Maria Caliban

David Gaider gave a new interview with a magazine and a summary is on this German fansite. Here are a number of highlights, as posted by a German speaking forum member on the BioWare boards. Two new companions -The bald elf mage called Solas who is an apostate and expert for the fade -The Qunari Iron Bull. David Gaider describes with this words: He fears nothing only the past. -GameStar saw also an archer (likely Sera) -The Inquisitor can make his/her own rifts (is it the correct word for Risse) in the fade and summon demons -No fade puzzles (transformations) like Origins -Two voice actors for each gender. (I don´t know if this mean 16 for each race and gender or only 4) [M: It's 4.] -Skyhold or Homebase system. You will also be able to customize certain rooms and buy upgrades, like a garden to grow plants for alchemy. The journalist also suspects that there will be a "map room", where you can allocate troops to open new trade routes or occupy outposts. -dynamic wildlife. If you kill all the wolves in a forest they are gone for a while. In the same forest another player can met deer. -new enemy giants they like Darkspawn ogres and throw rocks. [M: Probably trolls.] -A dragon is especially vulnerable on the head [M: There's a called shot system for larger opponents.] - [M: Also, you can jump but not climb.] The pros: -large and beautiful areas -elaborate tactic camera -challenging fights -Savegame import ------------- Someone who's read the article in full says they mention that Hawke and the Warden will appear. This sounds dubious.

I dunno, currently playing DA2 and having a harder time making good decisions. I mean, when the dude wants me to help him gather obvious gunpowder, I can make the good decision of not doing it or the bad decision of helping him, but the end result is the same. Pretty sure you can make some fairly bad decisions in Awakening, too? If both decisions lead to the same result, it's not much of a decision. If helping Anders led to the Chantry blowing up, and not helping him meant it didn't blow, it would be a rather meaningful one. I'm fine with 'helping a terrorist make an explosive device' being a bad decision for PCs who want to attempt a peaceful resolution. It's not some bizarre gotcha situation, is it? Likewise, pissing off the magistrate by murdering his son probably should have had negative consequences. Bad as in evil young grasshopper, bad as in evil BioWare lets you make a ton of evil decisions. Why would I ask for evil decisions in BioWare games when I can already slit the throats of bound qunari because they follow a different religion than I do?

New Garrett has moments of black humor. "Poor Lady Haverdale. First the fire... now me." "I just hope he's not selling it to my butcher." It's then that the voice actor sounds most Garrett-like. Those moments are few and far between. Nu-Garrett is a terribly serious fellow.

I was thinking it would be nice if BioWare made a game where you could make bad decisions.

The difference between Spielberg and Kubrick doesn't come down solely to aspirations, but also quality and intelligence of their work. There isn't that kind of gulf (both in intentions and quality) between BioWare and Obsidian, and by using that kind of comparison you painted BioWare in an extremely bad light. Spielberg is largely considered one of the best directors to have ever lived. His work has been praised by such people as Alfred Hitch****, Quenten Tarantino, Martin Scorcese, Ridley Scott and..., oh, Stanley Kubrick. Though yes, it now occurs to me that people who think Obsidian is awesome and BioWare is crap probably also think being compared to Spielberg is somehow not wildly overselling BioWare.

If you want to defend BioWare, perhaps arguing that they're the Steven Spielberg to Obsidian's Stanley Kubrick is... not the best way to do that? Please elaborate.

Stating that BioWare games 'lack soul' while Obsidian games have 'soul' is no more nuanced than saying "Obsidian rockorz!" and "BioWare sucksorz!" BioWare designs games for mass appeal, but I don't see this as them selling out. They have always attempted to create the video game equivalent of the summer blockbuster within their specific genre of third-person party-based RPGs. BioWare attempting to make an Obsidian-like game would be like Spielberg trying to make a Stanley Kubrick film; the result would be both a bad BioWare game and a bad Obsidian game. Alternatively, if you're making a Star Wars game, why try to develop it into a moody, introspective rumination on interconnection and how slippery ethics can be? I like KotOR 2, but I didn't find it particularly soulful. I found it an interesting example of how developers are not interchangeable when it comes to existing IPs.

I disagree about the voice actor. The dialogue itself is wooden and undramatic and the sound design glitchy, but the VA is solid. Having played the game, I'll say that either their facial motion capture is poor or that instead of hiring voice actors, they need to hire regular actors. Characters speak by flapping their jaw up and down and widening their eyes. There's nothing near the range of facial expression real people have, or even the sort of facial expression I've seen in Witcher 2 or Dragon Age 2. Alternatively, the hand animations are fantastic. Those are definitely motion capture. I'm comfortable saying that Dishonored is the superior game. Thief is fun at times. Sneaking around while stealing everything that isn't nailed down can be enjoyable. There's a part where the designers seem to acknowledge the voyeuristic pleasures of a stealth based game. I liked that the brothel included bare breasts and people having sex. Some of the levels were creepy. Exploration is somewhat more rewarding than Dishonored, but far less so than DX:HR. Other than that though, Dishonored is superior. The plot, the characters, the level design, the AI, navigating the world, convincing you that this is a real city, the various equipment, the 'super powers,' and the supernatural beings... Dishonored does it better. I'll give you an example: In Dishonored and in Thief there's a serious plague going around. In Dishonored, the explanation for how that plague started makes sense, the hero has every reason to be involved in trying to cure it, and in the end you get to dish out justice. In Thief, there's no good explanation, the hero has no reason to be involved but is anyway because the plot demands it, and the 'justice' at the end is ME 3 levels of WTF. Yes, the ending to this game is a bad as ME3's.

Looks like a hat.

They released the Vivienne character kit.

Hey guys, I got a brand new... ... you win THIS TIME, sorophx. But I will return!

The project is running long. I expect to not get the core book until summer at this rate. Charms from the core... Subtle Speech Method Cost: 3m; Mins: Linguistics 3, Essence 1; Type: Simple Keywords: Mute Duration: One idea conveyed Prerequisite Charms: None The Solar speaks in a roundabout fashion, stressing particular words, inflections and allusions to convey ideas and concepts that may have nothing to do with what she is saying. Only the intended recipients can understand the true meaning of the Solar’s words; everyone else just hears what the Solar says on the surface. Thus an Exalt using this Charm could appear to discuss the weather while laying out the details of an assassination plot. This Charm does not confer the ability to communicate across language barriers. Legendary Captain’s Signature Cost: 3m; Mins: Sail 5, Essence 1; Type: Supplemental Keywords: Pilot Duration: Instant Prerequisite Charms: Immortal Mariner’s Advantage The Exalt fashions her skill into a perfect Essence-fueled maneuver. The Solar’s naval skill is such that she can overcome a ship’s design flaws. Even a trash barge moves like a sleek pirate cutter in her capable hands. This Charm supplements a naval maneuver, doubling the ship’s maneuverability rating and increasing its speed by one. If the ship’s rating is zero or less, its rating increases to one. Life of the Aurochs Cost: —; Mins: Survival 5, Essence 2; Type: Permanent Keywords: Stackable Duration: Permanent Prerequisite Charms: Bestial Traits Technique The Solar taps a wellspring of Essence to increase her familiar’s vitality and stature. Each purchase of this Charm increases a familiar’s health levels, adding one -1 health level and two -2 health levels to its health track. In addition, each repurchase increases her familiar’s size by 10%, to be manifested normally or only during Saga Beast Virtue and Deadly Predator Method. The Solar may enhance a single familiar with this Charm (Essence) times. Arete-Driven Marathon Stride Cost: —; Mins: Athletics 5, Essence 2; Type: Permanent Keywords: None Duration: Permanent Prerequisite Charms: Winning Stride Discipline The Solar trains her body to feel the Essence of those she would outrun, matching their strength with her stride. When she falls behind in a test of speed, every 10 her fastest opponent rolls also counts as a single success to the Solar’s own roll. This Charm also functions in rushes, to aid in countering the target’s attempts to avoid the Solar.

We all love Dragon Age: Inquisition. It's just we show our love differently. BioWare has made is clear that that the majority of people in Thedas don't care if you're male or female, and don't care if you sleep with men or women. Thedas is not Europe in the middle ages. It never was. Get over it.

Not the wheel per say, but the whole game. Also it's counter intuitive for PC players who use the keyboard to select which dialogue they want. It's not a big secret that the dialogue wheel was created to make it easier for console players to select the dialogue. Yes, there are several people here who play on PC and enjoyed DA II. You can use the numpad to select dialogue options. I also find it odd you're suggesting that PC players only use the keyboard as opposed to constantly clicking on small areas with a mouse.

Who are you again?

I sometimes did just that. Which, if you haven't guessed, is something I dislike.

I'm soloing a Heroic 2+ with my sexy British healbot and half way through two other players charge on in and drop me an invite. I accept and healbot is dismissed for lizardman tanking companion. The heroic gets harder. The lizardman tank has an AOE that he uses to break my CCs. The sentinel pulls instead of the lizardman tank. Despite being higher level, both of the other players are weaklings and I suspect lizardman tank has crap armor on, so I constantly have to heal them, which means I have more mobs shooting at me than lizardman tank or sentinel McPulling. Eventually, I stop healing and focus on burning down the weaker mobs as quickly as possible. After they die, there's usually only an elite and a strong left so I use my CC then and finish them off.

cRPGs aren't RPGs. Only PnP lets you role-play.

I liked it in Fallout: New Vegas when a dialogue option would specify [speech 80] because that meant I could quit and come back later if I really wanted it. The conditional was always something my PC could do even if I decided not to. I don't want to see something like [you picked an elf and we're going to show you a human-only dialogue option that you can't have].

[Dialogue from every Heroic 4 I've been in] "I'm putting a shield marker on the mob I'm going to CC." "Okay." "Don't attack it or use an AOE attack." "Okay." "Focus your fire on the mob with the orange gun marker." "Okay." *Tank leaps to mob with orange gun marker* *I CC mob with blue shield marker* *DPS opens fire on mob I just CCed.* I have noticed that pure DPS classes are the most likely to do this. An operative/smuggler or guardian/juggernaut will often play smarter than a sentinel/marauder or a gunslinger/sniper.

Knights of the Old Republic 3 would have been bad, whether developed by BioWare or Obsidian. The Old Republic MMO was a much better way to develop that sub-franchise. Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition has the best DnD system so far and the only one worth using for a cRPG. Kickstarter won't create a revolution in cRPG development because most studios need a publisher to keep them on time and within budget.

David Gaider talked about the structure of dialogue in DA:I.

Are you going to play Dragon Age: Inquisition?

Monte only Aha! I think I've identified the real problem. Monte only tolerates Garrus/Shepard?

This sounds like a guy thing. My mother hates games but loved the picture of the gal in Morrigan's dress. Even women I know who prefer jeans and t-shirts tend to respond positively to cosplay. And I have no idea where you're getting 'sexualized' from. The most sexual BioWare cosplay I've seen was a fully dressed Liara kissing an armored Shepard.