129 réponses à ce sujet

[Jaldaen]

I've just finished compiling all of Duncan's dialogue in the game. I will now take a few days to see if I can make any of these storylines make sense with the available voice overs for Duncan. I'll also be counting up the votes and seeing which storyline appeals to most of you.



Thanks for all your comments and your votes.



Best Wishes,

Joseph

[Bhatair]

Good luck

[Jaldaen]

Hello All,

I spent most of today hammering out two different origin intros. All of the words in these intros appear in some part of Duncan's dialogue. I am not sure how they will sound once they are spliced together, but this should give you an idea of where I'm headed with these stories. Anyways, without further ado, here's the intros:

Denerim Guard Intro:
You were born in Denerim, the largest city and capital of Ferelden. It is a place rife with political intrigue and beset by crime. As one of the city guards, your task is to protect the people of Denerim from thieves and killers. Unfortunately, the crime lords and noble families in the city do not make it easy for you or your comrades. Each day brings you a new set of problems and today is likely to be no different.

Blight Refugee Intro:
You have lived your entire life in a freehold near Lake Calenhad. It is a quiet and tightly-knit community, but rumors of a new Blight and recent darkspawn attacks in the surrounding area have convinced your father to seek refuge with your uncle within the city walls of Denerim. You have many preparations to make before your family departs tomorrow morning and leaves behind the only home you’ve ever known.

Militia Intro:
You have lived your entire life in a quiet freehold near Lake Calenhad. However, when king Cailan sent out the call, your arl began enlisting men and women for his army. Your father, who once served in battle against the Orlesians, has sent you and your brother to do your duty and protect your country. He has taught you everything you know about how to fight. But will it be enough to survive the battles ahead...

Please let me know what you think of these intros. I welcome both positive comments and constructive criticisms.

Best Wishes,
Joseph

Modifié par Jaldaen, 12 janvier 2010 - 10:42 .

[Jester8183]

The Denerim Guard intro sounds good. I hope the splicing goes well. And I really like the set up with the Blight Refugee intro; it leaves you with a since of impending doom.

[Jaldaen]

Thanks Jester... I'm glad you liked both intros. I also like the sense of impeding doom the Blight Refugee intro sets up.

[Shamagar]

The human noble origin already deals with the political side of Fereldon and Art Howe as the villian. I really think that the refugee story would add the emotional elements and make ending the blight personal.



To me, this is what the Dalish origin could've been and really lacked- that personal connection to the greater overall issue of the blight.

[Jaldaen]

Shamagar,



Thanks for your comment... your point is one of the main pros to going forward with the Blight Refugee storyline. I also like how it gives the character an emotional interest in ending the Blight.

[Maximus741000]

Joseph, will you present your idea for the Militiaman scenario soon? I'm quite anxious to see what you've thought of. But you've put up really strong cases for the other stories.

[Maximus741000]

Double post

Modifié par Maximus741000, 12 janvier 2010 - 09:44 .

[RavitalDaniel]

I vote for the refugee, as the stories unfold I think it will be more unique then the other one and set it in a new location which is always fun to see.

[Jaldaen]

The Militia Intro is up, too.

[RavitalDaniel]

oops didn't see that, now I don't know what to choose....I'm having a hard time choosing between the militia and the refugee they are both story's I would love to play

[TuringPoint]

I like the guard one a lot, but they all sound interesting.

[Magsooret]

i'd have to say all 3 sounds Awesome



though favourite being City guard

[Tae Jir]

Jaldaen: big thanks for undertaking what would be a great addition to the game, and one I look forward to playing!

Both ideas sound good to me, but I definitly would prefer the blight refugee origin.



And I want to thank SusanStohelit and Jaldecir for their debate: you guys are what makes this community so great: passion and reason in a back and forth that leaves me more informed.



Further to their discussion: it seems to me that the Origin stories serve the purpose of introducing bigger themes than just a personal story. And we are also introduced to some of the factions of Ferelden. Mages, blood mages and Templars. Humans, elves and the Dalish. Dwarves and the Deep Roads (and Branca), and becoming Surfacers. Court intrigue. The Fade.



I would like to see (and think it necessary), that the blight refugee Origin, touch upon something greater that will be revisited later in the story. Two possibilities come to mind. One would be the Chantry and the other is Flemeth.



I haven't thought that much about the Chantry, but did think it could be interesting to have a village that had a legend of once having some important relic that was taken elsewhere, or a village with a Chantry that tried to minister to the Darkspawn.

I liked the idea of introducing Flemeth without ever invoking her name. Little village in the wildes. Family, village life. You head out hunting, return to hear of the strange old woman who went thru the previous day. And that night your brother is snatched! So off you go into the wildes to find him. And encounter Darkspawn and Duncan and get recruited.



Ok! so I won't quit my day job (yes David Gaider, your position is safe). I just think any origin story should introduce something that will be revisited later. Or explains something from another Origins thread, like finding out in the City Elf story why the Alienage is locked down.

[SusanStoHelit]

Well, you already know my feelings. Definitely the Blight Refugee, for the reasons I've stated before. I won't go on about them again.



I will say, however, that all 3 have something to offer. None of them are bad. Thank you Jaldaean for all the effort and time you've already put into this.



And all 3 introductions 'work' imo.

[Kiwiya]

Ooh, my vote is definitely for the blight refugee.



All 3 introductions would be nice, but this one sort of just... feels the most like the game? You get a nice sense of being torn away from everything you know, a firsthand view of the darkspawn, a real good reason for Duncan to recruit you (personally, I still can hardly imagine why he would have wanted my human noble), and the rest of the game's lack of Chasinds is just more icing on the cake. Human noble or human mage, they're pretty similar culturally. But a good ol' barbarian? Sounds like loads of fun.

[Jaldaen]

Tae Jir,



Thanks a lot for your comments, as I've been researching this project I've discovered that there are a lot of elements that go into each origin. You've pointed out one of the elements that I'll have to keep in mind. It should be fun (and challenging) to weave everything together into one coherent and hopefully engaging storyline.



Best Wishes,

Joseph

[Jaldaen]

Kiwiya,



I'm glad you like all of the possibile storylines... I'm still not 100% on whether the main character will be Chasind or not, but either way I think there are a lot of possibilities for this storyline to be connected to the main plot in hopefully exciting and surprising ways.

[Jaldecir]

My vote remains with the city-guard as well.



I still feel that the game, as a whole, presents the Blight itself quite weakly. When I played the game, I'm more interested in bringing down Loghain and solving my allies' internal problems rather than ending the Blight itself. So even if there's an origin that makes the Blight feels more personal, I'm not quite interested unless the whole game is modified to give more involvement from the darkspawn. But then again, I think that might be what Bioware is trying to do with Awakening by introducing a talking darkspawn. Being able to talk would really add more depth and open up options that were previously unavailable because the darkspawn and archdemon couldn't talk.



And while I know it's way too late to suggest things, I've always wondered how well if the origin is actually about a character who is already a Grey Warden, playing the Duncan's role of recruiter. So the origin part of the game is actually about the character recruiting a potential new Grey Warden, then going to the Wilds with the recruit, Daveth, and Ser Jory. All three of them would fail and die, then enter Alistair. But no idea lol, I'm just babbling out loud here XD

[Jaldaen]

Jaldecir,



Thanks for the comments. As for your idea, I think it could be done, but it'd be a lot more work than just creating an origin. You'd have to rewrite most of the Ostagar related material, too. You'd also have to rework later conversations, especially with Alistair since you'd be "in the know" about the Grey Wardens.



Best Wishes,

Joseph

[Originsmaster]

City Guard followed by Blight refugee

[Jaldaen]

Update: I'm starting to storyboard these ideas and will let you all know when I have something concrete for you to look at. What I'm planning on doing is posting the (very rough) storyboards to the project page and then sending out a message to everyone who has expessed interest in this project. After that I'll take your comments for a week or so and make my final decision.

[Jaldaen]

Update: I'm still working on the storyboards for the Denerim Guard and Blight Refugee. Hopefully, I'll get one of them done this weekend and another one finished next week, then I'll present them for discussion and make a final decision on which direction to go it.



Best Wishes,

Joseph



PS: Although I like the Milita Man entry, it didn't get as much support as these two and I don't think I want to spend the extra time doing a storyboard for it, too. However, if I get inspired or find some extra time next week, then I might give it a go, too.