173 réponses à ce sujet

[Willowhugger]

http://www.rockpaper...dragon-age-iii/

Some interesting stuff here. David Gaider confirms that it was a story about survival but he was harsher than I expected . I really liked Dragon Age II even if I felt Hawke could have had more agency over the events he was involved with directly.

I appreciate how attentive Bioware is to fan wants, however.

[I Like Cats And]

Bioware usually says one thing but does another. I hope they follow through.

[-TC1989-]

I Like Cats And wrote...

Bioware usually says one thing but does another. I hope they follow through.

I take that two ways. The good side to that, is that they keep us guessing as far as what they decide to do with ideas they put out there. The bad side to that, is how much stuff do they bring up that they'll do, and  ultimately forget about completely?

[gangly369]

Cool interview. Thanks for the link

[KingsTiger]

Filament wrote...

The thing that most interest me is what he means by it being interesting in a "Confucian sense."

I'm just guessing, but I think they're referring to that old curse, "May you live in interesting times."
Edit: whoops, misread the quote. Yeah, that's certainly it.

Modifié par KingsTiger, 30 mars 2013 - 01:04 .

[SpEcIaLRyAn]

Good read. I really hope DA3 is as cool as it is sounding. The redemption Bioware needs to get back on top in my eyes.

[TheBlackBaron]

Willowhugger wrote...

http://www.rockpaper...dragon-age-iii/

Some interesting stuff here. David Gaider confirms that it was a story about survival but he was harsher than I expected . I really liked Dragon Age II even if I felt Hawke could have had more agency over the events he was involved with directly.

I appreciate how attentive Bioware is to fan wants, however.

I hate to be cynical here, but there last game is always the greatest thing ever until it's time to move onto the next installment, after which the floodgates open and criticism of the previous installment flows out in order to help promote the next. Especially in the months just after release, it was rare indeed to see a writer or a dev admitting that maybe there were area in which DA2 took a step back on or was inferior to DA:O in.

I know it's how business works, so it doesn't really bother me. But still. That said, I am cautiously optimisitic regarding DA:I. 

[Sanunes]

krul2k wrote...

hate reading Mr Gaiders stuff, he makes more sense than one person is allowed

What I got out of the interview is that they try to listen to people, but at the same time no matter what they do they are going to upset someone, so instead of focus trying to make everyone happy they try to keep the games evolving.  I am just glad there were some candid moments about what he disliked about Dragon Age 2.

[Sanunes]

TheBlackBaron wrote...

Willowhugger wrote...

http://www.rockpaper...dragon-age-iii/

Some interesting stuff here. David Gaider confirms that it was a story about survival but he was harsher than I expected . I really liked Dragon Age II even if I felt Hawke could have had more agency over the events he was involved with directly.

I appreciate how attentive Bioware is to fan wants, however.

I hate to be cynical here, but there last game is always the greatest thing ever until it's time to move onto the next installment, after which the floodgates open and criticism of the previous installment flows out in order to help promote the next. Especially in the months just after release, it was rare indeed to see a writer or a dev admitting that maybe there were area in which DA2 took a step back on or was inferior to DA:O in.

I know it's how business works, so it doesn't really bother me. But still. That said, I am cautiously optimisitic regarding DA:I. 

I am not sure if I am reading your statement right, but the way I see it is that your previous work is always better then what you just released.  I remember the complaints from Mass Effect 1 that it was not enough like Knights of the Old Republic, then Mass Effect 2 was horrible compared to Mass Effect 1, and now how horrible Mass Effect 3 is compared to Mass Effect 2 (of course the same with Dragon Age).

Where I am really interested in with BioWare (and I know its not being down by David Gaider or other Dragon Age staff) is the new IP they are developing for that is generally the best place to see where the company is going because they don't have the influence of previous games or feedback from outside sources.

[Fuggyt]

For me, the whole three-act frame-narrative structure of DA2 didn't work. It was nice to see Gaider more or less concurred. DA2 wasn't a bad game but as a story it was nowhere near as immersive or compelling as it predecessor, and I venture to suggest that's a consensus opinion. Powerlessness is a powerful literary theme, but it probably works better in a novel or play. I play video games to obtain and apply unworldly power, not to learn another post-modern lesson in the futility of action against the existential abyss. What's next? "Kafka's Metamorphosis: The Game." Just MHO,

[TEWR]

Hmm, where to begin after reading this interview...

Party members lived their own lives

Not really. If by "lived their own lives" the article's author means "Stood around in their haunts doing nothing -- or almost nothing -- and their "outside lives" were relegated to codexes almost all the time, then sure.

If you're lucky, you'll get a cutscene with companions visiting other companions. But I wouldn't really call that "living their own lives" in a sense that it was well done, which is what this seems to imply. It's only if you're lucky, and even then it's like... one companion visits another during each act. Or two, for Anders/Aveline and Varric/Merrill.

Great concept, so-so execution. For instance, why doesn't Anders move from person to person healing them? Why don't we see Aveline going through the drudgery of sorting through papers at her desk, or regularly giving commands to guardsmen (as opposed to that one cutscene that IIRC happens only at max approval).

Why don't we see all of the companions at the Hanged Man at night, drinking in Varric's suite and talking with one another -- maybe even about things Hawke's done?

Most of it is relegated to "off screen" while on screen you're lucky if you get even a few hints to it.

themes like racism and security-vs-freedom got the spotlight

It did, no doubt. Whether it got enough of it, on the other hand, or whether it was handled in a meaningful and well done fashion, however, varies.

Me, I think it was done poorly. But that's me.

We had family as a big issue we wanted to focus on.

That I feel didn't get enough attention in-game.

We have some balls

Bioware does indeed have some balls =P.

[OdanUrr]

RPS wrote...

RPS: I think I enjoyed it more than a lot of people. I found the story fascinating, even though choices felt very limited. It was almost a narrative about powerlessness. The fact that you were a guy or girl tossed into these terrible circumstances and you just had to react and deal with it. It wasn’t so much about Shepard-style heroics. It was kind of an un-epic.

Modifié par OdanUrr, 30 mars 2013 - 03:56 .

[dragonflight288]

Hmm. Not sure what to make of the interview. I like what Gaider is saying, and I'm glad he mentioned that DA2 left things unaddressed and there had to be closure before we got some new themes and ideas going, and I am curious to see how that will be handled.

But on the other hand, I do worry how much time they do have to make Inquisition, as I know EA will want the game out as soon as it's playable to try and cash in on the money-cow, as they do with so many other game titles, that I'm concerned that the concerns Gaider brought up about 'how much time they have to offer alternate paths' will become an issue...especially since it was confessed by the developers that they actually threw Orsino into a required boss battle simply for the sake of having a boss battle. I would like to know they've learned their lesson from that error, having a boss for the sake of having a boss regardless of how much sense it makes to player choices.

[elfdwarf]

hawke did rise to power but hawke's power couldn't match kirkwall's corruption

[HiroVoid]

Jayne126 wrote...

but we also have to keep in mind people who are coming to Dragon Age III fresh, who have no previous experience. That’s the biggest thing we have to concern ourselves with.

That's all I need to know, thanks.

To be fair, there were a lot of people who seem to have skipped on DAII compared to the ME series where each subsequent game in the series sold more.

[Cirram55]

OdanUrr wrote...

RPS wrote...

RPS: I think I enjoyed it more than a lot of people. I found the story fascinating, even though choices felt very limited. It was almost a narrative about powerlessness. The fact that you were a guy or girl tossed into these terrible circumstances and you just had to react and deal with it. It wasn’t so much about Shepard-style heroics. It was kind of an un-epic.

Eh, to be fair though, you're talking about marketing. The game is indeed about powerlessness and Hawke shaping the world out of necessity and forcing circumstances. The problem with that is that it wasn't marketed as such, so you expected to be this all-powerful badass hero that saves the day with cool armour and fancy combat moves.

I do find Gaider's statements in this (really good) interview quite contraddictory with what he and others have said before, anyway.

[thebigbad1013]

Good read, though nothing really surprising to me. To me DA2 will always be a good game that could have been a lot better if it had been given the time it needed, which is pretty much what Gaider says in this interview.

[Sir George Parr]

What DA2 needed most of all was a fourth act aka 'The Exalted March'.

[Jonata]

David has been pretty harsh regarding the videogame community, the BSN and the industry in general these day, but I love this kind of attitude. Developers that ignore the (many, MANY) flaws of the gaming industry and its consumers will never go far or be groundbreaking enough to change things.

The best anti-gamers game I can think of is Metal Gear Solid 2: I'm not saying that a BioWare game needs that level of meta-commentary (I think it's just a different way of sending those messages) but I really hope that all his recent interviews means that he's packing one hell of a subversive punch in DA3's characters and plot.

Modifié par Jonata, 30 mars 2013 - 10:29 .

[Wulfram]

We had a story that was about failure as much as it was about epic success.

The thing for me is that the game never really acknowledges the failure. It's always going on about how the Champion is the epicest, awesomest guy out there. And of course you've got the combat which has Hawke being capable of obliterating a small army or two before breakfast.

So it really felt more like the game was trying to be epic and failing than that they were trying to do anything different. If they wanted to have a more down to earth main character then they needed to commit to it, rather than end up with a situation where it feels like they're supposed to be epic but fail at everything important.

[Bfler]

"The worst thing is to ignore feedback and work entirely in a vacuum."

Hm, Mass Effect 3?

Btw, does this man have some kind of need to talk or why are there so many interviews lately? Serious question.

Modifié par Bfler, 30 mars 2013 - 10:57 .

[Dutchess]

Meh, he still doesn't really address that much of the writing in DA2 was lacking. Which is made easy to do because the interviewer is still praising the game. Why never a word about how nearly every (mini) antagonist is/goes crazy? The family theme was not well done at all and failed to create that special connection between the family members. Hawke's story is still "from rags to riches", "from zero to hero". They even turned the Arishok into a temporary big bad who wanted to kill everyone and enslave the whole city, so that Hawke could be a hero and defeat him. It's a bit like DA2 didn't dare to really choose between doing something new and different and falling back on the usual fantasy trope that David criticizes.

Oh well. Same old arguments. Anyway, still zero information about DA3. He doesn't even reveal any of the themes for the next game. Except maybe mage-templar, but that is old news too.