Dragon Age 4 (Dreadwolf) now in alpha

[DeviousQuail]

I didn't, it was too long ago, and I don't think anyone liked the character! But I recognised Indira, so I looked up her CV.

My two cents: It's tough to get on board with Vivienne when you have Solas, Dorian, and potentially your MC all competing in the same space. We've had an elven mage before but your first introduction paints Solas as someone who knows more than they're letting on. He's also there immediately so you can become anchored to him as your mage. Dorian comes later but is unique in that he's a Tevinter mage so his pov is pretty unique across the entire series. The main quest with him is also better than Cole's so I choose it every time. Vivienne reminds me of many of the mages we've already met through the series with an Orlaisian coat of paint. Not bad, but she's got tough competition.

Spoiler: Too many companions (minor spoilers)

Having so many potential companions is cool but once I find three that I like I will use them almost all of the time. I wish games like this had a thinning of the herd moment in them. Give me options, let me try some different combos, but eventually force a choice and let the others die/leave/become npcs. For DAO it could be after Lothering or completing the first major ally quest (some characters would need an earlier intro but that's not hard), DA2 could do it sometime before heading underground, and in Inquisition anyone you don't pick during the defense of Haven could die or be taken prisoner. I feel the same way about any game that gives you a stable of companions that sit around doing nothing while me and my besties save the day.

 

[pukunui]

@DeviousQuail: Agreed on all counts. That said, I’d rather the extra companions sit around doing nothing than act like I care about/for them even though I never take them with me.

I’ve not forgotten how NWN2 just assumed my female PC was in a romantic relationship with that annoying paladin companion even though I only ever talked to and quested with him when the game made me.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I wish games like this had a thinning of the herd moment in them.

Some do, but it tends to be unpopular/controversial. BG3 does this (currently), any companions you don't have with you at the end of chapter one don't follow you into chapter two, and apparently die. Depending on your actions in Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous companions can leave or be killed. And so on.

 

[pukunui]

You can manually dismiss companions in DA:I (or piss them off enough that they choose to leave), but yeah, there’s no auto-cull as it were.

 

[DeviousQuail]

Some do, but it tends to be unpopular/controversial. BG3 does this (currently), any companions you don't have with you at the end of chapter one don't follow you into chapter two, and apparently die. Depending on your actions in Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous companions can leave or be killed. And so on.

I haven't played BG3 yet so I can give that a try and see how I feel about it. Now that I think about it Divinity Original Sin 2 has a culling that I like and the same people made BG3. The companions in DOS2 are way more customizable and fewer in number, which probably helps. If only there were more hours in the day.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

You reckon? I felt like all the main quests were really obvious and I had to delay doing many of them in order to see what all the other ones.

What I will say is that it is overloaded with unnecessary customization options. The crafting gets a bit tedious after a while.


Interesting! I didn’t recognize her voice. But then I didn’t really like Vivienne so only used her as a companion when I had to.

I played an elf mage and usually used Cassandra/Iron Bull, Varric/Sera, and Dorian/Solas. Didn’t like Black Wall and just never bothered with Cole.

Cassandra, Varric, Sera, and sometimes Iron Bull rather than Cassandra was very fun as a mage. When I played a rogue it was always ranged, and became hard mode because I’d need a mage, and thus have only 1 melee! Usually Cassandra. Love The Iron Bull, but like…Cassandra.

Eventually I started running with Cassandra and Varric, or Sera and Iron Bull.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I just wish they’d let you use a part of 6 lol

 

[wicked cool]

this game development has been so strange. 2+ years ago an announcement /presentation at one of the game awards and then radio silence. Literally they have been working solely on this game (dedicated bioware team for years) and the drips from twitter to a rabid fan base (me included in that fan base) was poor at best. we learned it was going to be an MMO then turned into a single player game

Then the studio recently resurrects mass effect and the main contact person is happy to talk about it
then a bunch of the top people who were on the DA team moved on

Now we have a title which we sort of already had and nobody knows if any of the previous drips are still valid

They are a successful company but if they put a little more effort into marketing and polish in their games they could be much more

 

[Paul Farquhar]

They are a successful company but if they put a little more effort into marketing and polish in their games they could be much more

The sale to EA effectively broke the company. They are trying to rebuild, but the only thing they still have are the IPs.

 

[Jahydin]

Then the studio recently resurrects mass effect and the main contact person is happy to talk about it
then a bunch of the top people who were on the DA team moved on

Yeah, this worries me the most. Will certainly not be pre-ordering until reviews come out.