53 réponses à ce sujet

[FKA_Servo]

EA is objectively preferable to Activision. For as long as I've paid any attention to such things, that hasn't changed.

[kingjezza]

I doubt most will want to come back, Brent Knowles left as it had become obvious they wanted to take Dragon Age in a different direction. It's always hard to say this stuff without it sounding like a personal attack but this is in no way an attack on Mike Laidlaw the person, as far as Dragon Age is concerened though, he's been an absolute disaster, taken everything that made Origins amazing and pissed it away in some sort of vain attemnpt to leave his mark on the series.

 

I actually can't stand what Dragon Age has become.

 

Whether old guys come back or not they certainly need some actual talent at the top directing these things.

[Eelectrica]

next month Sword Coast Legends comes out which has a few ex BW guys working on it.
Not sure what to expect from it though to be honest. Had high hopes but have lowered expectations.

[Elhanan]

Personally, would love Bioware to create something akin to NWN, but with DA or other IP rules.

[PhroXenGold]

Personally, would love Bioware to create something akin to NWN, but with DA or other IP rules.

 

If by NWN you mean the toolkit, sure - it was pretty good given the handicap of having to work with D&D rules. If, on the other hand, you mean the content BW made with said toolkit, god no. Even the expansions, while marginally better the the base game's campaign, weren't a patch on anything else they've done.

[Elhanan]

If by NWN you mean the toolkit, sure - it was pretty good given the handicap of having to work with D&D rules. If, on the other hand, you mean the content BW made with said toolkit, god no. Even the expansions, while marginally better the the base game's campaign, weren't a patch on anything else they've done.

I mean an OC, GM and Player Options, and a Toolkit for mods. And while I have only played the OC a single time, HotU has gone through countless replays over these years, and improved all the material with Epic goodness as optional content.

[Sartoz]

Sartoz why do you think Mike Ladilaw is the one who had anything to do with the controls? That's not his job. Maybe Mark Darrah or Cameron Lee is who you should complain to.
 
https://en.wikipedia...eative_director

 

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Ok, a good question. Here is  my answer.

 

 As Creative Director, he's more involved and has a lot of control about what goes in or taken out of the game.   Cameron Lee is the Producer while Mark is the Excecutive Producer. The latter two are more at arms length.   Mike, in my mind had more influence on game design than Cameron or Mark.

 

 

Edit:  Now, I may be wrong about this.

[aliastasia]

I doubt most will want to come back, Brent Knowles left as it had become obvious they wanted to take Dragon Age in a different direction. It's always hard to say this stuff without it sounding like a personal attack but this is in no way an attack on Mike Laidlaw the person, as far as Dragon Age is concerened though, he's been an absolute disaster, taken everything that made Origins amazing and pissed it away in some sort of vain attemnpt to leave his mark on the series.

 

I actually can't stand what Dragon Age has become.

 

Whether old guys come back or not they certainly need some actual talent at the top directing these things.

This!

/A

[Elhanan]

I doubt most will want to come back, Brent Knowles left as it had become obvious they wanted to take Dragon Age in a different direction. It's always hard to say this stuff without it sounding like a personal attack but this is in no way an attack on Mike Laidlaw the person, as far as Dragon Age is concerened though, he's been an absolute disaster, taken everything that made Origins amazing and pissed it away in some sort of vain attemnpt to leave his mark on the series.
 
I actually can't stand what Dragon Age has become.
 
Whether old guys come back or not they certainly need some actual talent at the top directing these things.

One Dev does not make a quorum. And while saying something is not a personal attack and then belittling them, kinda makes this a bit more difficult to believe. And for one that reportedly cannot stand what DA has become, I thank you for your active support in purchasing the titles anyway. Guess playing while sitting is not technically standing....

[They call me a SpaceCowboy]

I doubt most will want to come back, Brent Knowles left as it had become obvious they wanted to take Dragon Age in a different direction. It's always hard to say this stuff without it sounding like a personal attack but this is in no way an attack on Mike Laidlaw the person, as far as Dragon Age is concerned though, he's been an absolute disaster, taken everything that made Origins amazing and pissed it away in some sort of vain attempt to leave his mark on the series.

 

I actually can't stand what Dragon Age has become.

 

Whether old guys come back or not they certainly need some actual talent at the top directing these things.

 

Yes, it's the people at the top who set the priorities. Mike Laidlaw said he asked the devs to make DA2's combat faster, so they did. He's the one driving that sort of design.

 

Hiring more experienced developers would mean implementing Mikes suggestions in a more bug free way maybe, but they are still Mike's design, regardless whether that is a good or bad thing.

 

As well, someone higher up than Mike said 'DAI needs to be a multiplayer XBOX friendly game' So that's what Mike designed. 

[Teddie Sage]

I don't think you seem to realize that programming is constantly evolving so people have to adapt to new sorts of codes and engines every years. Asking for experimented developers while some of those engines are still new and while some of those codes is like asking a the sun to appear on a rainy, it simply won't happen. Learning takes time and deadlines is something they have to deal with every year. Things would be simple if they stuck to older engines and older codes, but that's not how companies work anymore as they want innovation and something new, something fresh. 

[Elhanan]

I don't think you seem to realize that programming is constantly evolving so people have to adapt to new sorts of codes and engines every years. Asking for experimented developers while some of those engines are still new and while some of those codes is like asking a the sun to appear on a rainy, it simply won't happen. Learning takes time and deadlines is something they have to deal with every year. Things would be simple if they stuck to older engines and older codes, but that's not how companies work anymore as they want innovation and something new, something fresh.

If you mean my OP, I am very aware of what is needed for programming code. But this does not prevent past employees from staying up to date with their skills. While my dormancy has left me unable to code anything now, they could still be quite active.

[They call me a SpaceCowboy]

If you mean my OP, I am very aware of what is needed for programming code. But this does not prevent past employees from staying up to date with their skills. While my dormancy has left me unable to code anything now, they could still be quite active.

 

Experienced devs also bring knowledge and experience on how to design something so that it works better, instead of 'good enough' like many inexperienced devs in my workplace.

 

And Elhanan I didn't code in COBOL or IDMS for about 15 years, still got back into it just fine when I needed to. I'm sure you'd do fine

[Sartoz]

Terrible company yes, but not so different from the many big companies in the media industry. The point with this worst company award is just stupid anyway. There are actual companies out there that are making money on the misfortune of others. Taking lives, destroying the rainforest, denying people water, using children for cheap labor and somehow this is ok? But hey a company enforces some microtransactions on our entertainment you better believe they are the worst thing that ever happened to this world! We are spoiled and we should know better.

     

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That, unfortunately, is Capitalism at work for you.

 

The Golden Poo award is for gaming companies and it's not as silly as you think. Senior EA exec(s) is fully aware of this and has publicly mentioned their intent to improve....

 

As to the rest of your comments... I agree... a sad state of human affairs..

[Sartoz]

next month Sword Coast Legends comes out which has a few ex BW guys working on it.
Not sure what to expect from it though to be honest. Had high hopes but have lowered expectations.

 

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Yep.. keeping my eye out for that one.

[Sartoz]

Yes, it's the people at the top who set the priorities. Mike Laidlaw said he asked the devs to make DA2's combat faster, so they did. He's the one driving that sort of design.

 

Hiring more experienced developers would mean implementing Mikes suggestions in a more bug free way maybe, but they are still Mike's design, regardless whether that is a good or bad thing.

 

As well, someone higher up than Mike said 'DAI needs to be a multiplayer XBOX friendly game' So that's what Mike designed. 

 

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DAI as multiplayer is not a success, in my playbook.

 

I base this on EA's FY 2016 Playbook where the only thing listed anongst the many EA games was DAI's MP dragon killing percentages by type. The rest of the games listed was either in billion of minutes played or number of missions. 

 

EA 2016 Playbook graphic info:

http://www.ea.com/ne...ic?__Gl7v_=Gl7v

 

Personally a Dragone Age title is simply not MP material.

[Elhanan]

Experienced devs also bring knowledge and experience on how to design something so that it works better, instead of 'good enough' like many inexperienced devs in my workplace.
 
And Elhanan I didn't code in COBOL or IDMS for about 15 years, still got back into it just fine when I needed to. I'm sure you'd do fine

Loathe COBOL; six pages of code compared to a page of BASIC or Pascal, and written for non-programmers. ???

[They call me a SpaceCowboy]

Loathe COBOL; six pages of code compared to a page of BASIC or Pascal, and written for non-programmers. ???

 

Thats why I dropped it and went to java for 15 years. But you gotta do what you gotta do, can't always pick your contracts.

[They call me a SpaceCowboy]

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DAI as multiplayer is not a success, in my playbook.

 

I base this on EA's FY 2016 Playbook where the only thing listed anongst the many EA games was DAI's MP dragong killing percentages by type. The rest of the games listed was either in billion of minutes played or number of missions. 

 

EA 2016 Playbook graphic info:

http://www.ea.com/ne...ic?__Gl7v_=Gl7v

 

Personally a Dragone Age title is simply not MP material.

 

No argument here

 

Just bugs me that they threw away the party combat design for sp from the first 2 games in order to implement mp action combat.

[Elhanan]

No argument here
 
Just bugs me that they threw away the party combat design for sp from the first 2 games in order to implement mp action combat.

As these were crafted separately, I do not believe they did. However, I dislike the single player game to have been balanced with other platforms in mind, as they do not interact in m/p either.

[Sartoz]

I doubt most will want to come back, Brent Knowles left as it had become obvious they wanted to take Dragon Age in a different direction. It's always hard to say this stuff without it sounding like a personal attack but this is in no way an attack on Mike Laidlaw the person, as far as Dragon Age is concerened though, he's been an absolute disaster, taken everything that made Origins amazing and pissed it away in some sort of vain attemnpt to leave his mark on the series.

 

I actually can't stand what Dragon Age has become.

 

Whether old guys come back or not they certainly need some actual talent at the top directing these things.

 

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If you are referring to DAI, I agree.

[Sartoz]

Experienced devs also bring knowledge and experience on how to design something so that it works better, instead of 'good enough' like many inexperienced devs in my workplace.

 

And Elhanan I didn't code in COBOL or IDMS for about 15 years, still got back into it just fine when I needed to. I'm sure you'd do fine

 

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If you are interested in coding using old IBM compilers like Cobol, PL/I, Pascal, APL.. and Assembler you can download the IBM System/360, System/370, ESA/390 and the IBM zArchitecture emulator

here: http://www.hercules-390.eu/

 

To get the old legal OS (ie: public license availability) read:

here: http://www.hercules-...eu/hercfaq.html

 

Current PC performance run these OS'es about 50 x faster than the old mainframes that requires a 10-20k sq ft air conditioned clean room.

[TheOgre]

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DAI as multiplayer is not a success, in my playbook.

 

I base this on EA's FY 2016 Playbook where the only thing listed anongst the many EA games was DAI's MP dragon killing percentages by type. The rest of the games listed was either in billion of minutes played or number of missions. 

 

EA 2016 Playbook graphic info:

http://www.ea.com/ne...ic?__Gl7v_=Gl7v

 

Personally a Dragone Age title is simply not MP material.

The MP could have been so cool if they went with the "You can help your friends take on big story mode missions!". DAIMP is fun but it's definitely janky to say the least.

[They call me a SpaceCowboy]

As these were crafted separately, I do not believe they did. However, I dislike the single player game to have been balanced with other platforms in mind, as they do not interact in m/p either.

 

Well, they kind of do. It was a separate studio for MEMP but not DAMP, and it's the same code base. It's not like its 2 totally separate games. The play style in SP is simply the MP with pause in DAI. They developed and tested SP combat using the MP code. That's why we have non party action combat in SP, because that's how it had to be for MP*. They added the party control/ tactical play to SP in a separate mode that MP doesn't have access too. Essentially we have 8 ability slots because the MP game has 4 easily accessible actions on a controller and a controller uses one button to double the number. DAMP had to be fast reaction time, no time to hunt for abilities etc regardless of platform.

 

I can understand why they did it too. I don't like it but I get it. They would have had to write 2 separate games if they kept party control style combat in SP. By party control style I mean full control over all party members at any time. Same as we did in DAO and DA2. Same with the number of abilities. If one platform had access to all possible abilities that would change the balance for any given encounter. PC MP would be a joke, same with SP, because the party would be too powerful. This would mean a different balance of classes and enemies on PC from consoles.

 

Mass effect didn't have this problem. The SP combat was already compatible with MP style play.

 

* I should clarify that. It didn't have to be like that. Plenty of MMO's have better control schemes, with multiple hotbars. That's just the way they decided MP should be.

[They call me a SpaceCowboy]

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If you are interested in coding using old IBM compilers like Cobol, PL/I, Pascal, APL.. and Assembler you can download the IBM System/360, System/370, ESA/390 and the IBM zArchitecture emulator

here: http://www.hercules-390.eu/

 

To get the old legal OS (ie: public license availability) read:

here: http://www.hercules-...eu/hercfaq.html

 

Current PC performance run these OS'es about 50 x faster than the old mainframes that requires a 10-20k sq ft air conditioned clean room.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I have an actual mainframe to work on at work though