203 réponses à ce sujet

[Aesieru]

Maria Caliban wrote...

Aesieru wrote...

Please... I may have a vocabulary of over 40,000 words, but PLEASE ... leave my grammar alone.

It's not my fault they never taught me...

You can teach yourself. The basics are easy to learn if you spend your time writing e-mails or posting on forums. If you read regularly, you'll tend to mimic the verbal patterns of what you're reading.

Most people tell me I read too much, heh.

[Grey Dunan]

I agree with you Exyle. I feel obligated to applaud the construction and disposition of your post, which a read entirely, and had no problems with the length. I concur with your analogy of the current darkspawn looking like cartoon villains. in addition, I as well have payed off my pre-order. I never doubted Bioware's ability to tell a compelling story. As well, I look forward to the new dialog and combat systems.



I hope to see more posts composed by you, for you are a brilliant writer and fair critic.

[tdawg7669]

Stardusk78 wrote...

Exyle19 wrote...

Hah, sorry to disappoint, Stardusk.

21, currently in university for video game design, of all things.

Well, at least you can write withou sounding like your brain is made of goo; most of the kids your age can't.

Good career move too; lucky you didn't waste your time studying humanities and social sciences.

My undergraduate degree was in philosophy and I am currently in law school. It wasnt a waste of my time. A degree in subjects like philosophy, english or math usually better prepares one for the lsat.

And there were people in my philoophy classes who were part of the seminary. They likely do not feel like they wasted their time either. There was actually one person who just graduated from business school and is now making a six figure starting salary. I bet like he does not feel like he wasted his time.

Modifié par tdawg7669, 27 février 2011 - 02:14 .

[Maria Caliban]

Exyle19 wrote...

I'm curious to hear if anyone shares my opinions for different reasons altogether, or disagrees with my opinions, citing my negatives as their positives.

Sure.

You found darkspawn scary. I thought they looked liked zombies and played the same role as goblins/orcs in every bad fantasy game (or book) I'm familiar with. A game isn't going to scare me with cannon-fodder.

Things that also suck any fear from the game:
Floating far above my character's head with a perfect view of the battlefield
Playing a hardened warrior/mage
Playing with a group of three other hardened warrior/mages
Perfect line of sight
The knowledge that everything I fight in the game can be killed
The fact that I have a massive amount of health, armor, healing potions, and healing spells.

Look at Silent Hill, Amnesia: The Dark Decent, or any other decent horror game and tell me how many of them have those elements.

What makes A Song of Ice and Fire 'dark' (I hate that word) is that the people are psychologically believable and VULNERABLE. BioWare games are all about making the player feel excited about combat, not scared. BioWare games are all about making you feel strong, powerful, and as though you're constantly succeeding and getting better. A PC in a BioWare game feels invulnerable.

The darkest part of the original game was the lead up to the broodmother. It had some enemies to fight, but those were just to slow you down. The player suddenly had someone they couldn't see and couldn't fight chanting creepy stuff at them. They didn't know what was going on, had no 'click to respond,' and the art design, music, and VA worked to create an atmosphere of unease.

Yes, the dragon age setting might be dark, the story might be dark, and the character might be well done, but when your gameplay is 'kill hordes of mooks without breaking a sweat' and 'have complex tactical battles that play out like chess games' then there will always be a large psychological gap between the darkness of the setting and the player's experience.

Modifié par Maria Caliban, 27 février 2011 - 02:06 .

[AtreiyaN7]

I think your post was well written - nice example of how to provide constructive criticism. As much as I loved DA:O, the look really was that of every other generic fantasy setting I've ever seen in my opinion - something that's been done to death. People might complain about the Blightlands demo, but the background reminded me of Japanese landscapes from ink paintings, and I quite liked the use of negative space in the vistas. To me, the look is much more unique and far less generic, so I approve on the whole. For those who preferred the art direction in the first game and/or those who lack appreciation for Asian art (and I do not mean anime), I suppose it could be quite jarring. I, however, love Eastern and Western art from many different periods, so I'm rather open to visual experimentation.

Modifié par AtreiyaN7, 27 février 2011 - 02:17 .

[SuperMedbh]

Well written and thought out post. I found myself nodding in agreement with most of it.

For me, it does come down to the art direction for the most part. There was an interview posted a bit ago in which the Director of Marketing commented that the team decided to spend the polygons on characters, not the background. While I understand the idea behind that (a character driven story), the stylized environments communicate a less than serious feeling to me. Particularly in the flight from Lothering, I never got away from the feeling that I was watching a videogame-- and I'm one of those who gets lost inside books and movies.

The decision to use a self-confessed unreliable narrator for the game doesn't help reduce that feeling, either. I know the intent is to make it more epic, but I really think you played with fire there. A videogame already feels unreal; using a narrative device like that draws more attention to that fact. Doesn't mean you can't pull it off, but it presents another obstacle that I didn't feel was overcome, at least within the admittedly small confines of the demo.

Most of my other dislikes are similar, such as the combat's over the top freneticism. But I will add that I was disappointed with the treatment of Isabella. She's been turned into a medieval Lara Croft, when we had a perfectly competent and attractive previous portrayal of her. When I look at other "oversexed" characters in Bioware games, there's always been a reason for it: Morrigan admits she likes to manipulate men through sex appeal, Miranda of ME2 was essentially created by a man. But Isabella is really nothing more than fan service, imho. I was surprised to see this from the people who've given us such strong female characters in the past.

[Exyle19]

Of course, as the game wore on the darkspawn lost their intimidation factor. In fact, I'd say by roughly the Tower of Ishal I was no longer concerned.

Scary might've been a poor choice of words, although when I think back to DA:O one scene in particular stands out; the cinematic of the battle of Ostagar. As I recall that was when I got my first good look at the darkspawn, and I remember at the time beginning to realize what exactly was at stake. True, the darkspawn are pretty derivative of Orcs, and it wasn't that that made them stand out, but I recall realizing at that moment why it was called a 'blight'.

Orcs on their own aren't scary. Zombies on their own also aren't that scary anymore, either, but at that moment, getting my first good look at a Hurlock I realized these were indeed once people. The rotting, scabbed flesh, brutal looking weapons and their obvious desire to devour living flesh...

Did the job for me.

The best I can describe it is thus: Sitting in my office chair, looking at my screen, I was not scared. Instead, I was was empathetically aware that were I there, standing on the field of battle, looking these monsters in the eye, I would have wet myself.

Modifié par Exyle19, 27 février 2011 - 02:29 .

[pezit]

I think the OP nailed the biggest complaint most people have with the game. Although i also feel that the big focus on improving it for the console players really hurt the game for pc-gamers, it's just fact that the game won't have the polish it would've had if it was just designed for PC alone, camera and UI being the easiest two examples.

[Maria Caliban]

Glaucon wrote...

We should never become overly pedantic though...

The judge of what is 'overly' pedantic varies from person to person. I notice many of the punctuation and grammatical errors on the forum. I often find myself mentally editing them for style and clarity.

I usually refrain from sharing this with others but I find it amusing and John has always struck me as more laid back than the average poster.

That said, I have an unabashed love of the English language. I've tutored middle-school and high-school students in English and the attitude that these a boring, useless things is altogether too common. It's a pity. A person with a sound grasp of their language will almost inevitably fare better than those without no matter their level of education.

I'm also a firm believer that being able to express yourself – to communicate your thoughts and feelings in a clear and robust manner – both impresses others and helps you understand yourself.

[Aesieru]

I think Maria is intelligent, but needs to be a bit laid back now and again.

I used to have a very similar style of belief for you, but not in terms of grammar, but in terms of vocabulary and its usage.

[Maria Caliban]

Aesieru wrote...

I think Maria is intelligent, but needs to be a bit laid back now and again.

I'm not sure where you're coming from.

[mesmerizedish]

Maria Caliban wrote...

Aesieru wrote...

I think Maria is intelligent, but needs to be a bit laid back now and again.

I'm not sure where you're coming from.

I read this, and I thought "Someone who hasen't read enough of Sylvius's posts"

[Grunk]

Exyle19 wrote...

Of course, as the game wore on the darkspawn lost their intimidation factor. In fact, I'd say by roughly the Tower of Ishal I was no longer concerned.

Scary might've been a poor choice of words, although when I think back to DA:O one scene in particular stands out; the cinematic of the battle of Ostagar. As I recall that was when I got my first good look at the darkspawn, and I remember at the time beginning to realize what exactly was at stake. True, the darkspawn are pretty derivative of Orcs, and it wasn't that that made them stand out, but I recall realizing at that moment why it was called a 'blight'.

Orcs on their own aren't scary. Zombies on their own also aren't that scary anymore, either, but at that moment, getting my first good look at a Hurlock I realized these were indeed once people. The rotting, scabbed flesh, brutal looking weapons and their obvious desire to devour living flesh...

Did the job for me.

The best I can describe it is thus: Sitting in my office chair, looking at my screen, I was not scared. Instead, I was was empathetically aware that were I there, standing on the field of battle, looking these monsters in the eye, I would have wet myself.

I'm gonna let the degree discussion go because it's stupid and I know the worth of my own edumuhkayshun.

Just wanna say that zombies scare the hell out of me, typically. Even more tame zombie movies like Dawn of the Dead left me unable to sleep for a week. I think the thing that makes Darkspawn not too scary to me is just the way they act; they're really ugly, but they really just act like bipedal humanoids. Maybe we get cutscenes of them butchering dudes or something, so they perform in a vile way, but when it comes down to it, they never do anything particularly monstrous. But as someone else said, it's also hard to feel anything towards them since they're just mooks that I routinely slaughter.

I kinda dislike this game, but in Left 4 Dead, the regular zombies were scary because they were FAST. And if more than a few got on you, it was all over (I played on Expert), but the boss zombies never failed to inspire dread in me because they were entirely monstrous and had capabilities beyond anything else I encountered in the game. They each had a way to make me feel cornered and a great deal more helpless. Similarly, I always dread encountering an ogre; although I'm not exactly afraid because there's ways to neutralize them, but knowing one might just snatch me up and beat me to death at will was always a prospect that made me nervous.

I think what might be able to drive it home for me visually is to emphasize more of the monstrousness that you describe. I'm always fairly surprised that I don't see darkspawn running around with spears made out of ribcages or something. I want to see more of the macabre out of them, and more of a kind of slavering mindlessness. But I'm also going off of things that personally make me shudder.

[Maria Caliban]

ishmaeltheforsaken wrote...

I read this, and I thought "Someone who hasen't read enough of Sylvius's posts"

It's all a continuum.

[mesmerizedish]

Maria Caliban wrote...

ishmaeltheforsaken wrote...

I read this, and I thought "Someone who hasen't read enough of Sylvius's posts"

It's all a continuum.

I'm not 100% sure what you mean by this, but I think I agree?

[Vahe]

I just clicked on this thread because it had "The Witcher 2" in it.

[panamakira]

Well this was nicely put and you had real concerns. This is one of the first constructive criticism I've seen around here lately. Although I respect your concerns, I personally welcome the new art direction of the DA2. Ferelden wasn't very pretty and looked so colorless, that was the one thing that irked me about DA:O, art direction and color schemes. I personally like this change as everything seems more vibrant and not dull. Plus I like modern cities and from what I've seen, I'm really loving how Kirkwall looks~

[Mad-Max90]

Hey op if you have a problem state it I don't want a your whole elite story, by the way, your complaint is lame, whaaa i hate how they went with a more distinct look
For their series.

Make your own bland looking game

[Aesieru]

Mad-Max90 wrote...

Hey op if you have a problem state it I don't want a your whole elite story, by the way, your complaint is lame, whaaa i hate how they went with a more distinct look
For their series.

Make your own bland looking game

You do realize every poster complimented the OP including the Developer?

[Bryy_Miller]

The only reason a Lit major is a negative is because it is one of the only degrees that relies entirely on you to make something happen. It's not like Sun Microsystem is hiring creative writers.

Modifié par Bryy_Miller, 27 février 2011 - 03:54 .

[Beerfish]

Riloux wrote...

I'm starting to think the greatness of DA followed Brent Knowles out the door when he quit. I think he may have been responsible for everything I loved about the game and now all that's gone without him. Shame. Mostly on Bioware.

If you think one person is wholly resopnsible for all things good or bad in a game you are naive.

[Malja]

That was an enoyable read. Truly. Very refreshing versus most of the other threads people have made.

[SnowHeart1]

This has been a fascinating thread, with some of the best and the worst (and most neurotic) of the forum. Kudos to the OP for being able to put together a few coherent and, most especially, constructive sentences.