Cuz it seems to need it...
This turned into a rant of sorts as an attempt to respond to a different thread *sigh*... so I decided to put it in its own thread. Walls of text are better in OPs anyway...
I'm just getting a bit... what's the word?... discouraged? disappointed? seeing (and reading) so many threads- without demonstrating any sense of perspective- bemoaning the game, being disappointed, attempting to shame it before the oh-so-brilliant Witcher3 (haven't played it myself, don't care), kvetching. I mean, dealing with game bugs- necessary. The more bugs, the more legitimate cause for complaint- particularly if they're not fixed. And the game has issues, limitations, and disappointments- as does every game. But, sheesh. What a fanbase! Makes me wonder about the conversations had by the devs. I mean, they've got to be used to that sort of thing by now and I'm sure they do see the positive criticism too, but... I just dread some of the behind-the-scenes conclusions by the devs about the feedback. I find myself feeling for them because... if I'd contributed to a game like this...
It's just... I don't go into a game declaring, "Entertain me right!" It can start looking like (and being like) the attitude of a spoiled Roman emperor getting off on thumbing down the work of brilliant creators. "And bring me more peeled grapes!" It's where the phrase "everybody's a critic" comes from. We're not talking constructive criticism here. It just gets kinda whiny... which devs are far less likely to take seriously. I mean, if change is what one wants, griping can't be the most persuasive approach. Parents (I'm not one, but I've played one in relationships) learn to take children's preferences only so seriously when they go from liking licorice one day and the next- usually for different reasons entirely- now they hate it and want you to buy something else for them. Taste buds just aren't that finicky. "But I thought you liked licorice." "It's yucky. Gimme ice cream! Waaaah! Now! Waaah!" DAI players seem to prefer not be an active participant in an immersed game experience because being a virtual judge on a contentious game-evaluation reality show is apparently more appealing.
And there had to have been a tremendous amount of effort that went into making DAI. I've said it before that DAI was a very ambitious project, and they didn't hold back on a lot of game elements in DAI. Even if certain elements may seem less developed, there is absolutely no sense of skimping that pervades the gameplay. In my estimation if they'd completely forwent the multiplayer option- which didn't add anything meaningful or substantive to DA- in order to devote themselves more fully to the single-player experience, that would've made the latter that much further (and better) developed... But I can't honestly say they didn't put a massive amount of work into the single-player campaign.
Maybe it's because I've assisted in game development (not Bioware) and do troubleshooting work for a living that I feel I know first-hand the genuine desire on the part of devs to make a game- or project or whatever endeavor it is- perfect- to meet every potential expectation, to run with every idea or "wouldn't that be cool" element that emerges... and be forced to make certain sacrifices in order to get some things very right. You prioritize, try to control over-reaching or contain it when it happens, discover in the fires of the forge of limited dev time and limited staff abilities just what's essential to the end product. Some things, yeah, they could be just laziness on the devs' part- or a creative vision I don't share- but, not being on the dev team for DAI, it's not clear which perceived shortcomings happened for what reason. And there's certainly no conspiracy to produce a waste of our time (any more than any video game or artwork is). Especially not in DA which fans know has been conceived with a great deal of love for the subject on the part of Gaider who puts out fiction about the game world outside the game itself.
Greed, on the other hand- that can be pretty obvious on the face of it, but I'm not obligated to play multiplayer, so...
I guess I just looked at it for whether the improvements in DAI were... cool. Hell, I still appreciate that I can jump in DA now. I don't care if most games have it already or that DAI doesn't even have a swim mechanic. Jumping is there when it wasn't before. And it's so cool to finally experience in DA! The inability to fall to my death is an oddity... And the GTA4 issue of drifting forward when you try to stop makes DAI's "jumping puzzles" (borrowing from Guild Wars 2) more annoying than they should be... But they have jumping puzzles! It's cool stuff. And sweeping verticality. I mean, they went from, "A pebble is in front of me. Come, everyone, we must circumnavigate it..." to advanced jumping dynamics up rock faces or across ledges- DAI style. OK, the combat mechanics and scenarios are limited and become repetitive, healing magic was arbitrarily removed, the quickslot bar is tiny. But the lightning spells and staves makes some of the best sounds I've heard for "electricity magic," new challenges are there regarding the spells/abilities that the game does involve, the teamwork aspect of party dynamics is there, the choice of party members is there. The CC lacks hair options, black hair is not black... but you can make some really cool characters with DAI's CC- even using scars and realistic face textures you could only get with mods in DAO- and they show up in-game looking great! A lot of the side missions end in a fizzle, there's a lot of uneventful periods tromping around in the wilds, spawns can get absurd... but there's a plethora of companion interactions, the companions are all pretty cool, the main story is very cool and plays out well, the side quest content is diverse and creative and extensive (a potent combo), there's a much larger assortment of enemies and critters, dragons are the coolest-looking I've ever seen and even look different according to type (harkening back to good ol' DnD), the environments are beautiful and/or interesting and/or genuinely creepy (another potent combo). Plus crafting and the War Room...
There's just... a hell of a lot to like... a hell of a lot that a DA fan might reasonably be predicted to like when the devs conceived of the game and released it to us... so I don't see the sense in overly bemoaning limitations- perceived or otherwise. The coolness factor is vibrantly there for me, so... *shrugs*, works for me.
The one "lack" that I've noticed- worth noting- is controversy. The DAO forums were plagued not by constant game criticisms but by huge "ethics" debates (which I would never myself get engrossed in... OK, I did... a lot) about Loghain, Ostagar, whether to break the Anvil, Bhelen, religion, the alienage elf origin experience, the underdog experience of elves, whether Cammen should kiss Gheyna (OK, not that). And the passion that stuff stirred up- likely not even intended by the DAO devs, much less deliberately manufactured... just isn't coming from DAI. The devs actually added a hilarious (for me) Loghain apologist NPC right at the beginning of DAI in Haven to stoke up the age-old Ostagar retreat controversy right away- still makes me chuckle to have her there... and irritates me (in a good way) that I can't shut her up by cutting her off when I inevitably start up her spiel (cuz I wanna hear my Keep story in effect). Even running away doesn't do it! Notable that she's also the type of person to initially insult any non-human who first talks to her (as with the controversial elf-insulting quartermaster in DAO at Ostagar). "Yeah, you ox-men aren't needed around- oh, wait, you're that 'Herald' person. Fine, I'll talk to you..." See? Controversy. Something irresolvable, debatable- and way better to wrangle over than "but Dorian's gay!" or "I can only diddle two people if I'm straight?" Still, this is just an observation, not a criticism of DAI. The closest thing to a controversy in DAI- which some fans have picked up on- is the Tevinter self-glorification and obsession with global domination based on freedom of mages... which is easily enough dismissed ethically... heh...
The appreciability of DAI for me is similar to when NWN came out. NWN was a much less visually appealing game than BG, the main story was ultimately a bit silly, main characters were often grating, the environments claustrophobic (even worse in DAO)... But NWN offered me the chance to be in that gameworld (Forgotten Realms) and now able to turn around to see behind me or look at things close-up or look up at the sky. It was fantastic, and that never got stale for me. I never went back to BG and wasn't drawn away by, say, the Witcher franchise. NWN kept the BG world current. I played NWN for years after its mechanics were antiquated- likely far more than DAO due to the (free and player-controlled) multiplayer experience and how much modded content was out there. And when DAO came out, we all know its limitations and even backwardness relative to its contemporaries, but it added another qualitative leap of improvement to the Bioware rpg experience- albeit no longer Forgotten Realms... Far better realism, better-integrated cutscenes, fantastic narrative experience... It's the same feeling now for me with DAI improving and expanding on my experience in Thedas that I'd gotten in DAO/DA2... except that NWN multiplayer was... different... and better...
And above all types of concerns or game elements Bioware maintained a high level of competency finding and employing talented writers, voice actors, and graphic artists to craft the sort of game world you get in DAI. Are we really at a point that we just sort of take all that collaborative effort for granted? Bah, old hat. You've seen the credits list, no? Boggles my mind how they orchestrate all that successfully to produce what we get in DAI. I mean, sure it's their job. There is a huge amount of credits at the end of an M. Night Shyamalan movie as well, but the DA devs aren't exactly slackers, and DAI is no "Last Airbender." It's no wonder the general (non-gamer) public still refuses to see video games as works of art when even we players don't appreciate it...
Mind you, this isn't just an extensive entreaty to please STFU and like DAI. (I'm anticipating the usual "wall of text" dismissiveness and poster defensiveness... Please at least let the God of Humor intervene...) I've criticized the ugly pajamas and not-black hair myself- and will continue to do so. No, this is just an attempt to provide a better sense of perspective to game criticism... at least for DA: no perspective needed in Witcher or Elder Scrolls forums whatsoever... And there does need to be feedback. The devs need it. And Bioware does appear to one extent or another to listen and respond to what they learn, no? At least for a while after a game's release. Things yet to improve on? Looking forward to DA4!
One of the two unforgivable exceptions I can think of- i.e., where denunciations are justified- might be inconsistency with the lore and "feel" of the DA saga. If they'd have scrapped or gutted the whole "mage-templar thing" or "qunari thing" because they didn't feel like bothering to work within the parameters of the story they themselves created... that arbitrariness would be a slap in the face of fans. There's just waaaaay too much fan fiction to just uproot things. Like dwarves in (not in) DA2 or suddenly adding a race of Irish insectoids in DA2 instead of just keeping elves... I couldn't play DA2 until DAI came out (when I kinda had to or be pretty lost lorewise). DA2 lacked some essential DA-ness (erm, not as bad as it sounds when pronounced). But when taken as a game in the series (now that it has truly become one) rather than as a game that must meet my preconceived expectations or must properly kill my boredom the way it's supposed to be killed, I liked DA2. There's a lot to like and hold my interest in DA2 and that adds to the DA experience- and I'm glad I played it through... once... with a heavy snark character. (Kudos to whoever came up with the Keep (for all its inability to update properly.)) And they've definitely wiped out that particular issue entirely with DAI, damn. You can even play qunari now- male and female. It lacks an origin story (other than a single paragraph prior to getting the CC), but you can play a qunari! And dwarves and elves again! Again: this sort of thing does not stop being appreciable to me. The lore and player character options are so expanded now... I don't envy the attempt to maintain narrative consistency in DA4 (without Gaider now, alas) when so many more story avenues have been opened and established. A lot to keep the story straight.
DA devs clearly thoroughly enjoy their storytelling... and DAI contains some deep, serious fan service throughout. I mean, sure, I'd have liked to have been consulted personally on some of the story elements and emphasis (where's my Zev!!??)... but, come on! You actually travel with and get to know Cassandra now after she was just a narrative element in DA2 cutscenes. This is some cool stuff! And, look, there's Aveline on the cover of "Swords and Shields!"
Anyway I dig this sort of thing, so...
The other exception- the thing that continues to bug me in DAI- is not that the game, gosh, doesn't gimme enough stuff I want or doesn't gimme it just the way I want it and thus, aw, I'm so disappointed. Instead it's a matter of user-friendliness. This means, whatever the game may be, when I try to play it there are problems just trying to manage that. Bugs are one form of this, but with DAI my main hangup is in navigating menu screens: every single thing you do off of the gameplay screen has superfluous steps to them- often many superfluous steps- so you find yourself clicking and clicking and clicking to accomplish something that should otherwise be simple. Hell, they even removed "Hide GUI" from the hotkeys, so now instead of a simple toggle click you have to enter multiple menu screens to click it off, then multiple again to exit (and repeat when you want it back on). It makes me wonder if the devs even played the game or what the QA folks were telling them... I've described this in more detail elsewhere, but suffice it to say that a much more streamlined menu system is preferable. If the issue was adapting menu management from console to PC, so be it, but it was left that way- the more convoluted way. It's like presenting me with a beautiful painting, but the only way I can look at it is if I accept periodic slaps in the face. Even if the painting is genius, amazing how the contour along the shaded proportions manifests- *slap*... It starts to wear on one's patience... if not one's dignity... But I still *slap*... I still love this game.....
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