1. More Tactical Combat
One area where Dragon Age 2 really stepped it up was with its combat. It was louder, more visceral, and just felt really good. In making the combat more accessible with 1:1 controls while still retaining a sense of variety across character skills, it was a refreshing change. It made combat more exciting, while still keeping options open for tactical engagement. Unfortunately, rarely were you afforded the opportunity to see this tactical side of the combat due to the way the enemy AI behaved. Rather than having enemies positioned across the battlefield that attack strategically, most of the time the enemies would just directly rush at you, wave after wave. This resulted in more button-mashing and less reliance on character battle tactics (at least on console versions of the game). If Bioware can retain the in-your-face style of Dragon Age 2's combat for Dragon Age 3, while opening up the battlefield for further tactical possibilities, Dragon Age 3's combat could be the best to ever appear in a Bioware game. Whether it releases for current or next-gen consoles Dragon Age 3 is surely set to be one of the most anticipated, and watched, video games of whatever time period it releases. Since the release of Dragon Age 2, games like Skyrim, The Witcher 2, and Dark Souls have made game-changing marks on the RPG landscape. Internally, Bioware has also gone through its fair share of challenges with the Mass Effect 3 ending debacle, the lukewarm reception to their Star Wars MMO The Old Republic, and the departure of the founding fathers of Bioware, Doctors Ray Mzuyka and Greg Zeschuk. Dragon Age 3 will have a heavy cross to bear, but it will also have the opportunity to set a new standard and pave the way for everything that comes after. As long as Bioware learns from the mistakes of Dragon Age 2, and builds upon the strengths that both the studio and the Dragon Age IP so clearly possess, Andraste willing, we could be getting an RPG for the ages next year.