375 réponses à ce sujet

[Peter Thomas]

Morroian wrote...

Will we be able to queue combat commands like Kotor in addition to having the tactics system? I would guess not based on the feedback I've heard.

I believe our queue is limited to the next action, then AI takes over.

[Peter Thomas]

Zzzleepy83 wrote...

Will specializations have more of an impact on your character's skillset and play style in DA2 than in DA:O? And if so, how come? Was it to make classes feel even more diverse?

Specializations are designed to expand on and in some ways focus the character's role in the party. It can also provide additional utility skills if you choose to only dabble in it. Ideally the ones you choose would complement your playstyle, but some can encourage you to go in a new direction with an interesting idea or ability. As the highest level abilities in DA2, they are supposed to be very impactful, though in their specific ways.

[Peter Thomas]

Lord Gremlin wrote...

You're awesome, Peter. Tell Gaider we love you more than him)))

Another question... I really liked that in DAO you could change combat difficulty anytime and there were no trophies/achievements tied to difficulty, so you could create best possible experience for yourself. Are you going to keep this great approach to difficulty in DA2?

There is debate over this that hasn't been resolved yet.

[Peter Thomas]

Arrtis wrote...

Will unlocking specializations give bonus stats?

This hasn't been locked down yet.

[Peter Thomas]

Altima Darkspells wrote...

1. Will combat between the systems (specifically, the PC and consoles) be drastically different in terms of enemies? For example, the consoles in DAO, on occasion, had fewer enemies on screen at a time and had certain battles in 'waves' instead of all at once. In other words, are you specifically building combat encounters for two different interfaces or focusing on the one with the most limitations?

On DAO there were 2 separate builds because of the differences between consoles and PC (engine and tools, etc). In DA2 it's the exact same game.

2. Inventory wise, will we have the same amount of 'slots' as in DAO?

This is a GUI related question.

Will items directly related to combat be more or less important than in DAO?

Equipment will be very important since having gear appropriate to your level factors heavily into combat calculations.

Will it be practical for characters to focus on more than one 'type' of weapon style, or will our characters--assuming they have a choice--be married to a particular type of weapons?

It all depends on what role you want the character to play in the party. The highest level talents and upgrades within a given tree will require more investment, though. You can invest all your points in the general trees if you want and still have a viable character, you just lose out on the weapon specific special attacks and abilities.

Will the rune system be returning, and if so, how will it be expanded?

The scope of the rune system hasn't been finalized yet.

3. Is the combat team aiming to make combat harder or easier than DAO? DAA was especially easy, as well. There's even a YouTube video of someone taking down the end boss on Nightmare in four seconds.

Part of the issue with Awakening was the way creatures scaled with levels, as well as how some of the combat stats and calculations were done in DAO. We've adjusted the systems to make them play more nicely at all level ranges. In regards to making it harder or easier, I guess the answer would be easy at low difficulties (if you prefer story), and harder at high difficulties (if you prefer really challenging gameplay).

4. Assuming nothing gets cut, what is your approximate estimate to how complete the game is, what with seven months to go?

Ah, I'd get in trouble if I said anything. Internal milestones, etc...

5. Are there non-humanoid companions a la Dog and Shale? If so, these companions were quickly overshadowed by their dwarven, elven, and human comrades, in terms of combat effectiveness. How will you prevent them from occuring once more?

I can't comment on the status of followers, but combat effectiveness would be balanced in the same way we're balancing it for all the current classes. One thing I think harmed them was a reliance on non-standard equipment types.

6. Does your team play more as Garret or Marian?

Ah... er... well, I can't speak for the rest of the team, but I always play as LadyHawke. She's just so much nicer to look at...

[Peter Thomas]

relhart wrote...

Is the enemy AI being given any hard counters to PC mages (in the form of either abilities or resists)? In DAO mages could run around fairly unmolested aoeing at will, and the AI didn't seem to have any tailored way to oppose them.

Hard counters tend to be... er... hard. We could make a bunch of 100% magic resist enemies, but that would completely destroy a party of mages, while doing little or nothing to anyone else. We prefer to have balanced encounters, as well as balancing the classes so that no individual class overshadows all the others like in DAO.

That being said, we are trying to make the resistances and aptitudes of different enemy types more distinct, to give viable strategies against certain groups.

[Peter Thomas]

Stefanocrpg_rev91 wrote...

I have some questions related to the combat system and gameplay and about the rpg elements.

- There will be enemies autoleveling? If yes, how is it handled? I'd prefer to have, for example, a larger number of enemies to fight due to my level instead of having the same powered or weakened.

Enemies will autolevel, but that majority will be around your level. Higher ranks will be higher levels. There are also area restrictions, so an individual area could put them above or below you.

- Do you still gain xp by using your non-combat related abilities like picklocking or disarming some traps? And I'm certainly not the kind of guy who the game to be "masseffectized", but I like very much how experience points were handled in ME2, not based on how many mobs you killed during the missions but just focused on the completion of the mission itself.

The exact nature of the XP system isn't finalized. In general, you get XP from combat encounters and plot events. Skill use has not been determined yet.

- Will the game have stat-check (based not only on persuasion/intimidation, but on the char's abilities, class, sex, and even on his value of strenght, dexterity...) during dialogues or other situations?

This is a story/plot question.

[Peter Thomas]

Lord Gremlin wrote...

Ah, yes, important question. After Golems of Amgarrok DLC i just must ask: did you include endless respawn anywhere in DA2? And by endless I mean situations when you stay in one place and enemies will keep coming forever, no matter how many you will kill.

This is a story/plot related question.

[Peter Thomas]

Blastback wrote...
for taking the time to awnser all of us. Just one more from me.  For now.

What other reasons besides making classes more distinct was
there for taking archery and duel wielding from warriors?
Can you tell some of us are a little disapointed/obsessed with this?

Yes.

















Heh...

What other reasons besides making classes more distinct was
there for taking archery and duel wielding from warriors?

Well, I'm not sure how much more I can tell you. Time and money are big factors. We don't have unlimited people or resources. There is also the issue of conceptual and gameplay distinction. How do people think of the differences between Rogues and Warriors in DAO and where do we want those classes to be. Even the words "Rogue" and "Warrior" end up in debates. But they're pretty much RPG staples.

In terms of gameplay difference, how much was there between a Warrior and a Rogue using the same style? If you use them in the same way, why not have it be the same class? We decided to go the other way and enforce separation between them to give them an actual gameplay difference in feel and purpose. In the end, everyone in DA2 is a fighter (you can't avoid every fight in the game), but the way in which they fight differs with class: Strength, Dexterity, and Magic. To further distinguish them, we divided them by ranges of operation. Warriors are close-range. Mages are long-range. Rogues are a hybrid that can switch between the two. The downside of their versitility is that most of their abilities are geared towards single target, whereas the Warrior and Mage affect areas. Partly to compensate, against a single guy, a Rogue owns.

In terms of style Dual Weapon and Archery seemed the most suited towards precise, single target damage. Arrows rarely hit multiple people at once (though there is an ability for that!). An argument was made for Dual Weapons affecting areas, but really that would be due to speed, which is a Rogue trait anyway. And it's kinda more satifying to sweep a single huge sword through a row of guys and see them explode than kill them with (comparative) pinpricks.

The classes have further distinguishing characteristics in the specifics of their abilities, but this is what relates to the weapon styles.

This is some of our reasoning, and arguments were made both ways. At this point, it's too late to change. I'm giving this as a partial explanation, to let you see some of our reasoning, not as an invitation to a debate.

Modifié par Peter Thomas, 12 septembre 2010 - 04:17 .

[Peter Thomas]

DiosMios wrote...

Will there be any way to improve mages' melee staff attacks?

Will mages using weapons have to sheathe their weapons in order to use most -if not all- spells?

Equipping a better staff will improve your basic attacks, both melee and ranged. All attacks by the staff (at any range) are the damage type of the staff, so any bonus to that damage type will work at both ranges. A Fire staff deals Fire damage, so any Fire damage bonus applies to both.

All ability animations assume the character has their weapon in their hand. When combat starts or they use a combat ability they should draw their weapon.

[Peter Thomas]

Arrtis wrote...

Will you allow the player to save on nightmare difficulty?
I think it would make it more of a nightmare if you could not save.

RPGs are supposed to be long. Having to do that in one sitting would be nightmarish.


Hey, wait a minute...

[Peter Thomas]

Malanek999 wrote...

Thanks for doing this Peter, this stuff is usually glossed over in marketing. I like a lot of what I have heard so far.
Are the 6 basic stats the same from DA:O and do they do the same things? In particular, a point of Dexterity increased defence by reducing the chance of being hit by 1%. In contrast increasing Dexterity or Strength by a point only increased the chance of hitting by 0.5%. Has this been changed to balance it?

What the stats give you has been rebalanced. I can say what bonuses currently are, but the what they are and how much they give could very well change by release.

First start with primary attributes. The primary attribute of a class gives a bonus to attack and damage. It's different for each class.

The attributes each give their own bonus to another property, trying to make it useful,but not necessary to everyone.

Strength - Warrior primary. Increases impact resistance (less likely to be knocked down by big blows).
Dexterity - Rogue primary. Increases critical hit chance.
Magic - Mage primary. Increases magic resistance.
Cunning - Increases defense.
Willpower - Increases mana/stamina.
Constitution - Increases health.

A lot of people may think "LOLWUT? Dex gives crit chance and Cunning give defense?" That's for balance reasons and they may get switched. Having your primary attribute give you attack, defense and damage all together would be too much of a good thing.

A Mage may get Cunning to boost his defense to avoid attacks. A Warrior may get Dexterity to increase his crits. A Rogue may get Strength so the little enemies won't knock him around so much. Balance work still needs to be done on numbers though.

Are there any plans to make the talent descriptions more accurately reflect what happens. For example the Sunder Weapon and Sunder Arms talents best feature was the fact that they hit twice rather than what the description said. When designing talents do you use any sort of cost guidelines system to keep things balanced? Or is it just an intuitive decision backed up by play testing?

Talent descriptions and tooltip should say exactly what the ability does. Sometimes there are errors, but we try to avoid them. These descriptions should include actual damage numbers and durations, though.

[Peter Thomas]

andar91 wrote...

Are melee attacks still a mage's Achille's Heel (in terms of taking a lot of damage from them)? Also, are there still casting times for spells or are they all instant (such as Blizzard in Origins)?

Taking damage is the Mage's Achilles Heel. Melee enemies tend to rush up, do lots of damage and not stop, so it's in your best interest to keep them away. Ignoring archers is a good way to die too, though.

All spells have their effects begin to start immediately, but more complicated spells will require the caster to keep gesturing for a while after it started. It still takes time, just the effects start happening more quickly.

[Peter Thomas]

Dave of Canada wrote...

From what we heard, we can import our characters from Origins and Awakening. Does this mean we won't be able to import our characters from Golems or Witch Hunt?

I don't know the answer to this.

[Peter Thomas]

Catsith wrote...

Will we be seeing an increase in diversity of mob types and encounters in DA2?

There are a fair amount of creatures, but the main differences will be in behaviours. It has been mentioned in at least one video I think. Different classifications of creatures act in different ways, needing different strategies to beat. We call them archetypes. Multiple archetypes in a single fight is where the game can get a lot more complicated.

Will we be seeing an increase in loot diversity (things besides potions and random crafting mats)?

The item list and what treasure drops hasn't been finalized yet.

Modifié par Peter Thomas, 08 septembre 2010 - 07:02 .

[Peter Thomas]

At times this thread has started to get off topic. Either people commenting on the validity of our choices, proposing ones of their own, or even a mass of agreement/disagreement statements with something someone said. Please keep this ontopic and ask questions only. If you want to discuss it, either positively or negatively, you can start another thread on it.



I only made it up to page 7 today, but I'll try to work on more tomorrow.

[Seb Hanlon]

Jimmy Fury wrote...

Peter Thomas wrote...
If a Warrior has just a shield equipped, he'll have an unselectable default weapon in his other hand. Similarly if a Rogue is wielding only a single melee weapon.

I'm a bit confused by the wording here...
Does that mean we'll still have 2 slots that we can control, but that if we forget to equip 1 the system will give us a generic?
Or that we only have 1 slot and we automatically get the second part (if there is one) equipped...

I'm assuming the former but I hate assuming things.

The former. If you don't equip an item in a slot (for a style that uses two items like Sword/Shield or Dual Wield) the game will give you a default weapon so that the style animations don't look silly.

[Peter Thomas]

Stefanocrpg_rev91 wrote...

You mean that the other difficulty levels have 0% friendly fire or just a lesser percentage than 100%? In DAO you had 50% on medium and 100% on hard if I remember right, and I think it was fine, although I'd preferred complete friendly fire even on medium.

Currently friendly fire is all or nothing, and only on Nightmare difficulty.

[Peter Thomas]

Arrtis wrote...

Is the aggro system the same?
Like people in heavier armor are more likely to aggro then someone in light armor?

The current aggro system is the same as DAO. Balancing of that for DA2 still remains to be done.

[Peter Thomas]

Brockololly wrote...

Thanks for doing this thread, its awesome!

Couple questions:
1.) Can we toggle walking for our companions? In Origins if you triggered your PC to walk, they would stroll along but the rest of the companions would sprint and stop to catch up.

I believe the system has not changed from DAO.

2.) Maybe this isn't your area, but will we be able to import from Witch Hunt? There is talk that since there is no post game save, everything we do in Witch Hunt doesn't matter in terms of DA going forward...

I don't know the answer to that. I don't know if a decision has been made.

[Peter Thomas]

Merced256 wrote...

Will there be gamepad support for PC? Coupled with that is: Will there be the option for PC's combat to use the console style/ui?

Last I heard, each system ships only with its own UI. So consoles will look a certain way and use a controller, but PC will look a different way and use the keyboard and mouse.

[Peter Thomas]

Pritos wrote...

Will us be able to achieve a level beyond 20? I mean, did the level cap change?

The exact level and XP caps have not been determined yet.

[Peter Thomas]

KennethAFTopp wrote...

Uhm is it possible to use like singlehanded swords in two hands and use the two-handed weapon abilities?

No, each weapon works with the style for which it is intended.

also is there an attribute that determined attack speed?

No attribute determines attack speed. The base speed is determined by the speed of the animation itself. Certain things can increase the speed of all the character's animations, though (like Momentum in DAO).

[Peter Thomas]

AndrahilAdrian wrote...

Can you develop a mage into a viable melee fighter, like trailer hawke?

A Mage can focus on abilities and attributes that will help him in combat. Things like Strength, Constitution and Magic (for damage). Some abilities he can get are focused on defensiveness and others work at close range. Additionally you can select equipment geared for better defense as well. If you build your character that way, he will have a good chance to stand up to people in melee combat. However, a Warrior who goes all the way will be better at it than the Mage will. His purpose is built around close combat, so more of his equipment and abilities are geared to that.

[Peter Thomas]

Arrtis wrote...

Does the warrior have a charge ability?

Yes, it was used in the demos. The warrior rushes forward, hitting everyone along his path.

Does the warrior have any range attacks skills?

Not really. He is focused almost exclusively on melee. He does have melee AoE abilities which extend a certain distance from his body.