Dice is a talented studio, and open world is the right way to go. But EA is EA. You know they'll focus test and have a hand in the creative process, something I am fundamentally against. They've ruined numerous franchises in the past. Don't be surprised if they kill this one too.

have to agree with you,I'm really tired with this "casuals vs hardcore" BS.
and since I loved the original game I'm happy with the idea of open world and to continue the story of it,since it ended with a (nice)cliffhanger.my main fear is the goddam focus groups.

Open worlds... open worlds everywhere...


GTA-Like games everywhere....

And the new lara croft which is basically an Uncharted clone with a chick as the main protagonist...

Games have never seemed so similar since the Atari and even the Nes Era... We need something new, so we find
our salvation in indie-games.

(Siding with the O.P on this one)

Hey I like open world games heck I am a believer in open world like ES and GTA infact all RPGs should be 3D Open World sandboxes wether story centric or actiony.

I'm looking forward to this new FPS. Wish more games would make the move towards FPS, we need more of them and less of other genres.

EA follow market trends 100%, apparently new Dragon Age game is going to be "open-world" too, not for any stated reason other than "cause it's popular nowadays"

N0x0ss is right about the homogenization of genres though. To make it more appealing, EA may just say to the team
'bring more BF3 in. We need more weapons. Let's have her fighting evil Russians.'

if open world is a bad thing,why is nobody complaining that The Witcher 3 will be open world?

CDPR's golden rep. Lots of people are pretty leery about the idea though.

Someone mentioned DA3 will be open world, not true. Bioware's just trying to make the maps bigger. Calling it open world is marketing hype.

Planescape Torment was a linear RPG, you had to meet story requirements to pass to the next "gate" area and continue. I wouldn't use "linear scripted corridors" about PST.

Linearity isn't inherently evil, it's a matter of the scope and focus of the game. DA:O used linear hubs because it was supposed to be story-driven and tight. If they want to make an open-world game, okay fine, but explain why. The EA rep literally said "the idea for Inquisition is that once again the medium has moved forward".
We'll have to wait till it's out before we make judgements.

Not necessary, it depends how well it's done, a lot of open world sandboxes games are as linear and scripted as any other non open world games, they just have a bunch of random "challenges" or collectible to find thrown in to give you the illusion that there is actually something to do in this huge empty open world except the main quests.

I just really like Seemless Openworld Sandboxes thats all, it offers an immersion that Linear Hubs does not offer, I blame the Morrowind Overhaul for spoiling me to it.

I hope they improve controls.

Ahh come on... we're talking about Roman5 here.... the chances EA making a good or even great game are higher, then Roman5 making a meaningful thread based on actual data.

Yes, it's not - absolutely right. Problem is: neither is open world.

... though not on anything coming from EA it seems. Or on anything backed by hard facts like Roman5 did here.... :p
Now where did I put that double-standard sign....