9 réponses à ce sujet

[Dai Grepher]

Dat title.

 

I was expecting something along the lines of Nobunaga's Ambition or Romance of Three Kingdoms (a more heard of series) or Gemfire. Something having to do with actual WAR, and not just missions or political stuff.

 

Like, the Venatori Fire Ship, for example. That just plays out like a Flash-based script game from the 2000s, only you have to move your computer's date forward and back a day in order to advance to the next screen.

 

This could have been so much more. It could have involved moving troops into places around Denerim, or placing Qunari ships along the coast, or building dams to redirect the flow of water to make putting out fires easier, etc. And have this present multiple outcomes from "Denerim survives without even a burn" to "Denerim burned to the ground". And have all of this be VISIBLE to the players.

 

And have the Inquisitor work with the Ferelden monarch, negotiate for the use of information or the station of troops and Qunari. Settle matters with banns who protest the measures. Regulate how much money is spent on it. Etc.

 

It just feels like the Chore Table missions are not interesting, and they don't fit the theme of "War Table". We don't see the troops move out, we don't command their movements or strategies, we don't arm them.

 

And waiting hours for a choice to complete? Unacceptable. I use the calendar movement almost every time, except for the things that only take like 9 minutes. Why would I want to wait hours for an outcome that I might not even like?

 

To that I say, add a feature in the next patch to allow us to skip the waiting times (since we can do this already anyway), and also allow us to reset a mission, or undo a decision (which we can also do by reloading).

 

Also, many Chore Table missions are not showing up due to bugs, such as Delrin Barris' missions if you conscripted the templars instead of partnered with them. Conscripting them is the logical choice, by the way. But since these are not showing up, allow players to force load them manually through the console (PC only, obviously).

 

Chore Table is definitely my least favorite thing in Skyhold.

[Madmoe77]

I completely agree with the timetable issues. I didn't trust myself to move the times around on my Xbone so I waited things out the hard way. 

 

So many things could have been managed really well with little resources. 

[Madmoe77]

I am not even sure what is going on with this post! Anyone have a clue how this happened? 

 

I tried to give credit to a thread from another poster (Dai Grepher) and it made an entirely new post. Sorry guys!

[metatheurgist]

This could have been so much more...

Epitaph for the whole game.

[Saphiron123]

Epitaph for the whole game.

Yup.

[Spirited Treasure]

Dat title.

 

I was expecting something along the lines of Nobunaga's Ambition or Romance of Three Kingdoms (a more heard of series) or Gemfire. Something having to do with actual WAR, and not just missions or political stuff.

 

Like, the Venatori Fire Ship, for example. That just plays out like a Flash-based script game from the 2000s, only you have to move your computer's date forward and back a day in order to advance to the next screen.

 

This could have been so much more. It could have involved moving troops into places around Denerim, or placing Qunari ships along the coast, or building dams to redirect the flow of water to make putting out fires easier, etc. And have this present multiple outcomes from "Denerim survives without even a burn" to "Denerim burned to the ground". And have all of this be VISIBLE to the players.

 

And have the Inquisitor work with the Ferelden monarch, negotiate for the use of information or the station of troops and Qunari. Settle matters with banns who protest the measures. Regulate how much money is spent on it. Etc.

 

It just feels like the Chore Table missions are not interesting, and they don't fit the theme of "War Table". We don't see the troops move out, we don't command their movements or strategies, we don't arm them.

 

And waiting hours for a choice to complete? Unacceptable. I use the calendar movement almost every time, except for the things that only take like 9 minutes. Why would I want to wait hours for an outcome that I might not even like?

 

To that I say, add a feature in the next patch to allow us to skip the waiting times (since we can do this already anyway), and also allow us to reset a mission, or undo a decision (which we can also do by reloading).

 

Also, many Chore Table missions are not showing up due to bugs, such as Delrin Barris' missions if you conscripted the templars instead of partnered with them. Conscripting them is the logical choice, by the way. But since these are not showing up, allow players to force load them manually through the console (PC only, obviously).

 

Chore Table is definitely my least favorite thing in Skyhold.

+1

[Rawgrim]

The Chore Table? I thought that might be the quest log.

[PsychoBlonde]

Epitaph for the whole game.

 

This categorical denunciation can be made for EVERYTHING IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE THAT HAS EVER EXISTED.  "There could have been more" is about the least useful and least perceptive observation that anybody could ever make.  Ever.

 

Here's a little checklist for complaining USEFULLY about lackluster features:

 

1.  What purpose was the feature designed to serve?  Did it succeed in serving that purpose?

 

Well, in this case, probably a number of things:

a.) it gave you something to Do with your Advisors, tying the entire "Inquisition" premise into an actual gameplay mechanic.  I'd call this a +1 if only because Bioware games have tended to always suck at this sort of thing--this is the most flesh any system of this type has ever had on it in Bioware history.

b.) it allowed for lots of small events that would have been far too expensive to flesh out in their entirety.  Hard to see this as a negative even if you wanted more stuff that was more interesting.  +1

c.) it acted as a kind of central adventure hub.  Kinda.  I think it would have been better if the war table had BEEN the world map and you could have accessed your missions AND quests in the adventure areas all from the same place.  Would have tied them together better.

 

2.)  Was it mechanically interesting, or was the system degenerate?

 

In this case, it was almost devoid of mechanical interest and rather degenerate.  There were no real decisions to make except in a purely aesthetic sense a good 90% of the time.  The missions popped up and waited around until you got around to assigning someone.  Then YOU waited around until they finished.  BORING.

 

Basically it was an upgraded version of the writing desk where Hawke's mail appeared in DA2.

 

Overall I give it a C+ or a B-.  It was adequate for what it was supposed to do.  As a gameplay feature it was relatively benign.  Like oatmeal.  But just as you don't go out to a restaurant in order to get oatmeal, you generally don't buy a AAA game hoping for oatmeal, either.

[TennesseeTuxedo]

It just feels like the Chore Table missions are not interesting, and they don't fit the theme of "War Table". We don't see the troops move out, we don't command their movements or strategies, we don't arm them.

 

Completely agree. I think it is a weak point for BioWare in general where they put grindy/anti-fun mini-games and "challenges" in all their games that serve no other purpose than fill time.

[KaiserShep]

The war table is an interesting problem as well as a solution. Without a real, unified invasion force to maneuver against, there's no point in going into the minutia of positioning your pieces here and there strategically against whatever's out there. Like, I don't need to get into the nitty gritty details of how to clear varghasts out of an oasis, for example. But, at the same time, it's the only way to really have our advisers do anything other than just stand around and wait for us to talk to them or romance them, and the alternative would be going through spoken dialogue with each one to discuss every political operation here and there, which would probably be more of a chore for the player than what we have already.

 

As for having things be visible to the player, I'm curious as to whether you mean being able to go out and actually see the culmination of your work (which you actually can for certain things) or simply having a cut scene for every single operation you engage in. Like, if I choose to have Leliana smuggle tools for a spy to break out of prison, do I really need to see a mini-movie cut scene of her great escape?