Yeah, Dragon Age Inquisition far outsold the first 2 games and outsold all of the Mass Effect games too, which isn't surprising considering it won GOTY in 2014, nearly all GOTY winners sell well. A follow-up that fixed some of the issues people had with Inquisition (too large, too open, etc.) would have done very well, and that was exactly what the initial Joplin build of Dragon Age 4 was (smaller, more narrative focused, set in Tevinter), but EA bungled the hell out of that by forcing Dragon Age 4's Joplin build dev team to assist the Mass Effect Andromeda and Anthem teams who were struggling, and then later cancelling the Joplin build to chase after GaaS instead, causing many Bioware veterans to quit in protest, including Mike Laidlaw (lead designer on Dragon Age Origins and creative director on the Joplin build of Dragon Age 4). The final end product of Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a hodgepodge of ideas and systems from both the Joplin build and the live-service Morrison build of Dragon Age 4, with lots of modernization sprinkled in.
I really don't think that Bioware needed to reinvent the series with Veilguard the way they seem to have done. A game that combined the things that people liked about each of the 3 previous games would have done very well I think: The origin system and strong storytelling and impactful story decisions of Origins; a somewhat smaller, more focused setting and stronger companion relationships like Dragon Age 2; and a modernized and improved version of Inquisitions combat. Instead they basically tried to reinvent the wheel, entirely new art design that is designed to draw in younger gamers, barely any impactful story decisions compared to the earlier games, ultra modern action combat system, etc.
Last edited by shikamaru317 - 5 days ago
