it's going to fit seamlessly in... but the continuity in the DA universe is relatively fluid depending on the player.

These three make for an interesting trio, though, no doubt.

 

[Drz]

ME and DA books/comics have their own continuity, but DA3's general plot is about saving the world from ourselves, so to stop Mage vs. Templar war, i just hope it doesn't try to end it with "we must unite for this bigger foe! The Qunari! Lets put our differences aside and fight the common enemy!"

 

[Swordmaster]

ME Timeline (minus the mini-comics)

Mass Effect: Evolution
Mass Effect: Revelations
Mass Effect
Mass Effect: Redemption
Mass Effect: Ascension
Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect: Retribution
Mass Effect: Invasion
Mass Effect 3

 

[iamlegend]

ME and DA books/comics have their own continuity, but DA3's general plot is about saving the world from ourselves, so to stop Mage vs. Templar war, i just hope it doesn't try to end it with "we must unite for this bigger foe! The Qunari! Lets put our differences aside and fight the common enemy!"

I was under the impression that the DA novels were counted as canon. Same goes for ME.

About the Mage/Templar war... lets not forget there's also the looming threat of Flemeth and whatever she's planning on top of that and the Qunari.

 

[Drz]

DA and ME stuff are canon on their own continuity, theres too many options for players to ever have 100% always the same ones Bioware decides, like did Wynne die or not for example?

Redemption episode 2:
[YT]Y0zdO9Vjxn[/YT]

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

Just finished MoTA, like Legacy another serious step in the right direction - Bioware's really gone a long way to building my interest and trust back up for the DA series. Looking forward to what comes next.

 

[Speedball]

I was under the impression that the DA novels were counted as canon. Same goes for ME.

About the Mage/Templar war... lets not forget there's also the looming threat of Flemeth and whatever she's planning on top of that and the Qunari.

The DA novels should be canon because they don't really mess with the the continuity of the games. They both take place before the games, and are written by Gaider himself. They both set up the story of Origins and Awakening pretty well, IMO. I thought it was cool reading about the Architect, then seeing him in the game.
I hope the Third game answers what happened to Morrigan (and the baby, if you chose that).
Edit- Just learned about the third book: Asunder. REALLY looking forward to it because Wynne and Shale are returning.

 

[iamlegend]

The DA novels should be canon because they don't really mess with the the continuity of the games. They both take place before the games, and are written by Gaider himself. They both set up the story of Origins and Awakening pretty well, IMO. I thought it was cool reading about the Architect, then seeing him in the game.
I hope the Third game answers what happened to Morrigan (and the baby, if you chose that).
Edit- Just learned about the third book: Asunder. REALLY looking forward to it because Wynne and Shale are returning.

A great many fans are would like this... though something tells me Bioware's going to either be vague about it or openly ignore the plot-line. Such a tricky thing to deal with, since it's directly tied to some of the biggest choices from DA.

Well that and they really took a left turn in DA2 by effectively turning the overall narrative into the Mage/Templar revolution that's now spreading across the world.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

Bioware talking about DA3 at NYCC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjexkoGVKlY

 

[Drz]

Bioware talking about DA3 at NYCC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjexkoGVKlY

Hehe i was just about to post this!

 

[X Knight]

Bioware talking about DA3 at NYCC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjexkoGVKlY

Hehe i was just about to post this!

I'm not at liberty to use my speakers right now to listen to the video.

did they say anything new in that video?

did they confirm if DA3 will feature a new hero?

 

[GhostPoet]

Just finished MoTA, like Legacy another serious step in the right direction - Bioware's really gone a long way to building my interest and trust back up for the DA series. Looking forward to what comes next.

For someone who had to force himself to finish DA2...would I like MoTA better?

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

As somebody who had a lot of issues with DA2 and was very dissapointed I enjoyed MoTA. Its not OMFG amazing but its a significant improvement over the main game, is about 3-5 hours long, has substantial dialogue sequences and is fairly funny.

 

[El Bastardo]

I don't see how MotA or Legacy are any different from the game.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

Which is strange since the devs have over and over again talked about how they incorporated feedback/criticism that they recieved from DA2 into the DLC's and going onward into DA3.

In any case, specifically enemy encounters feels less like massive moshpits with enemies just repeatedly "leaping" into place and more like carefully designed affairs. I rememeber a situation in Legacy where I was duking it out with some DS and I could see a whole set of DS marching up the road towards my party letting me know I had to hurry my ass up and deal with these guys before the reinoforcements showed up.

Another thing is the level design is much stronger, specifically because they don't go and re-use the same map over and over. The prison in Legacy felt like a unique location as did Orlais in MoTA. They've incorporated some puzzles which are nice and in general the layouts just feel closer to Origins which is a major plus.

Lastly, the narratives feel tighter (even if Legacy was too straightforward) - its not Hawke just wandering around anymore.

 

[El Bastardo]

The encounters play the same - we just don't quite see the enemy "waves" jump into fights. Just in MotA: ghast fights, exact same thing, and they even run in as such. Soldier fights and/or "the other enemy" fights, still wave combat, just a little better hidden. Heck, the final boss is full of wave combat. So yes, they've done a better job disguising it - it's still the same thing.

That is one of the portions of feedback the dev team has incorporated into the DLC. Another portion of feedback is party banter, which there was already a good deal of in DA2 to begin with. No comment there. Another is meaningful choices, which there was little of in Legacy and nothing in MotA. No comment there.

Yes, the DLC isn't in Kirkwall. Okay. MotA is quite open, but Legacy isn't. If people want to complain about Kirkwall, I'll complain that I couldn't go anywhere but outside the prison and the prison in Legacy. I really wanted to go down the mountain in the other direction. Why couldn't I? BioWare blows. <sad face>

Then again, I would never try to sum up a narrative by stating "lol Kirkwall and re-used maps," whether it annoyed me or not. Evidently I am quite warped. (By the way, MotA was still in the Free Marches.)

The narratives likely feel tighter due to a decreased period of time spent playing them. I can sum the three Act structure plus prologue) of DA2 into succinct plot points per an outline, same as I could with the DLCs. There's just more to do and spend time on in DA2, which makes sense, considering it's a game and not a single DLC.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

The issue is not the existence of waves, its how they were implemented. Too often they spawned in the middle of your party, turning it into one big moshpit and ruining any notion of positioning. Now they show up from clear and discernible entry points making positioning and reacting to new enemies a much more logical process. Additionally, there were a lot more fodder enemies in DA2 than in your typical DLC mob, going for less enemies that are simply tougher that leads to more difficult encounters. Legacy in particular had some interesting compositions but MoTA takes this route as well.

As for the maps, it was not the physical space for me that was an issue, it was that almost every location you went to was the same level over and over and over for 40 hours. It was a huge problem with ME1 and they made it worse in DA2 by going so far as to reuse that content for main quest material. Bioware's admitted this and Merril even goes so far to make a joke about it in MoTA. All the areas in DA2 DLC has been totally unique thus far (a major improvement over DAO DLC and DA2).

 

[Slushy]

What I love so much about Dragon Age is the world they created along with the vast amount of characters in your party. It reminds me a lot of Diablo for some reason. I think its much easier for people in general to get into fantasy rather than science fiction.

Also, the mythology and the vast choices you have to make (personally, I like being the anti-hero / assh*le protagonist) keeps it fascinating.

I'm kinda bummed to hear about yet another new hero added to the mix. I wish they would just bring back the Grey Warden and give him / her a damn voice actor already. By refusing to do so, it seems more and more that like Dragon Age's original hero was just an experiment from BioWare and met his / her demise by slaying the Arch-Demon.

 

[El Bastardo]

The issue is not the existence of waves, its how they were implemented. Too often they spawned in the middle of your party, turning it into one big moshpit and ruining any notion of positioning. Now they show up from clear and discernible entry points making positioning and reacting to new enemies a much more logical process. Additionally, there were a lot more fodder enemies in DA2 than in your typical DLC mob, going for less enemies that are simply tougher that leads to more difficult encounters. Legacy in particular had some interesting compositions but MoTA takes this route as well.

As for the maps, it was not the physical space for me that was an issue, it was that almost every location you went to was the same level over and over and over for 40 hours. It was a huge problem with ME1 and they made it worse in DA2 by going so far as to reuse that content for main quest material. Bioware's admitted this and Merril even goes so far to make a joke about it in MoTA. All the areas in DA2 DLC has been totally unique thus far (a major improvement over DAO DLC and DA2).

Yes, fine - the re-used environments "problem." I've addressed that before, and again in my previous post. I fail to see how it can cause someone to dislike a game, or contribute to dislike, but okay.

And I've not disagreed that the wave combat has been better implemented, but it's still the same thing. Same exact thing. And it's not like the waves of enemies that might have dropped in the middle of your party - or come from behind and attacked your squishies, gasp - had any shot at killing anyone. Half, at least, are all the small lifebar enemies - cannon fodder, as you stated. I'll take your word for there being less in the DLC. I've never counted, really, though there were plenty of ghasts in MotA, and with every subsequent playthrough of DA2 it feels like I go through the oh-so-dreaded waves faster than the previous time.

I'm kinda bummed to hear about yet another new hero added to the mix. I wish they would just bring back the Grey Warden and give him / her a damn voice actor already. By refusing to do so, it seems more and more that like Dragon Age's original hero was just an experiment from BioWare and met his / her demise by slaying the Arch-Demon.

This isn't quite fair, is it? There's no law of narrative that states any character - from protagonist to minor character - needs to star in multiple games. Can the fan make this expectation? Sure, especially in today's culture of trilogies. But when it's shown to be not the case - as it has been shown in the DA games thus far - it'd be nice if people took it and didn't ***** about it. (Mind you, not saying you are - but in this case, BioWare "fans" have *****ed up a storm.)

 

[Slushy]

This isn't quite fair, is it? There's no law of narrative that states any character - from protagonist to minor character - needs to star in multiple games. Can the fan make this expectation? Sure, especially in today's culture of trilogies. But when it's shown to be not the case - as it has been shown in the DA games thus far - it'd be nice if people took it and didn't ***** about it. (Mind you, not saying you are - but in this case, BioWare "fans" have *****ed up a storm.)

Of course, its not the law, but usually a series, a successful one at that, is built around a main character that people invest in and its better for business to keep him around for more stories rather than replacing him with somebody else, which would make the chains of events feel more like spin-offs rather than sequels.

Like I stated, my theory is they didn't bring back the Grey Warden because they wanted to test the waters with a voiceless hero (ala Chrono) so I thought they put in Hawke, somebody easier to connect with, to give a face for the franchise.

But now that they're replacing him too, I find the change of the lead role again totally unnecessary.

Would Mass Effect be just as awesome if Shepard didn't come back after the first game? I HIGHLY doubt it.