Dragon Age 3 announced.

[Outrider]

I'm not saying Mass Effect was a misstep; I think it's a great series. I just imagine that's what Sinue was referring to since he mentioned Halo and I found it weird that somebody would consider such a successful series as something that "blew up in their faces." I might have misread that, though.

Honestly, I've yet to have too many serious issues with Bioware's titles when looking at them as entire products. Sure, some of their sequels are radically different than their predecessors, but they're still very good games. Maybe they're not the games anybody was expecting, but the gameplay, writing, and presentation are still top-notch. Even when it comes to silly narrative hiccups like in Mass Effect 3, or the recycled environments in Dragon Age II, the rest of the game is still so well-done that it's hard to be too upset about it in the long term.

The big reason I don't want them to make Dragon Age III into something like the Elder Scrolls titles is because I don't like those games. Granted, that has more to do with my taste (and the fact that they are not well-made games) than anything else, so it's entirely possible Bioware could pull off a great open-world RPG.

[Akaimizu]

I don't think Bioware will put the emphasis on (complete fantasy world simulation) as Elder Scrolls attempts and does.

I happen to love Elder Scrolls and everything they're trying to do with the series because I love to have at least 1 game franchise give me that aspect of putting me in a fantasy world simulation with which I can touch, manipulate, create, and deal with things at my own desire. It is also my opinion that they are well-made for their goals as it is (by far) harder to do what Bethesda is doing than any other RPG series on the planet. No other engine requires as much playtesting and bugtesting because of the level of depth, and insane objects utilized, in their simulation engine. Not to mention, no other franchise allows me to completely create a fiction class of my design in such a way that nobody else on the planet thought of it. Truly a game for those who enjoy putting their own narrative, creations, and input into the experience.

I don't think Bioware is about that, nor are they trying to emulate that idea. So I think those who don't enjoy what Bethesda serves up, has nothing to worry about.

[amtalx]

If they take the narrative quality from DA:O and the combat system from DA2, I'm sold.

[Sinue_v2]

I'm not saying Mass Effect was a misstep; I think it's a great series. I just imagine that's what Sinue was referring to since he mentioned Halo and I found it weird that somebody would consider such a successful series as something that "blew up in their faces." I might have misread that, though.

That probably was a bit misleading, as I was referring more to the Dragon Age series than I was Mass Effect. Still, I'm probably just that rare bird that loves micromanagement - sorting through half a dozen pairs of pants to see which ones are shiniest and arranging them on my party by priority of who I use the most and who would get the most out of them. I like having a large array of branching skillsets from which to customize my character.. finding unique builds that either make an easy game tougher, or exploit some strange combination that the developers hadn't balanced for. Real-Time combat is fine, but I like being able to "pause" the action and issue commands to my party... and I like a silent protagonist whom communicates without putting words in my character's mouth.

I don't like the "streamlining" that Bioware has been doing to their games, and I feel that their "intuitive" UI's are really just constricting. Bethesda has been following a similar path, but at a much slower pace - and to a point it can be forgiven considering the huge open worlds they're trying to create. I understand they don't have the resources to put all of the weapons, armor, and goodies in Skyrim that they could in Morrowind... and that (given how buggy the games already are) that it's too easy to completely break the game by crafting spells and items outside of a constricted pre-set selection of enchantments. (My lady bosmer Nereverine had a pair of swords called Heaven & Earth crafted with the souls of the Tribunal gods - a wakizashi which had infinite duration paralyze and a Katana that stole 100% of damage in health. I only ever had to actually fight when facing enemies with reflect enchantments.)

With ME it probably hurt less than with DA, because DA had a lot of choice over race, class specialization, equipment, etc. ME never really a lot of that even right from the start... although it did have exo-planetary exploration which, despite how horrid some people thought the Mako exploration areas were, it gave a sense that you were in a large and expansive universe... not just a series of linear shooting corridors and hubs.

Also, I resent the trend towards the "Michael Bay" method of game development. BIG explosions, BIG action, BIG drama!... (little bit of substance). I've really liked Bioware's ability to tell a narrative, but it seems to have taken a back seat in MEIII and DA II to the spectacle of the whole thing. Bethesda can't tell a narrative like that, and I wonder how much of that is due to the amount of freedom they give the players which may be antithetical to a cohesive and well paced story. Even Obsidian had issues with it, despite New Vegas being a much more compelling tale than FO3. While I wouldn't mind seeing DA III giving the players much more freedom to explore and develop their character, I don't want to see them give the player so much freedom that we loose that wonderful narrative that marked their earlier titles.

[McLaughlin]

If they take the narrative quality from DA:O and the combat system from DA2, I'm sold.

Pretty much this, although I thought DAII was pretty well written as well. The combat was a massive step forward from DA:O. I also want more DLC in the vein of DAII's, although a large expansion type deal like Awakening would be neat.

The main character has to be voiced, though. Hawke is more personable than the Warden by orders of magnitude, and another silent protagonist would seriously put me off the game.

Looking forward to more information, at any rate.

Edit: I would disagree, tentatively, with the idea that Bioware's story-telling is trending towards the Call of Duty model of EXPLOSIONS EVERYWHERE. ALL THE TIME. You need only look to Shepard's scenes with Liara's time capsule and Garrus's shooting challenge atop the Prisidium. Those are very intimate, personable interactions with no explosions or fabricated drama, well written and executed, and they aren't the only examples.