That's not really fair. I'm just trying to understand why Bioware prefers this style when their reasoning doesn't mesh with what we've seen in previous RPGs.
You're right it's not fair. I have gotten that impression with other posters (not even necessarily on this board) so it can be difficult to disassociate. I apologize!
I can get that some people would find that sort of thing funny, but is that kind of dissonance between the player and their PC what you would call an ideal feature in an RPG?
No. In fact I do actually consider it a slight negative. But for me it's a wash because it's a slight positive to have fully dialogued lines. For me it tends to be a bit of a wash depending on the circumstances. For instance, I'd find full voice over in Fallout New Vegas to be a bit of a waste. Conversations are just talking heads and I don't even see my own (I play exclusively first person). I'm not going to emote during the conversation at all, or otherwise display any other sort of emotion.
If you read the first post I made in this thread (page 20) I explain why paraphrased dialogue works better in RPGs like Mass Effect where Shepard is a consistent character, much like Michael is in AP. In a nutshell, you don;t have a choice between personalities in those games, only in how you react. In DA:O, you do have a plethora of personalities to explore and when you try to voice it you get a Hawke that sounds like he has MPD.
Hmmm, I see your point. Although I didn't feel that Thorton was tied to a particular type of personality though. I think professional Mike is a different character than suave Mike. It might be more a reflection of the voice acting not going as extreme, however. I'll concede that if the voice acting isn't as consistent, it does become more jarring.
In what way? A game can't be cinematic if you have the dialogue options
in a list? It can't be epic if the PC is silent? There's a plethoa of
games that came before ME1 that proves this false. Ultima, BG, NWN,
KotOR, hell, even the FFs pre-FFX.
Well, I'll just up and state that with my history of games like Ultima (I'm assuming you're a fan, given your name, and you know I am based on my "Name" "Job" "Bye" reference) I do not at all consider them to be cinematic experiences. Epic? Sure. Epic has more to do with the scope rather than the style. Same goes for games like Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights, though I do think that KOTOR was a start of a more cinematic focused RPG from BioWare.
There's not only one, but one early in the game is where you're settling a Romeo+Juliet-esque dispute on Dantooine, another is the courtroom scene on Manaan.
Hmmm, I think they're well written scenes. Not as big of a fan of the Romeo and Juliet homage, but I did really enjoy the courtroom scene. I disagree that they are great examples of speeches though. Fun and well written, but Alistair's talk takes the cake IMO. I wanted to kick darkspawn myself. He gets to add all of the emotes and body language into the speech. It's a bit like Shepard's speeches too (the Hale versions in particular are so well done because I think Hale just makes the character come alive so well).
Isn't it ironic how the mood icons are often more honest to the tone of the dialogue option than the words are? But even so, the mood icons too can be deceptive. For example:
*Aggresive* "Your mom was a b****"
Hawke: I'm glad I never had to meet any of your family.
That's not exactly an aggressive statement now, is it?
Yes, this can happen, and I do agree it's an issue. But I get burned with full line dialogues in similar ways, probably with a similar frequency (which isn't all that often in either case) often because I think a line of dialogue is sarcastic (I have a tendency to do that) but evidently based on the character response it's not.
I've been told that that is just the fault of the character I'm talking to, which I suppose in some cases is true, but in my own interactions in life I find I am usually pretty decent at reading someone and knowing whether or not they'll appreciate my sass, and I can often accent it by maintaining eye contact with a little smile after I deliver the line. I find it uncommon for me to outright insult someone, even if I have just met them. In gaming, that is less common in my experience. In fact I think I even got burned with this when I first met Wynne.
Of course. You may as well ask if awesome speeches can be done well in books.
I think if Dragon Age: Origins was a game like Zork the analogy would work better. In a book, not only do I have words but I also have descriptors used by the author to clarify how a line is being delivered. The text will state that the character is flustered, or impassioned. The lines of dialogue in a CRPG are typically devoid of all that. Occasionally a game may have extra information like (Attack) or (Lie) which can help. But given the visual nature of the medium, I'm not just reading about Alistair giving an impassioned speech, imagining the details in my mind. I'm seeing him actually do it, and it can be quite an experience.
I'm not saying it's directly required (I still enjoyed DAO and prefer it over DA2 myself, though for reasons that don't really include the conversation system haha), but unless the scene itself is static (like Fallout and presumably a game like Skyrim), sometiems I just prefer the more cinematic nature, and I think that voice adds to it especially if there are set pieces with active players moving around.
EDIT: Sorry for obviously missing some details of your earlier posts. Often I quickly read these while I am waiting for my machine to do something at work, and I can skim over them quickly!
Modifié par Allan Schumacher, 28 juin 2012 - 05:55 .
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No one has said either of those things, not even Bioware.
