15882 réponses à ce sujet

[RINNZ]

Fallout 4.

I'm crying tears of joy.

[MoonDrummer]

DAI does show some of this, particularly in the Hinterlands and the Exalted Plains. I think it had less effect on people, because it was less visually detailed, relied too much on found notes that most players probably don't read, and overall felt less immersive and more static and sandbox-y.

They did a really poor job, basically just a handful of buildings on fire. 

 

In the Witcher I was riding through villages that had women crying, battlefields that looked like actual battlefeilds, filled with dead men and horses and corpse eaters chewing on everything in sight, there was an old man telling a story about how he witnessed the Temerian army being encircled and cut down to the last man despite trying to surrender,  the hanged tree etc. They really hit the war is **** nail on the head. 

[SnakeCode]

They did a really poor job, basically just a handful of buildings on fire. 

 

In the Witcher I was riding through villages that had women crying, battlefields that looked like actual battlefeilds, filled with dead men and horses and corpse eaters chewing on everything in sight, there was an old man telling a story about how he witnessed the Temerian army being encircled and cut down to the last man despite trying to surrender,  the hanged tree etc. They really hit the war is **** nail on the head. 

 

Yup, and there are hanged corpses all over the place, with notices underneath that you can actually read detailing why they were hanged. Crows feeding on the corpses too that fly off when you get near. I love all of the little details like that. Sure it's window dressing, but it really helps to create a believable, immersive world.

[Sylvius the Mad]

I wish more (not all) companies would use them, even Fallout 4 will have a voiced PC which makes me very nervous.

But it's a Bethesda game. We'll be able to mod that out.

[Torgette]

Yup, and there are hanged corpses all over the place, with notices underneath that you can actually read detailing why they were hanged. Crows feeding on the corpses too that fly off when you get near. I love all of the little details like that. Sure it's window dressing, but it really helps to create a believable, immersive world.

 

Clearly, more to the point if another game comes out in 2-3 years from either developer what would you like to see improve even on that? That's more where i'm coming from on the whole disease & resource scarcity thing.

[Das Tentakel]

So one area that I wish TW3 spent more time with is the disease and pollution that a war (especially medieval style) brings on a landscape/population. Sure you see devastated villages and piles of corpses but... it doesn't really do anything besides add window dressing and setups for side quests. For one, the diseases of those rotting corpses should be wreaking havoc and the major cities should be absolute **** piles with rats and poor sanitation everywhere. The rivers too should be filthy instead of being so clear and pristine (almost drinkable!). I'm also surprised at the lack of landscape devastation, as much **** as the exalted plains gets it is pretty striking contrast from the southern green wooded areas to the deforested burned out husk of the battlefields and the burning of the corpses was somewhat fitting. One other thing i'm surprised at is the lack of care by the opposing armies to recover their dead or reinforce their positions, a unit might hang out in a crumbling castle and proceeds to... sit around instead of going out and getting their comrades. Also the locals would probably loot the bodies long before Geralt ever got there, ghosts be damned (and would setup more morally ambiguous quests like intervening a local military unit trying to butcher some locals for looting their friends' bodies).

So i'd like to see the next DA - if it portrays war - also portraying the disease and pollution of war among the populace, and for effect show the war itself but in short and devastating bursts (much like real war). Also the internal resource war as pre-modern armies didn't supply their own resources rather they took from the local areas as they went along (voluntarily or involuntarily). This would've made the Inquisition all the more dramatic as you're securing local resources for your armies under a holy banner, makes your position of power all the more gray.

No offence, but I think you’ve been playing a very different game than the one I did.
First, the corpses you are seeing are from very recent fighting – literally just a couple of days. It does appear there was fighting before, during the initial Nilfgaardian invasion. It’s not too hard to reconstruct what has happened, and that is that about 6 months earlier much of Temeria was overrun – that was the time that White Orchard’s castle and fortified bridge was demolished, probably the same with Crow’s Perch and other places. Then there was more recent fighting – including Temerians – that produced the piles of fresh corpses you see in White Orchard and in Velen near the river.
This may surprise you, but historically these corpses weren’t always stripped clean immediately nor were the bodies buried. Sometimes this happened quickly, other times it could last some days – for instance in the case of the Battle of Visby, the bodies of the fallen lay for a number of days during warm weather, and things were apparently so bad that when the bodies were finally buried they were simply thrown into mass graves, including their body armour. In the cases of other battlefields, bodies had clearly been partly eaten / gnawed on by scavengers before burial. Given the situation – recent fighting, occasional skirmishes (at one point I ran into the aftermath of a recent skirmish of a bridge I had visited earlier, and where brigands were plundering the corpses), necrophages attracted to the corpses – it’s really not surprising the battlefields haven’t been cleaned yet.
Oh, and by the way, if you’ve read some of the message boards you would have known that in White Orchard, for instance, men are being called up to clean the battlefields. There's another encounter (may be somewhat random) where you run into a guy collecting and transporting corpses for disposal in Velen.

One of the quests you can find on one of those battlefields is actually providing protection to a group of corpse looters – if you accept it from one of the looters’ brother in law (he’s in a nearby refugee camp) you can actually get a pass to pass the Redanian guardposts and cross the river.

As for the rivers being clean, you can find corpses and overturned wagons near or in the river. In White Orchard, one of the quests you can undertake has to do with the fact that the water’s no longer safe for drinking.

As for areas being devastated – the actual battlefields in TW3 are somewhat devastated – broken trees, trampled or burned grass, the wreckage of encampments. In a lot of areas you can easily identify where the two sides went at each other with artillery (presumably most of the non-fiery kind – contrary to movies, most projectiles used by ancient and medieval artillery were just stones and bolts).

As for reinforcing their positions, again, what game have you been playing? The Redanian outposts are almost all of them protected by field fortifications, same with the Nilfgaardian ones. The Nilfgaardian army has this whopping huge army camp lying on higher ground, protected by massive palisades and with the river on one side and swamps on the other. Crow’s Perch, which was clearly devastated six months earlier, has been given provisional fortifications using chevaux de frise and palisades. It’s even clear they are building a new wooden tower in the central courtyard.

Finally, if you think armies took their resources ‘locally’, rather than taking them along, I strongly urge you to read some books on ancient and medieval warfare. Yes, armies did extract, if they could, local resources, but this was usually very unreliable and the reason why there were still very large baggage trains. Only in situations were the population was numerous and prosperous enough and during or shortly after harvest time could an ancient, medieval or early modern army rely on local supplies. Velen was poor at the best of times and that is probably why you see so many supply wagons (even if overturned and wrecked).

And for crying out loud, one of the things Geralt witnesses going wrong is the Nilfgaardian garrison's extraction of food surplus from the peasants of White Orchard.

Of course everything is smoke and mirrors. One of the key issues when comparing TW3 and DA:I is precisely the fact that in some ways TW3 has the better smokes and mirrors.
I already have a long list of things that don’t quite make sense or could be improved when it comes to minor and middling details (the close proximity of monsters near settlements and camps is one, unfortunately something TW3 shares with almost every other game)  but by Melitele, does that list pale compared to what’s wrong with some other games.
It’s all about creating the illusion of ‘life’ and yes, TW3 does not do it perfectly but no game does. Repetition of visual assets and NPC extras’ dialogue being in a loop is, alas, inevitable given constraints of budget, time and manpower. I give them an ‘A’ for the detail-mad effort they made in this game, and hope they will improve the next time, whether that is through more efficiency or through hiring more guys and gals to help create a better ‘living world illusion’. If BioWare does the same, that would be fine too.

[SnakeCode]

Clearly, more to the point if another game comes out in 2-3 years from either developer what would you like to see improve even on that? That's more where i'm coming from on the whole disease & resource scarcity thing.

 

I'm not really sure. I mean devs are capable of creating simple ecosystems in games now, in two or three years who knows whats going to be possible? WoW had a virtual plague that actually affected npcs in the world. Personally I don't think it needs to go beyond window dressing, doesn't change the fact that i'd rather go into the stores with better dressed windows than those that did a poor job of it, or in Inquisition's case, didn't dress their windows at all.

 

I don't think people are criticising how dead and empty Thedas felt just because it doesn't stack up to Velen though. Games that were released years ago mirrored life more effectively. Look at Red Dead Redemption for example. 

[Jester]

Alright, so I normally try not to compare Dragon Age with The Witcher - I'm of an opinion, that they're different games, trying to achive different goals. And while I love The Witcher to death and really like Dragon Age, I really try to avoid comparisons of those two, especially on forums, where it is bound to entice a flame war between the fanboys of both franchises. 

 

But something just came up during my playthrough - something that occured in both DA:I and TW3 - and only the latter got it right. It might seem like a minor detail, but hey - The Devil is in the details, right?

 

In both Inquisition and The Witcher 3, we return to some places that we already visited in the first installment of the franchise - In case of Dragon Age it was Redcliffe Village and Redcliffe Castle, and in The Witcher it was Royal Palace in Wyzima, and Kear Morhen. 

 

When you enter those locations in TW3, (especially in the case of Kear Morhen), you recognize them immediately. They look like the same object, just rendered in new engine. The attention to detail is enormous - things like destroyed stairs, which collapsed during events of The Witcher 1, the breach in the wall caused by Savolla, or the destroyed gate which was replaced with clearly new, makeshift wooden doors. The interior looks the same as well, with the exception of adding much more furniture - but the architecture remains the same. There are exactly the same paintings on the walls, on which Geralt just comments differently than in the first game. Some areas that were accessible previously are walled off unfortunately, but this doesn't take away from the huge nostalgia you feel, and the admiration for how much work went into recreating every possible detail in a believable way. 

 

That was not the case for Redcliffe unfortunately. The village barely looks like the one you defended in Origins. Not only the architecture and builds are wrong - the topology feels wrong too. The town has been completely rebuild from the scratch. The Castle is different as well. Not a single corridor inside looks similar. It's much larger in every aspect. Even the throne room was expanded and rebuilt. 

 

Now - that is not necessarily bad - the new concept looks much better and is more impressive, both from a technical standpoint and an artistic one. 

However it did leave me with a feeling, that apart from the name, this location has nothing to do with the one I defended so valiantly in the previous game. It could very well have been an entirely different castle and village, in an entirely different place - and in fact it perhaps should have been.

It's the details like that that improve how well you immerse yourself in the world. How much of an attachement you feel towards it. We feel emotionally connected to things that we can see, hear or touch - not just the names of those things.

 

In the end, all I know is that I completely forgot about the quest that brought me to Kear Morhen when I entered the castle. I just walked around the fortress for good 30 minutes, reminescing the events that took place there in the first game - all of that with a modified musical theme that you can hear in the same location in the previous game. And how I was amazed at every single detail they managed to put there, while Redcliffe was just another village I walked through in DA:I, where I shopped and found the location to start another quest. 

And that realization made me sad. 

[Elhanan]

Yup, and there are hanged corpses all over the place, with notices underneath that you can actually read detailing why they were hanged. Crows feeding on the corpses too that fly off when you get near. I love all of the little details like that. Sure it's window dressing, but it really helps to create a believable, immersive world.

And DAI had corpses in the nearby fields, as well as the buildings. And carrion and wolves were also seen there, too.

[Elhanan]

Alright, so I normally try not to compare Dragon Age with The Witcher - I'm of an opinion, that they're different games, trying to achive different goals. And while I love The Witcher to death and really like Dragon Age, I really try to avoid comparisons of those two, especially on forums, where it is bound to entice a flame war between the fanboys of both franchises. 
 
But something just came up during my playthrough - something that occured in both DA:I and TW3 - and only the latter got it right. It might seem like a minor detail, but hey - The Devil is in the details, right?
 
In both Inquisition and The Witcher 3, we return to some places that we already visited in the first installment of the franchise - In case of Dragon Age it was Redcliffe Village and Redcliffe Castle, and in The Witcher it was Royal Palace in Wyzima, and Kear Morhen. 
 
When you enter those locations in TW3, (especially in the case of Kear Morhen), you recognize them immediately. They look like the same object, just rendered in new engine. The attention to detail is enormous - things like destroyed stairs, which collapsed during events of The Witcher 1, the breach in the wall caused by Savolla, or the destroyed gate which was replaced with clearly new, makeshift wooden doors. The interior looks the same as well, with the exception of adding much more furniture - but the architecture remains the same. There are exactly the same paintings on the walls, on which Geralt just comments differently than in the first game. Some areas that were accessible previously are walled off unfortunately, but this doesn't take away from the huge nostalgia you feel, and the admiration for how much work went into recreating every possible detail in a believable way. 
 
That was not the case for Redcliffe unfortunately. The village barely looks like the one you defended in Origins. Not only the architecture and builds are wrong - the topology feels wrong too. The town has been completely rebuild from the scratch. The Castle is different as well. Not a single corridor inside looks similar. It's much larger in every aspect. Even the throne room was expanded and rebuilt. 
 
Now - that is not necessarily bad - the new concept looks much better and is more impressive, both from a technical standpoint and an artistic one. 
However it did leave me with a feeling, that apart from the name, this location has nothing to do with the one I defended so valiantly in the previous game. It could very well have been an entirely different castle and village, in an entirely different place - and in fact it perhaps should have been.
It's the details like that that improve how well you immerse yourself in the world. How much of an attachement you feel towards it. We feel emotionally connected to things that we can see, hear or touch - not just the names of those things.
 
In the end, all I know is that I completely forgot about the quest that brought me to Kear Morhen when I entered the castle. I just walked around the fortress for good 30 minutes, reminescing the events that took place there in the first game - all of that with a modified musical theme that you can hear in the same location in the previous game. And how I was amazed at every single detail they managed to put there, while Redcliffe was just another village I walked through in DA:I, where I shopped and found the location to start another quest. 
And that realization made me sad.

Redcliffe was reconstructed, as it was almost completely destroyed by the Darkspawn before the battle of Denerim takes place.

[Das Tentakel]

I'm not really sure. I mean devs are capable of creating simple ecosystems in games now, in two or three years who knows whats going to be possible? WoW had a virtual plague that actually affected npcs in the world. Personally I don't think it needs to go beyond window dressing, doesn't change the fact that i'd rather go into the stores with better dressed windows than those that did a poor job of it, or in Inquisition's case, didn't dress their windows at all.
 
I don't think people are criticising how dead and empty Thedas felt just because it doesn't stack up to Velen though. Games that were released years ago mirrored life more effectively. Look at Red Dead Redemption for example.

 
It may be a cyclical thing. I remember reading an interview with Raph Coster (of Ultima and Star Wars Galaxies) where he lamented the fact that 'modern' MMORPG's (WoW and later titles) had largely abandoned efforts to implement NPC schedules and relied mostly on purely static NPC's. It's one of the differences between worlds that tend to be loosely connected themeparks (WoW et al) and 'living' worlds that try to provide a more elaborate simulated environment.
CDPR always had something of this latter approach and they moved further in that direction with TW3; I'm assuming BioWare will move a bit in that direction too, now that they are no longer hampered by the old gen consoles.

Redcliffe was reconstructed, as it was almost completely destroyed by the Darkspawn before the battle of Denerim takes place.

There was a complete stylistic break between the Ferelden style of architecture in the first game and DA:I. I'm not referring to graphical improvements, but that suddenly timber-framed houses are gone and there's a rather generic variant of Anglo-Norman 1200's style of fortification everywhere. The lack of continuity between DA:O's and DA:I's Redcliffe goes a little beyond the razing or rebuilding of some structures.

[AmberDragon]

And DAI had corpses in the nearby fields, as well as the buildings. And carrion and wolves were also seen there, too.

Not even close to the variety or detail that was added to Witcher 3. 

[Elhanan]

Ferelden itself goes thru some marked changes over the course of time, too. Perhaps the Blight took the former architects, Howe killed them for sport, or Loghain's civil war took its toll, but cannot see any reason why new designs would not be using in a reconstruction phase.

[FKA_Servo]

Not even close to the variety or detail that was added to Witcher 3. 

 

I'm comfortable chalking this up to co-developing for old gen consoles. The 360 and PS3 were an anvil around their neck.

[HowlingSiren]

Ferelden itself goes thru some marked changes over the course of time, too. Perhaps the Blight took the former architects, Howe killed them for sport, or Loghain's civil war took its toll, but cannot see any reason why new designs would not be using in a reconstruction phase.

I'm curious. What were the moments in DAI, just exploring, where you felt the most? Where something you saw just made you stop and evoked strong emotions? Not talking about quests. Just wandering around. 

[Torgette]

No offence, but I think you’ve been playing a very different game than the one I did.
First, the corpses you are seeing are from very recent fighting – literally just a couple of days. It does appear there was fighting before, during the initial Nilfgaardian invasion. It’s not too hard to reconstruct what has happened, and that is that about 6 months earlier much of Temeria was overrun – that was the time that White Orchard’s castle and fortified bridge was demolished, probably the same with Crow’s Perch and other places. Then there was more recent fighting – including Temerians – that produced the piles of fresh corpses you see in White Orchard and in Velen near the river.
This may surprise you, but historically these corpses weren’t always stripped clean immediately nor were the bodies buried. Sometimes this happened quickly, other times it could last some days – for instance in the case of the Battle of Visby, the bodies of the fallen lay for a number of days during warm weather, and things were apparently so bad that when the bodies were finally buried they were simply thrown into mass graves, including their body armour. In the cases of other battlefields, bodies had clearly been partly eaten / gnawed on by scavengers before burial. Given the situation – recent fighting, occasional skirmishes (at one point I ran into the aftermath of a recent skirmish of a bridge I had visited earlier, and where brigands were plundering the corpses), necrophages attracted to the corpses – it’s really not surprising the battlefields haven’t been cleaned yet.
Oh, and by the way, if you’ve read some of the message boards you would have known that in White Orchard, for instance, men are being called up to clean the battlefields. There's another encounter (may be somewhat random) where you run into a guy collecting and transporting corpses for disposal in Velen.

One of the quests you can find on one of those battlefields is actually providing protection to a group of corpse looters – if you accept it from one of the looters’ brother in law (he’s in a nearby refugee camp) you can actually get a pass to pass the Redanian guardposts and cross the river.

As for the rivers being clean, you can find corpses and overturned wagons near or in the river. In White Orchard, one of the quests you can undertake has to do with the fact that the water’s no longer safe for drinking.

As for areas being devastated – the actual battlefields in TW3 are somewhat devastated – broken trees, trampled or burned grass, the wreckage of encampments. In a lot of areas you can easily identify where the two sides went at each other with artillery (presumably most of the non-fiery kind – contrary to movies, most projectiles used by ancient and medieval artillery were just stones and bolts).

As for reinforcing their positions, again, what game have you been playing? The Redanian outposts are almost all of them protected by field fortifications, same with the Nilfgaardian ones. The Nilfgaardian army has this whopping huge army camp lying on higher ground, protected by massive palisades and with the river on one side and swamps on the other. Crow’s Perch, which was clearly devastated six months earlier, has been given provisional fortifications using chevaux de frise and palisades. It’s even clear they are building a new wooden tower in the central courtyard.

Finally, if you think armies took their resources ‘locally’, rather than taking them along, I strongly urge you to read some books on ancient and medieval warfare. Yes, armies did extract, if they could, local resources, but this was usually very unreliable and the reason why there were still very large baggage trains. Only in situations were the population was numerous and prosperous enough and during or shortly after harvest time could an ancient, medieval or early modern army rely on local supplies. Velen was poor at the best of times and that is probably why you see so many supply wagons (even if overturned and wrecked).

And for crying out loud, one of the things Geralt witnesses going wrong is the Nilfgaardian garrison's extraction of food surplus from the peasants of White Orchard.

Of course everything is smoke and mirrors. One of the key issues when comparing TW3 and DA:I is precisely the fact that in some ways TW3 has the better smokes and mirrors.
I already have a long list of things that don’t quite make sense or could be improved when it comes to minor and middling details (the close proximity of monsters near settlements and camps is one, unfortunately something TW3 shares with almost every other game)  but by Melitele, does that list pale compared to what’s wrong with some other games.
It’s all about creating the illusion of ‘life’ and yes, TW3 does not do it perfectly but no game does. Repetition of visual assets and NPC extras’ dialogue being in a loop is, alas, inevitable given constraints of budget, time and manpower. I give them an ‘A’ for the detail-mad effort they made in this game, and hope they will improve the next time, whether that is through more efficiency or through hiring more guys and gals to help create a better ‘living world illusion’. If BioWare does the same, that would be fine too.

 

Pardon my ignorance but I can only speak for battles i've read about or researched or historical campaigns i've read about/researched many many years ago - of which my memory probably sucks (interestingly enough even modern armies have been guilty of pillaging for supplies even when having a massive supply chain available, sometimes stuff doesn't get to you in a timely fashion, sometimes soldiers just wanted more ie: the drug trade with the soviet army in afghanistan). As for the game, I have not finished it nor come across every side quest or read every note so I can only speak from what i've seen and played so far but I did not get the same impressions you got and for the most part i've felt slightly disconnected from whatever battle(s) had happened (just obviously not as much as I felt disconnected from any war at all in DAI). Just to compare TW2 nailed this aspect, again imo.

[Elhanan]

I'm curious. What were the moments in DAI, just exploring, where you felt the most? Where something you saw just made you stop and evoked strong emotions? Not talking about quests. Just wandering around.

The most impactful moment came at Skyhold when exploring the new digs. Then when I overheard the small nuggets of info about Cole's various actions, he then became my fave new character in the series.

But there was also meeting Mother Giselle in the early stages (my initial nominee for Divine), then later in my second campaign where her flaws were revealed. This made her a much deeper character to me. Also the Elven lass at Haven that gathers the various components found for the bestiary intel (ie; info then gleaned on Tac-Cam). Her story was moving, especially considering the fate of many of the Tranquil, which by itself was somewhat jarring.

There was also finding refugees bedding in dangerous locales due to a lack of proper housing, seeing Dragons in their assorted environs, discovering an unmarked path which indirectly led my party to an objective (ie; flanking or even behind the enemy). Etc. And hearing the snark from Vivienne and Solas; known to Pause a time or two there.

[Torgette]

I'm not really sure. I mean devs are capable of creating simple ecosystems in games now, in two or three years who knows whats going to be possible? WoW had a virtual plague that actually affected npcs in the world. Personally I don't think it needs to go beyond window dressing, doesn't change the fact that i'd rather go into the stores with better dressed windows than those that did a poor job of it, or in Inquisition's case, didn't dress their windows at all.

 

I don't think people are criticising how dead and empty Thedas felt just because it doesn't stack up to Velen though. Games that were released years ago mirrored life more effectively. Look at Red Dead Redemption for example. 

 

I'm thinking something more along the lines of radioactivity in the STALKER games where you have to be concerned about what you consume, where you go and etc., something of a survival element that also affects the npc's. Again i'm not dogging TW3, i'm just saying it'd be a neat element for these games to add (jesus!).

 

Ferelden itself goes thru some marked changes over the course of time, too. Perhaps the Blight took the former architects, Howe killed them for sport, or Loghain's civil war took its toll, but cannot see any reason why new designs would not be using in a reconstruction phase.

 

If you look at a skyrim village and compare that to Ferelden in DAO and Ferelden in DAI it's pretty plain as day anyways where the art director got their inspiration.

 

Anyways I do agree about Redcliffe village to a certain extent - I don't mind the visual change but I had to remind myself this was supposed to be Redcliffe in the first game, it's too different.

[Das Tentakel]

Ferelden itself goes thru some marked changes over the course of time, too. Perhaps the Blight took the former architects, Howe killed them for sport, or Loghain's civil war took its toll, but cannot see any reason why new designs would not be using in a reconstruction phase.

 

Elhanan,

 

Styles of housing don't change much over time. They are highly dependent on the climate, the available technology, and above all, available materials. That's why much of Europe had timber-framed housing for millennia and other areas where there's few people and lots of trees (Alpine forests, much of Scandinavia and eastern Europe) had wooden houses. It's only very late in history that technology and wealth and improved transport allowed for a wide range of, and quick changes in, architecture.

It's not even a matter of architects - basic forms of housing were usually built by the people themselves, perhaps with the help of a few artisans for more complex work.

 

Fortresses (and fancier houses)  would be designed and built by professionals - who, one would assume, come from the Ferelden cities and towns and would design in build in the styles we've seen in DA:O and Awakening. Heck, all the 'older' Ferelden fortresses in DA:I have a different style from Redcliffe, Denerim, Soldier's Peak and Vigil's Peak in the first game and all suddenly have the same generic Anglo-Norman style. Ferelden really got a complete makeover in DA:I, not just Redcliffe. It's not just several years after the game - it's almost in another country with a different material culture.

[SnakeCode]

I'm thinking something more along the lines of radioactivity in the STALKER games where you have to be concerned about what you consume, where you go and etc., something of a survival element that also affects the npc's. Again i'm not dogging TW3, i'm just saying it'd be a neat element for these games to add (jesus!).

 

 

Jesus? There was nothing remotely defensive or aggressive in my post. There's no reason to respond as though i'm attacking you. 

[HowlingSiren]

The most impactful moment came at Skyhold when exploring the new digs. Then when I overheard the small nuggets of info about Cole's various actions, he then became my fave new character in the series.

But there was also meeting Mother Giselle in the early stages (my initial nominee for Divine), then later in my second campaign where her flaws were revealed. This made her a much deeper character to me. Also the Elven lass at Haven that gathers the various components found for the bestiary intel (ie; info then gleaned on Tac-Cam). Her story was moving, especially considering the fate of many of the Tranquil, which by itself was somewhat jarring.

There was also finding refugees bedding in dangerous locales due to a lack of proper housing, seeing Dragons in their assorted environs, discovering an unmarked path which indirectly led my party to an objective (ie; flanking or even behind the enemy). Etc. And hearing the snark from Vivienne and Solas; known to Pause a time or two there.

So is it fair to assume that you'd like more of those moments in the next game? That they form a valuable part of the experience? If yes, then we are all saying the same thing. A lot of posters here who actually played TW3 were overwhelmed by how many of those moments there were in that game, and that they would like to see more of it in the next DA game, which truly had a lot less. What we're saying is not a bad thing for the next DA game, but a good one that would benefit all players who enjoy having the games they play evoke emotions. Be it nostalgia, or awe, or shock, or bewilderment, or admiration, or compassion, or pain or horror, or love - in short, immersion - is what gamers look for, isn't it? It's not about the fact both games had wolves, or that there is a rational reason why Redcliffe was so different, but about what you feel when you play. BW games are great about evoking emotions. They truly are. But for me and apparently several others, another game did it even better, and by pointing out how this was achieved is constructive feedback with the aim of making the next game better. 

 

I guess my point is that I am unsure why you so ardently contradict almost every post about a game you have not played, without actually paying attention to the intention of those posts. 

[Torgette]

 

Jesus? There was nothing remotely defensive or aggressive in my post. There's no reason to respond as though i'm attacking you. 

 

Nah it's not a response to you or anything it's just a surprised "wow so many responses to my comment about TW3's battlefields". Hard to keep up, and I don't want anybody misinterpreting what that post was about.

[Nefla]

But it's a Bethesda game. We'll be able to mod that out.

Um...what?    I don't have a problem with hearing the PC's voice, it's the resulting lack of dialogue options that worries me. A modder would have to rewrite most of the game's dialogue to change that as well as hiring people to voice act additional responses to the additional dialogue options. Even if that were possible, not everyone plays on PC (I sure don't).

 

My point was that BioWare should stick to one style or the other and focus on making it as strong and well done as possible rather than trying a little of this and a little of that and ending up with something so limited and "blah."

[Elhanan]

.... 
 
If you look at a skyrim village and compare that to Ferelden in DAO and Ferelden in DAI it's pretty plain as day anyways where the art director got their inspiration.
 
Anyways I do agree about Redcliffe village to a certain extent - I don't mind the visual change but I had to remind myself this was supposed to be Redcliffe in the first game, it's too different.

Guess watching the recreation of the village on video helped me to prepare for the changes. And I readily admit, when it comes to fashion, design details, etc, Sherlock Holmes I ain't....

[Elhanan]

Elhanan,
 
Styles of housing don't change much over time. They are highly dependent on the climate, the available technology, and above all, available materials. That's why much of Europe had timber-framed housing for millennia and other areas where there's few people and lots of trees (Alpine forests, much of Scandinavia and eastern Europe) had wooden houses. It's only very late in history that technology and wealth and improved transport allowed for a wide range of, and quick changes in, architecture.
It's not even a matter of architects - basic forms of housing were usually built by the people themselves, perhaps with the help of a few artisans for more complex work.
 
Fortresses (and fancier houses)  would be designed and built by professionals - who, one would assume, come from the Ferelden cities and towns and would design in build in the styles we've seen in DA:O and Awakening. Heck, all the 'older' Ferelden fortresses in DA:I have a different style from Redcliffe, Denerim, Soldier's Peak and Vigil's Peak in the first game and all suddenly have the same generic Anglo-Norman style. Ferelden really got a complete makeover in DA:I, not just Redcliffe. It's not just several years after the game - it's almost in another country with a different material culture.

Now ponder how does all that work in a land affected by an Archdemon, aided by Dwarven allies from the Deep Roads, Dalish Elves, Mages and magic, and other fantastical factors and folk not available in our own histories. Plus there are influences from nearby cultures which might be available (eg; Orzammar, Orlais) that are not part of the norm. Or maybe King Alistair did not want to see another sole sleep with the dogs in the same village where he was reared, if that was the chosen World State crafted by the Player. Etc.

Thedas ain't the lands of our forefathers, nor the replications made for the TW series. It does not have to be realistic because it is not....