1245 réponses à ce sujet

[RPGamer13]

Bioware needs to take not, Bethesda too, of mirrors in every house you can inhabit to change your character's appearance. They haven't taken a hint from Saints Row, but maybe they would from another RPG developer.

[Brockololly]

Saw this interview with one of the designers and I don't know how the game will turn out, but dammit man, they're saying the right things:

GamerZines: Unlike other RPGs, Reckoning features a silent protagonist, why did you guys go for that?

Will Miller (Systems Designer for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning): There were a couple of considerations with that and one was localisation. We  wanted to localise all of the voices in the game, we didn't want any  speech that wasn't localised and having the player character talk  ballooned that very quickly. However that was a very minor component to  this decision, the big reason why we did this was because the less  that's explicit about your character the more, the player gets to infer  their own personality. Some of the best games have silent protagonists,  Zelda for example, and if he ever speaks I swear - I'll march to Tokyo  myself. That was a conscious choice and we think it was the right one.

GZ: That's really interesting, because games as a medium seem to be moving  away from that idea. Take the success of BioWare's approach for  instance...

WM: I love BioWare RPGs I really do, but I think  there are better things that games do than tell a cinematic narrative. We want you to walk away from Reckoning with the story that we've chosen to tell you, but also the story that you've told yourself with our  game. I feel like when you walk away from a game where your character  talks, you've lived more of the designer's story than your own, but with Reckoning we give you a great set of building blocks to tell your own  tale. The anecdotes that your friends always tell you about these games  aren't about great scripted sequences, instead it's along the lines of;  "I invested in this crazy combination of skills which made me totally  invincible and that was awesome because it broke the game!"


Hopefully we won't ship with anything like that, but it's all about  that kind of stuff. These great little experiences that the players had, that they did, not what the game did for them is what is super  important. I worked for Firaxis for two and a half years and one of Sid Meier's big things is that the game should never have more fun than the  player and that the systems always serve the game. My own personal  design philosophy, as well as Big Huge Games', aligns very closely with  that and that was the motivation behind that decision and many more.

At least somebody seems to get it that not all games need be movies:wizard:

Modifié par Brockololly, 20 octobre 2011 - 06:04 .

[MerinTB]

Brockololly wrote...

Saw this interview with one of the designers and I don't know how the game will turn out, but dammit man, they're saying the right things:

GamerZines: Unlike other RPGs, Reckoning features a silent protagonist, why did you guys go for that?

Will Miller (Systems Designer for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning): There were a couple of considerations with that and one was localisation. We  wanted to localise all of the voices in the game, we didn't want any  speech that wasn't localised and having the player character talk  ballooned that very quickly. However that was a very minor component to  this decision, the big reason why we did this was because the less  that's explicit about your character the more, the player gets to infer  their own personality. Some of the best games have silent protagonists,  Zelda for example, and if he ever speaks I swear - I'll march to Tokyo  myself. That was a conscious choice and we think it was the right one.

GZ: That's really interesting, because games as a medium seem to be moving  away from that idea. Take the success of BioWare's approach for  instance...

WM: I love BioWare RPGs I really do, but I think  there are better things that games do than tell a cinematic narrative. We want you to walk away from Reckoning with the story that we've chosen to tell you, but also the story that you've told yourself with our  game. I feel like when you walk away from a game where your character  talks, you've lived more of the designer's story than your own, but with Reckoning we give you a great set of building blocks to tell your own  tale. The anecdotes that your friends always tell you about these games  aren't about great scripted sequences, instead it's along the lines of;  "I invested in this crazy combination of skills which made me totally  invincible and that was awesome because it broke the game!"


Hopefully we won't ship with anything like that, but it's all about  that kind of stuff. These great little experiences that the players had, that they did, not what the game did for them is what is super  important. I worked for Firaxis for two and a half years and one of Sid Meier's big things is that the game should never have more fun than the  player and that the systems always serve the game. My own personal  design philosophy, as well as Big Huge Games', aligns very closely with  that and that was the motivation behind that decision and many more.

At least somebody seems to get it that not all games need be movies:wizard:

I really like this one (EDIT - saw it was posted earlier, but still)

Q. Meaty content and special "epic" events ... – By Goatrek

A:  (...) We know that there is the possibility that some folks will never find the things we've hidden away, but when people do, it's extremely exciting and gratifying. One of my favorite moments was hearing that one of the Narrative Designers stopped play-testing quests when he discovered a piece of the unique set we had hidden away, and spent hours searching the rest of the world to obtain the rest of the armor set. – By Jessica "Meridian" Hara Campell, Principal World Designer

Modifié par MerinTB, 20 octobre 2011 - 07:50 .

[Barbarossa2010]

Brockololly wrote...

Saw this interview with one of the designers and I don't know how the game will turn out, but dammit man, they're saying the right things:

GamerZines: Unlike other RPGs, Reckoning features a silent protagonist, why did you guys go for that?

Will Miller (Systems Designer for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning): There were a couple of considerations with that and one was localisation. We  wanted to localise all of the voices in the game, we didn't want any  speech that wasn't localised and having the player character talk  ballooned that very quickly. However that was a very minor component to  this decision, the big reason why we did this was because the less  that's explicit about your character the more, the player gets to infer  their own personality. Some of the best games have silent protagonists,  Zelda for example, and if he ever speaks I swear - I'll march to Tokyo  myself. That was a conscious choice and we think it was the right one.

GZ: That's really interesting, because games as a medium seem to be moving  away from that idea. Take the success of BioWare's approach for  instance...

WM: I love BioWare RPGs I really do, but I think  there are better things that games do than tell a cinematic narrative. We want you to walk away from Reckoning with the story that we've chosen to tell you, but also the story that you've told yourself with our  game. I feel like when you walk away from a game where your character  talks, you've lived more of the designer's story than your own, but with Reckoning we give you a great set of building blocks to tell your own  tale. The anecdotes that your friends always tell you about these games  aren't about great scripted sequences, instead it's along the lines of;  "I invested in this crazy combination of skills which made me totally  invincible and that was awesome because it broke the game!"


Hopefully we won't ship with anything like that, but it's all about  that kind of stuff. These great little experiences that the players had, that they did, not what the game did for them is what is super  important. I worked for Firaxis for two and a half years and one of Sid Meier's big things is that the game should never have more fun than the  player and that the systems always serve the game. My own personal  design philosophy, as well as Big Huge Games', aligns very closely with  that and that was the motivation behind that decision and many more.

At least somebody seems to get it that not all games need be movies:wizard:

Funny, these are the sorts of things I want to hear from the company that runs these forums.  Instead, we just get a steady flow of corporate newspeak of how unwilling many fans are to change, RPGs with silent protagonists are 'sooooooo 2009,' the dull palaver about expectations management and resource control, too many myopic fans, DA2 has more "potential," BW is simply "delighted" with their new (and significanlty smaller) fan base, apparently Origins (little did we all know) was so riddled with problems that it just had to be destroyed so it could be saved, and that the reductionist philosophy of DA2 is now evidently considered "innovative," blah, blah, blah.  

KoA might be worth checking out after all.  If I didn't know better, he seems to be directly addressing the fans who were dissappointed with DA2, as well as the why and wherefors of that disatisfaction that run way beyond recycled maps and parachuting blood bags, but unlike the company that produced that, he doesn't take subtle swipes at them for liking what they do and consistently lecturing them about change and innovation.  Segments of the market will always rise to address unmet consumer needs.  If BW no longer wants to meet those needs, apparently KoA's developers do.  Here's to hoping its a decent game. I, for one, am starting to pay attention.

A focus on player (not game) centricity while they tell their story? Nail on the head.  Now there's a designer who speaks my language.

Modifié par Barbarossa2010, 20 octobre 2011 - 12:55 .

[RPGamer13]

He's right about living the designer's story than one's own, but I have some comments:

First, some developers of RPGs, what they want is for you to experience their story.

Second, there are gamers that do play RPGs that don't care about "making" their own story and just want to experience someone else's story, or just don't care.

Though I am glad there are developers out there that do want you to come up with your own story for your character.

[MerinTB]

I don't understand why there can't be a variety of kinds of cRPGs. There's room, and fans, for everything from Diablo/Torchlight to Fallout 3/Skyrim to FF/Lost Odyssey to Frayed Knights even. I think it's fine that BioWare wants to focus on the cinematic storytelling, there are plenty of players who want that - and it works very well in FFXIII IMO...

What bothers me is when a game developer changes what they do to match what others are doing.  Some innovations, yes, are probably appropriate for most or all games, but other styles are not.  Do all cRPGs need cut scenes, do they all need cover systems for combat, do they all need multi-player?

Personally, my preferred cRPG is one where you make a party of characters and also pick up some on the way who are pre-written, where the combat is turn-based. But I can play and enjoy other kinds as well.

KoA:R does have a few things I'd rather not have (the art style is just a little too cartoony for me, but not as bad as WoW IMO; actiony real-time combat) but a silent protagonist that I get to make and control the destiny of in a fairly open world with many choices (and a faction system that reminds me a little of New Vegas mixed with Alpha Protocol) definitely has my attention.

Honestly, Reckoning has me more excited than any other RPGs coming out in the near future - more than Skyrim, more than Mass Effect 3... only Dead State has me more excited,

Modifié par MerinTB, 20 octobre 2011 - 03:16 .

[Persona2005]

Not going to get the game due to the pre-order bonus being separate and all.

[sympathyforsaren]

I like the silent protagonist as well, as it'll do exactly as mentioned: let my personality flow out of my character.

I am wondering how many hours of gameplay is in Reckoning if you explore all over, find all items, listen to every lime of dialogue, explore every dungeon and do most quests in one playthrough. It has to be hundreds.

One minor thing from Naughty's post in the weekly interview:

Having vast, explorable mines underneath the house that expand as the house is upgraded is a very good and creative idea. Sounds like a lot of fun.

I'm very impressed with what I see and will almost certainly preorder and get at launch, if done with Skyrim, if not than the hour after I complete Skyrim.

Modifié par sympathyforsaren, 22 octobre 2011 - 06:03 .

[SOLID_EVEREST]

They are saying everything that I want to hear so far. Character customization, silent protagonist, and pretty cool looking world and crafting system. If BioWare kept the whole cinematic experience with the Mass Effect games, I would totally like that since I, as of now, have no urge to buy them. I just can't believe that they put it into Dragon Age, a game that already had the fans backing a silent protagonist/old school experience. Oh well, Kingdoms is looking really good, and so is Dragons Dogma. I still can't wait, though, for Age of Decadence and Dead Nation (as an added comment).

[naughty99]

I just had a facepalm moment.

All this time, I've been thinking Todd McFarlane was the guy who created Family Guy and all those animated shows.

[RPGamer13]

No, that's Seth McFarlane.

Todd McFarlane is the creator of Spawn and does all those statues. He's designed the monster for Amalur much like Akira Toriyama did the monster and character designs for Dragon Quest.

[naughty99]

RPGamer13 wrote...

No, that's Seth McFarlane.

Todd McFarlane is the creator of Spawn and does all those statues. He's designed the monster for Amalur much like Akira Toriyama did the monster and character designs for Dragon Quest.

Yes, I watched this show Family Guy for the first time on Netflix and realized I was thinking of the wrong guy this whole time.

I was thinking the art direction and color palette of Amalur was slightly on the cartoonish side, but obviously it's not that bad.

[sympathyforsaren]

There have been more and more Destinies revealed here recently....any word on how many there are total?

I hope there is a new Faction trailer soon, the other one got me really excited. Another one might inadvertently force a preorder. The writing and lore are fantastic.

Modifié par sympathyforsaren, 23 octobre 2011 - 01:31 .

[naughty99]

interesting video about the cinematic cut scene design: http://youtu.be/jC6Lkl6gbZ0?hd=1

[sympathyforsaren]

naughty99 wrote...

interesting video about the cinematic cut scene design: http://youtu.be/jC6Lkl6gbZ0?hd=1

I thought all cinematic cutscenes were designed and implemented from a desktop. I never thought motion capture, walk-throughs and stunt actors were used. Interesting.

I heard word that the world size in Reckoning is comparable to Oblivion's.

[Eternal Phoenix]

^

Yeah.

[lobi]

Another awesome game?! So many swoards so little time. *Sigh

Modifié par lobi, 24 octobre 2011 - 10:55 .

[naughty99]

Q: Hey guys, I've just been wondering how daggers in this game are equipped, are they dual-wield, so 2 different daggers possible to be equipped (or a dagger and sword) or are they 2 daggers at once equipped as a single weapon? 

A: Daggers, Faeblades, and Chakrams all come in pairs and count as "one" weapon. So, you cannot separate a pair. You still have a second weapon slot available though, so by equipping a pair of daggers in your primary slot, you can also equip a sword in your second slot. – By Joe "JoeQ" Quadara, Lead Combat Designer

Q: For Curt; which tree have you spent the most time testing/playing? Finesse, Might, or Sorcery? Be honest!

A: Reckoning has totally screwed up my thoughts and desires in RPGs (in a good way). I've NEVER played a Rogue past 10 in WoW, never played a rogue class in any D&D or RPG, like the Gold Box series or Baldur's Gate. However, I have found myself at every session in Reckoning, pushing down the finesse tree. The diversity in abilities, the sneaking in a world where sneaking is a meaningful game-play tactic instead of just a skill, access to duel-wielding dagger combat, and the ability to jump to the sorcery tree for Chakrams is why I'll likely go with a Rogue/Mage hybrid for my first play-through of Reckoning. – By Curt "Ngruk" Schilling, Chairman and Founder

Q: I was wondering how much work would be involved to program creatures to have herding patterns in the game? Basically, I wonder if it was possible to make creatures wander the region a little bit more than just being in a pocket conveniently around a corner, versus maybe you encounter a pack of wolves who are hunting along an open field chasing chickens or something along those lines? It's a bit of a letdown as you travel about and creatures are just waiting to die. If that would be too much work, maybe your team could brainstorm on ways to keep the enemy's engaged in some activity as you come upon them, unless they're sleeping or ambushing you. Also, it would be great if your artists could create some bed rolls or camp fires for the enemies in their little posts.

A: It's astounding when I think about how much work it took to get creatures to be fun to fight, and it can be even more work to breathe that life into them, and give them personalities and that sense of being real. Our combat team has spent many months brainstorming and creating all sorts of behaviors for each character in the game. And then our level and world designers put a lot of thought and creativity into how these are used. 

Every creature, enemy, and ally has special activities that they do when they are living their lives in the world. Sometimes it's as simple as a sleeping Barghest, or a bear rolling in the grass, or a wolf eating a corpse of some dead animal. Other characters can take on complicated actions like bartending, patrolling, farming, cooking, and the list goes on (including camp fires, bed rolls, and many, many others).

Some of the most fun I've had working on Reckoning was just running through the game with the environment designers and brainstorming ways to get the creatures and enemies to feel more alive and interesting. Naturally, everyone brings their own ideas to the table, and we end up with a rich world full of life, surprises, and story. 

One idea that had me in laughing so hard I couldn't breathe was when I discovered that Jess Hara Campbell (Principal World Designer) gave a bandit a burning desire to relieve himself on a Lorestone. This particular Lorestone overlooks a beautiful vista, and is an excellent spot for a stealth kill if you happen to come across the dirty vandal. – By Joe "JoeQ" Quadara, Lead Combat Designer

Q: Block almost seems non-directional. I am sure it is possible Joe is just that good, but watching the Brigand's Hall demo, there was clearly a second where he was blocking, facing one Niskaru, and the other came in 180 degrees behind him, but it still blocked. Was he just that quick or do you block and or parry no matter if you are facing the enemy or not as long as you have the button held down or you time it right (for parry)?

A: You are correct. Blocking and parrying do not require any directional input. As long as you hold the button down you will continue to block. But don't think that it's too easy! The difficulty with blocking and parrying really comes from whether you're committed to a strong attack or not. 

Your basic weapon attacks can be canceled immediately into a block or parry, but
they aren't very damaging. Your most damaging attacks are your weapon combo finishers, unlocked weapon special attacks, and magic abilities. Once you begin one of these larger attacks, you are giving up the luxury of being able to block instantly, thus making yourself vulnerable to enemy attacks.

Blocking isn't perfect defense, either! Shields can only block a flat amount of damage, so you can't go up against, say, a high-level Rock Troll and expect to block every attack without taking any damage. On top of that, some of the larger enemy attacks will force your shield out to the side, and open you up to a follow-up attack for a brief moment. We call these attacks "block breaking" and the only way to get out of harm’s way after being pushed back with one of these is to dodge or teleport out of the way. – By Joe "JoeQ" Quadara, Lead Combat Designer

Q: Because of the Destiny system in Reckoning, your character is set up to be a real powerhouse. I am aware of Reckoning's difficulty setting, but what other measures will be taken to ensure that players will not be running through Amalur with such a powerful character being pit against opponents who do not measure up?

A: Great question! This is a unique design challenge we ran into when we started out, because we didn't want a highly skilled player to be able to dominate extremely high level enemies. We really want your RPG choices to matter – the investment in skills & abilities, the armor and weapons you have equipped, and Destiny you have chosen – these should all play a larger impact on combat than your ability to parry or kill groups of enemies without getting hit.
The answer to this question could go on for a while, so I'll limit myself to three points: One Versus Many, Enemy Variety, and Over-Leveled Enemies.

One Versus Many is a great way to think about our combat as a whole. The hero in Reckoning IS a powerful being, and fighting against one enemy is rarely a challenge. Fighting enemies in groups presents the real combat challenge. While a strong hero can juggle a single Murghan until it's dead, doing so with two other Murghan and a Banshaen is a sure-fire way to get flanked and take a lot of unnecessary damage. So, you’ll need to think about where each enemy is, be on the lookout for incoming attacks, and consider the presence of any obstacles like walls or poison pools. Our combat camera does a great job at keeping all the enemies on screen so you have all this information and aren't getting hit with any cheap shots.

Enemy Variety is how we keep things fresh and keep you on your toes. We put a lot of effort into making a bunch of enemy types, and keeping them different enough from each other so no two enemies fight exactly the same way. Then we thought about how these enemies fight alone, how they fight together, and how they fight when mixed with other types of enemies. This gives us a huge palette to try out different combinations, and be really creative with how we challenge you with groups of enemies. One of our most devastating combinations has turned out to be the Ettins and wolves. Ettins are strong melee fighters and try to get close to the hero, but are moderately easy to keep at bay by themselves. But when they are paired with a single wolf, the wolf will use its long range running attack to hit you, and by the time you've recovered, the Ettin will be right up in your face – often with a flying leap attack!

Finally, fighting Over-Leveled Enemies, or baddies that are much higher than your player level, is an exercise in futility. They will shrug off attacks as if your weapons were feathers. Their own attacks can't be parried, and they have bonus resistances to damage and stun. When these action elements are combined with the sheer damage numbers they can deal out, the fights are clearly not in your favor.
These are just three examples of how we keep things challenging for you. We can't wait for you to get your hands on it and see just how fun it is. – By Joe "JoeQ" Quadara, Lead Combat Designer

Source: http://forums.reckon...v-Team-10-26-11

[sympathyforsaren]

There is a new 'Hero's Guide' trailer on YouTube called "Destiny and Fate". It's informative, shows new gameplay and explains a little more about the Destiny system.

Check it out if interested.

[Brockololly]

sympathyforsaren wrote...

There is a new 'Hero's Guide' trailer on YouTube called "Destiny and Fate". It's informative, shows new gameplay and explains a little more about the Destiny system.

Check it out if interested.

Link to the video here
Nice....more Claudia Black narration is never a bad thing.

I'm not a huge fan of the art style and over exaggerated weapon size, but at least when the characters are swinging those massive swords and warhammers they look really heavy just by the way they're holding them, which is nice.

[slimgrin]

 It looks like they hired Thomas Kinkaid as lead art designer.

[Wyndham711]

This is a game I've been really trying to get excited about, but have been failing. There's just something here that screams generic so loud that my ears are ringing. And I'm a person that normally tends to deal fairly well with generic. The artstyle in particular has been irking me. Also, repeating to me time and again that you have God of War style combat in your RPG is not something I'll be getting excited about.

Yet they are a newcomer to the genre, they seem to have real ambition, and they have made some sound design decisions with this (notably the silent protagonist), and as usual the proof of the pudding is in the eating. I'll try and remain optimistic.

[sympathyforsaren]

One of the first things I'm going to do is loot, loot, loot, looking for special sets and get a good base of items to play with. I'll probably then start guild quests and side quests.

I love looting and I'm glad the dynamic loot system will give us tons of special items, weapons, armor pieces, raw materials for their strong looking crafting system, and coin.

Modifié par sympathyforsaren, 30 octobre 2011 - 01:12 .

[naughty99]

Wyndham711 wrote...

This is a game I've been really trying to get excited about, but have been failing. There's just something here that screams generic so loud that my ears are ringing. And I'm a person that normally tends to deal fairly well with generic. The artstyle in particular has been irking me.

IMO, the art style doesn't seem so much generic as slightly cartoonish and stylized in an exaggerated, hyper-technicolor way. It doesn't appeal to me very much either, but other aspects of the game have helped me decide to pre-order this one. It's good to hear the game incorporates features such as numerous factions, interesting take on character progression, multiple branching paths for quests, interesting crafting system, etc.

And most importantly, not many AAA open world RPGs get released in a given year.

[bussinrounds]

SOLID_EVEREST wrote...

They are saying everything that I want to hear so far. Character customization, silent protagonist, and pretty cool looking world and crafting system. If BioWare kept the whole cinematic experience with the Mass Effect games, I would totally like that since I, as of now, have no urge to buy them. I just can't believe that they put it into Dragon Age, a game that already had the fans backing a silent protagonist/old school experience. Oh well, Kingdoms is looking really good, and so is Dragons Dogma. I still can't wait, though, for Age of Decadence and Dead Nation (as an added comment).

    Dead State you mean.   Don't forget about Knights of the Chalice 2 also. 
www.heroicfantasygames.com/