AAHook2 wrote...
snip
While I agree, that would be incredibly difficult from a technical standpoint to accomplish. It's also not taking into account the possibility of your character's personality developing over time, as you have one preset personality you choose on creation.
For example, in Origins, playing as a City Elf or a Mage, finding out that the outside world (whether it be Dalish Elves, Apostate comapnions, etc) was far from the ideals (s)he had concocted, they were hit with the "it's not all it's cracked up to be" problem. As a result of going through various events and quests, my characters re-evaluated how they looked at life and their own goals. My Mage sunk into cynicism about the world and became self centered, whereas my City Elf became solemn and more determined to improve things for the Alienage.
My Mage came to the belief that if she could make her mark on history, she could at least carve out a nice life for herself and live in peace, regardless of what happens in the rest of Thedas.
On the other hand, my City Elf felt all the more driven to fight for the rights, freedom and prosperity of the Alienage.
The narrative of Origins aided, supported and enhanced the story I wanted to tell with my characters through dialog options, through the skills my character learned as well as through the various choices you could make.
These outlooks on life also meant that they had a shift in personality, my Mage becoming snarkier and less patient with people, she also learnt the fine art of pickpocketing. Whereas my City Elf became more diplomatic and willing to help others.
You can't really do that properly if you define a character's personality on creation.
As for a voiced protagonist, I think paraphrasing could work if done well, but honestly, I much prefer the Alpha Protocol style of dialog options where they give you a personality tone. Instead of picking words and being angry that they don't match up with what your character says, you're able to reply in a "professional" manner, a "suave" manner, an "aggressive" manner, a "sarcastic" manner, an "honest" manner and so on.
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For the most part, what Dragon Age 2 did wrong in this area imo was three fold.
They gutted down the character system, removing a lot of the freedom and ability to mix and match specialities. Rogues had to Dual Wield, Mages had to have Staves, removal of conversation and non combat centric skills, etc.
This meant any development on the part of the character had to come from the character's developing personality and through the choices they made in terms of narrative.
But then what they did on top of that was not properly flesh out a narrative with choices. There were choices, but they weren't satisfying because a lot of them led to the same conclusion. Mix that with the fact that the narrative felt railroaded and disjointed at the same time and it was difficult to find motivation for your character other than the ones that were forced on you (always a bad idea for roleplaying). Having motivations pushed on you is fine, but the narrative should always be open enough to allow the player to create their own. This leads to a sort of feeling where the game leads you on instead of you making your way through the game for your own purposes.
I mean, the idea of the Ferelden refugees, the Nobles and politicking, the Coterie and underground crime, the Alienage and racism. All of these were plump ideas that were ripe for the picking, but the game never takes more than a cursory glance at these elements or allow the player to respond to them through quests and interaction. Very disappointing. Even something as simple as deciding whether a Dwarven Chantry in Orzammar is a good idea reflects the type of depth that helps roleplaying. We never see that in Dragon Age 2.
This also relates to the idea of motivations. Wanting to help the refugees, trying to out smart the Nobles, crushing or helping the Coterie, etc, these are all very good areas where the player can create their own story and motivations using the game's own narrative but it only works if the game responds to it. Games like Origins do, Dragon Age 2, doesn't.
Things like that make a game epic, ability to roleplay a character and see how that character's choices -whether in narrative, character systems or personality- affects the world around them, not DRAGONS DRAGONS DRAGONS or Meredith's Lightsaber.
Finally, the personality development we had in Dragon Age 2 was shallow. That's all there is to it. I understand that it's a result of time and technical limitations and I did like the idea of dialog and tone changing automatically to reinforce the personality. It's a good idea, but Hawke's three personalities were shallow. I'm nice, I'm "funny" or I'm angry. Wow, that passes for character depth these days?
It's things like that which make people think that Dragon Age 2 is less of an RPG or is a dumbed down one.
If people like that, more power to them. Dragon Age 2 is not a bad game when looked as a whole, especially compared to what else is on the market.
But if that's going to be how games are like in the future...
Modifié par mrcrusty, 29 mai 2011 - 04:41 .
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