234 réponses à ce sujet

[simtam]

If the Witcher games come as close to ASOIAF, it's incidental, because they are based on short-stories and novels which were published between 1986 and 1999, more then half of them even before the "A Game of Thrones". At least one of its short stories, "A question of price", is political, that is, involves scumbag nobles, inheritance laws, etc. - with more to follow in novels and the games.

 

And the Dragon Age series are still using 'Ser' as a knightly noble title. Unsure if I'd say that I miss the betrayal-trodden story of the Origins, though. 

[Zwingtanz]

And I miss the days when Witcher was mostly an insider-tip and nobody cared much about it. The hype this series gets now is ...*sigh* ... a bit tiring by now ^^

Blame the Witcher 2 graphics, and with a female Witcher being playable in the next game, there will even be more players.

[Ascendra]

Blame the Witcher 2 graphics, and with a female Witcher being playable in the next game, there will even be more players.

 

I for one am definitely looking forward to playing Witcher 3 (haven't finished 1 and 2 because sick of Geralt, only Planescape Torment could make me care enough for a male protagonist), because Ciri, and because I always wanted to play a woman in a Witcher setting. The fact that you can play as a powerful girl in a man's world full of bigotry, sexism and other bad stuff, only makes you more awesome and the experience more rewarding imo.

[MadDemiurg]

Well, I am about to read the "real" books that tell the whole story before the games, with Ciri and all. But the shotr-stories that came way before are ... actually a parody of common fantansy and fairy-tale-cliches. Yeah, with a dark tone for sure. But in fact I see it a bot more like "Discworld" in that regard ^^

Do read, the books are really good. Not sure which language are you going to read them in and how much do they lose in translation. (I read them in Russian, and russian translation is pretty good, however the original is even better I'm sure, Not sure how many of the cool language bits are actually translatable into English).

 

TW games do inherit some interesting topics from the books like rasicm/conflicts between humans and minor races, political intrigue among kings and mages etc, it's nowhere near the level of the books though. The amnesia part in TW1 was quite stupid, for me it would be better  if they did the game as an alternative story for the series events rather than the continuation,

 

Still, TW games plot is quite good for the most part. Origins plot was competitive, but past that DA has really fallen behind.

 

No point comparing games with the books tbh, because nothing written for DA universe is even remotely on the same level as TW book series. 

[berrieh]

I for one am definitely looking forward to playing Witcher 3 (haven't finished 1 and 2 because sick of Geralt, only Planescape Torment could make me care enough for a male protagonist), because Ciri, and because I always wanted to play a woman in a Witcher setting. The fact that you can play as a powerful girl in a man's world full of bigotry, sexism and other bad stuff, only makes you more awesome and the experience more rewarding imo.

 

This actually makes me excited about The Witcher. I finished TW2, but hate Geralt and didn't care for it. I didn't realize I could actually play Ciri in the next game! Though it seems like you still can't be her the whole game and have to be Geralt. Still, a great step. 

[MadDemiurg]

This actually makes me excited about The Witcher. I finished TW2, but hate Geralt and didn't care for it. I didn't realize I could actually play Ciri in the next game! Though it seems like you still can't be her the whole game and have to be Geralt. Still, a great step. 

Ciri is a massive ****** in the books though , so depending on how they implement her in the game, I'm not sure you'll like her either if you didn't like Geralt.

[LinksOcarina]

Do read, the books are really good. Not sure which language are you going to read them in and how much do they lose in translation. (I read them in Russian, and russian translation is pretty good, however the original is even better I'm sure, Not sure how many of the cool language bits are actually translatable into English).

 

TW games do inherit some interesting topics from the books like rasicm/conflicts between humans and minor races, political intrigue among kings and mages etc, it's nowhere near the level of the books though. The amnesia part in TW1 was quite stupid, for me it would be better  if they did the game as an alternative story for the series events rather than the continuation,

 

Still, TW games plot is quite good for the most part. Origins plot was competitive, but past that DA has really fallen behind.

 

No point comparing games with the books tbh, because nothing written for DA universe is even remotely on the same level as TW book series. 

 

I don't know about that. The first Witcher was really atrocious in terms of combat and plot I would say. Second game was pretty good had slightly tighter controls and better plot that was much more contained but I put it on par with Dragon Age thus far.  I never read the books unfortunately so I can't compare, but I do like the fact that there is less "racism" in Dragon Age, at least in terms of stuff regarding the races themselves. The elves are emblematic of that like always, but I like how it's more about political pride.

 

Made the argument before about the world of Dragon Age being more culturally based versus racially based. You hear a lot about Orlesians and Free Marchers and Ferelden's and Tevenes, instead of Elves, Mages and Dwarves and what not. An elf can be considered Orlesian or a Dwarf a Free Marcher, and a Mage can be a part of a political faction, which really does set it apart in a way that's uncommon in fantasy writing.  

 

I don't know, different styles, both of them valid, both well written for the most part. I feel like that sort of divide regarding what's "better" is honestly a trap in just simply enjoying things.

[Ascendra]

Ciri is a massive ****** in the books though , so depending on how they implement her in the game, I'm not sure you'll like her either if you didn't like Geralt.

 

Doesn't matter. Ciri is a girl in male-dominated world. If you play as Geralt, you play as your standard white dude with stubble, sour disposition and special-Witcher-hormones that make every woman swoon over you. If you play as Ciri you face a lot of other problems, plus you can kick some major butt.

 

 

Do read, the books are really good. Not sure which language are you going to read them in and how much do they lose in translation. (I read them in Russian, and russian translation is pretty good, however the original is even better I'm sure, Not sure how many of the cool language bits are actually translatable into English).

 

I've read the first book in both English and Russian. I daresay that Russian translation is better, due to it being closer to Polish in terms of swearing eloquence. And witcher has a lot of it.

 

 

Edit: I wouldn't go into Witcher vs DA debate here, but DA world has a LOT of nasty stuff, and I believe it is comparable in terms of possibilities to create really bad situations for the characters. But DA kind of hides all its blood, grime and nastiness under glamor of new shiny graphics and prevalent political correctness.

[MadDemiurg]

I don't know about that. The first Witcher was really atrocious in terms of combat and plot I would say. Second game was pretty good had slightly tighter controls and better plot that was much more contained but I put it on par with Dragon Age thus far.  I never read the books unfortunately so I can't compare, but I do like the fact that there is less "racism" in Dragon Age, at least in terms of stuff regarding the races themselves. The elves are emblematic of that like always, but I like how it's more about political pride.

 

Made the argument before about the world of Dragon Age being more culturally based versus racially based. You hear a lot about Orlesians and Free Marchers and Ferelden's and Tevenes, instead of Elves, Mages and Dwarves and what not. An elf can be considered Orlesian or a Dwarf a Free Marcher, and a Mage can be a part of a political faction, which really does set it apart in a way that's uncommon in fantasy writing.  

 

I don't know, different styles, both of them valid, both well written for the most part. I feel like that sort of divide regarding what's "better" is honestly a trap in just simply enjoying things.

TW1 plot was decent to me if you forget the amnesia part and had some twists to keep it fun. I'm pretty sure it loses some of its humor in the English translation though. And maybe having read the books before playing makes for a slightly different experience.

 

As for DA, I definitely did enjoy the Origins plot. The big bad was generic and bland, but Loghain/Landsmeet line was really entertaining and well written. i also enjoyed Orzammar plotline and probably am one of the few people that enjoyed the Fade.

 

DA2 was not bad, but in the end I didn't feel like the plot really accomplished anything... It just felt like the whole game had no purpose

 

DA:I has fallen really low IMO. The big bad is cliched and boring. There are no additional plot lines to make it interesting. I was waiting for a twist until the very end, but it didn't happen,

 

As for combat, this is another topic imo. Out of 5 games - TW1, TW2, DA:O, DA2 and DA:I I only really liked it in Origins.

 

Doesn't matter. Ciri is a girl in male-dominated world. If you play as Geralt, you play as your standard white dude with stubble, sour disposition and special-Witcher-hormones that make every woman swoon over you. If you play as Ciri you face a lot of other problems, plus you can kick some major butt.

But she has OP magic to compensate Unless they do smth about it. Also, I wouldn't say TW world is necessarily male dominated. Most of the kingdoms are for sure (as you could've expected from a setting based on medieval Europe), but the majority of the mages are women and these play a major role in the grand scheme of things (Lodge of Sorceresses in the books).

[LinksOcarina]

TW1 plot was decent to me if you forget the amnesia part and had some twists to keep it fun. I'm pretty sure it loses some of its humor in the English translation though. And maybe having read the books before playing makes for a slightly different experience.

 

As for DA, I definitely did enjoy the Origins plot. The big bad was generic and bland, but Loghain/Landsmeet line was really entertaining and well written. i also enjoyed Orzammar plotline and probably one of the few people that enjoyed the Fade.

 

DA2 was not bad, but in the end I didn't feel like the plot really accomplished anything... It just felt like the whole game had no purpose

 

DA:I has fallen really low IMO. The big bad is cliched and boring. There are no additional plot lines to make it interesting. I was waiting for a twist until the very end, but it didn't happen,

 

Well you don't need a twist to be engaged to be fair, and I would say there are a lot of socio-polical machinations going on in Dragon Age II an Inquisition, almost all of it is in the background though.

 

Which I personally like. Dragon Age II was such a breath of fresh air because you played someone on the outside looking-in, a small-scale issue versus world-defining decisions. Not to mention the politics of the scene in Dragon Age II, while fairly binary in terms of their divide, had layers to it because we saw both the good and the bad at the same time, from lots of different angles. 

 

The purpose was yes, set up for Inquisition, but also to just tell a good story. I still maintain it has the strongest plot and narrative of the series so far, and some of the best characters as well. Thats me though. 

[herkles]

Well you don't need a twist to be engaged to be fair, and I would say there are a lot of socio-polical machinations going on in Dragon Age II an Inquisition, almost all of it is in the background though.

 

Which I personally like. Dragon Age II was such a breath of fresh air because you played someone on the outside looking-in, a small-scale issue versus world-defining decisions. Not to mention the politics of the scene in Dragon Age II, while fairly binary in terms of their divide, had layers to it because we saw both the good and the bad at the same time, from lots of different angles. 

 

The purpose was yes, set up for Inquisition, but also to just tell a good story. I still maintain it has the strongest plot and narrative of the series so far, and some of the best characters as well. Thats me though. 

I agree. I also think that if it had say the full time to be devoloped as Inquistion, aka not being rushed, then DA2 would be one of the best bioware games IMO.

 

Hopefully as we are rumored to be going to tevinter for da4, that we can take some of the good ideas from da2 and improve on them.

[lyleoffmyspace]

And I miss the days when Witcher was mostly an insider-tip and nobody cared much about it. The hype this series gets now is ...*sigh* ... a bit tiring by now ^^

 

The game gets hype because it gives gamers a mature story, something a bit different from the norm of high fantasy games and treat us like adults not spoon feeding us the plot.

 

It certainly gets the hype for a reason, and is more deserving of it than Dragon Age to me personally.

[Ascendra]

But she has OP magic to compensate Unless they do smth about it. Also, I wouldn't say TW world is necessarily male dominated. Most of the kingdoms are for sure (as you could've expected from a setting based on medieval Europe), but the majority of the mages are women and these play a major role in the grand scheme of things (Lodge of Sorceresses in the books).

 

Yup, I know. I'm sure they can handle it though, the story's been really good so far. 

The games though show a different picture about women. I don't want to sound like a lot of other people claiming that women are objectified in the Witcher (I really don't mind tbh), but in game although the women are powerful, they always end up in a very bad state and have to be rescued by Geralt. Thats why I said that playing as a powerful girl in such a setting for me is more rewarding than playing as your standard dude. Because every other woman gets rescued by Geralt. Granted Ciri will also probably get rescued by Geralt first before she can kick butt, but I don't care, as long as I can kick butt as her later. Plus she is gorgeous.

 

 

Well you don't need a twist to be engaged to be fair, and I would say there are a lot of socio-polical machinations going on in Dragon Age II an Inquisition, almost all of it is in the background though.

 

Which I personally like. Dragon Age II was such a breath of fresh air because you played someone on the outside looking-in, a small-scale issue versus world-defining decisions. Not to mention the politics of the scene in Dragon Age II, while fairly binary in terms of their divide, had layers to it because we saw both the good and the bad at the same time, from lots of different angles. 

 

The purpose was yes, set up for Inquisition, but also to just tell a good story. I still maintain it has the strongest plot and narrative of the series so far, and some of the best characters as well. Thats me though. 

 

I fully agree about DAII. I thought the story was great, very layered, and provided nice outlook on things. It was more personal, and the fact that you can't always win no matter how much magic or strength you have was refreshing. Sometimes the odds just stack against you. It was very.... human.

[Ascendra]

The game gets hype because it gives gamers a mature story, something a bit different from the norm of high fantasy games and treat us like adults not spoon feeding us the plot.

 

It certainly gets the hype for a reason, and is more deserving of it than Dragon Age to me personally.

 

DAO was deserving of the hype, DAII was good if you focus on the story. Inquisition hides a lot of things behind glitter, but its still a good game, just different imo. I'm not even sure they were set in art direction when they created DAO, so could probably say it was a test subject. Inquisition's atmosphere feels similar to DAII (the art style, the models etc). And while I don't mind it being so pretty it could use more shocking things and definitely could drop some of its political correctness, it has a lot of nasty stuff in the codex to fill several games. Though, I'm not sure if thats the direction they want to take the game. It definitely feels like they are making it suitable for all ages (even with the bewbs) and groups.

 

 

Dont go getting all excited about ciri, she is only going to be playable in select parts and very limited. 

 

Well, no one was going to dispute the pinnacle of male-dominance that is Geralt, and no one expected Ciri to take over. However even playing some small parts as her is still very refreshing, since you can't play as anyone other than Geralt in previous games.

[BloodyTalon]

Well think its been gone since 2 sort of, but yeah winter aka the blight is no longer coming.  But apart from that, all fantasy worlds draw from the same well in the end and I feel dragon age is now fully apart from the song of fire and ice, we don't have headless warriors returning to the dead from some sort of twisted alchemy yet...do we kidding and sorry for spoilers.

[MadDemiurg]

Well you don't need a twist to be engaged to be fair, and I would say there are a lot of socio-polical machinations going on in Dragon Age II an Inquisition, almost all of it is in the background though.

 

Which I personally like. Dragon Age II was such a breath of fresh air because you played someone on the outside looking-in, a small-scale issue versus world-defining decisions. Not to mention the politics of the scene in Dragon Age II, while fairly binary in terms of their divide, had layers to it because we saw both the good and the bad at the same time, from lots of different angles. 

 

The purpose was yes, set up for Inquisition, but also to just tell a good story. I still maintain it has the strongest plot and narrative of the series so far, and some of the best characters as well. Thats me though. 

I agree that you don't need a twist if the main plot line is interesting enough without twists. This isn't the case for DA:I. Corypheus looked like a big bad's sidekick until the end to me and then I was like: and that's it...? I'm not sure what machinations do you mean, but I definitely didn't notice any in the main plot. There was potential for some interesting political games but it never happened, The only attempt at it (the Orlesian ball) felt out of place tbh, given the rest of the game.

DA:I story is quite literally: Big bad appears -> Big bad beats the hero a little -> the hero recovers -> the hero beats the big bad. There's not much to add. Even the mages vs templars conflict, which could've been quite interesting, is reduced to almost nothing in the plot.

 

Now as for DA2, I did say it was not bad. It wasn't awesome to me, mainly because the ending felt anti climatic and I felt like not enough buildup was done for the mage rebellion (rushed game?). I did actually like the smaller scope though.

[Zwingtanz]

I daresay that Russian translation is better, due to it being closer to Polish in terms of swearing eloquence. And witcher has a lot of it.

Another point actually, Witcher has a lot of slavic cultural and mythological references in it while both Westeros and Ferelden are very Anglo/Celtic, which naturally makes them similar.

[Vox Draco]

Do read, the books are really good. Not sure which language are you going to read them in and how much do they lose in translation. (I read them in Russian, and russian translation is pretty good, however the original is even better I'm sure, Not sure how many of the cool language bits are actually translatable into English).

 

I already read the short stories in german, and I think they were really funny, and the dark take on fairy tale cliches is very amusing for me. Not sure how much is lost from polish, that's a language I sadly will never master I am sure ^^I recently began with the first of the larger novels, and .. well, maybe Dragon Age could also use a bit more sexy sorceressess with diarrhoea, that was REALLY kinda dark, mature and unusual for fantasy, even in Westeros they never deal with THESE kind of problems ^^

[Maverick827]

Am I the only one who rolls their eyes whenever Josie/some Orlesian noble mentions "the game?"  They say it so much that it just becomes so cheesy.  Can you imagine Littlefinger and Varys constantly talking about the game using the phrase the game every other sentence?

[LinksOcarina]

Am I the only one who rolls their eyes whenever Josie/some Orlesian noble mentions "the game?"  They say it so much that it just becomes so cheesy.  Can you imagine Littlefinger and Varys constantly talking about the game using the phrase the game every other sentence?

 

That is more of a game conceit, ironically, to remind you that something is going on in the background.

 

And really, only Josephine and Gaspard openly talk about the game, Gaspard is admittingly bad at it, and Josephine is not fully involved.

 

A bit more discretion would be nice, but I think when your society is so open about the fact that this game is played, what is the point of hiding it? 

[myahele]

I never got any GoT vibes from DA at all. It was closer to LoTR and other fantasy tropes, but not GoT

[Ascendra]

Am I the only one who rolls their eyes whenever Josie/some Orlesian noble mentions "the game?" They say it so much that it just becomes so cheesy. Can you imagine Littlefinger and Varys constantly talking about the game using the phrase the game every other sentence?

I remember i rolled my eyes at the introduction to Wicked Hearts quest and how scared Josie was. I know they tried to create a really dangerous atmosphere, but while i absolutely LOVED that quest (i thought it was great, and a breath of fresh air from all the fighting), it still felt relatively underwhelming for me. Maybe because it was too easy to get through, didnt involve as many dangerous machinations as i thought and the Orlesians with all their fluff seemed more like a bunch of brain-dead adult-children playing in a sandbox and feeling smart about it, while you just navigate around them feeling vastly superior and unable to understand what the fuss is all about. I do think The Game was overhyped by simply talking about it too much.

[Darkly Tranquil]

Am I the only one who rolls their eyes whenever Josie/some Orlesian noble mentions "the game?"  They say it so much that it just becomes so cheesy.  Can you imagine Littlefinger and Varys constantly talking about the game using the phrase the game every other sentence?

One would have thought that the first rule of the Game would be, "Do not talk about the Game."