Questa discussione ha avuto 405 risposte

[AngryFrozenWater]

I think the quality of the cinematics in DA2 was great. However, I would like to see several improvements in its contents. In general these have the same theme: It looks like the story told in the cinematics only exists within the cinematics.

In Legacy, for an example, one could see enemies on the move, but as soon as the cinematics ended these disappeared. Most likely the idea was to give a feeling of urgency or pressure. But when these enemies disappear in thin air then it only raises an eyebrow.

Another one: The dialogue in the cinematics should be able to recognize classes when, like in DA2, classes play an important role. If mages are hunted then mage Hawke should be hunted walking the streets of Kirkwall in Act I or the story told in the cinematics should show why this doesn't happen until Meredith grants protection. If in dialogue mage Hawke needs to explain he/she is a mage just after using magic or when he/she carries a staff and wears a robe then dialogue becomes silly.

Another example that doesn't match the story told in cinematics: A merchant who is specialized in selling gear to apostates in the open doesn't make sense.

Modificata da AngryFrozenWater, 10 agosto 2011 - 10:07 .

[Brockololly]

AngryFrozenWater wrote...

I think the quality of the cinematics in DA2 was great. However, I would like to see several improvements in its contents. In general these have the same theme: It looks like the story told in the cinematics only exists within the cinematics.

In Legacy, for an example, one could see enemies on the move, but as soon as the cinematics ended these disappeared. Most likely the idea was to give a feeling of urgency or pressure. But when these enemies disappear in thin air then it only raises an eyebrow.
.

Yup, the viewpoints were good and helped make it seem like some of the darkspawn waves didn't come from no where, but like you said, as soon as you're out of the cutscene, you don't hear the darkspawn or enemies roaming around or anything or see them in the distance.

And just in general, its always an annoyance of mine when the PC does stuff that the player cannot do in the actual gameplay. If Hawke can't kick down a door when I'm controlling him, why can he when I'm watching in a cutscene? That sort of thing often just reinforces the separation between cutscene and gameplay, making the 2 seem even more disparate, when I think BioWare is trying to make more of a whole, seemless experience.

[Sir Edric]

1) The small things that Hawke occationally does is a good thing that should be kept. It gives more life to him/her, and it's good if Hawke sometimes adds a short comment or word even if I don't choose that b/c if I were give the chance to do so, it would be fun. There are people who complain about this system, they say that "My Hawke would never do this". A way to get this to work would be based on what kind of type your Hawke is. For example in a cutscene, a random dude gets thrown through the air by your friend, a sarcastic Hawke shows signs of amusement, a diplomatic shows signs of undue, etc. This way people will be - more or less - satisfied with whatever hawke does. Though you'd have to make every scene very different and obvious.

2) The killing blows is a huge "do want" in my case. Every single time my Warden did a killing blow in DA:O against a genlock, I got all hyped and could have shouted "take that you stinking midget" everytime. It adds excitment and it looks cool as hell. The Witcher 2 has a very intresting way of this where you can take 3 enemies in a single "quick-time" cutscene. Something like that would be nice. Though it would have to work differently b/c of the DA2 fighting style (not saying that there's anything wrong with the fighting style in DA2, 'cause it's awesome still).

Party banter is also a thing I would really love to see. Both DA:O and DA2 had plenty of them, if not loads of them. But it would be fun if you could 'expand' them. Not just having to talk to them when they need someting done. Just having a little chat about how thing are and stuff. One important thing you should add IMO is that you could let your party members ask questions of you sometimes. Sure there are times when they ask a question or two, but little more than that would be fun.

3) IMO, DA2 lacked this. Yeah, people walked around, moved time to time but that's not enough. The whole enviroent should change. If you do time skips like in DA2, there should be things like trees missing, some shops moved, houses different, etc. Youd don't have to have LOTS of people moving at the same time, but instead you could have the people changing when you leave the area and return to it later on.

[rpgfan321]

Well I only played as a mage, but I have to say the cinematic finishing move at the end was A.W.E.S.O.M.E.
It felt like a duel of two mages, fighting to their last breaths. Even though my Hawke wasn't a primal/elemental mage, but the cool factor was off the charts on that one so I let it slide. ^^

But the opening intro was a bit too lax for me. If Hawke is a target for assasination and comes to their homeground, shouldn't s/he look more tense? For me the party seem to just waltz in. Hawke shouldn't look angry coming in, but a little shoulder roll or something to hint to the players (who haven't played the game for well over a month like me) to say that this is a serious situation. And the camera focused on the environments, I think, and not the characters a bit too much. Therefore it lost some focus to the story and more of 'hey look at the pretty pictures!'

And my Hawke (well certainly not my mage) would not kick-open the door! She would carefully open it, take a peek to see if there are monsters abound. My rogue on the other hand would do that though.

And the decorations of darkspawn shields were a nice touch because I would pan my camera around to see if there were any alphas behind it lol! It kept me on me toes!!! But a bit of darkspawn chatter and skittering while wondering around the dungeon could have kept the atmosphere more ... creepy and dangerous.

At times the camera focused on a character too much that it kind of clouded my screen. I'm talking about the finishing move because the focus on the torso of Hawke did not allow me to see the cool magic-ky duel 100%. 

And birds... maybe? Sure the Vimmark Mountains look like a desert, but I'm sure deserts have some other life forms inhabiting the place. Birds flying across the dark moon of the sky... makes the setting more lonely.

But I have to say, Hawke closing her eyes.... *squeeee!* just made me so happy! Little things like that can generate so much emotions and make the transitions sooo smooth. And the camera angle was just perfect. That scene was... just... perfect!!!

[jds1bio]

I've been giving this subject some more thought - in the games we play, we want everything we can see, read, hear, and do to be USEFUL to our gaming experience.  So I asked myself, when does a cinematic go beyond the aesthetic, beyond the stylistic, beyond the flashy, beyond the gameplay-interrupting, and actually be useful to the player? 

My current answer: when the cinematic shows us a scene stressing a plot point or emotion that cannot possibly be conveyed inside the player's gameplay viewpoint.

For instance, the introduction of the dragon at the start of DA2 is a good example of a useful cinematic.  All we really could do as players is stand and watch in dumbfounded amazement as the darkspawn are mopped up, get a sense of the power of the dragon's ability to ascend quickly, and witness the dragon reveal her identity.

But the introduction of the ogre a few steps before, is not quite as useful.  Showing an ogre running up and going "ooga booga" in a cinematic tells us little that we couldn't have seen if the ogre just ran into the battle arena while we were fighting the assorted darkspawn.  Perhaps this cinematic was designed to remove the sibling from play, while focusing the player on the ogre.  While the fate of the sibling is important to highlight, we may have seen this just as effectively, and perhaps more so, had we been able to (futilely) attack the ogre while the ogre was pounding the sibling to death. 

As for the introduction of the idol, we never got the option to hold on to the idol.  The cutscene just passed the idol on until it was with Bartrand, and thus the cutscene was useful to the plot but not the player.  I don't think that's the kind of useful we're looking for.  There are things that are out of the player's control, of course, but having the idol arrive in Bartrand's hands by a means that involved gameplay might have been more satisfying to the player.

Anyways, this was just a thought.  I hope when people are creating cinematics in the future they will continue to think about whether the cinematic is really useful for them, or more useful for the player.

[John Epler]

Well, as to the Bartrand thing - I can cop to that. Totally my fault.

Explanation? Why, certainly.

Initially, the scene was supposed to be (as written), Varric remarks on the idol while the rest of the party is examining the other parts of the room, and Bartrand picks it up. Then, as the party is exploring the rest of the area, Bartrand quietly and carefully backs out before locking everyone in. This would have provided A) a good reason for Bartrand to be the first one strongly affected by the idol, and avoided putting Hawke in a situation where he's doing something that's causing the player to rage at the screen and shout 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU IDIOT? DON'T GIVE THAT AWAY'.

Unfortunately, due to a number of factors (my relative inexperience as it was my first full project in Cinematic Design being a notable one, sadly), I never did get the animations to support this. So what you saw was not what the scene was intended to look like. You may have noticed how poorly the throw-and-catch looked, for example. That is because at that point, we didn't have much for a 'throw object' animation. It was pieced together through the use of about a half dozen other animations, and camera trickery made it look passable.

But you are correct in saying that it's an example of a cutscene where the player isn't given much agency. While I think there is some distinction that should be made between diagetic and non-diagetic information (to steal an audio term - diagetic means existing as part of the same narrative sphere as everyone else in the film/game, whereas non-diagetic means that it is specific to the audience and not intended to be known by the people participating in the narrative). I think it's okay to show -some- non-diagetic information to the player, though I do think it needs to be used sparingly and with an acknowledgment that that's what's being done at that particular juncture.

However, that's a slightly different tangent altogether, although I think it's a valid one.

[fchopin]

One more point on the scene is that it’s not believable the object changed Bartrand in a few seconds so he would just not care about his brother.

If the object was that powerful all people would be affected by just being in the cave.

[esper]

fchopin wrote...

One more point on the scene is that it’s not believable the object changed Bartrand in a few seconds so he would just not care about his brother.

If the object was that powerful all people would be affected by just being in the cave.

It may just be me, but I think Bartrand planned to ditch us all along.

[fchopin]

esper wrote...

fchopin wrote...

One more point on the scene is that it’s not believable the object changed Bartrand in a few seconds so he would just not care about his brother.

If the object was that powerful all people would be affected by just being in the cave.

It may just be me, but I think Bartrand planned to ditch us all along.

That may be the case but i don’t think he would ditch his brother so easily, they have history together and it takes a lot to sacrifice a family member.

[aries1001]

Yes, I thought it was bit odd that Hawke just picked up the idol (in the deep roads) - after Varric (I think?) said something about it being dangerous....even to those who touches it... Very strange...

However, after Mr. Epler's post - it is all clear now....the scene was supposed to play out very differently...

[jds1bio]

JohnEpler wrote...

Unfortunately, due to a number of factors (my relative inexperience as it was my first full project in Cinematic Design being a notable one, sadly), I never did get the animations to support this. So what you saw was not what the scene was intended to look like. You may have noticed how poorly the throw-and-catch looked, for example. That is because at that point, we didn't have much for a 'throw object' animation. It was pieced together through the use of about a half dozen other animations, and camera trickery made it look passable.

Well, it makes sense for Bartrand to enter behind the party since the party is supposed to be clearing the way for the rest of the expedition.  But I suppose the scene as originally written would have made more sense had there been other things in the room to explore upon entering, like a chest or piles of storage crates or extra lyruim or something. 

But I definitely appreciate this, and the challenges behind it.  Much of the handoff to Varric and throw to Bartrand happens just out of the camera's view,  so we don't actually end up missing much when we see it.  Maybe upon entering the room Varric should have run up to the altar first and said "Hawke, check this out." before the cutscene triggered, so that Hawke didn't have to be the one to grab the idol.  But this scenario may have its own cinematic challenges to overcome.

Still, what I like about the scene is that no one actually picks up the idol right away.  It highlights how different the idol is from the other treasures found in the Deep Roads, and demonstrates that greed isn't the primary motivation of the player's party.

Modificata da jds1bio, 11 agosto 2011 - 01:18 .

[nos_astra]

JohnEpler wrote...
Unfortunately, due to a number of factors (my relative inexperience as it was my first full project in Cinematic Design being a notable one, sadly), I never did get the animations to support this. So what you saw was not what the scene was intended to look like. You may have noticed how poorly the throw-and-catch looked, for example. That is because at that point, we didn't have much for a 'throw object' animation. It was pieced together through the use of about a half dozen other animations, and camera trickery made it look passable.

That reminds me to ask you something.

There have been many discussions as to how to interpret the cinematics of the exploding chantry. We only see like four templars and Elthina being obliterated. The debris is falling down far away. We basically don't see that much collateral damage, no civilians fleeing or damage on buildings in Hightown. Some people think, this is just due to time constraints or enigne limitations and the bomb actually destroyed a lot more than we see and killed more people.

What did really happen? Can we trust what we see or should we apply our own imagination?

Modificata da klarabella, 11 agosto 2011 - 01:48 .

[SilentK]

I loved how much more alive my Hawke felt when she was able to show emotions with her face =) That has made me so so happy!

As far as things I really liked to see, the little scene below. Seeing those dwarfs running and my Hawke chasing after them was great! The thrill of the chase. Remember a similar scene in LotSB with Liara that I also enjoy. Too many of these and it would become irritating. But used sparingly they are a lot of fun.

Modificata da SilentK, 11 agosto 2011 - 05:34 .

[miraclemight]

There were some expressions and actions that were strikingly odd comparing to what was happening in the story. To name a few:

- Hawke killing the last corpse in All That Remains quest, and then rather nonchalantly taking out the dagger out of its skull. Not only killing the creature with the dagger was inappropriate, it also lowered the emotional impact of the scene. I imagine the main goal of that cutscene was to show Hawke’s reluctance to face the fate of her mother. In that case, I think it would have been better if the cutscene had simply shown her standing after the fall of the last enemy, head bowed and expression showing regret and melancholy, before she turns around to see Leandra stumbling slowly toward her.

- Hawke opening the door to the room with the first group of genlocks using her feet. While that action had been very funny in Isabela’s quest, here, it only left me wonder why my diplomatic Hawke would do such a thing. It wasn’t even badass. It didn’t have the grace needed to show power in a character. To be honest, that wasn’t something I expect to see her doing even when drunk.

- Hawke charging after the dwarves while holding the Key - something that no player would do if they had control in that scene, because there’s always a chance of setting off release traps.

- Companions turning their heads toward the person talking in a conversation. It was very distracting, especially when two people were giving short answers to each other. “Hello, X” (heads move) “Hello, Hawke” (heads move) “Is this yours?”(heads move) “No.” (heads move) “Really?”(heads move)…  Not to mention that, for example, when a demon is standing in front, no one will ever take their eyes off it, talking or not.

- I’m not sure if this is a bug or not, but when Hawke goes to Cullen to warn him about Anders’ plot to overthrow the Chantry, she does a very strange head-shake movement. It almost made me regret reporting the issue to the Knight-Captain.

- The automatic replies made by Hawke depending on her personality. While it was a nice touch, it sometimes ruined a quest for me. If Hawke likes to jest among her friends, that doesn’t mean she likes to talk like that to the Arishok or Emeric. Not only that, she continues that attitude even after the death of her mother. If there was one point to reset personality scores, it was then.

- I’m aware this is more about the conversation wheel, and less about cinematic, but the written phrases are sometimes completely different with what comes out of Hawke’s mouth. The one I can remember right now is the “It’s unexpected” line available when Anders asks whether he’s making her comfortable or not. Choosing that option will result in Hawke saying “Doesn’t mean I want you to stop”… I expected a shy reply, but instead I got a beckoning one.

And also I think this is the right time to let that personality score kick in. I noticed that most of the romantic replies were either very flirty or sarcastic. It resulted in many ‘this isn’t like Hawke’ moments for me. One of the great things in DAO was the romance sub-plot and how slowly and realistically it developed. That single rose Alistair gave to the Warden made me smile and say: “This RPG is different.”

- In my opinion there were too many close-ups in normal conversations. As much as I like a character, I don’t want the camera to zoom in such a way that makes me feel like they’re talking into my face. Such shots are supposed to emphasis on a specific emotion, but most of the time it’s just their lips that are moving. The body and hands gestures are important in conveying a message, so let us see them.

- Many times, it felt like an action was taking place and ending too quickly. I’ve read most of the posts on this thread, and one thing is usually mentioned in all of them: A scene wasn’t ‘emotional’ enough. The writing and music might be great, but people still say something’s “off”. A cutscene or something as simple as a single hand motion doesn’t last long enough for the eye to see it, for the ear to hear it, and for the brain to understand it.

If you want to leave an emotional impact on your audience, you must give their minds time enough to make unconscious connection to it. My mother has never been abused by a necromancer, my house has never been burned to the ground in a Blight, but somewhere, sometime, I’ve lost something dear in my life. And if you let a scene go on long enough for my memory to unconsciously remember that similar event, I wouldn’t say Leandra’s death seemed dull.

To end this post, I think it’s needed to say that I’m glad that the developers are encouraging constructive criticism. It’s much appreciated.


Edited to correct spacing.
 
 

Modificata da miraclemight, 12 agosto 2011 - 01:40 .

[Shadow of Light Dragon]

JohnEpler wrote...

You may have noticed how poorly the throw-and-catch looked, for example. That is because at that point, we didn't have much for a 'throw object' animation. It was pieced together through the use of about a half dozen other animations, and camera trickery made it look passable.

FWIW I totally dug the throw-and-catch I could tell it wasn't a 'set animation' or whatever, but being able to splice a number of animations together and play with camera angles to pull the desired effect off? That's talent I dread to ask how long it took to script that tiny part of the scene until you thought it looked good enough.

But you are correct in saying that it's an example of a cutscene where the player isn't given much agency. While I think there is some distinction that should be made between diagetic and non-diagetic information (to steal an audio term - diagetic means existing as part of the same narrative sphere as everyone else in the film/game, whereas non-diagetic means that it is specific to the audience and not intended to be known by the people participating in the narrative).

So if I understand correctly, the distinction you're making is what the PC sees vs what the Player sees (which is usually much much more). The risks of metagaming, as a roleplayer might say.

I think it's okay to show -some- non-diagetic information to the player, though I do think it needs to be used sparingly and with an acknowledgment that that's what's being done at that particular juncture.

I agree completely. I have no problem with non-diagetic information, whether for atmosphere or deliberate exposition, but speaking for myself I don't think this was what the Bartrand scene suffered from.

In my first game, I had Anders in the party. Anders makes a very specific remark about the lyrium idol being full of evil magic, and that is, if I understood you before, diagetic information. And on that information alone my PC wanted to leave the idol where it was. Had Anders *not* been there, or not made such a comment, it wouldn't have been an issue. There would have been no solid information that the item was bad news, just a vague creepy feeling which I, as a player, could live with even if the cinematics still showed Hawke picking up the idol (other players may feel differently, of course).

I suppose this comes back to what I said in a previous post about the cinematics and dialogue supporting each other. What is the point of NPCs providing information if your character is not permitted to react to it? Perhaps it wouldn't have mattered so much if there was a sense (or a stronger sense?) that the idol was influencing Hawke to pick it up and pass it on? But then we wonder 'Why is Hawke influenced and not someone else?' Maybe Varric should have been the one to pick it up? Maybe the originally envisioned scene would have worked? XD I dunno, there's plenty of 'maybes' in retrospect, heh.

Thank you for your explanation of the scene!

[kyuubifred]

One of the things that annoyed me a bit was NPCs having conversations from opposite sides of an area; for example, the elf and the guardsman in the Viscount's Keep ("Fine day...isn't it, Chel?") and pretty much everyone in the Dalish camp. Not only was it weird, oftentimes you could only hear what one of them was saying because of the distance.

Also, it's probably somewhat difficult, but I really agree that something must be done about NPCs just standing there while Hawke massacres dozens of bandits and fireballs rain from the sky. Guards should help out, civilians should run away or pull up a lawn chair and a bag of popcorn (ok, not really), and Maker's breath, Templars should not just stand there while Hawke or Merrill slits their wrists and cackles like a madwoman. Mage Hawke and co. never seem to have any issues with the Templars at all... at the very least, I expected some random ambushes with Templars trying to arrest her or her companions.

Finally, this may be more linked to writing, but my other main complaint is that Hawke seems somewhat unemotional in a lot of situations where she ought to be bawling; the first sibling's death seemed to have zero effect on her whatsoever. The Deep Roads death was more meaningful, but I agree with the notion that it should have been a bit...longer? Seemed kind of cut short, somehow, and I didn't really have time to feel sad about it. Leandra's death was a bit better, I think. Also, Anders' freakout in Legacy, as mentioned, and sad Merrill when Pol/Marethari die. Sometimes characters just need a hug.

Thanks much for listening to this criticism. You guys are awesome. :-)

[Aviena]

I haven't read the whole thread, so I apologise if I'm repeating what someone else has already said.

1) Sibling death while fleeing Lothering; Hawke was pretty much expressionless until Leandra claims that it's the player's fault - then BAM heartbroken. Threw me off a bit (but maybe just because I played the demo over.and.over before release).

2) Conversation with the Qunari at the end of Sheparding Wolves - both sides seem completely unconcerned by the possibility of violence, just standing around with weapons sheathed. Stood out here for some reason.

3) End of Act II, when the Arishok orders his forces to kill you/aveline/the guardsmen in the qunari compound. Aveline had it covered, knocking spears out of the air (awesome, by the way), but Hawke and the other guardsmen were totally ineffectual.

4) Scene in the chantry at the end of Following the Qun, when Mother Petrice finally gets what is coming to her - Hawke and the Grand Cleric don't even bat an eyelid at the armed Qunari brutally murdering Petrice, even if she did deserve it. For a minute I couldn't even be sure whether the Grand Cleric saw anything happen at all.


I really noticed cutscene quality improving between DAII and Legacy (Gerav vanishing just when Varric's (Bianca's?) crossbow bolt would have hit him was just aweeeesome) and I thank you for reading over all this feedback!

[Reznore57]

1)When you chase the 3 apostates in Act 3. The blood elf on the alienage.I had this bad feeling , Hawke just watch the elf woman get murdered ,no running , no help , just "can i have popcorn" moment.Maybe Hawke is too far to understand what's going on but it felt stupid.

I had that same feeling with the Qunari who are held hostage by zealots , the templar turn and slit their throat and Hawke is just like "i'm gonna watch you killing them and then i'm so gonna make you pay for this!"

2 /When the dalish Keeper enter the alienage , it was really a beautiful scene , the music was great , no words needed .
I also like the boat trip to the Gallow in the end , it's short , but the characters looks concerned, and it's also symbolic because you arrive in Kirkwall like this.

3/Thing about the coterie/thug/carta , sometimes you can't even remember why you're killing each others , we know they're not friendly people but we don't hear much about them actually having an influence on the city.Seeing them rob someone or hear about them being a threat or influence on everyday life would have been nice .Like using night for more than fighting encounters but as if there's life going on .It doesn't even require cinematics just random pnj talking for example.

[cdtrk65]

Okay not sure how much of this will relate to the request but here is my two cents.

About town's people not reacting to what is going on around them, I had this one comical moment when one of them decided to take a walk through the crowd as I was fighting carta in darktown. It has been a while so he might not have been moving, but they were right in the middle of the fighting without any reaction whatsoever.

One of the things that really annoys me are gestures. I think all the hand waving during conversations is ridiculous at times, particularily when Hawke is angry. You know you've really done it when Hawke starts waving his hands in front of him like a blind man trying to find something. I think one of the strongest moments of Hawkes asserting himself is when he steps between Bethany and Wesley, nothing is said, not funny hand waving, just stepping forward. I would love to more of that kind of stuff, to show assertivness. Creased brows, maybe a little red in the face (not sure how that would work in a game),  head shaking, invading the other characters space, depending on the situation a hand being placed on the weapon, and if the other character doesn't back down drawing the weapon and threating (get rid of the murder knife) for mage maybe a small display similar to what bethany did.

Save the hand waving for sarcastic character.

[rpgfan321]

In retrospect, the story - and subsequently the cutscenes - were just too fast. If the quickened pace were to give a more action-y feel... well I think it was a failure.

I couldn't understand what was happening half the time while I played the game, and was left flabbergasted when it was time for a skirmish. The pace was too quick in my opinion.

And don't just focus the camera on Hawke only too much. S/he may be the PC, but I can't see the surroundings if all I see is the PC. Besides I'm going to focus on my character anyway especially if they are on the middle of the screen.

For example, the sibling in the Deep Roads. Only on my second playthrough did I notice this. After Hawke find Sandal, while she was talking I saw Bethany touching her forehead like she was having a headache. Now when I noticed that, I was wondering if that was intentional or what NPCs do when they just stand around. Given how that chapter turns out, I think it was intentional. But I found the end to be quite out of nowhere therefore I was left confused.

If Bethany were to take some screen space - oh I don't know... 30%? - and were shown with added frequency to show - and not tell - the players that Bethany is sick then it would have more impact. If companions/NPCs were to be deeply involved in the current plot then they should be displayed more than once with some importance rather than at the last moment. That's why I think the death felt forced for me the first time.

Besides Hawke's face remained neutral or unaffected during most of the conversations so directing the camera to Hawke doesn't really add anything.

Modificata da rpgfan321, 13 agosto 2011 - 03:02 .

[Kinaori]

Only thing I'd like to say about cinematics: The ending/denouement should contain one.

They don't have to be great huge clips, but anything in that vein would be better than a PowerPoint slide presentation with text.

That's all

[The dead fish]

Dragon Age 2 lacked an end like that, indeed :

www.youtube.com/watch

We haven't even seen with our eyes how this presaged the future. In view of the end of DA2, to see the Templars pick up the corpses of their brothers died in combat, or mages flee in different directions, would have been nice. It is obvious that things will get worse in Thedas.

Or, with the Templar end, giving a vision of the new Viscount of Kirkwall, which could have been fine to  show really the meaningfull rise to power of Hawk before he disappears.

Infortunately, The battle ends with a black screen and a few words, it's sad. It gives the impression of a lack.
We returned directly to Varric and Cassandra. I felt that the story told wasn't so true as that.

Modificata da Sylvianus, 13 agosto 2011 - 08:12 .

[aries1001]

Last night I beat the Varterral; I was sort of expecting a finishing move like when I killed the mage that did something to my mother )in the game, of course...) or the rock wraith. But no, no finishing move for me, could have been awesome, though. I really like to see more of these finishing moves but only when we're dealing with certain difficult enemies or end bosses like the rock wraith.

[AmstradHero]

1) Any time where Hawke runs into an ambush in a cutscene. Please make this stop. I hate it in every genre that it appears in, and it comes in so many of them. Forcing a player to walk into an ambush is annoying enough, but I understand sometimes designer/writer feel it is necessary. Forcing the player to watch their protagonist walk into said ambush outside of their control is infuriating.

2) Viewpoint snippets.  As several others have noted previously, these were good. If used too much they could end up being merely exposition tools (which would be bad), but used sparingly it's a nice means to give some more setting and potentially some insight into NPC character.

3) Anywhere in Kirkwall. I'm sorry, but Kirkwall, particularly the exteriors, feel bland and stale. The Hanged Man and The Blooming Rose were the only places that really felt like they had atmosphere. Everywhere else, no one is going about their business, no one is interacting - they're all just waiting for Hawke to walk past so they can make the same few comments across several decades. Hightown is especially bad in this regard. You know that I (and I know I'm not alone here) still have difficulty navigating Hightown at times? This is coming from someone who used to play all the Descent games, and if you can navigate in those, you can navigate anywhere. I know you're asking more about ambient storying telling here and this is a level design issue, but really and truly... Heck, if I a toolset patch/version is ever released for DA2, I'd redesign parts of Kirkwall to make them nicer and beg BioWare to take them. I'd do it for free.

Furthermore, If I had to hear about how someone had been "waiting for hours" to see the Viscount, I think I was going to go loopy. This is partially a writing issue, but this was one area where DA2 really felt flat. The reactions of characters whose lives Hawke had affected previously were really interesting, but Kirkwall didn't feel like it had a life beyond reacting to Hawke.

[Solar1101]

As far as cinematics go I was pretty happy. I think continuing to use the in-game engine rather than pre-rendered is always best. I would always like more fleshing out of a story and more branching of the story depending on choices made. I know this makes a great deal more work for you all there but I appreciate it with my hard earned dollars...though admittedly the dollar isn't worth what it once was. Cutscenes like when fenris enters the gallows were great for building character whereas the death of hawke's mother certainly was one of the worst. No real emotion...stoic hawke is stoic. If there was any event to turn him against mages it would be that one if anything.

Having some characters in cutscenes re-appear later in the story chekov's gun style would be great too. I always wish I heard from the magistrate again after I killed his son. I was looking forward to giving him what for...it never materialized. The magistrate's son arc could have been bigger imho especially considering all of the cutscenes that went into it...and the only payoff is waaaayy down the line and immaterial to the story.

So more interaction and more meaningful interactions really. I don't know if you can make a character emote tears...or have a dark haunted look on his/her face but that is somewhere to go. After Hawke's mother was killed he/she might have tried to drown his or her sorrows at the hanged man...the best place to have cutscenes for something like that. Especially since two of your pals base outta there. just my 85 cents...