Does anyone else find it surprising that there aren’t more games like DA: Origins?

[StaceyPowers]

I really liked the character origin stories that gave Dragon Age: Origins its name. A lot of people praised it for being innovative, so it kind of surprises me we haven’t really seen it show up in many other games (or any? Not sure). Does anyone else find this surprising?

[Reality vs Adventure]

I always found that to be pretty cool to learn the origins of characters in comic book series. I don't know many games like that, but it is definitely something I like. Many times games just jump right into it, and you really don't know much about the character. But if a later game goes and touches on the origins of them, it is usually pretty fun and interesting. Books do that a lot, as well as comics, and it is always one of those aahaa moments. 

But I think the origins usually mean more when you already have a connection to the characters. It would go great to start off learning the characters first, and build the story from there. But for me, it won't have such a strong impact if I didn't know squat about them. Unless it was very interesting of course. But once I already have that connection, it is a refreshing treat to go back and learn what shaped who they are. 

 

[Withywarlock]

I do find it surprising, but there's a number of reasons I've seen why don't see this happen often. The first being that games enthusiasts think multiple endings are good, when really it depends entirely on the talent of the writers and their confidence in the story they want to tell, and the audience they want to tell it to. With multiple origins if one is bad it could well turn off the player for the rest of the game, but comes at a lower risk because there's other beginnings to choose from if one doesn't work out and won't sour the past, say, 40 hours of gameplay.

The second hypothesis I have is that, going back to competent writers, multiple origins don't matter if they're completely disregarded, such is the case with Dragon Age: Origins' expansion Awakening, and the sequels. Dragon Age was not intended to be a franchise, which explains why its narrative is so incredibly well woven. Your origins matter in DA:O, but only in the vacuum that is that one game.

If we are to see more games with multiple origin paths devs have to be prepared to either make it a one-shot, have a sequel that is completely unrelated with the same mechanics and tone, or have a sequel that's a direct continuation knowing full well there'll be additional story.

[killamch89]

On 2/26/2021 at 9:02 AM, Withywarlock said:

I do find it surprising, but there's a number of reasons I've seen why don't see this happen often. The first being that games enthusiasts think multiple endings are good, when really it depends entirely on the talent of the writers and their confidence in the story they want to tell, and the audience they want to tell it to. With multiple origins if one is bad it could well turn off the player for the rest of the game, but comes at a lower risk because there's other beginnings to choose from if one doesn't work out and won't sour the past, say, 40 hours of gameplay.

The second hypothesis I have is that, going back to competent writers, multiple origins don't matter if they're completely disregarded, such is the case with Dragon Age: Origins' expansion Awakening, and the sequels. Dragon Age was not intended to be a franchise, which explains why its narrative is so incredibly well woven. Your origins matter in DA:O, but only in the vacuum that is that one game.

If we are to see more games with multiple origin paths devs have to be prepared to either make it a one-shot, have a sequel that is completely unrelated with the same mechanics and tone, or have a sequel that's a direct continuation knowing full well there'll be additional story.

So true - it depends on the story writer's talent to make multiple endings exciting no matter the choices. Too bad that most of the people that worked on those games have moved on to other companies. Unless EA starts hiring talented people to do their work again, we'll hardly even get games like this.

[Heatman]

On 2/26/2021 at 2:19 AM, StaceyPowers said:

I really liked the character origin stories that gave Dragon Age: Origins its name. A lot of people praised it for being innovative, so it kind of surprises me we haven’t really seen it show up in many other games (or any? Not sure). Does anyone else find this surprising?

These gaming companies are no longer looking at being innovative about any video games recently as they are all focused on making more money. So, I'm not surprised.