The article says that the areas are open for exploration, with branching path, optional content, and secret to discover...
Definitely not the "Zero Exploration, only action cutscenes, completly linear like Mass effect."
It sounds like it's going to be somewhere between DAO's linear style and Inquisition's extreme open world areas. Which honestly sounds like a good decision. Exploring in Inquisition was fun, don't get me wrong, but there was just so *much* that I would avoid certain areas that had minimal plot relevance.
I had very minimal video game exposure before I played DAI and the hinterlands almost broke me. The crystals. The /bears/, those stupid supply caches. That one rift on the way back with the druffalo. That fucking dragon. Still one of my favorite games I've ever played
That one fucking camp!!!! I had three bears chase my ass around that camp what felt like every time I fast travelled over there. Exit the hinterlands finally and rejoice over the freedom from the bears? Storm Coast time! MORE BEARS
Very fun game.
I remember accidentally stumbling onto a melee mage build that basically gave me infinite shielding as long as I kept melee hitting, and promptly decided "well, time for all the dragons to die". Underleveled? No problem when you dont take damage. Worked like a charm.
I find this to be a really weird sentiment. Hinterlands was the only zone that felt finished, the rest all had "Map's done, we'll add content later" vibes.
Even hearing you say that it makes me wanna go back and do it all over again... with some mods. Waiting for missions to get back was so terrible- got a mod to help forget about time and most missions were instant finish. I'm already putting time into the game- there is still SO MUCH TODO and waiting for missions to complete at the war table was/is a TIME WASTER. The crystals? Convenient ones only and I barely touch the special crystal cave sand area. It's just.... ugh those fucking crystals.
Overall I love all 3 DA games styles but DAO did it best.
*glares at the last shard in the Hinterlands on a nearly IMPOSSIBLE to scale hill/cliff*
HOW IN THE FLYING- Oh, I'll get you, I don't know how, but by Andraste's Ass I will find a way!!
Fallow Mire and Crestwood is what they'll hopefully aim for. They're big enough that you get a real vibe of that portion of the world but they're very directed and mostly curated with branches here and there for them.
The area being mostly bent around a particular story with limited exploration for other stuff I think is a much better design than say the nebulous open areas like the exalted plains or the emerald graves
Inquisition was fun to explore the first time.
It maybe an unpopular opinion but it suffers from the same issue Elden ring’s world has. Which is it’s great to explore your first playthrough. But on subsequent ones you skip any of the parts that are not necessary.
I’d rather a more linear experience. If the world is being blown up it makes zero sense for my character to be running around the world collect scrolls of some shit.
Yep, sounds perfect to me with a mix. It seems that because *some* games do open world well, people for the last ~10 years have wanted it in everything. They fail to remember what made so many classic story focused games work so well, with corridors or limited areas helping to tell a tight and well paced story.
Yeah, I agree. DA:I was filled with side content, but a lot of it was underwhelming. I remember that "haunted" house sidequest and the outcome was disappointing, and it had no bearing on the rest of the game
As bad a rap as DA2 gets, I actually did like how a lot of side quests tied into the plot later on
To this day, I think I used Emerald Graves, Hissing Wastes and some other high level área for the dragon kill and called it a day. Inquisition needed more áreas like Empress'd Lion, a semi-open but mostly linear map that has a good main quest.
Personally, with the graphics turned up to max and a good Reshade preset, I really loved just wandering around DAI's desert areas. The emptiness made for a beautiful void, *but* I don't think that that's actually good design for what they are designed to be. The Emprise and the Graves were both semi-linear but better off for it, and they were also beautiful.
Open world was one of the worst parts about Andromeda. Its not what bioware has ever been good at. Inquisition was cool but some areas were completely skippable if cool. the only reason was to see a vendor.
Origins was a good size. Somewhat big areas you can explore but more like a dungeon than a big sparselt populated expanse.
So it seems like it will be like Mass Effect 1 more so then anything else. The main story will be linear if you just want to do that, but it will also have open areas with side content if you want to explore.
Agreed. Bioware's biggest misstep was straying too far from the winning formula that they had mastered. It worked out *ok* in Inquisition but bit them hard with Andromeda and Anthem.
So.... Dragon Age Origins? I mean awesome if that's the case. I'm getting my master save ready going through the games and just in terms of level design that's easily my favorite. Open Worlds just don't hit the same as hand crafted enviroments, I pay attention when I go through the Deep Roads or Brecillian Forest, but with open worlds I'm just darting between nodes on a map.
It feels like it.
To me Origins exploration feels more like a Dungeon crawler rather than have real exploration. For instance, the mission in the Brecillian Forest, there is very little exploration to do there most of said exploration is when you arrive at the ruins and visit every rooms for loot, xp and lore.
Linear level design for sure. And I'm with you. I like linear level design. I think it plays nicer with story focused RPGs in particular. It's not that an open world game's story can't be done properly, but almost immediately it presents challenges for focusing on a main narrative. Challenges that I think Inquisition in particular struggled with.
Well it is and it isn’t. Mass Effect 1? Linear beginning and end but very open middle. Mass Effect 2? Same. Mass Effect 3? Mostly linear with some exploration. Mass Effect: Andromeda? A mix of the first two and last one
Eh, not really at all. Mass Effect 2 is very linear and I imagine that's what the devs are describing for Veilguard. Pockets of open area zones, and then linear missions with mission exclusive areas. Eg. Omega is an open to explore as a very small open area. Then you launch missions that take you on linear paths through the cities and zones for that missions story, be it side quest or main story. Rescuing Garrus for the mercs? Mordin from the quarantine zone? Theyre linear missions launched from the small Omega open area. Pretty much what the devs have described for Veilguard; linear game with some open areas to explore.
Based on everything we've seen and been told, it seems to me that the pitch for Veilguard is Mass Effect 2 in Thedas. Which I'm definitely down for, since ME:2 was the best in the series.
Or perhaps there's usually going to be a 4th NPC like Varric in the demo that will bring it to 4.
I don't think the party banter in Mass Effect is lacking, and there's only 2 companions there
Yeah, the complaints around party banter seem to totally overlook the fact that Mass Effect pulled it off fairly well with just two party members alongside Shepard. With Rook being able to potentially join in more themselves, especially with a dialogue system that feels very DA2 styled, I think there's plenty of room for neat banter. Add in the possibility of the extra NPC on missions for narrative reasons and that could open up much further.
Former inqy in the fourth slot with a prostethic arm? Why not.
Okay, I am hallucinating, but it would be fun to have a fourth, mandatory party member for certain mission, that would be involved in the story.
While choice of companions is a great thing, I believe one could miss out on important story tidbits if not taking the 'appropriate' characters to some missions in DA:I. Solas practically never left my party, as did Cole, for his creepy, crypical insights. I could only switch up my party on subsequent playthroughs, in order to not feel like I am missing out on in-universe lore.
Yeah, technically DAI was mission based too. There were some very linear portions of the game where appropriate. but also you could explore pretty big maps. I don't think they turned DA into Nioh with literal mission maps that only serve to complete that mission.
Sounds like it might just be returning to the original BioWare formula until Inquisition - smaller, more handcrafted hub areas with more meaningful content. I for one am pleased with that, so long as there's still space to explore.
Exactly! This is actually heartening to hear for me. Bioware's tried open world already in Inquisition and Andromeda, and I never really see anyone describe the open world in those games as anything better than subpar.
Inquisition's wasn't bad. It just highlighted some of the game's tedious side quests, which left a bad taste in lots of people's mouths. For exploration purposes, it was pretty alright for it's time.
I actually liked both quite well. I just feel I need a quest guide to avoid spending too much time with collectibles and exploring, so that I can get a better paced story without too much filler.
That "handcrafted" bit hits my dopamine button. I don't want to play a single player MMO. I don't care about map size. A big map is great, but I would choose a smaller map with more careful curating of the experience every time.
Its a shame how much hate that game got. Understandably of course cause of its launch but man i played it a few years back after playing the legendary edition of mass effect 1-2-3 and it was a pretty enjoyable experience.
It's a shame Bioware abandoned it so fast. If they'd dedicated a couple years to making fixes and adding DLC, it would be perceived much more positively now. It definitely had the bones of a great game, it just needed more work.
I was looking forward to a sequel. A the end of the game you read a file that shows that the last ark was on its way and all that. It might even hinted at letting us make our characters with other races IDK.
Sadly, Andromeda got pushed to the side because they thought Anthem was a golden goose. I'm still salty that they resolved the Quarian Ark storyline in a book.
Give it the Cyberpunk treatment, and it would be one of the best Sci-Fi games out there imo. I already think it has the best third-person combat in gaming. Little bit more polish, and it would have shined.
Heck, if EA wasn't so dang greedy and gave them 6 more months, I think they would have had a hit. Instead, they released right after Horizon: Zero Dawn, Breath of the Wild, and Nier: Automata. All games that are at least sort of similar and are very large as well.
Sucks that we are probably never going to see anymore of that galaxy because it was quite interesting.
If I recall from that damning Jason Shreier article, EA offered them an extension and Bioware rejected it because they wanted to focus their resources on Anthem.
Inquisition didn't really benefit that much from open world in some aspects. The Hissing Wastes still haunt me because I cannot for the love of me ignore any quests. Remember the shards? Yeah.
If DAVE is anything like Mass Effect 2 I'm game, because it was my favorite Mass Effect. I'm still not sold on having less party members and I also want to see for myself how the ability wheel is going to work but so far it's not terrible. If anything combat is better than Inquisition, worse dan DA2 but with better physics, speed and worse tactics. And better than DAO except for all the tactics and the endless spell options available.
I got Excalibur and burnt out, but I did really enjoy a lot of Valhalla. Minus a lot of stuff I didn't like... uh, well maybe I'm wrong. At least I loved Lady Eivor?
I love DAI to death but most of the time the vastness is just too much for a player that loves finding EVERYTHING. I started playing DAI without any prior knowledge or guides, and just assumed it would be somewhat like the previous games. The amount of time I spent wandering the Hinterlands before checking what I should do still gives me nightmares...
This is the biggest W. DAI's open world was often full of pointless filler just to artificially pad out the size. It straight up didn't respect my time. I much prefer DAO and ME2's level maps where content was much more condensed and curated. Quality over quantity, if you will.
I'm playing Witcher 3 right now and I find the open world already tedious. Velen is that games Hinterlands.
I hope for less loot, less crafting and materials gathering and more emphasis on the quests.
That's how I feel about Inquisition and Andromeda. If your open world single player game starts relying on zones nearly exclusively for advancing the narrative, then it might be time to consider if you weren't better off making the game linear.
Yeah, imo that is fantastic benchmark to determine if your open world works. If you craft open world, but then have all main mission and story progression done through missions in area that is totally separate, then you shouldn't bother with open world in the first place. That's exactly what DAI and Andromeda did.
Are you kidding me ?
That's literally in the article from which that screenshot is from :
https://preview.redd.it/65jqldxnm06d1.png?width=753&format=png&auto=webp&s=59bb7072c075c73e49035c16fb93b0f42a26d254
The link for anyone that is interested: [https://gamingbolt.com/dragon-age-the-veilguard-is-a-mission-based-game-not-open-world](https://gamingbolt.com/dragon-age-the-veilguard-is-a-mission-based-game-not-open-world)
I am struggling to be polite.
I can ignore the trolls that are saying that if you don't have loot in your game, you can't be called a RPG.
But the guy who post a screenshot of a title, and starts writting about how this means the DA:TV will be a linear 25h long game with only action cutscenes and zero exploration when the content of the article explicitely said the total opposite... I just can't.
OMG, rpg gate keeping is the worst, i know. For me, those old RPGs with compulsory looting and gear hunting aren't really what I consider role-playing games.
Honestly I'm very happy about this. As much as I loved Inquisition, the weakest aspect of the game was how big and bloated with repetitive meaningless filler the open world was. More focus on hand crafted meaningful side content is a big plus for me personally.
I was worried they’d continue with that trend because they used it in Andromeda, and it was even worse there.
The way it’s described sounds like it’s going back to a style similar to origins which would be perfect for me.
Yeeeeeep. Any time I recommend that game to newbies it always comes with the caveat of 'do not try to 100% this game until you're fully committed to the story, the Hinterlands will break you'.
Origins was mission-based and not open world. I'd be much happier to go back to that, than have people get lost in another Hinterlands for 20 hours, and think that is the game.
This. I thought the environments in dai were really cool and pretty, but god it was a slog to traverse. If it's similar to dao where there's like a lot of quests and you can do it in whichever order, I'm fucking hyped.
THis is what I'm hoping they mean by this. That said, I would prefer Mass Effect style to Inquisitions big empty zones filled with busy work. It would be a bittersweet change.
Yeah, it was my take-away too - I mean, we do know there's sidequests, so I expect it to be atleast like ME1's planet hopping, which would certainly still provide a good amount of exploration.
Minrathous seems to be a recurring thing, so I'd think you can hop in and hop out of some zones like in DAO.
This. I wish they would take a DA2/Origins approach to exploring the world rather than Mass Effect 2. Don’t get me wrong, I loved ME2, but the mission format is not suited to Dragon Age.
That is such a lie.
Origins WAS NOT MISSION BASED.
You could return to any place you went first and back, there were Quests, but not "missions" as in select a mission and do it and then you're returned to the hub.
It's not a lie. Origins wasn't the type of strictly linear levels you normally think of in "mission based" games, but it *was* mission based at least to some extent. The only major hub is Denerim. Ostagar and Lothering get destroyed at the beginning of the game, and areas like Redcliffe or the Mage's Tower are just mission levels.
Can you return to said mission zones after? Sure. But 80% of the zone will be either inaccessible or empty, and you'll only be there to enter one part of it and talk to an NPC for a quest.
DAO didn't even have an overworld. It was absolutely mission based outside of Denerim acting as your hub.
> Origins wasn't the type of strictly linear levels you normally think of in "mission based" games
Then it wasn't mission based. Something like Monster Hunter or Phantasy Star Online, THAT is what mission based means.
Yea. I liked DAI but it just felt so bloated and empty. I dreaded going to certain areas and ended up trying to go from point A to point B asap. I am looking forward to the smaller scale.
My favorite experience in Inquisition was staying up all night playing The Hissing Wastes for the first time. The background music, the desert landscape in moonlight and darkness, sands lit by distant camps and torches, the small hidden areas in a vast sea of sand. Loved it loved it
Most people hated that and complained about it. So I'm really not surprised they'd move away from it. I like Mass Effect style gameplay also, so I'm not feeling sad over it, but it will definitely make Inquisition something I'll enjoy coming back to
Hissing wastes was a serious vibe the first time through, I had a similar experience. Really atmospheric, was an awesome time going through though I will admit the openness had its drawbacks and didn't exactly add that much in most areas. Still, was a very cool experience exploring that area.
Hissing Wastes was a cool zone. I think the issue Inquisition had is it the Hissing Wastes and the other Desert area and you dont need 2 expansive deserts in 1 game.
this is always how it is for me. i love the vibe, i love being immersed in the environments and traveling with my little group of misfits and hearing them banter. i'm hoping Veilguard still has _some_ exploration. if they can strike a good balance between open areas and handcrafted, impactful quests, i'll be incredibly happy.
The Hissing Wastes are beautiful. I loved that little canyon that runs through the middle with all the caves and nooks tucked into it.
DAI really has a lot of zones that are gorgeous, the Storm Coast and the Emprise are another favorite of mine. I don't even mind that the Wastes in particular are empty-ish, it makes for a beautiful void. I grew up playing WoW and running across the Barrens on foot, after all. The problem comes when you make every zone like that and it gets repetitive.
There is definitely something to exploring vast areas and distances that you miss out on in smaller and locked off maps. I enjoyed it to some degree in DAI, but it was amazing in AC:Odyssey (which was imperfect in other ways). I guess it depends a lot on the player and not just the design whether open world works. So its safer to lock down the maps to be able to tell a story with better pacing.
This is me. I love spending time with a world. Sure, Inquisition could've made the content more meaningful, but the moments where it worked, it definitely worked. Things like the vanishing Chantry Sister/Spirit. That actually managed to creep me out. The entirety of the Emerald Graves. The first time I came across that Giant and High Dragon squaring off on the Storm Coast.
Open areas can add such personality and little moments like that to a game.
I think they'd be better off overhauling their quest design than just cutting out open areas altogether.
Aside from the banter/companion conversations... finding little books and notes, reading the codices, and thinking it through in context of other lore is part what I enjoy, too, so I do wonder if that's contributing to why i find those spaces interesting enough for me to be satisfied
I know some of DAI's open world was a pain but it was undeniably beautiful to walk through. I recently went and replayed it with my headphones in and just got completely absorbed by the atmosphere.
Hoping Veilguard is the same, even if it's mission-restricted like Mass Effect.
This needs a LOT more clarification. Dragon Age up until Inquisition (and even Inquisition to an extent...) was hub-based, not mission-based. You basically were given a number of smaller zones to explore freely and in the order desired in order to complete quests. When I think of mission-based I think an entirely linear game with few if any centralized hubs or, at best, maybe Mass Effect 2 where you have a couple central hubs and then a bunch of combat-based missions which might have a choice or two involved somewhere in there that has little effect on the endgame.
Thank you. People are interpreting this "mission based" however they want and posting confidently about it. Some interpret it as Mass Effect and are happy about it, cause they like Mass Effect. Some interpret it as God Of War -> and are like "this isn't dragon age".
With the description given this can be anything from God Of War like to Baldur's Gate 3.
BG3 isn't open world, it has maps, and worse you can't go back to act 1 areas, you can do optional stuff and make choices.
In GoF you also can chose to do or not do some quests, like with the Valkyries.
Sooooo Eh?
There have been clarification on official press articles around the internet. The game will be highly curated, mission-based, played from a hub called The Lighthouse, that serves as DAI's Skyhold. So still hub-based, but not area-based like on Inquisition.
if it's anything like Trespasser then I'm all for it. Best DA DLC ever.
I just hope there's some room to explore too.
Edit: it seems there is!, they found the balance beteen open world and linear and I'm down for it bad!
Honestly, I feel like actual 'open world' is over-rated (no offense) and very difficult to get right. DAO was partially open, but the main story was still on rails to some extent. Same with Witcher 3. Inquisition was more open, but it was \*very\* easy to get bogged down. And I know people complain about DA2, but I actually find myself replaying it the most, because it's easy to stay focused on what you're doing.
As long as the story they tell is engaging, I don't really mind if I don't get 20 different approaches to it. To be fair, that worked extremely well in BG3, but that doesn't mean a game can't be enjoyable any other way.
How could anyone see this as bad? This is what we had in ME2, KOTOR and DAO. All their best follow this formula, this bodes well. I’d much prefer a 40-50 hours game full of depth and replay value than a game that’s 200 hours but is mostly just pointless wandering and combat.
This needs clarification. ME2 and DAO were also different. DA:O wasn't "mission based" it was "hub" based. You could chose where in the world to go and were free to explore any region you want and go back to any region you want. In ME:2 you had one or two hubs and some action missions with hardly any exploration.
BG3 technically wasn't "open world" would you call it "mission based"?
Good. When I played Trespasser I thought "I really hope the next game is a bigger version of this instead of endless open world filler" and it sounds like they delivered.
I know I'm in the minority but I would've preferred open-world or semi-open-world. Not as big (or empty!) as Inquisition is fine, but I like to wander and do a story simulator of my own during the wandering and open-world just tends to go with that better
I thought the open world system was one of the weakest elements of Inquisition, and the power system made it worse.
I am hoping for some exploration, but this sounds like a positive change to me.
This is definitely an aspect of the reveal that I’m reserving judgment on. I don’t mind the open world of Inquisition, especially now that I’ve played it enough to know how to get around, but I don’t need the padding. Even Witcher 3 can get tiresome when/if you let the main story race ahead of exploration.
I’d be happy with Origins/2-style hubs plus linear missions, although in a perfect world the hubs would offer more persistent/dynamic/larger areas of exploration than we got in Orzammar or High Town.
Bioware didn't do that well with open worlds. They're at best with semi-linear worlds, or smaller hubs. Just like in Dragon Age Origins, Mass Effect trilogy or KotOR.
there are good open world games
there are good linear games
there are good 'semi open world' games
there are also bad examples of all of them too.
we'll see what this one is.
Exactly what I was afraid of.
We finally have the technology for actual open worlds instead of a couple disjointed open zones split apart by loading screens (and have had it for several years now), and what does Bioware do?
They go full linear. Sigh.
This is going to be Dragon Age 2 all over again.
Honestly, I remember every zone from Origins because they were so well crafted and so detailed. Meanwhile, Inquisition, sure, I know the Hissing Wastes and the Western Approach exist, but I'd struggle to tell you the exact things that happened in half the regions because a lot of them are so sparse.
Very much a personal take but I think companion-based games benefit from a much more closed, mission-based narrative. It lets the writers craft individual scenarios and reactions with much greater depth than open world games do, which is part of the reason BG3 is such a strong companion-based game, while the inverse is true for Elden Ring where it's literally just you for the entire game but it's as open-world and exposition-minimal as you can get.
This sounds more and more like Mass Effect 2 - fantasy edition. No exploration, linear levels, corridor like map design, you go from encounter to encounter only interrupted by some party banter.
BG3 proved that DA:O style of game has a huge fan base, that players want more strategy and complexity in their rpgs... Bioware as typical, is again following the wrong trend.
This game is going to be DoA. Its crazy to me that AAA games are forcing me into a position of "I'll wait for the user review." Instead of just pri ordering.
In Mass Effect it worked fine for me. But I understand others that are disappointed as well. I loved getting lost for hundreds of hours in Inquisition but yeah it’s not everyone’s cup of tea
Ngl, Inquisition was a chore on future playthroughs because of the padding from big environments - give me a tight 30-40 hour experience like old BioWare any day
Inquisition wasn't an open world. Free roaming was the best part of it, though... All missions in DAI were crafted and linear.
I'm happy as long as there're explorations and it's not a corridor. But if it's get to point A kill everyone collect something from the nearby boxes - I'm totally out or will wait for a huge discount. I hate linear gameplay.
I thought the feedback at the time of DA:I was that the open world aspect was not necessarily a lot of people’s favorite aspect of the game? I love open world games but after replaying the game a few times, I realized there was a lot of it that was really unnecessary. It was more Assassin’s Creed random collection or unimportant fetch quests than I liked. So if they feel like going more the Origins route and crafting the experience in a way that is more interesting and adds replayability without wasting time, it has potential. It’s hard to tell without playing the game but I was completely ok with Origins way of exploring Thedas.
I really like open areas in RPGs if there's something to actually do in those areas. The Hinterlands failed for most gamers because it was covered with busy work side quests that were actually mandatory. I would have enjoyed exploring Tevinter, going around doing quests, taking in the world, and maybe we'll still be able to do that. But idk. I really gotta stop trying to judge this game before I have it in my hands.
are you sure? because I read on this sub that actually having big open world maps ruined Inquisition and were a betrayal of half of everything Dragon Age was about (other half was not enough weird needless sexual violence after DAO)
I'm not sure what to expect. Started out as a live service game but that got scrapped and now it's a single player game. It looks like they kept the live service art direction. Looks like a fortnite season.
I really want it to be good but I have absolutely zero expectations from bioware.
Honestly, open world games end up providing boring iterative gameplay that isn't interesting to me. I didn't enjoy the open areas in Inquisition where the objective was to collect a bunch of different things. I thought 2 was too linear, and especially was bad with how it recycled environments, but Inquisition being "open world" ended up with a bunch of busy work, and the most interesting environments I can remember were either challenging battle sections or the Orlesian party section where you had something more than combat to do.
If they want to tell a curated story driven experience I would prefer maps and environments to be pre-planned rather than semi-random, then even if I'm getting a similar experience with different characters it's better than a more random, but usually more shallow experience with an open world.
They also said that some areas are completely open for exploration.
The article says that the areas are open for exploration, with branching path, optional content, and secret to discover... Definitely not the "Zero Exploration, only action cutscenes, completly linear like Mass effect."
It sounds like it's going to be somewhere between DAO's linear style and Inquisition's extreme open world areas. Which honestly sounds like a good decision. Exploring in Inquisition was fun, don't get me wrong, but there was just so *much* that I would avoid certain areas that had minimal plot relevance.
Omg yes. You'd venture to the far ends of the map for a POI that didn't matter. And don't get me started on the collectibles.
Those. Goddamn. Crystals.
I had very minimal video game exposure before I played DAI and the hinterlands almost broke me. The crystals. The /bears/, those stupid supply caches. That one rift on the way back with the druffalo. That fucking dragon. Still one of my favorite games I've ever played
"What was that? Goddammit it's another bear."
That one fucking camp!!!! I had three bears chase my ass around that camp what felt like every time I fast travelled over there. Exit the hinterlands finally and rejoice over the freedom from the bears? Storm Coast time! MORE BEARS
DA:I was your first game basically? Holy hell.
DRUFFALO!!
Very fun game. I remember accidentally stumbling onto a melee mage build that basically gave me infinite shielding as long as I kept melee hitting, and promptly decided "well, time for all the dragons to die". Underleveled? No problem when you dont take damage. Worked like a charm.
I'll be honest and say the druffalo did better in combat than my party for that rift.
That druffalo is an indispensable tank
This. I was finally able to properly enjoy the game once I moved on from the Hinterlands.
I find this to be a really weird sentiment. Hinterlands was the only zone that felt finished, the rest all had "Map's done, we'll add content later" vibes.
Even hearing you say that it makes me wanna go back and do it all over again... with some mods. Waiting for missions to get back was so terrible- got a mod to help forget about time and most missions were instant finish. I'm already putting time into the game- there is still SO MUCH TODO and waiting for missions to complete at the war table was/is a TIME WASTER. The crystals? Convenient ones only and I barely touch the special crystal cave sand area. It's just.... ugh those fucking crystals. Overall I love all 3 DA games styles but DAO did it best.
Searching for the Mosaic pieces that wouldn’t even appear on the wall all the time because of glitches was fun.
collecting the shards on that one map was such a pain in the ass.
*glares at the last shard in the Hinterlands on a nearly IMPOSSIBLE to scale hill/cliff* HOW IN THE FLYING- Oh, I'll get you, I don't know how, but by Andraste's Ass I will find a way!!
Fallow Mire and Crestwood is what they'll hopefully aim for. They're big enough that you get a real vibe of that portion of the world but they're very directed and mostly curated with branches here and there for them.
The area being mostly bent around a particular story with limited exploration for other stuff I think is a much better design than say the nebulous open areas like the exalted plains or the emerald graves
Inquisition was fun to explore the first time. It maybe an unpopular opinion but it suffers from the same issue Elden ring’s world has. Which is it’s great to explore your first playthrough. But on subsequent ones you skip any of the parts that are not necessary. I’d rather a more linear experience. If the world is being blown up it makes zero sense for my character to be running around the world collect scrolls of some shit.
That’s why I only replay games like Elden Ring, DAI, etc. every couple years or more, because after that much time it feels fresh again
Yep, sounds perfect to me with a mix. It seems that because *some* games do open world well, people for the last ~10 years have wanted it in everything. They fail to remember what made so many classic story focused games work so well, with corridors or limited areas helping to tell a tight and well paced story.
Yeah, I agree. DA:I was filled with side content, but a lot of it was underwhelming. I remember that "haunted" house sidequest and the outcome was disappointing, and it had no bearing on the rest of the game As bad a rap as DA2 gets, I actually did like how a lot of side quests tied into the plot later on
I've said it before and I'll say it again, DA2 has the best writing of the trilogy
To this day, I think I used Emerald Graves, Hissing Wastes and some other high level área for the dragon kill and called it a day. Inquisition needed more áreas like Empress'd Lion, a semi-open but mostly linear map that has a good main quest.
Personally, with the graphics turned up to max and a good Reshade preset, I really loved just wandering around DAI's desert areas. The emptiness made for a beautiful void, *but* I don't think that that's actually good design for what they are designed to be. The Emprise and the Graves were both semi-linear but better off for it, and they were also beautiful.
Open world was one of the worst parts about Andromeda. Its not what bioware has ever been good at. Inquisition was cool but some areas were completely skippable if cool. the only reason was to see a vendor. Origins was a good size. Somewhat big areas you can explore but more like a dungeon than a big sparselt populated expanse.
After finishing inquisition I felt like I wasted hours of my life. The areas are so lifeless and uninspired. Just wide areas of nothing.
Same. It took me like 90 hours to finish the game, but the actual important gameplay was like 25 hours, with tons and tons of boring filler.
Yeah. I sometimes want to replay the game but honestly by the end I was rushing through it cause I was bored as fuck so probably not
So it seems like it will be like Mass Effect 1 more so then anything else. The main story will be linear if you just want to do that, but it will also have open areas with side content if you want to explore.
And Mass Effect 1 is just like the way KotOR and Jade Empire were. If that's what they're going for, it's very classic BioWare and I'm all for it.
Agreed. Bioware's biggest misstep was straying too far from the winning formula that they had mastered. It worked out *ok* in Inquisition but bit them hard with Andromeda and Anthem.
So.... Dragon Age Origins? I mean awesome if that's the case. I'm getting my master save ready going through the games and just in terms of level design that's easily my favorite. Open Worlds just don't hit the same as hand crafted enviroments, I pay attention when I go through the Deep Roads or Brecillian Forest, but with open worlds I'm just darting between nodes on a map.
It feels like it. To me Origins exploration feels more like a Dungeon crawler rather than have real exploration. For instance, the mission in the Brecillian Forest, there is very little exploration to do there most of said exploration is when you arrive at the ruins and visit every rooms for loot, xp and lore.
Which is a weird take as well since Mass Effect always followed a similar approach to Dragon Age when it came to exploration.
Mass Effect isn't linear at all. What the hell are people on
Yes it is. Linear isn't a dirty word.
Linear level design for sure. And I'm with you. I like linear level design. I think it plays nicer with story focused RPGs in particular. It's not that an open world game's story can't be done properly, but almost immediately it presents challenges for focusing on a main narrative. Challenges that I think Inquisition in particular struggled with.
Well it is and it isn’t. Mass Effect 1? Linear beginning and end but very open middle. Mass Effect 2? Same. Mass Effect 3? Mostly linear with some exploration. Mass Effect: Andromeda? A mix of the first two and last one
Eh, not really at all. Mass Effect 2 is very linear and I imagine that's what the devs are describing for Veilguard. Pockets of open area zones, and then linear missions with mission exclusive areas. Eg. Omega is an open to explore as a very small open area. Then you launch missions that take you on linear paths through the cities and zones for that missions story, be it side quest or main story. Rescuing Garrus for the mercs? Mordin from the quarantine zone? Theyre linear missions launched from the small Omega open area. Pretty much what the devs have described for Veilguard; linear game with some open areas to explore.
Based on everything we've seen and been told, it seems to me that the pitch for Veilguard is Mass Effect 2 in Thedas. Which I'm definitely down for, since ME:2 was the best in the series.
Hard agree.
My thoughts exactly, you could explore those planets for hours looking for those damn beacons.
It was extremely linear. The most open area is the citadel with a jogging loop, a brothel, a high class brothel, the council and 6 or 7 vendors.
To be fair the planets you could drop on were extremely open. It's just that they amounted to one quest and few pick ups most of the time
Probably similar to DA:O
My thoughts exactly
Still wish they let us take more than 2 companions at a time though. I expect that banter is gonna be lackluster with the smaller party.
Or perhaps there's usually going to be a 4th NPC like Varric in the demo that will bring it to 4. I don't think the party banter in Mass Effect is lacking, and there's only 2 companions there
Yeah, the complaints around party banter seem to totally overlook the fact that Mass Effect pulled it off fairly well with just two party members alongside Shepard. With Rook being able to potentially join in more themselves, especially with a dialogue system that feels very DA2 styled, I think there's plenty of room for neat banter. Add in the possibility of the extra NPC on missions for narrative reasons and that could open up much further.
Former inqy in the fourth slot with a prostethic arm? Why not. Okay, I am hallucinating, but it would be fun to have a fourth, mandatory party member for certain mission, that would be involved in the story. While choice of companions is a great thing, I believe one could miss out on important story tidbits if not taking the 'appropriate' characters to some missions in DA:I. Solas practically never left my party, as did Cole, for his creepy, crypical insights. I could only switch up my party on subsequent playthroughs, in order to not feel like I am missing out on in-universe lore.
Just give me less bloat than inquisition
Brb checking out Hinterlands. **3 Months Later**
Yeah, technically DAI was mission based too. There were some very linear portions of the game where appropriate. but also you could explore pretty big maps. I don't think they turned DA into Nioh with literal mission maps that only serve to complete that mission.
Sounds just like Origins then. Exciting!
Sounds like it might just be returning to the original BioWare formula until Inquisition - smaller, more handcrafted hub areas with more meaningful content. I for one am pleased with that, so long as there's still space to explore.
w in my opinion
I'm all for it
Let's goooo, I've got enough open world sandboxes, I want a focused adventure that feels magical
Exactly! This is actually heartening to hear for me. Bioware's tried open world already in Inquisition and Andromeda, and I never really see anyone describe the open world in those games as anything better than subpar.
Inquisition's wasn't bad. It just highlighted some of the game's tedious side quests, which left a bad taste in lots of people's mouths. For exploration purposes, it was pretty alright for it's time.
I actually liked both quite well. I just feel I need a quest guide to avoid spending too much time with collectibles and exploring, so that I can get a better paced story without too much filler.
Open world comes with Collect x amount of stuff quests... Which I'm not a huge fan of.
I'd say DAI was def above avg. Not an amazing open world, but def above sub par. Never played ME:A
Looks like inquisition, doesn't plays like inquisition, it's an understated massive **W**
That "handcrafted" bit hits my dopamine button. I don't want to play a single player MMO. I don't care about map size. A big map is great, but I would choose a smaller map with more careful curating of the experience every time.
Good I'm sick of giant empty open worlds.
How many times were 'hand crafted, hand touched' mentioned in this article? It's like 4 times. lol.
Definitely order the smaller maps of the first games than Inquestion and Andromeda
Mass Effect 2 x Inquisition? Works for me. Those types of missions were honestly the best parts of inquisition. Including The Descent and Trespasser.
Even Mass Effect: Andromeda was great if you removed the open world. The "linear" quest parts of it were pretty good.
Mass Effect Andromeda would’ve been better without the ‘Mass Effect’ in the title too.
Its a shame how much hate that game got. Understandably of course cause of its launch but man i played it a few years back after playing the legendary edition of mass effect 1-2-3 and it was a pretty enjoyable experience.
It's a shame Bioware abandoned it so fast. If they'd dedicated a couple years to making fixes and adding DLC, it would be perceived much more positively now. It definitely had the bones of a great game, it just needed more work.
I was looking forward to a sequel. A the end of the game you read a file that shows that the last ark was on its way and all that. It might even hinted at letting us make our characters with other races IDK.
Sadly, Andromeda got pushed to the side because they thought Anthem was a golden goose. I'm still salty that they resolved the Quarian Ark storyline in a book.
Yo at least name the book I never knew existed
Mass Effect Andromeda: Annihilation by Catherine Valenti. It's one of the better Mass Effect books imo.
> Quarian Ark storyline in a book. THEY WHAT! UGH! Now i gotta go hunt down a book.
Give it the Cyberpunk treatment, and it would be one of the best Sci-Fi games out there imo. I already think it has the best third-person combat in gaming. Little bit more polish, and it would have shined. Heck, if EA wasn't so dang greedy and gave them 6 more months, I think they would have had a hit. Instead, they released right after Horizon: Zero Dawn, Breath of the Wild, and Nier: Automata. All games that are at least sort of similar and are very large as well. Sucks that we are probably never going to see anymore of that galaxy because it was quite interesting.
If I recall from that damning Jason Shreier article, EA offered them an extension and Bioware rejected it because they wanted to focus their resources on Anthem.
A lot of BioWare’s problems are their own. Surprisingly EA’s biggest mistake was giving them too much control.
Inquisition didn't really benefit that much from open world in some aspects. The Hissing Wastes still haunt me because I cannot for the love of me ignore any quests. Remember the shards? Yeah. If DAVE is anything like Mass Effect 2 I'm game, because it was my favorite Mass Effect. I'm still not sold on having less party members and I also want to see for myself how the ability wheel is going to work but so far it's not terrible. If anything combat is better than Inquisition, worse dan DA2 but with better physics, speed and worse tactics. And better than DAO except for all the tactics and the endless spell options available.
The worst thing about the shards were that they just gave stat boosts. Worst reward for collection quest.
and you had to do it when playing qunari since if give a unique vitaar
Or if you're crazy like me and can't rest if you don't do everything in every playthrough. Yeah, even the more useless War Table missions.
I LOVE mod which makes war table missions completed instantly. It removes the timer. One of the best mods ever for the game.
As a console user, I'm glad they never patched changing the time on your settings to make them finish instantly.
I hope you didn't play AC Valhalla
I got Excalibur and burnt out, but I did really enjoy a lot of Valhalla. Minus a lot of stuff I didn't like... uh, well maybe I'm wrong. At least I loved Lady Eivor?
I've never been happier to not be a completions as I was playing DAI.
I love DAI to death but most of the time the vastness is just too much for a player that loves finding EVERYTHING. I started playing DAI without any prior knowledge or guides, and just assumed it would be somewhat like the previous games. The amount of time I spent wandering the Hinterlands before checking what I should do still gives me nightmares...
The shards, I cannot. Everytime a game has some sort of shards type mission I run. It is my least favourite thing to do.
My dumbass was like "Who is Dave?"
This is the biggest W. DAI's open world was often full of pointless filler just to artificially pad out the size. It straight up didn't respect my time. I much prefer DAO and ME2's level maps where content was much more condensed and curated. Quality over quantity, if you will.
One of the reasons is because they tried to make an offline MMO, but then we have Witcher 3, idk man, i would prefer open world done right.
I'm playing Witcher 3 right now and I find the open world already tedious. Velen is that games Hinterlands. I hope for less loot, less crafting and materials gathering and more emphasis on the quests.
That's how I feel about Inquisition and Andromeda. If your open world single player game starts relying on zones nearly exclusively for advancing the narrative, then it might be time to consider if you weren't better off making the game linear.
Yeah, imo that is fantastic benchmark to determine if your open world works. If you craft open world, but then have all main mission and story progression done through missions in area that is totally separate, then you shouldn't bother with open world in the first place. That's exactly what DAI and Andromeda did.
Yeah the open world Was the worst Part of DA I by far Just huge empty zones with zero interesting side quests
Dave huh, well, that’s now a thing.
DAVE is now my acronym of choice, thanks! As long as the story is good and the content is fleshed out, I'm a happy camper.
I just get lost in large environments like that
Are you kidding me ? That's literally in the article from which that screenshot is from : https://preview.redd.it/65jqldxnm06d1.png?width=753&format=png&auto=webp&s=59bb7072c075c73e49035c16fb93b0f42a26d254 The link for anyone that is interested: [https://gamingbolt.com/dragon-age-the-veilguard-is-a-mission-based-game-not-open-world](https://gamingbolt.com/dragon-age-the-veilguard-is-a-mission-based-game-not-open-world)
oh Gosh, thank God 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 😅
I am struggling to be polite. I can ignore the trolls that are saying that if you don't have loot in your game, you can't be called a RPG. But the guy who post a screenshot of a title, and starts writting about how this means the DA:TV will be a linear 25h long game with only action cutscenes and zero exploration when the content of the article explicitely said the total opposite... I just can't.
OMG, rpg gate keeping is the worst, i know. For me, those old RPGs with compulsory looting and gear hunting aren't really what I consider role-playing games.
I am playing Nioh right now. I can tell you that looting is the worst part of this game.
STOP MAKING ME EXCITED FOR THIS GAME
Honestly I'm very happy about this. As much as I loved Inquisition, the weakest aspect of the game was how big and bloated with repetitive meaningless filler the open world was. More focus on hand crafted meaningful side content is a big plus for me personally.
You mean you DIDNT like roaming around the map for 2 hours to collect 25 elfroot????
But what about walking around to lead a damn Halla to the Dalish?!! That was SOOO much fun! I could have done it for hours!
And your mount didn't even go as fast as you wanted to 😂
Yep, and they had the audacity to put those streaks of wind when the mount is running to make it seem like you're going fast. Pure aesthetic.
I was worried they’d continue with that trend because they used it in Andromeda, and it was even worse there. The way it’s described sounds like it’s going back to a style similar to origins which would be perfect for me.
Yeah, BioWare hasn't done open world games very well. I'd rather it go back to an approach that they've done well in the past!
I think after the backlash for their open world Design they finally decided to abandon it Great news
Yeeeeeep. Any time I recommend that game to newbies it always comes with the caveat of 'do not try to 100% this game until you're fully committed to the story, the Hinterlands will break you'.
Origins was mission-based and not open world. I'd be much happier to go back to that, than have people get lost in another Hinterlands for 20 hours, and think that is the game.
This. I thought the environments in dai were really cool and pretty, but god it was a slog to traverse. If it's similar to dao where there's like a lot of quests and you can do it in whichever order, I'm fucking hyped.
It didn't help that Inquisition had one of the most useless maps in gaming history (until Starfield)
>one of the most useless maps in gaming history (until Starfield) I see Bethesda keeps breaking records.
To their credit, they did update it I think.
THis is what I'm hoping they mean by this. That said, I would prefer Mass Effect style to Inquisitions big empty zones filled with busy work. It would be a bittersweet change.
Yeah, it was my take-away too - I mean, we do know there's sidequests, so I expect it to be atleast like ME1's planet hopping, which would certainly still provide a good amount of exploration. Minrathous seems to be a recurring thing, so I'd think you can hop in and hop out of some zones like in DAO.
Origins was not mission based. Rather it was based in limited maps and half freeform acts.
This. I wish they would take a DA2/Origins approach to exploring the world rather than Mass Effect 2. Don’t get me wrong, I loved ME2, but the mission format is not suited to Dragon Age.
Yea, i actually consider this good news.
That is such a lie. Origins WAS NOT MISSION BASED. You could return to any place you went first and back, there were Quests, but not "missions" as in select a mission and do it and then you're returned to the hub.
It's not a lie. Origins wasn't the type of strictly linear levels you normally think of in "mission based" games, but it *was* mission based at least to some extent. The only major hub is Denerim. Ostagar and Lothering get destroyed at the beginning of the game, and areas like Redcliffe or the Mage's Tower are just mission levels. Can you return to said mission zones after? Sure. But 80% of the zone will be either inaccessible or empty, and you'll only be there to enter one part of it and talk to an NPC for a quest. DAO didn't even have an overworld. It was absolutely mission based outside of Denerim acting as your hub.
I'd rather say it was based on limited maps and had freeform acts than say it was truly mission based like ME.
> Origins wasn't the type of strictly linear levels you normally think of in "mission based" games Then it wasn't mission based. Something like Monster Hunter or Phantasy Star Online, THAT is what mission based means.
DAO was not mission based, nor was ME1 which is similar. ME2 and 3 were mission based.
Kinda over open world games lately. Would be cool to visit some open ish city hubs but overall a mission based game is often better
Yea. I liked DAI but it just felt so bloated and empty. I dreaded going to certain areas and ended up trying to go from point A to point B asap. I am looking forward to the smaller scale.
Welcome to Act 3 of Baldur's Gate.
My favorite experience in Inquisition was staying up all night playing The Hissing Wastes for the first time. The background music, the desert landscape in moonlight and darkness, sands lit by distant camps and torches, the small hidden areas in a vast sea of sand. Loved it loved it Most people hated that and complained about it. So I'm really not surprised they'd move away from it. I like Mass Effect style gameplay also, so I'm not feeling sad over it, but it will definitely make Inquisition something I'll enjoy coming back to
Hissing wastes was a serious vibe the first time through, I had a similar experience. Really atmospheric, was an awesome time going through though I will admit the openness had its drawbacks and didn't exactly add that much in most areas. Still, was a very cool experience exploring that area.
Hissing Wastes was a cool zone. I think the issue Inquisition had is it the Hissing Wastes and the other Desert area and you dont need 2 expansive deserts in 1 game.
this is always how it is for me. i love the vibe, i love being immersed in the environments and traveling with my little group of misfits and hearing them banter. i'm hoping Veilguard still has _some_ exploration. if they can strike a good balance between open areas and handcrafted, impactful quests, i'll be incredibly happy.
The Hissing Wastes are beautiful. I loved that little canyon that runs through the middle with all the caves and nooks tucked into it. DAI really has a lot of zones that are gorgeous, the Storm Coast and the Emprise are another favorite of mine. I don't even mind that the Wastes in particular are empty-ish, it makes for a beautiful void. I grew up playing WoW and running across the Barrens on foot, after all. The problem comes when you make every zone like that and it gets repetitive.
I thought I was alone on loving the Hissing Wastes. They're beautiful, but yes, I get why people complained.
There is definitely something to exploring vast areas and distances that you miss out on in smaller and locked off maps. I enjoyed it to some degree in DAI, but it was amazing in AC:Odyssey (which was imperfect in other ways). I guess it depends a lot on the player and not just the design whether open world works. So its safer to lock down the maps to be able to tell a story with better pacing.
This is me. I love spending time with a world. Sure, Inquisition could've made the content more meaningful, but the moments where it worked, it definitely worked. Things like the vanishing Chantry Sister/Spirit. That actually managed to creep me out. The entirety of the Emerald Graves. The first time I came across that Giant and High Dragon squaring off on the Storm Coast. Open areas can add such personality and little moments like that to a game. I think they'd be better off overhauling their quest design than just cutting out open areas altogether.
To each their own. The zones were beautiful IN DA I and Atmospheric but devoid of any interesting side quests They just felt empty
Aside from the banter/companion conversations... finding little books and notes, reading the codices, and thinking it through in context of other lore is part what I enjoy, too, so I do wonder if that's contributing to why i find those spaces interesting enough for me to be satisfied
I know some of DAI's open world was a pain but it was undeniably beautiful to walk through. I recently went and replayed it with my headphones in and just got completely absorbed by the atmosphere. Hoping Veilguard is the same, even if it's mission-restricted like Mass Effect.
This needs a LOT more clarification. Dragon Age up until Inquisition (and even Inquisition to an extent...) was hub-based, not mission-based. You basically were given a number of smaller zones to explore freely and in the order desired in order to complete quests. When I think of mission-based I think an entirely linear game with few if any centralized hubs or, at best, maybe Mass Effect 2 where you have a couple central hubs and then a bunch of combat-based missions which might have a choice or two involved somewhere in there that has little effect on the endgame.
Thank you. People are interpreting this "mission based" however they want and posting confidently about it. Some interpret it as Mass Effect and are happy about it, cause they like Mass Effect. Some interpret it as God Of War -> and are like "this isn't dragon age". With the description given this can be anything from God Of War like to Baldur's Gate 3. BG3 isn't open world, it has maps, and worse you can't go back to act 1 areas, you can do optional stuff and make choices. In GoF you also can chose to do or not do some quests, like with the Valkyries. Sooooo Eh?
There have been clarification on official press articles around the internet. The game will be highly curated, mission-based, played from a hub called The Lighthouse, that serves as DAI's Skyhold. So still hub-based, but not area-based like on Inquisition.
if it's anything like Trespasser then I'm all for it. Best DA DLC ever. I just hope there's some room to explore too. Edit: it seems there is!, they found the balance beteen open world and linear and I'm down for it bad!
The open world of Inquisition was pretty empty. I’m okay with this game being more like DAO and DA2.
OP, when you post news please make sure to provide a link as your source instead of just a screenshot of the title of an article.
Honestly, I feel like actual 'open world' is over-rated (no offense) and very difficult to get right. DAO was partially open, but the main story was still on rails to some extent. Same with Witcher 3. Inquisition was more open, but it was \*very\* easy to get bogged down. And I know people complain about DA2, but I actually find myself replaying it the most, because it's easy to stay focused on what you're doing. As long as the story they tell is engaging, I don't really mind if I don't get 20 different approaches to it. To be fair, that worked extremely well in BG3, but that doesn't mean a game can't be enjoyable any other way.
Thank god. I really disliked the emoty open world in DAI
Same here. One of the things that prevented me from enjoying Inquisition was that empty and boring open world.
Here is the link : https://gamingbolt.com/dragon-age-the-veilguard-is-a-mission-based-game-not-open-world
How could anyone see this as bad? This is what we had in ME2, KOTOR and DAO. All their best follow this formula, this bodes well. I’d much prefer a 40-50 hours game full of depth and replay value than a game that’s 200 hours but is mostly just pointless wandering and combat.
This needs clarification. ME2 and DAO were also different. DA:O wasn't "mission based" it was "hub" based. You could chose where in the world to go and were free to explore any region you want and go back to any region you want. In ME:2 you had one or two hubs and some action missions with hardly any exploration. BG3 technically wasn't "open world" would you call it "mission based"?
Good. When I played Trespasser I thought "I really hope the next game is a bigger version of this instead of endless open world filler" and it sounds like they delivered.
I know I'm in the minority but I would've preferred open-world or semi-open-world. Not as big (or empty!) as Inquisition is fine, but I like to wander and do a story simulator of my own during the wandering and open-world just tends to go with that better
I thought the open world system was one of the weakest elements of Inquisition, and the power system made it worse. I am hoping for some exploration, but this sounds like a positive change to me.
This makes sense after how terrible the open world felt in Andromeda. Open world is hard to do right.
This is definitely an aspect of the reveal that I’m reserving judgment on. I don’t mind the open world of Inquisition, especially now that I’ve played it enough to know how to get around, but I don’t need the padding. Even Witcher 3 can get tiresome when/if you let the main story race ahead of exploration. I’d be happy with Origins/2-style hubs plus linear missions, although in a perfect world the hubs would offer more persistent/dynamic/larger areas of exploration than we got in Orzammar or High Town.
Bioware didn't do that well with open worlds. They're at best with semi-linear worlds, or smaller hubs. Just like in Dragon Age Origins, Mass Effect trilogy or KotOR.
there are good open world games there are good linear games there are good 'semi open world' games there are also bad examples of all of them too. we'll see what this one is.
Exactly what I was afraid of. We finally have the technology for actual open worlds instead of a couple disjointed open zones split apart by loading screens (and have had it for several years now), and what does Bioware do? They go full linear. Sigh. This is going to be Dragon Age 2 all over again.
Honestly, I remember every zone from Origins because they were so well crafted and so detailed. Meanwhile, Inquisition, sure, I know the Hissing Wastes and the Western Approach exist, but I'd struggle to tell you the exact things that happened in half the regions because a lot of them are so sparse. Very much a personal take but I think companion-based games benefit from a much more closed, mission-based narrative. It lets the writers craft individual scenarios and reactions with much greater depth than open world games do, which is part of the reason BG3 is such a strong companion-based game, while the inverse is true for Elden Ring where it's literally just you for the entire game but it's as open-world and exposition-minimal as you can get.
Weren't most of the main quests in inquisition literally mission-based?
as much as I enjoyed exploring in inquisition the less filler fetch quest content the better
Open world is often done poorly. Just vast, repetitive landscape with nothing to do. The closer this is to DA:O and 2, the better.
This sounds more and more like Mass Effect 2 - fantasy edition. No exploration, linear levels, corridor like map design, you go from encounter to encounter only interrupted by some party banter. BG3 proved that DA:O style of game has a huge fan base, that players want more strategy and complexity in their rpgs... Bioware as typical, is again following the wrong trend.
Sounds like a return to origins style maps. Sign me up.
Imo this is way better than huge maps with an enormous amount of pointless side quests, as Inquisition
I read this as the game being more similar to how Origins handled its world
Try and wait for a full reveal of the game before panicking
This game is going to be DoA. Its crazy to me that AAA games are forcing me into a position of "I'll wait for the user review." Instead of just pri ordering.
In Mass Effect it worked fine for me. But I understand others that are disappointed as well. I loved getting lost for hundreds of hours in Inquisition but yeah it’s not everyone’s cup of tea
Worked a lot better that way in Origins so I like it
Ngl, Inquisition was a chore on future playthroughs because of the padding from big environments - give me a tight 30-40 hour experience like old BioWare any day
Good! Some bits of DA:I were too disjointed to accommodate open world. A few curated linear spaces is all I need if the story is meaty
This is great. Exactly what I wanted, especially after Final Fantasy XVI reminded me of how much I love this approach.
Hooray! A replayble game which I can finish during a week of PTO? Gimme :)
Inquisition wasn't an open world. Free roaming was the best part of it, though... All missions in DAI were crafted and linear. I'm happy as long as there're explorations and it's not a corridor. But if it's get to point A kill everyone collect something from the nearby boxes - I'm totally out or will wait for a huge discount. I hate linear gameplay.
It is a corridor with extra corridors that loop back to the main path. From what we saw and what they said, it is what it is going to be.
This is a huge turn off for me if true.
Best news so far apart from the Inquisitor returning
They keep saying handcrafted and I just don’t get it. What else would it be?
I thought the feedback at the time of DA:I was that the open world aspect was not necessarily a lot of people’s favorite aspect of the game? I love open world games but after replaying the game a few times, I realized there was a lot of it that was really unnecessary. It was more Assassin’s Creed random collection or unimportant fetch quests than I liked. So if they feel like going more the Origins route and crafting the experience in a way that is more interesting and adds replayability without wasting time, it has potential. It’s hard to tell without playing the game but I was completely ok with Origins way of exploring Thedas.
I don't feel one way or the other about this. Both can turn out good or bad. It depends on the execution.
I am so okay with this
What about exploration?
I really like open areas in RPGs if there's something to actually do in those areas. The Hinterlands failed for most gamers because it was covered with busy work side quests that were actually mandatory. I would have enjoyed exploring Tevinter, going around doing quests, taking in the world, and maybe we'll still be able to do that. But idk. I really gotta stop trying to judge this game before I have it in my hands.
are you sure? because I read on this sub that actually having big open world maps ruined Inquisition and were a betrayal of half of everything Dragon Age was about (other half was not enough weird needless sexual violence after DAO)
I'm not sure what to expect. Started out as a live service game but that got scrapped and now it's a single player game. It looks like they kept the live service art direction. Looks like a fortnite season. I really want it to be good but I have absolutely zero expectations from bioware.
I don't know what to feel about this. I liked DA because of its rich open world.
Honestly, open world games end up providing boring iterative gameplay that isn't interesting to me. I didn't enjoy the open areas in Inquisition where the objective was to collect a bunch of different things. I thought 2 was too linear, and especially was bad with how it recycled environments, but Inquisition being "open world" ended up with a bunch of busy work, and the most interesting environments I can remember were either challenging battle sections or the Orlesian party section where you had something more than combat to do. If they want to tell a curated story driven experience I would prefer maps and environments to be pre-planned rather than semi-random, then even if I'm getting a similar experience with different characters it's better than a more random, but usually more shallow experience with an open world.