21 réponses à ce sujet

[Grey Malkin]

Hey everyone!
Like a good deal of you guys on the forums, when I heard about the changes in DA2 I was heartbroken. Dragon Age was my favorite game last year (maybe of all time... God knows I've invested enough time in it!) due to the amount of choices and the level of immersion. The fact that you could be EXACTLY how you want to be and keep the story not only functional, but immersive and awesome was fantastic! So when I first heard about this Hawke character I couldn't believe it... But then I thought about it for a second...

Remember when Dragon Age was announced? Remember when all we had was a cutscene of ANOTHER fantasy RPG set to Marlyn Manson music, caked in blood claiming it to be a "mature" RPG? I remember thinking to myself "Oh God, how the mighty have fallen..."
(Link: )

In reality, it WAS an incredibly mature RPG, but not because it was gory and had angsty music. It was mature because it created an emotional connection between the game and the player, a connection all the 12 year olds playing Modern Warfare 2 aren't interested in because they don't understand it or want to understand it.

Then I realized they did the same thing for Mass Effect 2! Anyone remember Jack's trailer? They pumped it full of one-liners, curse words, and again, terrible music that thankfully wasn't in the game. Sure, Jack was way over the top and, in my opinion, one of the most least interesting characters in the Mass Effect universe, but even then she DID have an emotional side too and didn't just act like the aforementioned kids on MW2. And how was the rest of Mass Effect 2's story? Wonderful, just like I wanted.

So now I have to ask: is Dragon Age 2 really going to kill my game? Or is the Bioware Marketing team just f****ing with me again trying to pull youth away from their 10th prestige profile?

...God, I hate MW2

[ITSSEXYTIME]

So your theory is EA's marketing is just pandering to the lowest common denominator and distorting their developer's games to look like something they're not?



I'd say that pretty much sums it up yeah.



Of course, we haven't actually seen any "real" marketing for DA2. I mean, the "key feature" list on the main page is probably trying to appeal to folks who got bored of the first game halfway through their origin story by talking up DYNAMIC COMBAT and what not, but for the most part it's been very basic "here's some features we're changing and some screenshots/concept art".

[Blakes 7]

Bioware marketing for me misses the mark - you could almost call it false advertising.

Imagine a kid into FPS's wanting dragon age based on the ads - picking it up then giving up when it gets tough. That's what happened to my brother.

[Maniac600]

No marketing has really taken place yet...all they did was announce the game.



Marketing could classify as hard info on the Bioware website...a press release even...or a trailer, none of which we've really had.



I doubt EA would deny even 12 year old MW2 playing kiddies from playing the game if they had the choice, it simply means more money for them. Unfortunately, the ESRB also has a say in this.



(by the way, I hate MW2 as well, or actually I hate the personality changes it causes)



Suffice it to say that EA will do all in its power to appeal (if but a little) to a broad audience, rather than focus in and only try to appeal to the older players. It makes no sense to do otherwise.

[Merci357]

Well, the BioWare marketing is borderline false advertising. Think the Blur trailers, no, that isn't actual game footage, at all. Think the "this is the new sh!t" trailer, no, that isn't music featured in the game. Combined with the generic male action hero featured in those, I just try to ignore them, even though once in a while there is a good trailer - the ME2 release one was done quite well.

Then there are the marketing catch phrases - but that's probably necessary to even catch the attention of people these days.

[Giltspur]

Yeah, I remember convincing a few friends to buy Dragon Age: Origins that had been turned off by the emphasis on gore in the marketing. I believe my response was “Don't pay any attention to the marketing. That's just crap. It's a Bioware RPG.”  And they all liked the game a great deal--just hated the commercials.

A lot of the people that have been upset by the announcement have focused on what isn't there: the choice of races, the origins. And then people have read into the emphasis on action as a move towards Mass Effect gameplay (more action, less traditional RPG) and see the addition of a dialog wheel as further confirmation of trying to ME2 up Dragon Age at the expense of RP elements.

But if you read Bioware dev posts they've basically said (paraphrasing) “No, Hawke isn't as pre-defined as Shepard. Being able to customize your character through the choices you make is still key to the Dragon Age
franchise. And no the dialog wheel does not mean we're only giving you good/bad responses or that you won't know what to expect when replying.” Unfortunately there's no Dev tracker on this forum so that stuff's not always easy to find. In general though, as I've seen more information, the game has looked better.

Modifié par Giltspur, 14 juillet 2010 - 02:34 .

[ITSSEXYTIME]

I must be the only one who didn't mind the "THIS IS THE NEW ****" trailers.



Honestly I was hoping that atleast some metal would have made it into the in game soundtrack (especially symphonic metal, that could have worked well) although the existing soundtrack is pretty damn excellent regardless so I don't feel like it was a huge loss.

[Altima Darkspells]

ITSSEXYTIME wrote...

I must be the only one who didn't mind the "THIS IS THE NEW ****" trailers.

Did you already know what the game was at the point you heard the Manson trailers?

Personally, I didn't mind them either.  I find them hilarious.  Like watching a train wreck.  Because I knew some poor kid was going to see the trailers and then see the Blur commercials and get the exact opposite of what they wanted in a game.

Which really, really sucks when it happens, by the way.

[hexaligned]

You don't market the game towards people who are going to buy it already, in this case mature RPG fans. With DAO all the marketing was aimed at the twitch console crowd, I expect it will be more of the same this time around, unless the Old schoolers start leaving in droves.

To quote a great man:  Pretty standard, really.

Modifié par relhart, 14 juillet 2010 - 02:43 .

[TXSean]

i would agree with all you say except that i hated mass effect 2 and what it did to the franchise. it took away almost everything i enjoyed about the game. the only thing left was choosing to be bad or good. outside that it was just a FPS

[bjdbwea]

TXSean wrote...

i would agree with all you say except that i hated mass effect 2 and what it did to the franchise. it took away almost everything i enjoyed about the game. the only thing left was choosing to be bad or good. outside that it was just a FPS

TPS. Apart from that, I completely agree.

[Grey Malkin]

relhart wrote...

You don't market the game towards people who are going to buy it already, in this case mature RPG fans. With DAO all the marketing was aimed at the twitch console crowd, I expect it will be more of the same this time around, unless the Old schoolers start leaving in droves.

To quote a great man:  Pretty standard, really.

To make my opinion more clear, I'm not saying that most marketing teams don't do this or even that they shouldn't (after all, more revenue => more dragon age! Adrenaline junkie kids be damned!). I'm just saying maybe keep in perspective that at this point when Origins was coming out (Staying away from the ME2 example... ) it sounded aweful but turned out to be a favorite of mine. To quote Zevran, "I'm an eternal optimist!"

[In Exile]

Not everyone's first exposure to DA was the Marlyn Manson music. Many of us were following the game for months if not years prior to that particular marketing gem. The combination of that along with the change in the DA logo (and the inclusion of Origins in the title) was enough to send the old board into spasms.



Blood dragon? Metal letters? Violent video campaign? It's not going to be an RPG anymore! What features will they rip from us now?



And so on.



Which is not to say that what we are currently hearing about DA2 is marketing noise or not. But keep in mind than when DA was announced, it was not announced at all with the same kind of buzzwords we're getting now, and their major trailor was basically the cut-scene at Ostagar (when the darskpawn charge the lines). So it mostly got called an LoTR re-tread and Bioware was hyping as the spirital successor to BG2.

[Ryllen Laerth Kriel]

Apparently they are commissioning Mr. Manson to do a remix of his song in the last trailer. It will be called "This is the Newer S#!7."

[Kalfear]

Grey Malkin wrote...

Hey everyone!
Like a good deal of you guys on the forums, when I heard about the changes in DA2 I was heartbroken. Dragon Age was my favorite game last year (maybe of all time... God knows I've invested enough time in it!) due to the amount of choices and the level of immersion. The fact that you could be EXACTLY how you want to be and keep the story not only functional, but immersive and awesome was fantastic! So when I first heard about this Hawke character I couldn't believe it... But then I thought about it for a second...

Remember when Dragon Age was announced? Remember when all we had was a cutscene of ANOTHER fantasy RPG set to Marlyn Manson music, caked in blood claiming it to be a "mature" RPG? I remember thinking to myself "Oh God, how the mighty have fallen..."
(Link: )

In reality, it WAS an incredibly mature RPG, but not because it was gory and had angsty music. It was mature because it created an emotional connection between the game and the player, a connection all the 12 year olds playing Modern Warfare 2 aren't interested in because they don't understand it or want to understand it.

Then I realized they did the same thing for Mass Effect 2! Anyone remember Jack's trailer? They pumped it full of one-liners, curse words, and again, terrible music that thankfully wasn't in the game. Sure, Jack was way over the top and, in my opinion, one of the most least interesting characters in the Mass Effect universe, but even then she DID have an emotional side too and didn't just act like the aforementioned kids on MW2. And how was the rest of Mass Effect 2's story? Wonderful, just like I wanted.

So now I have to ask: is Dragon Age 2 really going to kill my game? Or is the Bioware Marketing team just f****ing with me again trying to pull youth away from their 10th prestige profile?

...God, I hate MW2

Grey, IDK is the answer.

If Bioware is screwing with us, its a stupid stupid stupid marketing move. I personally know 10 DA:O fans that as of right now will not be buying DA2 because of the information "leaked" to us so far.
Why Bioware didnt present this at E3 in a super glossy package designed to get us excited in beyond my understanding to be honest!
The current style of announcing has not gone over well or impressed all that much. I dare say the majority of board posters been dissatisfied in some way ranging from mild annoyance to outright disgust!
Bioware needs to get its facts togather and then post it/release the info in a manner that answers and calms many of the current concerns (providing those concerns are not 100% correct in which case they screwed).

I wont pretend to understand what Bioware doing but to be honest, their moves since the marketting of ME2 have confused and dumbfounded me in many ways. They (IMO) have gone from most trusted and reliable to some of the worst for unrealized hype and falsehoods in a few short years!

DA:O was amazeing and probably the only reason so many still around cause if this developer had only ME2 to its credit in last few years, many would have left, never to return.
Thats my opinion anyways. I use to be as blind and passionate a fan as there was but that trust and good will have been erased through bad marketting(ME2 and DLC for ME2 and DA:O), bad game design (ME2), poor character creation (ME2), and unfixed buggy expansions (Awakening. Loved the expansion, when it wasnt crashing). Biowares got to hit some home runs with minimal bugs to rebuild some of its lost name value IMO.

I should also point out, if Bioware was counting on any in my circle to buy GI for game info, it made a serious mistake. Myself and those I know will wait for the free online version (scanned or registered) cause we not paying even more money for ads and what should be free hype. Again, E3 or even Comic Con would have been the smart release places that reached a ton of people FREE. 

Modifié par Kalfear, 14 juillet 2010 - 04:38 .

[phaonica]

Merci357 wrote...

Well, the BioWare marketing is borderline false advertising. Think the Blur trailers, no, that isn't actual game footage, at all. Think the "this is the new sh!t" trailer, no, that isn't music featured in the game. Combined with the generic male action hero featured in those, I just try to ignore them, even though once in a while there is a good trailer - the ME2 release one was done quite well.
Then there are the marketing catch phrases - but that's probably necessary to even catch the attention of people these days.

I severely dislike game trailers that are cinematic scenes with utterly no gameplay footage. You can tell me the story with some text. In a trailer video, I want to see the actual game in action.

[Kalfear]

phaonica wrote...

Merci357 wrote...

Well, the BioWare marketing is borderline false advertising. Think the Blur trailers, no, that isn't actual game footage, at all. Think the "this is the new sh!t" trailer, no, that isn't music featured in the game. Combined with the generic male action hero featured in those, I just try to ignore them, even though once in a while there is a good trailer - the ME2 release one was done quite well.
Then there are the marketing catch phrases - but that's probably necessary to even catch the attention of people these days.

I severely dislike game trailers that are cinematic scenes with utterly no gameplay footage. You can tell me the story with some text. In a trailer video, I want to see the actual game in action.

Really? 
I loved the 2 cinematic trailers for TOR
I loved the cinematic trailer for Deus Ex3

But I know those not gameplay footage so I take them for what they are, mini movies.

[phaonica]

Kalfear wrote...

phaonica wrote...

Merci357 wrote...

Well, the BioWare marketing is borderline false advertising. Think the Blur trailers, no, that isn't actual game footage, at all. Think the "this is the new sh!t" trailer, no, that isn't music featured in the game. Combined with the generic male action hero featured in those, I just try to ignore them, even though once in a while there is a good trailer - the ME2 release one was done quite well.
Then there are the marketing catch phrases - but that's probably necessary to even catch the attention of people these days.

I severely dislike game trailers that are cinematic scenes with utterly no gameplay footage. You can tell me the story with some text. In a trailer video, I want to see the actual game in action.

Really? 
I loved the 2 cinematic trailers for TOR
I loved the cinematic trailer for Deus Ex3

But I know those not gameplay footage so I take them for what they are, mini movies.

They are mini movies, and they do not influence my purchasing decision at all. All I see is "yeah, this video is pretty, but it doesn't tell me anything about how the game will play." I think the TOR and DeusEx3 trailers look good, but are mostly ignorable because they give me no impressions about if I will actually like playing the game or not.

Modifié par phaonica, 14 juillet 2010 - 05:40 .

[Swoo]

phaonica wrote...
They are mini movies, and they do not influence my purchasing decision at all. All I see is "yeah, this video is pretty, but it doesn't tell me anything about how the game will play." I think the TOR and DeusEx3 trailers look good, but are mostly ignorable because they give me no impressions about if I will actually like playing the game or not.

Agreed. The Blur teasers were fun to watch but they don't - in my opinion - do anything but catch peoples attention to look more closely at the actual game footage, reviews, what have you. Nothing wrong in that before someone point's it out. I like watching those types of videos, but at the moment I am much more interested at seeing the product I'll be playing over what's pretty much a really nice cutscene.

[zahra]

Blakes 7 wrote...

Bioware marketing for me misses the mark - you could almost call it false advertising.
Imagine a kid into FPS's wanting dragon age based on the ads - picking it up then giving up when it gets tough. That's what happened to my brother.

My brother was like that as well. Except he found all the "talking" tedious. If he had stuck with the franchise the mention of a dialog wheel would have been a "yay" moment for him.

[th8827]

I agree with the sentiment here as well. When I'm looking for a new game, I would prefer to see a gameplay trailer over a cutscene, because it is the gameplay that I will be occupying my time for the next 60-100 hours, not the cutscenes, and I want to make sure that the game that I'm playing will be fun.



With that being said, a good cinematic trailer is fun to watch... if it has appropriate music.



Also, I can't stand MW2 (or any pf the other war games) either.

[Gaxhung]

BW games has a lot of dialog in them, if we skip them all, we end up with more or less a 25 hour game.



The dialog gets tiresome for me, simply because you click on some of them digging for more insights into the plot or more choices, but it ends up being the same outcome. I felt it a chore to sit through them at times, but I did want to listen to the VO work, which is why its a chore, am I reviewing these actor's work, listening to a story book or playing a game?



Its not bad marketing it the way they do, it just is more exciting than watching someone pick dialog options from a menu.