BioWare To Show Dragon Age, The Witcher At E3

Thanks to 1UP for its article discussing BioWare's brief announcement of two new titles it'll be showcasing at E3 next week. Specifically: "The developer's own new project is Dragon Age, a new PC RPG set in an original fantasy world" - almost no other details are forthcoming for now. The piece also reveals another product to be shown at BioWare's E3 booth: "Polish developer CDProjekt will show The Witcher, a new action-RPG for the PC. It's powered by BioWare's Aurora engine, the 3D technology behind Neverwinter Nights." This title had some early previews, complete with several screenshots, back in 2003, although it's expected to have changed significantly since then.

Comments

After a brief trip to google..

[bishiraver]

In fact, the only information anywhere about Dragon Age is what was in the article. That is: It's developed by Bioware, they've cooked up their own game world and system, it's fantasy, and they're showing it at E3.

Personally, I'm intrigued. It's too much to hope that it'd be a throwback to the Baldur's Gate days - especially since the defunct Black Isle was the one who did the content for it. Hopefully the game will be more along the lines of the Witch's Wake minimodule for NWN than the OC.

Re:After a brief trip to google..

[imr]

I'm in the middle of nwn right now, playing the OC. As a matter of fact I find it quite well done considering the bashing it regulary takes. I like the way all the small sub plots connect. So all this bashing actually put me in a good mood: the rest is going to be so better.
But yes, witch wake was really going in the right direction.

Re:After a brief trip to google..

[Anthony Boyd]

Well, you missed one small thing: they used "PC CRPG" to describe Dragon Age, not "action RPG." Which hints that it will be more like Baldur's Gate (in concept, not exact implemention, I'm sure). Lots of NPCs, party banter, more stealth/diplomacy options, strategic fighting. Yummy. Or am I reading too much into it? :)

But anyway, I do agree that it's important to note that they're not using D&D or D20 rules. This means they own their content and engine fully. They're beholden to no one, and won't experience what Interplay went through (they had their license revoked before BG3 could be published). I also have high hopes that this will mean no legacy weirdness (the distinction between wizards and sorcerers is, IMHO, wholly done to appease old AD&D players). A new set of classes and skill system could make for a much more enjoyable game.

Re:After a brief trip to google..

[arhar]

And we know that BioWare are very good at making their own rules.. remember Fallout?

Re:After a brief trip to google..

[Gorelab]

Fallout is Black Isle not Bioware.

3D Attack Design

[orion024]

The dungeon design definetly looks Baldurs Gate esque, which I don't necessarily consider a bad thing. Hopefully BioWare can pull of what no one else has ever been able to in my book -- a 3D adventure RPG who's battle system doesn't suck.

Controlling characters (yourself and any "teammates"), attacks, strategy is a difficult task in 3D. Morrowind was ... okay. But really it ended up being a "click repeatadly attack, hope you have more HP's and do more damage then your enemies" sort of thing, and there you didn't have teammates to manage!

The absolute best attack system I have ever seen is Prince of Persia. I actually _enjoyed_ the battles in that game, where as most RPG battles are "well, I'll just keep clicking attack so I can get past and do the same on the next guy". Now, if such thoughtful design and execution can successfully implemented in an adventure RPG...

Re:3D Attack Design

[imr]

They did a kung-fu fighting rpg-like game for the xbox lately.
Maybe some of the experience they got doing it ended in the real rpg game?
I'm not into console game, but this one looked really nice on video. I don't know about the gameplay, but i don't have high expectations about that for a console game.
Was Prince of Persia a real RPG game, or are you talking about the tactic side of the fights?

Re:3D Attack Design

[chrismcdirty]

PoP wasn't an RPG. I think he was talking about the tactical side of the fights. The movement was so fluid from one action to the next. I can see why anyone would like it in an RPG, and as long as you control only one character, it'd be fine. But introduce another character you're controlling into the mix, and I think it would be shot to hell.

Re:3D Attack Design

[orion024]

I wouldn't consider PoP an RPG. It had a few RPG aspects, but it was really an adventure game at its heart.

I was talking more about how in PoP there was actually a little bit of thought involved in each battle. You couldn't just keep hitting attack, because your enemies would often block it. And when fighting multiple enemies, your method and manner in dispaching them mattered. You also could take advantage of local inanmiate object, like walls to jump off to jump over your enemies to escape, or deliver a jumping attack. Basically, the fighting moves mattered, and were fun. It kept the fighting interesting, and fun.

How would this translate to an RPG? Well, if I had the answer to that question (and some good connections!), I'd be rich. And, well, a TON of time for development and implementation too.

It is easy to see how such combat as we see in PoP might be successfully translated to the hand-to-hand "monk" class combatants in your typical RPG. Part of the problem is of course there are many more classes to address. Each weapon class, IRL, would have different moves and counter moves.

Anyway, I just want a 3D RPG where the _way_ you fight matters. Where you have to do something other than point and click to win. It keeps things interesting, and the fighting fun.

Re:3D Attack Design

[cyxxon]

Anyway, I just want a 3D RPG where the _way_ you fight matters. Where you have to do something other than point and click to win. It keeps things interesting, and the fighting fun. Actually, I do not want that. It is a role playing game after all. I play a role. If I knew how to fight I could just go to some training hall and do it. I want my character to fight. Similarly, do you yourself want to remember the spells and type the "vocal component"? Keeps it interesting... or not? Sure. Just point-and-click is bad as well, but having the player learn more defeats the purpose of the R in RPG.

Re:3D Attack Design

[imr]

OK, so we're on the same trend of thought, I think.
Go to bioware site and go to their Jade something game site, there is a video which is reall nice to watch. I believe they are going in this direction. It's also something that is supposed to be in the CEP, which I havent tested yet: cooler animations. Granted this is not enough compared to what you talk about with PoP but it is/was already a step in this direction, and this console game I talk about seems to be another one.
So we can hope those guys are tring to do something in this area to improve crpgs. Something is missing between real time goofy gameplay and one step-at-a-time-pressing-space-bar turn based gameplay.

Re:3D Attack Design

[imr]

It seems we are already a whole bunch here interrested in that matter, well, at least we are three!
Which also makes me wonder if you can really get rich doing crpg. :)

I believe the answer rely in a mix of sport games and action game.
The press bar turn based thing is what gives you time to set your tactic on, but the fun is when the action flows. Yet, pure action based games give the advantage to no-tactic since usually one or 2 routine moves are enough to succeed.

So maybe some sort of sport interface where you choose the way you want your characters to position themselves and which strategy to follow thereafter, followed by an action phase where you can interfere but in real time would be the ideal.
The problem is the "rooms" settings change often in rpg and evolve during the action, you start it in a big room and 3 moves later you just turned some narrow corner. So that would make it very difficult to have a good AI, if I judge by what can be found in regular game.

Now that I think of it, the big thing is the AI. If only the non player controlled entity would behave tactically. Right now, not one of them has reached the level of a stupid orc. Not even orcs.

Re:3D Attack Design

[Trejkaz]

Any game which requires management of teammates is stupid anyway. If you're going to play a role you should play a role, not six roles. Any game where you have to roleplay six characters should be called a Schizophrenic Role Playing Game (SRPG.)

Honestly I don't see what the problem was with NWN's control system. And I don't see how this new game would be much different if it was made on the same engine (although there is the KotOR argument, since that game does play a little different and is allegedly done on the same engine.

Check it out

[NeowaveMike]

I will be sure to check it out when I am at E3. This article kind of intrigues me a bit.