Dragon Age: Inquisition

[Agiel]

Do any of you really think the negative reaction really stung through EA's thick leather skin to fan backlash to the degree that because of it they abandoned the idea of turning Dragon Age into a bi-annual franchise a la Call of Duty.

[alanschu]

We ended up transitioning from having to worry about that by expanding the number of projects that we work on, actually.

 

It was definitely something we wanted to do.  There's a lot of reasoning behind DA2's schedule (which I cannot discuss), although most of DA2's issues IMO (which I am more comfortable discussing) was that we weren't as committed to doing a shorter, more focused game (which would have worked for the time frame), and being caught in that middle ground hurt it too much.

[ManifestedISO]

Seems like Amazon has better Origin sales than Origin. ME3 N7 edition was had for like $9. 

 

Seriously looking forward to Inquisition, thanks for the preview info. 

[Tale]

We ended up transitioning from having to worry about that by expanding the number of projects that we work on, actually.

Good. Seriously.

 

It was definitely something we wanted to do.

You wanted to do two releases a year? That idea scares me for how impractical it could be.

 

Annual creeps me right the heck out. I know from prior discussions about TOR that Bioware was wanting a certain level of success out of a belief it would lead to some autonomy. If it's the same hope for annual Dragon Age, then looking at other annual franchises like Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed point to the mistake in that line of thinking. And yet others, like Guitar hero, paint out the danger of investing too heavily in one thing and charging too quickly forward.

 

Every two years can be cool, but Dragon Age 2 didn't seem to target that with its time frame. The difference between Mass Effect 1 and 2 is one of 26 months and resulted in lots of positive reception.

 

although most of DA2's issues IMO (which I am more comfortable discussing) was that we weren't as committed to doing a shorter, more focused game (which would have worked for the time frame), and being caught in that middle ground hurt it too much.

That's kind of like what Avellone says about KOTOR 2. If he had to do it again, he would have made it more focused, cut out companions and other things. It would have made for a more solid product. Though that does have its own danger.

[Maria Caliban]

Are the events from Dawn of the Seeker considered canon?

Yes. Though I assume some things aren’t quite accurate. The part where a blood mage somehow conjures dozens of golems seems unlikely.

 

 

hmm, is it true that you actually will be able to pick a race for your main character? I thought that Bioware is sticking with voiced protagonist human only. was that just a troll rumor or something?

They originally were going to do human-only, but they managed to secure an extra year of development time and so will be adding in elven and dwarven PCs.

 

 

 

Would a 50% Origin sale suffice?

Depends, will the DLC still only be sold in monopoly money?

 

That's actually one of the big things turning me off to DA3. Legacy sounds cool, but nobody should have to put up with Bioware's purchasing system.

 

As I understand it, future BioWare titles will handle DLC the way ME 3 did.

 

 

Do any of you really think the negative reaction really stung through EA's thick leather skin to fan backlash to the degree that because of it they abandoned the idea of turning Dragon Age into a bi-annual franchise a la Call of Duty.

I don’t think EA intended for DAII’s development time to become the norm.

[Keyrock]

Would a 50% Origin sale suffice?

No.

[Volourn]

"You wanted to do two releases a year? That idea scares me for how impractical it could be."

 

Not impractical at all when you are talking the company the size of BIO. In fact, they've done it before. *shrug*

[alanschu]

You wanted to do two releases a year? That idea scares me for how impractical it could be.

 

We wanted to do 3, because it gives us more time per project.

 

What I meant by "what we wanted to do" was that fan outrage didn't crack an EA skin.  I actually had considered emailing Aaryn Flynn suggesting we push to 3 projects to effectively move to 3 year dev cycle, only to have him mention it at the following studio meeting.

Edited August 9, 2013 by alanschu

[Tale]

 

You wanted to do two releases a year? That idea scares me for how impractical it could be.

 

We wanted to do 3, because it gives us more time per project.

 

What I meant by "what we wanted to do" was that fan outrage didn't crack an EA skin.  I actually had considered emailing Aaryn Flynn suggesting we push to 3 projects to effectively move to 3 year dev cycle, only to have him mention it at the following studio meeting.

 

Are you confusing bi-annual for biennial?

 

Or do I not understand the math for how releasing every 4 months gives you more time per release? However that works out to a 3 year cycle, I am happy to hear. But also very curious as to how.

[Gorth]

Yeah, that part was a bit confusing

 

I can understand having 3 years per project if you have 3 projects and release one product annually (while 2 are in the works).

 

Edit: On the other hand, it could be "EA Math" and explain while they feel they are under some scheduling constraints

[Volourn]

BIO has hundreds of employees. They can handle 2  projects a year while still giving each game multi year development time - espicially when you throw in expansion packs or smaller games. Again, they have released games in the same year before. Not a biggy.

[Orogun01]

Yeah, that part was a bit confusing

 

I can understand having 3 years per project if you have 3 projects and release one product annually (while 2 are in the works).

 

Edit: On the other hand, it could be "EA Math" and explain while they feel they are under some scheduling constraints

Ordered sets, you cannot complete a project in less that x amount of time no matter how many people you throw at the problem. In fact a lot of people working on a project is a management problem. To put it in context, animators cannot start their work without the models.

[alanschu]

 

 

You wanted to do two releases a year? That idea scares me for how impractical it could be.

 

We wanted to do 3, because it gives us more time per project.

 

What I meant by "what we wanted to do" was that fan outrage didn't crack an EA skin.  I actually had considered emailing Aaryn Flynn suggesting we push to 3 projects to effectively move to 3 year dev cycle, only to have him mention it at the following studio meeting.

 

Are you confusing bi-annual for biennial?

 

Or do I not understand the math for how releasing every 4 months gives you more time per release? However that works out to a 3 year cycle, I am happy to hear. But also very curious as to how.

 

 

Errr, we wanted to do 3 projects, so that we can roughly release one a year and take 3 years to make each one.  I thought it was inferred when people were talking about "annual releases." (which would mean one BioWare game a year)

 

It seems I misunderstood you.

 

 

EDIT: Yeah.  Since in my mind we were talking about "1 release per year" I totally read your "do two releases a year" as simply "work on two projects at once."

Edited August 9, 2013 by alanschu

[Oerwinde]

I'd be totally for 3 projects at once so we can get a new BIO game a year with a decent dev cycle. As long as one of those is another Jade Empire game.

[Mamoulian War]

 

 

Again, never played the DA franchise, but didn't health used to autoregen after each encounter and you couldn't really die (just take a knee), like they are now doing in PE? I wonder why they changed that model. Can you die now in DA?

 

That's how I remember DA, no real death unless the whole party is defeated. But are you sure you can't die in PE, that concerns me

 

 

IIRC, death in PE only occurs with certain option boxes checked, otherwise you take a knee except in cases of a TPW. I know Ironman offers permadeath and only 1 save that will self delete but I think the one setting down from that (Trial of Iron?) also offers death but you can reload. There is no resurrection magic in PE so death is permanent.

 

 

And that is how a game should be designed. If players want permadeath, give him checkbox, if player wants health-regen, give him that option...

 

I just refuse to believe, that implementing one variable for health/mana regen ON/OFF would make the game go over the budget...

Edited August 9, 2013 by Mamoulian War

[Mamoulian War]

No my complaint extends to Varrics dress code as well, his sturdy buff coat needs to be done up not left open like an idiot. As for Conan the legendary Cimmerian usually dressed in appropriate harness for the region and circumstances he was encountering, such as the heavy mail he wears throughout Queen of the Black Coast and the full plate harness he dons when leading troops in Hour of the Dragon.

 

My analysis is not based on gender but rather verisimillitude, i'm not a fan of style over substance.

 

Edit: And i'll state for the third time that a woman does not need to be half dressed to be overtly sexual, especially if her choice of clothing would mean she'd freeze to death and die for the sake of appearing sexy, to think any woman would be so idiotic as to do so is a massive disservice to women if not downright insultive.

 

Believe it or not, I met many women going around in winter with naked waist (not sure if this is the right english word for the body part...) and have absolutely no clue, that it could permanently damage their kidneys... all they care about, is that it makes them more sexy in winter.... and I am talking about winters with temperatures fit for snow...

 

 

 

 

/sigh

Edited August 9, 2013 by Mamoulian War

[Keyrock]

 

 

 

You wanted to do two releases a year? That idea scares me for how impractical it could be.

 

We wanted to do 3, because it gives us more time per project.

 

What I meant by "what we wanted to do" was that fan outrage didn't crack an EA skin.  I actually had considered emailing Aaryn Flynn suggesting we push to 3 projects to effectively move to 3 year dev cycle, only to have him mention it at the following studio meeting.

 

Are you confusing bi-annual for biennial?

 

Or do I not understand the math for how releasing every 4 months gives you more time per release? However that works out to a 3 year cycle, I am happy to hear. But also very curious as to how.

 

 

Errr, we wanted to do 3 projects, so that we can roughly release one a year and take 3 years to make each one.  I thought it was inferred when people were talking about "annual releases." (which would mean one BioWare game a year)

 

It seems I misunderstood you.

 

 

EDIT: Yeah.  Since in my mind we were talking about "1 release per year" I totally read your "do two releases a year" as simply "work on two projects at once."

 

As long as BioWare has a large enough team that they can work on 3 projects concurrently and not spread themselves too thin, then it sounds like a solid plan.  That was my fear when I heard about the turn around time on DA2 following DA:O.  My fear was, they're working on ME3, they're working on SWTOR, and now they're also working on DA2, all at the same time?  I'm scared the quality will suffer on at least one of these projects.  And, well, in my mind, at least, my fears were confirmed.

[Tale]

Errr, we wanted to do 3 projects, so that we can roughly release one a year and take 3 years to make each one.  I thought it was inferred when people were talking about "annual releases." (which would mean one BioWare game a year)

 

It seems I misunderstood you.

 

 

EDIT: Yeah.  Since in my mind we were talking about "1 release per year" I totally read your "do two releases a year" as simply "work on two projects at once."

Thanks for clarifying. And thanks for being informative, Allan.

[alanschu]

 

 

As long as BioWare has a large enough team that they can work on 3 projects concurrently and not spread themselves too thin, then it sounds like a solid plan.  That was my fear when I heard about the turn around time on DA2 following DA:O.  My fear was, they're working on ME3, they're working on SWTOR, and now they're also working on DA2, all at the same time?  I'm scared the quality will suffer on at least one of these projects.  And, well, in my mind, at least, my fears were confirmed.

 

While still technically BioWare, the Austin studio is effectively a different studio.  Outside of lending a hand from time to time, it'd be akin to worrying because DICE is making Battlefield the same time we're making DAI.

[Keyrock]

 

As long as BioWare has a large enough team that they can work on 3 projects concurrently and not spread themselves too thin, then it sounds like a solid plan.  That was my fear when I heard about the turn around time on DA2 following DA:O.  My fear was, they're working on ME3, they're working on SWTOR, and now they're also working on DA2, all at the same time?  I'm scared the quality will suffer on at least one of these projects.  And, well, in my mind, at least, my fears were confirmed.

 

While still technically BioWare, the Austin studio is effectively a different studio.  Outside of lending a hand from time to time, it'd be akin to worrying because DICE is making Battlefield the same time we're making DAI.

 

Gotcha.  Thanks for clarifying.  

[GhostofAnakin]

 

You wanted to do two releases a year? That idea scares me for how impractical it could be.

 

We wanted to do 3, because it gives us more time per project.

 

What I meant by "what we wanted to do" was that fan outrage didn't crack an EA skin.  I actually had considered emailing Aaryn Flynn suggesting we push to 3 projects to effectively move to 3 year dev cycle, only to have him mention it at the following studio meeting.

 

 

So what happened to the one title per year schedule?  There's no BioWare release this year, and only Inquisition for the next little while (unless the new ME game is set to be released in 2015).

[alanschu]

Continue reading the thread.

[HoonDing]

 

Are the events from Dawn of the Seeker considered canon?

Yes. Though I assume some things aren’t quite accurate. The part where a blood mage somehow conjures dozens of golems seems unlikely.

So she's more badass than Warden and Hawk combined.

[entrerix]

 

 

 

Would a 50% Origin sale suffice?

 

 

 

zzzzzzzz

 

i forgot origin existed.  so bioware is really giving up on steam completely?  sounds like a bad call to shut out that many customers.  i guess i could end up buying it on disc, but then it will probably make me use origin anyway so whats the point

 

i guess somebody wake me up when it hits 75% off on origin  (so around the time dragon age 4 gets released?)

 

............zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.........................

 

[Volourn]

I doubt Steam has that many unique customers to really worry about. L0L