405 réponses à ce sujet

[ISnowdropI]

I also would like to support what was said about giving sexual advances when your Hawke doesn't want to (Isabela).

And I did not like Hawke looking angry at places too, for example right at the beginning, deciding whether to join the mercenaries or raiders, when you talk to Meeran for the first time, Hawke immediately gives him an agressive look that I wouldn't want MY Hawke doing. OK, so he is kind of dodgy and sends his men to kill people but Hawke wouldnt glare at him.
She would be calm and composed whilst probably silently thinking what a d*ck he was. I'd only want to show her anger when really appropriate like when Sister Petrice killed Seamus. Then she can be angry.

Modifié par ISnowdropI, 30 août 2011 - 12:47 .

[Furtled]

ISnowdropI wrote...
when you talk to Meeran for the first time, Hawke immediately gives him an agressive look

I always read that glare as a kind of automatic reponse to Meeran looking over the female Hawke like she's a juicy side of meat, he doesn't do it to male Hawke so there's less glaring involved. Mind how anyone reads that kind of thing is probably going to be heavily influenced by the player at the time.

Modifié par Furtled, 29 août 2011 - 08:30 .

[Sister Helen]

A bit off-topic, but... If we are doing an animation/cinematic wish list, how about in future games they put some additional "casual clothing" options when in the main character's home? I liked having multiple potential outfits on the Normandy in Mass Effect 2 - and the outfits differentiated the characters a bit more on different playthroughs.

The female version of the DA2 "casual clothing" outfit was cute (though it was the only example of a short skirt in the entire game, Hawke's mom didn't wear a similar outfit). The male version, however, made my poor archer-diplomat look like a bad clone of a young Hugh Hefner....

[Furtled]

fibchopkin wrote...
Also- the instance that really jumps out at me in every playthrough is the spot where you're talking to Varric in the Hanged Man in the First Act.  The conversation ends with Hawke saying the line "Great, so now we're adventurers"  Why does her expression always look pissed?  Or is she just constipated?  It doesn' really fit the line for a diplomatic, or even a sarcastic Hawke.  Not huge- but it's always been a bit game-breaking for me.  

I'd forgotten about that - Hawke pulls the most bizarre expression there no matter what personality they are.

[Sister Goldring]

Hi, I'm not going to talk about Legacy here because I've only done one playthrough so far and I don't think that I've absorbed enough detail to comment yet but.....
 
DA2 Cutscenes that really worked for me:
 
Flemeth - the introduction scene where she transforms from a dragon particularly. That scene was epic. I loved the whole dragging of the darkspawn body. It really conveyed the  power and mystery of her character. I also thought that her facial animation was impressive, she looked quizzical and responded in a very human fashion (obviously aided the fabulous voice acting). DA2 Flemeth was a seismic shift from Origins and would easily be one of the top moments of DA2 for me. I very much felt 'go and wreak havoc....you are AWESOME'
 
Orsino's distraction at the Viscounts palace. That was another scene which just made me say 'hell yes'. I also thought that it was an important scene for his character and the mage/templar plot. Mostly the circle mages we come across in DA2 are portrayed pretty much as victims reacting to (either desperately or with resignation)  Meedith's increased paranoia. I thought this scene really effectively showed the force and power of magic in this world without the blood magic complication. It forced me to see Orsino as a powerful character (rather than an ineffective advocate) in his own right and this leant a lot of pathos to his powerlessness in act 3.
 
Without dwelling on what has already been covered extensively, the Arishok. The cutscenes with the Arishok really were a standout feature of the game.
 
Cutscenes that didn't work for me.
 
The top one would be the Fenris romance scene in Act 2 post Hadriana. This is not a nudity issue, I vastly preferred the fade to black over Origins' treatment. The problem (I don't know if it was Fem Hawke specific or not) was the characters didn't line up properly and some transitions were very jerky. Also at some point Fenris seems to loose about 1/3 of his height - I think he was supposed to be slumping. Anyway I found this immersion breaking because it just looked so clumsy. Oh and I didn't even mention his strange wobble-eyed expression. I am definitely pro Fenris and love Bioware romances but this scene just didn't work at all. Mind you I also thought the subsequent conversation between Fenris and Hawke worked well.
 
Bethany's death in the deep roads. I don't know why but it felt very flat to me. I really wanted to feel moved but I didn't. I think it seemed too abrupt or something.
 
The execution of Anders. I did feel strongly that my Hawke wouldn't have stabbed her companion in the back. It didn't feel like an execution but rather a murder and to my mind the whole point of the scene is that Anders is executed for his crimes, that he faces justice. Lop his head off or something but don't sneak up behind him and stab him in the back - it just wasn't heroic. This was a time when I felt agency was taken away from my Hawke.
 
Apart from this there were a few times when I felt the expressions didn't line up with who I wanted to play but really I'd take a slightly ill fitting expression over a blank face any day, so it's not real issue.
 
Ambient story telling - someone said it earlier. The Gallows was a lost opportunity for mage/templar exposition.
 
I would much rather see elements reflecting the central themes of the story/conflict represented in the background than enjoy swirling vistas of birds and the hammering of a blackmith. If you've got a bustling market it should bustle, if you've got a downtrodden underclass I want to see some stomping, if you've got conflicted mages and templars show me someone being horrible juxtaposed with kindness.
 
Well I've finished my breakfast toast now and so that's all the feedback I have time for this morning. I hope everyone's having a great day and that my comments were roughly on topic. 

[Indoctrination]

The one that really stood out to me was the last boss battle. The parts where Meredith just causes the battle to freeze to give a speech were just plain awful and poorly executed.

Stopping battles to have a villain give a speech is something I would expect from the writers of Bleach and not the writers of Dragon Age. It's cheesy, it's campy, and unless you want to create a really cliched anime like Bleach, you shouldn't do it. Also, if you were too far away from her when she freezes everyone to give her little speeches (like say because you're a mage or a bow rogue) then it was really hard to hear what she was saying anyway.

Thanks for hearing us out, Mr. Epler!

[MiniMosher]

you could use the main menu music for really emotional bits, perhaps cut out the orchestra and keep that vocal part in, people will recognise with the melody from constantly hearing it and gather it must be an important part of the story, think of how every time in halo the plot hit a turning point the choir kicks in

the DLC was fun, I loved my hawke kicking the door open! it demonstrated to me that bioware know how to make good DLC, as LotSB was also epic

your character designs really shine in your cinematics too

is there any chance we can get a DLC to get isabella back? (she ditched me in act 2) I dont really have the time to have another playthrough, say she ran into trouble some years after leaving and you bump into her shortly after the gallows battle while she's on the run, alternatively if a player kept her in their party, the fact she stayed with hawke let this problem get worse because she didnt leave to tend to it, Im no writer pro so its just a request

[Pasquale1234]

I didn't read the entire thread, but wanted to toss my 2 coppers into this conversation.

I'll start by stating my general philosophy where cinematics in video games are concerned:  less is more.

Every time I see my protag on screen, I am taken out of the role-playing experience and into the "watching an interactive movie experience".  While I enjoy films, watching a film is supposed to be a different experience than role-playing in a game.  The heavier the use of cinematics in games becomes, the more they become interactive movies rather than role-playing games.

HallowedWarden wrote...

Addai67 wrote...

I think people have already stated numerous times where having the camera focus on Hawke was a drawback. People talk about the lifeless Warden, but there's risk in having the PC show facial expression that doesn't fit with the player's imagination. So just limit those camera angles. I'd rather not see my PC at all than see her react inappropriately.

I agreed with your first paragraph, too, but I wanted to comment on this.

I agree very much with this. The over-the-shoulder shot with the Warden meant that you could imagine your own facial expression on your character. If you're shocked, your Warden could also be shocked. Considering that you're at an angle where you're almost in the same position as your Warden (facing the speaker), and the face isn't shown, helps convey that your Warden could be reacting in the same way that you are. It's like near-first person, and I think that helps. Showing a blank Hawke, or a Hawke conveying a reaction that doesn't match how you want Hawke to react, both situations can be very damaging to one's enjoyment. It takes away that feeling that this is actually your character because said character is doing something you wouldn't want them to be doing.

This.  So very much this.  I would love to see more over-the-shoulder angles and even direct first-person views - and it seems that quite a few folks in this thread are indicating that Hawke's reactions were sometimes out-of-character for the Hawke they wanted to role-play.

I think it may be much easier to allow players to initiate conversations with companions anywhere if the shots were more first-person with the companion in a full close-up and an out-of-focus background.  The background could use different generic palettes depending on the location.

Far too often, the triggering of cutscenes interrupts gameplay and takes control away from the player.  When a cutscene triggers immediately before a battle, your previously positioned companions are now all standing there with you instead of where you left them.  When a cutscene triggers immediately after a battle, you are not able to collect the spoils of victory (loot the corpses).  In many cases, if your party falls in battle, you have to replay a cutscene/dialogue repeatedly until you can get through it.  Not fun.  Anything you can do to help the player initiate when a cutscene is triggered (like clicking on an NPC) would be very much appreciated.

One of my favorite uses of cutscenes in games is to show us what is happening off-screen, for example Loghain and Arl Howe's scenes in DAO.

DA2 delivered a perfect opportunity for heavy use of these during the time skips between acts.  I always found it difficult to wrap my head around the idea that 3 years had supposedly passed from one act to the next, and the game design didn't help much, because you went from the last scene in one act to the first scene in the next act with no sense of any break in time.  It would have been truly brilliant and innovative, imho, to have used cinematic montages to "show, not tell us via codex entries" what had happened during those time skips.  A collection of short clips and still images to fill in those blanks.

For example:
- Hawke getting the mansion, inviting the Bodahns, getting settled in.
- GW sibling's joining and going out to slay some spawn with a couple of other wardens.
- Bethany passing her harrowing, settling into the circle, and taking on apprentices.
- Carver swearing in as a templar recruit and proceeding with training.
- Leandra out shopping and having some gentlemen coyly flirt with her (could have been a nice lead-in to the dialogue where she says she's thinking about getting married again)
- Dog charging Aveline's guardsmen in training
- The conversations between companions that we were instead shown when we went to their homes to talk to them could have been used here instead.
- Aveline and Donnic's engagement and wedding.
- Varric trying to get out of merchant guild meetings, and conducting his other business.
- Anders healing people, working on his manifesto, plotting with the mage underground.
- Fenris brooding while he watches spiders build webs in the pile of wine bottles at his feet.
- Merrill working on the eluvian and going out alone at night where Varric's friends protect her while she remains oblivious.
- The card games we only hear about.
- Isabela getting drunk, getting hit on, looking for the relic.
- Hawke and LI having a romantic dinner, cuddling by the fire.
- Any other scenes that could have filled in the blanks and shown us what they were doing during the timeskips.

It would have been a lot of additional work, I know, but I have no doubt that your talented animation team could have made it truly brilliant.  And I feel that it would have enhanced gameplay much more than some of the cinematic scenes we did get.

Thank you for this thread - your interest in our feedback is very much appreciated.

ETA - a few examples of some first person cinematics that I think could have brought the player into the game at a much deeper level:

- Leandra's Death - a brief scene of Hawke approaching her and taking her into her arms, then cut to Hawke's POV.  You would be seeing Leandra up close as you are holding her while she is speaking.

- Post-coital dialogue with Merrill - Show Merrill lying in bed  alongside Hawke from Hawke's POV.  It would be a shot of Merrill lying in bed, but it would be vertical because you are lying next to her.  I think that would draw the player into the scene much more than watching both of them as an observer.

Modifié par Pasquale1234, 05 septembre 2011 - 07:43 .

[Sir Edric]

Sister Goldring wrote...
Bethany's death in the deep roads. I don't know why but it felt very flat to me. I really wanted to feel moved but I didn't. I think it seemed too abrupt or something

It missed sad music. I couldn't hear anything playing in the background.

[fchopin]

Vrex_12 wrote...

Sister Goldring wrote...
Bethany's death in the deep roads. I don't know why but it felt very flat to me. I really wanted to feel moved but I didn't. I think it seemed too abrupt or something

It missed sad music. I couldn't hear anything playing in the background.

Yes, it was very abrupt, to make something emotional you need to build on the theme so you have time to experience and let the feeling sink in.

[Momiji.mii]

The only thing that really bugged me was when the character's faces didn't match up when they were kissing in the romance scenes. Other than that, I enjoyed the cutscenes a lot and I thought they were well done. I don't mind Hawke showing emotions or reactions, it made him/her feel more alive than the Warden ever did and I wouldn't want that new aspect of the protagonist taken away.

[sevalaricgirl]

I don't think there was a problem with Hawke showing emotion. I don't think there was enough emotion. I'm playing it again and when Hawke's mother dies, there really isn't emotion but they did the viscount and his son very well. I think Hawke is emotionless a lot more than the script requires.

[artsangel]

Having now played a bajillion times, here are the cinematic non-dialog things that always jar against my RPing and take me way out of the moment.

- Hawke kicking open doors. Sure this works for aggressive Hawke, but diplomatic female Hawke? It's so far out of character it's not funny.
- Hawke smiling with interest after Isabela invites him/her to her room at the Hanged Man. The initial raised eyebrow is fine as it can be interpreted several ways, but then Hawke starts smiling as well which I've never liked.
- Hawke looking angry at Petrice before the fight with Varnell. This doesn't work at all with my Hawkes who support Petrice and are anti-Qunari. The game pretty much tells us to hate her, we have very little opportunity to RP otherwise (even if we save her life, it still has "I don't want to see you again" undertones).
- After the final battle with Meredith, Hawke has this sort of sneer on his/her face when looking down at Meredith's corpse. Again, you're forced to hate Meredith by the cinematics. What if my Hawke was sympathetic or sad about this turn of events?

Those are the only things that really bother me. It'd be nice if more of these non-vocal emotive displays changed depending on our Hawke's personality or prior choices, if we can't be given the option to choose a way to act.

[deegio]

Just finished another playthrough, and I was thinking about how some of my favorite aspects of the cut scenes were the little details. 

- When the Arishok tosses the Viscount's head down the stairs, and the head rolls to a stop and the crown zips past.  The angle was brilliant.

- There's a eerie grace to the scene where Orsino decides to use blood magic and the corpses coalesque around him.  One of the hands almost caresses his face, and right after that his eyes change--it was a really powerful visual, IMO.

- I like the expression on Fenris' face in the Act 2 friendmance where he shoves Hawke against the wall, then realizes what he's done and looks like he's about to bolt.  There's a huge range of emotion packed into just a few seconds, but it's so well executed.  That's my favorite romance scene because everything triggers right and it looks perfect, like the characters are really interacting with each other and aren't just models following a script.

- Isabella's Act 2 romance scene, where she finds the third dagger, glances and it, and tosses it over her shoulder.  For some reason that makes me smile every time.  There's so much personality shown through that gesture.  Similarly, I like Isabella's entire demeanor when the bad poet is hitting on her (the way she signals for a drink, the look on her face).

There are a lot of little moments throughout the game, but these, especially the first two, stuck with me. 

[Yuqi]

This is a minor thing,and I know its a bit*h to animate, but would it be possible to see some hair being blown in the wind.

When hawke is on the coast for example, it would have added some atmosphere to the scene.

Modifié par Yuqi, 15 septembre 2011 - 03:15 .

[TEWR]

Yuqi wrote...

This is a minor thing,and I know its a bit*h to animate, but would it be possible to see some hair being blown in the wind.

When hawke is on the coast for example, it would have added some atmosphere to the scene.

I liked how Decimus' hair and Aveline's hair bounced around in cutscenes, and would gladly like to see the PC's hair (and even the companions' hair) blow in the wind on certain maps.

I'd also like to be able to give my PC really long hair. I wanted to make my Dalish Elf have hair as long as the little artwork Dalish Elf that looked like a badass, but it never looked right, and that was due in part to the fact that the hair choices couldn't be that long.

[Nimrodell]

I feel embarassed Mr. Epler, for posting here for the third time... and yet again, I feel this needs to be said, regarding cinematics in game.

To be honest, I don’t know what’s the policy in USA on scenes depicting love, but you could actually separate scenes that depict plain lust in main character from those that depict love. I know it would require additional work with story design department also, but from what I’ve seen so far, majority of mods in DA:O (not seen DA2 mods yet that r referring this issue, but I suppose it has to do with toolset itself) were actually referring to this issue – love depiction, and let me tell you, they were actually right on this one. And, from what I’ve seen so far on these boards, as well on ME boards, people actually care about this... hell, they even want gay versions or fighting against them, so tis not something to turn blind eye on.

I still cherish the love scene in ME1 (female Shepard loving Kaidan) and I was shocked when I learnt there were problems with it, thanks to FOX TV... that’s how love actually looks like and if we speak about purity and moral – in that scene, true love and purity were actually depicted. Same goes for Hawke’s first kiss with Anders or general feeling on love with Alistair... but... still, false moral prevailed ( tis ok to chop someone’s head off, but tis wrong to show how love looks like... I know, too many discussions already been there on that topic, but still).

I still remember love scenes with Alistair, with Warden that actually died to save him and kept loving him, not official ones, but modded ones that shown how loving someone should look like (Mr. Epler, if you didn’t see these modded scenes, I ask you humbly to actually watch them now. There’s no profanity in them, just sheer emotion incarnated in body itself... like you did with Anders’ kiss in DA2. The link I gave you, the thing modders did with Alistair is actually way to go... one can see emotion on his face and yet there’s no profanity, nothing ’dirty’ in there... It’s just how one man loves one woman (person) and how he feels. Mr. Inon Zur composed proper music and even though original, official scene was nice, it still was constrained by fear... same as with Hawke and Anders (not going into Fenris or Isabela version or Merril, one can see chains on each). Just make NPC’s facial expressions consistent – showing that urge and desire... there’s no need for anything else, just emotions embodied in them, as I said, like you did with Anders.

I’m not writing this ’cause I’m desperate person, needing game to fulfill my secret dreams since I’m not capable of doing it in real life... tis opposite (tbh never played Sims, nor do I know how it looks like, but even in WoW, I was touched when I saw Kalecgos falling in love with Anweena or Arthas and Jaina). I’m happily married for many years, still knowing what true love is.... and I cheer for BW acknowledging this aspect of life, for being brave to show it (since tis nothing wrong to kill, be brutal in virtual lives of ours, but it is wrong to love, well, show corporeal version of it... and we claim we had sexual revolution and liberation from old ways). I think, that in cinematics you do, you should actually look at mods and be brave, sometimes. Give more moments like kiss from Anders, modded first night with Alistair or ME1 moments... Hey, loving someone is important same as killing lol. If Sophocles supported love in Antigone by having Haemon loving her and dying for her, thus provoking even bigger catharsis, I don’t see the reason why BW should not be able to continue walking down (or up ) that path. If you read this, I’m grateful, not that my gratefulness means much, but still... I thank you.

[jbrand2002uk]

Having only scanned the previous 8 pages this might have been mentioned already but here goes:
The Cinematics or FMV's as i used to call them:
at the end of Legacy when your Hawke notices something is different about Janeka/Larius maybe its just me but i felt when he questioned him/her Hawke just gave up to easily on it which was a minor one for me but the major one also persisted while playing the game which was clipping issues mainly to do with armour and weapons like edges of the pauldrons,sword tips,dagger blades and ends of the bows intruding into the main body of the armour.Or part of the Arishoks clothing going through his legs when he sits down and likewise your characters Bow/staff going through what is obviously a very solid seat base when you sit to talk to Merril and in a related issue npc citizens walking right through you PC's body like when your talking to Bartrand to tell him your ready to go on the expedition.

As for ambient story telling it did surprise me during the normal game at least how citizens or patrolling guards could be completely oblivious to you being attacked by carta etc i at least expected citizens to run away screaming or something but they just walk on as if nothing happend and little things like flags and banners moving in the breeze

[Loyal Tevinter]

I loved the finishing moves at the end boss, they were awesome! One thing I really loved (and stated in another post) was having Hawke participate in an optional old god worship ritual. When creating a character, I would like to have the ability to select some sort of preference as to what religion or belief they follow, if any. The different viewpoints would be interesting and it would bring people a feeling of being close to the character they create.

[Foolsfolly]

As for ambient story telling it did surprise me during the normal game at least how citizens or patrolling guards could be completely oblivious to you being attacked by carta etc i at least expected citizens to run away screaming or something but they just walk on as if nothing happend and little things like flags and banners moving in the breeze

I remember this happening. I specifically remembered laughing with my first Mage Hawke summoning fireballs from the sky down on a civilian just walking around the battle field. My current playthrough hasn't had this happen yet. I think this is fixed now with one of the patches (I have no idea which, this is the first time I've gone through the game with any of the patches).

But I don't see them wander into fights anymore. I don't see anyone on the streets when there's a fight. I think they just disappear now.

[TEWR]

Foolsfolly wrote...

As for ambient story telling it did surprise me during the normal game at least how citizens or patrolling guards could be completely oblivious to you being attacked by carta etc i at least expected citizens to run away screaming or something but they just walk on as if nothing happend and little things like flags and banners moving in the breeze

I remember this happening. I specifically remembered laughing with my first Mage Hawke summoning fireballs from the sky down on a civilian just walking around the battle field. My current playthrough hasn't had this happen yet. I think this is fixed now with one of the patches (I have no idea which, this is the first time I've gone through the game with any of the patches).

But I don't see them wander into fights anymore. I don't see anyone on the streets when there's a fight. I think they just disappear now.

I miss having backup when going into a fight. At least on the Lake Calenhad Docks the Templar that prayed there would assist you. And the dude fought with his fists! Oh and the mages in the Circle when fighting Shah Wyrd.

...Bioware, I approve of Epic Lake Calenhad Templar Guy being made into a companion for DA3.

Seriously though, I'd like for the citizens of a city to at least run to one area to try and avoid the fight while having that scared trembling animation that the mage in the Gallows had in Act 3. And soldiers/guards/mages should assist the player in defeating the enemies.

I mean, when I was fighting the Guardsman Pretenders in front of two actual Guardsmen, they just stood there with a blank look on their face. At least I think they had a blank look. Full helms tend to make it hard to tell what their facial expressions are like.

[jbrand2002uk]

I remember after 1 fight in Hightown with the Guardsmen Pretenders I felt like walking up to one of the real guards who had walked by completely oblivious to what was going on and saying "Should have gone to specsavers now there's 20% off all Bifocals,Varifocals and contact lenses, hurry offer ends tuesday Terms and conditions apply"

[Gibb_Shepard]

Cutscene wise, i think you guys left out too much content.

The Sibling's death in the deep roads was done poorly. It was fade in, fade out, all over. The music definitely didn't help either. I personally think that Hawke killing Bethany/Carver SHOULD have been shown. It would have made it so much more emotional and real. Instead of insinuating a circumstance, you should SHOW it. SHOW me what has hapenned, not tell me.

Another instance is after the Qunari invasion. You become the champion, and its all over. We don't get to see the destruction caused, there was no resolution, just a skip in time, though i do have a bias as i hated the framed narrative. Still, a nice small cutscene at the end would have resolved the situation nicely, kind of like with the Redcliffe invasion by the living dead. There was a nice resolution to that, and it was merely a 15 second cutscene.

[VampOrchid]

I REALLY love the creepy vibe thing they do when dealing with someone possessed or dealing with blood magic. We saw it when you do the quest " On The Loose" and you meet up with the Elf mage Huan (I think that's how we spell it) The Cinematic effect did it's job, eerie feelings ahoy! Just like with Connor in DA : O, that was perfect. I think dark, scary is DA style and they should stick with it.

[LadyBri]

The only thing I can think of right this second is something I don't think I've seen anyone discuss. I play on the PS3 so maybe it is related to that, or maybe it's just me.

Anyway - In the deep roads, why do Bethany and Carver look completely different? When you see Bethany on the way to the surface she looks horrible as if she is a second away from turning full-ghoul. Carver, besides looking a bit uncomfortable, looks exactly the same. Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed this? I wish Carver had looked as infected as Bethany because her face scared the crap out of me the first time I played.