48 réponses à ce sujet

[b10d1v]

He was talking about jumping in previous games.

 

Although you can't jump in the first witcher game either, wonder if you can jump in the second or third. (which after playing DA:I I want to do)

I should have been more clear, as to the historical scope of my comments.  In general, Bioware has been slow to adopt even simple behaviors like jumping, crouching and the like while other games (even by EA) have used them for many years.  We are now at a stage to use advanced behaviors that simulate emotions and values along with sophisticated independent actions - it just struck me as a man far out of touch with his competition or even the mod community!

[b10d1v]

Well just ask one of you pals that gets banned - somebody reads it!

[SwobyJ]

Jumping will also look always akward in thir-person games, because in many situations where you have to jump in a game, in real life you would make more of a big step, or climb, and not just make a hop up or down.

 

Not always. Things like stepping/standing on inclines have been figured out. Jumping is just a lot more difficult/annoying, I think.

 

I think BW is very incremental though, so even just making jumping be a thing is important to them, then future games can either take jumping out or improve it.

 

 

~~~

 

 

I think one of the biggest faults in this game is that Bioware underestimated the loud (minority, but still loud) voice of completionists and vanity (and other) players who want all quests done (but they're boring!) and want everything explored (but its empty!) and want all appearance looks (but they're RNG schematics in containers! but gold is annoying!).

[Eelectrica]

Jumping is not important or even needed. Jumping needs to die in fire for these type of games.

Want to make jumping games? Sign on with Gearbox and work on the next Borderlands game or something.

[SwobyJ]

I am in two minds about the article. Firstly, I appreciated getting some insight into the development process. Secondly, I felt my heart sink the longer I read the article.

 

The article is, of course, second hand. We didn't get to read what M. Laidlaw said, but what a reporter thought he said. This comes with a lot of information loss and possibly distortion. Additionally, such a conference is not 'neutral ground', it is a marketing platform where you add in just as much criticism as you have to in order not to appear as singing your own praise. So I didn't really expect any serious self-criticism to surface.

 

All that said... I still find it mind-boggling and just sad that once again, there was NO mention of writing at all. Writing used to be the centerpiece of Bioware games before DA:I, and this was, I find, the most important paradigm change we have witnessed with this installation in the DA series. The 'we were trying to build the car while we were already driving it' comment could be interpreted as an admission in this regard, but it's so unspecific that I just don't know.

 

I'm also afraid that Laidlaw is victim of the 'executive dumb-down' process; he is too high-level to actually grasp the *reasons* for why some stuff was successful while other stuff was not. I loved the cheesewheel and other little surprising things, yes, but if that is the only reason to explore, then BW has a problem. I thought the community had made it very clear (without much dissension either, for once), that DA:I was too fetch-questy. Laidlaw, hoever, even praises one of the core elements of fetch-questiness, 'power', as a brilliant new invention. I'd argue that gating in general is a bad crutch for lazy or underfunded writing, whether 'power' or 'gold'-based doesn't really matter.

 

I actually don't mind Power existing, and its general concept.

 

But I would have liked it to be tied more to interesting dynamic effects (the opening up of areas of zones is just one of several ways this could be done), instead of strictly and directly for opening up story quests.

 

One concept of the War Table I really liked was weakening Samson's armor. That had a story effect, an optional one, but I put the effort in, learned new optional things, and got a nice, though somewhat minor result. Neat!

 

Power could have been involved with much more like that. Less area/dungeon gating (though I actually didn't so much mind opening up dungeons with Power), more optional story effects throughout the story.

 

I think it would have been pretty kickass to use Power to influence a lot of the Winter Palace before even entering it. I'm a mage and they reacted poorly from the onset - what about using Power to change that and propagandize Orlais towards a sunnier disposition towards my Mageness? Optional, shows off my influence, but doesn't come off as a gating mechanism. So much of the War Table could have been done this way.

 

I hated the grindyness of Power though. If I had the, ahem, 'power, I'd utterly remove or rework that Requisition system ("NEWS FOR YA SER!") and streamline the open world content by about 1/4. This isn't a MMO, but DAI for sure looks 50% like one (albeit some of that 50% = a better MMO than many out there).

[SwobyJ]

Jumping is not important or even needed. Jumping needs to die in fire for these type of games.

Want to make jumping games? Sign on with Gearbox and work on the next Borderlands game or something.

 

I like being able to jump. Jumping at its best allows you to have a more full exploration of an environment.

 

But that's different from platforming, I hope you know.

 

Whenever a Bioware game (SWTOR, DAI) attempts platforming, I cringe. Its so annoying and bad.

[Helgagrim]

I'm actually glad this game in the DA series finally has jumping.

[SofaJockey]

... Jumping:

Found it super weird at first to play a DA game with jumping...I have no strong feelings on it at this point in time though.

 

Anyone who has faced a difficult battle in the DA2 DLC Legacy, simply because the party cannot navigate a shin-high pile of rubble will appreciate the inclusion of jumping 

[In Exile]

They're unable to do day/night cycles because of console limitations? Yeah. Sure. I've seen more visually impressive games on the old systems pull it off without a hitch.

Given Bioware's complete inability to make textures load on vital cutscenes, I'm almost willing to bet it's an effort thing.

Why would it be effort and not talent? If Bioware has an established pattern of not doing a thing the explanation is far more easily that they can't rather than that they can and don't given the insane hours common to the VG industry.

[wolfhowwl]

Anyone else feel like this developer could benefit with having some new people in charge?

[CDR Aedan Cousland]

Anyone else feel like this developer could benefit with having some new people in charge?

 

Definitely.

 

It'd also be great if Bioware could hire employees who know what people look like, for a change. (Mass Effect trilogy's neanderthal humans, anyone? Plus, the anatomical incorrectness of many of their games, such as DAO, DAI, the ME trilogy, etc. I could go on, but I won't. But I could.)

[Paul E Dangerously]

Definitely.

 

It'd also be great if Bioware could hire employees who know what people look like, for a change. (Mass Effect trilogy's neanderthal humans, anyone? Plus, the anatomical incorrectness of many of their games, such as DAO, DAI, the ME trilogy, etc. I could go on, but I won't. But I could.)

 

Might as well make a checklist. We need an anatomist. And a fashion consultant. And a hairstylist. Definitely a hairstylist.

[Zinho73]

I have a better solution to the jumping dilemma: eliminate boredom. 

And stop using MMO design concepts to a single player game.

[C0uncil0rTev0s]

I have a better solution to the jumping dilemma: eliminate boredom. 

And stop using MMO design concepts to a single player game.

*Spilled my coffee*
You know, actually that is a brilliant idea...

[Eelectrica]

*Spilled my coffee*
You know, actually that is a brilliant idea...

Might be just crazy enough to work.

[Auztin]

I have a better solution to the jumping dilemma: eliminate boredom.
And stop using MMO design concepts to a single player game.

MMO design concepts? Where? I thought we were talking about the topic not DA:O combat.

[Silcron]

You could do the twirling lightsaber while running in kotor?...I've completed that game near 30 times and I didn't know that :/

Here's the thing, I wasn't bored in kotor. While I was moving from one area to another either I was thinking of what I could encounter or about the quest I was doing. "Do I really want to do this for that hutt? Hmm, several people looking for selkath kids? Something's going on here. What could it be?" So I didn't need to jump around or twirl my lightsaber there, you gave me something to think about while I was running.

[Hazegurl]

 It seems like their biggest concern is how they can keep the kiddies happy in the park then writing a good story.

 

That Ubisoft school of world building at work there.

[Kantr]

Many of the people who are in charge of bioware now have been with them for a long time. Working on jade empire.

[Apollexander]

I feel sympathy with the devs because whatever they say only makes them bashed and people always try to prove that they are stupid.

[Zinho73]

I feel sympathy with the devs because whatever they say only makes them bashed and people always try to prove that they are stupid.

I think it really depends on what the dev says. I've seen several interviews in which the devs don't sound stupid at all. But the matter of the fact is that they are exposed when they go public, so they better be sure about what they are talking.

 

I remember seeing a panel with Mike Laidlaw in which he talked about Dragon Age 2 in a more relaxed manner (an year or two after the game, without any marketing or PR pressure) and he looked like an intelligent, passionate designer.

 

But most of the time when Bioware goes public they are too deep in marketing shenanigans to be taken seriously. This speech is a joke, because regardless of what you think about the game, DAI cannot offer anything new or insightful in terms of game design.

 

Heat maps have been used since forever, along with easter eggs. Their open world elements are the weakest part of the game (combat is unbalanced and lacks features and the thing is fulled with fetch quests and picking collectibles from the ground). What they did right is: graphics and characters. They still know how to set the tone and make a hit. A while ago they knew how to do that while also offering good, insightful and meaty design. 

 

Dragon Age Inquisition is a terrible template to talk about design. I agree that they were assembling the car while driving it. It shows.

[CDR Aedan Cousland]

I feel sympathy with the devs because whatever they say only makes them bashed and people always try to prove that they are stupid.

 

Their own actions/choices prove that. We don't need to waste our time "trying" anything.

 

Edit: I initially assumed this person was talking about trying to prove that the devs are stupid. I suppose I misinterpreted, but, bruh, if you think perfectly valid negative opinions of something "prove" one's stupidity, you should probably get off your high horse. Just sayin', you're sounding mighty elitist, right now.

[C0uncil0rTev0s]

Their own actions/choices prove that. We don't need to waste our time "trying" anything.

You just can't get into fangirls' shoes.

 

They think that "the game is great, I didn't see any flaws so no one should, developers are nice because we have those sassy Solas and Dorian, I'm so much feeling for the personalities in game, Writing is awesome, those angry haters are assaulting dev team for nothing, they should get a life"... And so on. 

[CDR Aedan Cousland]

You just can't get into fangirls' shoes.

 

They think that "the game is great, I didn't see any flaws so no one should, developers are nice because we have those sassy Solas and Dorian, I'm so much feeling for the personalities in game, Writing is awesome, those angry haters are assaulting dev team for nothing, they should get a life"... And so on. 

 

Indeed. I noticed the trend where people who are, for whatever reason, crazy about this game call those who have negative opinions of the game "trolls" or "haters." What a world we live in, where dissenting opinions, no matter how valid, are spat upon because some fanny-troubled fan disagrees with them.

 

"We all have our delusions."

--Aria T'Loak, 2186