E3

[nate]

Just heard that Kingdom Hearts 3 was announced for PS4...

 

Dammit, now I probably will buy a PS4.

[Sam Sanchez]

Yup, though they didn't specifically clarify in the conference that it was exclusive. But, either way, $100 cheaper plus Kingdom Hearts 3 is intriguing as hell.

[Count Orlok]

Dragon Age 3 looks like it will make up for Dragon Age 2

[Thomas]

Dragon Age 3 looks like it will make up for Dragon Age 2

That is a lot to make up for!

[mulwin444]

That is a lot to make up for!

Although, I didn't think it was as good as "Origins", I still enjoyed playing it for the most part.  I liked the idea of rising from nothing to become the "Champion of Kirkwall", enjoyed the characters of Varric, Isabela, and Aveline, liked both the post-release DLCs, glad they adopted the "Mass Effect"-style dialogue wheel and voiced protagonist, liked the ally/rivalry system, enjoyed the team banter as they walked between missions....a lot of positives.  I especially liked the Arishok and the Qunari, I thought they were the most interesting part of the game.

 

The negatives for me were the re-used environments and spawning enemies...it felt very cheap and cartoonish and spoke to a very quick development time.  Also, the story's narative went all over the place:  Was it Kirkwall against the Qunari?  Was it mages vs templars?  They had good things about them but it felt like they hadn't decided on a central theme.

 

DA:I will be in development for 3 1/2 years by the time it is released so hopefully BioWare to get it up to par with what they had with the Mass Effect series.

[TobiasFunke]

Seeing the new Donkey Kong Country game makes me buy a Wii just for it. Brought back a lot of memories.

[mulwin444]

Seeing the new Donkey Kong Country game makes me buy a Wii just for it. Brought back a lot of memories.

I got the the Anniversary Edition of the Mario Brothers they made available for the Wii a couple of years back and, watching my son play,  it's amazing how much of those games I remember.   

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

Although, I didn't think it was as good as "Origins", I still enjoyed playing it for the most part.  I liked the idea of rising from nothing to become the "Champion of Kirkwall", enjoyed the characters of Varric, Isabela, and Aveline, liked both the post-release DLCs, glad they adopted the "Mass Effect"-style dialogue wheel and voiced protagonist, liked the ally/rivalry system, enjoyed the team banter as they walked between missions....a lot of positives.  I especially liked the Arishok and the Qunari, I thought they were the most interesting part of the game.

 

The negatives for me were the re-used environments and spawning enemies...it felt very cheap and cartoonish and spoke to a very quick development time.  Also, the story's narative went all over the place:  Was it Kirkwall against the Qunari?  Was it mages vs templars?  They had good things about them but it felt like they hadn't decided on a central theme.

 

DA:I will be in development for 3 1/2 years by the time it is released so hopefully BioWare to get it up to par with what they had with the Mass Effect series.

 

I used to play games more but now I have like video game ADD and they don't hold my interest as much.  That said Origins was one of the first games I played in a long time that I didn't get bored of that I played all the way through and that's something I hadn't done with an RPG in years.  I did the same with DA2 but I defnitely thought it felt like they recycled some of the same stuff just to put the second game out and take advantage of the popularity of the first game.  I just had to do a quick search to see how far apart the games were and it looks like they were about 15 months apart between release dates.  In looking back DA2 almost felt like it was an expansion pack more than a separate game.    

[mulwin444]

I used to play games more but now I have like video game ADD and they don't hold my interest as much.  That said Origins was one of the first games I played in a long time that I didn't get bored of that I played all the way through and that's something I hadn't done with an RPG in years.  I did the same with DA2 but I defnitely thought it felt like they recycled some of the same stuff just to put the second game out and take advantage of the popularity of the first game.  I just had to do a quick search to see how far apart the games were and it looks like they were about 15 months apart between release dates.  In looking back DA2 almost felt like it was an expansion pack more than a separate game.    

Agree on that...the quick turnaround time definitely showed, which some have contributed to EA's influence on churning out a new game every year in certain franchises.  You can do that with game like Call of Duty that have a 5-10 hour single player and depend heavily on multi-player to sustain it between releases, but it's difficult to have a even  a 24 month turnaround time for 30+ hour RPG and have it be successful.  Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 had a 25 month gap between releases and elements stils felt rushed (journal, elevators in Normandy, not being to holster weapons, shortened "Priority: Earth" and "Citadel" campaigns).  They were originally going to release an expansion to Dragon Age II called "The Free Marches" but it was cancelled due to DA IIs lackluster reception and choice to focus on the next game.

 

Dragon Age Inquisition will be using the new Frostbite 3 engine from DICE, which has been showcased recently with 14 minute promo for Battlefield 4, so definitely excited to see what an extra 1 1/2 years development will do to the game quality.

   

[Aaronkv]

Even CoD games are a 24 month turn around. 2 studios alternate years. Treyarch and Infinity Ward.

[mulwin444]

Even CoD games are a 24 month turn around. 2 studios alternate years. Treyarch and Infinity Ward.

That was an ugly scene at Infinity Ward between the main guys and Activision when they left with a bunch of their talent in tow to start "Respawn".  Not a huge first-person shooter fan but it was interesting reading about it in GameInformer.

[Sam Sanchez]

Yeah, Respawn just showcased their debut game at E3...looked interesting

[mulwin444]

Slightly related to the BioWare discussion...the entire "Mass Effect" trilogy is available through EA's Origin download portal for $20 as a digital download.  It's my personal favorite in terms of a game trilogy and carries over your choices through all three games.