13 réponses à ce sujet

[WoodyWoodrow]

One of the critisisms of Mass Effect is that Shepard doesn't really have a character arc, he is too bland. Is this being aliviated at all in DA II? As lead writer I figured you would know

[2papercuts]

im not sure he wrote shepard...

[Biserthebomb]

I think Hawke should have a hubris, or fatal flaw, that either gets fixed OR IT DOESN'T and you ALMOST DIE causing you to go on a quest searching for the meaning of life SLAUGHTERING EVERYTHING on the way there.


Edit: I think it would be cool to see people react to Hawke changing his/her personality. For example:

A noble, good Hawke is asked by a mysterious old man for a gold coin. Hawke proceeds to decapitate him, deficate on him and leave him for the wild mabari. Your companions are shocked, saying 'What has gotten into you?', 'Where the hell did that come from', 'You are supposed to be a symbol of hope!' and 'This is not the Hawke I remember... I like it' (Morrigan approves +10. Morrigan deficates on old man as well)

An evil Hawke donates money to a stupid temple. Passers by, in hushed whispers: 'Its a miracle.. praise the maker', 'Maybe he isn't such a bad fellow after all... he's got a long way to go though', or 'Hmph. Didn't take him for much of a holy man meself... must be politics.'

Modifié par Biserthebomb, 17 juillet 2010 - 03:53 .

[Saibh]

The problem with having a character arc in an RPG like BioWare's is that it forces your character to react and have a personality in a specific way. Which is horrible in this case.

In most cases, you make an RP choice to allow yourself to develop. Does Morrigan's confession that you're like a sister make you kinder, more compassionate? Does Alistair's break-up make you more cynical and cold? Does seeing the damage done at the Alienage garner hatred, despair?

The game cannot force you to react in a certain way.

And having a set flaw is absolutely detrimental to having a dialogue wheel. You choose whether to be greedy, to be magnanimous, to be angry, or gentle, or stupid, or cynical. If they pick the trait "you are greedy", this forces even your Lawful Good characters to react in ways out of your control, in an unrealistic and jarring snatch out of your control.

Modifié par Saibh, 17 juillet 2010 - 03:28 .

[Waage25]

I need a blank slate that reacts in the way i want him to react, not like he reacts.

After all it is a RPG not a action adventure game where you are only along for the ride.

[ArcanistLibram]

A PC's character development is in the hands of the players. You can start Shepard off as a Paragon idealist who cracks under the pressure and goes Renegade or you can start him as a Renegade and have him turn Paragon as he develops a more careful approach in response to the expectations people have of him. Since it's usually more advantageous and, in my opinion, more intuitive to play straight Paragon or straight Renegade, this rarely happens. Besides, Shepard's in his late 20s to early 30s and he has an established career. He's gotten to a point where his character should be pretty much set.



The Warden would be more likely to see some character development, but again, I find it's more intuitive to pick a personality type at the beginning of the game and then stick with it.

[Mr. Sprinkles101]

Character development in DA:O is better since this character is YOU and not Shepard.

[andar91]

You control Hawke so you control his/her personality (within reason).

[ganstamaori]

My Shepard developed as a character.



He stopped being such an ****.

[WoodyWoodrow]

Haha I do the same thing, but I wish the game would recognize a change in the decisions and put in extra party member dialogue or maybe a cutscene.I got the idea from the guy who did the "phantom menace" review of Mass Effect 2.

Modifié par WoodyWoodrow, 17 juillet 2010 - 04:37 .

[David Gaider]

WoodyWoodrow wrote...
One of the critisisms of Mass Effect is that Shepard doesn't really have a character arc, he is too bland. Is this being aliviated at all in DA II? As lead writer I figured you would know

I'm not sure what you're referring to. There is a plot that determines what happens to your character-- how you react to what happens is up to you. We can't provide a character arc for your character beyond that, which is really no different than Origins or any other RPG we've done. The only difference might be that Shepherd has a set personality-- he's a stoic, hard-ass marine no matter whether he's Paragon or Renegade, and that makes sense for his role in the game. Your DA character will have a personality that's a bit more mutable than that.

[twincast]

David Gaider wrote...

Your DA character will have a personality that's a bit more mutable than that.

Well, the problem with Shepard (IMHO) is that they're trying to combine the advantages of a completely predefined character (like in most JRPG's and action games) and a classic mutable RPG alter ego and gloriously fail at capturing either, so that's good to hear (I hope).

[Aulis Vaara]

In my opinion, nothing failed at all in Mass Effect 2. A mutable character means that any growth is up to you, if you don't see any growth, that's your mistake, not that of the writers. And I see nothing wrong with the predefinitions of Shepard either.



The only thing that really bothers me about Mass Effect 2 is that it's not always clear which choice you are making, because the choice wheel texts frequently don't match the dialogue. But Dragon Age never had that problem.



Since neither series had any character development issues, in my humble opinion, I'm not worried for Dragon Age II.

[ZtalkerRM]

David Gaider wrote...

WoodyWoodrow wrote...
One of the critisisms of Mass Effect is that Shepard doesn't really have a character arc, he is too bland. Is this being aliviated at all in DA II? As lead writer I figured you would know

I'm not sure what you're referring to. There is a plot that determines what happens to your character-- how you react to what happens is up to you. We can't provide a character arc for your character beyond that, which is really no different than Origins or any other RPG we've done. The only difference might be that Shepherd has a set personality-- he's a stoic, hard-ass marine no matter whether he's Paragon or Renegade, and that makes sense for his role in the game. Your DA character will have a personality that's a bit more mutable than that.

I think that's exactly the point. We know nothing of Shepard other then that he has received N7 marine training.
No arc about meeting old friends or anything. The only reference to his youth in Mass Effect was a little sidequest on the Citadel, with the result of Shepard mother calling him, or 'bad' old friends asking him for a job.

I do see development in Shepard though, but just not that...'broad' like NPC's like Garrus, or DA example, Allistair had. He could be 'hardened' and would behave differently after a life-changing experience.

Alpha Protocol showed this is possible though. The main character in the game (not customisable and possible to give your own name) experiences things that will be referenced by other characters in the game.

Example; "You did have feelings for her, didn't you?"
After which you can threaten or casually (Bond style) deny it, after which you'll be known as cold, etc.
I'd love to see that in DA:2. That people remember your character by his past actions and that said actions have dire consequences for the gameplay itself.