488 réponses à ce sujet

[upsettingshorts]

Sylvius the Mad wrote...

I find no fault with the writing of DA2.

You must have missed David Gaider's reprehensible anti-mage agenda!

Modifié par Upsettingshorts, 16 juin 2011 - 05:43 .

[ipgd]

Whatsupnewyork wrote...

I don't take notice of signatures, really.

I can't believe that this guy wrote the brilliant Dragon Age books, but also wrote DA2. What happened?

Hysterical hyperbolized ****** that colored the experience was present for one and not the other.

Modifié par ipgd, 16 juin 2011 - 06:04 .

[macrocarl]

David Gaider wrote...

macrocarl wrote...
Isn't this pre-warden Wynn? Do we know fir sure? Anyway, if Leliana and Zev can come back, maybe she can too? And there's a really rocking reason other than retcon? Maybe it ties in with the warden and Hawke disappearing too? That'd be nifty.

There is nothing happening in the novel that will directly tie into a future game. They are tangentially related at best. In the case of the novel, it takes a few events/characters that have variable outcomes in the games and it chooses one-- establishing an internal canon which is necessary simply by virtue of what it is. If you're worried about this doing so extensively, don't be. I tend to avoid such references unless required.

The alternative, as mentioned, would be to avoid all such referneces and characters altogether. Which I didn't want to do, and don't see a need for. This is a "might have been" as much as it is insight into events that followed DA2's timeline, and part of the fun is using that timeline-- not avoiding it. It is not, however, laying a foundation for things future games will draw directly from.

Hope that's clear.

Yeah tis clear! Thanks Mr. Gaider. I'm not/ never worried at all actually.

[RosaAquafire]

ipgd wrote...
Hysterical hyperbolized ****** that colored the experience was present for one and not the other.

Ahahaha. pro.

[David Gaider]

Brockololly wrote...
Tangentially related, but will we ever get a clear timeline for DA? Like one that firmly states whenthe events of Origins / Awakening/ Witch Hunt / DA2 happened and so forth? Especially for something like WH, its a bit all over the place.

Laid out for you, you mean? Hard to say-- like you suggest, there are some points of divergence at which it gets quite complicated. Far easier to take the major points which the timeline has in common and work from there.

If we did draw events from the book into the game, we would be varying the references based on the differences in that particular game (Wynne being alive or dead is a good example), but the nature of keeping the world as reactive as possible makes the process of laying it out more difficult. For some continuity nerds buffs, it will never be reactive enough... but that's a different story.

[MorrigansLove]

How long have you been writing this book for?

[Hay Julay]

I think DA books should be made into the "Chose Your Own Adventure" style so people can stop whining about retcons in books that are not necessarily connected into the game canon.

[Kreid]

So honest question here David, since your book establishes it's own canon, as unlikely as it'd be is there even a remote possibility we'll see your version of Hawke?

I know there are many reasons for him/her not appearing at all and maybe it will irk some folks but I'd really like to see a BioWare main character (be it Shepard, Hawke etc...) characterized by a writer, I know it's difficult the way you guys develop games but I always find myself wondering how would it be readings these characters portrayed in a book

[mikx82]

how many Dragon Age books are out there now? (including this one)

p.s how about Mass Effect? How many books are out there now?

really wana buy but i'm still hooked to reading "The Song of Ice and Fire" while watching the HBO Game of Thrones..

[Wolfborn Son]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but was Dragon Age ever really designed to be a series where a 'flowing cannon' like Mass Effect is important? I always thought that it was supposed to be a spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate - a game whose sequel could have ignored \\all\\ your choices, yet still managed to be the best goddamn computer roleplaying game of all time.


If so, then why are people concerned with "retcons"?

EDIT: Perhaps "personal cannon" is a better term than "flowing"? I don't know.

Modifié par Wolfborn Son, 16 juin 2011 - 09:00 .

[Brockololly]

David Gaider wrote...

Brockololly wrote...
Tangentially related, but will we ever get a clear timeline for DA? Like one that firmly states whenthe events of Origins / Awakening/ Witch Hunt / DA2 happened and so forth? Especially for something like WH, its a bit all over the place.

Laid out for you, you mean? Hard to say-- like you suggest, there are some points of divergence at which it gets quite complicated. Far easier to take the major points which the timeline has in common and work from there.

Well, yeah, like even a timeline of sorts for the common points as much as that allows. I'm just thinking back to the appendix to Return of the King where it lays out the history of Middle Earth with key events and the years and so forth next to it. I'm a sucker for nice timelines I suppose. Whether that would be in a book or even as a fancy codex entry in a game or something akin to the Game Informer timeline article that came out before DA2.

But mostly I'm wondering when/how long the events of Origins took, followed by when Awakening happened/how long that took and then when/how long Witch Hunt took place- cause especially with Witch Hunt, in game it mentions it taking place "several" years after the end of Awakening, but the website I think says it takes place one year after the Archdemon was killed. Mostly I want to know when the Warden could have possibly went into the Eluvian with Morrigan in relationship to when that would have been with DA2, as you have the whole reference by King Alistair about the Hero of Ferelden returning to Denerim in year 7....yes that still bugs me.

Modifié par Brockololly, 16 juin 2011 - 09:12 .

[Mr.House]

Creid-X wrote...

So honest question here David, since your book establishes it's own canon, as unlikely as it'd be is there even a remote possibility we'll see your version of Hawke?

I know there are many reasons for him/her not appearing at all and maybe it will irk some folks but I'd really like to see a BioWare main character (be it Shepard, Hawke etc...) characterized by a writer, I know it's difficult the way you guys develop games but I always find myself wondering how would it be readings these characters portrayed in a book

Doubt it, Drew has mentioned Shepard, but not by gender, name or even seen. If anything if the Gallows events is mentioned Hawke will be mentinoed but that's it.

[AtreiyaN7]

Wynne's son, eh? This should be interesting. Now I just have to finish the pile of books I have before it's comes out, hehe. I think I can manage to do that before December. *fingers crossed*

[nightscrawl]

David Gaider wrote...

The nature of a novel means it must establish its own canon, and the novel's canon has no relation to the game's canon (such as it is). If you wish, think of the novel as an alternate universe where things took a specific path with regards to Wynne or other events. How those events would have played out in the world of your personal game might have been very different. I am not, however, telling that particular story.

If one expects a novel to follow their personal choices and change accordingly, then their expectations are out to lunch.

David Gaider wrote...

There is nothing happening in the novel that will directly tie into a future game. They are tangentially related at best. In the case of the novel, it takes a few events/characters that have variable outcomes in the games and it chooses one-- establishing an internal canon which is necessary simply by virtue of what it is. If you're worried about this doing so extensively, don't be. I tend to avoid such references unless required.

Since these issues related to lore and cannon of novels and games are coming up, I feel the need to add my 2 copper.

With an RPG like Dragon Age, unless the novels are prequels (as the previous two were) where you are reading established lore, people just have to understand that since actual characters and NPCs lives are influenced by your decisions in those games (that can end in any number of ways), any novel can only take one of those paths. It might not even be a path you were presented with in the game itself. Such is the nature of novel writing. And such is the nature of novel writing where characters a player has power over are presented.

This is what makes RPG novels different from say MMO novels like World of Warcraft. The NPCs that comprise the lore in those novels go on about their daily lives regardless of what the player does. The NPCs are the important figures and leaders in the game world and players are just the ground troops. No matter what, there was a guild somewhere who killed the final big bad raid boss of an expansion. That story is done and the troops performed their role. Whatever else they decide to do with the lore really has nothing to do with player actions.

Going away from games for just a brief moment, it's an entirely different matter when you take a franchise like Star Trek or Star Wars and have novels based on those. IMO, unless they were written by the creator himself (or his assistants,) they are nothing more than glorified fanfic, entertaining though they may be.

Those two scenarios are how people need to look at game novels and their own role, or lack thereof, in them. Ultimately, games are interactive entertainment, while novels are passive entertainment.


I am SO looking forward to reading Shale again. She had some of the best lines in DAO, with Oghren a close second.

I have one main question though regarding these novels: Are there any more prequels in the works? Fleshed out lore ftw.

[Mr.House]

I look at it this way, if players killed Wynn and Shale, those events with those characters never happen for your game world. I highly doubt Wynn and Shale are that important to the start of the war after the Gallows incident.

[namedforthemoon]

Sounds interesting. I still have to finish the first two books, though.

[Imported_beer]

Questions!

1. In your previous books, you wrote about characters as they were before. That would allow more freedom to construct their character, I'd think. Was it more challenging to write a book that is based after the events of DA2? Especially if Wynne is a prominent character? I don't mean this in terms of "plot", I mean in terms of characters. Was it limiting knowing that Wynne was a rather strongly etched out character?
2. Was Wynne easy to write for, given that she was mostly written by Sheryl Chee? Was there any point where you went- huh, don't know if this rings true, let me bounce this interaction off Sheryl?
3. Do the qunari feature in this story? How about Shale? Any other DA characters?
4. Is there DANCING?!!

Modifié par Imported_beer, 17 juin 2011 - 12:28 .

[Ulicus]

Hay Julay wrote...

I think DA books should be made into the "Chose Your Own Adventure" style so people can stop whining about retcons in books that are not necessarily connected into the game canon.

I realise you were joking... but I'd actually /adore/ some "Choose Your Own Adventure" books set in Thedas. In addition to the novels, of course.

CYOA books are awesome.

[Alexander1136]

Luke Barrett wrote...

The Ethereal Writer Redux wrote...
I'm calling it -- Wynne dies in the book.

I heard Snape kills her.

My Grey Warden already decapitated her and the other mages @ morrigan's behest

[foil-]

deleted post ...made moot by last 5 preceeding posts.

Modifié par foil-, 17 juin 2011 - 02:06 .

[ozenglish]

I have to admit, I am looking forward to the books. I have the first two, and other than the fact that I am still irritated with David for not writing the chronicles of Katriel the awesome, I will purchase this.

Other than that, I have found David's work to be entertaining. No offence intended to David, quite the contrary actually, there are times I don't want to sit down and read Tolkein, again, so reading David's work is a breathe of fresh air. The stories flowed well for the first two, and made the filler quite interesting for the background, except the fact that Katriel was not mentioned more often. Other than that I am good with this..

[ozenglish]

Ulicus wrote...

Hay Julay wrote...

I think DA books should be made into the "Chose Your Own Adventure" style so people can stop whining about retcons in books that are not necessarily connected into the game canon.

I realise you were joking... but I'd actually /adore/ some "Choose Your Own Adventure" books set in Thedas. In addition to the novels, of course.

CYOA books are awesome.

My childhood was made up of CYOA books. Hell I continued reading them into highschool.. as did a lot of my other friends..

[Hay Julay]

Ulicus wrote...

Hay Julay wrote...

I think DA books should be made into the "Chose Your Own Adventure" style so people can stop whining about retcons in books that are not necessarily connected into the game canon.

I realise you were joking... but I'd actually /adore/ some "Choose Your Own Adventure" books set in Thedas. In addition to the novels, of course.

CYOA books are awesome.

Actually, yeah. Those would be kind of awesome.

[The Elite Elite]

nightscrawl wrote...
With an RPG like Dragon Age, unless the novels are prequels (as the previous two were) where you are reading established lore, people just have to understand that since actual characters and NPCs lives are influenced by your decisions in those games (that can end in any number of ways), any novel can only take one of those paths. It might not even be a path you were presented with in the game itself. Such is the nature of novel writing. And such is the nature of novel writing where characters a player has power over are presented.

I don't know, the Mass Effect novels have done a good job completely avoiding any kind of references to Commander Shepard, or any decisions she/he made. Now, I know there are a lot more choices in DA (and they tend to be on a larger scale) than ME, so that will be a lot harder to avoid but still.

Going away from games for just a brief moment, it's an entirely different matter when you take a franchise like Star Trek or Star Wars and have novels based on those. IMO, unless they were written by the creator himself (or his assistants,) they are nothing more than glorified fanfic, entertaining though they may be.

Well, from what I understand doesn't Lucas (or at least, his company Lucas books) offically approve all Star Wars books and comics as offical Star Wars canon? (I'm not much of a Star Trek fan, but I do remember hearing that Star Trek books are considered noncanon) If so, that sounds like they are a little bit more than just glorified fanfics.

I am SO looking forward to reading Shale again.

Indeed, such a fun character. Perhaps a chapter of her killing the damnable feathered fiends!