30 réponses à ce sujet

[Swordfishtrombone]

Just noticed, while running around in the Hissing Wastes, where there's no population around, as desolate as can be, that when I look up to the sky, it is the sky we city-dwellers are used to seeing, NOT the sky as it appears without the light pollution.

 

So I recommend for the graphical designers in Bioware a field trip to somewhere far from cities and towns, to take a look at the sky on a clear night. It is dramatically different from what you can see in the city, and apparently, what you can see in the hissing wastes. 

 

Just seems like a wasted opportunity - the sky should be filled with starry brilliance. Sure, there's a large moon in the sky bringing some light, but even with that moon, we should be seeing a far greater number of stars. 

 

A small thing, of course, but I'd imagine that having a sky more appropriate to what it's like without light pollution would only improve the graphical look of the game. 

[Big I]

I assume it's artistic license. I'm no astronomer, but the size of the moon in the sky in the Hissing Waste (one of the two Thedas has) seems far too big not to have serious detrimental effects on the planet.

 

Most of the astrarium constellations seem to have a lot of stars (more than most RL constellations) so I assume there's a lot of them in the sky,

[thats1evildude]

I seem to recall there being a lot of stars in the sky. Certainly more than there were during DAO.

[Swordfishtrombone]

I assume it's artistic license. I'm no astronomer, but the size of the moon in the sky in the Hissing Waste (one of the two Thedas has) seems far too big not to have serious detrimental effects on the planet.

 

Most of the astrarium constellations seem to have a lot of stars (more than most RL constellations) so I assume there's a lot of them in the sky,

 

That may well be, but I find it to be an odd artistic choice - in games, isn't artistic license generally taken to make things look more impressive, not less? Kinda like with that huge moon. (Which would definitely cause some serious tidal forces.)

 

I seem to recall there being a lot of stars in the sky. Certainly more than there were during DAO.

 

Maybe it's different on the highest graphics settings? My settings are mostly mid-range, with a few settings at "high" and one or two in "ultra". What settings are you playing on?

 

What I saw was a sky with very few stars indeed - kinda like the night sky looks in a city, with only the brightest few stars showing.

[thats1evildude]

I'll take a picture of the Hissing Wastes sky tonight, OK? I'm on the XBox One, so it may simply be a console vs. PC thing.

[DragonAgeLegend]

Something I also realized regarding the sky is that clouds don't move, kind of diminishes the immersion for me. 

[Sunnie]

The moon is causing a lot of light pollution in the Hissing Wastes, we actually see more stars than we really should with how bright the moon is.

 

Spoiler

[thats1evildude]

OK, not the greatest quality, but here's an image from my XBox One.

Spoiler

[Awkward Octopus]

I'll go ahead and add to the screenshot pile:

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

This is from PC with pretty high settings, if that matters (dunno if it does). Might have something to do with the part of the sky you're looking at. Cloud cover, sand, light from the moon, etc., might all be factors.

[nightscrawl]

Just noticed, while running around in the Hissing Wastes, where there's no population around, as desolate as can be, that when I look up to the sky, it is the sky we city-dwellers are used to seeing, NOT the sky as it appears without the light pollution.
 
So I recommend for the graphical designers in Bioware a field trip to somewhere far from cities and towns, to take a look at the sky on a clear night. It is dramatically different from what you can see in the city, and apparently, what you can see in the hissing wastes. 
 
Just seems like a wasted opportunity - the sky should be filled with starry brilliance. Sure, there's a large moon in the sky bringing some light, but even with that moon, we should be seeing a far greater number of stars. 
 
A small thing, of course, but I'd imagine that having a sky more appropriate to what it's like without light pollution would only improve the graphical look of the game.

Just seems like a wasted opportunity...

In the game files there are separate texture files for the star field and the moon. The star map is pretty "natural" looking in that there are like, a zillion stars as well as some glowy inner galaxy type stuff like we can see in our own sky (in certain locations on earth). I don't think this is a graphics settings issue. However, as other posters pointed out, there is a lot of light pollution in the sky from the moon, and your gamma settings will affect how you see the stars based on that.

 

Related, I do wish that there were more night locations in the game, or that we could have dynamic day/night cycles. Hissing Wastes is really gorgeous at night and it would be fun to see some of the other maps as well.

[devSin]

Related, I do wish that there were more night locations in the game, or that we could have dynamic day/night cycles.

They were constrained by the old consoles.

They've already noted it as something that will be possible in future games.

[thats1evildude]

No. No day/night cycles. I despise day/night cycles. I've never encountered one that wasn't a pain in my ass.

[nightscrawl]

No. No day/night cycles. I despise day/night cycles. I've never encountered one tgat wasn't a pain in my ass.

 

Well I think they can be annoying if events are tied to them, but if it's just there to enhance the environment I don't see how it would be so bad... Of course, I don't really see devs putting in day/night cycles and not having at least ONE quest based around its use -- "Go here at night to surprise the bandits," etc.

[Hydwn]

I assume it's artistic license. I'm no astronomer, but the size of the moon in the sky in the Hissing Waste (one of the two Thedas has) seems far too big not to have serious detrimental effects on the planet.

 

Most of the astrarium constellations seem to have a lot of stars (more than most RL constellations) so I assume there's a lot of them in the sky,

 

While we're on that subject, I want to see Thedas's second moon (Satina) that they mentioned in a codex ages ago, and have referenced a couple of times since.  

 

Also, the moon we do see is always full when we've had a nightscape, in every game.

 

I can only conclude from this that every protagonist in DA is a were-hero, who can only adventure when one moon is full and the other new

[devSin]

No. No day/night cycles. I despise day/night cycles. I've never encountered one tgat wasn't a pain in my ass.

Is the problem the dynamic time-of-day or the existence of some sort of time simulation?

I despise time simulation, so I'd definitely not want to see BioWare revert to that sort of design, but I wouldn't care about having visual day/night cycles.

[thats1evildude]

Day/night cycles as in DA2? Those are OK.

 

A 24-hour clock that transitions from day to night? Those are not. They're horrible.

[devSin]

A 24-hour clock that transitions from day to night? Those are not. They're horrible.

Why? Do you find it harder to navigate with lighting that can change, or is it just unappealing to you visually, or something else?

Just curious, as most of the opposition I've seen to it in the past (including my own) is about the time simulation (NPC scheduling, etc.).

[Mlady]

I wanted a beautiful starry sky for the Winter Palace. We already get the gorgeous fairy dust effect through the windows. Fireflies or just dust in the light I'm guessing. It's so lovely on the balcony with your romance, then you look up and it's all cloudy. I love the Hissing Wastes for the moon and stars but I get what you mean. One night at my bf's cottage we saw the most amazing stars and shooting ones too!

[thats1evildude]

Why? Do you find it harder to navigate with lighting that can change, or is it just unappealing to you visually, or something else?.

Because it always results in waiting - waiting for certain events to occur, for shops to open, for prostitutes to come out on the streets, etc.

And because you can't have quests run on a 24-hour clock, it uses an extremely short time frame. So you end up taking an hour to cross the street, which it takes me out of the game and the experience less enjoyable.

[devSin]

Because it always results in waiting - waiting for certain events to occur, for shops to open, for prostitutes to come out on the streets, etc.

So the time simulation.

Yes, I agree that is undesirable. I would be fine if it was used very sparingly, but not as a fundamental part of the gameplay design.

[Black Jimmy]

Maybe it's a plot point. Something is blinking out the starts, and there's nothing we can do about it.

[Bhryaen]

Yes- so long as the day-night cycle isn't tied to an actual clock for content access- i.e., just a visual effect- I'm very much for it. Time is generally meaningless in DA, so I'd rather just keep it that way, but if they wanted to make some creatures only come out during the night (or that sort of thing) it could be cool. On the one hand it just gets odd in the Hissing Wastes for as long as it tends to take to complete the area without the sun ever rising, but on the other, I'd just like to see every area both in night and day. When night falls it always adds a great new dynamic to an area, and then the relief of sunlight again adds another one. Weather effects might be nice as well, albeit rain being a bit unlikely in the desert areas- though the Storm Coast would benefit from having at least brief periods of the rain letting up.

[Forsythia77]

I assume it's artistic license. I'm no astronomer, but the size of the moon in the sky in the Hissing Waste (one of the two Thedas has) seems far too big not to have serious detrimental effects on the planet.

 

Most of the astrarium constellations seem to have a lot of stars (more than most RL constellations) so I assume there's a lot of them in the sky,

 

I said this to my husband the other day.. that they must have some serious tidal issues on their planet. 

[thats1evildude]

To be fair, Thedas isn't the only fictional setting with a giant moon. Check out Gotham City's skyline.

[OdanUrr]

The stars are going out.