To say people weren’t happy with some of the changes in Dragon Age II would be the understatement of the year. Dragon Age II may go down as the most hated video game of all time, because people felt BioWare “casualized” the franchise which was a rub in the face of long time BioWare fans. So BioWare has their work cut out for them in Dragon Age III, not only will the game have to be great but it will also need to help win back the trust of BioWare fans.
Well today we have some news on Dragon Age III and what direction BioWare will be taking the franchise. Speaking at a panel at Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo cinematic designer Jon Perry said that “one level in Dragon Age 3 is as big as all of the levels in Dragon Age 2.” Creative director Mike Laidlaw followed up by stating ”customization is going to be bigger than Dragon Age Origins,” and the game included “follower customization,” as well.
Lead writer David Gaider then spoke about players control over the main protagonist ”You will be human,” and then added ”backgrounds will be in Dragon Age 3 even though you will be human, it’s not playable but it does significant impact on the story.” He did say that future Dragon Age games will likely give you the option as playing as other races.
A few other minor details to emerge were, that at some point in the game you will be able to control your own castle and the game will import decisions made in previous games. There were also hints that Flemeth may be back for Dragon Age III along with other characters from the previous games as well.
I know a lot of people hated Dragon Age II but I wasn’t one of them; don’t get me wrong there was a lot that can be improved but I just don’t see it on the level of terribleness like Duke Nukem Forever which some people claim it is. For me the biggest problem with Dragon Age II was the lack of good characters, I just didn’t feel connected to any of them.
I actually thought the story wasn’t half-bad because it tried to do something different, not just being another game where you are charged with saving the world. Hopefully BioWare can fix a lot of the problems that plagued the second game in the series but I still have my doubts; although it is encouraging that the game has supposedly spent more time in pre-production than any other BioWare game ever. Which was another complaint about Dragon Age II, the game felted rushed and that it needed more time in development.
What changes do you want to see BioWare make to Dragon Age III that will get the franchise back on track?
