47 réponses à ce sujet

[Serza]

Not sure what kinda mods ArmA has, but military shooters (military stuff in general) doesn't do it for me.

 

Funny fact is, if I want to do a masturbation simulator in ArmA, I pretty damn well can.

 

You just gotta think outside the box. And know it's scripting language. Don't worry, it resembles C#/C++ to a certain degree.

I've never seen a more versatile mod platform.

 

So, yeah. Somebody made a GTA-style thing. Others made RPGs. The XYZ Life is pretty much a real life simulator. Yeah. Heck, I've seen Jurrasic Park in the game. Mass Effect is easily possible to mod in, if you know Oxygen and Bulldozer. I assume Dragon Age would also be possible to port, to which degree depends on how much thought you give it.

 

Of course, you pay with possibly the worst optimalization ever - which is often generated by user content not meeting the same standarts as the official content, though. This is also why I tend to smile whenever I see someone complaining over DAI's optimalization.

[duckley]

I modded DA:O for hairstyle, different armor, and of course Alistair's wedding and the ability to recruit Gilmore. Modding added more replay value for me and I purchased the game for both PS3 and PC so I could mod.

 

I agree that a great game shouldn't need mods to be a great game. DA:O was a great game IMO - and while it may not have needed mods - it sure was fun.

Given the complaints about hairstyles, PJs, Skyhold décor (or lack of it)  etc modding for DA:I would also be fun. For me it wouldn't be about changing the game fundamentally, but just adding some frivolous components.

[CDR Aedan Cousland]

Wonky spelling aside, I agree with OP--with the exception that DA2's combat was my favorite.

[Winged Silver]

The way side quests were treated could have been handled better, so I agree with the general consensus on that point. I don't know if it was a design choice or a lack of time/resources thing though, so I'm not entirely certain whether or not it's fair to point fingers at any one person/event. Given the sheer volume of feedback regarding how side missions could be improved, I would hope that they now know to put more emphasis on them. 

 

As for the combat...I'll have to disagree. I enjoyed DA:O's combat for what it was - a tactical premise that generally required you to put some thought into it (particularly for some of the bigger fights). However, I often times found it to be slow, and after a while it became boring for me. Maybe I just needed to keep upping the difficulty level across playthroughs, but I've never been one to play a Bioware game for its combat. I'm about halfway through KoTOR right now, and I can't say I'm enjoying its combat mechanics all that much either. I don't hate them, but going back to them doesn't feel like progress to me. With DA2, again, I didn't find it to be all that stimulating. Most fights weren't overly challenging. Inquisition isn't perfect either. But I think they're taking steps towards a good direction with it at least. Could stand to have some of the more advanced combats return though. But different strokes for different folks. 

[DanteYoda]

Agree with the OP..

[Vader20]

Dear Bioware,

Who's was the guy who said "Hey, let's make skyrim!" during the deveopment of this game? Because I sugest you fire him or her. Yes, skyrim is very popular and yes I did buy it, however it remains a deeply flawed experience mostly due to the lack of cohesive story, shitty combat mechanics, and excesive amounts of wandering around aimlessly. Unfortuetely you have chosen to emulate these flaws. Which I shall helpfully list below.

DA: Scavenger Hunt. too many fetch quests. Too much optional stuff. One of the thing I enjoy most about Bioware games are the tight storylines. Almost everything pays off in some way related to the main quest. For some reason you have abandoned this prictice in DA:I. I can't imagine anyone who played the first two games and thought "You know, this would be a great game if there was more wardering about being lost!". No one in the history of time has ever said that.

Combat:
For some reason you feel the need to redesign the combat engine with every game. Stop it. You're only making it worse. DA:O had the classic combat from the kotor games, it's perfect as it is. In DA2 you decided to get rid of it to impliment some sort of half-assed double dragon beat 'em up thing. For DA:I you appear to be trying to merge the two into some sort of clunky hybrid. And like most hybrids it fails spectacularly, makeing combat really dull. Let me save you some time and money, go back to the original system.

If you are looking for the best of Bioware,you won't find it in this game.... I recommend SWTOR. Yeah it's an an online game, but story wise it brutally destroys DAI. I was surprised myself. In DAI most sidequests  have nothing to do with the main story and the story itself is as long as the first chapter in SWTOR..

 

Drawing inspiration from Skyrim was understandable because that game sold massively but honeslty it wasn't that good.. looking back now. Bethesda really know how to make big open world games that draw you in. That's their trick.

 

Trust me, these  here  still have it, but sometimes things don't go as expected.

[TaHol]

If you are looking for the best of Bioware,you won't find it in this game.... I recommend SWTOR. Yeah it's an an online game, but story wise it brutally destroys DAI. I was surprised myself. In DAI most sidequests  have nothing to do with the main story and the story itself is as long as the first chapter in SWTOR..

 

Drawing inspiration from Skyrim was understandable cause that game sold massively but honeslty it wasn't that good.. looking back now. Bethesda really know how to make big open world games that draw you in. That's their trick.

 

Trust me, these  here  still have it, but sometimes things don't go as expected.

I just started SWTOR. I sort of missed it before because my MMOs of choice were TERA and Hellgate, some C9 too. Time for a change so I decided to try SWTOR. After 2 hours as a free player I was sitting in front of my PC throwing money on my screen shoutin take my money EA take it! It is such an awesome game! The combat is ofc not my preferred style, but my sniper is as fun as fun can be. After grinding my teeth through DAI, it is awesome to actually ENJOY figuring out a game and travelling in it. And to know there is TONS of it me ahead. TONS. There has been a lot of complaining about how unsubscribers are treated but I don't find it too taxing, as long as you have at least preferred status it is ok. It was same with TERA, if you had veteran-status you had no need to subscribe (TERA has the best free-to-play-model in market fyi). So it is an old game, it is not very pretty, I forgive all this because it is so freaking FUN. They got so much right. My first space-battle was EPIC. And never, not even once, I had a feeling I was doing something that is unrelated to story or useless or out of my character. You can actually role-play really deep if you like that kind of thing. I'm not a deep role-player myself, but to my surprise I begin to think in "Hm, what would my Imperial Agent do in this kind of situation, he is duty-oriented but not ruthless...". That came becasue there are LOTS of choices and options, and I noticed it has at least some impact what I do.

 

I have a feeling they were trying to mimic some of this in DAI and failed. They took wrong things. Like did they think that all people want is lots of stuff to do? Yes, but for most of us it can't be meaningless stuff. It must be rewarding. They sort of forgot the "rewarding"-part from DAI. I did not find it rewarding, not even once. Really, not even once (ok there is Dorians butt but it was not a reward, it was bonus).

[Vader20]

I just started SWTOR. I sort of missed it before because my MMOs of choice were TERA and Hellgate, some C9 too. Time for a change so I decided to try SWTOR. After 2 hours as a free player I was sitting in front of my PC throwing money on my screen shoutin take my money EA take it! It is such an awesome game! The combat is ofc not my preferred style, but my sniper is as fun as fun can be. After grinding my teeth through DAI, it is awesome to actually ENJOY figuring out a game and travelling in it. And to know there is TONS of it me ahead. TONS. There has been a lot of complaining about how unsubscribers are treated but I don't find it too taxing, as long as you have at least preferred status it is ok. It was same with TERA, if you had veteran-status you had no need to subscribe (TERA has the best free-to-play-model in market fyi). So it is an old game, it is not very pretty, I forgive all this because it is so freaking FUN. They got so much right. My first space-battle was EPIC. And never, not even once, I had a feeling I was doing something that is unrelated to story or useless or out of my character. You can actually role-play really deep if you like that kind of thing. I'm not a deep role-player myself, but to my surprise I begin to think in "Hm, what would my Imperial Agent do in this kind of situation, he is duty-oriented but not ruthless...". That came becasue there are LOTS of choices and options, and I noticed it has at least some impact what I do.

 

I have a feeling they were trying to mimic some of this in DAI and failed. They took wrong things. Like did they think that all people want is lots of stuff to do? Yes, but for most of us it can't be meaningless stuff. It must be rewarding. They sort of forgot the "rewarding"-part from DAI. I did not find it rewarding, not even once. Really, not even once (ok there is Dorians butt but it was not a reward, it was bonus).

That's exactly how I feel.... Bashing Bioware has become a trend in the past few years especially after DA2 and ME3's ending "scandal", but now I'm pretty sure that these ppl still have it. We most not forget that swtor had probably the biggest budget in gaming history and when you are doing a 200 million dollar game, failure is the last thing you want. Had it been a single player ? Well.. one of the best rpgs ever probably.

 

You can see that they tried to do the same thing in DAI too. Made a massive world, but unlike in swtor, they filled it with meaningless quests unrelated to the plot. The main story is interesting until you close the breach but after that it just feels rushed and you never feel that you are at war. Again, in swtor there are maps where imps and reps are fighting each other on the fields and you have actually feel at war. A lot of quests make you take part int he conflict and this creates the desired atmosphere. Also the planets have their own great storylines.

 

If you consider games a work of art, you could say that they were lacking in inspiration when they made Inquisition. Sure, it's an ok game, but falls short of it's potential and the potential of the company that made it.

[Terodil]

Very much support for what you said about SWTOR. I'm playing it at the moment too and having a blast (btw, I've been playing it for the last 3 months, almost non-stop. DA:I had me disillusioned, sad and burned out after three weeks.)
 

If you consider games a work of art, you could say that they were lacking in inspiration when they made Inquisition. Sure, it's an ok game, but falls short of it's potential and the potential of the company that made it.

I like to give Bioware some tough love in the hopes that they'll at some point remember their own traditional strengths and stop running after the fad of the year (open world yadda yadda), but I do have to add here that Inquisition really is a work of art when it comes to the visual aspects, IMO. The card concept is simply beautiful, as is the world and interface design in general (1). If only the writing department had kept up, we would have had a fantastic game on our hands.

(1) ALTHOUGH I STILL HOPE THAT WHOEVER HAD THE IDEA TO ONLY USE CAPITALS IN THIS GAME HAS TO HENCEFORTH READ EVERY NEWSPAPER, EVERY LETTER, AND EVERY INTERNET ARTICLE IN CAPITAL LETTERS. HOW DO YOU LIKE DEM APPLES?

[b10d1v]

Skyrim bashing, really? -it is much older and the PC mod community has addressed nearly every aspect of game development for the betterment of all; although you may feel the need for a PhD to use most of them and the 3rd party tools.  A Russian post:  "Is there any way to fix this w/o breaking my brain?"  

 

Bethesda did cause some of the initial DLC issues that caused game instability and DLC structures have evolved as a result.  They also worked with the mod community to find solutions for a time.  It was not like pulling teeth even if cleaning their DLC to make it function remains a hassle!  

 

I don't think pulling behaviors from a skyrim character like Anduniel or others to make a more effective Sera is a bad thing, do you?  Anduniel can run off and hunt, Vilija can take a teammate to gather supplies and sell of stuff, other characters can go on their own to investigate the area or steal and lot a few things.  These are behaviors way beyond DAI and it should have been a better game and very different with these features.  This is likely an aspect of skyrim few people see animators and character developers testing things, writing moving stories and making works of art.

 

The real problem in DAI is program management and quality control that led to an incomplete release.  At the top end management wanted features of very different games and they underestimated the scope of work and things got delayed, deferred or simply left incomplete.

[Bioware-Critic]

Dear Bioware,

Who's was the guy who said "Hey, let's make skyrim!" during the deveopment of this game? Because I sugest you fire him or her. Yes, skyrim is very popular and yes I did buy it, however it remains a deeply flawed experience mostly due to the lack of cohesive story, shitty combat mechanics, and excesive amounts of wandering around aimlessly. Unfortuetely you have chosen to emulate these flaws. Which I shall helpfully list below.

DA: Scavenger Hunt. too many fetch quests. Too much optional stuff. One of the thing I enjoy most about Bioware games are the tight storylines. Almost everything pays off in some way related to the main quest. For some reason you have abandoned this prictice in DA:I. I can't imagine anyone who played the first two games and thought "You know, this would be a great game if there was more wardering about being lost!". No one in the history of time has ever said that.

Combat:
For some reason you feel the need to redesign the combat engine with every game. Stop it. You're only making it worse. DA:O had the classic combat from the kotor games, it's perfect as it is. In DA2 you decided to get rid of it to impliment some sort of half-assed double dragon beat 'em up thing. For DA:I you appear to be trying to merge the two into some sort of clunky hybrid. And like most hybrids it fails spectacularly, makeing combat really dull. Let me save you some time and money, go back to the original system.

 

KEEP ON POSTING IN THIS FORUM, schwartzwald! 

[Bioware-Critic]

Jeremy Ray wrote ...

 

I'm looking forward to the release of Dragon Age: Farmer. Where I can scour the vast lands for hours collecting herbs and materials to sell for pennies.

 

@Jeremy Ray

 

Don't you worry, son - You are gonna get it ... NEXT TIME ...

They will go as FAR AWAY from traditional RPG style games as humanly possible!

 

To them "DA:Origins" is ... "the Devil"!

(Even though this franchise owes EVERYTHING to this game alone !!!!!)

[Airell]

 The witcher 3 will be the same way, open world just do not work with deep story telling.

[Vader20]

 The witcher 3 will be the same way, open world just do not work with deep story telling.

That is wrong and you know it.

[Airell]

I hope I am wrong

[Lord Bolton]

 The witcher 3 will be the same way, open world just do not work with deep story telling.

IMO open world structure failed in DA:I, because of the enormous number of fetch quests and the lack of cinematic camera in conversations. Those two things are very common in MMOs, so it gave me very strong MMO feeling instead of normal rpg experience like in the previous games.

[Sylvius the Mad]

I can't imagine anyone who played the first two games and thought "You know, this would be a great game if there was more wardering about being lost!". No one in the history of time has ever said that.

Actually, I said that very thing regarding DAO. Most of the areas were completely linear, and would have benefitted from being less so and requiring more exploration. Particularly the Deep Roads.

[Terodil]

Actually, I said that very thing regarding DAO. Most of the areas were completely linear, and would have benefitted from being less so and requiring more exploration. Particularly the Deep Roads.

And I don't agree. There was still enough discovery involved, e.g. Topsider's Honour, Asunder, etc. etc. -- it had meaningful content that made me forget about linearity. I'll gladly trade that movement on the x/y axis for more content!

KoTOR consisted of almost completely linear paths on the planets, yet I didn't even notice or care: It still (or maybe because of that) managed to tell one of the best (imo) RPG stories ever.

[SwobyJ]

Actually, I said that very thing regarding DAO. Most of the areas were completely linear, and would have benefitted from being less so and requiring more exploration. Particularly the Deep Roads.

 

Somewhere between DAI and DAO (screw DA2 in this case) would be perfect for me.

 

DAO was not completely linear to me. Mostly, sure, but it was definitely not anything like a 'corridor simulator' or whatever.

[Sylvius the Mad]

And I don't agree. There was still enough discovery involved, e.g. Topsider's Honour, Asunder, etc. etc. -- it had meaningful content that made me forget about linearity. I'll gladly trade that movement on the x/y axis for more content!

Since you'd come across basically all of that content just by following the critical path, I don't agree. I didn't ever feel like I discovered content so much as I was led to it.

KoTOR consisted of almost completely linear paths on the planets, yet I didn't even notice or care: It still (or maybe because of that) managed to tell one of the best (imo) RPG stories ever.

What makes KotOR work, I think, is the twist, and that the player has total freedom to decide what his character thinks about that revelation.

Combined with the blank slate protagonist, that's just about the best a linear game can ever be (though I complained at the time that it was too short).

Modern games tend not to give us a blank slate protagonist (KotOR was the last BioWare game to do so), and the voice+paraphrase tends to limit our possible range of reactions. Given those "innovations", I think games now need to be less linear.

[Terodil]

I didn't ever feel like I discovered content so much as I was led to it.

Hm, while I feel differently -- very much so, in fact -- there's no debating this. Different folks, different tastes, eh?
 

Combined with the blank slate protagonist, that's just about the best a linear game can ever be (though I complained at the time that it was too short).

KoTOR was not linear at all. You had major branching storylines, massively different endings, and some degree of freedom in the order of the planets you visited, too.

I think what we need to differentiate here is linearity in terms of plot and linearity in terms of location. I absolutely hate the first and don't mind the second.

DA:I is almost perfectly linear in terms of plot, and perfectly non-linear in terms of location = I can't stand it.
KoTOR is almost perfectly non-linear in terms of plot, and perfectly linear in terms of location = I adore.

[Sylvius the Mad]

DA:I is almost perfectly linear in terms of plot, and perfectly non-linear in terms of location = I can't stand it.
KoTOR is almost perfectly non-linear in terms of plot, and perfectly linear in terms of location = I adore.

What's important here, I think, is that I don't think DAI is linear in terms of plot, because I don't accept the conventional definition of what the plot is.

 

The story of the game is simply an account of your character's adventure.  If there's freedom to craft your own character and his motivations, then the story is largely created by you, even if the actual actions undertaken by your character are severely constrained.  The story is even more your creation if the actions of your character are under your control.  And that's what I think DAI does.

 

KotOR succeeds on the first points, yes - you get to craft a blank slate character and control why he does things and how he reacts, but his actual actions are really quite restricted.  He'll always complete Taris in largely the same way, with little else to do there.  He'll always complete each of Dantooine, Manaan, Tatooine, Kashyyyk, and Korriban in largely the same way, thought the order is mutable.  There are some meaningful sidequests on those worlds, though, and they do offer considerable freedom to resolve them as you see fit.  But once those are done, and the twist is revealed, the game becomes remarkably linear again, with little to do aside from the critical path.  And yes, there are different endings, but the paths to them are very similar except for a bit of dialogue.

 

DAI surpasses KotOR, I think, because of all of the freedom to do things that may or may not have nothing to do with the critical path.  The critical path may as well not be a defined quest line so open is the game.  So I don't agree that DAI has a linear story, because there are a great many very different stories you can tell in it.  KotOR's stories are all broadly similar, save a very late divergence. 

 

In theory, I actually prefer games that don't have an identifiable critical path until you've progressed much of the way through the game (BG and DA2 both do this well - the only other BioWare games to come close is ME).  However, there are many other factors at work, so that alone isn't enough.  Also, I really enjoyed the NWN OC, and its story is extremely linear.

 

As for linear areas, I don't think those are ever acceptable.  They're so fundamentally flawed that I can't accept games that use them (KotOR's saving grace is the limited exploration in places like Dantooine and Kashyyyk)

[SwobyJ]

This new nightmare difficulty female dwarf warrior playthrough is already more fun now that I generally know where stuff is. And since its on nightmare, each enemy feels more meaningful.  (Only Lv 6 in Hinterlands though)

 

Oh and to the above, I love some linear areas. Some. However for most RPGs, I'd prefer if linearity is used sparingly. Sometimes for a special story purpose, or for an area that uses the linearity in a cool way. Frankly though, I don't want to spend 1/2 my time in an area running around, so to me, its a balance between exploration concepts and... keeping things rolling.