The Future Of Dragon Age PAX Panel (More Dragon Age 3 Information) [Updated]

N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Following up their forum postings a few weeks ago, BioWare had a panel about the future of Dragon Age at PAX, along with some additional interviews shedding more details. I'll break this up into sections to make it a bit more readable.

As a note, approximately half of this information is about Dragon Age 3 while the other half is about Dragon Age 2 DLC.

Update 1:

They've detailed the companion armor system for Dragon Age 3.

You can fully equip your followers again, but it doesn't change their appearance.

However, they're also adding more ways to change the appearance of your followers through a separate system.

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Quick Note:

Mike Laidlaw has been promoted to Creative Director of the Dragon Age franchise, cementing him as the #2 person on the team. He is also now on Twitter.


The PAX Panel:

Here are two accounts of the panel that BioWare linked to. If anyone has more, please feel free to share.

Nerd Appropriate said:
On hand were Creative Director Mike Laidlaw, writer David Gaider, executive producer Mark Darrah, and art director Matt Goldman. The bulk of the questions were answered by Laidlaw and Gaider who know more about Dragon Age than anyone else on the planet. It’s kinda scary.

I’m going to quickly run down all the major points that were addressed during the panel and do my best unravel some of the cryptic language that was used.

1) How battles should be fought: There is a new mantra being used by the development team while working on upcoming DLC and it involves preparation, teamwork, and positioning. They discussed how battle needs to be incredibly tactical with the player preparing his team for combat, utilizing the strength of his party-mates, and correctly placing his characters in the perfect tactical positions. More on this in a sec.

2) The Scope – A map was briefly shown of Ferelden in comparison to the entire world of Dragon Age, it was quite small. Next a map was shown of Kirkwall which was essentially a Rhode Island sized spec (the crowd laughed). Next Laidlaw showed a slide of a massive area of the map which was easily four or five times larger than Ferelden and hinted that this was the direction that the franchise was heading in. People seemed to like that.

3) Player Customization – Bioware is fully aware that players want to be able to customize their companion’s armor and appearance, and it looks to be coming back. Briefly shown on the screen was a shot of Meryll in an entirely new suit of armor with head, chest, hand, and foot slots unlocked. I think it would be a real challenge to implement as DLC, so we may have actually seen a quick glimpse of DA3 or perhaps an unannounced expansion pack.

4) On DA3 Premise – Dragon Age: Origins was about saving Ferelden from the Blight, whereas Dragon Age 2 was all about creating the conflict that fuels DA3. It was mentioned that DA2 was “the big setup” with the goal of the third game being “saving the world from…. itself”.

5) Will Hawke Ever Meet The Warden Commander ? - I’m glad this question was addressed because it really was on everyone’s mind. There were some very big missed opportunities in DA2 to have the Warden and Hawke cross paths, but it appears as though we will get our wish. Gaider simply hinted “we are perhaps so inclined (to have their paths cross)”.. so it’s coming for sure.

6) Global Conflict and a Witch: The world will be at war during the third game with both mages and templar vying for power and control. The player will be traveling to various “exotic” locations in order to try and bring the peace. Orlais and Tvinter were mentioned on several occasions… oh yeah, there was also some concept art of a certain disapproving witch standing in front of a burning barn. Witches HATE barns. [Nirolak's Note: The witch is Morrigan.]

7) Protagonists: Hawke’s story is not quite done, whereas the story of the Hero of Ferelden.. is over. This does not mean that the Warden Commander isn’t an important character in the universe, just that you won’t be playing him/her as the main protagonist of the story. Gaider also hinted that the future of the franchise may rest with an all new unseen hero.

8 ) Dragon Age MMO?: Nope

9) Felicia Day and Redemption: I can’t seem to go anywhere these days without running into Felicia Day. I swear she must have the ability to replicate and teleport at will…anyway…we were treated to a quick look at Day’s new Dragon Age web series Dragon Age: Redemption and got to see a handful of shots of folks getting all chopped up and stabbed … Dragon Age style. The series looks very promising and I can’t wait to actually see the damn thing.

10) Teamwork: In the future the player will receive some sort of “party bonus” for having certain members in their party. More than just a “buff” these bonuses may stack in special ways and will exist to motivate the player to choose a particular character for their team “pick me!“.
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Source: http://www.nerdappropriate.com/2011/08/28/pax-prime-2011-dragon-age-panel-secrets-revealed/

BioWare Social said:
* An art book is "possible," according to Matt Goldman.
* The cultures in DA started out with some real-world inspiration, but there are many differences, and you can't point to one culture in DA and one in the RW and say they are the same. Mike Laidlaw said it's more about the real human condition than real-world cultures.
* Maric has "at least two" children, according to David Gaider.
* The change in Anders' personality, according to DG, could probably have used some kind of intermediary step, but it was something DG liked. Returning characters need to evolve, so if they come back, they too might be different.
* The world of DA started out as a Tolkien-inspired fantasy world to an extent, but the goal is for it to become a standard in its own right. Superficial similarities were intentional, but there are many differences.
* More instances of the party working together, like passive bonuses? Answer: Yes (Mike Laidlaw) - Not sure I totally got the gist of that question.
* A female fan was broken-hearted that she was unable to romance Varric. David Gaider said nothing pleases him more. We will see more of Varric though. (DA2 DLC I assume)
* Arcane Warrior coming back? Laidlaw: Not exactly, but something similar is possible (I'm guessing something like the battle mage)
* A guy thought DA2 was the better game. A few of us clapped, many booed. He went on to say that a smaller area makes it easier to get in-depth than a globetrotting game might. Mike Laidlaw agreed to some extent, saying that the DA2 story fit its scope, but said they can scale it somewhat. It probably would hurt the story to jaunt around from country to country without much of a reason, but it is possible to have such a reason.
* Any chance of co-op? Even just 2 players? Mike Laidlaw said it's not really a focus, they don't really have plans for it, the engine doesn't support it super well, but it's not 100% off the table. There is some precedent.
* Someone asked which kind of combat they're going for: DAO's more MMO-esque combat, or DA2's more hack and slash type? Mike said it could be slowed down a bit, but he is still firmly anti-shuffle. (Yay!) They want to design encounters, not fights. Hawke should be shouting "more coming over the hill" and not "here comes another wave!" Also the environment should play a bigger role.

That's pretty much all I got. Oh, later on, after the panel, I asked Mike if everything would be taking place at the end of DA2's ten years, or if we might backtrack a bit and see what happened in other countries. He said there'd be some before that ten years is up and some after. My gut says this just means more DA2 DLC set pre-endgame, then DA3 and beyond will be after, but that's definitely just speculation. He reminded me that there wasn't necessarily something exciting happening everywhere during those 10 years.
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Forum: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/260/index/8184797/8


The PAX Interviews:

Delta Gamer said:
We’ve got enough facts so that even the most hardcore Dragon Age fan will be pleased. The brief points below come from a brief interview between Dragon Age producer Fernando Melo and Marketing Director David Silverman, and 2 Q&As.

-Fans liked the Legacy DLC, and BioWare was very happy with the response. They will continue to use Legacy formula.
-Next DLC is an Item Pack to be released today Tuesday, Aug 23.
-BioWare will be able to release more info about upcoming DA2 related content in the coming weeks after gamescom, particularly at PAX Prime this weekend.
-Players liked the Legacy DLC’s final battle. But BioWare admitted that party members AI is pretty broken on that fight, so they want to keep the fights interesting but fix the AI.
-BioWare is going to take their time with future DLC as they did with Legacy and that turned out well.
-They will try to get out some non-story content DLC like item packs in between story content.
-BioWare don’t have any plans for companion specific DLC at this time. This is based on what players seemed to want from DA:O DLC, as they preferred it when they got to play DLC with all the available characters.
-Question came in about a Varric romance DLC. They said “we’ll see”.
-Grey Wardens are a “pillar” to what’s going on in Dragon Age.
-They are not done with Hawke’s story and it will be the focus of most incoming DLC.
-Melo couldn’t answer a question about Hawke and Warden returning, and he said it’s quite possible.
-We will see Leliana again “sooner than we think”.
-Melo noted that potential biggest feedback about Dragon Age II is that decisions don’t appear to matter. They will “absolutely” be working on it in the future. They seemed to imply that your decisions that impact the world will absolutely carry over, but perhaps not smaller, character specific ones, unlike Mass Effect.
-There will not be as much as DLC for DAII as for DA:O because of the length and quality issues with some of DA:O’s DLC. They would like to spend a longer time on DLC and produce higher quality which in essence means less.
-We will be seeing more cameos from Origins and DAII characters in the future.
-Melo stated that Morrigan was critical to the world, and so is Warden, therefore we will definitely be hearing about them or seeing more of them in the future.
-Chances are we will have more DLC in different parts of Kirkwall, but they are going to try to keep it short-lived and minimize reusing environments.
-We will likely be seeing other cities in the Free Marches in the future.
-There was a screenshot fans weren’t allegedly supposed to see that they wouldn’t talk about. It was apparently Hawke riding a dragon.
-They would most likely want to do an expansion but can’t confirm any plans at this time.
-Melo dodged question about Sandal’s prophecy in DAII coming true or not.

Second Q&A

-The book Dragon Age: Asunder will take place towards the end of Dragon Age II, and will set up events that will occur in the future.
-There are no plans for a Varric romance, but if it something that fans desperately wants, they will “see what they can do.”
-We will find out what happened to Hawke’s companions in future content.
-The decision of whether to have a set character in the style of DA2, or multiple origins a la Dragon Age: Origins will be based on fan feedback.
-We will find out more about the Hawke family in future DLC, specifically, Hawke themself.
-There is “a lot of depth” to Sandal, and we “might be surprised” by him in the future.
-There are no plans to see Shale again, but Melo thinks it would be a “great idea” to see her again.
-We will definitely see Flemeth again.
-The team will try to resolve the situation regarding the “Old God Baby”, and will try and show fans what happened regarding the child.
-Melo would love to see more of Isabela.
-Future content will see the same companions and love interests return.
-It is likely that we will encounter female Kossith (Qunari) in the future.
-It is unlikely that we will see a huge difference in graphics and art style in DAIII.
-“Time will tell” whether or not we will ever see Par Vollen or “a few other cities.”

Melo stated he has some regrets regarding DAII, where he feels things could have been executed better. He mentions that Bioware wants to make sure combat feels natural, and no environments are reused. He also mentions that he agrees with people who reacted negatively to the impact of choice (or lack, thereof), saying that the main story quest All That Remains comes to mind. Melo reaffirmed that choices and their consequences will be a major focal point of future content.
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Source: http://deltagamer.com/14681/dragon-age-2-info-blowout-from-gamescom


Old Stuff From Previous Thread:

Just in case anyone missed it, here are a few highlights from the old thread. There is a lot more here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=29872921

http://i.imgur.com/SQidG.png (Notes about re-use, waves, choices, and follower customization.)

http://i.imgur.com/uCigD.png (Each Dragon Age starring a new character.)
 
Sorry, I loved DA2 way more. I couldn't even play DA1 that much--first, it ran like shit. Secondly, combat felt boring. In DA2, the hack/slash style felt visceral and I enjoyed it. I loved jumping all over the place as a rogue.
 
Cool, thanks Nirolak.
After Legacy, I'm really looking forward to future DLC. I'm glad to hear that they are specifically focusing on some of my personal gripes with 2, as well. I'm much more optimistic about this series than most, but we'll see how things go.
 
-The decision of whether to have a set character in the style of DA2, or multiple origins a la Dragon Age: Origins will be based on fan feedback.
Click to expand...

Oh fuck. *sends 5000 e-mails for origins*

-It is unlikely that we will see a huge difference in graphics and art style in DAIII.
Click to expand...

More shit mountain? :(

Overall, I guess it sounds decent but if they have another tiny development cycle it won't matter.
 
Well, at least they are very quick about mentioning what they want to improve with the next game. They can never actually admit that the game was shit, and they wont, but they seem to get it. All this negative feedback was healthy, might inspire a better game.
 
DA2 was complete shit and they should be embarrassed they ever made it. Going to take a lot for me to get the next one.
 
I'm interested to see what happens going forward.

I just finished Dragon Age II today and although I started to warm up to it much more towards the end, most of the main issues such as enemies spawning out of the sky and the reusing of the same 3 cave environments and 3 mansion environments were still very disappointing.

The lack of choice was another thing that bothered me and I'm glad that they are going to try and address it. To many of the dialogue choices just felt like they were giving you the option to say the same thing in three different ways.

I havent played the Legacy DLC yet (I'm thinking of maybe waiting on an Ultimate Edition release before I jump back in) but I hope that they do keep putting out DLC for a while as I would rather see the experimenting the gameplay in the DLC instead of just jumping straight into Dragon Age 3 and then a lot of things up again.
 
Thanks for the post, lots of information there.

I hope they go with origins over a set character. Even if my character in Origins was a voiceless blank slate, he was my voiceless blank slate. I'll take that any day over a Hawke or a Shepard. At the very least I'd like to be able to choose my race again.

Anyways, they're saying a lot of the right things, but words are only worth so much. I won't believe it 'till I see it.

also:
There was a screenshot fans weren’t allegedly supposed to see that they wouldn’t talk about. It was apparently Hawke riding a dragon.
Click to expand...

lol
 
I really like most of the bullet points that they hit. But, more importantly, I am glad that they are going to continue onwards. I am quite fond of the world that they've crafted and I'd love the chance to explore more of it. Going to Orlais, for example, sounds like a treat.

Specific points I'd like to comment on: I like that they want to slow combat down and make positioning / enemy location a bigger deal, but I'm also happy they want to avoid the shuffleshuffleshuffle issues of DA:O. I also like that they acknowledge the issues with the end boss party AI of Legacy, BUT! I really liked that boss encounter over all, so I hope they give us more of that (with fixes). Glad to hear that Legacy worked out for them.
 
I'm glad they are focusing on making player choices feel like they matter within the story. There are plenty of small things I didn't like about DA2, but the story is where it let me down the most.
 
Snuggler said:
Thanks for the post, lots of information there.

I hope they go with origins over a set character. Even if my character in Origins was a voiceless blank slate, he was my voiceless blank slate. I'll take that any day over a Hawke or a Shepard. At the very least I'd like to be able to choose my race again.

Anyways, they're saying a lot of the right things, but words are only worth so much. I won't believe it 'till I see it.

also:


lol
Click to expand...

I think I tentatively agree with this. While I enjoy voiced characters like Shepard, and Hawke, I have to agree that over my time with DA:O and Awakening, I grew quite fond of my elf mage lady. I didn't spend much time with character generation, so she kind of looked frumpy but it really grew on me over my many hours with the game.

At the very least, if we must compromise, give us voiced options for the three races.
 
I don't really see how they would handle The Warden and Hawke meeting up, unless it is something that happens off screen. Are they going to voice The Warden or would it be something similar to Claude showing up in San Andreas.

Also one other thing. I hope that if they have any more characters from origins showing up in the future that they find a way to make them not look so ugly. The new graphical style for DA2 started to grow on my as I played through it but anytime someone from Origins showed up (mainly Zevran and Alistair) they just looked off. I think Leliana actually looked ok in DA2 and Merrill was an improvement, although she was such a minor character in Origins anyway.
 
ToyBroker said:
Sorry, I loved DA2 way more. I couldn't even play DA1 that much--first, it ran like shit. Secondly, combat felt boring. In DA2, the hack/slash style felt visceral and I enjoyed it. I loved jumping all over the place as a rogue.
Click to expand...


You played on console, I assume?

On PC combat for me was 1-2-3-4 RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR (cooldowns over) 1-2-3-4, etc. I don't know, for me -personally- "visceral hack & slash combat" doesn't mix with "tactical positioning combat" in a party based game.

Confidence Man said:
Nothing can fix this franchise now. I hope it crashes and burns so l can piss on it's grave.
Click to expand...

This is more my mindset, but I've said this so many times I am sick of myself already.
 
I'm very skeptical that they will be able to capture the feel of dragon age origin with da3 and nothing they have said in the panel really connects with what.
 
Lots of great info and several important ones, however one far more important to me then any other.

Unlike others I wouold hate it so much if they went back to the Origins method I wouldn't buy the game no matter how much they fixed. I hate the mute character system, totally rips me out of the game and makes me dislike the overall experince.

After ME1, 2 , and DA2 I'm just not willing to go back.
 
Nirolak said:
1) How battles should be fought: There is a new mantra being used by the development team while working on upcoming DLC and it involves preparation, teamwork, and positioning. They discussed how battle needs to be incredibly tactical with the player preparing his team for combat, utilizing the strength of his party-mates, and correctly placing his characters in the perfect tactical positions. More on this in a sec.
Click to expand...

It's funny because they're probably lying.
 
Confidence Man said:
Nothing can fix this franchise now. I hope it crashes and burns so l can piss on it's grave.
Click to expand...

Co-signed.

Usually when a franchise has 1 bad game I can shrug it off and move on and keep following the story. DA2 was so bad I can't even pretend to care what happens anymore, nor do I even remember everything that happened in 2.
 
If they haven't decided yet if it's a set character or multiple origins, I'm going to pretend to be surprised when they announce a winter 2012 date and the game is rushed again.
 
I think I am done with Dragon Age.

Neither Bioware, journalists, nor apparently fans that get to say stuff to Bioware, seems to have a clue what made DA:O a good game.

All the things that were good were the old-school aspects. The rest was shit. DA2 was all shit.

Start by bringing back the isometric view option that was present in DA:O. If they don't understand why that was important, all hope is lost.
 
Nirolak said:
Quick Note:

Mike Laidlaw has been promoted to Creative Director of the Dragon Age franchise, cementing him as the #2 person on the team.
Click to expand...

Final nail in the coffin and now this series really is dead. How he could receive a promotion after the last game is beyond me.

Thanks for the info/updates anyways Nirolak.
 
A forum post from Chris Priestly on DA2's art direction vs DAO:

And I disagree. While the art for DAO was good, it was not distinctive. DA II had a distinctive style.

To illustrate, think of cosplay. For DAO pretty much the only cosplay we had was Morrigan. The reason being, she was pretty much the only defineable character. The man, unless you happen to look like Alistair or whomever, were just guys in suits of armor. They could have been DAO, they could have been LotR. Hard to say. Now we get Isabelas and Aveines and Flemeths, but we also get Hawkes, Varrics, Fenrises... Fenri... a bunch of Fenris.
Click to expand...

The barometer for success is how much cosplay they get.
 
I read OP and I'm optimistic. After DAII which was "Invisible War" type of disaster they have nowhere to go but up.
 
There was a time where I considered Bioware one of the top developers in the industry. I don't know what happened recently, but they've just been in this downward spiral lately.

Is it outside pressure from EA? Or bad leadership? I have no idea. I simply do not understand how you go from Origins to 2.
 
unpurposed said:
There was a time where I considered Bioware one of the top developers in the industry. I don't know what happened recently, but they've just been in this downward spiral lately.

Is it outside pressure from EA? Or bad leadership? I have no idea. I simply do not understand how you go from Origins to 2.
Click to expand...

Bad leadership. The doctors have been encouraging the company to take this route for years now, and they still do it despite complaints.
 
unpurposed said:
Is it outside pressure from EA? Or bad leadership? I have no idea. I simply do not understand how you go from Origins to 2.
Click to expand...


It is management mentality for sure. They always had the score averages to back them up, but with the way the industry is moving now, those should equal sales but they are currently not doing so.
The reaction is that policies* are being put in place to make the games more "attractive" to the expanded audiences. Add to that the relationship Riccittielo has with the Doctors and the "value" Bioware now has for EA overall that they can't just settle for 2-3 million copies sold per game, they feel they should be doing 5-6, and you rarely do that with RPGs if ever, so they are redefining their games. This is not of EA's doing, but it comes from the guys who want to be running EA as a whole one day.

*shorter dev cycles, better mktg positioning, extremely focus group oriented products, more accessible/simpler games, etc.
 
I enjoyed DA2 for the most part, cept the repeated zones. Some of the stuff in the OP sounds pretty good and I'm glad the series is moving forward.

I also like the idea of having a new character for each main installment.
 
ToyBroker said:
Sorry, I loved DA2 way more. I couldn't even play DA1 that much--first, it ran like shit. Secondly, combat felt boring. In DA2, the hack/slash style felt visceral and I enjoyed it. I loved jumping all over the place as a rogue.
Click to expand...

Backstabbing is not an "awesome button" move.
 
bigboss370 said:
can we have the dialogue system of DA1 instead of DA2/Mass Effect?


PLEASE??
Click to expand...

Fucking this! Silent protagonist is so much better. Opens up the dialog way more and gives you a more personal experience. When I first played DA:O I was worried I might not like it after having speaking protagonists but realized how much better it was.
 
I see a list of bullet points being addressed to appease fans of the first game. Get your marketing people out of the design phase of your software and we'll see what happens.
 
Legacy was okay. I could see some of the old Origins in it, but I'm still skeptical.

I haven't completely written the franchise off yet. It's been a few months since I finished DAII and while I disliked the combat, reused areas and the small scale of the game, the story for me was the most disappointing. It wasn't the worst game I've ever played. In fact, I was quite enjoying it until around Act III. It was just weird. The game felt like it reached its high story-wise at the end of Act II and then just jumped off of a cliff. And by then, the issues with the gameplay had worn out their welcome. By the end of the game I really didn't like either side. Hopefully, they can make the factions more nuanced in the DAIII without being so hamfisted and contradictory with their characterization as in DAII.

I can kind of get what they were trying for in DAII story-wise, but when I think of Dragon Age, I think of globe trotting across the world and not stuck in a port city for the entire game. It's at least reassuring that they seem to be trying for a more grander scope in the next one.

Also, I thought they said before that Hawke wouldn't be returning as the main character?
 
-The decision of whether to have a set character in the style of DA2, or multiple origins a la Dragon Age: Origins will be based on fan feedback.
Click to expand...

I see development based on focus group/fan feedback continues. Will we have another Facebook vote for the main character in DA3?
 
Darklord said:
Fucking this! Silent protagonist is so much better. Opens up the dialog way more and gives you a more personal experience. When I first played DA:O I was worried I might not like it after having speaking protagonists but realized how much better it was.
Click to expand...

This too, but it will probably never happen with DAIII. I don't think there's anything wrong with a main character being voiced, but in Origins, as you said, it gave me a more personal experience. It helped that you basically created your character from scratch and picked their origin. I really felt like I was role playing a character in the game. That I was placing myself in that character's shoes.
 
Derrick01 said:
Co-signed.

Usually when a franchise has 1 bad game I can shrug it off and move on and keep following the story. DA2 was so bad I can't even pretend to care what happens anymore, nor do I even remember everything that happened in 2.
Click to expand...

By that logic, Deus Ex: HR should never have happened after the abomination that was Invisible War. And, realistically, HR is sort of a let down compared to even the first Deus Ex. It looks prettier but has, in many ways, way less options.

Castor Krieg said:
I see development based on focus group/fan feedback continues. Will we have another Facebook vote for the main character in DA3?
Click to expand...

Considering the best FemShep won, I don't see how that ended up being bad.

unpurposed said:
There was a time where I considered Bioware one of the top developers in the industry. I don't know what happened recently, but they've just been in this downward spiral lately.

Is it outside pressure from EA? Or bad leadership? I have no idea. I simply do not understand how you go from Origins to 2.
Click to expand...

Yes... the downward spiral of the critically acclaimed Dragon Age Origins, and Game of the Year Mass Effect 2. One less than stellar game (DA:2) and suddenly they'd been on a "downward spiral". Revisionist history is fascinating.
 
GillianSeed79 said:
This too, but it will probably never happen with DAIII. I don't think there's anything wrong with a main character being voiced
Click to expand...

There was in DA2. Male Hawke was an awful voice actor. So flat and uninterested half the time. Some character really close to him dies and he'd just like "oh damn that is so sad".
 
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