Forum:The future of DA mods?

Forums: Index > Game DiscussionThe future of DA mods?

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When DA:O was released, Bioware took great pains to highlight the power of the accompanying toolset and declare their support for the modding community. In large part, their efforts succeeded. A dynamic modding community arose for the DA franchise, with many mods hosted on Bioware's own website as well as the Dragon Age Nexus. Mods are one of my favorite aspects of DA:O, and both my playthroughs have been more enjoyable because of them.

The release of DA:II, however, made no mention of a toolset. Upon being pressed, Mike Laidlaw (DA's lead) claimed that the DA:II toolset is very similar to the DA:O toolset, and that he'd see about getting it released. That never happened. A series of rationales followed, with Bioware's inability to license third party software used in the toolset being the most convincing.

From what little news has been released about DA:III, it's clear that the third game will have a multiplayer component. I personally welcome this development. However, what will this mean for the modding community, both mod creators and consumers?

It's clear that many game developers (especially those for multiplayer games) are moving to a business model in which DLC's, item packs, and "pay to unlock" content play a large role. Mods can be seen as direct competition for these types of content. While some companies, such as Bethesda, have continued their commitment towards modding, others have tried their best to restrict modification of their games (e.g. ME:3), perhaps fearing that the availability of mods will make their snack-sized releases less attractive.

Personally, I don't buy into this line of thinking. Mods, however good, do not have the cachet of being "canon". The way I see it, those who buy extra content will continue to buy them, and those who don't never had an intention to, regardless of mod availability.

Nonetheless, I see an all-but-foregone conclusion that DA:III will not have a companion toolset released. The lack of a toolset raises the barrier to entry for mod developers and dissuades all but the most resourceful, skilled, and patient modders from creating content. In my opinion, the mods for DA:II on Dragon Age Nexus are not as large in scale or high in quality as those for DA:O, even after accounting for DA:II's lesser popularity. Clever individuals will always figure out ways to mod games, but the lack of a toolset really hurts the development of quality mods and the formation of a passionate community.

In conclusion, I find this is sad, because mods have brought me great pleasure in DA:O, and greatly contributed to my appreciation of the franchise.

What do y'all think? Whocares65 (talk) 00:33, September 10, 2012 (UTC)

I think I might've been willing to play DA2 more than once if I could shower it in mods to customize combat, area design, quest design and dialogue style, and add in player-made companions a la Ser Gilmore. Basically, if modders had been able to redo 80% of the game, so that the core story was presented properly, I might've been able to appreciate it.

As it stands, we all know Bioware stopped listening to their customers a long time ago. The (lack of) toolset options for DA3 is unlikely to be any different. Kestrella (talk) 06:55, September 10, 2012 (UTC)