Will EA Ruin Dragon Age 3?

With all the press about Mass Effect 3, will EA get its hands on another third entry in a BioWare series and make things worse? Leviathyn.com's Dean Martin tells readers what needs to happen in order to avoid another media catastrophe.

[NYC_Gamer]

Yes,it'll be another casual hack&slash game instead of an rpg...hell,Bioware might add guns/ borrow sci-fi elements from their Mass Effect shooter.

[Captain Qwark 9]

maybe, im betting that with da2 they meant to make a game more like the witcher 2 but it just didnt come out right. having said that, the da series most closely resembles the witcher series to me so thats some strong competition

[SneeringImperialist]

Dragon Age 2 was released before the The Witcher 2 (by a couple of months) so how were they trying to make their game more like another game that wasn't even released at the time lol.

[Captain Qwark 9]

easy their goal was a game that looked and played similar to the witcher. just becuase the witcher wasnt out doesnt mean their idea/concept wasnt similar. in the end they just failed in the execution. plus the first witcher was still around

just think for a moment how similar the two games really are, ability wheel and time slows/pauses when accessed, fantasy setting, i believe they use the same engine, similar combat mechanics with traps, potions, choice with consequence etc.. the biggest difference between origins and the witcher 2 is the witcher is clearly an action game with rpg mechanics where dao was an rpg with action game mechanics. now for the sequel to dao what was their #1 goal? to make an action game with rpg elements.....you get it?

[THILLREBORN]

I think either way they'll have gamers who hate...those that want more action and those that want more old school mechanics.

It's the whole damned if you do and damned if you don't situations.

[SneeringImperialist]

After the amount of games EA has gobbled up and shat out it's an almost certainty they will.

[theWB27]

I thought EA was a publisher...and to my remembrance they published mass effect 2 and it didnt have a media up roar...so my conclusion from that is it was biowares fault, no EA. What has happened to journalism and the short memories we have. EA publishes Dead Space and look at it. Never seen so much narrow mindedness.

[siccmr187]

Dead space isnt one of EA's fav cash cows is it? and mass effect 2 had its fair share of complaints, you cant deny the series has been dumbed down to appeal to a more wider audience, and if you think EA have no input and simply publishes then your living in a dream world

[theWB27]

The fact that it makes them money, and is one of the better apps they have, dead space is a favorite cash cow. If it makes money, its a favorite. I don't get how people say ME was dumbed down, ME1 had a clunky menu system and most of the things they gave you wasn't of use. You looked for the best armor and best weapon upgrades( people seem to forget that there was no variation in weapons,and certain classes couldnt use a weapon at all.) People confuse quantity with quality.
I didn't say they didn't have influence either, I'm stating the fact that they are publishers and aren't developers. They care about the cash in terms of extras, DLC, timed exclusive type deals but they dont didnt sit in on mass effect and tell them what ending they wanted. People give EA too much credit to me, EA is in it for the money, as is EVERY BUSINESS OUT THERE, but they wont be the ones to ruin Dragon Age, the developers will.

[siccmr187]

Really, The word Favorite means to like over another! Mass effect 3 sold 1.3 million units in USA alone, i doubt Dead space has come close to that in its entire lifespan. and EA has the right to tell Bioware "make this by then" AND like we saw in the ending of ME3 dont leave the series unable to continue, which multiple endings, where are choices actualy mattered would have done. Its like activision pumping a new cod out every year, activision dont make the games but they have IW and Treyarch rushing out a title every other year

[theWB27]

To siccmmr187
Even though your rant made no real sense, Dead Space 2 has sold over 2 million copies by itself. What you stated is what publishers do, but they didn't tell bioware to make the ending crappy. They could have had a helluva ending and still made it open. I doubt they had to tell them dont leave the series unable to continue, EA knows the universe of mass effect will sell even though shepard's story is over, so that point is moot. Your point about activision, COD is their cash cow, EA has more games and franchises under it's belt to not do the same as activision. That's why you don't see them putting out yearly updates, save for the sports arena. They can afford to stagger their top tier games, activision can't. EA's portfolio is much too large to say that mass effect is a favorite cash cow, Need for Speed, Crysis, Warhammer, Burnout, and on and on.

[Saryk]

Why quit with the DLC for DA or DA2?

Anyway I don't think EA has creative rights on Bioware made products.

[sjaakiejj]

EA doesn't touch Bioware's titles. The results of Mass Effect and Dragon Age were entirely Bioware's work, and I have to say I don't see why this vocal minority is so up in arms about it.

Obviously you have the ME3 ending, but that certainly didn't devalue the entire game. I haven't played DA2, so I can't speak for that, though for as far as I understand the main concern with that game was the same as people had with Mass Effect 2. That is, the removal of some ancient mechanics offended people.

[dc1]

I assume you do not work or have knowledge of a cooperate environment / directive.

No worries,... but trust me; EA's finger prints are all over Bioware.

Lets just hope that a lesson has been learned by all (at EA/Bioware central).

[sjaakiejj]

Trust me, they're not. It is in both Bioware's and EA's best interests to give Bioware creative freedom. It's also not unlikely that this very idea was agreed on in the contract, as Bioware would be unlikely to give up their freedom for a bit of money.

Just to show that I'm not talking out of my ass here:
http://www.eurogamer.net/ar...

"
"One thing we commonly see is when fans don't like something we do, they put in the comments, 'Oh those EA guys, they're making BioWare do...' And I always chuckle because we are EA, we're BioWare - we're both, and we still have huge autonomy in terms of what we do," Greg Zeschuk told us.
"
The only thing EA determines when it comes to Bioware is which products they're allowed to work on, but they do not creatively influence the company.

[Sidewinder-]

yesss.

[Perjoss]

Dragon Age was pretty good, right up until the part where you have to travel through a forest, and its basically a corridor... Played the DA2 demo and it made me die a little inside. But I'm not sad because The Witcher franchise exists.

Its ok, for every studio that goes 'main stream' and 'core' there is a bright indie studio shaking their heads and learning where not to take gamings future.

I have faith.

[InTheLab]

EA isn't developing DA3. We love to hate EA but lets face it, Bioware has dropped the ball this gen and deserves the blame. You know somethings amiss when your to creative directer bails in the middle of development. He didn't leave because of EA....it's all Bioware.

[Tex117]

Bioware, IMO, is getting more heat than it deserves.

Dragon Age Origins was a solid game.

All 3 Mass Effects were good. (horrible ending on 3, but overall solid).

Dragon Age 2 was mediocre.

Game developers make bad games all the time, yet where is the hate for them?

I think it is just that Bioware does such a good job in some aspects of the game, when they falter just a bit, everyone comes apart.

[closnyc]

@ sjaakiejj

hahahaha you really believed bioware said that without EA paying them? what kind of a moron are you? come on man, stop being so naive, of course bioware is not going to speak badly of their bosses. My god.

[sjaakiejj]

Yes I do. It's not called being naive, it's called being sensible. Studios openly admit when they are being influenced by the parent company. When I was at Rare for an interview, they mentioned that Microsoft mostly determines what they're doing, and Microsoft told them to work on Kinect games. This does not harm their or Microsoft's image, and as such a company would not pay a random employee to state that they chuckle every time someone says that they're influenced.

Please take your Corporate Conspiracy theories elsewhere, and start treating people who don't believe in them with some respect. I've got evidence, you don't. It's time to start accepting that the decisions made in Mass Effect and Dragon Age are Bioware's, not EA's.

[hazelamy]

ea own biowhore, of course they'll dictate what goes in it.

[NeoTribe]

Do bears shit in the woods?

[H3llfir3]

I wish Dragon Age 3 Would take Origins and II and put there story lines together. They Should have Grey Warden go off on the witch hunt and end up going with Morgan through the mirror to see his son. On the other side of the mirror it shows Morgan and Grey Warden raising the Arch Demon, who is a kid that changes into a small dragon, till he reaches the age were he can control it. The Grey Warden should learn how to turn into a dragon by learning the art Flemeth. Your Dragon Age 2 Character should have went to Orlea with there companion. Somehow the Archetech survives, and goes to Orlea into hiding were he creates more talking Darkspawn and raises Mages that are abominations, and ultimatly raise several copy cat Archdemon too. The Chantry finds your Dragon Age 2 charactor with his or her companion, to let them know that there is several blights that are happening and they dont know were they will strike first. You will be flown to soldiers peak. Flemeth comunicates with Morgan threw the mirror, and tells her to come back now that the child is old enough to harness the Archdemon and the World is under attack and several blights will continue if the Power of the Grey Warden doesn't come back to this world. Grey Warden and son w/ Morgan come back threw the mirror, and fly on the Archdemon back to soldiers peak were they meet up with your Dragon Age 2 Character, there companion, and all the Charactors from Age 1 and two. There you stations certian teams for different areas to battle the Darkspawn.