DAO was the first decent CRPG in 5 years when it launched. People got pretty attached to it I think. There are a lot of people who seem to view any deviation from that formula as a personal attack. Even though they’re had 10+ years to grieve that combat system in dragon age games. One nice part about the changes is that the “hardcore crunchy crpg” crowd seems to be insuferable. Its like they are all resetnful 35+ year old cishet white guys. I think moving away from some of the DAO design choices has improved the community a lot. I’m pretty close to seeing people obsessed with dark and gritty things as a red flag.

Since inquisition we’ve had 2 pillars games, 3 owlcat games, 2 wasteland games, DOS2, BG3, disco elysium, solasta, tyranny, shadowrun hong kong, and a bunch of smaller, combat focused, indie titles. Jeez typing it all out like that really shows how many there have been. Personally, ever since I played hades and elden ring back to back I’ve become quite partial to action based systems. I used to be married to RTWP gameplay but I like that games that let me be kinda dumb while playing. Those pathfinder games make you work for every move goddamn.

I hope bioware delivers on your optimism!

ty comrade

if it makes you feel better I was actually in my first semester of college

You can control them in the Mass Effect way but not the CRPG way. You can tell them who to attack, and when to use their abilities. Although, I’m not sure if you can tell them where to move. Although, without cover mechanics I doubt thats super important. The game will feature some kind of combo system, so the abilities of you and your companions should have some satisfying interactions.