129 réponses à ce sujet

[In Exile]

DarkSpiral wrote...
Just Cousland?  Or Amell, Aeducan, etc?

I recall the comment being in the context of Cousland. Thinking on it (I didn't really have a dwarf PC outside of the origin, hence why the thought didn't come), yes, Aeducan would obviously also be a set name

But the CE, DC, DE and mage PCs don't need fixed last names. The Amell counting as a name came up with DA2, as far as I know.

[DarkSpiral]

I may not be following you. Are you talking about the fact that the Aeducan and Cousland surnames are the only two that are mentioned by NPCs? No one ever says anything to the effect of "Hey, Mage Warden, your last name is Amell right?" And the same with Brosca and Mahariel, and...ah...I can't recall the elven Mage surname.

Whatever

[In Exile]

DarkSpiral wrote...

I may not be following you. Are you talking about the fact that the Aeducan and Cousland surnames are the only two that are mentioned by NPCs? No one ever says anything to the effect of "Hey, Mage Warden, your last name is Amell right?" And the same with Brosca and Mahariel, and...ah...I can't recall the elven Mage surname.

Whatever

What I mean is, Bioware told us back in the day that DA:O had fixed surnames for all the PCs because some the PC surnames were voiced, and the only way to make all of that word was, effectively, to fix the surname.

The idea, once DA:O went from being a multiplayer game to an SP RPG, was to have the origins (aside from Cousland and, I suppose, Aeducan) be freely name(able). But that didn't work out on the technical side, so everyone got a fixed name instead.

All this with the "as I recall" caveat.

[TEWR]

DarkSpiral wrote...

The Ethereal Writer Redux wrote...

Nitpicking here: She calls you "my love" in the Elven language, not "my heart".

Carry on.

Ahh...no, the literal translation is "my heart," Redux.  "Love" is "lath," not "vhenan."  Or at least thats what the wiki has it listed as.  Sure the context is pretty clear, but I was using the literal translation on purpose.

Really? Well, the wiki's mostly an unofficial translation, so I'm not so sure "lath" translating to "heart" is accurate.

[Solmanian]

Sharn01 wrote...

If the name you choose means nothing then they may as well just give you an actual name, as much as I dislike the idea, I dislike the idea more that close personal friends or lovers will use your title or last name to address your character.

I don't think being called shepard, caused anyone to say it wasn't "their" shepard. Quite the opposite. I doubt that would mind if they made jhon/jane as shepards official name, if it meant the LI's would have used it instead of his last name or rank. We rarely call garrus "vakarian" and never called wrex "urdnot".

[Solmanian]

The Teryn of Whatever wrote...

inarvan wrote...

Being able to choose between even a few "call names" would be great.

BioWare has said that we will have selectable backgrounds. Why not attach a family name to those backgrounds (e.g. Amell, something Orlesian, etc.)?

That would bring us straight back to square one (DA:O), wouldn't it?

call names isn't realy a bad idea. You don't even need to add alot of voiceover, just have voice telant read the call names in different tones (happy, angry, etc) and splice them into the convos. It might not allways sound smooth, but it will make alot of people happy.

[Solmanian]

JWvonGoethe wrote...

Could a fixed surname even work with multiple backgrounds?

I can imagine a lot of people wouldn't be very happy if there was a noble background and a commoner background, and both backgrounds were associated with the same family name.

A commoner and a noble can have the same first name. Nobody actually needs to mention your surname.

[Solmanian]

It was silly that people called you "the warden" when alistair is also a warden. If this was IRL, I would be like "are you talking to me?".

[HTTP 404]

perhaps in DA3, people will call you "what's your face"

[NRieh]

We rarely call garrus "vakarian" and never called wrex "urdnot".

Fair point, by the way. No Shepard ever "talked" to T'Soni, Lawson, Taylor or Zorah.
And I doubt many Wardens know how to even spell "Arainai".

[Daerog]

So... should BioWare just name the character for us? I mean, most people don't choose their own names irl.

[challenger18]

You were Hawke, Champion, Brother or Sister, Son or Daughter. Until we can get to the point in gaming where we can put in a bunch of names that we can choose from in a fully voiced narrative driven game, I'm fine with going with the surname and a title. God, that's going to be Hell on the voice actors when we can get to that point.

[AppealToReason]

DaerogTheDhampir wrote...

So... should BioWare just name the character for us? I mean, most people don't choose their own names irl.

I do...

Well for my first playthrough. Then my canon one becomes CANADA Cousland or CANADA Hawke.

[AppealToReason]

challenger18 wrote...

You were Hawke, Champion, Brother or Sister, Son or Daughter. Until we can get to the point in gaming where we can put in a bunch of names that we can choose from in a fully voiced narrative driven game, I'm fine with going with the surname and a title. God, that's going to be Hell on the voice actors when we can get to that point.

Imagine the threads then! 

"I didn't feel that ANY of the party members said ______ with nearly as much emotion as they did _______! WTF BIOWARE WHY DO HAVE TO RUIN MY LIFE? YOU ALL SUCK AND MAKE THE WORST GAMES THAT I HATE PLAYING"

[Wulfram]

Nrieh wrote...

Fair point, by the way. No Shepard ever "talked" to T'Soni, Lawson, Taylor or Zorah.
And I doubt many Wardens know how to even spell "Arainai".

I generally wish my Shepard used surnames and ranks more.  It should be Lt Alenko, Chief Williams and Dr T'soni for a good chunk of the game, though first names might come out for more personal moments.

[DarkSpiral]

Wulfram wrote...

Nrieh wrote...

Fair point, by the way. No Shepard ever "talked" to T'Soni, Lawson, Taylor or Zorah.
And I doubt many Wardens know how to even spell "Arainai".

I generally wish my Shepard used surnames and ranks more.  It should be Lt Alenko, Chief Williams and Dr T'soni for a good chunk of the game, though first names might come out for more personal moments.

That would be nice, I agree.  At least during the period when you're still getting to know one another.  Shepard calling Liara "Dr Tsoni" at the start of ME3 might have been a bit odd.  But certainly not right after Therum.

[Kidd]

The Ethereal Writer Redux wrote...

DarkSpiral wrote...

The Ethereal Writer Redux wrote...

Nitpicking here: She calls you "my love" in the Elven language, not "my heart".

Carry on.

Ahh...no, the literal translation is "my heart," Redux.  "Love" is "lath," not "vhenan."  Or at least thats what the wiki has it listed as.  Sure the context is pretty clear, but I was using the literal translation on purpose.

Really? Well, the wiki's mostly an unofficial translation, so I'm not so sure "lath" translating to "heart" is accurate.

She says "ma vhenan" - my heart. Lath means love but is not the word she uses. I would suppose lath refers to the verb of loving somebody while vhenan is seemingly used in the elven phrase for "my darling." Swedish does the exact same thing btw.

[Medhia Nox]

Funny thing is - how often do you refer to someone at all in conversation?

Let's say I'm talking to Wulfram.

Me: So Wulfram, what are you doing today?

Wulfram: Oh, just going to slay some dragons and be awesomebadazz.

Me: That's so cool Wulfram, could you do a side-quest on your journey to awesomebadazz mountain?

Wulfram: So long as their is many a lady to romance and much gold to be had.

Me: Oh, certainly Wulfram. There's many a reward for you Wulfram.. once your Wulfram from Wulfram Wulfram.

====

People don't talk this way.

"You" is implied in real conversation.

People don't even say Hello "Name" really.

[NoForgiveness]

Who cares if its a last name? I know people that go by last name or initials or something like that

[Isaantia]

I like the surnames. It feels like my character really is part of the Universe and not some weird anomaly.

I like how the Warden and Hawke are at the center of significant events. And while we may have different specifics, i.e. gender, who we romanced, our characters are responsible/involved in these events to a specific end.

Future games and stories can refer to these characters and I love that I can see "Cousland" or "Amell" or "Hawke" or "Warden" and think - "that was me!"

I don't personally know of another franchise that allows the player to be involved in the world in such a way over a period of time.

[Sylvius the Mad]

Dragoonlordz wrote...

They have to use surname because the protaganist is voiced, Do I like that fact, not really and it is known I prefer silent to voiced but I can understand why they are doing what they are doing. They can't record VO for every possible name people can come up with.

That's not even close to true.

NWN demonstrated that they can voice lines without referring to the PC by name.

Modifié par Sylvius the Mad, 12 décembre 2012 - 02:51 .

[ledod]

Yes, a surname is unwanted. Perhaps, great one, chosen one, or darling would be superior alternatives.

[blueumi]

as long as I have say over the first name then I don't really mind

since games have  voice acting they have to call the hero something just as long as the love interest has a pet name for the hero then I don't see the problem

Modifié par blueumi, 12 décembre 2012 - 05:10 .

[Sylvius the Mad]

blueumi wrote...

since games have  voice acting they have to call the hero something

No they don't.  NWN2 demonstrates this very effectively.

[ohnotherancor]

Sylvius the Mad wrote...

blueumi wrote...

since games have  voice acting they have to call the hero something

No they don't.  NWN2 demonstrates this very effectively.

NWN 2 was not fully voiced. Many interactions between the NPCs were text-only.

Also I'm pretty sure NWN 2 required the player to have subtitles on at all times. Not everyone prefers that.
I personally have no problem with it as I always play with subtitles on, but in more cinematic circumstances, many people find them annoying.