Ronin2006 wrote...
Interesting read, and while I respectfully disagree on many points, I appreciate the time, thought and effort that has gone into this post.
It's ironic that a post as well thought out and complicated as yours actually has some glaring oversimplifications. I don't want to get into a big argument because I really respect the way you have gone about things, however, I will say that there are some things that I would like to address.
First, you make an assumption about what people who like RPGs like. (story moreso than combat) I think this is completely misguided, and while both of us are presenting an opinion here, I honestly feel that many "traditional" RPGers will tell you just how much they value the combat experience regardless of the story.
Ronin, have you paid attention to the trend in p&p role playing games? Or even in computer RPGs, Like Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor or Temple of Elemental Evil? The move has been toward a more story based game. Combat has a place but not as the be all end all anymore, especially in a single player cRPG.
Second, you argue that traditional RPGers dislike the combat in DA 2, then point to some things like the "normal" difficulty as being an example. I think you will find that many of the gripes people had with the combat extended beyond this area and were more to do with things like the exploding bodies, waves of enemies spawning from nowhere, and the re-use of environments (there are many others, but I'll just leave it at that). The easier "Normal" difficulty had little to do with these complaints, and the general complaints people had were little to do with features that are "here to stay" but a part of DA 2's specific gameplay.
Third, I honestly doubt the assertion that traditional RPGers are unhappy that Bioware are trying to bring their game to a wider audience. DA O sold what? 4 million copies or so? (not sure on the exact figure). I doubt too many traditional RPGers were concerned that the title was relatively mainstream anyway. While I can speak only for myself, I could care less if someone who plays COD likes DA. The fact is, I like DA O, and nothing affects that. People are more unhappy that their tastes were neglected in favour of another audience, when they had been the ones supporting Bioware for years and not the other audience that they were trying to capture.
Please don't speak for me, Ronin. I'm as traditional as they come and it seems to me, that with a heavier emphasis on story, Bioware is leading the way in that regard. For that to continue to happen they need a revenue stream. Any business with sense tries to attract new people to its products all the time. Yet, you fault Bioware for trying to do so for some reason.
Fourth, I sort of agree on the idea of Bioware creating an immutable story shape and putting themselves in a corner, but honestly, you have simplified it way too much. There are virtually endless possibilities in the way Bioware could have designed the story, the characters, the interactions and the plot to address the corner that they found themselves in, but they didn't and that ultimately is nobody elses fault but their own. You cannot blame the consumer for having their own set of expectations.
You however can blame the consumer for having an UNREAL set of expectations considering what Bioware told us about the story from the very beginning, a major point being: this game is not DAO2 but Dragon Age 2. It's not the same game, not even the same kind of story. Bioware didn't paint themselves in a corner with what kind of story they told. In fact, this is the story they wanted to tell, thing is Bioware knows what comes next and we don't , which is irritating for some people.
Retour en haut
they can't decide what is really more important to them in RPGs - the combat or the role-playing. 
