9 réponses à ce sujet

[HugThePiggy]

I really loved running around dungeons with three of your favorite characters tagging along. It was a lot of fun to learn more about the characters too. But now I've grown attached to some.
I think it would be great to be able to choose which companion you would like to take to Ameranthine. Becuase if it's only one set person, some people will be happy, while others are going to be dissapointed.

If the character turns out to be Zevran, people who liked Zevran would be happy, but not  the ones who liked any of the other characters.
However, If Sten was the companion, I would be happy, but what about eveyone else?

So, Instead, Bioware could make the player be able to make a choice of who to take.
I realise that it would be a lot more work to incorporate all of the old followers into Amaranthine along with all of the new ones, but I really liked the old ones.
The new characters don't look nearly as interesting as the old ones did. Vallana seems like a more hateful version of Morrigan, and Anders seems like a more troublesome version of allistair. I'm sure that they are so much more than what can be seen in the trailers, but it's still hard to be aware that these people are going to replace your old team.
Now, I know that the new characters would probably grow on me the same way the old ones did, but it would be nice to be able to take one of your old favorites.

I love Origins, and I truly want to Love Awakening, but i'm just not sure if I really want to play it if none of my old characters are going to return. And I know that if the character WAS set to sten, I would be quite happy, but not a lot of others would be, so bieng able to choose your faverite to return seems like the best thing for the player. But then again, I don't really know how much work this would take.

I'm so split. . .

[David Gaider]

HugThePiggy wrote...
I realise that it would be a lot more work to incorporate all of the old followers into Amaranthine along with all of the new ones, but I really liked the old ones.

That would be a lot of work, indeed... and were any of those companions unavailable it would be work you wouldn't see and wouldn't even be aware it was there and made unavailable by your choices in the main game. I appreciate the idea that this would add to replayability, but we can't make content only for people who intend to replay the game... not with party members, one of the most expensive things we can put into a game like this.

The new characters don't look nearly as interesting as the old ones did. Vallana seems like a more hateful version of Morrigan, and Anders seems like a more troublesome version of allistair. I'm sure that they are so much more than what can be seen in the trailers, but it's still hard to be aware that these people are going to replace your old team.

Like you said, they will probably grow on you. People more or less said the same thing about the Origins characters when they first saw them, too. It's just difficult for some people to let go of the Origins story even though it's very much over -- but that's indicative of how invested they were, which is a fine compliment.

[David Gaider]

bluewolv1970 wrote...
but you could have included three characters as camoes that would appeal to a majority of players rather than  including loghain, ogrhen, and wynne - who probably aren't going to crack the top 3 in most peoples' favorite dragon age character poll.

I don't think it's a situation where we were ever going to be able to satisfy everyone, and having cameos by all the romances simply wasn't possible.

[David Gaider]

Siradix wrote...
But will we ever see romances again, like for DA2?

Maybe, maybe not. Dragon Age is about epic tales set in Thedas, not about the Origins PC and her romances. There's no guarantee that you'll be playing the same character, never mind seeing NPC's carry forward.

Wyndham711 wrote...
I'm just curious - in what way was it impossible? Just because of story reasons (eg. Morrigan travelling away)? Or real life limitations (voice actors in question weren't available etc.)?

Yes, and yes. Plus this is an expansion, with an expansion-sized budget. Not a sequel.

Modifié par David Gaider, 19 février 2010 - 10:05 .

[David Gaider]

Kakimori wrote...
I would like to gently remind Mr Gaider that there are very few 'epic tales' which are utterly devoid of romance.  For every Beowulf, there are ten Iliads...I think not having the same character or NPCs rankles not so much as the assertion that 'you're killing darkspawn, so you have no time for love'.  I suppose the entire world must have taken some massive hiatus from love during World War II?

I fail to see where I suggested that a sequel to DAO would be devoid of romance.

[David Gaider]

Kakimori wrote...

David Gaider wrote...

I fail to see where I suggested that a sequel to DAO would be devoid of romance.

You seemed to suggest that it MIGHT not have romance, because the focus was to be on epic tales set in Thedas (a not ignoble goal) rather than a character's romances.  Perhaps I misunderstood.

No... what I was asked was whether you might see the DAO romances (as in those particular characters) returning in the future -- such as in a potential sequel. I said maybe, but there's no guarantee of that just as there's no guarantee you're even playing your DAO character in the future. Dragon Age games are about epic tales set in Thedas, not the character you played in DAO or the romances you had in DAO. I did not suggest we might not have any romance whatsoever.

[David Gaider]

balvan64 wrote...
David is a Bioware employee who represents Bioware on this forum, not a client or just some poster. As such, David answers represent Bioware (Hence the Bioware logo next to his name).
As Bioware representative david calimed the up coming expansion's budget was too low for including all the things the forum postered complained about being missing.

I claimed that at a 40$ price tag - only 20% less than the original game - I do not see the budget issue at all, this taking into account that the expansion is based on an existing game engine and not developed from scratch.
I think that they simple chose to get alot more profit %  for less content and features out of this expansion knowing that the original game success will take care of selling this expansion no matter if it's unfairly priced in preservative to what it offers.

Well, let's see...

a) I do not set the budget. Nor do I influence it.

The budget is not based on the price tag the game is sold at. It is based on the fact that it is an expansion, and therefore will only sell a fraction of whatever sales the original game made. Smaller possible sales means smaller team and shorter development time-- the last because the only thing that really does seem to impact expansion sales is how quickly it comes out.

c) You can complain about what you see is missing if you like. That does ignore the fact that there's also a lot added. We are not taking away from Origins-- everything you have in Origins is still in that game and very much worthwhile. This expansion adds on a new experience, and if that's still not worth it to you that's up to you to decide. If not, that's too bad, but the scope of an expansion is not going to change just because of the price it's set at on store shelves. Just as the original game's price was not based on its length or scope but rather for the going rate of stand-alone game, so is the price of expansions or other additional content not based on any comparison to the original game's length or scope but on the going rate for expansions and additional content. It's nothing I have influence over, as I said, but even a casual observer should be able to tell that's the way it is.

Modifié par David Gaider, 20 février 2010 - 07:40 .

[David Gaider]

balvan64 wrote...
Yes, I am aware that you do not work at the finance department yourself, my guess is that you are in public relations. I'm talking to you as someone who was probably appointed to represent Bioware on their public forums, and as such I'm directing my budget queries to you, and not mailing them directly to the number crunching people.

Err... no.

I am on the development team -- specifically the writing team. I come here in my spare time. I'm not here to take your opinions and report them anywhere, so if you feel the need to mail them directly to "the number crunching people" then you should do that.

And I get what you think the price of the expansion should be based on, all I'm saying is that it's not -- and no expansion is priced that way. No development budget is set that way, either... and that part I know about, because I'm one of the people who have to work with that budget.

What you want to see for your $40 is all well and fine. I was addressing your assumptions about budgets and pricing, which were off base, and that's all.

Modifié par David Gaider, 20 février 2010 - 11:40 .

[David Gaider]

balvan64 wrote...
I disagree, using the Dev people make people like you feel like they are getting "special" treatment and attention.
And after reading your post, it seem to have had the intended effect on you.

Do you think that a software company who's games sells for millions across the world let just anyone who works for it get online and post his or her thoughts under a Bioware logo without being monitored by public relations?

I am not "on your side", nor are you getting special attention. The forums exist to maintain a dialogue with the community, and I personally come here on occasion to offer some perspective or to correct misunderstandings -- which I have been doing for 10-odd years, now. If those of us who come here are forbidden from doing anything, it's discussing project details which haven't been publicly announced.

If you wish to conjure conspiracy theories and then demand that they be disproven, that's your business -- but I think you overestimate our need to court the approval of the people who come to these forums.

[David Gaider]

balvan64 wrote...
I had two claims:
1. Bioware demands a price tag from the expenstion that is not proportional to the content it offers.

You already said that that was right and the price has nothing to do with content offered in the expantion.

2. You claimed that this expantion did ot get enough budget to fullfill all of our desires and all that DA:O had.
I said that Bioware\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\EA (or whatever) could have given it enough budget if they wanted too and still make a lot of profit, in light of the reviews and sells of DA:O I see no reason for holding back on the budget. You would sell this expantion likehotcakes, and you probably know that, that is why you didn't really care about pricing it with proporation, knowing that due to the Original game recent success this expantion will sell no matter what.

End of Claims and conspiracy theories

Sigh.

I was referring to your suggestion that I (or other Bioware people) come here at Marketing's behest. And, seriously, if those are the interpretations you're applying to my responses then I see the point of talking to you at all is pretty limited.

So I'm not going to do that. Have fun.