Dragon Age Dreadwolf

[Heaven Angel]

Now called 

 

[Mysteryman]

At this pace, we will see this game by 2024-25 and next Mass effect by 2030. 

[Heaven Angel]

The recent article by Tom Henderson prompted me to make this post instead of responding to every reply in that thread, I'll just describe what I saw overall here. I was honestly shocked when we got no gameplay reveal at TGA, as I was sure we'd get something considering the timing this video was shared with me.

Background, a kind playtester shared their recorded gameplay of DA4 that was in early Alpha at that stage. I saw what they recorded before they were shuffled to another project. No, I will not share the video as the individual in question asked me not to. And until I get their permission, it will remain private. I don't want to get anyone in trouble, so they need to let me know its okay and nothing in the video would get back to them.

Alright, so now to what is in the video. It's about 20 minutes of gameplay involving one segment/dungeon. The entire gameplay is set within the the Gray Warden fortress HQ of Weisshaupt. That's what the location text literally says. Now again, the gameplay is alpha so there isn't a whole lot of detail and there are missing textures for a lot of elements. Basically, buildings and whatnot are all modeled and textured but the skybox itself is very dark and makes it seem as though the entire fortress is underground, although it is clearly not. I suspect the skybox could contain some giant world event, similar to the Breach, they hadn't finished.

The player character is an Elvish "Knight" Class (the character screen actually says they are a mid-level Grey Warden), they've got a sword and a shield. They also have two party members, another knight dude and a female dwarf rogue. I suspect both models are placeholders and they won't actually look like they do in the final game. Darkspawn are currently attacking Weisshaupt and there are roots all over the place alongside Red Lyrium popping up here and there. Oddly, the darkspawn also apparently are infused with Red Lyrium and have Red Lyrium attacks and some have red eyes. The objective is to fight through the Darkspawn to get to the library, but as you are doing so there is also a big a*s dragon attacking from above. Because, you know, it is Dragon Age. And the dragon creates occasional environmental and traversal hazards. It ends once you reach the library, close the gates, and then come face to face with the dragon. It appears you are then supposed to try and chain the dragon up, but it ends before the player completes that. There is no audio and while there are subtitles, they are mostly glitched and frozen so you can't tell what people are saying during cutscenes or combat.

Okay, so that's the setup and general overview. Now for the juicy gameplay details:
 

• Combat is completely in real-time and similar to a hack and slash. I'm told the guiding reference point was the God of War (2018), and that shows.
• Player has their regular combo attack and then their abilities as well as a special bar which generates allowing you to pull off a special move. I don't really understand the comparison to FF15's wheel. It's standard Dragon Age ability wheel.
• There was no party control demonstrated. I think it's a safe bet to say you will not be able to directly control your party members in the game. That said, you likely will be able to tell them to execute certain abilities. But apparently that was locked off in the Alpha.
• The most immediate thing you noticed is that animation quality has DRASTICALLY improved. Like, for any other AAA title it's probably not that big a deal. But we've never seen animation quality this good in any BioWare game. I didn't actually play it, but I can tell it probably feels really good to control your character. No more stiff animations, it's all very fluid and seems also very responsive.
• Jumping has also been retained. So, rejoice if you enjoyed jumping a lot in DAI.
• As the character was a sword and shield dude, he was able to parry attacks from enemies and follow up with counters. It's hard to tell their exact abilities, they only had two on hotkeys along with a special. But one appears to basically be a drop kick and the other a charged sword attack. I'm not sure exactly what the special attack does.
• The UI is similar to DAI, but this is also Alpha and UI is the last thing finalized in any game. Character has a chest slot, a helmet slot, a primary weapon slot, and a shield (secondary weapon?) slot. For accessories, one amulet slot, one belt slot, and two ring slots.
• Oh and the player character's hair looked glorious. I mean, it was clipping right through their helmet. But it was flowing and bouncing as they moved. Finally, no more stiff a*s hair. Now, let's hope we have more than just two black hairstyles.
• Enemies were pretty much just variations of darkspawn, except the dragon, but again they seemed to have Red Lyrium powers.

 

In short

 

- Fully real time combat 

- Plays like a hack and slash 

- Combat inspired by GOW 2018 

- Possibly no direct party control

- Much improved animations

- Fully single player 

- 2023 release unlikely

 

Leaked Gameplay video and images (might get deleted)

 

https://i.imgur.com/cUecWiq.mp4

 

 

 

 

 

[Vaibhavp]

They had so good combat in Dragon Age Origins. All they had to do was tweak it a bit for sequal.

 

Instead we are getting another hack and slash a la FF 16. 

 

Might as well make it fully Souls like. 

[PhantomShade]

No direct party control is a sh*t change, I got angry about Andromeda also for the same reason as you can't command party members there what skills to use.

Inquisition combat system was best, not ye olde clunky PC RPG combat like Origins had but not Action RPG or Dad of Boi combat either.

 

There's a reason why Action RPG games have no party system, in between all those combos wagera you can't play tactically and switch party chars.

And no, FF15, FFVII Remake aren't Action RPGs, adding basic single button press "combo", roll/dodge and block doesn't make a game Action RPG, not even close to GoW

 

Seeing the screens the combat seems closer to AssCreed Odyssey where you have some ~8 active abilities you can use with a controller layout

 

 

3 hours ago, Vaibhavp said:

They had so good combat in Dragon Age Origins. All they had to do was tweak it a bit for sequal.

 

Instead we are getting another hack and slash a la FF 16. 

 

Might as well make it fully Souls like. 

 

Origins "gameplay" belongs in 2009

Stop bringing your salt over FF16 not coming on Xbox to other threads

[Vaibhavp]

1 hour ago, PhantomShade said:

Origins "gameplay" belongs in 2009

Stop bringing your salt over FF16 not coming on Xbox to other threads

 

FF16 isn't coming to PC either.

 

I don't have any issue with that. It's Japanese developers that are suffering by making boneheaded decisions.

 

Origins was proper rpg combat. There is nothing clunky about it. There is a reason why we reached rpg gameplay perfection in early 2000's with infinity engine games. Now they are just trying to make them worse.

[dylanjosh]

Nope. origins combat was really bad. Thank god we don't have that anymore.

 

It gave you the feeling of two charcters standing next to each other, but not actually hitting each other. just playing animations while dice rolls in the background determined hits. Yuck. ? 

 

That style works better with turn based combat. 

[Vaibhavp]

20 minutes ago, dylanjosh said:

It gave you the feeling of two charcters standing next to each other, but not actually hitting each other. just playing animations while dice rolls in the background determined hits. Yuck. ? 

 

That style works better with turn based combat. 

 

Thats RPG combat for you.

 

It was perfection once you understood how your party works. Real time character swapping meant tense battles. 

 

Winning fights actually meant something. 

[Mysteryman]

 

Full reveal (gameplay, possible release date) at Summer 2024. First trailer released way back in 2018. 

 

Edited December 4, 2023 by Mysteryman

[Heaven Angel]

sh*t, now I'm worried about this game. 

 

[Mysteryman]

If this game is garbage then highly likely that the next Mass Effect would be garbage too. 

 

Better to close up Bioware if this DA fails. 

[Snake]

16 hours ago, Heaven Angel said:

sh*t, now I'm worried about this game. 

 

 

2 hours ago, Mysteryman said:

If this game is garbage then highly likely that the next Mass Effect would be garbage too. 

 

Better to close up Bioware if this DA fails. 

 

This person wrote for mass effect 1 and 2. Don’t see what the problem is?

[Sach4life]

57 minutes ago, Snake said:

 

 

This person wrote for mass effect 1 and 2. Don’t see what the problem is?

 

Person is not straight or support homosexuals. Don't you see the problem? He is WoKe

[Snake]

14 minutes ago, Sach4life said:

 

Person is not straight or support homosexuals. Don't you see the problem? He is WoKe

but what does that have to do with the game???

 

gay relationships have been a thing since the first game

[Sach4life]

3 minutes ago, Snake said:

but what does that have to do with the game???

 

gay relationships have been a thing since the first game

 

Anything non white, non straight is woke and sh*t now.

[Mysteryman]

2 hours ago, Snake said:

 

 

This person wrote for mass effect 1 and 2. Don’t see what the problem is?

 It seems to be another Rocksteady in the making since there is no concrete progress for years.

 

Though ME2 and ME3 have homosexual relationships, it didnt overstep its boundaries in the main plot. Fast forward today, the situation is different today. 

 

Bioware has NOT been successful since ME3. If this DA game is another dud, dont expect ME4 to be good. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Snake]

39 minutes ago, Mysteryman said:

 It seems to be another Rocksteady in the making since there is no concrete progress for years.

 

Though ME2 and ME3 have homosexual relationships, it didnt overstep its boundaries in the main plot. Fast forward today, the situation is different today. 

 

Bioware has NOT been successful since ME3. If this DA game is another dud, dont expect ME4 to be good. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

how is it different??

 

 Just trying to understand since we haven’t seen anything from this game yet??

[Mysteryman]

8 minutes ago, Snake said:

how is it different??

 

 Just trying to understand since we haven’t seen anything from this game yet??

It is just a prediction. I want to be wrong but remember that most of the old Bioware team is no longer there. 

Edited March 18 by Mysteryman

[Heaven Angel]

5 hours ago, Snake said:

 

 

This person wrote for mass effect 1 and 2. Don’t see what the problem is?

 

He wasn't the lead writer of those critically acclaimed games. He was the lead writer in DA Inquisition and if I remember correctly the game took a hit because of the story. The gameplay and world was super imo. 

I platinume'd Inquisition on PS3. I really liked the gameplay. 

 

I want this game to be good, I hope they put their rainbow sh*t aside and write a proper story. 

 

8 hours ago, Mysteryman said:

If this game is garbage then highly likely that the next Mass Effect would be garbage too. 

 

Better to close up Bioware if this DA fails. 

 

Yep, I've seen the hype when it was announced and it's still there after all these years. They want the original ME back but because the core bioware team have left and replaced I can relate with the concerns 

We all still hope this and ME makes an excellent return and we get what we want from bioware. 

[Snake]

9 hours ago, Heaven Angel said:

 

He wasn't the lead writer of those critically acclaimed games. He was the lead writer in DA Inquisition and if I remember correctly the game took a hit because of the story. The gameplay and world was super imo. 

I platinume'd Inquisition on PS3. I really liked the gameplay. 

 

 

 

 

Didn’t say he was lead, he was only a writer for those games. But he did write ME:citadel which is one of the more fun parts of the game.David Gaider was lead on Inquisition, weekes only replaced him after the release of the game in 2014.