While I was at BioWare, EA *always* preferred Mass Effect, straight up Their Marketing team liked it more. It was modern. It had action. They never quite knew what to do with DA, and whenever DA outperformed ME, ME got the excuses. If you ask me, it was always just shy of the axe since DA Origins.
Reposted from
Renee
Wow.... this makes so much awful, shifty sense. It has seemed to me, from the outside, that there has been a preference for ME over DA. The launch of DATV and the residual layoffs seemed more of a hit job from inside than just a troll problem.
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I wish I could get more into Veilguard, but the timing of it with *gestures to IRL* really hurt my ability to get into it. Love the lore of it tho
For what its worth, DA got me through a lot of rough days in my 20s, and gave me something to grab onto as a artist when I struggled with motivation to pursue it as my chosen craft.
It's just kind of bonkers after such a success they didn't pushed for a "more of the same sequel" (and I say that I loved Veilguard but it's a totally different thing)
I loved Veilguard but you can totally how it's basically trying to be Fantasy Mass Effect 2 rather than a proper DAI sequel.
Sorry they treated you so poorly there. Sucks : (
I often think about something you said during the marketing for one of the DA games - that players can tell when what they can see is part of a much larger whole.
You couldn't escape Mass Effect, but I barely remember seeing coverage of Dragon Age
Thank you for creating such an amazing series!
Not many games have a Director leave for another company, announce an end to post launch support and chop off so many people (Including the writer) 5 months after launch.
Their collective arse is thoroughly chewed upon, methinks.
And then there was EA's influence on top of that, yes.
And not always to its betterment.
Despite that still some of my favourite companions! <3
Thank you, David, for giving me some of the best games I've ever played.
I highly reccommend Noah Caldwell-Gervais' DA retrospective
Digging memory, as someone who played and liked both as a kid, you could tell the preference for ME back them.
is there any hope, we get something like that in the near future?
and its a bummer, when EA preferred ME over DA... they are both amazing franchises <3
DA will always be one of absolutely favourite Games, nothing can change that !! I will be forever grateful you all bring this beloved franchise to Life! 💜💜
ME was the prestige franchise, while DA was the plucky one that was too wild west and had low standards.
Do you know why?
In the long years between games it has lived in my head and come out as analogies from the real world in a way that only Tolkien has for me.
Thanks to all of you.
Thanks.
I'm actually on your side about this. I'm just thinking from the POV of a shrewd executive who doesn't care about DA.
Idk if they even have that. Just seems like it makes more sense than mothballing something that could increase your passive income.
Rushed DA2, ME3, devhell of DAI and MEA, DA4 reboots, online shooter. Multiple mismanaged pipelines...
(And that's a big BUT).
1 - Both games/settings were awesome, and contrasted each other
2 - After the 1st Mass Effect, I feel like the setting was essentially abandoned
3 - After the 1st Dragon Age, I feel like the "action" became boring
Both games were awesome, but playing one while waiting for the other was both pleasing (the change of setting) and teasing (we were waiting for the other).
I don't know how to describe it better than that.
(Still missed Jade Empire 2, though)
I don't know how exact his speculations are, but I do agree with Shamus Young's critique of the Mass Effect games. Each iteration seemed more "generic", and less "Mass Effect-y".
So, the gameplay is cool, but in the end, it's shallow.
https://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=27792
The action side of DA2 never clicked with me, and the more the games moved forward, the more boring it felt.
But the story. And the writing. And the characters. And the setting.
Wow, just wow.
(Didn't like DA:4, tho)
Both were awesome.
IMHO, favoring one over the other was, to be frank (and I'm French, so I can be, by rights), pretty stupid.
Like an Ice Cream company abandoning chocolate in favor vanilla.
Origin had me on my toes, I had to pause the game and take a walk before making a decision. That's an experience nobody can take away. For what it's worth, thank you.