901 réponses à ce sujet

[bjdbwea]

Q: Will I be buying Awakening?

A: After reading the FAQ, it doesn't seem likely.

No romances? While I don't "need" them in all and any game, it's been a feature in BioWare games, and usually it adds a good amount of atmosphere. If they're already starting to cut even that out, what's left? Oh well, maybe by the time this add-on hits the budget bin, people will have modded the things in that BioWare didn't include.

Modifié par bjdbwea, 13 février 2010 - 07:34 .

[Marik333]

Valkeyr wrote...

I actually like the fact there are no new romances. More focus put into the story and general companion dialogue would make the expansion more enjoyable for me.


That said, no dog cameo confirmed yet? It seems like it won't show up in awakening, did it die?


Also, I'm importing my dead dwarvern beserker warden on my 2nd awakening playthrough. He survived through pure dwarvern stubborness and the high alcohol content in his blood affected the ritual. That or dog killed the archdemon and died.

You. Are. A. Genius! I would be completely fine (although sad at seeing him die) if the Dev's decided to go with the time-honored excuse of "Dog did it!" as to how your character survives. Kinda still gives the bird to the final cinematic still, but... 

[Abriael_CG]

SinYang wrote...
You havent read the posts on this thread or Davids.. look carefully. Theres more too life than this one "expansion", romances arent being ignored. (Wonders how some people managed to complete Origins & understand it)

Bioware has "always" said there isnt the budget to add romance to an expansion pack.

They said nothing of the sort. And honestly, given the price of the expansion (which is comparable to that of a full game) the "there isn't the budget" excuse doesn't really fly.

I've read what David says, and little treats and cameos are nowhere near the value of a full fledged romance. Little treats and Cameos are what the average western game (that normally falls very short on the romance aspect) has. Bioware games are normally different, and tyhat's why many of us put them on a level above the rest of the western gaming industry to begin with.

And don't worrt, mr condescending. I finished Origins with no problems. That doesn't prevent me from noticing cutting corners when I see it.

Valkeyr wrote...

I actually like the fact there are no
new romances. More focus put into the story and general companion
dialogue would make the expansion more enjoyable for me.

I spot a massive contradiction there. Romance is an almost indispensible element of a good story. No romance doesn't mean "more focus  into the story". Quite the contrary actually. It means that the story will be more shallow as a whole.

Modifié par Abriael_CG, 13 février 2010 - 07:41 .

[Velvetmeds]

comparable to a full game? the expansion is nearly half the price

[Giant ambush beetle]

But content-wise it seems to be 1/6 the size of a full game.

[Abriael_CG]

Velvetmeds wrote...

comparable to a full game? the expansion is nearly half the price

40 to 60 dollars is plenty comparable, I'd say, and it's quite a lot more than half the price. When you're creating a relatively short expansion with many pre-existing assets, and a pre-made engine with that price, I definitely expect no cutting corners for "budget issues".

Not saying that "40 dollars are too much for 15 hours whaaaa!" But coming out with "budget issues" for cutting corners is just as farfetched. 

Modifié par Abriael_CG, 13 février 2010 - 07:48 .

[Sandtigress]

I have to say, I REALLY don't like the whole "bring back your dead Warden" thing. Feels awfully cheap. Which means to say that I will never take advantage of it, except maybe to see what everyone says about you surviving when they burned you a few months back according to the epilogue. :-P



More power to you, I suppose, if you want to go that option, but the RPerer in me, for all that I have to do a little hand-waving from time to time to fit my character's story to game mechanics, just can't get wave my hands that much.





As far as no romances, I suppose it will just have to wait until we see the game. So far, none of my characters were all that likely to look for new romances anyways, and if the character interaction system is just as rich as DA:O, then it should be fine. There's nothing to say that they might not reintroduce romances with these expansion characters in a future expansion/sequel, after all, after you've had time to get to know each other.

[Ponce de Leon]

The Woldan wrote...

But content-wise it seems to be 1/6 the size of a full game.

Consider getting five new companions and their background stories, 6 new specializations, new talents and spells and many other things. I think it's far more reasonable with the FAQ out. Thats why I'll be buying the game.

[ArcanistLibram]

Velvetmeds wrote...

fine, to each his own. i'll never understand players interest in loot/items/etc, as it's always what i care less about in a RPG, and it annoys me to see people insisting on this.

*glad ME2 threw loot and inventory out the window.*

1- Bioware is taking away content people paid for.
2- People don't want to start Awakening with no weapons, no armor and no rings/amulets.
3- It doesn't make any sense since all the other items carry over.
4- I suspect it may be the DRM screwing honest players over, again.

[vonFurious]

I find it very odd that DLC items are not available.



Why?



We are entering a brave new world here people.... A never-ending (albeit delayed((RTO, Ps3, remember that one?)) stream of "sequel-lite" content of various degrees of worth. I feel all this talk about price point is irrelevant if it doesn't have some real analogue in value.



What's the point of continuing a quest when you aren't really continuing your quest? Why make choices that have "impact" if the future product is not flexible enough to incorporate those choices into gameplay? What relevance do your choices have?



It would imply to me that rather than create a customized, persistent experience, they have chosen one of piecemeal quests and expansions that attempt to re-define the financial limits of the title, rather than the boundaries of our Role-playing experiences.

[SinYang]

Abriael_CG wrote...
They said nothing of the sort. And honestly, given the price of the expansion (which is comparable to that of a full game) the "there isn't the budget" excuse doesn't really fly.

Main sticky thread page 65 or so.. I still cannot find the link myself (try wading through that/ill keep searching).
There isnt the budget to bring all the companions back in an expansion pack.. from your POV that maybe just Leliana, but for someone else thats Zevran or Morrigan or Alistair.
 
Its not one romance, its 4, 4 voice actor/actresses. Include *time* aswell.

[svenus97]

I'm a little disappointed with no DLC's items... My best two sets are Warden Commander Armor from The Soldier's Peak, and a mod armor called Grey Warden Runic Armor... I hope the mod will work, although I would gladly pay 560 Bioware Points again for Soldier's Peak in Awakening.

[Deception_2112]

TheLion36 wrote...
I'm not really justifying them bringing back a new warden from a dead warden, imho if the warden is dead then that is the end of him and I wouldn't really mind whether or not they would bring him back... All I was stating is that it was possible, but as you stated correctly it takes time and effort (how much of course depends on the design and how things are stored).

About the ending choices I am kind of hoping they will at least do something with our final decision (considering a live warden), like I mentioned before it boils down to having only 2 possible core endings in which the warden lives and I would prefer of course if they where both carried over... With a game that values choices so much and intends to keep importing saves I would consider a canon ending a bit odd... It would have been far easier for them to just provide a more limited choice the end: ritual and living or no ritual and dying... So one wonders why they gave more survival choices when they aren't going to roll with that in future. (I'm pretty certain the main story line has already been written down so they would know where they are heading with the story).

I get your point tbh, and i'd love to see it, it'd definitely put BioWare firmly above other companies.

It's just that from experience, a lot of games disregard choices altogether, BioWare did fairly well in Mass Effect -> Mass Effect 2, allowing even 2 companions to come back. Its what irks me about games but i also get why it's not always feasible to do so.

I suppose it likes giving you the illusion of choice...I mean really if they didn't present those choices a lot more people would be unhappy, whilst if they force a canon, it might disappoint a fair bit of people, but it wouldn't be as bad. DAO was replayable simply because of all the different choices you could make, i wish they'd carry it over, but i doubt they will, if they do even better, but DAO is great simply because it allows choices in the first place.

[WilliamShatner]

SinYang wrote...

Abriael_CG wrote...
They said nothing of the sort. And honestly, given the price of the expansion (which is comparable to that of a full game) the "there isn't the budget" excuse doesn't really fly.

Main sticky thread page 65 or so.. I still cannot find the link myself (try wading through that/ill keep searching).
There isnt the budget to bring all the companions back in an expansion pack.. from your POV that maybe just Leliana, but for someone else thats Zevran or Morrigan or Alistair.
 
Its not one romance, its 4, 4 voice actor/actresses. Include *time* aswell.

Come on.  BioWare are not working on RKO poverty row.  They are one of the biggest RPG developers in the world backed by one of the biggest publishers in the world.

"Not enough budget" ain't an excuse.

And if there was an extremely tight budget on this then it screams to me a rushed product pushed out to milk money out of the franchise.

[Agelico]

Yep, DLC thing is annoying. Not because 'Loot-loot-LOOT!' but because I have to load game, reequip my party so that they didn't go naked against the Queen of the Blackmarsh (I don't think that she would perish on sheer surprise). And that means rebuing many things I sold... no money...ugh((( And I really don't understand the why of the decision not to import DLC loot.

[Lord_Darkmoon]

So, I don't get it. Obviously the addon is not meant for the ultimate sacrifice ending of DAO, as you cannot "continue" to play with the decisions you made using a new character.

But on the other hand it also doesn't seem to be meant for importing a surviving warden - for example the dog won't be back... and you cannot tell me that someone would abandon his dog after everything they have been through. Or the romances... why should I leave my wife or girlfriend behind?

So, for whom is this addon? For those creating a new character and play in a world in which Bioware can ignore the decisions you made in DAO and can use a set-up created by themselves? Then what was the point in all making all those decisions in DAO?

I don't get it.

[Abriael_CG]

Colenda wrote...
I suppose it depends on the kind of story you like. Normally I skim the yawn-making romantic interludes in books, and I can happily live without them in games. Not sure where you get the idea that romance is somehow less 'shallow' (whatever that means) than other kinds of story. 

Romance is an element that ADDS quite a lot of depth to the story, and a pretty indispensible one for a story not to be shallow, given that it's one of the deeper parts of human feelings.
If you skim through them in books, I can only feel sorry for you, you're deprieving yourself of quite a lot.

SinYang wrote...
Main sticky thread page 65 or so.. I still cannot find the link myself (try wading through that/ill keep searching).
There
isnt the budget to bring all the companions back in an expansion pack..
from your POV that maybe just Leliana, but for someone else thats
Zevran or Morrigan or Alistair.
 
Its not one romance, its 4, 4 voice actor/actresses. Include *time* aswell.

Alistair's actor is already there, so it's 3. And considering the big number of voice actors needed to do any kind of story driven game, no, that's not an excuse. I worked as a voice acting supervisor for 5 years, I tend to be pretty knowledgeable about the costs of voice acting. Thank you.

Also, he said not all companions would return in the expansion, that is all. He never said that there was no budget to have any romance at all.

[JBC4733]

After reading the FAQ initially, I was really disappointed to hear that my old team of characters wouldn't be playable, that not all characters would get cameos, and that not all of my decisions would affect the plot (David Gaider's post was reassuring, at least). However, after reading a large potion of this thread's posts, I'm relieved, in a way. The things I mentioned previously do suck, but I think I'm going to agree with some of the other people who have posted and say that Bioware is probably setting us up for the sequel -- so here's to hoping that DA:O2 will have old LI's and characters returning as playable characters, along with all of our choices from the original campaign playing a role in the plot.

I'll admit that Dragon Age is the first game of Bioware's that I've played. Call me sentimental, but I always get attached to the characters in the RPG's that I've played over the years. My friend suggested I buy DA, and I have to say, I was pretty impressed. It brought that sentimentality of mine to a whole new level. One of my biggest pet peeves in RPG's, and even TV shows, is watching as old characters just get thrown out the window, never to be seen or heard from again. Though noting all of this, I'll place my trust in Bioware and hope that the decisions made for this expansion are worth it when we see that sequel.

The one thing that does concern me is the DLC not being retained. I'll still purchase the expansion, but it just.. bothers me, that something I paid for isn't able to be kept. We'll at least still see stronger and cooler equipment in Awakening, I hope.

[SinYang]

WilliamShatner wrote...
Come on.  BioWare are not working on RKO poverty row.  They are one of the biggest RPG developers in the world backed by one of the biggest publishers in the world.

"Not enough budget" ain't an excuse.

And if there was an extremely tight budget on this then it screams to me a rushed product pushed out to milk money out of the franchise.

Dont shoot the messager, I disagreed with this too. And argued away a couple of pages on that mega sticky.
I still dont agree with the position much.

Abriael_CG wrote...
Also, he said not all companions would return in the expansion, that is all. He never said that there was no budget to have any romance at all.

How is a new romance any different to a returning romance? not one, there would need to be atleast two for both genders. Im glad there isnt a romance in this small expansion, because it leaves options open for a proper direct sequel, hopefully.. "the big picture".

Especially if a sequel is made with returning origin romances, having any available in awakenings just causes issues with a direct sequel.

Modifié par SinYang, 13 février 2010 - 08:52 .

[Kepha]

As too the lack of DLC items, its not like they're not going to give us new items in Awakening. Likely there will be new items that are better than the DLC would have been anyways. Very rarely are the best items from the base game still the best items in the expansion.

Modifié par Kepha, 13 février 2010 - 08:15 .

[Abriael_CG]

Colenda wrote...
Romance isn't a feeling, it's a genre. 

Not really. Romance is made of feelings, and some of the deepest between human feelings. It's not even necessarily a genre per-se, given that good of most genres include romance without being romance books/movies/stories per-se.
Sophistries don't really cut it.

[Cuddlezarro]

Kepha wrote...

As too the lack of DLC items, its not like they're not going to give us new items in Awakening. Likely there will be new items that are better than the DLC would have been anyways. Very rarely are the best items from the base game still the best items in the expansion.

its still a bit stupid that the warden commander of ferelden suddenly loses his warden commander armor (which I use because I like the looks)