885 réponses à ce sujet

[DarthCaine]

Any info on whether using mods might mess up save games that we intend to import, like create bugs?

(I'm not sure whether this falls under gameplay questions)

[Peter Thomas]

andar91 wrote...

Could you explain how you and the other designers approached the system of implementing abilities in terms of avoiding repetition? What is the criteria when deciding what a particular ability will do? I'm particularly interested in spells. I realize you can't use specifics, but you can make up a Nug Bomb spell or Beard Attack spell or something for examples if you want. I'm just curious as to just how unique each ability is. Will each ability make you go..."Wow! That was _________ that he/she just cast!"

For the Mage it started with examining the DAO spell list and seeing which abilities were copies of each other or too similar. Which ones were popular factored in as well. Also which ones were unbalanced and harmed gameplay. After determining what kind of scope we wanted, the divisions of which class is good at what, and with a list of abilities we wanted to carry over, create logical divisions within the class, determine themes within them, and flesh out the trees. Each ability should try to provide something new and unique to the character, either a new capability, or a new way of doing something they already could. Each surviving ability then had to be adjusted to fit within the overall framework of the class, with modifications to power level etc, as well as coolness/utility factors. Not every ability will wow you, but each should have the potential to be very useful generally or critical to a specific build.

Those were the design goals/process anyway. We'll see if we succeeded.

There was a lot of discussion, debate, reviews, etc throughout this process, of course.

[Ibaru88]

_Loc_N_lol_ wrote...

Do you stop to eat and sleep ?

Peter Thomas doesn't sleep. He waits.... for more questions!
(don't burn yourself out though Pete... I'm sure we would all like to have this thread still alive and kicking when you are able to answer some of the questions you currently aren't allowed to.)

And would I like to ask another question?...
"May I? Oh, yes, I think I might."

Will your stats, skills or abilities (other than the diplomacy skill or whatever it's called) affect your dialog options, similar to how you occasionally got a "cunning" or an "intelligence" option in DA:O and if so, will they be more or less frequent?

[Peter Thomas]

DarkLord_PT wrote...

First of all, thank you for taking the time to answer our questions.
Now that's done, my question relates to you mentioning that a character can only equip a weapon associated with their class.
In DA:O, your combat style of Sword and Shield or Dual Weapon was dictated depending on what you'd have in your off-hand: another sword/axe/mace or a shield. Yet, there was no restriction to your character of picking up the longsword no matter if your class was a Rogue or a Warrior.
Is it reasonable to understand that a rogue would now be stuck with a set of daggers (to keep the association with DA:O system) and be completely forbidden of using a longsword?
Or are the longswords flagged as equippable to both classes?
I ask this because I'm finding it confusing why a Rogue wouldn't be able to use a sword that a warrior with a shield could.
I'd understand if a longsword-like weapon could only be used on the main-hand, tho.

Again, thank you for your time.

A Rogue will only be able to equip weapons that can specifically be used by the Dual Weapon style (or Archery, of course). What they look like visually is subject to art direction, but daggers isn't a bad place to start. Small weapons.

The weapons used by the Warrior Weapon and Shield style will have a different representation and be much larger, again subject to art direction.

Combined between the appearance of the items and the nature of the animations of the fighting styles, it will hopefully seem more intuitive why they can't be used in the same way. Hopefully... :/

[Peter Thomas]

Tempest wrote...

Sorry again with 2 questions.  I will try to clarify some more.

1.  Will there be a larger variety or even a chance to have more than 2+ skill choices for our characters and companions?  Alistair, Sten, Oghren, Liliana, and the Warden (Depending on class) needed to put our points into Combat Training to fully utilize their strengths.  Which more or less left the rest of the skills as "fair" at best.  Non really improved the character much, and Morrigan was the Herbalist so....  Sorry, this is not a gameplay/RPG question.

2.  Will there be the same amount or even more banter between party members just like in DA:O?   I just don't want them to be silent with each other like in ME2, that REALLY was bothersome how my team-mates never talked to each other in that game.

Sorry this is a story/plot question.

[Peter Thomas]

HTTP 404 wrote...

do hammers, axes, and swords do different type of damage?

The exact implementation of items has not ben finalized. However, there is no inherent concept of Slashing, Piercing and Bludgeoning damage in DA, if that's the angle you were going for.

[Peter Thomas]

Alodar wrote...

Can the player still centre a Fireball on an individual creature and have the spell effect go off wherever the creature ends up or are can all fireballs be targeted on the ground only?

There ended up being some engine issue that complicated things. Spells that target the ground, only target the ground. So a Fireball will fly to the exact spot you targeted it. You might need to give moving enemies a bit of a lead in that case. OR invest in an upgrade that makes the AoE radius bigger. (for example)

[nightcobra]

compared to origins, what are the slots for equipment? (head/torso/arms/greaves/accessory/belt/etc)

[Tamcia]

Thanks a lot for doing this - appreciate it a lot!

Here are some questions I have:

1) Specializations (Templar, Champion, Arcane Warrior, Battle Mage etc) - you mentioned that in the trailer Hawke was a mage with a staff (I swear its a camouflaged 2 handed sword), will the specializations cross over to the other class area of expertise? Clarification (just like goold old HK-47 from KOTOR) - Hawke was making some good melee moves and finished with magic, so will specializing allow lets say a warrior to take some similar skills to a mage/rogue, like Hawke could melee rather well and not wearing cloth armor, while still being a mage at his core?

1.5) Will I be able to play as Hawke in the trailer - nice mlee moves, fire from my sword/staff and that arm ripping spell - is that just "cinematics" or is it an actual specilization for mage?

2) Its probably a plot thing, but can you at least hint, whether we will see anything like "Vigils Keep" in Awakenings - I really enjoyed building it up and would love it to be more complex etc.

3) Will companions get more than simple stat boost  for positive relationship - like in Mass Effect 2, you get usable abilities, instead of +12 strength.

Modifié par Tamcia, 09 septembre 2010 - 05:06 .

[Lotion Soronarr]

Do attributes still start at 15-ish and end up in the 60+ range? Or have you made the system more logical?



Also, do two-handed swords and two-handed axes share the same animation set?

[Suicider_11]

Peter Thomas wrote...

SteveGarbage wrote...

3. Will runes and enchanting be back in a similar form or will weapon and armor modifications be handled in a new way?

The rune system has not been finalized yet, but is intended for all weapons and chest armor.

does this mean bows and staff/staves are intended to have runes also? :wizard:

Modifié par Suicider_11, 09 septembre 2010 - 10:36 .

[ralphfromdk]

Peter Thomas wrote...

Sylvius the Mad wrote...

tmp7704 wrote...

Dave of Canada wrote...

That pretty much says bye bye to AW (and good riddance I say)

It's pretty hilarious when the trailer for the game unveiled with great fanfare features prominently AW Hawke and dual-wielding qunari warrior, though. Maybe it need a disclaimer, "*) portrayed classes not included"

That Qunari could have been a Rogue, and there's no evidence that Hawke was an Arcane Warrior.  He used a staff.

The Hawke in the trailer was a Mage using a staff. The Qunari in the trailer is not a player character, so pretty much anything goes.

That's one mighty armor wearing, in-your-face melee oriented mage

it doesn't seem to go with what you say about mages being long range AoE types

or would that be a talent tree maybe..? ala arcane warrior... please let it be possible and not just for show, 'casue i would very much like to make a trailer Hawke character :3

[The Hardest Thing In The World]

Peter Thomas wrote...

DiosMios wrote...

Have mana and stamina regeneration been altered for Dragon Age 2?

Regeneration is percentage based in combat. Outside of combat it will regenerate very quickly.

Will there be more interactable items such as ballistas and mabari cages?

Those would be plot specific questions.

I wish you'd do away with regenaration. Or have an option in the game for the players to turn it on/off.

[The Hardest Thing In The World]

Rune enchanting needs to be re-designed completely. Imagine a warrior trying to make a Paragon rune in Awakening.

Will items still be tiered?

Modifié par The Hardest Thing In The World, 09 septembre 2010 - 10:44 .

[Loc'n'lol]

The Hardest Thing In The World wrote...

I wish you'd do away with regenaration. Or have an option in the game for the players to turn it on/off.

Ugh. No. That goes against the core design of the gameplay.

[iampool]

So, since FF will only have effect in Nightmare diff., will Nightmare still be the hardest setting?

[The Hardest Thing In The World]

FF should be "on" all the time.

[tmp7704]

Peter Thomas wrote...

Anyway, that's basically what our cross class combo system is. The difference is that a class rarely has the ability to trigger off its own effects. Other classes are better at that.

Hmm but then isn't inability of class to trigger additional effects used by self... somewhat at odds with your attempt to make similarly viable both the mixed-class parties and homogenous ones?

[tmp7704]

nightcobra8928 wrote...

compared to origins, what are the slots for equipment? (head/torso/arms/greaves/accessory/belt/etc)

Slots are the same they're in DAO, minus the slot for arrows (because bows work similar to mage staves in DA2, with the arrows "built in")

[DPB]

pajamajmun wrote...

First I want to thank you for taking the time to answer our (silly) questions.
1.Will PC version of DA2 have both tactical version and hack'n'slash versions of gameplay,or will it be only tactical(auto-attack)?

He answered this one already, presently it's auto-attack only on PC.

[Lyssistr]

Peter Thomas wrote...

Lyssistr wrote...

 Many thanks for your reply, one thing however, I feel that point 1. is somewhat "dodged". Micromanaging makes fights always easier anyhow, when the choice is available.

However, it is clear that some games cannot be completed without micromanagement. Sure this depends on the player skill etc but I can't imagine e.g. a couple of fights in BG/BG II to be completed without micromanagement, even on easy. Sure if you tune things to the hardest difficulty mode, micromanagement becomes more useful but 
this doesn't necessarily mean that battles are designed around micromanaged parties.

So my question is more about your design philosophy, when designing combat and how it is tuned around "hard fights", did you do that with a micromanaged party in mind or rather with aRPG combat in mind? Or to put it more directly is this a RTWP game, where the "WP" part is a necessity? 

Individual fights are implemented by designers whose levels they reside in. That is more a plot/implementation issue. What I deal with are the underlying combat mechanics. In that respect, at lower difficulties you shouldn't have to pause or micromanage to be able to survive a fight. End bosses shouldn't be easy, but should be survivable. Again, though, that would depend on exact implementations, which I can't discuss. As difficulty increases, the need to more optimally use your resources will increase as well. This is where you'd have to more closely manage your party. On the PC you can use the space bar to pause and look around the battlefield and issue orders. On console you pause and do similar with the radial menu. The goal for the system at least is that the higher difficulty levels will require you to use the capabilities of your entire party, not just your player character, to succeed. We haven't balanced everything yet, though.

 Thanks for this, you have said you're not involved in the design of individual fights but still I'll mention a couple of points I feel are important, in hope a colleague of yours that is working on that reads this.

 In my opinion, just increasing FF is not enough @higher difficulty, there need to be some qualitative differences, that alter tactics in combat.

 So, I'd what I'd like to ask for is changing fights themselves a little with difficulty, not just increase FF. E.g. make some minibosses resurrect each other if they don't all die within 10 secs, or have a new pack of adds appear (that needs to be tanked and therefore different tacts need to be used). 

 Essentially what I ask for is higher difficulty to be more than the simple moar dps/moar healing, it should have more complex tactics because the core mechanics of the fight are a little different. More difficult core mechanics call for micromanagement and it feels different to upscaling FF (which can also be there in hard modes nonetheless). 

 Adding little changes like that shouldn't be too much work and these are qualitative differences which I think would be appreciated by those who purchased DA because of the old school combat.

[HopHazzard]

Will bows have rune slots?

[nhsk]

Could you possibly ship the game with, or as a small time DLC at launch, a kind of addon that lets you set the flags for what you did in DA:O, so if you have no savegames you can still edit the story a bit?

F.example, my DA:O is on Xbox, but with the planned changes to combat system I think I might switch to PC. However, then I can't import stuff (at least I don't think you could do that with ME1 to ME2 saves).

Is it possible to get a save game editor, that you can use instead of importing a character, at launch? Possibly only available if you already registrered DA:O on either platform, so you won't lose potential customers who won't buy DA:O then.

Modifié par nhsk, 09 septembre 2010 - 02:01 .

[scootermcgaffin]

I don't think I saw this question, but with 21 pages it can be hard to keep track.

I'm kind of an oddball in that I hated the deathblow animations. They were cool on smaller darkspawn, or against a boss without any minions, but I can't count the number of times I watched enemies gang up on my mage because my warrior was busy jumping around on an ogre that died ages ago (or worse, beat the warrior to near-death while he's unable to defend himself). Any chance of being able to toggle deathblows on/off, or a similar system that prevents that from happening?

Modifié par scootermcgaffin, 09 septembre 2010 - 02:25 .