Allan Schumacher wrote...
That's fair and it was sort of what I was investigating by posing the questions in this thread. Basically figuring out for my own curiosity the specific about "what is the cause that leads to someone saying they want characters to obey the same rules?"
It means that when you lay down ability trees, skill trees, skill points, gear, etc. you're establishing a "physics of Dragon Age" and a set of expectations on how all characters (PC and NPC) that fall in the same category will behave. When the player then goes on to discover that NPCs who look like PC's and move like PC's nevertheless have their own COMPLETELY SEPARATE "physics" that has NOTHING to do with the physics that govern their own transparent characters, at least some people don't like that.
That "physics" in a game serves the same purpose as our notions of physics in the real world--to make things predictable. Like everything, there's a tradeoff involved. If you have a uniform physics (or mostly uniform, with a few exceptions here and there for some variety), you don't have to wrack your brains trying to figure out how to telegraph special attacks/abilities that the player can *never see directly* and thus HAS to infer. And, if you don't telegraph them well enough, you have (some) annoyed/frustrated players who had a TPK three times in a row before they realized OH, there's a blood mage WAY BACK IN THE BACK OF THE ROOM who I can't see because I'm in this teeny tiny entry hall that blocks me from seeing or targeting them but THEY can freely target THROUGH THE WALL.
Personally, any time you have a TPK and *do not know why*, that's a game fail. The designers have failed on some level at giving you access to the information you need to play the game successfully. Having a uniform physics is one way (although not necessarily the only way) to do this.
If you want examples, Skyrim is a game with a uniform physics. Monsters that look like PC's have PC abilities. (Actually the PC has MORE abilities because NPC's cannot sneak up on or backstab the PC.) Heck, even most of the creatures that aren't humanoid have PC abilities--the dragons use melee attacks and shouts, atronachs throw spells, etc. At most, they'll have one or two abilities that the PC doesn't have, like dragons can fly, and those are BIG and OBVIOUS. Heck, ORIGINS had uniform physics.
Having a uniform physics has other benefits than predictability, too. Seeing an enemy mage cast a big spell you haven't seen before can make you want to pick up that spell so you can use it, too. Getting whaled on by some hideous weapon special makes you excited for the loot you're about to get.
If you guys are going to continue to pursue this non-uniform physics, MAKE THE MOST OF IT, just like everything else, because otherwise you're going to have the current situation, where the people who hate non-uniform physics will hate the game, but the people who might LOVE your particular brand of non-uniform physics don't give a crap because the game isn't offering them anything much to go in its place.
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