72 réponses à ce sujet

[Imp of the Perverse]

Wulfram wrote...

David Gaider wrote...

d4eaming wrote...
I can understand they might have been cut from DA2 due to time contraints

Not at all. We cut them because they were too repetitive, and there's really no way to make them non-repetitive even if we tripled the number of lines because clicking on companions is simply something you do very frequently throughout the game.

And I thank you for it.

They're usually entertaining, but it's also sort of a fourth wall break, which can interfere with immersion. As for the responses themselves, some I never got tired of, some (like the ladder comment mentioned in the OP) annoyed me almost immediately. One way to deal with it would be to put a setting in the options menu to let you adjust the frequency, similar to what some games do now with kill cams. I'd probably have it set to 100% at first, then dial it back in subsequent playthroughs, or as a I get further into the game.

[Blackrising]

I really liked it.
And I never really saw it as immersion-breaking or whatever. I always just assumed that they weren't reacting to me clicking on them, but that the Warden/Hawke was tipping them on the shoulder or something. We just didn't see it.
The issue of repetition doesn't really concern me. I didn't even notice it anymore after a while. So no annoyance for me.

[ForceXev]

Do it like Mass Effect 1 -- left-click to select a companion is silent, but you can right-click to "interact" with them which triggers some sort of dialogue, often relevant to the current situation. I was bummed that they did away with that in ME2.

[Aldandil]

"Yes, oh, omni-present authority figure".

[Parmida]

Aldandil wrote...

"Yes, oh, omni-present authority figure".

THEY SAW US! TAKE COVER PEOPLE!

[Dhiro]

David Gaider wrote...

d4eaming wrote...
I can understand they might have been cut from DA2 due to time contraints

Not at all. We cut them because they were too repetitive, and there's really no way to make them non-repetitive even if we tripled the number of lines because clicking on companions is simply something you do very frequently throughout the game.

But... but... nature's servant awaits!

[dunstan1993]

Too repetitive and slightly annoying, sorry but I'm glad they're gone.

[David Gaider]

Well, it's nice to know that some people appreciated them. I'm not sure that reducing the frequency would be all that helpful-- we were trying that with the attack barks ("have at you!") which fire randomly during combat, and all we found with a greatly reduced frequency is that suddenly the very point of having them at all started to become questionable. I can think of better places to put effort towards a character's charm, but again it's nice to know that this effort wasn't completely invisible.

Though I will NOT miss having to come up with 5-10 different acknowledgements for every character, let me tell you.

[katiebour]

Awww. I always liked that extra bit of flavor. How else would we have gleaned that little tidbit of Antivan from Zevran- "Braska!" It's sort of like the character's uniforms in DA2- it gave you a sense of their personality. Alistair's "Yeeeeeeeeeeeees?" still cracks me up whenever it goes off. And what else can I associate with Anders except fireballs?

[Dr. Explosion]

On the one hand, I won't really miss them; I neither liked, nor disliked, 90% of them.

On the other hand, hearing Leliana giggle whenever I select her is my favourite small detail in the game; sometimes I'll switch to her just to hear it.

Hopefully, they'll include a way to let players reliably hear their favourite character(s) adorably giggling in DA3.

Modifié par Conall Cameron, 12 décembre 2012 - 03:21 .

[Parmida]

"Who needs kidneys anyway." LOL!

[WhiteKnyght]

David Gaider wrote...

Well, it's nice to know that some people appreciated them. I'm not sure that reducing the frequency would be all that helpful-- we were trying that with the attack barks ("have at you!") which fire randomly during combat, and all we found with a greatly reduced frequency is that suddenly the very point of having them at all started to become questionable. I can think of better places to put effort towards a character's charm, but again it's nice to know that this effort wasn't completely invisible.

Though I will NOT miss having to come up with 5-10 different acknowledgements for every character, let me tell you.

I thought they were pretty amusing myself. Alistair: "The waiting around part is awesome"

Also what the hell are "Andraste's knickerweasels?" Something I remember Anders saying during Awakening when you remove him from your party.

[Dhiro]

I could stand for more in-battle banter. Specifically, the one in Legacy during the last fight is a favorite of mine. I also adore small details such as Anders crying out loud if a romanced Hawke falls in battle, while Isabela says "Hawke's down, time to panic!"

[PsychoBlonde]

David Gaider wrote...

Well, it's nice to know that some people appreciated them. I'm not sure that reducing the frequency would be all that helpful-- we were trying that with the attack barks ("have at you!") which fire randomly during combat, and all we found with a greatly reduced frequency is that suddenly the very point of having them at all started to become questionable. I can think of better places to put effort towards a character's charm, but again it's nice to know that this effort wasn't completely invisible.

Though I will NOT miss having to come up with 5-10 different acknowledgements for every character, let me tell you.

I both liked and disliked them--sometimes they'd be amusing or weirdly appropriate, but after the seventieth time my Warden snarked at me for telling her to go do something, it got pretty annoying.

I also found it problematic because I would pick my Warden's voice based on how the voice sounded, and then I'd get a weirdly angry-sounding complaint when I issued orders.  I didn't pick the voice because I wanted Angry Warden, I picked it because the others sounded like upper-class English twits or 14-year-old schoolgirls.  

I would not mind if you put in some Warcraft-style "stop clicking on me, fool" easter egg barks that you only get after a ton of clicks, though.  Those are fun.

[David Gaider]

Dhiro wrote...
I could stand for more in-battle banter. Specifically, the one in Legacy during the last fight is a favorite of mine. I also adore small details such as Anders crying out loud if a romanced Hawke falls in battle, while Isabela says "Hawke's down, time to panic!"

Err... just to be clear, I was referring only to the bark issued when you click on a character (as was the OP, I believe). We still will have other reactive barks, such as when someone in the party falls. In fact, these sorts of barks reacting to specific events (rather than ones that just fire at random) are what those party comments work best for.

[Dhiro]

David Gaider wrote...

Dhiro wrote...
I could stand for more in-battle banter. Specifically, the one in Legacy during the last fight is a favorite of mine. I also adore small details such as Anders crying out loud if a romanced Hawke falls in battle, while Isabela says "Hawke's down, time to panic!"

Err... just to be clear, I was referring only to the bark issued when you click on a character (as was the OP, I believe). We still will have other reactive barks, such as when someone in the party falls. In fact, these sorts of barks reacting to specific events (rather than ones that just fire at random) are what those party comments work best for.

Yay!

[Dhiro]

PsychoBlonde wrote...

David Gaider wrote...

Well, it's nice to know that some people appreciated them. I'm not sure that reducing the frequency would be all that helpful-- we were trying that with the attack barks ("have at you!") which fire randomly during combat, and all we found with a greatly reduced frequency is that suddenly the very point of having them at all started to become questionable. I can think of better places to put effort towards a character's charm, but again it's nice to know that this effort wasn't completely invisible.

Though I will NOT miss having to come up with 5-10 different acknowledgements for every character, let me tell you.

I both liked and disliked them--sometimes they'd be amusing or weirdly appropriate, but after the seventieth time my Warden snarked at me for telling her to go do something, it got pretty annoying.

I also found it problematic because I would pick my Warden's voice based on how the voice sounded, and then I'd get a weirdly angry-sounding complaint when I issued orders.  I didn't pick the voice because I wanted Angry Warden, I picked it because the others sounded like upper-class English twits or 14-year-old schoolgirls.  

I would not mind if you put in some Warcraft-style "stop clicking on me, fool" easter egg barks that you only get after a ton of clicks, though.  Those are fun.

BG1 characters are very aware of some omnipresent authority figure poking them with some silly mouse cursor. I wouldn't mind seeing more of that (but I suppose that a case could be made that it breaks immersion)

[sea-]

David Gaider wrote...

Not at all. We cut them because they were too repetitive, and there's really no way to make them non-repetitive even if we tripled the number of lines because clicking on companions is simply something you do very frequently throughout the game.

Yet the dialogue in combat grew extremely repetitive as well.  So why was that kept?

I think it's totally fine to have proper acknowledgment and selection "barks" so long as they only play, say, 1/3 times you actually issue an order or select a character.  It adds some personality to the game.  If you are going to have every single line voice-acted you might as well do those as well.  I'd take "suggested" personality through those voice samples over romances/personal conversations/etc. any day.

[Navasha]

I for one don't miss the acknowledgement barks at all. It was odd because they were directed that the PLAYER and not other party members.

[Wulfram]

sea- wrote...

Yet the dialogue in combat grew extremely repetitive as well.  So why was that kept?

Well a lot of it is actually useful for telling you that someone needs healing or is out of stamina.

Though the blood mage out of mana messages were annoying.

[nightscrawl]

Filament wrote...

I never found that ladder-back comment to be all so annoying as other people on the forum made it out to be.

I made a male human noble rogue. Every time I opened a damned chest he would say this or "All right, all right!" It made me insane.

[David Gaider]

sea- wrote...
Yet the dialogue in combat grew extremely repetitive as well.  So why was that kept?

We are getting rid of the random combat barks as well, keeping the stuff that is reactive rather than sporadic.

Why did we not get rid of the random combat barks back in DA2 at the same time as the on-clicks? Tradition, I suppose. Those seemed more important, somehow. They're really not, provided that combat isn't reduced to mere grunting and silence, and that leaves us room for more reactive barks instead.

[sea-]

David Gaider wrote...

We are getting rid of the random combat barks as well, keeping the stuff that is reactive rather than sporadic.

Why did we not get rid of the random combat barks back in DA2 at the same time as the on-clicks? Tradition, I suppose. Those seemed more important, somehow. They're really not, provided that combat isn't reduced to mere grunting and silence, and that leaves us room for more reactive barks instead.

Fair enough.  I was referring to Dragon Age 2 especially when I mentioned it, not this upcoming game.

Using character barks is important in certain situations because it provides audio feedback on what's going on... it lets the player understand "I selected X" or "Y is low on mana."  If you can appropriate that to deliver insight into characters and situations, then that is definitely superior to using the same list of 10 taunts over and over.

Modifié par sea-, 12 décembre 2012 - 04:24 .

[nightscrawl]

David Gaider wrote...

We are getting rid of the random combat barks as well, keeping the stuff that is reactive rather than sporadic.

Why did we not get rid of the random combat barks back in DA2 at the same time as the on-clicks? Tradition, I suppose. Those seemed more important, somehow. They're really not, provided that combat isn't reduced to mere grunting and silence, and that leaves us room for more reactive barks instead.

I thought the non-English ones from Zevran, Sten, Fenris, and occasionally Merrill were the best because they are responding in combat in the language of the place where they learned to fight. It emphasized that aspect of their character.

If you do have more companions where English is not their first language (or whatever you guys call English in Thedas), I hope you will keep some elements of that in, not necessarily in combat barks, to remind us of that . An example would be of Sten saying "Parshaara" during a conversation, or Fenris starting that Act 3 scene with a swear.