8 réponses à ce sujet

[Foolsfolly]

The tone of Dragon Age: Origins was very much a muddy, dirty, near frontier but in a sort of medieval European way. The architecture, armor design, clothing, and everything about it screams this. And I loved it. It was a down and dirty gritty kind of game. A little too brown but brown's a nice color!

I won't lie I never really got a firm grasp on the politics of Ferelden. Kings are higher than Arls, Arls are higher than Banns, and somewhere some how a term known as 'Freeloaders' fits in. But dammit I loved that political system. We didn't get to play with it much but our actions within it often made highlights in my playthroughs. I loved the Landsmeet, Redcliffe, Highever, and any time we met and talked to nobles.

I liked how you had all these families and histories that even though we barely touched upon it I liked that they existed.

I personally feel that the sense of history, character, and just tone was shallower in DA2.

For DA3 I'd love to have all the detail to focus in on Orlais. I want silks, shoes, fancy masks, big hair, very huge parties, and elaborate fancy architecture all of it screaming of depth and history of a grand nation at the height of its power!

And to counter this I want the worst poverty ever. I want alienages which make the player shudder in disgust. People shouldn't live like this. And yet Orlais is like this. The best city in the world... and the worst city in the world. A Tale of Two Cities kind of thing. The best parties, the best art, the best wine, the best crime, the best poverty.

Large glorious castles and cathedrals tower over shanty towns mashed into corners out of sight. Vibrant colors and hair walk past roughspun and matted and it goes unnoticed by the nobility!

That sets up a tonal dissonance between rich and poor. Humans and elves. It shows injustice and economic struggle based on racial prejudices.

I want a place where the people talk to you and most of them are lying because they're hiding something, the others are lying because they think it's amusing to spread rumors, and the last tiny part are telling the truth but you wouldn't believe it.

People who are lie, cheat, steal, murder, create webs within webs covered in shadows, all the while they show off high fashion and are so so openly devout. These are people who are multifaceted through their conflicts and contradictions.

I want to know all about the families, the bards, the nobility, the clergy, I want these facts to not just exist in the codex but to drip from every pixel on the screen.

And any other location we go to needs to be so definitvely that place (Ferelden, Free Marches, Tevinter, Rivain) that they speak just as loudly as any section in Orlais.

Only when the NPCs, maps, books, cities, and towns all showcase these conflicts, history, contradictions, and other immersive sights and sounds of Orlais will DA3 really click with the audience.

We ask for a lot. I know that. But its these details more so than most things fans will shout and demand that really give you a belief in the setting. And when you believe the setting and characters and understand them you want to spend time there. You want to explore it. You want to be in this world.

And that will transform a decent game into a great game each and every time.

Just some thoughts, BioWare.

[Spedfrom]

Remember in Amaranthine when we were in charge of listening to the people's problems and deciding upon them? Your post reminded me of that. It was fun actually doing what some might think are the lesser jobs of a lord. Listening to people's complaints, their lives and its conflicts, or simply requests for help. And getting to decide on all of it. I quite liked it.

[MichaelStuart]

I like things to be a realistic as possible, so the more detail and history, the better.

[Renmiri1]

Feh, if we get those things people on BSN will whine it is not EPIC enough and how come you are not saving the world (again and again and again!).

Plus Orlesian accents grate on my ears and Orlesian beards and moustaches look ridiculous. 3D graphics aren't good with facial hair / curly hair.

[Fast Jimmy]

I agree with you, Folly, especially on the poverty aspect.

I have yet to see an alienage or slum that really stood out as poor. Denerim's looked like every other area of town, as did Kirkwall. The inside of the city elf's home looked exactly like the inside of the inn in the Main Square where the highest nobles rubbed elbows. That's not depressing poverty.

The dwarf origin did this best, as Dusttown was, truly, haggard looking. I'd like to see some of this rubbed off on surface cities in DA3, to make the flash of class, race and poverty crystal clear, to make the inaction against such quality of life a truly moral issue.

Just my two cents.

[wsandista]

I think that this is a good idea.

Also, I would like to see some of the politics of the Orlesian court. I bet that is a snake-pit of treachery.

[Lurklen]

sjpelkessjpeler wrote...

Although DA2 had a lot of policical issues going on in Kirkwall they were not really adressed to in quests for example so you would learn more about it. The constant battle for power in Kirkwall was ever present but not explained storywise (templar/mage/viscount/chantry) and that made it much more shallow then DAO. There you could talk in the beginning of the game with the ruler and the general, to give an example, and learn about their view about the upcoming war and what motivated them.

If I remember correctly only one or two conversations with the viscount give a little in depth information about political situations in the city. Most other conversations that were related to that were more about the person(s) involved.

The dwarves must have a big role in the city but they are nearly invinsible for that matter. In the lore is stated that they own a bank and of course they control the lyrium. Nothing of all that in the game.

The fact that DAO had the origins and those stories were pretty well worked out the player could learn about a lot of other things concerning Thedas while playing the game. Really missed that kind of additions in DA2 and also the oppertunity to do things that were not story related at all but there for what I call more content to raise my immersion in the game. Hope things like that will return in DA3.

 I think the main reason for this in DA2 is that the game was made in like a year. DAO was made and remade over something like five years, so the huge list of things that every game design team wants to get in their game had more of a chance to be squeezed in. In DA2's case I think more had to be cut because of the short development time. Less time to tinker and try to make ideas work so cut it and move on to the next Sophie's choice.

  The problem is they don't know what they're going to have to cut untill they cut it so bits get left in; this happened an aweful lot in DA2 and probably somewhat in DAO as well. The result is usually things that seem important in dialogue or lore but are then never seen or referenced again. I hope they give themselves enough time to put all the bells and whistles in the game, my personal detail i'd love to see come back, item descriptions. Every single item in DAO had a little description and story from a rough leather belt to a legendary sword, even junky vendor trash items. It's not a deal breaker by any means but it would be cool.

[Scarlet Rabbi]

Foolsfolly wrote...

It was a down and dirty gritty kind of game. A little too brown but brown's a nice color!

Why does everyone perpetuate this b.s. about Origins? It is an insult to the obvious hard work and love that went into creating the beautiful enviorments of Origins. Too brown? ROFL, what're you smoking? The temple of sacred ashes, Frostback Mountains, Brasilian Forest, Ostagar, the Dalish elf Origin, the werewolves temple etc.

Origins is vibrant and it's enviorments are varied, but it's art style is dark and grimey, why some people oversimplify that as 'brown' is beyond me.

Modifié par Scarlet Rabbi, 04 septembre 2012 - 04:56 .