24 replies to this topic

[Archmage Silver]

Dragon Age 2

Well, as most of you probably already know or have guessed, Dragon Age 2 has been confirmed to be in development by BioWare. While this is some news, I've collected here in this thread some articles I found interesting regarding the sequel. BioWare has stated that Dragon Age 2 will look much better in terms of graphics (pretty obvious development), and now we also have an article to read on that matter.

On Graphics @ Joystiq

You might want to keep your DA: Origins saves around for Dragon Age 2, at least according to some comments made by BioWare's Mark Darrah in an interview. For me this isn't a problem, I always archive my saves after finishing a game.

Mark Darrah Interview @ ThatVideoGameBlog

The latest article on confirmation of DA 2 @ VG247

Look for more posts on Dragon Age 2 as new information is released. Let's hope that we'll see this sequel finished in less time than it took Dragon Age: Origins.

Edited by Archmage Silver, 13 March 2010 - 11:42 AM.

[Choo Choo]

I hope they won't wait for five years with this one... on the other hand, if that's what it takes for quality.

[Vicen]

Heh thats good news...lets hope though like Choo Choo said its not 5 years! Hopefully 2-3!

[Archmage Silver]

I'm hoping for 3 max... although they are developing ME3 as well, so I don't know how much that will eat their resources.

[Bluenose]

I'm hoping for 3 max... although they are developing ME3 as well, so I don't know how much that will eat their resources.

They were developing ME/ME2 and DA:O at the same time. The web site says there's at least one other unnanounced game, plus SW:tOR at Bioware Austin. I can't see it being much of a problem. Two or three years would be my guess.

[khay]

That`s great news, DAO`s graphics aren`t anything special really -- but I hope they won`t develop it for consoles, then do a lazy port onto the PC. I love Mass Effect 2 to bits, but you can`t even double click on various menu items (research, reading messages, etc).

[Archmage Silver]

I'm hoping for 3 max... although they are developing ME3 as well, so I don't know how much that will eat their resources.

They were developing ME/ME2 and DA:O at the same time. The web site says there's at least one other unnanounced game, plus SW:tOR at Bioware Austin. I can't see it being much of a problem. Two or three years would be my guess.

Yeah, and look how long it took for DA:O to be released from the day it was announced as "Dragon Age"... but I guess they can now move with more speed with a lot of the background material/lore already finished.

[Cal Jones]

BioWare won't have any trouble working on two big projects at once - they opened a second Canadian studio in Montreal last year, in addition to their MMO studio in Austin Texas.

I hope they can knock out a DA2 for 2011 - that would be nice. But I guess I will wait for however long it takes.

Regarding plot, I'm wondering if it will venture into Orlais. If you met Lord Foreshadow by doing the summoning quest in the Circle Tower, it mentions something about Orlais. (If you pickpocketed his notes, that is).
After all, a Lord Foreshadow turned up in Baldur's Gate, talking about Neverwinter - and that was even before BG2. BioWare do like to plan ahead...

[Crazee]

Hey! Good news, if expected. Nice to have some confirmation, though. Let's hope they use feedback from the first game to improve, so that the difference between the first and second is like the difference between BG1 and BG2.

[Archmage Silver]

Hm... I think I would have picked another comparison point, because in my opinion BG is in some ways better than BG II, but perhaps that's colored by my liking of low magic campaigns. BG II does have its NPC interaction and many advanced features on its side though.

As for the graphics, you can't really fairly compare the BG II artwork, paperdolls and the like, to BG artwork, as Daniel Walker, the original graphic designer for BG, passed away in 1999.

All in all, BG II certainly didn't improve on everything, nor could it have, but I hope DA2 could actually do just that.

[Lysan Lurraxol]

I'm hoping they'll concentrate on writing a less terrible plot. Moving away from Ferelden would be a good move too.

[Archmage Silver]

Article on Dragon Age 2 Confirmation @ VG247

[Archmage Silver]

BioWare has started some mysterious countdown timer, personally I'm putting my money on it being an official announcement for DA2. Here's the newsbit:

BioWare has kicked off a mysterious six-day countdown that spans both their homepage and all of their game-related subsites. There doesn't seem to be any indication of what it's counting down to, but I suppose we'll know what it all means 5 days, 20 hours, 46 minutes, and 25 seconds from now. That equates to Monday, March 29th at noon EST.

Any guesses? A name change from BioWare to EAWare? Another set of clothing for our Mass Effect squad? A Jade Empire sequel? The anticipation builds...

Edit: Formatting

Edited by Archmage Silver, 24 March 2010 - 10:52 AM.

[Gomb]

I'd say it may be a new franchise, because I see no reason why a countdown for DA2 would appear on the Mass Effect site. But we'll see, I'm curious what will it be.

[Kulyok]

Some of their folks are working on Star Wars MMO; can it be connected to that?

[Eleima]

My money is on the launch of the Star War MMO: The Old Republic. DA2 and ME3 have already been more or less confirmed, and the countdown spans their entire website, not just the DA and ME pages, but the social site as well. Some hope for a Jade Empire 2, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

[Bri]

It is a good announcement, but I would just like them to take care of their bugs in the first DA:O.

Hell, they couldn't even make the Path of Blood abilities learned in Soldier's Peak transferable to Awakenings. That is just laziness...

[berelinde]

I wish it was for an Awakenings romance DLC, but I know it won't be. Why waste the bandwidth on it?

Not excited about a potential MMO in any event, but a sci-fi one doesn't even make me curious.

[Bluenose]

My money is on the launch of the Star War MMO: The Old Republic. DA2 and ME3 have already been more or less confirmed, and the countdown spans their entire website, not just the DA and ME pages, but the social site as well. Some hope for a Jade Empire 2, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

While I suspect you're right that the announcement will be concerned to SW:tOR, Bioware's main site does have that New Next Gen Game in the list of upcoming titles. It's been there for a long while. It could be an announcement about that.

[Archmage Silver]

Here's what the counter was for:

Dear BioWare Community

To show our appreciation of fan support and to celebrate the 15th anniversary of BioWare, we have created the BioWare Bazaar ? a week-long series of mock online auctions beginning April 6th that will feature over 400 items ranging from custom painted PC's, Alienware laptops, BioWare apparel and more!

To bid on these items, fans will need to collect tokens through various challenges. The first auction begins at 9 AM PST on Tuesday, April 6th, with new items being made available every 15 minutes, ending 4 PM PST Saturday, April 10th. So tell your friends, start collecting tokens, and get ready to win some amazing prizes! For more information on token collection visit the My Tokens page.