375 réponses à ce sujet

[Peter Thomas]

Atmosfear3 wrote...

 My questions pertain purely to combat so I hope you can enlighten all of us.

Are characters allowed to attack and move at the same time? DAO felt too much like two kids with nerf bats, standing on platforms trying to knock each other down like american gladiators.

When you attack you play an attack animation, preventing all other animations (like movement). No circle-strafing.

Will attack speed be increased across the board to promote smoother combat? I suppose this may be an animation question as well.

This is an animation question, but for players, the animations have the impact event front loaded so it takes effect right away.

Will characters be allowed to have two specs? (i.e. I weapon switch from sword and board to a 2hander and both my talents and hotkey bar changes to the appropriate spec). There were too many times in DAO where after recruiting a party-member I would never bring them along for any mission minus the character-specific ones because there would be an overlap of classes and roles (i.e. having two tank warriors in the same party).

Is your question about specializations? I can't answer that right now. Otherwise it sounds like a UI question about flipping between ability/weapon sets.

Will cooldowns be adjusted to promote more engaging battles as oppose to the current "spam-all-abilities-then-auto-attack" till its dead routine?

Ability costs, cooldowns and regeneration rates are still being balanced.

Will stamina/mana be a more abundant resource than DAO? It was not particularly fun to use 3-4 abilities as a warrior with 1 sustained then not having any stamina to use new moves. Like I mentioned in question 5. I think WoW has the best system in which abilities cost an appropriate amount and has a low to medium length cooldown so that those abilities are always at your disposal albeit not immediately upon using.

Every class has different ways to regain mana/stamina, as well as potions. To start, Warriors through the use of an ability, Rogues through attacking, and Mages through passive regeneration. Ability costs will be balanced and it is one of the considerations a player needs to make when deciding what to do. Will you cast 1 big ability or 2 small ones? How long will it take to regain the mana/stamina to do something else? How long will I be unable to use this ability for? Abilities will also increase in strength throughout the game and have less overlap, so considering the exact nature of the ability would factor into whether its cost was worthwhile in a given situation.

[Peter Thomas]

Andat wrote...

If these have been asked, er, well, oops (I didn't spot them though I only read the BW posts up to p7)

#1: default weapons
So if I equip a shield on my warrior but no sword, he automatically gets a basic sword? And if I do the reverse (choose a sword but no shield), he would automatically get a basic shield? Could make for some interesting prison escape sequences. "Erm, Bob, where exactly were you keeping that wooden shield and arming sword this whole time? Wait, I don't really want to know. I guess it was the one place the guards didn't want to search.... But /HOW/ did you get the shield up there!?! I'll never see you the same way again...."

Edit: yes there was a question in there somewhere, I just hid it.

Used to work for ladders in the 80s.

#2: Any chance you could tell us how the framed narrative system works? So suppose there's a sidequest to defeat the Dragon of Varlonghateohataoroaageaornegatehafonsaga - how do we choose that quest and how does that fit into the main game?

This is a plot/story related question.

[Peter Thomas]

flagondotcom wrote...

So, does this mean that crossbows do not exist, crossbows can only be used by Rogues, crossbows do not require Ranged Weapon talents, or some fourth possibility?  (Apologies if I somehow missed more extensive discussion on this.)

Only Rogues can use Archery style weapons. I can't be more specific than that.

[Peter Thomas]

RENEGADEXVIII wrote...

Will shapeshifting exist in DA2...if so,how will DA2's incarnation of shapeshifting differ from origins?

I can't talk about specializations right now.

[Peter Thomas]

spartanmax52000 wrote...

will they mention the hero of ferelden and his deeds or a statue in the same image and armor as the warden you create ?

This is a story/plot related question.

[Peter Thomas]

Balder84 wrote...

You mentioned that there will not be a Arrow/ammunition slot...so will there be skills like for example Fire Arrow , and anti mage Arrows? - you know to make up for the lack of variety of effects and stratagy that having various ammunition would bring. Are there any other changes for archery combat?

I can't comment on specific abilities. There will be a variety of Archery weapons, though, not just normal bows. It still remains to be finalized, but there is also the rune system.

[Peter Thomas]

JoHnDoE14 wrote...

Will mages still be able to cast spells without a staff ??
 (Apologies in case it was asked again)

Mages will always have a staff. Even if they don't have a particular item equipped, they will have a default staff.

[Peter Thomas]

Freddah wrote...

This may be a somewhat noobish question. However I am rather conserned. If I played Origins two times on the same chr. and made different moral choices, which ones would be importet to DA2?

This is a story/plot question.

[Peter Thomas]

Logabob wrote...

1. Will the amount of loot be similar to that in origins, or will it be like ME2 where you have a few weapons obtained at key points in the game?

Treasure will be similar to, but less than, DAO. Mostly this will be a reduction in the amount of junk or filler loot.

2. In ME2, each character had a fixed costume. In DA2, will we be constantly swapping out armor or will characters stick to a single costume for most of the game ala Morrigan?

Your character will have all the inventory slots available in DAO (except the ammunition slot) and the changes in items will be reflected in his appearance.

[Peter Thomas]

falloutseriesfan wrote...

Will weapons actually clash in combat?

Combat is not choreographed except in synchronized animations like deathblows, so in general, no.

Modifié par Peter Thomas, 12 septembre 2010 - 02:52 .

[Peter Thomas]

AbounI wrote...

Peter, can we expect to see/read/hear an upcomming podcast where you will talk about the gameplay and the work of your department?

Ah, no... not likely. I'm not very photogenic, I'm afraid.

As the game is a framed narrative, what's the impact in your work?IE, when Varric tells at the first time the Lothering story to Cassandra, it's volontary exaggerate.Only his second version is quite realistic.So does it mean two different gameplay versions with different capacities and abilities allowed.

No, one is just an extension of the other. When Varric starts to get carried away, there are some overrides that kick in, but other than that, it's the same.

What can be the influences of such things in your work?Do you have to do twice the job to adjust each time the general balanced difficulty?

You're referring to the parts where Varric gets carried away? No, we've done our best to make sure that the actual systems changes are very specific, otherwise we would have to do twice the work. As long as the feel is that desired by the narrative, we've done our jobs right.

[Peter Thomas]

TMZuk wrote...

Since you have decided to take away the choises regarding what weapons which class can use, and what race we can play, how do you plan to allow us to design our characters?

Gameplay-wise, in choices of equipment, ability selection, and stat progression. Story/plot choices determining their personality are not part of this discussion.

As fighters are apparantly going to be pure fighters, who can fight and that's it, to a degree where they cannot even dualwield anymore, rogues has to be sneaky assasin/thief types, and mages do magic and that's it, I wonder what there will be for us who likes to play Jacks of all Trades? Characters who can do a bit of everything, and excell at nothing?

Fighters don't have to be pure fighters, Rogues don't have to be sneaky assassins, and Mages... er... well they do kinda have to do magic. That's their thing... Magic...

Within each class there are many abilities which let you build on the class's strengths, or give them additional capabilities. Each class does have limits, to prevent one class from being able to do everything and making the others irrelevant.

I found DA:O very restrictive already... EG, a warrior or a mage is unable to deal with locks, no matter what, which I found very tedious and oldfashioned compared to Bethesda's Elder Scroll series. Now it seems you are making the game even more restrictive, and tie the players to the classes even more. Why are you going in that direction? I find it hugely dissapointing.

Telling us we suck isn't a good way to get answers. We are trying to make each class versatile within certain ranges, and the effectiveness of a given party will be how the player combines the different abilities of his party members rather than making a single supercharacter.

[Peter Thomas]

1varangian wrote...

Q1: Will enemy and companion levels scale to match the PC again?

Biggest flaw of DA is negating the feeling of advancement by scaling the hurlocks, wolves and whatnot to match your level. Just finished the last DLC and my level 25 mage did not feel any more epic than when he was first fighting the same hurlocks in the Korcari wilds at level 4. Also it doesn't help when an "inexperienced" companion like Finn is given the same level as your uber warden. So really hoping the answer will be "no" this time.

Sorry, followers will still scale with you. If they didn't, ones you didn't take with you would be useless later in the game with no way to catch up.

Q2: Will stats (and equipment requirements with them) scale as heavily as in DA:O?

Another pet peeve of mine. It's impossible to get any scope of physical power when a warrior's strength = experience. It should be possible to have a strong level 1 PC. Attack, defense and damage etc. progression could easily be associated more with experience level and class rather than stats.

If those stats were associated with class and level only, then every character would be the same. By associating with stats instead, we give the player choice in how he levels his character and what properties are more important to him for the build he's creating.

Q3: Will mages be required to invest in Str / Dex this time if they want to fight? Or will simply dumping everything into Magic result in a well rounded arcane warrior/caster again?

Dumping everything into their primary attribute is a viable way to create a character. They will hit a lot and do a lot of damage, but will suffer in every other way. It will work in a lot of situations, but it won't be a well rounded character.

Q4: Have you considered any kind of diminishing returns system for increasing stats?

This has already been discussed. Attack, Defense, Armor and other resistances all have dimishing returns.

Q5: Will a fight between two equally skilled combatants look more intense this time around with more blocks/dodges/sparks? Or will they still stand there steadily grinding each others HP down? And in the PCs case taking multiple potion breaks during a tough fight?

Animations are generally independent of each other, so there is no choreographed combat (except synchronized animations like deathblows). Epic enemies like bosses have to be able to stand up to the combined attentions of the entire party. To do this for any length of time, they need more health than normal, so yes, you will be whittling down their health. We are also trying to limit the amount of potions use in the game through various methods.

[Peter Thomas]

tmp7704 wrote...

Is there anything planned to be introduced instead, or does it basically mean the item system was simplified and all weapons (of the same rank) deal identical damage to everything? I.e. there's no longer advantage of certain weapon types against heavy armour etc?

The focus is instead on different damage types. Armor is resistance to Physical damage. If a creature is very resistant to it, the best way to deal with it would be to switch to an alternate damage type that can harm it more effectively.

Individual items (or subgroups of items) will be differentiated by the types of properties they have, though this hasn't been finalized yet.

[Peter Thomas]

Morroian wrote...

Conversely, and I apologise if this has already been asked, can rogues dual wield a sword and dagger combination, with the sword obviously being a 1 hander.

The concept of a one-handed weapon is not a concept we're using right now. It's either a dual weapon item, or a weapon and shield item.

[Peter Thomas]

Blasto the jelly wrote...

Peter thanks for all your time:) also Will your class be mentioned in Conversation like a
Mage talking to a templar?

This is a story/plot related question.

[Peter Thomas]

Martanek wrote...

Hello there,
my question is how will the inventory system be dealt with? The DA:O inventory system was a little cumbersome (item received...) and simplified from traditional RPG space or weight-based inventories. Anyway, it is not very realistic for every in-game item to take up the same space. For instance, an armor or weapon obviously takes much more space than, say, a health potion or a book. Why not project this into the DA:O universe? That is how most RPG's are handled in that regard, right?

In DA:O, the inventory had only 70 free "slots", which means it gets quickly filled up and you have to scrap items or sell them. So tedious, so frustrating. And what's more, when carrying 69 items, a mere piece of flower may simply encumber the inventory. Is that not ridiculous?

I understand that DA 2 is being developed with consoles in mind in the first place so further simplification is to be expected in many areas (mind ME2) but will this be the case with the way the inventory system in DA 2 works? Hopefully, "consolization" has not hit DA 2 very hard yet... Thanks for your time and answer.

The inventory system has not been finalized, but it will not differ much conceptually from the DAO system.

[Peter Thomas]

tmp7704 wrote...

Does the spell effect happening very quick apply just to player and/or companions, or do NPCs also get near-instant spells as well?

It happens quickly for the player and party members. For enemies and other creatures in the world, they are much slower, telegraphing their movements in advance, giving you time to react. Ironically, in some cases this is done by giving them access to the old DAO player animations.

[Peter Thomas]

distinguetraces wrote...

For Rogues, is there such a thing as a "main hand" or "off hand" weapon anymore, or are all weapons designed for dual-wielding equally usable in either hand?

Since it is their core melee fighting style, there is no penalty for main hand vs off hand. Whatever weapon strikes in the animation is the one that deals damage. Additionally, most Dual Weapon abilities hit with both weapons (in one way or another), so there shouldn't be too much of a bias towards the main or off hand weapon.

[Peter Thomas]

Archmage Silvery wrote...

Thanks for taking the time to answer these community questions, it's certainly an excercise in typing.

I. +X% {cold/electricity/fire/nature/spirit} damage item attribute - if it's still in, what's the cap like now? You probably can't give a specific number (if there's one yet), but is it more, about the same, or less than in Awakening?

I can't comment on specific item properties in the game. The property that this is affecting currently can have a maximum bonus of around -100% damage to +1000% damage of that type, which is an entirely arbitrary range right now.

II. Are there player character abilities to overcome enemy spell resistance?

I can't comment on specific abilities right now. However, it is planned that the Spirit damage type helps with this.

III. +X% to healing effects received item attribute - in or out? Also, will it actually work this time? Heh... sorry about that jab, but it's still broken in Origins/Awakening 1.04. Unless you use Nukenin's +Healing Received Fix on PC, obviously.

I can't comment on our patching efficiency or the specifics of what item properties are in the game.

IV. Has spellpower been overhauled, and if yes, in which way?

Spellpower has been removed from the game. The damage a Mage does is based on his currently equipped staff and his Magic attribute.

Modifié par Peter Thomas, 12 septembre 2010 - 03:37 .

[Peter Thomas]

Giggles_Manically wrote...

After playing the Redcliffe Night Battle I have some questions.

Will enemy AI still run right past a warrior waiting for them and leave the warrior chasing them while they go after some random NPC?

One part of the AI threat system is proximity. If the Warrior is closer, he's more likely to be a target. It also depends on what that NPC had done to the monster.

Melee weapon styles also have closing attacks, so any enemy passing near you will be able to be attacked very quickly, getting you their attention.

The Rogue class also has extra mobility options and abilities which help him to catch people or assist teammates.

Also are the number of combatants fighting on screen at once going to be higher in part 2, than in Origins

This hasn't been finalized yet.

[Peter Thomas]

Hayes1987 wrote...

So basically spirit damage is harder to resist than others because it would take that specific stat insted of general spell resistance?

Basically, yes.

[Peter Thomas]

Shinian2 wrote...

So the info about default weapons brought another question to my mind.

Will there be default armour too?

Not in the same way, no. A character stripped of all armor will have their default appearance. What that is is an art direction question.

[Peter Thomas]

lunarknightmage wrote...

This really does give me hope that we will be able to build a close-combat battle/melee mage, similar to trailer Hawke!!

another question, just to clarify........

1.  Unlike weapons, the current plan for armor is that it WON'T be restricted to certain classes.  Is that correct?

So, a mage can wear armor, like the trailer Hawke does, and won't be restricted to just mage robes.  Would that be correct?

A Mage can wear any armor in the game, provided he meets the stat requirements. The item list hasn't been finalized yet, but there may be specific pieces of equipment that are only equippable by a single class.

[Peter Thomas]

simfamSP wrote...

will there be a new "base" system i.e, Ebon Hawke, Party camp...?

This is a story/plot related question.