17 réponses à ce sujet

[Risax]

So, your companions will lead their own lives when they are not traveling with you.
This sounds interesting to me. But does this just mean that they are at their own homes all the time?
Or can you see them walking around Kirkwall? Going to the market or something.

And can you visit your companions at their homes? Maybe it will give you some unique dialogue when you meet their familys?

As for the fact that the game spans a decade, will you see some changes in your companions life?
They get married, they get children etc.

Modifié par Risax, 09 octobre 2010 - 10:36 .

[David Gaider]

Champion1 wrote...
The way I understand it, if you're in Kirkwall you can throw them into your party whenever, but if you want to talk to them (like in the camp in DAO) you have to go find them. I doubt they'll move around from their default spot, since it'd be pretty annoying if you had to search three spots just to find someone.

Every follower has a "home base" that is marked on their map (the nature of that base really depends on the follower in question) which does not move during the game. That's where you go to engage them in more significant conversations, yes. As I mentioned previously, you can add them to your party whenever the party picker screen comes up-- which is only available in certain places, and only if the follower is available at the time-- at which point they show up.

Modifié par David Gaider, 12 octobre 2010 - 04:01 .

[David Gaider]

Schwadragon wrote...
Are the home bases all throughout Kirkwall, or only in a certain area? Because it might be annoying to have to run all through Kirkwall (which is supposed to be pretty big, from what I hear) if you want to talk to everyone.

They're all throughout Kirkwall, but once you've been there it'll be marked as a hot point on your map so you can go there quickly-- else yes, that would quickly become annoying.

Modifié par David Gaider, 12 octobre 2010 - 04:50 .

[David Gaider]

Utoryo wrote...
But... I'm not a fan of the Awakenings model of moving so many conversations exclusively to the keep, and in this case it'd be even worse as you'd have to move around to talk to different followers. Will there be many conversations you can only have with followers at their home base? Or will be there some kind of separation between 'safe zones' where you can talk freely and ones where you can't?

The majority of the personal dialogue can only take place in their home base-- insofar as the ones you initiate, anyhow. If you click on the followers elsewhere they will have comments to make, or a suggestion that you go somewhere more private (ie. their home base) if they have something they want to discuss with you. The reasoning for this is primarily cinematics, to avoid the "talking head syndrome" which is required if you're able to talk to someone anywhere (meaning that you need a fixed camera up close, or else the camera could end up clipping inside the environment or ending up otherwise looking very awkward). This also allows us to set up situations where you followers are interacting with each other at their home and other sorts of things... it's kind of interesting, you'll see.

There's no "click on the environment for conversation" as in Awakening though, no. We contemplated that for a while, but I think there were just too many logistical problems with making that intuitive enough for many people to follow. As it is, there's still lots of banter and environmental comments-- we might revisit the environments triggers again, but if we did so I think it'd need to be something you click and someone in your party talks to you about it (or at least makes a comment) rather than only one specific person.

[David Gaider]

AlexXIV wrote...
Somehow I am picturing myself running across the map to talk to every npc about what I just did everytime something I think is important happened, just to get a feedback. I don't know if I like the idea.

We're trying to avoid that, if we can. Right now there's an indication if they have something new to talk about-- either a marker on the world map (if they're not in your party) or they mention it when you click on them, like I said. We're still playing with that, but I think we want to avoid the "making the rounds" mentality.

[David Gaider]

RinpocheSchnozberry wrote...
How do the NPCs come to the PC when they have something to say?  Maybe they send a letter or they just walk.

If someone needs to talk to your PC they have several options:

1) They initiate dialogue. So long as we know where the conversation is happening, there's no issue with the cameras.

2) They send you a letter. You can receive these at your home (and do, for various things).

3) They come to your home.

[David Gaider]

Dileos wrote...
Companions talking to me? Not the other way around? SWEET!

You do talk to them, as well. We just have the option of them coming to you when it's important to them. They're not the only ones who'll show up on your doorstep, to boot.

And Hawke having a fixed home seems pretty interesting, any hints on weather the home will be just another building you can stand in? Or will it have other features/uses?

I can't really discuss it much without going into the circumstances involved. There are definitely things you can do there, however-- reasons enough that you'll probably be going back to your home(s) fairly often.

[David Gaider]

Dileos wrote...
Thanks David. It seems like DA2 isn't going to be nearly as bad as the doomsayers make it out to be.

They're really only commenting on what they can see, but they certainly seem to do it in the context as if there's nothing else there-- which is easy to do, when you put such features under a microscope. As it is, I'm sure there are people on both sides of the argument who are busy making something out of nothing.

As it is, there's a lot to enjoy with the followers in DA2-- it's a bit different, and I think having to go to their home to initiate the lengthier dialogues might take some getting used to, but overall I'd say it's on par with what you're all familiar with in DAO.

[David Gaider]

Dileos wrote...
And while I hated the conversation system in Awekenings I also didn't like the fact that you could hear almost every line of dialogue from a companion halfway through the story. It was especially strange with LIs

"okay we had sex...no talking to eachother for the rest of the game"
"kay"

I'll just say that the timejumps inherent in the framing narrative also provide us an excellent means of spacing out conversations a bit more naturally.

[David Gaider]

Risax wrote...
By the way, where do folowers go when they are not from Kirkwall?
To their families?

But what when you get a companion that doesn't know anyone in Kirkwall?
Like a Qunari or Dalish for example, where would they live?

With Hawke?

It depends on the follower in question, and why they're around-- not to mention what their relationship is with your PC.

Dileos wrote...
When i played awakenings i wasnt pleased with the changes, but i understand you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you meet a prince, so to speak

I don't doubt there'll be some things about this implementation that might not go over well-- like having the followers spread out like that. We'll see how it goes over. I just didn't think it made sense for everyone to be standing in your foyer, to be honest.

Modifié par David Gaider, 12 octobre 2010 - 07:37 .

[David Gaider]

Dalira Montanti wrote...
my concern is that I don't want the npc to reapet it self over and over again or saying nothing at all when you used up all the lines like in dao camp while i spoke to Alistair all I got was Something you need my dear and then 2: end conversation

They have different lines they'll say, based on what's happening with you and what your relationship is with them, if they don't have a new dialogue waiting-- but the idea is that you'll always know when they do, so there's no need to keep "checking in" just to find out Garrus is still busy recalibrating those weapons.

Modifié par David Gaider, 12 octobre 2010 - 08:38 .

[David Gaider]

Sylvius the Mad wrote...
If they say something to that effect when you click on them, that's terrific.  If there's a market on the map, will that disappear when we disable plot helpers (I hope so)?

I'm not sure. I think the plot helpers specifically refer to the floaties that appear over the heads of quest-givers and targets, as well as the direction to those plot helpers that appear on the mini-map. The reminders on the world map direct you to quests that you're already aware of (and have been told where to go).

Keep in mind that all of this is still in flux. Anything could change-- heck, for all I know you could indeed end up having a crowd of followers standing in your foyer.

ralph2190 wrote...
Ok since the game is taking place over 10 years and the companions are leading their own lives, what happens to gear you put on them before they return home?

Any gear you're able to give them remains on them, just as when party members were retired to the camp in Origins.

Modifié par David Gaider, 12 octobre 2010 - 09:04 .

[David Gaider]

Saibh wrote...
I do believe I'll miss talking to my companions whenever. We did get information about henchmen being able to talk to NPCs for you, so hopefully the DA2 companions will react more to their surroundings than the ME2 squaddies did.

Keep in mind that Mass Effect has never really done party banter like DA, and we also have the "comments on the environment" in addition to that, as well as more interjections into conversation. Whether this serves to make the followers feel like like automotons to the former poster, I can't really say.

[Mike Laidlaw]

Saibh wrote...

Sylvius the Mad wrote...

Really, the onle bad news in this thread is that we can't talk to our companions out in the world. It bothers me doubly that the decision was driven by cinematics.

I'm actually really pleased about it for that reason--the characters in ME2 felt infinitely more real when they interacted with their environments and each other. More alive, not just props that stood up and moved their mouths. The conversations in DAO felt very static in comparison--there wasn't a whole lot of value in hearing a line said more than once, since once you heard how it was voiced, it became quickly boring.

Correct. Placing the characters means that we can have them be infinitely more memorable, and interactive. The decision was not driven by cinematics, it was driven by an urge for more effective delivery of important, character-focused information. Which is to say, it was Design's call.

[David Gaider]

Champion1 wrote...
Sounds like someone that already has a residence outside the city will probably be found at the inn or favorite spot, yeah.  No one said that everyone is gonna have a house, just a fixed location where you can find them, chat, get quests, etc.

Correct.

[David Gaider]

RubiconI7 wrote...
What kind of circumstances will these be in which you cannot choose the desired companions? (When they have their own problems?)

If it arises that you can't choose someone, it will be for reasons that are obvious at the time. More than that I'm not really going to say.

[David Gaider]

lv12medic wrote...

...
I can just see this happening on the boat ride to Kirkwall:
*click on Bethany*
"Stop it"
*click on Bethany*
"Cut it out"
*click on Bethany*
"Stop bothering me, or I'll tell mom!"
*click on Bethany*
"mom! Hawke keeps bothering me"
*click on Bethany*
"MOM!..."
"Dangit Hawke, if you bother your sister one more time, I swear I'll turn this ship around right now and we'll go home, Blight or no!"
...
...
*click on Bethany*
*Your journey has ended*

Heads off to change Bethany's click-on comments.

[Seb Hanlon]

Please don't dig up four-month-old threads to ask new questions.



[#import "lock.h"]