4 réponses à ce sujet

[Orian Tabris]

BioWare, could you please give us an idea of when you intend to confirm the first companion?

I'm not being impatient, it's just that I'm really worried... I seriously don't want Cullen to be a companion! Obviously if he is going to be a companion, then he won't necessarily be the first to be confirmed, but any tank/sword and shield companion would confirm or deny Cullen as one.

The concept of you listening to our suggestions would be refreshing (I'm not sure if you are due to your being so secret, but if you are, it would be refreshing knowing that), but I really don't think that listening to a popular suggestion over less popular suggestions is wise. I mean, trying to please the fans is all well and good, but just because a suggestion is popular, doesn't mean it's good.

From what we've seen, it seems to some of us (at least) that you are trying to keep the series lively and invigourating, to keep it going strong, but I cannot tell just how hard you are trying. If it's desparately so, then I would hazard a guess that making Cullen a companion, would be something you would do. While I have nothing against Cullen - and indeed, I really like him - he is about the age of the Warden give or take (give maybe about 5 or 6 years), and I have no doubt that him being a companion would be caused by popular demand, so he would be an LI-possible one.

I think the main reason people didn't like the companions in DA2 as much, is because of that whole mage-templar thing and Anders and Fenris' bickering, not because of their character design. I'm sure that you can write new and interesting companions, without having to resort to reusing characters that have appeared in both the first two games.

Though it may not come off this way, I'm one of those fans/players who are laidback - and especially easy going when it comes to how you design important characters. You'd really have to try, to be able to annoy or disappoint me. The only things that I didn't like about DA2 were Anders being bisexual, the obviously reused areas and the lack of racial options (which I understand has to do with voice acting).

If I recall, each companion was confirmed once a month, prior to the month of release, though I didn't really use the BSN when they were being confirmed (except for Merrill, who I was proudly the first person (who didn't have a hand in the development of DA2) to know that she was to be a companion... thanks Priestly =P). I'm not trying to determine when exactly - and obviously we would need to know the release date, so I don't expect an exact month - I just want a rough idea, to help put my mind at ease.

If Cullen isn't a companion, then I would only need to worry about the likelihood of MP being a requirement to play the SP. Otherwise, I'm good, and I'm ready for the next installment late 2013/early 2014.

[David Gaider]

BrotherWarth wrote...
The leak was from a marketing feedback survey so those characters are probably solid, but they could very well be no more than possibilities.

I'm well aware that survey is a source of speculation, but I'd caution anyone from assuming those characters are more than possibilities-- as you yourself point out-- or that they're even intended to be party followers. Doing so is setting yourself up for disappointment, I guarantee it.

As for the OP, as mentioned by others there's likely to be no real information on the game until the spring. Keep in mind that DA2 was announced at the same time its marketing campaign started-- as opposed to DAO which had roughly a three-year gap inbetween. So there is no consistency at work, here.

Modifié par David Gaider, 17 novembre 2012 - 03:46 .

[David Gaider]

Orian Tabris wrote...
Oh, good. So there's still hope that the DA3  won't be fan-pandering it's companions.

I assure you that if we did include Cullen as a follower, it wouldn't be solely to "pander" to his fans. Not that I would overly mind pandering to them. They're not a large group, but there's hardly a nicer and more polite group one could choose to pander to.

[David Gaider]

Orian Tabris wrote...
I have nothing against you pandering to your fans, but if that pandering supersedes logic and/or sense, then I would say it's bad thing (not to mention, should not be done)

Why? I'm rather curious what it is about the Cullen fans that is so different about any other interest group on these forums. They all consist of a small group of people that post regularly and advocate for what they'd like to see in the next game. Why should some group advocating for their favorite character be considered "small and unimportant" while another group advocating for a design feature or a change to the graphical style be considered more numerous and totally relevant?

And, let's say we did implement a design feature that some fans on these forums advocated for-- do you honestly think the only reason we would implement it is because those specific fans asked? Because they're so numerous as to impact sales? Don't be silly. It would be because we thought it was a good idea, and happened to agree with them (whether the idea originated from them or not). Characters are no different. We'd no more base a character's inclusion solely on some fans asking for him than exclude that character solely because other fans said they didn't want to see him at all.

So I'd suggest not letting your biases show quite so strongly.

For me, it does sound like you're alluding (or using reverse psychology, perhaps) to Cullen actually being a companion.

If you like. Anytime we don't state something definitively, someone's going to read into what we say. Quite frankly, I'm just getting a little tired of people trying to paint Cullen's fans as something they're not-- the only rude or crude behavior I've seen, in fact, has come from those people and not the fans. And more threads suggesting we shouldn't listen to them then threads by those fans asking for anything.

Modifié par David Gaider, 17 novembre 2012 - 04:38 .

[David Gaider]

Orian Tabris wrote...
Unless I'm misreading what you're saying, you are getting the opposite idea from what I mean. The exact opposite. I have nothing against these people, I just think that the inclusion of Cullen would be a bad (or flawed?) idea. I'm scared that Cullen has such a big fanbase, that their idea will have a strong impact on you, and you decide to do it without thinking about why it would be a good idea (good or not).

Ah. I can't say that this paints a great picture of what you think of our sensibilities-- or whether we, indeed, possess any of our own-- but fair enough. You're possibly one of the few to suggest we listen too much to ideas expressed on these forums, however, as opposed to not enough.