Nothing gets us hotter under the collar or moister of armpit than the thought of a new role-playing game - and the years ahead are ablaze with promise on that count, despite an industry-wide unwillingness to share details for fear of giving away the status of next gen hardware.
The upcoming crop have tough acts to follow, as attested by our list of the best Xbox RPGs, but what info there is to share paints a rosy picture. Here's a round-up of the titles we're especially desperate to lay hands on, spanning new IPs and fresh takes on established series.
Mass Effect 4
Release: TBA
Shepard's story may be over and done, but the Mass Effect universe trundles on (with greater or lesser degrees of smoothness, depending on how you completed Mass Effect 3). A new title is now in development at BioWare's Montreal and Edmonton studios, powered by DICE's Frostbite tech and sharing "systems" with Dragon Age 3: Inquisition.
"The Mass Effect universe is vast, and very, very rich," producer Fabrice Condominas elaborated. "So at this point in time, we don't even know what kind of time frame we're going to be in. All we're doing is more gathering ideas from the teams, gathering feedback to see several things." Among the possibilities mooted by executive producer Mike Gamble last February are Mass Effect prequels that explore the origins of certain races. We think the First Contact War would make for a fantastic game, ourselves, and as for leading lights - BioWare could do worse than a youthful version of the Illusive Man.
21 comments so far...
Johnbhoy69 on 25 Jan '13 said:
Most looking forward to Dark Souls 2 and Lightning Returns.
I think if Dark Souls 2 has some kind of less difficult mode for casual gamers (wimps) Then that should keep them separate from players who play the standard difficulty of Dark souls. No invading players who aren't on the standard difficulty, no blasting through the game on easy then starting New game plus with all the best gear on standard difficulty. If you start game on easy you stay on easy is what I'm trying to stay.
Thinks that's a way to keep everyone happy without adding something dumb like 4 player co op for the entire playthrough to really make things stupidly easy...though preferably there will be no ''easy'' difficulty...as I freaking loved Dark Souls, poured over 100 hours into it, haven't did that with a game since Final Fantasy 8. Had to sell the blasting thing to get my life back...which I was very reluctant about...and beginning to regret...think Ill hit ebay lol
Droidsbane on 25 Jan '13 said:
Im looking forward to Cyberpunk, Fallout and Stick of Truth provided Ubisoft dont make any last minute alterations.
I think a first contact war ME game would be pretty biring or would be streamlined even more into a GOW clone, plus youd probably end up fighting Turians for most of the game, Enemy variety in Me3 was little weak compared to the previous entries, got sick of fighting Cerberus for most of the game, which i think would be a similar case with a first contact war game given that Turians were the enemy humanity fought, plus it wouldnt really be big grand enough in scope for a full game. not that it matters, Mass effect 3 turned me off the series altogether (and no its got nothing to do with the ending, the series is heading in a direction i dont like)
Grummy on 25 Jan '13 said:
Dragon's Dogma FTW. Seriously looking forward to that. Fallout 4 too. Dragon Age 3 will be interesting, where most people disliked the 2nd one, I loved it, much preferred the control scheme, but it DID have problems, mostly its repeated placeholder environments.
Have to disagree with you about Dark Souls, being thrust into the game with no clue how to begin and no idea what to do is the worst part of the experience, It's only because I tend to give games a second try that I've ever turned out to be able to play Dark Souls, I can see tens of thousands or more players being turned off the game because it was so mercilessly unforgiving to new players. That's not a smart move at all if you want to grow your audience. Having played through Dark Souls now I can say without hesitation that giving people a little guidance, some little hints and signposting early on to help them learn what the game entails would only benefit the players, not hurt the game. The rest of the game can be what it is, and not lose any sense of what makes it the game it is just because you give players a little bump at the beginning. The game can still be tough and merciless etc for the other 90%, if the first 10% is given over to helping new players acclimate to the experience.
TemplarKnight on 25 Jan '13 said:
Well unless Dragon Age 3 avoids the flaw of its predecessor I don't see it being "promising" although it could certainly be enjoyable.
Mass Effect 4 seems like it's going in a new direction if ME3 is anything to go by. ME3 was more of an action game with lite RPG elements and this was mainly expressed by how the dialogue wheel was dumbed down to mostly two dialogue choices. Again, could be an enjoyable game if this is the direction they're taking with it but I wish they bring back more role-playing options.
Fallout 4? Never enjoyed the third one. Combat was atrocious but then again, it's a Bethesda game so that's to be expected really.
Cyberpunk sounds very promising and I like the whole setting (one of the reasons why I like Deus Ex).
But the most promising to me is Dark Souls 2. Yeah there's some fan-outrage over what's been said but we haven't seen anything yet. We're told difficulty will be the same (naturally harder then because of new enemies and hopefully improved AI), the content will be as much as the content that DkS1 had, the dark fantasy elements will still be present, story will still be told in a similar way but will be more direct this time and we're told that it's still going to be a "Souls" game. I'm glad that things like Covenants and crafting will be explained in-game because if you're going to the wiki to learn about these features then it's hardly "learning these things by myself" as you're simply taking the tutorial outside of the game. Dark Souls 2 can't be another Demon's Souls v2 and as much as I loved Dark Souls 1 (my personal favorite GOTY of 2011) it had some flaws. I'm hoping the sequel actually implements roaming enemies as was originally planned with the Black Knights.
As much as I enjoyed how DkS told its story, some of the things it did like hiding story elements/covenants behind illusionary walls became repetitive. Accessing the expansion content was done in a good way though. You found a broken pendant and from there, you had to discover what it did. You're told it's likely from another era where magic was different and if you had spoken to the princess from Oolacile after freeing her, you'd probably connect it's got something to do with her as she explains she's from a time where magic was different. So you head back to her, only to discover she's gone. Go back to the original meeting place and you'll now come face to face with the new content. Now if Dark Souls 2 continues this way of telling story then I'll be fine with it. Even if it's more direct, so long as it's open to interpretation and filled with ambiguous dialogue then I'll be happy. Seriously though, enough with the illusionary walls From...
I doubt these new directors want to alienate the Dark Souls fanbase by taking away features but we'll see. Perhaps the nay-sayers are right but at the moment, I doubt that.
kevicus12 on 25 Jan '13 said:
I lost soooo many hours to Fallout 3 but just couldn't get into Fallout: New Vegas so I'm 50/50 on a new Fallout if it's developed by Obsidian.
The Cyberpunk trailer is awesome but... 2015? Seriously?! We're not going to have two years of hype and hyberbole about this game, are we?
As for Dark Souls, I totally agree with Grummy - I've thought about buying it on many occasions but the reported punishing difficulty level puts me off. Would a Dark Souls game with an entry-level difficulty setting really be so bad? A 'Beginner' difficulty setting in a game doesn't detract from what hardcore gamers can achieve on 'Hardest' mode.
Crisco on 25 Jan '13 said:
I have played neither Dark Souls or Dragon Age, yet I love RPGs. I suppose I might be able to pick them up quite cheap now and they could keep me going until the new ones come out.
Grummy on 25 Jan '13 said:
Don't let the difficulty put you off, it's actually not all that hard at all, it just ressurects classic RPG gameplay, namely, if you can't beat it, grind like buggery until you can. All things considered I've found it fairly easy. The beginning was the hard bit because I had no idea what I was doing, and that put me off first time around. Give it a shot, and keep the wiki available if you need it. Once you get through the Undead Berg you'll have an understanding of the game and be OK.
I also have to agree with Templar Knight. Things need to be explained in game because not doing so is futile when it is so easy to access the information on a wiki or a quick google search.
Alexaown on 26 Jan '13 said:
Strange enough, i found fallout new vegas much better than 3 so im buzzing for a new one! Im looking foward to Dragon age 3 but if its anything like the second one im out. The choices seemed so much less important and the 'good' and 'bad' choices were made obvious most of the time the only free will was to be either good or evil. The romance subplots were pathetic. Have a fling with a woman that sleeps with everyone, a devil worshipping emo-elf or just simply turn gay. Great.
Dark souls I had to give up on. Its not that i cant do it, if i kept trying at a part, I would eventually prevail. But it may take a good couple of hours of pain and stress. So unless i pluck up the courage to give it another go, ill give the second one a miss when the time comes.
And obviously. I cant wait for Mass effect 4. But im not getting too excited as we've got a couple of years to go -.-
Drainwater on 26 Jan '13 said:
Definitely can't wait for Fallout 4. Dragon Age 3 I'm kind of iffy on because I could never get in to the 2nd one, but I did love the first one so I'll keep an eye on it. I'll have to reserve pre-judgement on the South Park rpg but I am interested in the Cyberpunk game. Quite a few of my nights in the college dorm were spent playing different tabletop rpgs and that was one of the fun ones. The others I really have no interest in as I couldn't get in to their predecessors.
Baryonyx on 26 Jan '13 said:
RPG's, my favourite! Dark Souls 2 and the new Fallout are at the top of the list for me. And South park, when it rears it's head again!
cyclekarl on 26 Jan '13 said:
Both The Dragon age and Mass effect franchises have been ruined as far as I am concerned,but I welcome another Fallout game.
thewrongtrousers on 27 Jan '13 said:
I've not played either Dragons Dogma or Dragon Age and have no real interest as have limited gaming time. Cyberpunk looks like it will be a Deus Ex clone, which I really didn't like. I didn't play Mass Effect 3 but 2 was far too easy and while enjoyable just felt a bit light to be good RPG. South Park has no real interest either as can't stand the shows so unlikely to like the game. That leaves Fallout 4 and Dark Souls 2. I really enjoy the Fallout games so this will be purchased but not on day one. I lost hours and hours of saves to both Fallout 3 and Fallout: NV glitches so will wait a while. Dark Souls 2 however will be a day one purchase as Dark Souls is great, I go back to it frequently and its as enjoyable now as it was at the start, if not more so as I now know what I am doing. People go on about it being too hard but it really isn't. Proportionally I died more often and found more frustrating the hardest settings of all the GoW games, Max Payne 3 and many others.
I don't really want them to put any kind of help, I enjoyed it that I didn't know what the hell was going on, it made it different from most, if not all, other games I play. I didn't use any wikis and while it was very frustrating I think overall it added to the story and gave a better sense of achievement.
SidTheSloth on 27 Jan '13 said:
Quite a few on there worth watching for me, not sure at all about Lightning Returns though - reviews for last years sequel were decent but i gave up the will to live about 12 hours in...
Other than that, i don't know much about it but i have The Dark Eye - Demonicon on my watch list courtesy of stuff i read on this site from dogma champion Mr Lees... The preview i linked to is years old though and still there's no release date for it so don't know if they're holding back for next gen or if it's suffering from Too Human/Duke Nukem style dramas? Any more info greatly appreciated Ed.
OXM ETboy on 27 Jan '13 said:
Not heard much about Dark Eye for a while, no. I'll chuck them an email tomorrow.
KernowDevil23 on 28 Jan '13 said:
Ni No Kuni?......
Red Gunner XI on 28 Jan '13 said:
Ni No Kuni is a PS3 exclusive. Played the demo last night and it is awesome. It's a true RPG from the golden RPG age of the PS1. Real shame it won't be on 360. All the above I what I call action RPGs and whilst I'm looking forward to most of them Ni No Kuni is what a true RPG should be!
hujiki on 28 Jan '13 said:
It has to be Mass Effect 4 and Dragon Age 3, Hopefully both will be running on Frostbite 2 engine which will make it OMG so much more better...
KernowDevil23 on 28 Jan '13 said:
Really??......Wow, thanks for letting me know......
OXM ETboy on 28 Jan '13 said:
And that, for me, may be the straw that breaks the Buy-Another-PS3 camel's back.
Red Gunner XI on 28 Jan '13 said:
There's always a release that pulls you to another system, I only brought a PS3 for MGS4 then I sold it! But Uncharted 2 and the fact you can buy the entire Final Fantasy back catalog forced me to by another one. I now use it mainly as a blue ray player. But come Friday when Ni No Kuni is out its gonna get some serious use!
Draco Of Albion on 28 Jan '13 said:
Looking forward to ME4 providing the story is right.
I hope Bioware decide to leave the history as is and look to the future.
It could show the impact of your actions in the long term and so have far greater impact than in the short gaps between the originals could show. It would be great to see how the future, maybe a century or two on, could be affected by say the decision of whether or not to cure the genophage in ME3.
As for the others, Fallout 4 and Dark Souls 2 are definates considering how much time I pumped into their predeccesors.
Less sure on Dragon Age and FF Lighting returns, have to see closer to release for a decision on those I think.