Dawn of a new age

Apparently it's true: Dragon Age 3 is currently in the development. After all, it has it's own wikipedia page so it must count for something - beyond being 35% true.

It may be far too early to call but there first few scraps of information show some degree of promise: I like the idea of an open world, said world being four times larger than Ferelden, and the conflicts between the templers and the mages in DA2 erupting into a full out war. And even in this early stage, I'm interested to see how the Warden and Hawke will be integrated into the mix.

Personally I'm less than thrilled. I loved DA1 so coming from that into the disappointment that was DA2 is nothing short of a bitch-slap. And much of the criticism I've heard elsewhere was justified: lousy controls, repetitive environments and a glaring lack of anything resembling something epic. I never completed the game because the second-to-last battle was too hard - even on casual difficulty! - and I felt burnt out as I'd put my name down for an on-the-day release (or whatever you call them). And that last one is a particular sore point as I'd never done the sort of thing before, it cost me over $100 and was underwhelmed with the end result - So much so, I'm not in a rush to do it a second time and it was a deal-breaker to the point where I've slowly become disillusioned with Xbox gaming ever since.

Therefore, it would be interesting to see what Bioware does next with this series. The failure of DA2 has lowered a lot of expectations and much of the promise offered in DAO is now looked upon with unease. I'd like to hope that with the series' back to the wall, no.3 will turn around and prove so fantastically awesome and redeem the missteps of it's predecessor but I'm never one for high hopes - because, as I can certainly tell you, the bigger they are the harder they fall.