meomao

It's a slide from a speech held by Josh Sawyer at 2011's Games Developer Conference wich was named "The Evolution of RPG Mechanics". At that point he talks about randomized accuracy and criticizes it as a form of mechanical chaos. You can find a pretty good summary of his conference at that link: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/36637/GDC_Europe_Obsidians_Five_Hard_Lessons_Of_RPG_Design.php

I have just one thing to say about the gameplay video. It looks like serious action rpg stuff and I don't like it. In the famous words of Josh Sawyer, that's what I think about games that try to blend rpg mechanics and action gameplay:

Yes, I'm feelin' that we're getting what we were promised so far in general terms. Basically, what's missing is the D&D rule system/lore. Without D&D & its lore is difficult to get the feel of those games. But as far as "house rules" go, I feel Sawyer is doing a very good job. We could always say that PE is more D&D than the 4th edition'll ever be .

I've played Portal 1&2. I had a lot of fun with both, especially the first. Great games.

I've been playing Dishonored for 10 hours in the last days... and while the game is not bad and there's a lot of interesting things about the setting and the mechanics... I'm still on the fence about the game being actually good or not.

Not true: it was just a matter of roleplaying. You can became head of both organizations (I know because that was my choice).

Ain't going to happen but I would be glad that at least we have got one good game.

BG Trilogy. C'mon don't make me choose: in these day BG1, BG2 and ToB are all in the same DVD . But... Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines would be close second.

Italian do it better . PS: Glad to see Europe is the last bastion of CRPGs goodness .

So, just one question: why are you even posting in those forums? I mean, in a best case scenario you are a troll. In a worst case scenario you are paid for these .

Could not agree more. I don't understand why some people think that story and mechanic are at odds. Maybe they have played too much TES post-morrowind and believe that Oblivion/Skyrim poor writing is the mechanic's fault . Narrative, gameplay and art are the three tools that developer use to deliver the game feel. The more organically the dev can use those tools the better the game experience for the players.

Great work! I support Armand being in the game as NPC .

I don't know what the future will bring to the game industry: publisher, kickstarter. etc. Who knows? For sure if we look at the music and film business we can guess that beside the big names and the big budgets, internet will make the life easier for the indie cutting the middle man and favouring a direct relationship between customers and developers. The two models will coexist and follow different priorities. Crowdfunding will grow, change and mature: KS in 3 or 4 or 5 years won't be the same anymore. But it could easily estabilish itself as the best tool for middle tier and indie games. Both models will influence each other in one way or the other. Will we be able to finance a so called AAA game with KS? I don't know and honestly I don't even see the point. If you have a good idea for a AAA game, you should not have a lot trouble financing yourself with a publisher (or trying to publish yourself). I just know that Obsidian KS was funded and that they have received nearly 4 time the amount of money they asked as a mean to develop a spiritual successor to the IE games. In a couple of years we hope to get that game.PE has been the most succesfull kickstarter drive to date and that say just one thing: even if we are a niche (and we are) there is money to be made with us and we are enough to deserve a good game. That's incredible in itself if you just stop for a moment and think about it.

This. Plus, I think that the gameplay has gotten worse in the last game. I know, it's a better shooter. That's exactly the point why I don't like it that much. It's frantic and caothic and do not feel like an RPG that much. ME2's combat was a better compromise imho.

The setting's quite generic at the end but it has potential for originality if they stop to keep the card so closed to their chest and start to show what's the point of the whole universe (one of the really few interesting bits about DA2 was the secret history of the city: "the enigma of Kirkwall"... it's sad that they haven't developed it as a full fleshed quest because it was one of the very few hook I feel for that game). Having said that, history has shown that the only fantasy setting that sells in the videogaming world are generic fantasy setting with a twist. Not to say that you need really good writers (I mean GRRM's level of good) to mix good and innovative in the fantasy genre. Without any offense, the average game writer has not that level of skill. PS: Now that we have all that hopefully good oldschool RPGs coming thanks to KS (W2, PE and let's not forget DS), I think that Bioware should just follow their guts and complete the mass-effectization of the franchise they begun with DA2. If they're really serious about the whole storytelling/cinematic action-RPGs for consoles thing and it's not just marketing, they should remove the last elements that tie DA to the old D&Desque CRPG genre because they do not add anything to the kind of games they want to make (I would come as far to say that they are at odds with their design model of late and that they force compromises for many important features in most game areas).

I get it: this time it's repetitive. I've already apologized with the mod and closed. For future reference: don't return on the discussion or attack on a personal level if you really want an argument to close .

No, don't twist my world to play the victim again: I said that a product Bioware has released was an unethical cash grab and that's different. I'm not blaming any dev (if not the person who are really in charge and knew what they were doing realising a product with a 10-12 months dev schedule) but the company's policy of late. The devs are probably the victim of those policies as much as the players. It's "my" Bioware simply because I always loved and supported your work in the past. Been there done that. I'm sorry if the discussion is looking repetitive: I just expressed a judgement about the latest Bioware game and was asked to explain it. You know, I've seen a lot of similar back and forth about Bioware there during the years... but I will stop if it's OT.

My name is Allan Schumacher. Sylvius was able to ID me! (the hint is in the username!) Though I do know that some of the skeptics do think I work in marketing. I remember reading a post that stated that my posts on the BSN "clearly" have had editing passes done on them before going live. I took it as a compliment I assumed it was you or Epler: I should have thought about the username. I like your posts on the BSN. The viral marketing part was just a provocation. My point is simple: you should not assume that I'm just a random person who likes to toss mudd about "my" Bioware. Maybe I'm wrong and I'm not using the right world but I'm honest. For me is quite painfull to see the direction you are going as a company since you have been bought by EA.

And it's as easy to play the victim without reveling your identity when it was me who has spent his hard earned money on that overglorified DLC you pumped like it was the new Ultima IV. For all I know you could be one of those guys paid by EA for viral marketing . And that's the unethical part of the equation. I could allways trust Bioware in the past. Some games were better. Some games were worst. But you allways delivered a polished product and stick to your principles as best as you could, trying to build a friendly relationship with the fanbase based on trust and mutual respect. Yes, it was about the money but even about the enjoyement of your game and the improvement of the media. As soon as EA has come in to the picture everything has changed for the worst and Bioware has began to treat his customers like cash bags. Say what you want: I work in customer service in a very competitive market segment and I know the nature of lies, excuses and compromises. I'm not a teen who like to toss mud on the web. I allways respected and defended your work on the past. But the way you are treating your fans and customers now is unethical. EA is just about short term monetization. They don't care about anything else. Bioware devs are clearly victim of that mentality. DA2 and ME3 with his rushed final hours are the symbol of that process. The relation is not working that well both on a creative and business terms... otherwise the docs would probably be still there. I really wish you can change my mind with DA3: but I'm not holding my breath. For sure I won't pre-order the game and I've preordered each Bioware game since Baldur's Gate 2.

English is not my native language but I do not use a world like "unethical" lightly. Have you followed DA2 development on the BSN? I do. They promised all kind of things and they were not able to deliver. They lied about many issues. They sold cuts as "progressive innovation" to their long time fans. Yep it's a business but that's not a justification for everything.

You think ME3 has been a success. I think that it has been a failure. I just think that avoiding to put in the mix all the negativity concerning the ending from both fans and published press is borderline trolling. Why should I care about what the investors/publishers think? What's good for me in it as a player? When the only think that EA want to do with Bioware is to turn each and every Sp franchise in to a MP game. ME3 having the score that it has while FO:NV being so underrated clearly shows that the whole metacritic system does not work that well and that most reviewers has not the credential or the autonomy to write a critical piece. They invested a gazilion of dollars, forced the release plan of Bioware's SP games while receiving a lot of criticism in the process and loosing a lot of old timer like me on the road just to go F2P after a few months, right? Yep, it's a ridiculous idea but that's typical EA's arrogance.

I'm a lot more active on the BSN if it can offer any confort . And my opinion is vastly shared even there...

I know that GW2 is F2P. But it allways been. TOR was launched to be EA's WoW-killer and failed badly at that. I mean, if the game has been that good it would have not lost all that players and Riccitiello would not risk to loose his job and the docs would be probably still at Bioware. Then, I'm not expert in MMOs as I said previously and I can't give personal judgements. I've just read a lot of criticism against TOR and very few positive statements about it. From players and critics alike. DA2 is a rushed and unethical cash grab that ruined Bioware's reputation. To call ME3 a success story in term of critical reception is borderline trolling .

ME3 has sold a lot of copies but I'm not sure that the number of copies sold and the overall reception is what EA and the docs expected. The game received a lot of negative commentary that translated in bad commentary about EA. The negativity, deserved or nor, has nearly killed the franchise. They want to make a prequel: I know I won't buy it (if not for 5 bucks). TOR is a failure no matter how you put it. I don't know if it's good or not: I have not even played it because I do not like MMO in general. But if you publish a game and spend all that money and turn F2P after a few months... well, how can you call it? And let's be honest: it's not only a hole in the MMO market. GW2 is receiveng a lot of praise for being an innovative MMO. TOR received a lot of criticism for being a WoW clone. I'm not a Bioware's hater. I've allways been a supporter of their work. I've bought all their games and I simply love some of them. The BG trilogy remains my favourite series of CRPG. I've defended them many times against troll and biased attacks. But I can't deny that since EA has taken control they are no longer the company I came to admire and that the quality of their work has gotten worse.

Good luck Docs: you have given me some of my favourite games and you deserve it! Don't know what to think about the politics behind it. But it does not sound like good news. If I had to think about something: EA's Bioware has received a lot of criticism for their last 3 games. Three failures in a row could have pushed the Docs outside of the picture, maybe to protect the "creative" minds behind such pearls like ToR or DA2 (ME3 final is bad but the rest of the game is not that bad).