BioWare’s Casey Hudson Hints at New Dragon Age and Mass Effect Titles

Megalith

Megalith

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BioWare GM Casey Hudson sent out a message to fans this week on the company’s official blog, thanking them for their support and positive reception toward Anthem, which managed to win over 30 awards including Best Action Game and Best PC Game at this year’s E3. While much of the studio is focused on perfecting that action-RPG shooter, Hudson revealed some teams are already hard at work on both Dragon Age and Mass Effect sequels.

In the meantime, our Star Wars: The Old Republic team is hard at work on some amazing plans for the coming year, with new features and surprises that I think makes it the game’s most exciting year yet. And yes – we hear loud and clear the interest in BioWare doing more Dragon Age and Mass Effect, so rest assured that we have some teams hidden away working on some secret stuff that I think you’ll really like – we’re just not ready to talk about any of it for a little while…
 
now all they need to do is, gather up an all femal Dev team, and make an all femal character game and sell it only to femal gamers.
 
alamox said:
now all they need to do is, gather up an all femal Dev team, and make an all femal character game and sell it only to femal gamers.
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Thanks, I never thought I'd ever see a post online and hear it read in Quark's voice in my head...

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Shmee said:
They're making new games in their top franchises? NO WAY!
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It is a remarkable departure. As you said, mega studios love milking their own mega IPs (see Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, Halo and so on), even through a bad release, but EA/Bioware dropped Mass Effect so fast that no one believes them when they say it's alive.
 
I'm like 1/4 way into Dragon Age Inquisition I couldn't care less about another ME game though I mean they just made one last year.
Dragon Age I would be interested int though especially if it done was over the top like the 3rd one was.
 
viper1152012 said:
So I'll wait 6 months after launch to play the finished game?
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Folks who are in management over at EA are not stupid and therefore I like to think they learned some things to improve and/or to avoid after the ME Andromeda release. One thing I learned was, repeat customers are not a given so a quality sequel is required.

If I were calling the ball at EA forthe next Mass Effect release I'd go back to what worked in the past (ME 1 thru 3 story line) and apply that type of quality story line and game play to the newer graphics available, the very improved handling Nomad, etc.

Andromeda became boring quickly because of the "land on a planet then activate the monoliths then explore the revealed vault to save the planet, rinse, repeat as needed" story format and the audio voices/scripting was amateur sounding as well.

I am looking forward to the next ME release but I won't do a pre-release order (IMHO EA needs to regain gamer trust)
 
_l_ said:
Folks who are in management over at EA are not stupid and therefore I like to think they learned some things to improve and/or to avoid after the ME Andromeda release. One thing I learned was, repeat customers are not a given so a quality sequel is required.

If I were calling the ball at EA forthe next Mass Effect release I'd go back to what worked in the past (ME 1 thru 3 story line) and apply that type of quality story line and game play to the newer graphics available, the very improved handling Nomad, etc.

Andromeda became boring quickly because of the "land on a planet then activate the monoliths then explore the revealed vault to save the planet, rinse, repeat as needed" story format and the audio voices/scripting was amateur sounding as well.

I am looking forward to the next ME release but I won't do a pre-release order (IMHO EA needs to regain gamer trust)
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Problem is most games want crappy experiences like Andromeda. Longer = better these days, even though the extra length is worthless.

I too would like a more traditional ME. I'd like more ports and for them to be slightly bigger than what was in the original three games. Maybe three ports similar to ME3's Citadel (four sub levels). Bring back the ability for some minor action to occur in said ports like in ME1. Keep the game focused and all side activities to be relevant to the main story in some way. Kill the resource scourging of ME2. Make the story centralized like ME1. Add ME3 gameplay and combat. Keep the maps from being a linear path like ME2 (most of ME maps consisted of a single line that turned a little bit). Open up combat area size a little bit and give some more movement freedom, but keep the maps small enough so we're not running around aimlessly. Make overall game length around the ball park of the first game (20-25 hours) so every minute can be worthwhile.

I'd suggest keeping it to two games. Trilogy may be too difficult to keep consist quality/ story throughout. Make it a fresh start though. Let us pretend ME:A never happened. That story line was just uninteresting and the antagonist race was dull.
 
Flogger23m said:
Problem is most games want crappy experiences like Andromeda. Longer = better these days, even though the extra length is worthless.

I too would like a more traditional ME. I'd like more ports and for them to be slightly bigger than what was in the original three games. Maybe three ports similar to ME3's Citadel (four sub levels). Bring back the ability for some minor action to occur in said ports like in ME1. Keep the game focused and all side activities to be relevant to the main story in some way. Kill the resource scourging of ME2. Make the story centralized like ME1. Add ME3 gameplay and combat. Keep the maps from being a linear path like ME2 (most of ME maps consisted of a single line that turned a little bit). Open up combat area size a little bit and give some more movement freedom, but keep the maps small enough so we're not running around aimlessly. Make overall game length around the ball park of the first game (20-25 hours) so every minute can be worthwhile.

I'd suggest keeping it to two games. Trilogy may be too difficult to keep consist quality/ story throughout. Make it a fresh start though. Let us pretend ME:A never happened. That story line was just uninteresting and the antagonist race was dull.
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I prefer the length of ME2 and ME3 with all the DLC over ME1. ME1's resource gathering and Mako exploration were nothing more than padding for what's otherwise a fairly short game.
 
Dan_D said:
I prefer the length of ME2 and ME3 with all the DLC over ME1. ME1's resource gathering and Mako exploration were nothing more than padding for what's otherwise a fairly short game.
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You didn't really have to do the off world stuff though. I think I spent maybe 1 to 1.5 hours doing that stuff, which was okay in short bursts. The only original game that really required it was ME2.
 
The resource gathering of ME 1 and 2 really sucked although the Mako resource gathering was by far the worst. I hated the fact that they were there for nothing more than padding the playtime and they weren't any fun at all.

I enjoyed the more organic nature of the how the story played out in ME 1. It didn't have the feel of a set goal at each step railroading you through the story. The game still had a set path you had to go through for the story but at each point you were learning more and interacting with the story in a natural progression. Going into a mission you didn't have the whole story already explained to you. You knew you needed to be there and there was something you needed to do or learn but it was hidden until you came upon it. ME 2 almost completely did away with this since there was very little story to the game. It was little more than recruitment mission after recruitment mission and then loyalty missions with a few story missions added in but there really wasn't much mystery to even the story missions. Most of the time you were there to do a specific thing and that thing only. ME 3 was more story driven for the missions but it was a completely straight line the whole time.

I also like the nature of side missions for ME 1 over 2 and 3. Some side missions were given to you but others you basically had to stumble into. Most of the side missions tended to be interesting in that they fit into the universe and gave you glimpses at how things worked; especially for looks into how things were done outside of civilized areas. Most of them also weren't directly related to the main story but gave you a nice diversion. Side missions in ME 2 felt more like extra filler rather than something interesting to do. ME 3 tended to feel the same way.

ME 1 is by far my favorite for story and the organic feel of the game over the other two. What I would love to see is to have ME 1 redone with the combat, leveling and inventory of ME 3. I think I would worship at the altar of that game.

What I would love is for the ME franchise to go back to the feel of ME 1 without the drawbacks of the combat system, inventory and Mako missions. It would also be nice to have a longer story to play through as well.
 
I really hope we have a new Mass Effect after the events of ME:3. I would love to see how humanity...Hell the whole Galaxy rebuilding after the events. That is just me. I did like Andromeda...but to me too far rushed in the story, but I still did like it and beat the game.

Now Dragon Age....They will have some work to do. Cause I mean every new RPG should at minimum be like Witcher 3 in quality IMO.
 
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Dan_D said:
I prefer the length of ME2 and ME3 with all the DLC over ME1. ME1's resource gathering and Mako exploration were nothing more than padding for what's otherwise a fairly short game.
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You kidding? That was the part that actually sold me on ME1. I initally hated it, let's be honest the first mission on eden prime was a pretty generic corridor shooter level. And for a shooter ME1 was terrible. And then came the citadel level which seemed like a boring walking simulator. But when I finally got out into the wild, and was able to explore everything turned around. I felt like I was in a Star Trek episode being able to go down to the surface of a planet of my choice and find mysteries there. It might have been padding, but open world games are MADE by their padding. If you're going to focus on the main missions only why even have an open world? Am I literally the only person who thought the mako was great?

Dan_D said:
They finished Revan and the Exile's story arcs in Star Wars: The Old Republic.
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Learning that is more insult to injury than consolation.
 
M76 said:
You kidding? That was the part that actually sold me on ME1. I initally hated it, let's be honest the first mission on eden prime was a pretty generic corridor shooter level. And for a shooter ME1 was terrible. And then came the citadel level which seemed like a boring walking simulator. But when I finally got out into the wild, and was able to explore everything turned around. I felt like I was in a Star Trek episode being able to go down to the surface of a planet of my choice and find mysteries there. It might have been padding, but open world games are MADE by their padding. If you're going to focus on the main missions only why even have an open world? Am I literally the only person who thought the mako was great?
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No, I'm not kidding. Exploration in games is overrated. I don't mind it when it serves some purpose or is at the very least entertaining. I don't find driving around in repetitive landscapes aimlessly with no benefit entertaining. Sure its fun for a bit as you take in the scenery but it quickly runs its course with me. There was no mystery in the landscapes of ME:1. Just random shit to fight sometimes and resources to gather. Andromeda did it better than ME:1 did. There are elements of ME:1 such as being able to walk aboard the Normandy seemlessly from where it was docked or even taking the elevators in the Citadel. Granted, that shit needed to be shortened but it added something to the experience. The fast cuts and loading screens of the newer games takes a certain amount of immersion out of it. I think an approach that better balances the two styles would serve the series better than either extreme does. ME3 is too linear and Andromeda was too open.

M76 said:
Learning that is more insult to injury than consolation.
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It wasn't intended to be a consolation. I'm simply stating that KOTOR III wasn't and probably isn't ever going to happen. Revan and the Exile's story lines were finished in SW:TOR and not in a way that KOTOR fans would like to have seen. Revan became a vengeful madman bent on genocide after being tortured by Emperor Vitiate for 300 years. During that time his "soul" or force ghost is split into two halves. A light and a dark half. You reunite the two killing him. The Exile was betrayed by an immortal servant of Emperor Vitiate (Emperor's Wrath) and killed by him. Revan's astromech is even destroyed by the Emperor's force lightning and completely vaporized, etc. In other words everyone died, became force ghosts and slipped into non-relevance.
 
Dan_D said:
No, I'm not kidding. Exploration in games is overrated. I don't mind it when it serves some purpose or is at the very least entertaining. I don't find driving around in repetitive landscapes aimlessly with no benefit entertaining. Sure its fun for a bit as you take in the scenery but it quickly runs its course with me. There was no mystery in the landscapes of ME:1. Just random shit to fight sometimes and resources to gather. Andromeda did it better than ME:1 did. There are elements of ME:1 such as being able to walk aboard the Normandy seemlessly from where it was docked or even taking the elevators in the Citadel. Granted, that shit needed to be shortened but it added something to the experience. The fast cuts and loading screens of the newer games takes a certain amount of immersion out of it. I think an approach that better balances the two styles would serve the series better than either extreme does. ME3 is too linear and Andromeda was too open.



It wasn't intended to be a consolation. I'm simply stating that KOTOR III wasn't and probably isn't ever going to happen. Revan and the Exile's story lines were finished in SW:TOR and not in a way that KOTOR fans would like to have seen. Revan became a vengeful madman bent on genocide after being tortured by Emperor Vitiate for 300 years. During that time his "soul" or force ghost is split into two halves. A light and a dark half. You reunite the two killing him. The Exile was betrayed by an immortal servant of Emperor Vitiate (Emperor's Wrath) and killed by him. Revan's astromech is even destroyed by the Emperor's force lightning and completely vaporized, etc. In other words everyone died, became force ghosts and slipped into non-relevance.
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Id rather have them try again on that, but I hear ya on the fact they told the story in the online game.
 
Dan_D said:
No, I'm not kidding. Exploration in games is overrated. I don't mind it when it serves some purpose or is at the very least entertaining. I don't find driving around in repetitive landscapes aimlessly with no benefit entertaining. Sure its fun for a bit as you take in the scenery but it quickly runs its course with me. There was no mystery in the landscapes of ME:1. Just random shit to fight sometimes and resources to gather. Andromeda did it better than ME:1 did. There are elements of ME:1 such as being able to walk aboard the Normandy seemlessly from where it was docked or even taking the elevators in the Citadel. Granted, that shit needed to be shortened but it added something to the experience. The fast cuts and loading screens of the newer games takes a certain amount of immersion out of it. I think an approach that better balances the two styles would serve the series better than either extreme does. ME3 is too linear and Andromeda was too open.
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Maybe you don't remember, but there were multiple interesting side missions you could do on the planets. Not just resource gathering, and random fights with mercenaries. I grant you the resource gathering was tedious, and the endless streams of downed probes, but a lot of the actual missions were good, and there were quite a few. If I remember correctly there was at least one in every system. Some were quite elaborate.

I looked it up there was 32 missions in ME:1 related to exploration. One of my favourites was listening post alpha.

Andromeda had basically no value to exploration. There was very little to none to find on each planet. Except for collecting shit. I never felt rewarded for exploring except for that one time were I bumped into the meth cooks.
 
M76 said:
Maybe you don't remember, but there were multiple interesting side missions you could do on the planets. Not just resource gathering, and random fights with mercenaries. I grant you the resource gathering was tedious, and the endless streams of downed probes, but a lot of the actual missions were good, and there were quite a few. If I remember correctly there was at least one in every system. Some were quite elaborate.

I looked it up there was 32 missions in ME:1 related to exploration. One of my favourites was listening post alpha.

Andromeda had basically no value to exploration. There was very little to none to find on each planet. Except for collecting shit. I never felt rewarded for exploring except for that one time were I bumped into the meth cooks.
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Yes, I recall all the missions. I've played all these games very recently. I think people look at the ME:1 missions with a nostalgic filter. I don't find them anymore elaborate or rewarding than the ones in Andromeda. There are a few that are more well thought out plot wise, but the endless Mako driving and resource gathering really drowns out the few good aspects of the exploration with tedium.
 
SmokeRngs said:
The resource gathering of ME 1 and 2 really sucked although the Mako resource gathering was by far the worst. I hated the fact that they were there for nothing more than padding the playtime and they weren't any fun at all.
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Padding, it was perhaps, but some people like a little padding. It has something to do with pushing a cushion or something

I personally liked wandering around looking for little bits of junk; could it have been more interesting? Yeah , but the game was pushing a lot of new gaming frontiers (seriously load it up on one of today's rigs and marvel at how well the graphics have "aged" ) in a bunch of different directions.
That kind of ambitious creation normally kills a game in development, or ships an unpolished , unfinished product. In the case of ME1 I think some of the resource gathering was somewhat truncated because of this ( and some technical limitations at the time )

And I loved that ridiculous vehicle...learning how to drive it required the patience of a saint and an almost autistic level of focus and fine dexterity control. Mastering it has made me be kinder to animals , old people , and children ( and even the robots that will one day kill us all ).

...
What I would love is for the ME franchise to go back to the feel of ME 1 without the drawbacks of the combat system, inventory and Mako missions. It would also be nice to have a longer story to play through as well.
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Totally agree about bringing back the 'feel' of ME1.

Although the combat system;..if you'd of asked me if I liked it when I was playing the first 75% of the game I would have described it with a few choice expletives.
But about 3/4 of the way through ME1 I finally understood the thinking behind why the combat system was structured the way it was and shifted my game play to match the games combat style .

As soon as I did that ( stopped trying to force the combat system to be something it's not ) and played by it's rules I found it really satisfying ( and I started mopping the floor with the bad guys blood as opposed to struggling with almost every combat ) . If the game would have had a solid tutorial level on HOW ME1 approaches combat I think it would have greatly increased peoples enjoyment with it .

When I first encountered the combat system they used in ME2 , I was instantly put-off , and disappointed. It seemed kind of hollow and generic compared to ME1's esoteric, but charismatic method.

When I played through ME1 the second time ( having an understanding of HOW to use the combat system , and now blessed with the angelic like ability to drive the Mako ) I ended the game with over three million credits in my account.

One of the interesting tid bits was paying attention to the price of commodities at the various shops . If one were so inclined one could make a shit ton of money as a trader.
If EA made an ME1-ish game that added odd far flung shops , the ability to smuggle, and random trade encounters ( could be in space or on resource exploration planets ) along with ancient ruins then I think a large portion of the people that did not enjoy the resource gathering would now find something to enjoy.

Dammit , now I am going to load up ME1 again.
 
Silverlok said:
Totally agree about bringing back the 'feel' of ME1
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That's pretty much what all Mass Effect players are hoping for (and were before Andromeda was released). Some good posts here. Maybe Mr. Hudson might read them and give them some consideration. Figured I post this just in Casey does :barefoot:
 
I always wondered why the next installment in mass effect had to play somewhere completely else


There is so much I would've loved to see in the lore Bioware made for the ME universe

Would've loved to see the first contact with the Turians or Batarians

Bioware's fortè is supposedly strike telling
So why not play a Krogan trying to survive on his pre industrial homeworld
To witness how his species was uplifted to fight the Rachni, only to be rewarded with a plague to keep his peoples birth rates in check

They are long lived


Hell we could've played Protheans

Loads of possibilities without actually leaving the galaxy
 
Dan_D said:
Yes, I recall all the missions. I've played all these games very recently. I think people look at the ME:1 missions with a nostalgic filter. I don't find them anymore elaborate or rewarding than the ones in Andromeda. There are a few that are more well thought out plot wise, but the endless Mako driving and resource gathering really drowns out the few good aspects of the exploration with tedium.
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So you're saying what I experienced never actually happened? I've heard apple users denying their own bad experiences, but this is something entirely new, someone else denying my experience :ROFLMAO: I get that most people didn't like driving the mako, but I did.

You said the exploration in ME1 was only about random fights and collecting materials. I said that it wasn't and now you're doubling down, by saying that those missions are not very elaborate. But until now you acted as if they never existed, their complexity is another question entirely.
 
M76 said:
So you're saying what I experienced never actually happened? I've heard apple users denying their own bad experiences, but this is something entirely new, someone else denying my experience :ROFLMAO: I get that most people didn't like driving the mako, but I did.

You said the exploration in ME1 was only about random fights and collecting materials. I said that it wasn't and now you're doubling down, by saying that those missions are not very elaborate. But until now you acted as if they never existed, their complexity is another question entirely.
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I am not denying that what you experienced actually happened. Jesus fucking Christ your sensitive. I simply don't interpret those missions the same way you do. Beyond the Cerberus side plot and a few other things, I didn't find them incredibly complex, rewarding or of any tremendous value. I'm simply stating that I think people tend look at ME:1 through a perspective that's clouded by nostalgia. It's not nearly as good as people remember it. I simply don't agree with you that the exploration has more "value" or is more rewarding than it is in Andromeda. Maybe some of the plots are a bit better, but that's it.

_l_ said:
That's pretty much what all Mass Effect players are hoping for (and were before Andromeda was released). Some good posts here. Maybe Mr. Hudson might read them and give them some consideration. Figured I post this just in Casey does :barefoot:
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I actually think that they did manage to bring back a lot of the feel of ME1. The problem is that the setting didn't complete it. You had fewer alien races, a truncated Citadel, greatly expanded dialog that goes nowhere and without Shepard, it fell flat. Mechanically, it resembles ME1 more than any of the other games and that's one of Andromeda's issues. It's too vast and lacks the tighter storytelling of the earlier installments. Even compared to ME1.
 
Peter2k said:
I always wondered why the next installment in mass effect had to play somewhere completely else


There is so much I would've loved to see in the lore Bioware made for the ME universe

Would've loved to see the first contact with the Turians or Batarians

Bioware's fortè is supposedly strike telling
So why not play a Krogan trying to survive on his pre industrial homeworld
To witness how his species was uplifted to fight the Rachni, only to be rewarded with a plague to keep his peoples birth rates in check

They are long lived


Hell we could've played Protheans

Loads of possibilities without actually leaving the galaxy
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I disagree.
I loved the fact they set the game in another galaxy. It was very enjoyable, and without knowing anything about Andromeda, they can just let their imagination run free.
Mass Effect: Andromeda was a fantastic game, I enjoyed every minute of it.
 
Dan_D said:
They finished Revan and the Exile's story arcs in Star Wars: The Old Republic.
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I'd rather treat TOR as it's own separate universe and get a proper sequel. I never played TOR, but from what I've seen and read the story isn't that great.

It would be nice if they'd finish the missing stuff from KOTOR II while they're at it. It's a great game, but the final act is a mess from all the cuts.
 
DeathFromBelow said:
I'd rather treat TOR as it's own separate universe and get a proper sequel. I never played TOR, but from what I've seen and read the story isn't that great.

It would be nice if they'd finish the missing stuff from KOTOR II while they're at it. It's a great game, but the final act is a mess from all the cuts.
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ST:TOR is made up of a fuck ton of stories through out the game. The Revan shit is only a small part of it. Many of the plots in that game are quite good. The Revan crap, not so much.
 
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