14 DAY TRIAL // What we know
We don’t know anything official about Dragon Age III, the inevitable sequel in the BioWare-made fantasy series. But with Mass Effect 3 set to arrive in March of this year after and with a delay of almost six months, the company could pull a double this year and launch a new classic role-playing game to placate long-term fans.
The first Dragon Age game, with the title Origins, managed to be very close to the experience that Baldur’s Gate II and Neverwinter Nights delivered in the classic era of the role-playing game, creating complex battles that involved parties and allowing gamers all the freedom in the world when it came to character development.
The second game, which arrived in 2011 and left some gamers disappointed, adopted a new visual identity and a new structure, focusing the story on a single character with a preset destiny while making the battle much more action-based.
This third video game has no choice but to blend together the choices made in both previous games, both when it comes to characters and when it comes to style and mechanics.
This might mean a game which mixes the two either in a sort of cooperative play or by alternating chapters centered on each one.
It could also lead to a game that mixes aesthetics and features as easily as it switches between characters.
Why it matters
The role-playing genre has been moving towards the action space lately, as seen in Dragon Age II, The Witcher 2 and Skyrim, and a shift back to a more tactical and party driven set of mechanics might be a welcomed sight for a lot of players.
There’s no guarantee that BioWare will reveal anything about Dragon Age III during 2012, but if they do, it will be great to see what they have in mind.
The full Incoming 2012 series of articles can be read on Softpedia right here.