David Gaider wrote...
Does there have to be an ulterior motivation behind it?
This is the story we wanted to tell, of this one particular human.
Not necessarily
ulterior, but I think a lot of people are struggling somewhat with the motivation, since we don't yet have hints at the reason (that may of course change after the GI article comes out). Especially those of us who came to ardently love playing the dwarves and/or elves and expect to miss that feeling.
I want to love the human thing, and as long as we get a good range of customization and dialogue options I'm still fully expecting to. I just find myself curious about why. Are potential spoilers involved? Or does it just plain lead to a more focused and enriching narrative when the writers know some concrete things about the main character? More time expended on character interactions without having to plan for 90 different possibilities of what the PC might be? So far, that's my assumption, and it's sure not anything I would complain about. I would
like to feel that Hawke is as interesting as any other character in the game; I want to love deciding what (s)he is going to say. The wider the scope of choice for your protagonist, the less interesting the options can be; years of Bethesda games would've taught me that if nothing else, and I don't find the concept of "complete and total freedom of character creation, name and all" as fun as I used to. If I wanted
total freedom, I'd play tabletop D&D or go do a vampire LARP (and I'm not saying I don't do either... okay, I do both, I'm a geek of epic proportions) or maybe even write a book. In a CRPG, I like a protagonist that I can shape, but who is at least a shadow of a character; otherwise I end up feeling like they don't belong in their own universe, especially if the characters around them are full of life and personality in contrast, joking and expressing feelings and sharing memories and making lots of facial expressions. I'd rather put a bit more control back in the writer's hands and hopefully get back more fun in exchange. If a narrower focus fosters that kind of feeling, then I am all on board and waving the flag. (And ready to kick any mutineers overboard; arr...)
The only thing that underwhelms me somewhat here is that it's a human, just because you do play one of those in most games ever made. I'm assuming there's a solid reason that will become apparent at some point and that might even be exciting. I really think that knowing the reasons
why Hawke must be human, whenever that happens, will help shush a lot of people's doubts. Personally, I find it helps to think about the potential possibility of an elf or half-dwarf protagonist in a future game. (I don't guess the latter will happen, but I do think it would be awesome.)
Some people complain that this is turning into Mass Effect. I think it sounds more like a small step in that direction, a happy medium between too much and too little choice, and I'm looking forward to the experience.
David Gaider wrote...
Assuming there are future games, that's exactly correct. There are many different ways to tell a story, and different elements we would want to focus on in each. DAO was about the Grey Warden-- a role that you had to undertake and which, if you'll recall, summoned a similar reaction when it was first mentioned. Thisstory is about a human refugee. Future stories could be about anything at all-- with the one thread between them being the development of Thedas as a world and how your choices impact upon it. That's what we're doing, in a nutshell.
I had that hope, that future DA titles wouldn't necessarily be limited by the :Origins subtitle, and I'm delighted to see it confirmed. The last thing anybody would want is for you folks to stagnate and get bored with what you're doing, after all. Some of the decisions so far are surprising me, but far better a surprise than another game set in Ferelden featuring far too much of the familiar. Though there was a lot that I loved about DAO, I would never want DA2 to be an echo of the first game.
Dave of
Canada wrote...
Quinnzel wrote...
The only accent that should count is the sweet sultry tone of Claudia Black....or Mark Meer.
HA, no.
Oh, Dave of Canada, this is why I love you. Saying what I was already thinking in a way that is just so much more fun than I could have executed myself.
Modifié par Wynne, 12 juillet 2010 - 12:03 .
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