Dragon Age Remaster and Remake

[Winter]

I've been replaying the remaster of the Mass Effect Trilogy and going Chuck's review of Dragon Age: Origins and as such I went and checked out Mark Darrah's opinion on the matter and he said something that I found rather interesting.

Darrah's doesn't think that Dragon Age will get a Legendary Edition like Mass Effect did, not because it's not as popular as ME but because it would be a pain in the ass because all three games used different engines. However, he and other developers who worked on the series, have suggested the idea of making a remaster of DAO and a Remake for Dragon Age 2.

For me this would be an overall good idea as DAO is a classic in terms of story but it being a dated game even by the standards of the time it was released in terms of graphics and even gameplay I think is a great idea. I would LOVE to see DAO on current gen with improved graphics that uses more of the art style introduced in DA2 instead of being a D&D ripoff and more color instead of various shades of brown.

I also would like to see the gameplay upgraded while maintaining the core elements of the original. And on that note I would also like to see more fully realized maps and levels. I mean imagine having no loading screens during the game, the Mage Tower is an actual building instead of a series of rooms separated by loading screens. Ostagar as a proper city instead of one or two maps.

I for one would love to see this and the best part is that you can keep the original story intact as all that needs to be done is use the original dialogue from the original game. It's a win win situation, we get a classic game back without losing anything that made it great.

The only real issue is whether to have the Warden Voiced or not. Personally I'm of the opinion that voicing the character would be a good thing but that's just me and I'd be willing to meet everyone half way by giving players the option to have the Warden speak or not in the menu.

As for DA2, I'd say go full remake here.

The story would have to remain unchanged but there's still a chance fix the problems with this game. Make Anders more likeable, give Hawke more of an arc, give the Mage and Templar conflict more attention and make Sebastian not such a boring stick in the mud.

Just focusing on Hawke and giving them more of an arc, the first act is still going down to the Deep Roads to make our fortune, act 2 is DOING something, ANYTHING, with said fortune and act three is trying to use that to impact the Mage vs. Templar conflict.

DA2 was hindered by a rushed development time so this is a chance to fix it.

I know a lot of fans are sick of the Remake/Remaster phase we've been going through but truth be told I kinda love it right now as I think most of said remakes/remasters are superior to the original game.

To use the DA examples with a DAO we have a great game with a timeless story with graphics and gameplay to finally match it and with DA2 we have a story that has the potential to be as good as the first game and this is a chance to fix it while keeping what fans liked about it.

Thoughts?

[hammerofglass]

I think 2 should learn a lot more into it being Varric's version of the story if they remade it, that was the best idea in it to me. Like when there's no option but to not tell Hawke's mom that mysterious admirer is following the MO of a serial killer Hawk has been on the trail of for years, lean into it being a bad choice the "real" Hawke would regret. A "canon event" even Varric's version can't avoid.

Do the "second wave of enemies drop from the ceiling" thing like twice and then have Cassandra make him stop.

Redo all the romances, they're anemic as hell compared to the first and third games.

[Winter]

I think 2 should learn a lot more into it being Varric's version of the story if they remade it, that was the best idea in it to me. Like when there's no option but to not tell Hawke's mom that mysterious admirer is following the MO of a serial killer Hawk has been on the trail of for years, lean into it being a bad choice the "real" Hawke would regret. A "canon event" even Varric's version can't avoid.

Do the "second wave of enemies drop from the ceiling" thing like twice and then have Cassandra make him stop.

Redo all the romances, they're anemic as hell compared to the first and third games.

In relation to that something my sister and I came up with is that there is a little mini-arc in the game over screens. If you die we'll get some dialogue from Varric and Cassandra where she notes that no one died there, or Varric making a joke about how after they all died they miraculously came back to life and continued to win the fight. Die enough times during, say, the Dragon boss fight, and Varric will note just how annoying this fight was and that it FELT like they died several times while fighting it.

I would work to have like an entire games worth of dialogue just to see everyone trying to get all the game over dialogue and even have a few unique ones like if you managed to avoid dying except for the very last mission we get a unique Game over dialogue.

This is suppose to be Varric recounting the story so why not lean into that like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time did?

[CharlesPhipps]

I feel like the first post has a very weird element to it:

Just focusing on Hawke and giving them more of an arc, the first act is still going down to the Deep Roads to make our fortune, act 2 is DOING something, ANYTHING, with said fortune and act three is trying to use that to impact the Mage vs. Templar conflict.

Act II is the only Act that ISN'T incredibly flawed and has the beginning, middle, and end of the Qunari invasion. It's also the best time to have the DLC because Hawke is at their best doing things to actively help the city and strangers.

Everyone REMEMBERS the Mage-Templar plot but you could do a whole game around Act II.

[hammerofglass]

The Mage-Templar plot isn't even really relevant to the overall series; the effects were contained to the city and environs and unrelated events in one of the novels (Asunder if I recall correctly, been a long time) are what set off the actual war.

[stryke]

I couldn't do it. I was waaay invested in both Mass Effect and Dragon Age. Mass Effect 1 to this day is still like top 5 games of all time, beat it multiple times, including twice on Insanity, and Dragon Age Origin was the Baldur's Gate 3 I never thought we'd ever get.

ME3 and DA2 hurt.

Hurt bad enough that I could never even think about trying Andromeda, DA3, or anything since.

They had me hook, line, and sinker but they messed them both up so utterly diabolically badly that I'm never coming back. No matter what happens.

I do think the signs were there in ME2 of where things were heading but I'm well aware that's an even hotter take.

[CharlesPhipps]

If they remade DA2, I'd ask them to embrace what they danced around.

Specifically, the noir sensibility.

Hawke is a private detective even though he's never called that. He goes around and deals with the dirty noir city's corrupt secrets and investigates mysteries for gold. That even includes multiple serial killers.

Give DA a version of a trench coat and fedora. Also, some more dames (or dudes) coming to their office asking for favors against the Big Bad Mob.

[Winter]

If they remade DA2, I'd ask them to embrace what they danced around.

Specifically, the noir sensibility.

Hawke is a private detective even though he's never called that. He goes around and deals with the dirty noir city's corrupt secrets and investigates mysteries for gold. That even includes multiple serial killers.

Give DA a version of a trench coat and fedora. Also, some more dames (or dudes) coming to their office asking for favors against the Big Bad Mob.

In relation to this I had an idea of including a reoccurring antagonist in the game that would be present in all three acts, Naga, the Serpent of Kirkwall.

Basically the crime boss that runs the city's underground but who enlists the help of Hawke and her companions, a favor for a favor. He'd be the one who direct us to Anders (Naga is "Helping" i.e. exploiting the Ferelden refugees and knows where Anders is). Design wise he's based on the Baron from Dune, so fat that he needs magic to help him float around but acts more like the character in the book instead of the David Lynch version.

He does fit with the Noir style of the story and would be a solid adversary to Hawke.

Though just to clarify he would NOT be the main antagonist of the story. Nothing he does would greatly impact the story and his only losely tied to the major acts. He helps fund our expedition down to the Deep Roads, stays out of the conflict with the Quarni but his biggest contribution to the story is to help explain how Anders got what he needed to bomb the Chantry (something which he, Naga, is never made aware of). And before the final act is over he's already dead.

I love how there's no real main antagonist in DA2 and it's just a lot of bad shit happening and Naga fits right into that. He's not the master mind that brought Kirkwall to its knees he's just a criminal who had a few dealings with Hawke.

[CharlesPhipps]

Fantastic idea.

Plus, the Friends of Red Jenny seemed like they were less Anonymous and a rival crime syndicate.

[Winter]

Fantastic idea.

Plus, the Friends of Red Jenny seemed like they were less Anonymous and a rival crime syndicate.

Truth be told I keep kinda forgetting that the Red Jennys are even in this game. The most I remember is Sera's line about them that the other Jenny's cut them out because they were to extreme.

But back over the idea of a remake for DA2 something else I would change is the characters, most notably Anders. I don't know anyone who actually likes Anders in DA2 mainly because he barely resembles his Awakenings counterpart so something I would do is give him more of his old character traits while also working to maintain his fall.

Now if you're a rival he's more or less like he was in the original game and he does the same shit of tricking you into helping him blow up the Chantry. But if you gain friendship points he acts more like Anders in Awakenings, a lovable sex machine who just wants the freedom to live as he sees fit. However, he still goes through with blowing up the Chantry BUT he never tricks us into helping him.

Instead the final mission with him before the game is over is a series of missions where he goes around hanging out with his friends. Helping Isabela steal from a rich stuck up noble, finding a book on Elven lore that might help Merrill figuring out how to repair and use the Eluvian (which also doubles as foreshadowing to what it can do in Inquisition). With Aveline he apologies for saying the horrible things he said about her husband and thanks her for all the help she gave towards helping the Mages. Varric he goes to have a Drink with him at The Hanged Man where he tells Varric a story about the time where he and the Warden fought a Broodmother after meeting the Architect who is the one who caused the Fifth Blight.

He tries to bury the hatchet with Sebastian and offers up a sincere apology for the lose of his family. And finally Fenris who he can develop a Vitriolic Best Buds relationship with if you try to make them friends and Anders just has one last verbal sparing match and one last drink to being free, and what it costs.

At first this seems to be Anders being turned from the path to darkness but in reality it's him spending one that good day with his friends before he does something horrible. The final part of this mission is asking Hawke to help a few refugees at the gates but not before tells Hawke what a good friend she's been and how he wants her to know that no matter what he'll always remember that. And the purpose of helping the refugees is because it gives her an alibi that she was nowhere Anders when he planted the bomb in the Chantry.

Because it's a canon event that means there is noway this can be avoided but that doesn't mean we can't change it so we can at least make Anders less of an ass and more of a tragic figure.