Mike Laidlaw wrote...
tmp7704 wrote...
The companions are doing that all the time though, chatting about their personal feelings while on the move, in the middle of that dungeon. If it makes sense for them and if it makes sense to the player who might want this feature, it'd be pretty cool if this functionality could be restored....
(really liked that ability in DAO, and pretty much agreed with the sentiment in the post which brought that up)
There is a very big difference between the way the game handles banter and the way the game handles a "full" staged conversation. There are technical reasons why this, while not impossible (few things are in video games), is not very feasible.
Beyond technical, if we were to have these dialogs such that they could play anywhere, they would, by nature, have to be completely static "talking heads" and while I'm aware that some people are fine with that, I do not think it plays to our strengths. I would much rather discuss things with my followers in an area that's appropriate.
So, to be direct: No, you will not be able to have full dialogs with your followers on the road. I completely understand why it's a desired feature, but it is not one we will be pursuing.
(Yes, the danger of an honest and open dialog with developers is that they sometimes say no. Sorry!)
And I think this mentality is one of the biggest problems with DA2's design- taking away control from the player. Along with stuff like taking control away from the player in respect to companion armor and the aforementioned taking control away from the player to have reactive conversations with companions anywhere...and for what? Slightly more cinematic conversations where the camera can zip around and go shakey cam?
I think its a matter of giving the player freedom and choice. The lack of being able to talk with companions on the road in DA2 was part of the game's overall lack of reactivity. Origins worked great in that regard where the mechanism of starting a conversation worked in one way in every location- it was simple and intuitive. It made sense to even the most casual of player- want to talk? Click on them! If I wanted to take a break in the Deep Roads and chat with Leliana about shoes in Orlais, why do you care as the developer where the player has that sort of conversation?
I can understand having certain BIG Important conversations framed and scripted in certain places, absolutely. But a huge problem in DA2 was how every conversation went into dramatic cinema mode, even if the conversation ended up being something fairly inconsequential, or how you'd be standing next to somebody on the road and have a popup in your journal how they want to talk with you. I'd much rather you guys save your resources for the cinematic big guns on moments that actually require it and not every single character interaction. Like Deus Ex Human Revolution seems to be doing in having big conversation moments where its clear they spent a lot of time on them along with more standard fare which makes the big moments stand out that much more.
When every conversation ends up having the camera moving all around and so forth, they all sort of blur together. What was once special becomes mundane. IMO, you need a variety of conversation types- so something like the Dark Ritual in Origins gets the 5 star cinematics and staging but asking a lore question from Sten or a story from Leliana is something you can ask whenever.
Just as much as people like shooting random civilians and hijacking cars to drive them off a cliff in GTA, they do that to test the reactivity of the game world. Is the game going to react when I try to essentially "break" it? Its in that moment when you realize that yes, the cops are chasing you down for running down the dude at the hotdog stand when you're having a blast. That yes, the game is reacting to the **** you've stirred up. Its better than any scripted moment a developer can conjure up because its initiated by the player and in the mind of the player, its their own little narrative.
Its that "Oh ****!" moment in something like BG2 when the Cowled Wizards come at you. In Origins, you had it in the reactivity of being able to click on somebody and "Oh ****!" they actually responded to you and didn't ignore you or give a canned response. You're not worried about the camera smash zooming or having somebody go sit in a chair- you're enjoying the narrative and freedom and reactivity the game is giving you. And its allowing the player to play the game without the developer breathing down their neck, going "You're playing the game wrong! This companion only speaks with you at first light on the fifth day when you look to the east at dawn!"
And its the same thing with being able to randomly kiss your LI on the road in Origins. Its reactivity to something initiated by the player. It surprised me that the game reacted to not only allowing the player to do that, but even in the little quips the other companions would give when you chose to kiss your LI. At that moment you don't give a damn that its not staged in some field at sunset as you skip through the meadows- its about the game reacting to the player in the moment and allowing the player the freedom to create their own narrative, even if its something as small as that.
And as tmp mentioned, in DA2 its even more infuriating and frustrating when the companions are chatting away and having a jolly old time conversing and having ****s and giggles on the road while the PC is rendered mute. Its especially jarring given the voiced PC while at least in Origins you could talk whenever if hearing a banter while on the road made you want to chat with Shale or Morrigan or whoever. And no, having Hawke randomly join banter didn't do much IMO, since more often than not I was left going "Who was that?" since there is zero input from the player in those cases.
TL;DR You need to balance player agency and allow for more player freedom and reactivity, even if that means letting up on having every conversation some cinematic masterpiece.
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