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Magister Lajciak

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Posts posted by Magister Lajciak

  1. so, what do people think of DA, compared with say ME or BG series? Is it one of the better Bio games, or rather disappointing?

     

    At 35 hours in, it's my favorite BioWare game. But you have to remember that I hate BG and found BG II bearable.

     

    I think the combat and characters are superior to any other BioWare game.

     

    I love the BG series, particularly BG II, and I also find the DA to be awesome. Not that I am as deep into the game as you yet, I am playing all origins stories first before deciding which one to continue for my full authentic experience. :verymad: It will likely be the mage origin, however, which I am saving for the last playthrough, though I am not sure whether a human or elf would be a better choice for that in terms of quantity and quality of content available.

  2. Fair enough - I do agree that the number of simultanous possible online activations is now more than reasonable for those that don't mind the reliance on external servers and the potential of future inability to use the software that is my primary concern with DRM. As you pointed out, all of us have some preferences and they may not place the same priorities on the same things.

  3. I'm actually surprised they let you run it on as many as 5 machines at once within a 24 hour period.

     

    Yes, that is somewhat surprising indeed. Ultimately, though, I don't buy any entertainment software where I still rely on external checks for installation or usage of said games, regardless of the number of activations they offer. My reason for this is that companies go bankrupt, or change their business strategies (see Microsoft, Yahoo and Walmart and their digital music as examples) and shut down old activation servers, etcetera, etcetera - I don't want to rely on something that might not be there in 10-15 years when I want to replay the game (yes, I actually do that with great games, for example, I have replayed Dark Sun: Shattered Lands recently - the company which made it no longer exists, despite having been strong in the field of CRPGs at the time).

     

    Luckily, Dragon Age also comes on discs (I take good care of my discs), so I can just purchase that version and not worry about any activations. :)

     

    That said, digital downloading would be a convenient delivery method for me if they allowed some sort of 'burn once' or 'copy once' feature that would enable me to archive it to (at least) one medium and then install it from that medium just like a normal disc version would - without online activation. It would essentially save a trip to the store, but it might be too much hassle for the publishers to develop something like the 'burn once' or 'copy once' feature for what would be a relatively minor increase in customer convenience. The one place where it would be useful would be for DLC, but as Maria has confirmed, even that is likely to come out on discs eventually, so all is good. :x

  4. My D2D pre-load only took about 90minutes at home. The file was around 7-8 gigs. Of course once I install it, it'll chunkify like a Latina hitting menopause (i.e. 20 gigs).

     

    What kind of DRM system does D2D use on Dragon Age? I ask, because if they used some sort of "burn once" or "copy once" DRM, that would allow me to copy/burn the downloaded game to one disc for archival than I would be interested in buying it from them. If on the other hand, they require online activation each time I want to install the game, than I will just purchase the disc version.

  5. Do you mean that the DLC will eventually be combined into an on-disc expansion, or that there will be a major expansion of the game that will be delivered through DLC?

     

    I am sure the first is true, but I was refering to the second. There is a specific DLC team, and they plan on making an expansion as well as regular adventures.

     

    Awesome with respect to the first! :thumbsup: I like the sound of the DLC, but I am not going to buy it straight away, because of the need for online activation (which the main game doesn't need), but if it comes out on a disc as a compilation, I will be able to get it eventually.

     

    As to the second, that's all good, so long as they also release the expansion on a disc. The more content for a good game (and this sure looks to be great) the better! :down:

  6. It'll be interesting to see how long it takes you to make the Stone Prisoner and Warden's Keep (but even better) with the toolset

     

    I'll wager that the inevitable "Dragon Age community expansion pack" will be better than Bioware's "two years worth of DLC."

     

    This is possible, though they have an expansion planned as DLC.

     

    Do you mean that the DLC will eventually be combined into an on-disc expansion, or that there will be a major expansion of the game that will be delivered through DLC?

  7. Is anyone going to follow this dragon age competition thing? It's the 28th but I'm unsure if they are actually going to be streaming the gameplay. It could be a nice in-depth look at the game or it could just be a serious waste of time.

     

    http://kotaku.com/5390089/bioware-hosts-24...age-competition

     

    Edit: New video

    http://www.gametrailers.com/video/creature...ragon-age/58170

     

    I am not going to follow the competition. It is a nice thing by BioWare to do something like this, but watching the competition would surely reveal huge story spoilers for the game. I have restrained myself sufficiently so far to avoid a number of previews (I cracked on some others) and thus the story is only partially spoiled for me (and that's already more than I would like) - it would not be wise to crack now that the game is about to be released.

  8. I am betting on the success of this game and just bought into EA on Wednesday. May it bring me and the rest of the people who invested many profits. :(

     

    Is anybody else considering investing into EA (the stock symbol is ERTS) before the game is released?

     

     

    now that you're a stockholder how do you feel about EA using draconian DRM schemes to help you see a return on your investment?

     

    As a stockholder, I remain opposed to draconian DRM and believe that it would decrease my return on investment by generating bad publicity yet failing to curb piracy.In fact, had EA kept its previous DDRM policies, I would have been extremely skeptical in entrusting my money to them, because it would be evidence that they cannot learn from their mistakes and punish their customers. Luckily, EA has reversed course on DDRM after its major fiascos and Dragon Age will not be subjected to that anti-feature and it seems neither will other games (the new Sims, I believe also does not have DDRM). As a gamer, of course, I am also opposed to draconian DRM, so the two dovetail nicely together.

     

    zing indeed, though really is there any evidence showing that drm makes games more profitable? that seems like what they are hoping for but i cant imagine it being true

     

    Neither can I imagine how draconian could possibly help make games more profitable. It has been proven to be utterly ineffective at stopping piracy by various quasi-professional groups. It can stop casual piracy of people copying their disk and passing it on, but it can do that no better than mundane copy protection - ordinary people can bypass neither, whereas quasi-professional groups can bypass both. I believe the negative press from draconian DRM would have led to lower profits and am glad that EA has abandoned it.

  9. might be a good buy if microsoft actually goes through with that rumored purchase (i consider this extremely unlikely).

     

    Microsoft has outright denied the rumor (rather than the standard 'no comment' when it might be in the offing), so I doubt that it will purchase EA and am not counting on it.

     

    i'd recommend selling after the bump though, it wont last more than a few months i'd wager.

     

    I agree. I intend on selling after the bump from Dragon Age and the bump from earnings is received (I am betting that there will be a bump - I could also be wrong and lose money... investing is a risky business, but I am tolerant of risk). The earnings report is coming in early November, so I am hoping for a combined Dragon Age/Earnings boost to the stock.

  10. I am betting on the success of this game and just bought into EA on Wednesday. May it bring me and the rest of the people who invested many profits. :(

     

    Is anybody else considering investing into EA (the stock symbol is ERTS) before the game is released?

  11. I still don't get the OMG factor.

     

    It was not an OMG factor for me. It was a WTH (What the Heck?) factor - as in an expression of surprise regarding a magazine featuring electronic characters. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I think it's enough of a first (at least that I am aware of) to justify a WTH!

  12. So do you believe it's wrong? Should intellectual properties keep doggiedly to their roots to appeal to a small hardcore, or should they branch out, and if needs be, burn the biggest fans of the IP in an attempt to reach a larger audience?

     

    Did you beat your wife today?

     

    ... Seriously, that's a loaded question, where you already prejudge the answer.

     

    From a business perspective, cleaning out the old skool fans, despite the noise they will make is probably a smart move as after all the reason companies make games is to make money, and those old guard hardend fans are actually far fewer than the potential audiance.

     

    I personally believe that, while harsh, in order to reboot an IP, you HAVE to burn the old fans, and business wise Bethesda, the example I am using here, did an awesome job with FO3 in rebooting the IP, while at the same time burning the crazies over at NMA and such. Just my 2 pence.

     

    So do you believe it's wrong? Should intellectual properties keep doggiedly to their roots to appeal to a small hardcore, or should they branch out, and if needs be, burn the biggest fans of the IP in an attempt to reach a larger audience?

     

    You are assuming that the hard core is small, that when it is burned it will not spread negativity about the game that will put of new players and that new players will materialize to replace it. These assumptions held true in the case of Fallout 3 and the reboot was a commercial success. There are, however, plenty of failures or mediocre results of reboots.

     

    Take the Heroes of Might and Magic franchise. Heroes of Might and Magic III was a successful game, but I guess the developers thought they could reach an even wider market by changing it. A major reboot of the franchise with significant changes came with the 4th installment - Heroes of Might and Magic IV. It was a major flop and the company went bankrupt. Many years later, the franchise was picked up by Ubisoft and Heroes of Might and Magic V was made, returning to the original formula and I believe it became the commercially most successful game of the entire series. Making changes will not necessarily burn the hardcore fans, but if you do decide to make the types of changes that will do so, you would better make sure that there will be an audience to replace them. In some games, the 'hardcore' can make up a significant proportion of the audience - evidently this was the case for the Heroes of Might and Magic franchise.

     

    The Heroes of Might and Magic IV reboot was a major failure and the series was only salvaged years later by a return to the original formula. Now for an example of commercially mediocre results of a reboot, we can look at the PnP RPG industry. Dungeons & Dragons recently got rebooted (I & probably many other hardcore D&D fans would argue that it actually got booted, but that is another matter :lol: ) with the 4th edition of the game that made a major break with both mechanical and flavor traditions of the previous versions of the game. Wizards of the Coast is not going bankrupt and is earning money on the new edition, but the 4th edition, although commercially successful, is much less commercially successful than the previous edition - they might have gained some new blood at the expense of the old fans (as was their intention), but overall they have shrunk their market (though it is still large enough to be profitable). I guess the "hardcore" proportion of their fanbase was not so small and many are now completely opposed to the 4th edition, thus not only not providing sales, but also providing no marketing (or even negative marketing, and 'any news is good news' is just not true). Through their massive changes alienating a large proportion of the fanbase, they have also jump-started a competitor in the genre.

     

    As you can see, it is not that simple. Alienating the 'hardcore' fanbase is a risky move that may come back to haunt the company, especially if the fanbase is substantial and enthusiastic about your previous product. Blizzard evidently agrees with this position at least as far as the Starcraft franchise is concerned. Starcraft 2 is shaping out to be a very fanbase-friendly sequel and Blizzard is making sure it follows in its predecessors' foot steps.

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