I just finished a playthrough of DA:O (my third). This time around, I'm more acutely aware of some of the game's deficits. In particular,
1. Combat is super slow
2. Lots of skills become obsolete as you gain level, perhaps (but not always) replaced by other skills.
3. Every map is essentially a collection of corridors and rooms. Therefore, invisible walls are EVERYWHERE.
I'd like to see DA:III address this issues as follows:
1. Increase combat speed, but not as much as DA:II. Also, make the combat animation more akin to DA:O than DA:II. The latter's was ludicrously cartoonish.
2. I like the "upgrade" system of DA:II, but some balancing may be needed. Some skills still became obsolete due to new, wildly overpowered skills.
3. DA isn't The Elder Scrolls, but some more open maps would be helpful in creating the illusion of a living, breathing world, and allow for some exploration (i.e. adventure) alongside combat (i.e. action).
What do y'all think? Whocares65 (talk) 05:21, June 18, 2012 (UTC)
Increasing the combat speed HAS to be done jointly with decreasing the overall number of skills, as the low combat speed was designed specifically in order to give the players time and reason to use their 10-15 skills per party member as opposed to just auto-attacking till the battle ends. The only other alternative is to increase the number of enemies per encounter, which is something I definitely DON'T want to see. More open maps is certainly good: I think it would be optimal if every area on the map had the outskirts like the ones around Lothering.
Now, some points of my own:
Improve the humanoid enemy AI to make soldiers/bandits/mercenaries you will undoubtably fight flee and/or surrender once a certain condition has been met (for instance, bandits would try to flee once 1/3 of the group is dead or 2/3 are heavily wounded and surrender when only 1/4 are still alive, asking the player to let them go if they hand over their weapons, armour and money.) In DA:O, it was probably at its most ridiculous in Lothering, where the Loghain's soldiers would surrender once their captain is heavily wounded, but the group of unarmoured, ragtag refugees that are only in it for the money would fight till they are all dead.
Drop humanoid Bosses with health bars above 300-500: there is no way Ser Cauthrien would have 5000 HP and remain a human. Same applies for Marjolaine, Mad Hermit, Branka and Zathrian. Just give them 30-50 potions instead, to keep the game realistic. This applies to the regular enemies too: let them use potions, poisons, salves and grenades like the player, especially if you can loot those same items off them after the battle! The only way you should be able to loot a potion or Acid Flask from a dead genlock would be if you killed so early that it didn't have time to use it against you.
Introduce armour and weapon damage like in TES, so that your weapons and armour would deteriorate and break if not maintained. The unique items MIGHT be immune to this, but run-of-the-mill chainmail and axes should have a certain damage limit after which they're irreparably broken. The armour repair could be a warrior-specific branch, like how lockpicking is specific to rogues. If you don't have it, don't despair: I would also make a lot more items lootable then now: if you kill an ironclad Cultist Reaver, their armour shouldn't mysterously dissapear when you loot them, although it will be understandably damaged and some pieces might be irreparably broken.
Regarding mysterious dissapearances, remove the utterly ridiculous "rapid decomposition" of enemy corpses. For example, you are only supposed to be in a Tower of Ishal for 1-3 hours at most, yet darkspawn corpses degrade like you have been in there for 2 months. Just let the corpses stay there and remain corpses, with no skeleton effects (especially when it leads to the terrible spider skeletons. Don't the devs know that the spiders have exterior carapace for spine?)
Finally, it would be great to have mounted combat as a warrior-specific specialisation. This would finally bridge the gap between warriors and the other two classes and make the game more realistic. I have written about this before in greater detail on the Forum: Multiple weapons. 4Ferelden (talk) 10:56, June 18, 2012 (UTC)
I want to decapitate people. I didn't decapitate anyone in Dragon Age II. That's a problem.
--The Milkman | I always deliver. 12:26, June 18, 2012 (UTC)
- Not sure how mounted combat would work in DA:O. DA games are not open-world, so there's no benefit to having a mount for travel. You'd have to have a pretty large combat area to justify having amount, and much of the fighting is done in hallways and corridors (although, as mentioned, I'd like this to change).
- I'd have to disagree about equipment degradation. I've always found this to be a very annoying mechanic in other games, one that forced me to spend coin and time doing tedious things. Instead, I'd prefer to see the fatigue mechanic brought back in some fashion. Wearing massive armor should cause you to move slower, be less accurate, and use more stamina to utilize skills.
- Totally agree with you about the lack of deathblow animations in DA:II. It's understandable given that the fast-paced combat of the sequel would worsen the effects of not being able to control your character during an extended execution sequence (ogre kill anyone?), but I can think of several ways this can be solved. First, just speed up the deathblow animation correspondingly. Second, make it so that if the selected character does a deathblow, the time slows down for everyone else. Whocares65 (talk) 04:52, June 19, 2012 (UTC)
Personally, I really liked the gameplay in DAO. I know you might disagree, but I don't think that the combat needs to be very much faster. I would like the gameplay in DA3 to be very similar the gameplay in DAO. Two things I would like to see, however, are a way to break down doors and a way to climb over the two-foot-high barricades in DAO.--CouslandRogue (talk) 16:39, June 18, 2012 (UTC)
Rather than expanding the looting subgame, I'd rather it be largely eliminated. It's always seemed strange to me that the party is carrying mutiple sets of full plate armor, chainmail, leather armor, 18 pairs of boots/gloves/etc., 15 swords, etc. with no wagon and no horses. Not to mention that each set of armor comes with handy adjustments so that can fit Sten, the Warden, Zevran, and Oghren with equal ease. While I know that looting is a trademark of RPGs since their origins, I'd rather see the major upgrades in character armor/weapons come as special quest rewards/treasure rather than off enemies. Loot money, potions, gems, jewelry, etc., just not leave a bunch of semi-naked enemies all over the place.
Similarly, I'd also prefer to remove the vast majority of the money in the game, since it rarely lasts through the entire game as a valid game mechanic anyway (except to strive for that super highly priced item at the best merchant in town). Otherwise, the player character tends to have more gold in his pockets than the average noble could dream about having. As an alternative, give the player a real reason to horde and spend his cash (like buy votes at the Landmeet or recruit more soldiers for the final battle). Mabberton (talk) 17:19, June 18, 2012 (UTC)
I'd like to see, in essence, the exact opposite of the previous post. Looting your dead foes is a time-honored tradition in all RPGs, and Customization is a good thing; what worked in ME2 didn't in DA2, as they're two different types of games, and the inability to change my party members' entire loadouts was kind of irritating. I ended up with a dozen suits of armor of all types (rogue, warrior, and mage), the only person being able to use them was Hawke, and I'd have to buy most of the upgrades for the party members from vendors. It was an incredibly lazy way to do companion armor, in my opinion. However, I saw a few posts somewhere that detailed a potential way to do armor customization and keep party members' unique "looks" in DA3. The same piece of armor would look different on different party members, a la Diablo 3. While it makes for more work for the designers, I would welcome the return of the ability to outfit my party as I see fit, like I could in DAO.
In short, more customization is good. Less customization is bad. And if you get rid of customization, looting, and money, it's not really an RPG anymore. It's generic hack n' slash #5427 with a conversation wheel. DavetheExile (talk) 00:51, June 19, 2012 (UTC)
I did not mean to imply that I wanted no customization of characters. To be honest I preferred the armor mechanics from DA:O rather than DA2. What I'd rather avoid is the looting mechanic that rewards/forces strip every enemy you fight (including spiders that for some reason collect coins), just to sell it, so I can swap out ever so slightly better armor 10 or 15 times during the game. I'd rather that the rewards (armor and weapons particularly) be included as placed treasure rather than random loot and I swap out armor 3 or 4 times in the game.
I realize that this is a fairly serious change from the typical CRPG. And it would require some serious beefing up of the story elements to replace the quick reward system of looting. Mabberton (talk) 02:37, June 19, 2012 (UTC)
- I sort of understand where you're coming from. I can't even count how many times I've opened up a random chest in DA:O only to find another Elven Longbow or looted an enemy to find another set of Scale Armor. I'd prefer that the leader of a group of enemies drop significant treasure (money, potions, occasionally weapons/armor), and the common footsoldiers become non-lootable. The existence of an auto-loot mod indicates to me that many consider looting a chore anyways. Whocares65 (talk) 04:52, June 19, 2012 (UTC)
Get rid of cooldowns, I mean why have them if you have a mana pool. All hail Darkside! 203.45.127.20 (talk) 04:44, June 19, 2012 (UTC)Darkside
- I'd argue that cooldowns are necessary to keep a mage from spamming 10 Fireballs at the beginning of a fight and simply destroying everything. Whocares65 (talk) 04:53, June 19, 2012 (UTC)
- I always thought that you have one or the other not both, but I see your point. 203.45.127.20 (talk) 04:56, June 19, 2012 (UTC)Darkside
- Basically, cooldowns force you to spread your skills over time. One way to avoid cooldowns is to decrease the mage's mana pool but increase the rate of mana regeneration. I don't really care for this option because with cooldowns, I can spam 10 different spells in a row, which is an appropriate reward for having unlocked so many spells. Whocares65 (talk) 05:06, June 19, 2012 (UTC)
I would like to see mage combat from DA2 be done in DA3. I think the mage Played better by far in DA2 than DAO. It might be good if warriors could dish out more damage this time than the sad mockery they are in DA2. Plus no more super ninja's. 203.45.127.20 (talk) 05:38, June 19, 2012 (UTC)Darkside
Wow, I think I agreed with pretty much every point, OP! For me, the combat in Dragon Age feels completely lifeless. It is dull to watch, and there's no haptic feedback. On that front, DAII did significantly better. I can tell when my shot has connected, and there's much more flourish.
On to your second point, I have always found the upgrade "tree" of DAII superior to the linear progression of DA:O. I hope they continue on that front with the third.
The maps I'm not sure need improving, however. I wont argue with more open-ended maps, but both DA:O and DAII had an excellent sense of "connectedness" to them. I could walk from the entrance of the Dalish Camp, in to the Brecillian Forest and then on to the ruins. Or I could go from Lowtown to Hightown then in to the Chantry.
I know it sounds cliched at this point, but what I want in Dragon Age III is more choice. In Dragon Age: Origins, I could choose my past, I could have different outcomes to all the conflicts, I could handle situations in a plethora of ways; I felt that was very subdued in the second game, so I hope it returns in the next. RomeoReject (talk) 07:42, June 19, 2012 (UTC)
OP, I don't see much problem with mounts; it will be just a warrior's equivalent to mage's Shapeshifter and rogue's Ranger, giving some nice bonuses like increased speed and physical resistance but with a fatigue penalty and reduced number of usable skills. As I have said before, I elaborate on this in more detail on this forum. Please take a look here beofre providing further arguments.
Also, I feel like that your complaints about looting and armour degradation stem from not having two implemented at the same time. Then you wouldn't mind getting a lot of the same equipment, as your own would degrade quite fast, eventually getting irreparably broken and replaced by the stuff you loot, which would in turn be heavily degraded from battle, etc. In order to prevent this from becoming too much of a chore, there would be an algorithm that would auto-swap your party's equipment for the next best thing once it gets too degraded/broken/outdated, meaning that you don't have to do it yourself (of course, you can always turn it off if you want to.).
Regarding looting in general, I want it to be logic-based: animals would only drop their pelts/toxins/etc. and rarely coins/rings that they could have had ingested; humanoid enemies drop the equipment that doesn't get broken in the fight, coins where appropriate (never understood darkspawn keeping so much money, rather then forging it into more axes) and consumables IF they could logically use it (no potions from bears) and they didn't have time to use it themselves. The equipment degradation prevents over-looting, with the decreased inventory size optional.
I would also decrease the overall amount of containers in the game, especially the ones that don't require lockpicking AND let players use those containers ourselves, rather then having to destroy every single item over the inventory limit (which could be comfortably decreased, or waved away by giving pack mules, brontos, etc.)
Finally breaking down doors and small obstacles is a double-edged sword, increasing the realism and interactivity but somewhat decreasing the replaybility fun, as one can no longer do crowd-control with doors, nor place the characters in narrowest spots possible to prevent enemies from ganging up. 4Ferelden (talk) 08:58, June 19, 2012 (UTC)
I apologize if I throw people in a loop, I'm not use to adding to forums. The topic is "What would you like to see gameplay wise in DA:3?" I like the having more than one specialization in the DA games and I like the skill tree in DA2. What I would like to see, if like DA2 in having no more than two specializations per playthrough, is a separate skill tree that utilizes the strengths of both specializations. For example: a mage, Blood Mage and Spirit Healer, uses a single spell that drains an enemy's health and heals the party. 108.225.76.58 (talk) 00:35, June 20, 2012 (UTC) A Guest 5:34 pm, June 19 2012
Attack speed that is faster than Origins but slower than the second. No more I want cities to truly feel like cities. Fro example when we look at the Denerim map it shows hundreds of house but we only visit alleys, the alienage, fort, and the palace. Once we beat teh game we should be able to go to any place that we wish.
I would like to have the Day/Night cycle to grind night for XP and Gold against bandits, etc. I also want our classes to matter. If we are a mage Templars will not be persuaded by us as much as warrior or rogue. Also mage's will not trust us much if we are a templar.
--Verkone (talk) 08:17, June 26, 2012 (UTC)
Combat as fast a DA2, but with less cartoonish animations. (Like mighty blow, and closing attack animations) The game should not try to be more like TES. (not completely open world and no deteriorating weapons) Roger Freeze (talk) 14:41, June 26, 2012 (UTC)
I know this won't be popular, but I just wanted to say that I really like the recycling of assets in Dragon Age 2. I am very happy with the way the maps changed depending on whether it was day, night, 3 years later, or a Qunari siege. These were terrific. I approve of this kind of efficient thinking. I think the idea of "expansive" maps might be a mistake, but I saw the video video and it's in.
Sadly, this was counter-acted by the equipment models, which for the most part were just sold because I already had better. Much artwork has never even been seen - I recently chanced upon the Enasalin set of equipment - it's beautiful, but the stats are trash and it doesn't level up. This would normally mean I vend it without even looking, but I was curious as my other characters were not rogues and my companions can't use ... yes well, we all know that problem and I saw the video.
I thought DA2's combat was a massive improvement on DA:O, and the cutscenes, characterisation and writing were better, in my opinion.
In short, I'd be delighted with simply more of the same - same engine, same assets, new story. I simply struggle to understand why it's so difficult to do this. I realise the story is one of the most difficult parts of the game, but who remembers the modules in D&D? The additional stories published in White Dwarf? Lots of new stuff for the existing ruleset. IMHO there should be a dedicated team knocking out Legacy, Mark of the Assassin, and many many more.
But maybe there's simply not enough profit there. Anyway, we're way off-topic now, so I'll stfu. Svartalfimposter (talk) 14:04, June 27, 2012 (UTC)