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[Fiery Phoenix]

Apologies if this has been posted already, but I searched and found nothing of relevance.
 
Pretty informative interview that covers several issues. Some selected quotes follow:
 

"You're always hoping for the 90. It's the gold number in the Metacritic world. But the scale of reviewing has spread out some - I used to see back in the day that anything lower than 80 per cent was basically unheard of. So we've seen the numbers come down. Sites are evaluating the game fairly.

"There's more XP and money in the game than you need to win. But it's a good insight for us, and something as a team we've been discussing. Myself, while those areas thematically tie into the Inquisition, what people were hoping for is they had more meaty story content built into them.

 

"We wanted Inquisition to be the one which people would point to and say, 'they've found their feet. They've finally nailed down what this series is about.' Not that this locks us down or shackles us in any way, it just makes a clear statement on the priorities."

 

And he also talks about the post-credits cutscenes here:

 

"I think there's a desire for pursuing that a little further but it doesn't have to end that discussion. It's a bit of tightrope, and one that I can't possibly discuss - biggest spoilers in the universe! [But] it's something we're very cognisant of."

 

More...

[Qun00]

It's very commendable that they're aware of the need to keep improving.

[wepeel_]

"We had to do some changes," Laidlaw admits. "That was something where we had a good working prototype but we hit a snag due to the technical limitations on it. Having multiple forces fighting works fine on PC but you end up in a situation where having realistic-feeling war on the older consoles is exceedingly challenging."

 

No kidding.

 

That said, I agree it's nice they (seem to) have a lot of stuff planned. Laidlaw also hits the nail on the head when commenting about people complaining about non-essential content they don't want to do, but then doing it anyway out of some sense of compulsion. Says more about some gamers and the achievement-hunting mentality than about the design philosophy.

[Matt VT Schlo]

It's very commendable that they're aware of the need to keep improving.

 

 

And to try to make those fans happy that cannot be made happy. 

[SofaJockey]

No kidding.

 

That said, I agree it's nice they (seem to) have a lot of stuff planned. Laidlaw also hits the nail on the head when commenting about people complaining about non-essential content they don't want to do, but then doing it anyway out of some sense of compulsion. Says more about some gamers and the achievement-hunting mentality than about the design philosophy.

 

There are plenty of games that encourage that completionist mentality.

Assassin's Creed Unity (for example) will only give you your '100%' if you open 300 chests, collect a ton of pointless stuff

and play the game the way you don't want to play it !

DAI has those things truly optional, but we feel an urge to 'complete' them anyway...

[In Exile]

No kidding.

 

That said, I agree it's nice they (seem to) have a lot of stuff planned. Laidlaw also hits the nail on the head when commenting about people complaining about non-essential content they don't want to do, but then doing it anyway out of some sense of compulsion. Says more about some gamers and the achievement-hunting mentality than about the design philosophy.

 

It's a bit disheartening to hear that the multi-platform release negatively impacted the design. 

[Thandal N'Lyman]

I need two more badges to be as "Complete" as I care to be, and I'm pretty OCD when it comes to this stuff.  (My Nightmare playthrough is on hold until the BE is officially released, and I have no idea what the final achievement is talking about!    )

 

But DAI definitely showed me that I don't have to, and shouldn't try to, "do everything".  There's waaaaay more in the game than necessary, or even desirable, for everybody, and that's Not a Bad Thing™. 

[Fiery Phoenix]

It's a bit disheartening to hear that the multi-platform release negatively impacted the design. 

Well, good thing is Inquisition was BioWare's last game to release on 360/PS3.

[SofaJockey]

It's a bit disheartening to hear that the multi-platform release negatively impacted the design. 

 

Makes DAI more of an intermediate step...

[Lilithor]

And to try to make those fans happy that cannot be made happy. 

 

People often put me on this group despite my clear statements about what I want: Origins with different stories.

 

I think it should better be said, and I would agree with you, is that it is impossible to please everybody. OF COURSE IT IS IMPOSSIBLE.

But it is not the same group hating the game. A lot of people that hated DA2 loved DAI. Also there were people that hated DAO and loved DA2. And so on. It is not like the same people are always complaining, it is that there will always be a group of people frustrated with their direction. Since their first game was Origins I think it is fair to want Origins features back, it is what made a lot of people fall in love with the game. But since some people started with DA2, other with DAI and some people were not that in love with Origins it is easy to understand that someone will always be frustrated.

Personally if a game made a good fanbase like Origins I see no reason to change anything exactly because I know that trying to please fan#1 will make fan#2 frustrated so I would take a more take it or leave it approach to the initial concept of the series. Never looking for improvements because there is no absolute improvement (except in technical stuff like graphics, sound and so on), what is improving for one person is ruining the game for the other. But since they are a big company and want to sell more and more I understand what they did, disagree and hate them for doing so, but understand.

Curiously they seem more clueless than I thought, they don't seem to understand exactly what they are doing, judging from all interviews since DA2 come out it seems like they are lacking depth while trying to understand fans critics and thus the failure. They were shallow while trying to address a lot of diferent requests and that led us to Inquisition, this weird chimera. I believe that if they bothered to understand what really made their games great and what the fans want they could make good use of feeback but just grasping the superficial speech of the community and delivering a generic answer like "huge areas almost open world" is, at least in my humble opinion, stupid.

[In Exile]

People often put me on this group despite my clear statements about what I want: Origins with different stories.

 

I think it should better be said, and I would agree with you, is that it is impossible to please everybody. OF COURSE IT IS IMPOSSIBLE.

But it is not the same group hating the game. A lot of people that hated DA2 loved DAI. Also there were people that hated DAO and loved DA2. And so on. It is not like the same people are always complaining, it is that there will always be a group of people frustrated with their direction. Since their first game was Origins I think it is fair to want Origins features back, it is what made a lot of people fall in love with the game. But since some people started with DA2, other with DAI and some people were not that in love with Origins it is easy to understand that someone will always be frustrated.

Personally if a game made a good fanbase like Origins I see no reason to change anything exactly because I know that trying to please fan#1 will make fan#2 frustrated so I would take a more take it or leave it approach to the initial concept of the series. Never looking for improvements because there is no absolute improvement (except in technical stuff like graphics, sound and so on), what is improving for one person is ruining the game for the other. But since they are a big company and want to sell more and more I understand what they did, disagree and hate them for doing so, but understand.

Curiously they seem more clueless than I thought, they don't seem to understand exactly what they are doing, judging from all interviews since DA2 come out it seems like they are lacking depth while trying to understand fans critics and thus the failure. They were shallow while trying to address a lot of diferent requests and that led us to Inquisition, this weird chimera. I believe that if they bothered to understand what really made their games great and what the fans want they could make good use of feeback but just grasping the superficial speech of the community and delivering a generic answer like "huge areas almost open world" is, at least in my humble opinion, stupid.

 

"What made their games great" is a nonsense concept because no one can agree on that. What "fans want" is an equally nebulous concept that no one can agree on. 

[SofaJockey]

"What made their games great" is a nonsense concept because no one can agree on that. What "fans want" is an equally nebulous concept that no one can agree on. 

 

In which case the best thing they can do is listen to feedback,

then do exactly what they think is best.

 

Hence DAI is their biggest critical success yet...

[AlanC9]

There are plenty of games that encourage that completionist mentality.
Assassin's Creed Unity (for example) will only give you your '100%' if you open 300 chests, collect a ton of pointless stuff
and play the game the way you don't want to play it !
DAI has those things truly optional, but we feel an urge to 'complete' them anyway...

Most previous Bio games also reward completionism to some extent.ME1's the big exception, but 2 and especially 3 really rewarded doing everything.

[Lilithor]

"What made their games great" is a nonsense concept because no one can agree on that. What "fans want" is an equally nebulous concept that no one can agree on. 

Only if your are crazy enough to think that anybody would be talking about each and every fan. But if you understand that it is obviously addressing to the majority of fans, then it is very easy to understand. There is a new thing called voting, pretty recent, humans use it to know what most people want =)

[AlanC9]

Only if your are crazy enough to think that anybody would be talking about each and every fan. But if you understand that it is obviously addressing to the majority of fans, then it is very easy to understand. There is a new thing called voting, pretty recent, humans use it to know what most people want =)

Thing is, DAi does pretty well when people vote on it.

[Bob Walker]

Interesting interview. Thanks OP.

[wepeel_]

It's a bit disheartening to hear that the multi-platform release negatively impacted the design. 

 

I for one think it's nice of Laidlaw to at least somewhat say it like it is rather than the usual standard operating procedure about different developer teams and so on. As many cynical PC gamers will say, when a game is developed for multiplatform there is always a price to pay in the final product, and it tends to end up being paid by the platform with the highest capacity. Whether it's scrapped features or menus designed around a controller, it always shows.

[In Exile]

 

I for one think it's nice of Laidlaw to at least somewhat say it like it is rather than the usual standard operating procedure about different developer teams and so on. As many cynical PC gamers will say, when a game is developed for multiplatform there is always a price to pay in the final product, and it tends to end up being paid by the platform with the highest capacity. Whether it's scrapped features or menus designed around a controller, it always shows.

 

I appreciate the candor. I wasn't disheartened by the sharing; just by the outcome. 

[SofaJockey]

I appreciate the candor. I wasn't disheartened by the sharing; just by the outcome. 

 

I'm assuming that had DAI gone next gen only, that would have had a sales impact given the stage of the generation life cycle (lost sales of last gen) and consequently the game's budget would have had to have been reduced accordingly?

 

There is not only a price to launching on 5 platforms, there would have been a different price to pay for launching on 3, though I guess we can only speculate what that price may have been.

 

With further console adoption, that 'price' may be less significant to Mass Effect 'Next'.

[Eelectrica]

Hopefully in future titles they can work some of those features back in where they won't be held back by technology that's almost 10 years old.

When they realised that those systems couldn't handle the game they wanted to create, they should have cut the cord right there. But what's done is done.

[SofaJockey]

Hopefully in future titles they can work some of those features back in where they won't be held back by technology that's almost 10 years old.

When they realised that those systems couldn't handle the game they wanted to create, they should have cut the cord right there. But what's done is done.

 

Given that in the infamous 'Crestwood demo' it was believed that it could be accomplished, (only a year out), to then discover that you nail the carpet down in one place and it pops out somewhere else...

 

Trimming a piece off the carpet may have been a much more practical outcome than buying a new carpet (or finding a new room) when there was a ton to enjoy in the game even after a little trimming.

 

It's just one of those compromises you make when designing and building.

[cJohnOne]

So next game we get more enemies on the screen?

[CronoDragoon]

Makes DAI more of an intermediate step...

 

I feel like this is the case in more than just getting rid of old hardware.

 

In many ways DA: I feels like a series reboot. Consider that Mike says in this interview that he wanted people to look at this game and say "now they've figured out what Dragon Age is." I've said since I first finished the game that it feels like the first game in a series, not the third: there are a staggering amount of fresh ideas that are nevertheless unrefined, waiting for the next project that doesn't have to devote a substantial amount of time to building for a new engine, with a combat system completely rebuilt. I got the same feeling playing Baldur's Gate I, Suikoden 1, and Assassin's Creed 1. Then the sequel came for each and nailed the potential the first one introduced.

[Dreamer]

It's a bit disheartening to hear that the multi-platform release negatively impacted the design. 

 

Can anyone honestly be surprised? Last-Gen has been hobbling the current generation like a lead ball and chain.

[Vaan]

I feel like this is the case in more than just getting rid of old hardware.

 

In many ways DA: I feels like a series reboot. Consider that Mike says in this interview that he wanted people to look at this game and say "now they've figured out what Dragon Age is." I've said since I first finished the game that it feels like the first game in a series, not the third: there are a staggering amount of fresh ideas that are nevertheless unrefined, waiting for the next project that doesn't have to devote a substantial amount of time to building for a new engine, with a combat system completely rebuilt. I got the same feeling playing Baldur's Gate I, Suikoden 1, and Assassin's Creed 1. Then the sequel came for each and nailed the potential the first one introduced.

 

My thoughts exactly. This is one of the reasons why I'm really excited for the next Dragon Age game.