We were present at today's EA Press Conference for E# 2014, and thankfully were not disappointed in the RPG department. Both Dragon Age: Inquisition and Mass Effect 4 got some new info dumps. We also learned that BioWare is hard at work on a brand new IP, but nothing else about that was said. Read on for our impressions of the Inquisition gameplay and the ME4 news.
EA actually had a great conference, focusing early on the BioWare titles. They're trying hard to turn their image around, and it's clear that BioWare is a big part of that strategy. Sadly, not SWTOR love, but we did get a good look finally at some Dragon Age: Inquisition gameplay. The problem? It didn't look that great... but it looked promising at least. The demo video showed how a fight with a High Dragon might look. The visuals in the Frostbite engine are absolutely impressive, and DA:I certainly looks properly next gen. But I couldn't help feeling the combat looked stilted, and clunky. Unintuitive to the point where I wasn't sure what was actually happening on screen. And considering we saw no glimpse of the melee combat in this demo (it focused instead entirely on ranged bow and magic), that's a little concerning.
Still, it's clear to see that Inquisition aims to be BioWare's most open and biggest game yet. They're insistent on this fact, but we really need some full hands-on with the game's world to believe this.
We also got a brief look at Mass Effect 4. By brief, I mean we got some prototype looks at the new engine, we were told it would be a new part of the universe, new characters, and a new story. In short? I wouldn't expect more than a remembrance of Shepard if there's any mention at all. One thing, please EA: don't make ME4 as "mission-based" as 2 and 3. ME1 had it's problems, but it's open traveling universe and exploration were not at fault. If you're going to make Inquisition go back to the open world RPG, let's do the same for Mass Effect. That's all I'm hoping for.
Hopefully we'll get some more info on then two at EA's booth tomorrow. If we're lucky, maybe we'll get to play DA:I (doubtful). But we'll keep you posted!
