While I'm all for empathizing with differing opinions, I never take kindly to the ones that are forced upon people. This thread's been a godsend so far in the sense there's a real discussion beyond mud-slinging.
Random ramblings are as follows:
If the new UI was gutted and just listed all the dialogue options, it'd have been a scrolling/formatting nightmare. Counter-intuitive and simply unelegant design-wise. Otherwise it'd have been hilarious to see a visual pun on the dialogue tree by actually having bushels of branches that fan out to reveal your options.
The issue most commonly associated with the combat system in KOTOR, Jade Empire, and DA:O was the roll of the die mechanic. You could be foot away from someone and still miss due to random number generation. That might've worked for pen and paper, but it wasn't plausible enough from a visual point of view - and there weren't any dodging animations to boot. It works out more or less for those who played as mages, at least any missing involved could be explained away with the inconsistent and transient nature of magic.
The "hack and slash" aspect of DA2 I can get around because of its direct/involving nature. Plenty of games have tried making button pressing fun, I usually found the ones from Capcom or SNK more interesting since it involved a combination of memorization, timing and twitch reflexes.
The storytelling I thought could've been compressed further. The first two acts alone could be condensed into one with an extra pinch of illustrated narrative - not just to enhance what's there in the codex but to solidify Hawke's origin story through all quests great and small and develop connections with people. Case in point, Assassin's Creed 2. It already did tons of things that DA2 could've done well - gameplay variation and level design - except the fact that since its story is heavily event-driven it tends to handle character relationships in a more cut and dry manner.
The real reason why I even brought it up was because I played them side by side as a comparison to cosmetic changes to a city vs the relationship you maintain with the people in a city. In DA2, it's ridiculously subtle. NPCs will talk to you or your companions on occasion and banter with them, but a player could be so busy getting from point A to point B that they might miss it entirely.
The proximity-based audio balancing issues might also be at fault here, who knows.
I just wished there were more ways to earn gold around Kirkwall than fetch quests or killing a few evil doers here and there. Off the top of my head, that might require mini-games, or the simplest solution would be just changing numerical values on rewards for certain quests. You'd figure some of the more affluent members of Hightown could throw around money like breadcrumbs to a flock of pigeons. But nope. They're as stingy as the rest of the world. A quest where you could pull off a heist to steal some noble's riches would've been hilarious and poetic justice.
The conflict in the last act needed more time to mature, not that I mind the antagonists, I'd love to see them developed further and see the twists and turns they took to get to where they are. Even that might not have to be revealed in gameplay, Cassandra can pretty much get it all out of Varric.
Which brings me to another missed opportunity in storytelling mechanics, the dynamic between a compulsive liar who knows the truth and a inquisitor who only has bits and pieces of the whole puzzle. While that might take away some control we have over Hawke, it can still be constrained as exposition for upcoming acts.
Modifié par axl99, 13 avril 2011 - 05:37 .
Retour en haut
You said what I have been saying. As a writer, show don't tell, and this game broke that rule of good story telling all to hell and back. I thought I was the only one who picked up on DA2's major flaw.
As a role-player there were many changes from DAO I didn't agree with.
