these will hold their value a bit better than their predecessors, mainly due to the range; gently-used last-gen EVs are an absolute bargain right now. but anyone who spends $44k on a Leaf needs an examination, regardless of how many torques it has. 

Faster than you, meatbag

Yeah, Odyssey doesn’t have an “endgame” really. Which is good, because the idea of infinitely repeatable content useful only to grind out more powerful gear is probably anathema to creating a satisfying narrative. 

This is another really good article and particularly difficult for me to read, as Dragon Age is probably my all-time favorite IP. I really want to believe that an emphasis on-or more optimistically, inclusion of-a live service component, built for long-term gameplay and revenue, doesn’t necessarily mean that Dragon…

If nothing else it picked a more unique art direction than Origins, and 2 had some great characters and character relationships. DA2 really did a great job on convincing me this motley crew were all friends, even if they were friends that hated each other (like most adult friendships).

Yeah I always imagine how much more they could have done with DA2 along those lines if they’d spent a bit more time on it and been willing to take some risks. The stronghold management system you had in DA:I was something that would have worked great in DA2. Managing and customizing your swanky little pad, making…

AC Odyssey seems like the ideal, as far as singleplayer ARPGs with live service go. Free new quests on a biweekly basis, episodes of paid expansions every six weeks, and microtransactions that are completely non-essential (to the point where they are mostly useless in the endgame).

Damn, the slow corruption of once unique and original studios into a state of homogeneous, stilted, montitization by big publishers is hard to watch. The slow arson of Blizzard by Activision and the destruction of Bioware’s unique voice by EA are the ones that hurt the most for me, but it is a depressingly widespread…

I think the city could have changed a bit more it was a bit static for what was supposed to be happening over a decade. And while not the end of the world, all the dungeon reuse seemed out of place in what was allegedly a AAA game. Still I think DA:2 got a bad rap, there was a lot of good stuff in there.

Yep, I still haven’t made it to Trespasser, even though everyone says its good. The combat in DA:I just feels pretty boring an routine. The areas are bigger, but there’s just not much thrill in exploring for the most part.

DA:1 is one of my favorite games of all time and I’ve replayed it more than anything else. It took me a while to get into DA:2 but once I finally did I really loved it too. It was a different experience from the first one, certainly but it told a really great story. I never quite got into DA:I. I put a fair amount of…

I think the main difference in how these two games are viewed is the result of a single game releasing 1 year after DA:I, that being the Witcher 3, had DA:I come out after, it would probably have a much more different reception.

Here’s the thing. I think the notion of Dragon Age 2 was sound, and I actually found a whole lot to like in it. The primary problems came from the execution and a lack of resources, but a more intimate and choice-driven approach to the series isn’t a bad idea.

At this point, just tell me where the ex-Bioware people are working so I can play those games instead.

I bought Andromeda after the major patch for it had been released, and I was expecting to encounter a horrible, horrible game—bad music, bad audio, bad gameplay, dialogue, story, etc.

Over the last month I replayed through the original Mass Effect trilogy. When I finished 3 last week, I said “screw it” and decided to retry Andromeda. My original playthrough of Andromeda stopped about 10 hours in before I put the game down in disgust.

I know people really rag on DA:2 but outside having to walk back and forth and all the bloody loading screens the idea of being in the same city and it changing visibly due to your actions was really quite something new at the time.

I’m with you on being kind of burnt out on DA. I mean I generally love the mmo-esque style and the crapload of random sidequests, but DA:I was just too much. I have a hard time replaying that one because it feels so tedious so fast. Storywise I’m also just not quite as invested in DA as I was before. I love Origins,…

“Did EA’s executives really care about narrative? Did they really care about RPGs?”

With how much info you keep getting on Bioware all I can imagine is you with a really crappy fake beard sneaking into board meetings...