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Possible Dragon Age Deadwolf Alpha Test gameplay and information (with pictures!)



The recent article by Tom Henderson prompted me to make this post instead of responding to every reply in that thread, I'll just describe what I saw overall here. I was honestly shocked when we got no gameplay reveal at TGA, as I was sure we'd get something considering the timing this video was shared with me.

Background, a kind playtester shared their recorded gameplay of DA4 that was in early Alpha at that stage. I saw what they recorded before they were shuffled to another project. No, I will not share the video as the individual in question asked me not to. And until I get their permission, it will remain private. I don't want to get anyone in trouble, so they need to let me know its okay and nothing in the video would get back to them.

Alright, so now to what is in the video. It's about 20 minutes of gameplay involving one segment/dungeon. The entire gameplay is set within the the Gray Warden fortress HQ of Weisshaupt. That's what the location text literally says. Now again, the gameplay is alpha so there isn't a whole lot of detail and there are missing textures for a lot of elements. Basically, buildings and whatnot are all modeled and textured but the skybox itself is very dark and makes it seem as though the entire fortress is underground, although it is clearly not. I suspect the skybox could contain some giant world event, similar to the Breach, they hadn't finished.

The player character is an Elvish "Knight" Class (the character screen actually says they are a mid-level Grey Warden), they've got a sword and a shield. They also have two party members, another knight dude and a female dwarf rogue. I suspect both models are placeholders and they won't actually look like they do in the final game. Darkspawn are currently attacking Weisshaupt and there are roots all over the place alongside Red Lyrium popping up here and there. Oddly, the darkspawn also apparently are infused with Red Lyrium and have Red Lyrium attacks and some have red eyes. The objective is to fight through the Darkspawn to get to the library, but as you are doing so there is also a big ass dragon attacking from above. Because, you know, it is Dragon Age. And the dragon creates occasional environmental and traversal hazards. It ends once you reach the library, close the gates, and then come face to face with the dragon. It appears you are then supposed to try and chain the dragon up, but it ends before the player completes that. There is no audio and while there are subtitles, they are mostly glitched and frozen so you can't tell what people are saying during cutscenes or combat.

Okay, so that's the setup and general overview. Now for the juicy gameplay details:

  • Combat is completely in real-time and similar to a hack and slash. I'm told the guiding reference point was the God of War (2018), and that shows.
  • Player has their regular combo attack and then their abilities as well as a special bar which generates allowing you to pull off a special move. I don't really understand the comparison to FF15's wheel. It's standard Dragon Age ability wheel.
  • There was no party control demonstrated. I think it's a safe bet to say you will not be able to directly control your party members in the game. That said, you likely will be able to tell them to execute certain abilities. But apparently that was locked off in the Alpha.
  • The most immediate thing you noticed is that animation quality has DRASTICALLY improved. Like, for any other AAA title it's probably not that big a deal. But we've never seen animation quality this good in any BioWare game. I didn't actually play it, but I can tell it probably feels really good to control your character. No more stiff animations, it's all very fluid and seems also very responsive.
  • Jumping has also been retained. So, rejoice if you enjoyed jumping a lot in DAI.
  • As the character was a sword and shield dude, he was able to parry attacks from enemies and follow up with counters. It's hard to tell their exact abilities, they only had two on hotkeys along with a special. But one appears to basically be a drop kick and the other a charged sword attack. I'm not sure exactly what the special attack does.
  • The UI is similar to DAI, but this is also Alpha and UI is the last thing finalized in any game. Character has a chest slot, a helmet slot, a primary weapon slot, and a shield (secondary weapon?) slot. For accessories, one amulet slot, one belt slot, and two ring slots.
  • Oh and the player character's hair looked glorious. I mean, it was clipping right through their helmet. But it was flowing and bouncing as they moved. Finally, no more stiff ass hair. Now, let's hope we have more than just two black hairstyles.
  • Enemies were pretty much just variations of darkspawn, except the dragon, but again they seemed to have Red Lyrium powers.
And that's about all I can think was noteworthy. If you have any questions, happy to answer them.

Video and Screenshots:
 
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ANDS

King of Gaslighting
Jesus, I thought this was you sharing this. Not to "thread mod" but just copying and pasting the full text from Reddit is. . .blargh. Give us the fine details and a link (this is more to the entire forum than specifically this thread, just that I've noticed it quite a bit lately).

. . .as to the video: yeah, that's modern Dragon Age. Doesn't look much different than DAI other than I imagine there might will be more interactivity than in DAI (I guess that's where the "hack and slash" comes from). DAI already felt like an action-RPG trying to stretch out from its ostensible "real time strategy" feathers though so the jump isn't really a surprise seeing it now in "alpha."
 

Mozzarella

Member
Soulslike combat lol.
There is no need for that but these devs are scared to stick to their own so they would rather go with what is popular and ofcourse they are not going to nail it.
But all that can still be saved if they manage to make the story, the characters, the world, the quests, the other parts of gameplay to be engaging and worthwhile. I doubt though.
 

T4keD0wN

Member
The brief clip looks nothing like FFXV just like the leaker says.
Good reminder that Tom Henderson has some terrible takes, but if it wasnt for that bs article we wouldnt have gotten this so i am glad he made a fool out of himself for us.
Thanks for your sacrifice Tom.
 
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Umbasaborne

Banned
I bet biowares gonna make some boohoo feel bad for me tweet, because we got to see the game they are taking too long to make, early.
 

Warnen

Don't pass gaas, it is your Destiny!
Hit Me Credit Card GIF by HyperX


I’ll take it!
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
So your character in full plate armour is giving an enemy a flying MMA knee with a big back jump?

Edit: The GIF slowed down for me so I could see it more clearly. Your knight just did a running drop kick like WWE. Absurd.
 
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KungFucius

King Snowflake
Not sure I like the switch to single player action game from a game with a party, but as long as they make up for that by improving the story instead of telling a lot of it through character interactions and quests, then I am fine with a change.
 
A tactical mode is fundamental in DA, specially in the most difficult modes and long battles. I hope they still give us the option. Tbh, I wished this was more like an evolution of the combat system of DA:I and Andromeda, but I can see where they came from (there is no room for failure so they’ll go with what’s in evidence now)
 
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nowhat

Member
A tactical mode is fundamental in DA, specially in the most difficult modes and long battles. I hope they still give us the option.
So for the record, I'm a sucker for DA. I think all the three games so far have both their merits and issues (this includes 2 as well - it's not that terrible! but another topic). I'm not a trophy hunter by any means, but seeing as I was just missing a nightmare run for the platinum in DA:I, I decided what the hell.

That was a bad call, but eventually I made it. If there's a tactical mode on consoles, I hope combat doesn't still involve just holding down R2. I legit destroyed one DS4 and its R2 with that ordeal.
 
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