Thoughts on the Future of Dragon Age

Bioware has announced that they're looking for monthly feedback on what people are looking for in a future installment of Dragon Age. Rather than get lost in a sea of fans crying out for answers about fill-in-the-blank, I thought I'd post here my thoughts as short and to the point as I could make them. Obviously, without going too in-depth, as I don't think it's a fan's job to do a creator's job (and, not to mention, I come up with ideas for a living, so call me, Bioware).

Ok, here we go...

As a fan of the series, here's what I'm looking for...

-Consistency. I was one of those that loved DA2 despite it's many flaws. One of the things I couldn't stand, however, was the vastly-different feel of the world and it's design as opposed to DA:O. The Kunari, the Darkspawn, etc... the entire look and design of the world seemed to have gotten a face-lift, with little to no explanation as to just how and why things had changed.

When world-building, you can show us more and let us discover further the how's and why's of a race or location, but what was established in the previous story has to remain true. The player shouldn't have to go digging through an obscure codex entry to understand why, for example, the Kunari "pulled a Klingons" between the first and second games. As great as the design work felt in part 2, so much of it seemed just wrong or contradictory to what had been established.

-Closure. I know it's EA's business to make and sell more games, but a franchise can live on while still bringing finality to a story. There are too many sloppy, dangling plot threads from the first two games for Bioware to repeat their mistakes with Mass Effect 3 when it comes to plot and resolution.

Without giving away spoilers, what happened after Witch Hunt, the war between the two sides in DA2, and Flemyth's ultimate plans and goals are all things that should be addressed. Also, as every character is someone's favorite, each and every one of them deserves their own "final sentence," so to speak. You don't need a party roster of 40 characters, but they each deserve better than what most characters in ME3 got.

-The best of both worlds. The Hero and The Champion. The meeting of these two, and the decisions they make together and separately, should be at the core of of DA3. And this should be reflected in the game itself.

DA3 should take the epic scope of the first game, the combat of the second, and hybridize them into something new and equally unique. A vast and epic tale that manages to retain the intimate, personal drama people have come to expect from the brand.

I doubt anyone from Bioware will actually ever see this, but regardless, I had thoughts I had to get written down. I really do love the studio, and everything they produce. I wish and hope for nothing but the best from this third installment of Dragon Age. Now get to work, guys!