|
Skeezy posted:What was Bioware's lovely reason for the main character not having a voice over? Mass Effect had it so I'm curious as to the issue here. They didn't have the budget. In studio terms, DA:O was a shoestring production; it was a last ditch effort to keep the fantasy RPG genre alive at a time when everybody else was interested in zombies and aliens. Fantasy finally came back in force during the early '10s; the mainstream press credited Skyrim, but it was DA:O that did the ground work.
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 04:37
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 8, 2024 19:24 |
|
|
SNAKES N CAKES posted:They didn't have the budget. In studio terms, DA:O was a shoestring production; it was a last ditch effort to keep the fantasy RPG genre alive at a time when everybody else was interested in zombies and aliens. Fantasy finally came back in force during the early '10s; the mainstream press credited Skyrim, but it was DA:O that did the ground work. I really love your posts SNC.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 04:40
|
|
|
I don't know how much credit Origins deserves, but it really did feel like the last "hurrah" for western-style RPGs as Triple A titles.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 04:43
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:Story and characters tend to be what make or break RPGs for many people, what soured a lot of people to ME3 and DA2, and Bioware's been pretty cagey about those elements. I've only been loosely following Bioware's press releases with what's posted here so far. I like the sound of the gameplay elements revealed but I'm really cagey about how most of the characters seem so, well, "Bioware-y" in the negative sense.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 04:43
|
|
|
I'm so stoked on DAI. Especially since I know nothing about the game. 
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 04:45
|
|
|
Trapezium Dave posted:For me it's critical, especially with how bad I thought the story in ME3 was (not just the ending), and why I've gone from buying Bioware games at launch on trust to waiting until there's enough feedback here that their writing has improved. What worries me is how little we know about the actual story we know at this point. Juggling the approval of the Orlesian Court is apparently going to be a thing, but we only found that out in the leaked achievements. The whole "villain wants to be God" thing apparently going on, Morrigan, Cole, and red lyrium which is apparently warpstone/tiberium all have me worried that this is going to be distinctly JRPG-ish, particularly with the hints Bioware's been dropping across the series that there are a lot of very dark secrets in the
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 04:48
|
|
|
SNAKES N CAKES posted:They didn't have the budget. In studio terms, DA:O was a shoestring production; it was a last ditch effort to keep the fantasy RPG genre alive at a time when everybody else was interested in zombies and aliens. Fantasy finally came back in force during the early '10s; the mainstream press credited Skyrim, but it was DA:O that did the ground work. You are a beautiful poster.  beautiful.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 04:53
|
|
|
I really hope they didn't play Skyrim and think "man these generic auto generated quests are fantastic!" because they were mind numbing once you saw all 6 variations. Please let there be actual towns with real quests in them at some point.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:02
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:What worries me is how little we know about the actual story we know at this point. Juggling the approval of the Orlesian Court is apparently going to be a thing, but we only found that out in the leaked achievements. I don't mind JRPG flavours in principle - I loved the older Bioware RPGs like KoTOR and Jade Empire - but unfortunately Bioware of late doesn't seem to grasp that the tone of some elements just don't work well together and there's stuff that doesn't gel with a gritty setting like Dragon Age. Although if they go all the way and beyond like they did with Fenris, at least it will be hilarious.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:04
|
|
|
Trapezium Dave posted:I don't mind JRPG flavours in principle - I loved the older Bioware RPGs like KoTOR and Jade Empire - but unfortunately Bioware of late doesn't seem to grasp that the tone of some elements just don't work well together and there's stuff that doesn't gel with a gritty setting like Dragon Age. Dragon Age is not, is nowhere close to being dark or gritty. It's a bog-standard fantasy setting with a ASOIAF style seasoning of rape and people being assholes. It really, really isn't dark, gritty, or low-fantasy. I would have respected Bioware if it was in more than the most token of ways. If killing Connor at Redcliffe was actually the morally right decision because running off to get help would have resulted in the demon returning in your absence, for example, my respect for the game would have gone up a notch. As it is, it's just an off-brand Forgotten Realms with more blood and rape.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:09
|
|
|
HIJK posted:Considering how hated Bioware is would there really be a point? I think only about 15% of the thread actually plans to play the game and only half that has preordered. The demand can't be that high. buddy a bunch of folks gon play this game
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:10
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:What worries me is how little we know about the actual story we know at this point. Juggling the approval of the Orlesian Court is apparently going to be a thing, but we only found that out in the leaked achievements. They really, really seem to want to avoid any spoilers. This is probably why they're focusing so much on the gameplay and customization options. They're putting characters out there, but aren't doing much besides saying who they are and their personality. And as people have said, it's really weird that they aren't discussing Hawke but Hawke has been spotted in a bunch of videos.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:11
|
|
|
Codependent Poster posted:They really, really seem to want to avoid any spoilers. This is probably why they're focusing so much on the gameplay and customization options. They're putting characters out there, but aren't doing much besides saying who they are and their personality. And as people have said, it's really weird that they aren't discussing Hawke but Hawke has been spotted in a bunch of videos. I'd welcome spoilers if they were along the lines of "Don't worry, the writer with a boner for Morrigan in DAO didn't write her this time" or "We aren't shoehorning sexual assault in this female character's backstory like we did for Liara and Leliana" or "The head writer isn't writing the entire ending sequence by himself with zero editing, feedback, or review."
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:18
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:Dragon Age is not, is nowhere close to being dark or gritty. It's a bog-standard fantasy setting with a ASOIAF style seasoning of rape and people being assholes. It really, really isn't dark, gritty, or low-fantasy. Everything needs more blood and rape.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:18
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:Dragon Age is not, is nowhere close to being dark or gritty. It's a bog-standard fantasy setting with a ASOIAF style seasoning of rape and people being assholes. It really, really isn't dark, gritty, or low-fantasy. Bioware seem to THINK it's dark and gritty though and that's a problem. All told I hope they manage to make mage/templar decision hard in the way that The Witcher made the "who do you support?" decision. By putting some likeable dudes as your contacts and leaving you with the feeling that you made a mistake 
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:20
|
|
|
What's the way to close a thread when the new one starts? Do I just close it, or do I have to ask a mod?
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:21
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:I would have respected Bioware if it was in more than the most token of ways. If killing Connor at Redcliffe was actually the morally right decision because running off to get help would have resulted in the demon returning in your absence, for example, my respect for the game would have gone up a notch. What about choosing the right Dwarven king?
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:21
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:Dragon Age is not, is nowhere close to being dark or gritty. It's a bog-standard fantasy setting with a ASOIAF style seasoning of rape and people being assholes. It really, really isn't dark, gritty, or low-fantasy. Yeah, if you want generic grimdark where "maturity" means cursing and sex just play one of the Witcher games.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:23
|
|
|
Shugojin posted:Bioware seem to THINK it's dark and gritty though and that's a problem. I think that would give the decisions a greater sense of impact, affecting the player more personally and making them weigh their decisions more thoughtfully, so I'm all for it. Of course I've already pre-planned my first character to be an absolute anti-Templar rear end in a top hat but that's beside the point. edit: ^^^^ get ploughed like a whoreson
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:23
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:Dragon Age is not, is nowhere close to being dark or gritty. It's a bog-standard fantasy setting with a ASOIAF style seasoning of rape and people being assholes. It really, really isn't dark, gritty, or low-fantasy. Is there signs in DA:I that Bioware might be writing some decent "dark side"/renegade path actions? It's been a constant niggle that the opposite to their paragon path tends to veer more towards puppy-kicking than being practical.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:23
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:I'd welcome spoilers if they were along the lines of "Don't worry, the writer with a boner for Morrigan in DAO didn't write her this time" or "We aren't shoehorning sexual assault in this female character's backstory like we did for Liara and Leliana" or "The head writer isn't writing the entire ending sequence by himself with zero editing, feedback, or review." There was sexual assault in Liara's backstory?  When did that happen?
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:25
|
|
|
SNAKES N CAKES posted:What about choosing the right Dwarven king? Orzammar is my favorite part in all of DAO. The Deep Roads not so much (really, either Caridin's Cross or Ortan Thaig should have been cut, or there should have been a lot more variety to the environments therein), but navigating Orzammar itself and its politics stand out in my mind as genuinely well done. It's also a tough call between kings - I sided with Harrowmont my first game because I'd played a dwarf noble in that first game, and I found Harrowmont very likeable compared to that little rear end in a top hat Bhelen. Then in my second game I sided with Bhelen instead and realized that Bhelen is a progressive tyrant who gets poo poo done while Harrowmont is a very likeable traditionalist who will continue Orzammar's decline. [quote] Lotish posted:There was sexual assault in Liara's backstory? The books, where else? Liara totally killed them with her biotic powers before they could actually do anything to her. But still, the situation made it very clear that they were going to gang rape her, and only her biotics saved herself at the last second. Cythereal fucked around with this message at 05:27 on Nov 3, 2014 |
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:25
|
|
|
Leelee posted:What's the way to close a thread when the new one starts? Do I just close it, or do I have to ask a mod? You can just close the thread, no problems. Should have an option for it somewhere.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:25
|
|
|
Codependent Poster posted:You can just close the thread, no problems. Should have an option for it somewhere. Cool, thanks!
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:26
|
|
|
Whoreson Hawke is actually the canonical full name for Hawke for unimported starts in Inquisition.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:27
|
|
|
Lotish posted:There was sexual assault in Liara's backstory? Erm. Making sure this shows up: The books, where else? Liara totally killed them with her biotic powers before they could actually do anything to her. But still, the situation made it very clear that they were going to gang rape her, and only her biotics saved herself at the last second.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:28
|
|
|
Lotish posted:There was sexual assault in Liara's backstory? Does 'backstory' count when my Shepard met her for the first time? 
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:29
|
|
|
Trapezium Dave posted:Is there signs in DA:I that Bioware might be writing some decent "dark side"/renegade path actions? It's been a constant niggle that the opposite to their paragon path tends to veer more towards puppy-kicking than being practical. Most of the morally questionable main quest choices in DA:O were very practical, especially the Dwarf questline and the Landsmeet. Only the final Werewolf decision was really "dumb evil", probably because the quest was really tightly designed around the good outcome.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:31
|
|
|
Anyone speak Italian? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PEeRI36M3g
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:31
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:Erm. Making sure this shows up: The books, where else? Liara totally killed them with her biotic powers before they could actually do anything to her. But still, the situation made it very clear that they were going to gang rape her, and only her biotics saved herself at the last second. God I loving hate Liara so much. She's the epitome of dev crush plot armor baby shoe horned love interest to me. And she's boring as all hell.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:32
|
|
|
A. Beaverhausen posted:God I loving hate Liara so much. She's the epitome of dev crush plot armor baby shoe horned love interest to me. And she's boring as all hell. Might as well throw totally-not-loli into that assessment because she looks a wee bit young for snausage-related shenanigans but she's totally not underage because Asari live for centuries!
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:34
|
|
|
"Among my own people, I am barely more than a child." I mean yeah, she's like the equivalent of a grad student or something, but ugh.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:35
|
|
|
A. Beaverhausen posted:God I loving hate Liara so much. She's the epitome of dev crush plot armor baby shoe horned love interest to me. And she's boring as all hell. Is it just me or does Bioware have issues with this lately? Liara, Leliana, Morrigan, Tali (to a degree - she can actually be killed in 2 and 3), even Dawn Star if you reach back to Jade Empire... I think Aerie can be excused, as boinking her at the first opportunity actually terminates the romance, and it's clear in the expansion that she wasn't mature enough or emotionally ready for that step at the time. Not that the men are much better. I do not really need yet another cute but troubled guy with a traumatic past who needs a strong woman to make him feel alive again.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:36
|
|
|
Lotish posted:"Among my own people, I am barely more than a child." Compared to Tali, who was literally a child. Bioware writers have a huge thing for young (by whatever standards) naive female characters.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:37
|
|
|
Raygereio posted:Just to be sure: Are you being vague on purpose there so you can dismiss any mod with "Pfft, that's not proper new content The thing is, is that Dragon Age Origins had terrible mods tools. More time and development would've made them a lot better, what we got wasn't 'the best you can get' or anything like that. The same is true for Frostbite, it's not that it's too professional or hard to create mods for, it's that they don't want to put the effort, funds and time into designing and developing robust mod tools. Raygereio posted:That all said: While I don't agree with that, Frostbite needs to be able to be modded so that developers can actually make games, it would be hilarious if Frostbite 3.0 "isn't moddable" due to the same incompetence in software design that they showed with the frostbite 1.5 engine. For those who don't know, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 had an issue with cooking its data (basically compiling its data). Every time they cooked their data, their code was slightly different, even if they cooked the exact same data. Fields would be ordered in random, different orders every time and empty fields would sometimes get random junk tossed into them. The only way to fix the issue (apart from massive code rewrites) was to (probably literally) do a million compiles until the tools spat out a perfect (or near perfect) compiled version of your code. Think "a thousand monkeys on a thousand typewriters", basically. Full article here. It would be hilarious if the real reason why Frostbite 3.0 is unmoddable, is to hide a similar massive design flaw in their code that makes it a hell to develop for. Batham fucked around with this message at 05:48 on Nov 3, 2014 |
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:38
|
|
"?
|
Lack of voice acting for main characters and even NPC's is a wholly legitimate choice in RPGs. That isn't to say its always the best choice. Voiceacting can make a poorly written character(like Irenicus) memorable, and it can add a lot to character and atmosphere. We've discussed the fact that having every line by every character increases the cost of having multiple lines, and therefore necessarily restricts the availability of options available to video game writers. But I also think that the emphasis on universal voice acting and "cinematic" dialog reflects a trend that's harmful to video games, and in particular to RPGs. Namely, rather than attempting to embrace and exploit the inherent strengths of the medium(interactivity, player choice) video game developers try to mimic movies. Bioware is particulary guilty of this trend, and while I generally enjoy their products, think that its a major weak point of the studio. In contrast, CDProjekt and Obsidian really seem to get that video games are a fundamentally interactive medium. And although the writing in Bethesda games is dismal, they also seem to understand that the point is player action, and that the most rewarding aspects come from playing rather than watching games.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:38
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:Not that the men are much better. I do not really need yet another cute but troubled guy with a traumatic past who needs a strong woman to make him feel alive again. Ah ha ha ha. Sorry, but Cullen exists.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:45
|
|
|
pentyne posted:Compared to Tali, who was literally a child. David Gaider posted:Well, I think Twilight is far more effective with its romantic elements than most people give it credit for. Granted, it has little else going for it-- but the romance it does well. I find it a fascinating exercise to analyze exactly why that is
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:45
|
|
|
Lotish posted:Ah ha ha ha. I wasn't saying I actually expect Bioware to change. Solas looks interesting by Bioware romance options for ladies standard, so if Inquisition turns out to be decent my planned first character is a female elf to give that romance a try. Cullen, Blackwall, and Iron Bull? Meh. Sera looks like the unholy lovechild of Bioware's psychopathic rear end in a top hat and brain-damaged monkeycheese archetypes. I'll need to be very surprised to touch her with a ten-foot pole.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:48
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 8, 2024 19:24 |
|
|
Heal their broken hearts and souls with your magic vagina, Inquisitor!
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2014 05:52
|
|