658 replies to this topic

[Archmage Silver]

... at the moment the game feels a tad awkward, on the 360 build at least. The faster tempo and slightly over-the-top animations feel very hack and slash, but naturally your attacks don't feel as immediate as what you'd expect from, say, God of War.

So it will look and play like God of War, but without the tight control that makes good action games, well, good. Gotcha.

(Good thing I had no expectations for this game or anything!)

she's dropping not-so-subtle hints about letting Hawke delve into her furry dungeon

furry dungeon

furry dungeon

furry dungeon

And this, right here, is why no one takes "game journalism" seriously.

I seem to recall something about Morrigan's leather pants, but I'm not going to quote that here...

Edited by Archmage Silver, 16 November 2010 - 02:58 PM.

[EvaineDian]

Mmmhh. It's something of an blech thing. I derive morbid pleasure from toting around massive loads of equipment and handing out the best to my trusty sidekicks.

That's my take on it, as well. They say that you will be able to customize your followers' equipment with upgrades and add-ons, but it still feels like laziness.

I'm not thrilled by this, either. I get a set of good armour, I give it to whomever accompanies me at the time and swap it if I take somebody else. And I let companions I don't like wear the ugly cast-offs. Morrigan usually gets to wear one of those unflattering mage hats to sex her down a bit.

They say they want each follower to have a "signature look," which does not impress me. It means that the followers will be walking around looking sexy and silicone-enhanced while my PC will look like every castle guard and passerby in the Free Marches. They'd really better give us a super-hot male LI after this. Not that it matters. One way or another, Isabella will die at the first opportunity, hopefully at my character's hand. She strikes me as too super-sue to live.

I'm not so fond of Isabela, either. I wish they had kept to her DA:O face. She looked a bit wrinkly and weather-beaten and not really pretty, just like a pirate should. It would have been cool to have an experienced, "middle-aged" woman in the party, but now her face looks so young and smooth.

I don't know why everyone's complaining about her boobs, though, especially the ladies. I don't find the size ridiculous or impossible at all. Why must a buxom lass automatically be silicone-enhanced?

[Choo Choo]

she's dropping not-so-subtle hints about letting Hawke delve into her furry dungeon

furry dungeon

furry dungeon

furry dungeon

And this, right here, is why no one takes "game journalism" seriously.

This made me almost snort tea out of my nose, I'm laughing so hard.

[Vicen]

she's dropping not-so-subtle hints about letting Hawke delve into her furry dungeon

furry dungeon

furry dungeon

furry dungeon

And this, right here, is why no one takes "game journalism" seriously.

This made me almost snort tea out of my nose, I'm laughing so hard.

Haha yeah you can say that again! I mean seriously...who says that?!

[vilkacis]

I seem to recall something about Morrigan's leather pants, but I'm not going to quote that here...

Wait - Morrigan wore pants?

I don't know why everyone's complaining about her boobs, though, especially the ladies. I don't find the size ridiculous or impossible at all. Why must a buxom lass automatically be silicone-enhanced?

Impossible? Certainly not. Ridiculous? When it's on an acrobatic fighter (who looked nothing like that in the previous game) and they're just flapping in the breeze, and when two out of two known female NPCs look as if they make a living smuggling watermelons in their shirts - yeah, it kind of is.

I mean seriously...who says that?!

IDK but they're obv. v.classy ppl.

[Archmage Silver]

A post from BioWare QA's Stanley Woo on the depth of DA II:

I think some folks are forgetting that Dragon Age is, first and foremost, a game which has certain rules built into it. no matter how immersive the story is, no matter how epic the scope of the characters or dialogue or penguin launchers or whatever, there is still a game there. Most players will naturally bring in non-immersive elements, such as dice rolls or attributes or follower tactics or inventory, and justify them with in-game and in-setting reasons for their existence. A good example of this, which was brought up in this very thread, is follower inventory.

Some players will see this as the party discussing among themselves and agreeing that Isabela should wear such-and-such armour because it's better protection than her brigandine tutu (hypothetical) and besides, Varric needs the spiked pauldrons of enhanced Bianca (AMS Note: His crossbow is called Bianca) synergy (also hypothetical). Other players treat inventory management as purely metagaming and don't ascribe any in-game interaction to it at all.

There is nothing wrong with either way of playing the game. it is purely subjective and, in a single-player game, irrelevant to anyone else's interpretation of the system. If you expect your followers to "follower your commander's orders and wear what you tell them," then great. If, on the other hand, you feel the followers are "distinctive characters in their own right with their own opinions on what to wear," great. Regardless of which system is actually implemented in DA2, players can determine for themselves how to reconcile the system with the setting. Or not. Whatever they wish.

So please, let's stop assuming that one's way of playing the game or dealing with inventory is better or worse than any other. As long as it works within the context of the game as a whole, I think most players won't be too disappointed.

Edited by Archmage Silver, 17 November 2010 - 05:18 PM.

[Archmage Silver]

News:
Creature Update: Hurlock @ BioWare
Creature Update: Emissary @ BioWare
Don't Worry, Dragon Age II Is For You, Too @ Kotaku

Edited by Archmage Silver, 19 November 2010 - 01:22 PM.

[Archmage Silver]

Ok... so the tactical camera is out after all. Apparently the PC version only gets a zoom-out camera, but not a tactical one. Read it and weep.

The bigger change, however, is that the game will no longer support an overhead tactical view on any platform. This was an art and combat-design decision, the BioWare rep told me today. Support for that Baldur's Gate-style view forced the artists to design rooms and scenes that didn't have important things on their ceilings and skies ? which top-down players wouldn't see. It also forced the designers into an awkward spot where they had to accommodate top-down turn-taking players and behind-the-back action-first players. By catering to the more reckless of those playing styles, the designers were forced to make the game's difficulty fairly low. Making all players play from some sort of from-the-rear camera view alleviates that. But! PC gamers, your version will include a special option to zoom the camera out, just not up. Console gamers won't get that.

...zoom the camera out, just not up. Console gamers won't get that.

...zoom the camera out, just not up. Console gamers won't get that.

...zoom the camera out, just not up. Console gamers won't get that.

...zoom the camera out, just not up. Console gamers won't get that.

...zoom the camera out, just not up. Console gamers won't get that.

...zoom the camera out, just not up. Console gamers won't get that.

[vilkacis]

(Good thing I had no expectations for this game or anything!)

I am a colossal idiot!

It's Kotaku, so I already knew that, but -

Dear editor: it's not "features that console gamers don't get" that the PC crowd wants. Ideally, all features would be available on all platforms. What we want is "features that are not shit".

...honestly, I have been linked to that article before, but stopped reading when he lists Mass Effect style dialogue under "things we can agree are better".



edit: braved the bioware forums.

Since it's a little unclear - you can still pull the camera back and then adjust the yaw, which would allow for a fairly-close-to top-down camera perspective. You aren't stuck with varying degrees of over-the-shoulder.

Hey folks.

Thought I would slide in here to clarify this last query:

The camera is attached to your currently controlled character. It may be rotated freely.

well at least it's something. except that:

While we likely won't pull as far up as we did in DA:O, I have always felt that the key to tactical play was actually freeing your camera from the character you're controlling to issue precise orders, which is what we're tuning now. So, this means you can still maneuver the camera around the battlefield and issue orders from a remote location, just as you could in Origins.

so basically

even bioware themselves have no idea what's going on anymore.

too busy thinking like spartans and fighting like generals, I suppose.

Edited by vilkacis, 19 November 2010 - 05:09 PM.

[KIrving]

too busy thinking like spartans and fighting like generals, I suppose.

I'm beginning to think Mr Laidlaw, secretly, spends a lot of time running around with his pants on his head.
Most of the time I read his clarifications and get more confused and then I vaguely feel like it's all my fault that I didn't understand and then I just feel bad that I'm not full of the awesome sauce that makes the guy seem so upbeat all the time.*sigh*

[Archmage Silver]

Can't they just make up their minds?

It just seems that people like D. Gaider and C. Priestly spend most of their time on the BioWare Social forums calling the posters idiots, between the lines of course, so that the posters don't notice it, and bitching about their whining instead of doing something about this lack of proper information.

I'm annoyed by all of the above.

[Solar's Harper]

... I'm so glad I wasn't drinking just now. Good call with Sparta. XD


Think the main issue is one speculation is getting mixed up with the other, etc, etc. Honestly we'll only know when the end product comes out. Of course the world is anything but patient.

Aside note...
If we were supposed to be tactical at all, wouldn't that involve y'know, more than just the camera that might potentially spaz out every now and then if they follow a certain model? We've already had the "PC in center" focus thing that doesn't let you stray, it's worked to an extent, so it's not necessarily a bad thing in my opinion. Has bugger all to do with strategy though, advantage of terrain and cover on the other hand - mind you I highly doubt that working on a game like Dragon Age. Especially with the God of War syndrome hanging all over it, or was it Devil May Cry? Hum.

Additionally you could say that the attacking through walls thing was, well, wall hacks? Sure you had to have some/one/thing to see inside the room, but c'mon.

So no, not exactly sad about that confirmation personally. If the game can be brutal and/or forgiving (situation depending) without resorting to cheapness to achieve either of the two, no problem with it.

[Archmage Silver]

News:
Seeking the Truth Article @ Grey Wardens
BioWare Announces Staff of Parthalan Fix for 2011 @ BioWare Social

Edited by Archmage Silver, 23 November 2010 - 01:07 PM.

[vilkacis]

More nuggets from the Bioware forums!

If we really want to bring a character back, we'll bring them back-- regardless of what may or may not have happened in DAO (particularly in an epilogue). That doesn't mean ignoring the possibilities, but it does mean that sometimes what you think happened/will happen isn't always the case.

If we were to bring back a character that might be dead, chances are we'd provide an explanation. It'd be a hand-wave, sure, but I doubt we'd ignore the possibility outright. I think there's a limit to how much we'd want to do that, of course-- dead should mean dead, whenever possible.

I think our willingness to bring a possibly-dead character back relates to how often they ended up dead in peoples' games. If they're dead in only a small minority of games, there's a better chance than if it was a very common thing... or if we couldn't come up with a non-lame explanation. Hand-waves only go so far, and like I said it's not something we'd want to over-indulge in, anyhow, considering this isn't a setting where death is trivial.

Your decisions mean nothing. Please punch me in my stupid ugly face.

I think I'm going to add "Alistair comes back from Archdemon-assisted suicide" under "Wrex not playable in ME3" on my list of "things that will make me swim across the ocean and piss in Bioware's letterbox".

[KIrving]

My head now hurts!

Mr Gaider, often, sounds grumpy when giving these "explanations". Maybe he needs a hug.

[Solar's Harper]

Well considering the feedback that has been preeminent since the day Dragon Age II was announced, it'd be a hard sell to say no one else would be. That said, the lack of clarity on one hand, and abundance of absurd mainstream commercialism on the other does kinda scream "should've seen it coming" at the viewer. So, yeah...

The world is hardly an easy ma--er, creature to satisfy.

Edit: And for the record: Returning characters again? It nay compute, AGH!

Edited by Solar's Harper, 24 November 2010 - 04:37 PM.

[vilkacis]

Mr Gaider, often, sounds grumpy when giving these "explanations". Maybe he needs a hug.

If I wanted to be nice, I'd say something like maybe he just needs to stop posting on Bioware's official forums because I know they tend to make me grumpy.


But I don't want to be nice so I'll just say he needs to stop posting period, and also stop working for Bioware and maybe his replacement will be able to salvage Dragon Age 3.

Well considering the feedback that has been preeminent since the day Dragon Age II was announced, it'd be a hard sell to say no one else would be.

The feedback on the official boards tends to lean more towards "Bioware can do no wrong" than the rest of the internet, though.

Maybe that's why they make me grumpy.

Well, that and the fact that they're so full of stupid that it practically oozes from the corners of my monitor.

And the rampant sexism and homophobia and some other important sounding words that I don't remember.

[berelinde]

Mr Gaider, often, sounds grumpy when giving these "explanations". Maybe he needs a hug.

I imagine you'd be grumpy too if you had to answer the same questions 500 times... or deal with what could easily be described in very uncharitable terms.

Part of that perceived grumpiness might be haste. This is probably crunch time, getting DA2 firmed up and ready to go, and I have noticed that his replies have grown shorter and more tense-sounding over the last month or so. Attempted brevity often comes across as testiness, especially in a forum environment where readers are already inclined to be critical. He's a talented writer, but there's a difference between writing for work, i.e. the game, and casual responses in a forum thread.

[KIrving]

Mr Gaider, often, sounds grumpy when giving these "explanations". Maybe he needs a hug.

I imagine you'd be grumpy too if you had to answer the same questions 500 times... or deal with what could easily be described in very uncharitable terms.

Part of that perceived grumpiness might be haste. This is probably crunch time, getting DA2 firmed up and ready to go, and I have noticed that his replies have grown shorter and more tense-sounding over the last month or so. Attempted brevity often comes across as testiness, especially in a forum environment where readers are already inclined to be critical. He's a talented writer, but there's a difference between writing for work, i.e. the game, and casual responses in a forum thread.

I'm not entirely sure that he has to answer such questions or contribute posts anywhere near the amount that he, clearly, likes to do. Also while brevity explains some tone there are definitely occasions where he appears to quite enjoy a 'pithy' or sarcastic response.

Actually I find his posts more real sounding than Mr Laidlaw's. Every time I read Mr Laidlaw's posts I have a hard time not thinking, 'used car salesman'.

@vilkacis
Still the BioWare forums could be worse. They could be like the comments on any page of the Kotaku website. I swear that place actively encourages intolerance and hate.

[Vicen]

Well I assume the route there going to take(If they even mention the warden from the first game in DA:2) for what happen at the end of DA:O is that your warden was:

Male - Most likely Human Noble (origin)

Romance - Romanced with Morrigan and had the old-god child with her

Loghain - Dies at the Landsmeet

Alistair - Becomes King and MAYBE marries Anora

Now correct me if I am wrong but that seems the most likely route they would take. IF they were to have to have one ending set it stone...

But hopefully you can transfer your favorite DA:O origin char and whatever happen in that game will have a impact or at least a few references in DA2.

Edited by Vicen, 25 November 2010 - 09:28 AM.