Dragon Age: Dreadwolf - Next Dragon Age Game

[Maylander]

Well, I'm certainly interested. I liked Inquisition quite well despite its obvious flaws.
However I have no idea if they still have the talent to make a game at least in this quality.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[Carnifex]

Ya'll know me, there's only one Dragon Age game, that being Origins. They lost me forever with that alleged sequel.

 

[JFarrell71]

I enjoyed DA:I overall, and I think there's a very good game in there if you trimmed all the fat away, but as others have said it was chock full of filler content. At the time I was a "more is more" kind of guy, but I think DA:I was one of the games that taught me not to be a completist.

 

[Kos]

Designed like a MMO, a stupid story, stupid quests, totally forgettable NPCs.
I can't wait to have plenty of the same by the same guys.

 

[Ripper]

Some of the past bigwigs have come out against the Frostbite Engine. It was very insightful how that new engine stalled development of Inquisition and Andromeda.

I was always puzzled about what was so terribly wrong with the Frostbite Engine that made it so bad for RPGs. The guy says in the article: "Frostbite wasn't built for RPGs, and BioWare had to create a lot of its UI, camera, and basic RPG systems from scratch. With how much work and iteration BioWare had to do on the new engine, it's a miracle that Dragon Age: Inquisition even shipped at all."

I find that a bit curious, because that's the case with all the big engines; they don't provide anything that particularly facilitates or disadvantages RPGs. You have to sort out your UI and camera controller, code your RPG mechanics, and so on. They'd been using UE3, and I wonder what it could be about Frostbite that made it so much harder.

 

[DungeonHack]

Still somewhat excited for this, even though Inquisition didn't really wow me. I actually did enjoy DA2 after my initial tantrum with it was over, but Inquisition had a lot of "RPG Busy Work" in it that I got bored doing and struggled to complete it as a result.

I'm hoping that whoever runs BioWare - now that mostly everyone from the original team is gone - understands what made DA fun. I also hope they are burnt enough from the failure of Anthem that they work that much harder to avoid another such flop.

 

[Drithius]

I have yet to play anything beyond Dragon Age: Origins. Still casually waiting on them to remove the Origin client requirement from the sequels.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

"Dread Wolf" ? Played too many Witcher games ???

 

[bjon045]

"Dread Wolf" ? Played too many Witcher games ???

The Dread Wolf was a AD&D 2e monster and first featured in a computer game in the 1991 Gold Box game "Death Knights of Krynn". The wolf taunts the player throughout the campaign and you fight him towards the end of the game.

Death Knights of Krynn was my favourite entry in the "Krynn" series. I suspect there may be some kind of new Dragonlance game at some point now that the IP has been fully revived.

I believe they also featured as enemies in BG 1/2 but I am not sure those are the same as the original Dread Wolf from 2e as they were far more powerful. I believe it depends on your level whether you fight them or Vamperic Wolves or just plain old regular wolves. BG2 had a good implementation of level scaling where the enemies didn't get adjusted up, the entire encounter would get adjusted up i.e. you would fight more enemies and higher level variants that are much more dangerous.

I would like to think the Dragon Age writers know that…but somehow I doubt it. They probably thought it sounded "cool"

 

[JFarrell71]

In my opinion, it does sound cool.

 

[rjshae]

I do like the setting and would probably enjoy a tactical RPG set there, rather than yet another action-based button masher console-style game.

 

[Arkadia7]

I'm sure no matter how it turns out, even if likely a mediocre and crappy rpg, someone will write a glowing review and how Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is a "masterpiece" and "unfairly maligned" by "toxic, elitist hardcore rpg gamers"...etc etc... :lol:

It never fails, there is always one gamer somewhere who thinks a really bad game is just amazing, no matter if the game is universally negative reception or reputation...doesn't matter!

 

[Stingray]

I have yet to play anything beyond Dragon Age: Origins. Still casually waiting on them to remove the Origin client requirement from the sequels.

That happened a long time ago as I recall. DA2 and DA:I are both on Steam. Cheap prices too. Have at it :lol:

edit: Nevermind, see Couch's correction below

 

[Couchpotato]

That happened a long time ago as I recall. DA2 and DA:I are both on Steam. Cheap prices too. Have at it

Technically both yes and no. It's sold on Steam but still needs the EA client.

Incorporates 3rd-party DRM: EA on-line activation and Origin client software installation and background use required.

 

[Stingray]

I do like the setting and would probably enjoy a tactical RPG set there, rather than yet another action-based button masher console-style game.

I agree it's not tactical and feels too consoley, but not sure where the action-based & button-mashing comments are coming from? DA combat, even in DA2 and DA:I, is RTwP, even though the camera view has been pulled in a lot to kind of make it look like a 3rd person action RPG (you can also switch to top-view on DA:I but IIRC, it doesn't zoom out very far and really sucks).

 

[Couchpotato]

They'd been using UE3, and I wonder what it could be about Frostbite that made it so much harder.

From what I can gather it all comes down to one basic problem. The Frostbite engine was never meant for RPGs. Every system had to be built from scratch.

We've seen this problem with CDPR Red Engine were it becomes a waste of resources to keep updating your own engine. It eventually causes development roadblocks.

Which makes me wonder are the next Mass Effect and Dragon Age made in Frostbite? As it would make sense to move to Unreal 5 like most other studios have.

 

[Stingray]

Technically both yes and no. It's sold on Steam but still needs the EA client.

Ah ok, I just remember the announcement a long time ago about them going up for sale on Steam. Must have forgotten the rest.

 

[Couchpotato]

I agree it's not tactical and feels too consoley, but not sure where the action-based & button-mashing comments are coming from? DA combat, even in DA2 and DA:I, is RTwP, even though the camera view has been pulled in a lot to kind of make it look like a 3rd person action RPG (you can also switch to top-view on DA:I but IIRC, it doesn't zoom out very far and really sucks).

I don't know remember this video.

He was fired after DA2 release.

Still you correct I didn't button smash on the PC.

Wait…for…it…now I mouse smashed.:lol:

 

[Couchpotato]

Ah ok, I just remember the announcement a long time ago about them going up for sale on Steam. Must have forgotten the rest.

Yep I doubt EA will ever drop the Origin client requirement. Ubisoft does the same. You basically need multiple accounts just to play one game. Not practical at all.

 

[Redglyph]

I was always puzzled about what was so terribly wrong with the Frostbite Engine that made it so bad for RPGs. The guy says in the article: "Frostbite wasn't built for RPGs, and BioWare had to create a lot of its UI, camera, and basic RPG systems from scratch. With how much work and iteration BioWare had to do on the new engine, it's a miracle that Dragon Age: Inquisition even shipped at all."

I find that a bit curious, because that's the case with all the big engines; they don't provide anything that particularly facilitates or disadvantages RPGs. You have to sort out your UI and camera controller, code your RPG mechanics, and so on. They'd been using UE3, and I wonder what it could be about Frostbite that made it so much harder.

If I remember correctly, BioWare decided to use Frostbite because of multiple advantages (it was not imposed by EA as many like to think). Then they discovered along the way that it was good for 1st-person view and not meant to be used for 3rd-person view. They had to tweak it a lot to achieve what they wanted.

I'm sure you've already been there: commercial engines, like any framework, always require some expected work to glue everything, and some unexpected work because there are always bugs and parts that don't work correctly no matter how good it is. But if what you want to do is in the features, that should indeed work.

When it's internal code, however, probably spaghetti code which is not documented and only working if you use it as intended... it can be quickly very complex to sort things out. I suppose it's always the question of persisting or giving up on what has already been done and choosing another framework. It's always a difficult decision.