92 réponses à ce sujet

[Sylvius the Mad]

Mike Laidlaw wrote...

A decade of history does offer a lot of potential, doesn't it?

It's been suggested that the gameplay in DA2 takes place over a ten year period.

Ten years!

One of my complaints with BioWare's games in recent years has been the urgency of the main plot.  Having an urgent and immediately apparent main plot often breaks the entire concept of side-quests.  Going off and doing something unrelated to your main objective doesn't make any sense if you're in a hurry to get that main objective done.  As such, I've asked (repeatedly) for a main plot that lacks that urgency.  As an example of such a plot, I've pointed to Baldur's Gate (where you don't really know what the main plot is unless you go looking for it), and even Ultima VII (where the game opens as a murder mystery, so the player's job involves investigation, which isn't a quick process).

If DA2 takes place over a ten year period, that pretty much guarantees that we're not looking at a single urgent plot that forces us away from an exploratory and investigative gameplay style.  The game's design can now incorporate features which wouldn't make sense if the main plot were urgent and immediate, as they generally have been of late.

And this excites me greatly.

[hexaligned]

This is one of the better of the revealed features imo too. I have some concerns there will be large time jumps with a bunch left out of the story, but that could always be covered in DLC later. Actually If I liked the game enough I might actually consider buying that DLC, where as I didn't really bother with any for DAO.

[Ryllen Laerth Kriel]

I agree, that's one of the few features mentioned that I really, really enjoyed hearing. Sometimes the main character doesn't have to be the "chosen one" who goes about destroying a great mystical evil. Sometimes a character can become a legend through a long, desperate everyday struggle that he/she rises above.

[jennamarae]

That's just about the only detail so far that's struck me as interesting so far as well. It'll be interesting to see how they manage that without having the game seem too slow-paced..

[thatguy212]

first year- hawke gets arrested

second year- jail time

third year- jail time

fourth year- jail time

fifth year- jail time

sixth year- jail time

seventh year- jail time

eighth year- jail time

ninth year- jail time

tenth year- because hawke was wrongful jailed they decide to make him the champion

[lv12medic]

I always thought it made perfect sense to stop and save a cat out of the well while an evil army capable of overwhelming and devouring the world conviently halts its advance for you.

Time jumps could potentially be a problem I suppose. But investigation plots can be fun, I mean if you have to be the Spartan-General-Hero of Kirkwall... you have figure out how to get to Kirkwall to begin with.

[TheMadCat]

I don't know, it's going to be tough for them to pull. 10 years is a long time to cover for an RPG type game and there are going to be huge time skips. 30-50 hours to cover ten years worth of time kind of scares me.

[DasWarden]

I liked Mass Effect 2's idea.. before the finale, if you choose to go off and do a bunch of side missions that you left undone, you would go to search for your abducted crew to find out they are dead.. that makes sense!! We need more of that obvious plot structure!

[Riona45]

TheMadCat wrote...

I don't know, it's going to be tough for them to pull. 10 years is a long time to cover for an RPG type game and there are going to be huge time skips. 30-50 hours to cover ten years worth of time kind of scares me.

Good point.  All I can say is that I have a feeling they'll be able to pull it off to my satisfaction.

[Vallish Menethil]

30-50 hours of playtime doesnt scare me, i wrack up 60 hours of playtime per playthrough right now

[Fishy]

Time in Dragon age it's all relative..How many week you have spend into the deep road?
How many day or week you have spend climbing the ashes mountain?
How many week you have spend walking ?


Between the betrayal of Belhen and when  meeting your friend in Denerim = Years have passed.
All in all ... Dragon age origins span over several years and you don't have any (1 years later)

I'm pretty sure it's will work just has well.

For instance when you meet Wynne in the circle of magi .. She said that 1 years have passed since the battle of Ostagaar .. Even  if you meet her right after Lothering.

Modifié par Suprez30, 14 juillet 2010 - 04:55 .

[ITSSEXYTIME]

I like the idea as well, I just hope they execute it well. The way Assassin's Creed approach "time" where it was basically just each chapter jumped to different parts of Ezio's life was "okay" but I'd like something a bit more substantial since it's an RPG. I think it'd be cool if they gave the player "time limits" to do the main quest to maintain a sense of urgency but what you do with that time is up to you. (Giving you time to do side quest of course) Even better if they don't give you an abundance of time: so if you want to do all the side quest you have to budget your time really well. One mistake developers often make with time limits (Mass Effect did this several times) was giving the player WAAAY more time than they need. It's like they're afraid to let the player fail.

[HighMoon]

Hawke starts off as a 10 year old in the 3 minute escape from Lothering prologue, flash forward 10 years later in Kirkwall. Welcome to the rest of the story! Lol, talk about disappointing...

[Vaeliorin]

relhart wrote...
This is one of the better of the revealed features imo too. I have some concerns there will be large time jumps with a bunch left out of the story, but that could always be covered in DLC later. Actually If I liked the game enough I might actually consider buying that DLC, where as I didn't really bother with any for DAO.

While I do like the idea of covering a decade, I'm more concerned that there will be time jumps wherein my character will be said to have done certain things that aren't necessarily in character for him/her (admittedly, this is at least partially in reaction to ME2 where Shepard was frequently made to do things that I felt were out of character.)

[TheMadCat]

Suprez30 wrote...

Time in Dragon age it's all relative..How many week you have spend into the deep road?
How many day or week you have spend climbing the ashes mountain?
How many week you have spend walking ?


Between the betrayal of Belhen and when  meeting your friend in Denerim = Years have passed.
All in all ... Dragon age origins span over several years and you don't have any (1 years later)

I'm pretty sure it's will work just has well.

For instance when you meet Wynne in the circle of magi .. She said that 1 years have passed since the battle of Ostagaar .. Even  if you meet her right after Lothering.

The thing is unlike Origins time won't be so abstracted in it's representation. They've given is a time span meaning time to some degree is going to be tracked and considering it got announced early and with some emphasis it's obviously got some importance to the story arc. So again, it sounds like it could lead to great things but 10 years well established in 30-50 hours is going to be damn near impossible.

[Ryllen Laerth Kriel]

thatguy212 wrote...

first year- hawke gets arrested
second year- jail time
third year- jail time
fourth year- jail time
fifth year- jail time
sixth year- jail time
seventh year- jail time
eighth year- jail time
ninth year- jail time
tenth year- because hawke was wrongful jailed they decide to make him the champion

DLC- Eleventh year...Hawke writes about his experiences and gets a #1 book deal in Orlais. A mini-series (of stage performances) emerges leading to political revolution in the Free Marches.

[Sylvius the Mad]

jennamarae wrote...

It'll be interesting to see how they manage that without having the game seem too slow-paced..

I'd rather they err on the side of being too slow-paced than the opposite.

But I suspect my ideal pace is quite a bit slower than most people's.

[jennamarae]

Sylvius the Mad wrote...

I'd rather they err on the side of being too slow-paced than the opposite.

But I suspect my ideal pace is quite a bit slower than most people's.

Eh, if it's too slow-paced the game will seem boring. Not slow enough and it won't seem like there's enough content to cover 10 years. A fine-line to walk, I would think.

[dan107]

I'm pretty excited about this too. I just hope that they integrate and take full advantage of this feature. I.e. you run around, do some things, then a couple of years pass and you get to see the long-term results of your actions, then repeat. Not just an abrupt 10 year "jail-time" jump that reduces the whole thing to a gimmick.

Modifié par dan107, 14 juillet 2010 - 06:47 .

[dan107]

jennamarae wrote..

Eh, if it's too slow-paced the game will seem boring. Not slow enough and it won't seem like there's enough content to cover 10 years. A fine-line to walk, I would think.

Incidentally, DA was supposed to span about 2 years I think, even though it felt like 2 weeks. The "feel" of time passage needs to be addressed in DA2.

[DarkSpiral]

Suprez30 wrote...
For instance when you meet Wynne in the circle of magi .. She said that 1 years have passed since the battle of Ostagaar .. Even  if you meet her right after Lothering.

...er...when does she do that?  I've played through the game many times, and I've never encountered her use this dialogue.  I suppose I could have missed it.  Several cases of dialouge requiring very specific choices during the conversation tree exist in DA:O, but in all my playthoughs I've yet to see any NPC actually pin down the amount of time that occurs between significant plot points.  Except maybe for Dagna, and all she does it make it clear that it takes a week tro travel from Orzammar to the Circle.

[jennamarae]

DarkSpiral wrote...

Suprez30 wrote...
For instance when you meet Wynne in the circle of magi .. She said that 1 years have passed since the battle of Ostagaar .. Even  if you meet her right after Lothering.

...er...when does she do that?  I've played through the game many times, and I've never encountered her use this dialogue.  I suppose I could have missed it.  Several cases of dialouge requiring very specific choices during the conversation tree exist in DA:O, but in all my playthoughs I've yet to see any NPC actually pin down the amount of time that occurs between significant plot points.  Except maybe for Dagna, and all she does it make it clear that it takes a week tro travel from Orzammar to the Circle.

I think it only happens if you pick the mage origin. She makes a comment about how it's been a year since you left the Circle, not since Ostagar.

[jennamarae]

dan107 wrote...

Incidentally, DA was supposed to span about 2 years I think, even though it felt like 2 weeks. The "feel" of time passage needs to be addressed in DA2.

I agree. Ignoring the lag during travel that made it feel like months passed between zones (yay PC loading times! <_< ), the only time I really felt like time was passing was during the conversation with Wynne when she mentions how long it's been since you left the circle. Other than that, I can't really recall anything that made it seem like it had been two years since the beginning of the origin for whatever character I was playing.

[Dave of Canada]

This ten year story can either be done really well or very, very badly.



I don't want the game to go through years like if they were meaningless and hollow, I want the years to actually feel like you've done a lot in that year and it moves on. I'd rather not travel to city, meet some guy and it says 'ONE YEAR LATER'.



Another thing that interests me is the development between characters, we've only known the cast of a few Bioware games for a few months (maybe a year at most) and that's all because they are bound for one quest to save the planet / universe / force. The quest here probably won't be as urgent and I feel we'll have companions that will join and go throughout these ten years. I doubt somebody would stay dedicated to you for ten years.



Romances will also have an interesting dynamic, it won't be romance > sex > romance = done. It has a chance to evolve over the years.

[Sylvius the Mad]

jennamarae wrote...

Eh, if it's too slow-paced the game will seem boring.

As long as I have a regular opprtunity to roleplay or explore, I will not find it boring.