196 réponses à ce sujet

[Addai]

David Gaider wrote...

I'm not sure they're as connected as they seem to think.

Maybe their therapists should call you!

I did feel a dearth of companion conversation, but my first Origins game was 70-80 hours and DA2 more like 30.  That is no doubt a factor.

[WhiteKnyght]

The Angry One wrote...

ishmaeltheforsaken wrote...

The Grey Nayr wrote...

I see. lol

So, how does casting go for these games? Do you sit with others, listen to auditions, and give your opinion, or do you have certain people in mind when the characters are being created and then give a list to higher ups?

Well, have you ever seen the episode of Spongebob Squarepants where Mr. Krabbs loses Spongebob to Plankton in a game of cards? And they sing a duet together about how much they need each other?

It's basically like that, except Mr. Gaider instead of Mr. Krabbs, and Eve Myles instead of Spongebob.

This is actually how it works. Fact.

I should slap you.

Gaider will probably want first crack at him.

[TEWR]

oh Mr. Gaider, a very unrelated to this topic question, but nevertheless of the utmost importance...


Will we see any Year 1 DLC that would allow us to play out the missions with the smugglers/mercenaries? If so, can we pursue a relationship with Athenril?

Pwetti pweeeeeeez?

Ok, really all I want is the relationship with Athenril. so again...

pwetti pweeeeeeeez?

[mesmerizedish]

The Grey Nayr wrote...

Gaider will probably want first crack at him.

Her

@TEW: Mr. Gaider's keeping Athenril all to himself. The selfish bastard*.




*Not really! I love you, Mr. Gaider!

[PanosSmirnakos]

Only Anders? IMO, most companions of DA 2 were boring and one dimensional compared to Origins or any other Biowarian RPG. Varric was an accident, I guess. He was more epic, even from Hawke. Anyway, for me the templars VS mages thing and in general act 3 needed more work to make the whole story and Anders shine.

[TEWR]

ishmaeltheforsaken wrote...

The Grey Nayr wrote...

Gaider will probably want first crack at him.

Her

@TEW: Mr. Gaider's keeping Athenril all to himself. The selfish bastard*.




*Not really! I love you, Mr. Gaider!

MAKER NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[The Angry One]

No Athenril for you.

[Maria Caliban]

Dalira Montanti wrote...

tell me what do you think you wouldbe like if you had a spirit of justice living inside your body?

Crowded.

But Anders had a spirit of Vengeance. Something about Justice's bond with Anders altered both of them. If a spirit of justice bonded with me, who's to say I'd have that impact on it?

Which makes me wonder if Wynne and her spirit changed when they bonded. And why spirits bond while demons devour. And why birds suddenly appear whenever you're near.

[TEWR]

The Angry One wrote...

No Athenril for you.

Athenril ****....

I wuvs Athenril and Merrill.

I want them both! I deserved..... MOAR!


Edit: made a Seinfeld reference, but it got asterisked. With good reason.

Modifié par The Ethereal Writer Redux, 21 avril 2011 - 05:56 .

[Tyrium]

I *loved* the character development of Anders. It made perfect sense to me to have him play the role he played, and going back over Awakening dialogue, you can really see the seeds of what was to come. I thought it was a brilliant way to do it. Of course, I may be biased because Anders is one of my favourite characters.

[UltraBoy360]

Tyrium wrote...

I *loved* the character development of Anders. It made perfect sense to me to have him play the role he played, and going back over Awakening dialogue, you can really see the seeds of what was to come. I thought it was a brilliant way to do it. Of course, I may be biased because Anders is one of my favourite characters.

100% this. I actually found Anders to be the most affecting video game character I have ever engaged (slept!) with. I loved his development and just read Jennifer in the guide saying she had a tragic Buffy/Angel relationship in mind during the writing process. I totally got this and Anders' development was one of the main reasons DA2 is one of my most enjoyable gaming experiences ever.

[Brockololly]

David Gaider wrote...
Yes, in a world where More is always Better there'd be no reason not to have it both ways. Lots of dialogues in camp, with expository dialogue about anything that strikes your fancy, initiated conversations out and about in the world and DA2's more detailed series of personal quests.

I just think a better balance needs to be struck- DA2's personal quests were nice, but having every conversation go down as a quest made any interactions feel more forced and mechanical and having them all big cutscenes made them feel less spontaneous and more obviously scripted. I'd be all for LESS of the cinematics on every little thing, even if it meant having some talking heads for some player initated conversations while out and about in the world, and save the cinematics for romance stuff or companion quest stuff, that way the more central moments stand out.

David Gaider wrote...
Considering, however, that a game like BG2 where people still felt plenty connected to party members even though you couldn't click on them at all and had no control over when they spoke to you, I'm not certain the issue here isn't one of expectation rather than execution. Not that execution couldn't improve, sure, but some people seem to equate lots of dialogue to emotional connection... and I'm not sure they're as connected as they seem to think.

But thats the thing- as much as I liked BG2, I thought Origins' conversation system was an improvement on BG2 and quite frankly, the best one BioWare has done as of yet. Sure it had issues if the player sat in camp and abused the system by spamming gifts and just draining the conversations all in one sitting, but thats surely able to be fixed any number of simple ways like gating certain conversations to main quest completion.

[mesmerizedish]

Brockololly wrote...

But thats the thing- as much as I liked BG2, I thought Origins' conversation system was an improvement on BG2 and quite frankly, the best one BioWare has done as of yet. Sure it had issues if the player sat in camp and abused the system by spamming gifts and just draining the conversations all in one sitting, but thats surely able to be fixed any number of simple ways like gating certain conversations to main quest completion.

I agree. I'd rather have fewer companions and more conversations than more companions and fewer conversations.

Origins had more companions and more conversations than DAII. Or maybe it didn't. I don't know. But I only ever had real conversations with companions after one of their quests. I never talked to them just because. Origins had tons of unique "just because" conversations, and that was awesome. DAII had maybe one conversation per act.

The thing about DAII versus Origins is that, while I have a comparable number of options per talking point, there are many fewer talking points. If that's because it's too expensive to voice as many responses, then I prefer the silent protagonist by far. I love what the voiced PC does, but it's not worth making every conversation a 45-second affair where I get to select one, maybe two lines.

[SilentK]

Hmm... If new conversations were made available after progression in the main questline. How would the player know that? I'm just thinking how I would play it blind the first time around a new game. If I didn't know what triggered a new conversation being available I guess that I might end up with the Garrus-situation. " Hi, you got anything new?" , " Can it wait a bit, I'm in the middle of some calibrations".

* If you can access all the conversations in one go, they might be used up to quickly. DA:O
* If you don' have access to them at once, but don't know when they trigger, you end up with the Garrus. ME2
* If you don't have access to them at once, but get a notice when they are available people don't feel conncect, (well, I did but I know there are people who didn't like it). DA2

Hmm..... I've been pondering a bit but I haven't really got any good ideas. Maybe like Brockololly said, notices for big sceenes. But then would we be back to the Garrus if there are some spontaneous smaller things available? I love the voice and the scenes, wouldn't want to loose that in the next game. I'm trying to figure out something good that would that work for everyone.

Gahh.... got nothing right now and have to go back to the lab.

[tankgirly]

Miri1984 wrote...

I'd like to put in my two cents and say I adored what the writers and team did with Anders in DA2. I don't think I'm in the minority, even as someone who adored him in Awakenings. Everything that happened with his character in DA2 I saw as building on what we saw of him in Awakenings, and I applaud David Gaider and ESPECIALLY Jennifer Hepler, for doing such an amazing job.

This.

[ElnVld]

I didn't like Anders in *Awakening* (because of his trite jokes and he was womanizer). But I really love him in DA2 and .... his voice too!

[Knightly_BW]

David Gaider wrote...

Celestina wrote...
As a complete outsider to the development of the game, I will not begin to assume why Jennifer Hepler was assigned with writing most of Anders in DA2. Can you tell us why didn't write most of Anders, as you did in Awakening? I will say that I would have put more faith in you to make Anders' story believable. You are responsible for much of Origin's material - most of Alistair and Zevran's hilarious, downright outrageously clever dialogue, and plenty more. I'm not trying to downplay the talents of the other writers on the team. Any game of this size is a combined effort. But I think Anders in DA2 is missing some of your attention.

I'm not certain what it is you assume I would have done differently. The role Anders plays in the sequel was set by myself as well as by the writing team, prior to anyone writing him. Even if I had been the one to write him, he most certainly would not have been the witty fellow you remember from Awakening... he's changed, in some very substantial ways, and if you're mourning the fact that he's different I can safely say that's very much part of the point.

A successful character provokes strong reactions. So I would say Anders was quite successful even if I didn't approve of Jennifer's writing job on him-- which I very much do. I think she did a stellar job. While there's always some trepidation in seeing someone else touch your baby, I had no reservations once I saw how she handled him.

If you felt less connected to your followers, that's too bad. There could be many reasons for that, but if the requirement to someone feeling connected is having long, rambling conversations in the party camp... I can safely say that's unlikely to happen again. I could see front-loading the characters a bit more so players are more thoroughly introduced (as it was, a lot of the character interaction ended up in Act 2 quite by accident) but I have absolutely no intention of returning to the reams of expository dialogue as a replacement for character development anytime soon.

Dear Mr. Gaider,

Let me say first, I really like the characters you created and how you handle them.

In my opinion letting someone handle changed Anders for DA 2 was a good choice. This way distinction between Anders and Justice/Anders made very clear.

My only question regarding Anders is, Why there wasn't non-Warden Anders side of the story?

This questing has been bugging me since I started to play DA 2. I won't lie I really hate Anders (not because he is written badly or something, just because his remark about funny gurgle and dying templar in Awakenings. I guess I am one of the few peoples who didn't surprise by his act of terrorism in DA 2) so he left to caring hands of templars on my Awakenings runs. While there is an explanation for his death in Awakenings leaving something like this out sounds odd.

Thanks in advance for your answer.

Highest regards.

[Ninche]

I hope I'm not too late to say that I'd been waiting for Dragon Age 2 and had enormous expectations from the story – and it didn’t only live up but completely surpassed anything I could have hoped for.

Anders was a big part of that. A lot of people ended up hating him by the end, quite many love him as well, but I haven’t really met anyone who’s played the game and not responded to Anders’ character and actions emotionally. Even though he himself plays a small part in the whole mages vs. Templars conflict he has become a sort of embodiment of it on the forums and sparkled so much intelligent debate it’s simply pleasurable to witness the impact of the character.

In terms of voice acting and character changes: I had my reservations at first and spent Act 1 getting used to the new Anders. I liked Anders in Awakening but as people have said he only hinted at character depth that might lurk below his witty and (seemingly) shallow exterior. I don’t particularly miss having a heavy comic relief character around (as much as I loved Alistair) and the new Anders fits the new dragon age mood perfectly – he’s darker, more mature, more tragic – and a lot more appealing. I think Howden did a great job with the character overall – he is particularly good in a rival relationship where more internal emotional conflicts are at play, it’s hard to keep that subtle and believable but he managed just fine.

In a word: this is one long-winded but nevertheless sincere compliment to Hepler and Gaider, I had my doubts about loving a character more than I had in the first game and you totally proved me wrong. Right now I doubt I could be any more emotionally involved with a character and with a story, please prove me wrong again in the future.

Modifié par Ninche, 21 avril 2011 - 08:57 .

[mesmerizedish]

If you gave Anders to the Templars in Awakening, then he escaped and was made a Warden by OTHER wardens.

I think that it's not the most graceful way of handling it, but it is what it is.

[Knightly_BW]

ishmaeltheforsaken wrote...

If you gave Anders to the Templars in Awakening, then he escaped and was made a Warden by OTHER wardens.

I think that it's not the most graceful way of handling it, but it is what it is.

Yeah I thought of it as well but...

How he met Justice?
How he knows a friend who knows Dalish origins Warden?
How he got and lost Ser Pounce-a-lot?


Anyway as the greatest opportunist as he is probably Anders' joining to Wardens is another one of his attempts to escape big, evil Circle of Magi.

[moilami]

Of all things in DA2 the plot and characters are maybe something I would complain the least and praise the most. This that people complain of them further convinces me that they just want be center of attention and control freaks. I would not care of it but since it affect what kind of games will come I feel concerned of the issue. I will however ignore the issue and play other games.

[Inzhuna]

ishmaeltheforsaken wrote...

If you gave Anders to the Templars in Awakening, then he escaped and was made a Warden by OTHER wardens.

I think that it's not the most graceful way of handling it, but it is what it is.

Er, no. His codex is exactly the same.It says that the Warden-Commander conscripted him to save him from templars and they became friends.

[MOTpoetryION]

David i hope you come back to the thread im not complaining,

I 've had an idea rolling around in my head for about a year or so regarding voices for one time meet NPC's. The idea came to me mostly because of this reason. For me to hear the same VO actor doing a few voices in the same game it kind of brakes the game for me in a way .

OK the idea i have is i thought that if a DEV could start a project.. Where the DEV would have a place that they could post the lines for some NPC that you only meet only one time in the game. And allow us players to send in our VO entries for said NPC. I'm not speaking for everyone . But i would just love to hear myself as an NPC in a video game . And most if not all would be so excited just being chosen they would not want any money. It could be part of the deal that being picked for the game would be our pay.

There are alot of +++ to this idea i feel.

1 For a player like me that does not like hearing the same person doing multiple NPC's it would be great hearing all the different voices.

.2 The DEV just might discover some really talented new VO people. And without any effort really of having to look for new VO people. The samples would come in the mail.

3 It would be really good PR project i feel, hell it could even be a contest.

4 Not to mention how cool a fan would feel be to in a video game.

5 would not have to pay them

These are just a few i thought of off the top of my head. And from what you said. I think you would be in a possition to maybe make it happen? . If you think it's a good idea that is ? lol. I just thought i would share my idea with you guys. And like i said i hope you come back to read it .