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Mark Darrah on the conclusion of Dragon Age II


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#1126
Ilysail

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Maverick827 wrote...

LPPrince wrote...

It'd also be odd seeing a lithe elf with the same voice as a gruff human or massive qunari.

Qunari is most likely out, but voice really doesn't have much to do with "litheness" or "gruffness."  Why are you already forcing my elf to be lithe and my human to be gruff, anyway?

The right voice can fit an elf, human, and dwarf.


Fenris sounded pretty dang gruff :P
The only thing stopping the same VA from voicing multiple races would be the accents i suppose.

#1127
Rorschachinstein

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The talent trees. Felt better built in DAII.

But there were so few of them............

#1128
gangly369

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Maverick827 wrote...

LPPrince wrote...

It'd also be odd seeing a lithe elf with the same voice as a gruff human or massive qunari.

Qunari is most likely out, but voice really doesn't have much to do with "litheness" or "gruffness."  Why are you already forcing my elf to be lithe and my human to be gruff, anyway?

The right voice can fit an elf, human, and dwarf.


It wouldn't be impossible to see (the elf would have to be from the city to avoid the dalish accent), but I still don't think it's very likely.

And like someone posted earlier, whats the point if 85% of the people are going to play a human anyways, like they did in DA:O? Fans kinda shot themselves in the foot with that kind of statistic (just putting it out there, of my 10 playthroughs, I only did the human once! Dwarf Noble ftw!!!)

Edit: Oh and Dalish elf too ftw. He ended up being my canon character due to us meeting his clan in DA2 

Modifié par gangly369, 20 mars 2012 - 03:02 .


#1129
Maverick827

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gangly369 wrote...

And like someone posted earlier, whats the point if 85% of the people are going to play a human anyways, like they did in DA:O? Fans kinda shot themselves in the foot with that kind of statistic (just putting it out there, of my 10 playthroughs, I only did the human once! Dwarf Noble ftw!!!)

What's the point of flat out asking your players what they want you to do for your next multi-million dollar project if not to try to incorporate those little-known, "fringe" desires?

#1130
Magnusvonkilgore

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Dear god I'm super-attached to my Hawke. Don't make us change characters!!! nooooooooo!!!! noooooooo!!!! nooooooo!!!!!!

#1131
Rorschachinstein

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Maverick827 wrote...

gangly369 wrote...

And like someone posted earlier, whats the point if 85% of the people are going to play a human anyways, like they did in DA:O? Fans kinda shot themselves in the foot with that kind of statistic (just putting it out there, of my 10 playthroughs, I only did the human once! Dwarf Noble ftw!!!)

What's the point of flat out asking your players what they want you to do for your next multi-million dollar project if not to try to incorporate those little-known, "fringe" desires?


Because those little aditions cost more money than they attract. And from the recycled locations, DA could use as much money as possible

#1132
gangly369

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Maverick827 wrote...

gangly369 wrote...

And like someone posted earlier, whats the point if 85% of the people are going to play a human anyways, like they did in DA:O? Fans kinda shot themselves in the foot with that kind of statistic (just putting it out there, of my 10 playthroughs, I only did the human once! Dwarf Noble ftw!!!)

What's the point of flat out asking your players what they want you to do for your next multi-million dollar project if not to try to incorporate those little-known, "fringe" desires?


Hey, I got no problem with it. I just think it'd be a lot of work to get all the character models down for the various different cutscenes, the different reactions you would get from people, the need for the PC to have more lines based on your race, the need to make the story fit all three races, people will want personal quests associated to what race you pick, etc. I just think that to have to go through that much more work, and only have a very small minority play as a dwarf and elf, is kind of a waste.

By all means ask for it. I'm just saying I don't think it's likely is all :mellow:

#1133
Dave of Canada

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Alrighty, full serious discussion now that I've found more secure wi-fi, here's a DA2 supporter's mini-post-mortem? :P

The news that we've reached the conclusion of Dragon Age II is disappointing, as I eagerly awaited a post-Act 3 DLC which possibly involved the ramifications of Hawke's decisions and seeing some of the group again with a final farewell. Hawke might've been my favorite Bioware protagonist for one sole reason, he rarely won out in the end.

Seeing the protagonist as some key figure who fails rather than achieving what they've set out to do was brilliant and new, reaching the ending and seeing the Templar kneel before me in success was great because having slain the mages, it didn't feel like a victory.

Unfortunately, the game felt like if Hawke was simply some hired thug running around doing jobs other people didn't want to do. This grew tiresome, not simply because of the reused dungeons or the countless enemy waves but because all Hawke was capable of doing was fighting.

The side quests suffered the same problem that Mass Effect 1 suffered, fight through a map and then reach the end for a fight or a discussion and then walk out. Side quest completed. This tarnished Hawke as a character, he wasn't capable of trying to do something different and was always carrying out the whims of the others through simple brute force, it felt like he stumbled onto being Champion rather than achieving it and being the legend which he's supposed to be (though I guess that's part of the game's theme of Hawke not being the legend :P).

Variety is the spice of life, Mark of the Assassin's "stealth" segment was great because it offered me another option than simply brute forcing through like I had been doing for centuries. Despite it's rather unrefined and experimental state, it allowed Hawke to do something rather than be brutish. 

More variety, be it through dialogue / combat or more would simply be nice, rather than feel like you're trudging through the same route. ~killallhostiles shouldn't be the one solution for most quests, though I do understand why resource wise this would be more difficult. Working on a very ambitious project right now and it's already causing headaches, can't imagine how it would be with a lot more people.

As for the dialogue, the biggest problems with it was when it directly lied to my face. Most noticible in the Mark of the Assassin scenario which has Hawke threaten or make demands of Tallis, only for her to dismiss it and Hawke says nothing more of it. This wasn't very much a dialogue wheel issue, just more overall as even knowing how Hawke would've said the line wouldn't have changed anything.

Regarding the issue which people have with the dialogue wheel, possibly introducing the option where highlighting an option on the wheel reveals the full line at the top of the screen with lowered opacity would possibly be nice. It certainly wouldn't appease everybody, as it wouldn't cover small coversations which Hawke (or protagonist 3) can have from that one line, it would probably solve quite a few people's qualms with it.

Companion looks are something I was fine with, however I felt the gearing issue wasn't quite fun and made the armor types which I couldn't wear nothing more than vendor trash. However, you've pretty much already have covered it through the multiple panels and more. I still believe iconic looks are for the best, though maybe introducing minor differences based on the armor type could create some differing appearances while still having visual impact (Heavy armor on Varric leads to him wearing plates underneath his jacket, shinguards, ect).

Nitpick as I reformulate my thoughts:
Another problem with Dragon Age 2 was it's lack of early newbie exposition, it barely threw onto you what you needed to know about the world of Thedas unless you've previously played Origins. While Dragon Age: Origins had the full scene being voiced by Duncan, explaining briefly the dwarven kingdoms / the blight / the grey wardens / the tevinter / how grey wardens aren't respected as they used to be.

All before throwing you into the character creation scene. You'd get some basis and knew enough to get into the world of Thedas, you'd meet the Chantry and hear more about the Tevinter and see the Darkspawn in action later but at least you knew what they were.

Unfortunately, newer players were completely lost upon jumping into Dragon Age 2. I had to sit next to a friend and explain them things, they might've learned more had they gone further into the game's intro without asking questions but first opinions are often the strongest and leaving the person bewildered isn't the way to earn their faith in your universe.

Image IPB
Though keep this cutscene style, it's awesome.

All that DA2's intro set up was the framed narrative, how unreliable Varric was and that Loghain betrayed Cailan and the Blight destroyed Lothering. Casual information for the previous player, though why should the new player care? Having to explain to my friend why mages were prosecuted by the Templar, what the Templar were and what apostates were and various other things wasn't entertaining.

Moving onto the Mage / Templar war, we're going to need a lot of exposition early. The player musn't jump into the game with the wrong idea, they must know what mages and templar do and why mages are dangerous / templar are fanatical. They need basis to grow their own opinions from, not be thrown into the game and be forced to build it themselves.

In addition to all of this, the game needs to rely less on hearing about things and seeing it. Here's something I've written before about this issue, it's a darn shame how a lot of things are hidden and not noticed because of camera angles.

That should be enough, I grow weary as I'm over 48 hours without sleep at the moment.

Modifié par Dave of Canada, 20 mars 2012 - 03:08 .


#1134
Meglort

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DAO was one of, if not my all time favourite PC game and I still play it.

It has a complex, detailed world and story and it just kept making me smile when I played it initially.

Each of the major quests combined to deliver an intense story and the characters to me were like people I knew. You managed to capture for me all the best things that I want in a game and (apart from the bugs - especially in DAA) the quality was excellent.

I liked the world, the narrative, the styling of the UI, the playing style, the combat, ...
Would replace the crafting from KoA, which I have to say is the best I have ever experienced but all in all, brilliant.

Further, because of the toolkit it could be modded, so the community fixed the things you didn't and couldn't for economic reasons and the game is still growing - even today, and we are still playing it.

DA2 in contrast (for me at least) was like a poor quality, knock-off, hack and slash on rails that had less depth overall than one of the single storylines from DAO. If taken in the context of ME2 and ME3 progressively this seems to be the direction things are going with BioWare unfortunately.

I have tried 3 times to play through DA2 and have never made it past Act II it is that bad a user expeirence for me.

Pre-ordering the signature edition was the worst game buying decision I have ever made. Trust broken without question and nothing said or done since has restored it - on the contrary it has confirmed my worst fears.

Until today I was strongly under the impression that folks in my situation were just idiots that didn't get your innovation and we were just stereotyped as intentionally hating DA2 because it wasn't DAO2. Rather - it just was not a game I would have ever enjoyed or bought and gives me a cramp in my hand when I play with little or no deep enjoyment.

So I really hope you folks can get it together for another DA product that makes me want to start spending money on you again. I haven't gone near ME3 or any of the DA2 DLC for a reason...

One final point, neither Fallout 3 (whichever variant), The Witcher 1/2, KoA nor Oblivion/Skyrim have voiced protagonists or complex cinematics but they are all much better and personally involving games IMHO and I hope you could consider that it doesn't have to be a GenY oriented interactive movie to be a great game in this era. I would rather see you spend bottom line cost on game mechanics, richness and story itself before that kind of gumph.

I have been monitoring the forum here for months in the hope of seeing something like this thread..!

#1135
Trevorish

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First off, I enjoyed Dragon Age II. There were some things I thought you did really well, mainly the companions. I was impressed by how tied into the story all of your companions were, particularly Anders who was in my opinion geniusly written.

However, my biggest problem with Dragon Age II is how empty it feels. I think the idea of the game taking place in a large city and watching it change through the years has a lot of potential. Unfortunately, Kirkwall didn't really feel like a living breathing city to me. In your other games, such as Dragon Age: Origins as well as earlier ones such as Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights, there are many npcs that don't have a specific purpose as a questgiver or a merchant and yet you can have conversations with. These characters are what gives the place life. In Kirkwall, not only were there very few simple commoners and refuges (even though setting wise there should be hundreds) you couldn't talk to most of them. I would also like being able to strike up conversations with merchants instead of clicking on their shops. It helps you become attached the world and the people in it. I have fond memories of exploring the cities of Baldur's Gate, Athkatla, Neverwinter, Taris, the Imperial City, the Citadel and Denerim; but I don't feel attached to Kirkwall even though I spent more time in it.

I would also like to see more non-combat quests. I love the typical Bioware quests to go talk to someone about something, or investigate some mystery, or form peaceful negotiations - quests that don't end in combat. An example is the Citadel in Mass Effect 1 in which you spent a lot of them there doing little quests and investigating Saren and yet I only can think of 3 or 4 fights off hand. These parts of the game allow you to really get attached to the setting, causing more emotion should these familiar locations and people become endangered later.

Finally, I would like to see the return of non-combat skills, such as persuasion. I love being able to talk myself out of a fight, or to sneak into a building to spy on the enemies, etc. These alternate methods to combat are sometimes just as exciting as the epic battles themselves. An example that comes to mind is in DA:O when the PC and Alistair are captured by Ser Cauthrian and locked in Fort Drakon. You had the choice to wait for rescue or try and escape and both options provided a multitude of different combat and stealth/diplomacy situations you could use. Quests like these filled with different methods are able to appeal to many different types of play and also increase the replay value tremendously. I would love to see more of these in Dragon Age III, as opposed to always having to resort to combat.

Modifié par Trevorish, 20 mars 2012 - 03:10 .


#1136
eyesofastorm

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Mike Laidlaw wrote...

jackofalltrades456 wrote...

I guess we're not going to win with the silent protagonist, but can we still see the return of the text wall? Save the text wheel for Mass Effect, please...

As I said many times, I hate "Hello" being." Hello there! I want set you on fire!"


Deeper dig: is the issue that you didn't know what you'd say, or that you did or said something unexpected?

I'll admit that I'm biased; I don't like reading a choice and then hearing the exact same thing read aloud to me. However, I can absolutely agree with concerns about being blindsided as per your example above.


I saw you do this a lot during development and post-release of DA2.  You kind of deconstruct what people say are their preferences, spin it a little bit, talk about what you prefer and then what you prefer shows up in the game.  Problem is, these things you prefer, judging by the reaction to DA2, tend not to be the thing that "the majority" of the fans of the  Dragon Age franchise prefer.  And at least as bad as making decisions that split the fanbase or outright turn it against you, you come off as putting your preferences before "ours" and I suspect thats why so much angst was directed against you personally.  I'm telling you how to do your job here... take notes.  Be careful with this.  

#1137
Argraharg

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The origins stories in DAO was a great idea and if there will be something like that in DA3 I guess my wallet would open a bit more. Especialy if we can play as dwarves again because dwarves are awesome.

Game of the year editions are a great service and if you will plan to put DA3 plus DLC in a neat package sometime in the future that would be great. By the way, a DA2 GotY edition would probably make me give that game a try.

Since I realy enjoyed DAO I am certain that you can make a great DA3. Good luck and I am looking forward to hear more about this project.

#1138
Hayes1987

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I think my main concern about DA's franchise in the future is the sort of disappearing act the main characters go through. It's quite understandable with the warden but I have concerns about these important people just leaving the scene. In a game of DA2 I played, my Hawke was the uuuuummm...... it's been quite a while since I played it uuuuummmm.........primarch.......no. IDK. But then he just disapeared as you know. Are those two to simply disapear? What circumstances would cause Hawke to just leave making no other noise?

#1139
Zonteck

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Different playable races add more to the replayability of a game than some people give them credit, but it's probably/ understandably only a wish-list item for bioware in terms of resources required for it to work well.

#1140
Ladybright

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Dave of Canada wrote...

Mark Darrah wrote...

So things like searching, stealth, traps, puzzles?


If ever, hypothetically, these things would be introduced, please let it give the same experience as if you had taken the combat route. 


This! Expanding a little more:

Combat (in context)

DA2 (which I adore) did feel very closed(? myopic?) in the sense that outside of conversations, Hawke was pretty much either in combat or walking to combat. As in, that seemed to be the only way Hawke interacted with the world. Sometimes Hawke bought stuff... for combat. Exploration was frequently interrupted by combat, and rarely seemed rewarding for its own sake.

To clarify, I realize that combat is a very important core gameplay feature, but it felt as if most quests ended in fighting. Fight the slavers, fight the blood mages, fight the templars, fight the Carta, etc. Combat lost some meaning because I was constantly fighting through bit mobs to finish a quest on the other side of, say, Darktown -- and the ultimate outcome of the quest was also fighting. Alternate quest resolutions would be great.

I'd really like to see more non-combat-centric quests. I remember in KotOR there was a quest on Dantooine where Revan had to solve a murder mystery. This quest involved mostly dialogue and exploration, and was a great change of pace from fighting katha hounds/Mandalorians/dark jedi/what have you. It really helped my sense of Revan existing as part of a larger world -- instead of just interacting with the world via lightsaber or small, personal conversations, Revan was taking part in a larger legal system. Conversation, but a different type of conversation in a different social sphere. (Aka, not get-to-know-you companion stuff or find-this-for-me quests.)

Another example of something I found compelling was the Crossroads Keep in NWN2. I greatly enjoyed building up the Keep into a flourishing, well-guarded city. I'm not necessarily suggesting a resource-management minigame in DA3, but Crossroads Keep was a way for my character to have an impact on the world that was not all about fighting.

Feynriel's dreams quest involved fighting, but that fighting totally made sense in context and was interspersed with interesting narratively significant bits where your companions could betray you, or where Hawke made deals with demons or saved Feynriel. The fighting felt justified rather than just combat to have combat.

Searching, traps, and stealth do present more varied and interesting ways to resolve encounters, but only if they were interesting paths in their own right, rather than just a way to skip combat.

I'm always on board for more puzzles.

(Apologies for any typos, was reasoning this out as I typed.)

Edit: Dave of Canada and Trevorish also talked about this a few posts up, much more succintly than I did.

Modifié par Ladybright, 20 mars 2012 - 03:22 .


#1141
Meglort

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eyesofastorm wrote...

Mike Laidlaw wrote...

jackofalltrades456 wrote...

I guess we're not going to win with the silent protagonist, but can we still see the return of the text wall? Save the text wheel for Mass Effect, please...

As I said many times, I hate "Hello" being." Hello there! I want set you on fire!"


Deeper dig: is the issue that you didn't know what you'd say, or that you did or said something unexpected?

I'll admit that I'm biased; I don't like reading a choice and then hearing the exact same thing read aloud to me. However, I can absolutely agree with concerns about being blindsided as per your example above.


I saw you do this a lot during development and post-release of DA2.  You kind of deconstruct what people say are their preferences, spin it a little bit, talk about what you prefer and then what you prefer shows up in the game.  Problem is, these things you prefer, judging by the reaction to DA2, tend not to be the thing that "the majority" of the fans of the  Dragon Age franchise prefer.  And at least as bad as making decisions that split the fanbase or outright turn it against you, you come off as putting your preferences before "ours" and I suspect thats why so much angst was directed against you personally.  I'm telling you how to do your job here... take notes.  Be careful with this.  


Absolutely spot on.

#1142
Aoshi18

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Unlike some of the people here I guess - I want to thank you guys for Dragon Age. Both Origins and DA2 -  I felt that DA2 took some good steps and went further into character grownth.  Dragon Age continues to be one of my favorite series and I can't wait to see where it goes.                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

#1143
gangly369

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Pretty much agree with everything you put Dave. Good job

#1144
Mike Laidlaw

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eyesofastorm wrote...

I saw you do this a lot during development and post-release of DA2.  You kind of deconstruct what people say are their preferences, spin it a little bit, talk about what you prefer and then what you prefer shows up in the game.  Problem is, these things you prefer, judging by the reaction to DA2, tend not to be the thing that "the majority" of the fans of the  Dragon Age franchise prefer.  And at least as bad as making decisions that split the fanbase or outright turn it against you, you come off as putting your preferences before "ours" and I suspect thats why so much angst was directed against you personally.  I'm telling you how to do your job here... take notes.  Be careful with this.  


Fair enough; I could certainly do without the angst, but I do feel that I'm allowed my own preferences, especially when I'm owning up to them, yes?

#1145
andocrack

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Mike Laidlaw wrote...

jackofalltrades456 wrote...

I guess we're not going to win with the silent protagonist, but can we still see the return of the text wall? Save the text wheel for Mass Effect, please...

As I said many times, I hate "Hello" being." Hello there! I want set you on fire!"


Deeper dig: is the issue that you didn't know what you'd say, or that you did or said something unexpected?

I'll admit that I'm biased; I don't like reading a choice and then hearing the exact same thing read aloud to me. However, I can absolutely agree with concerns about being blindsided as per your example above.


If the dialogue with Morrigan had to be put on a wheel with those icons inside, the experience wouldn't have been anywhere near as great as it was. Or even better, think Sten. If I'd have been able to see how Sten would've reacted, it would've made talking to him a lot easier, but not as fun. In both cases, you got to say what you wanted to them, and they reacted accordingly. The text spoke for itself, and you didn't have the wheel holding your hand along the way.

#1146
AbsoluteApril

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Mike Laidlaw wrote...

Q: Will we be going to silent protagonist?
A: A few months back, I noted that we'd be continuing on a voiced protagonist. We feel the voice improves the overall experience, thought we know that some of your disagree. Sorry! STILL, we have, however, heard feedback on paraphrase clarity. What I've often seen is feedback that the paraphrases fail when your character DOES something unexpected. Would you folks agree that moments of action or major choice are the issue that most needs to be addressed?


aww, ok, well I'm sad but I understand. Mr Epler's previous comments about 'a more cinematic approach' would make more sense with a voiced protag.

I do hope that you/your team will consider removing the wheel. It works great in action/rpg like ME but feels out of place in the DA world (to me). I was not a fan of the icons either. My frustartion with the wheel started in ME1. I would select a perfectly reasonable line and Shep would say something unexpected or in tone that I wasn't prepared for.

So, in response to your question, yes. There are quite a few times in all the games where I've agonized over a choice, getting up to walk around and go over in my head before finally selecting which option shep/warden/hawke would say - then to have them say something that wasn't quite in line with the choice (or my perception of what that line was going to be) it makes for a quick reload to see if there's a better option. In a dialogue heavy RPG like Dragon Age, I think seeing the full line of text works better throughout the game.

I would also love the option to play as a different race again.

Mark Darrah wrote...

So things like searching, stealth, traps, puzzles?


Traps, steath, puzzles, secret passages, yes please! Also, persuade/Intimidate dialogue checks, optional routes to engage or avoid fighting.

**
Thank you Mike, Mark (Chris, Alain, et al) for taking the time to respond and interact with the fans.

Modifié par AbsoluteApril, 20 mars 2012 - 03:40 .


#1147
Rorschachinstein

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Anyone love the DA:O Colosseum Gladiator fights as much as I did?

#1148
Stiler

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I loved DA:O, it was easily one of the favorite rpgs of the past decade..

The characters (especially Morrigan and Alistair) were extremely well done, very in depth once you got to know them and talk to them throughout the game.

The story was very "epic" in scope, it felt like a great adventure going from your beginnings (whichever you choose, I liked human noble the best) to the end. gave a great sense of adventure.

The combat was excellent, it was a good throwback to tactical rpg controls of BG/NWN, etc. The aoe spells, traps, everything felt good and had a purpose, you could lose a fight, then finally figure out a great tactic and be so proud of doing so.

The other main thing I loved about DA:O was the choices and variety. Both in locations and the mechanics side of things. Such as choosing what to use on your compaions, your origin story, your race, your parties skills, etc.

DAII on the other hand, it lost a LOT of thees things. The setting was very generic feeling, there was no "epic" feel to it's storyline. You lost out on variety and choices. You couldn't make say, your sister (who's a mage) into a healer, you had to choose Anders. (In DA:O I loved Morrigan, and you could make her into a healer if you wanted, like most any party member you had variety in how you made them develop).

Then came the combat, it was more "Actiony," enemies would spawn outof thin air, and this made it almost useless to use any kind of "tactics" for combat, where you would drop traps, use your aoe spells, you could never set up a good "plan" becuase you'd have enemies just magically spawning around you from all directions.

I hope with DAIII the game returns back tot he things that made DA:O so great. The epic storyline/adventure, the variety of environments (personally, the major upgrade I'd love to see is a true open world, a la Elder scrolls/Gothic style of gameworld), more variety such as allowing us to pick our own race/origin story again and let us develop our party members in any way we want within their class (IE making mages into healers, or damage, etc or taking a warrior and going tanky or dps, etc) along with lettin gus choose what to outfit them in (you could easily have a visible outfit option and equipped option, so people can equip one type of item, while having it visually appear as what they want with the option on, so youcould say, have Morrigan equipped in better robes then her default ones, but have the option on to visibly show her default robes instead).

I actually like when the main character has a voice (especially in Mass Effect) but in DA games, if you want to give a voice to the character you need to have more then one voice. don't base the voice around the storyline like DA:II, rather have multiple actors/actresses read for the story/dialogue and let us make our own character (Race, sex, etc) and then pick what voice we want.

#1149
Guest_Puddi III_*

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Mike Laidlaw wrote...

jackofalltrades456 wrote...

I guess we're not going to win with the silent protagonist, but can we still see the return of the text wall? Save the text wheel for Mass Effect, please...

As I said many times, I hate "Hello" being." Hello there! I want set you on fire!"


Deeper dig: is the issue that you didn't know what you'd say, or that you did or said something unexpected?

I'll admit that I'm biased; I don't like reading a choice and then hearing the exact same thing read aloud to me. However, I can absolutely agree with concerns about being blindsided as per your example above.


But you wouldn't have to read it, depending on its implementation, per the various suggestions that have been offered here. It could be placed in a field separate from the paraphrases upon highlighting, or in the subtitles field, or replace the paraphrases themselves upon highlighting, or have a toggled implementation. A lot of fans really want one of those options and they wouldn't detract from the experience you want. So where's the problem?

#1150
eyesofastorm

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Mike Laidlaw wrote...

eyesofastorm wrote...

I saw you do this a lot during development and post-release of DA2.  You kind of deconstruct what people say are their preferences, spin it a little bit, talk about what you prefer and then what you prefer shows up in the game.  Problem is, these things you prefer, judging by the reaction to DA2, tend not to be the thing that "the majority" of the fans of the  Dragon Age franchise prefer.  And at least as bad as making decisions that split the fanbase or outright turn it against you, you come off as putting your preferences before "ours" and I suspect thats why so much angst was directed against you personally.  I'm telling you how to do your job here... take notes.  Be careful with this.  


Fair enough; I could certainly do without the angst, but I do feel that I'm allowed my own preferences, especially when I'm owning up to them, yes?


Absolutely.  I'm just telling you to be careful in how you communicate those preferences to the fans if you want to avoid the angst this time around.  And if you are unwilling to bend on them despite... trends, don't expect the trends to change.  The first part of that was me giving friendly, unbiased advice to a developer of a company that I cared about for a long time.  The second part was, admittedly, my own bias.... in case that isn't obvious.  As I said in a post 15 pages back, I do so want to be a fan again.

Modifié par eyesofastorm, 20 mars 2012 - 03:26 .