7 réponses à ce sujet

[bluewolv1970]

 if, according to Mike Gamble there is a huge team working on it, and as has been widely reported, there is no gameplay and only cutscenes and cinematics, with it being unlikely to be more than 15 minutes of content...Kasumi: Stolen Memory came out in about the same timeframe, was a 1 - 1 1/2 hour dlc with cutscenes, new locations AND gameplay, added a new pemanent character,  AND  had a MUCH SMALLER  team working on it...IS Bioware really that unsure or disorganized about what to even do with EC???  

[John Epler]

Even if all it were were cutscenes (and I'm not saying one way or another, because I quite honestly have no idea what they're doing with the EC), cutscenes are not a cheap thing to make. And comparing it to Kasumi and saying 'it took the same amount of time!' isn't really a valid comparison - whether or not there's gameplay or a new squadmate has little bearing on how difficult it is to make a cutscene. Five minutes of cinematics takes the same time to make whether there's gameplay surrounding it or not.

[John Epler]

Taboo-XX wrote...

John Epler wrote...

Even if all it were were cutscenes (and I'm not saying one way or another, because I quite honestly have no idea what they're doing with the EC), cutscenes are not a cheap thing to make. And comparing it to Kasumi and saying 'it took the same amount of time!' isn't really a valid comparison - whether or not there's gameplay or a new squadmate has little bearing on how difficult it is to make a cutscene. Five minutes of cinematics takes the same time to make whether there's gameplay surrounding it or not.

Now you don't have to listen to me rant.

An employee has said something.

Listen to him.

Lest I be misunderstood, I'm not saying anything regarding new gameplay or not. It could also quite easily involve new gameplay, as the schedule will be determined by whatever part takes the longest - whether that be cutscenes or gameplay. Once the writing is done, stuff can start to happen.

[John Epler]

devSin wrote...

John Epler wrote...

Even if all it were were cutscenes (and I'm not saying one way or another, because I quite honestly have no idea what they're doing with the EC), cutscenes are not a cheap thing to make. And comparing it to Kasumi and saying 'it took the same amount of time!' isn't really a valid comparison - whether or not there's gameplay or a new squadmate has little bearing on how difficult it is to make a cutscene. Five minutes of cinematics takes the same time to make whether there's gameplay surrounding it or not.

Oh, please. Kasumi had a ton of cutscenes, a whole heist plot, a helicopter boss fight, and integration with every mission in the game.

They just planned and executed most of it long before the game shipped (everything not specific to her mission was already on the disc, I think), and you know it.

You can believe what you'd like, and I won't stop you - but I know that the only part of Kasumi's mission that was really done before Zaeed went out was the writing. I was in the room when they did it - I was on TOR, true, but I was still in the room, and I remember the cinematics reviews as they went from white box to final.

Kasumi's integration with the rest of the game, I'm not 100% sure on. I know Zaeed had some stuff done on a few of his conversations after the main game was already in cert, but I can't speak with authority as to what they did with Kasumi.

[John Epler]

devSin wrote...

John Epler wrote...

You can believe what you'd like, and I won't stop you - but I know that the only part of Kasumi's mission that was really done before Zaeed went out was the writing. I was in the room when they did it - I was on TOR, true, but I was still in the room, and I remember the cinematics reviews as they went from white box to final.

You missed the part where I said "everything but her mission".

I think her integration with the main campaign was already on the disc, no (same with Zaeed)? Her interjections and her spot in the suicide mission were done before the game shipped (some of it at least, if not all), even though they had to do her mission from scratch.

I am uncertain as to the point you were making, then. Due to how ME handles streaming resources in, the only alternative to having stuff already in and voiced is to either A) redownload the entire level and all associated resources, which generally multiplies the DLC's size significantly or just have them standing silently in the back. So, yes, there was some stuff done before ship - but I'm not sure what that has to do with the price of tea in china, so to speak. It's still a lot of work to build cutscenes, regardless of gameplay that may or may not surround them. Which is my entire point in this thread, really.

[John Epler]

devSin wrote...

John Epler wrote...

I am uncertain as to the point you were making, then.

Kasumi had a lot longer to bake than it seemed like.

The comparison is not invalid because there's nothing to compare between all the Stolen Memory content and what we may or may not see in the extended cut (as you suggested). It's not entirely valid because Kasumi was planned and had content created for her well in advance of the game's release (they didn't just start when the game went out the door, like they claim to be doing with the extended cut).

That's fair, but the majority of the cinematic-heavy content (which seems to be what this thread is discussing) wasn't started until Zaeed was well out of the way. But, I digress - the point I was making was, mostly, however long it took them to make Kasumi (and, honestly, I don't remember the exact numbers - I moved to Cinematic Design on DA before Kasumi was content complete, as I recall) doesn't really have much bearing on how long it'll take them to make the EC. Cutscenes take about X number of zots regardless of whether there's gameplay attached or not, where X is usually complexity multiplied by cutscene length.

[John Epler]

EnvyTB075 wrote...

Mr.BlazenGlazen wrote...

Hey Epler? Can you like...drag someone from the ME team by the ear and have him/her sit down and actually talk to us?

We'll send you cupcakes! It think!

As much as i'd like to agree, the mere response Eplers getting when he isn't even working on the EC would be enough to throw any possibility of that out the window.

It's remarkably civil tonight, actually. I ain't rightly bothered.

[John Epler]

Mr.BlazenGlazen wrote...

John Epler wrote...

EnvyTB075 wrote...

Mr.BlazenGlazen wrote...

Hey Epler? Can you like...drag someone from the ME team by the ear and have him/her sit down and actually talk to us?

We'll send you cupcakes! It think!

As much as i'd like to agree, the mere response Eplers getting when he isn't even working on the EC would be enough to throw any possibility of that out the window.

It's remarkably civil tonight, actually. I ain't rightly bothered.

So I'm guessing that's a no. 

It's their prerogative to post or not post, and I imagine that most of 'em are waiting for the EC to come out before they say much. I can answer questions because, while I know some of the technical details, I know absolutely nothing about the content of the EC and can therefore answer questions without any reasonable expectation of sharing details.