Dragon Age Origins

[Purkake]

How come the weapons in Prince of Persia and Assassin's Creed were normal sized? They were also normal sized in NWN2 and The Witcher.

 

This seems more like a new thing here.

[RPGmasterBoo]

How come the weapons in Prince of Persia and Assassin's Creed were normal sized? They were also normal sized in NWN2 and The Witcher.

 

This seems more like a new thing here.

 

On the other hand World Of Warcraft is halfway manga. Mirrors Edge was reminescent of manga designs, with its clear lines. The last Prince of Persia was very manga-like in its appearance. Its catching on, albeit slowly.

Going back to the topic - Dragon Age so far looks passably good. I wish they could have tried a more mood setting graphical design like in the Witcher (gloomy, run down) rather than the standard fantasy fare, but we'll have to see more to pass judgment on that.

[Purkake]

How come the weapons in Prince of Persia and Assassin's Creed were normal sized? They were also normal sized in NWN2 and The Witcher.

 

This seems more like a new thing here.

 

On the other hand World Of Warcraft is halfway manga. Mirrors Edge was reminescent of manga designs, with its clear lines. The last Prince of Persia was very manga-like in its appearance. Its catching on, albeit slowly.

Going back to the topic - Dragon Age so far looks passably good. I wish they could have tried a more mood setting graphical design like in the Witcher (gloomy, run down) rather than the standard fantasy fare, but we'll have to see more to pass judgment on that.

 

I'm talking about crazy-big weapons here, not manga in general. And PoP had nothing manga about it, they just used a watercolor art style to make it look pretty.

[Gorgon]

When is it out ?

[Purkake]

PC and Xbox 360:

 

North America: November 3, 2009

Europe: November 6, 2009

 

PS3: Some time after that.

[RPGmasterBoo]

How come the weapons in Prince of Persia and Assassin's Creed were normal sized? They were also normal sized in NWN2 and The Witcher.

 

This seems more like a new thing here.

 

On the other hand World Of Warcraft is halfway manga. Mirrors Edge was reminescent of manga designs, with its clear lines. The last Prince of Persia was very manga-like in its appearance. Its catching on, albeit slowly.

Going back to the topic - Dragon Age so far looks passably good. I wish they could have tried a more mood setting graphical design like in the Witcher (gloomy, run down) rather than the standard fantasy fare, but we'll have to see more to pass judgment on that.

 

I'm talking about crazy-big weapons here, not manga in general. And PoP had nothing manga about it, they just used a watercolor art style to make it look pretty.

 

Its hard to discuss without pictorial comparisons. Get yourself several copies of Heavy Metal magazine (used to be the premier place for fantasy art and comics) from various periods in the last 30 years if you can, you'll see the design shift as in the various periods. If you cant get them PM me so I'll send you a link to all 30 years of them (if I can dig it up).

[Purkake]

Umm, yeah, I'm not really into comics and I still get nightmares about that Heavy Metal South Park episode, so no thanks.

 

Any official word on the giant weapons, Maria? Have they always been this giant?

[Bos_hybrid]

Looks decent enough. The VA is crap, but that's not unexpected.

 

I'm just not seeing this, or more correctly hearing this. If you find the VA crap of DA, you must find most rpg VA crap, because it seems like the usual Bio/Obsidian quality.

 

As for the graphics quality, it seems to change from trailer to trailer, sometimes I wonder if the poorer ones aren't the consoles version, either way they are nothing stellar. But then so many people like to say that the focus rpg devs put on graphics are the reason rpgs are becoming 'crap'/shallow etc.

[Maria Caliban]

First off, manga has a number of different arts styles. Secondly, the designs are far more reminiscent of 1990s American comic books, especially the Image house style. Giant shoulder pads? Remember Cable? Judge Dread? Warhammer 40k came out in 1987, and it featured Space Marines in ridiculously oversized armor. The idea that Bigger = Better is hardly a strange Japanese cultural meme that Americans have never encountered before.

 

Lastly, they've said the weapons are giant because in combat, you can zoom out to a BG like viewpoint, and they still want you to be to see them clearly.

Edited August 26, 2009 by Maria Caliban

[deganawida]

First off, manga has a number of different arts styles. Secondly, the designs are far more reminiscent of 1990s American comic books, especially the Image house style. Giant shoulder pads? Remember Cable? The idea that Bigger = Better is very American.

 

Lastly, they

[Maria Caliban]

But why do they move so slowly? Your average bastard sword only weighs about 4 1/2, 5 lbs., and does not take anywhere near as long to swing as a DA longsword. These guys look like they're swinging around tree trunks, not swords.

 

I have no idea why they move so slowly. Then again, I wasn't paying attention to the speed of the sword swings, so I wasn't aware they moved too slowly.

[Slowtrain]

you must find most rpg VA crap

 

 

Yes. Which is why I said it is not unexpected. Doesn't really bother me either; I was just commenting because there was so much speaking in that clip, that it was pretty noticeable.

[Guest Slinky]

But why do they move so slowly? Your average bastard sword only weighs about 4 1/2, 5 lbs., and does not take anywhere near as long to swing as a DA longsword. These guys look like they're swinging around tree trunks, not swords.

My 50 cent:

 

All who have played NWN2 probably noticed how stupid it looked when low level characters fought. After they attacked, they just stood around for a while until they attacked again because they had so few attacks per round. If you slow down the attack animations, there will be less hands in pockets-fighting.

[Monte Carlo]

With regards to over-size weapons:

 

I was at a museum last year where there were lots of medieval-era weapons on display. They all look rather small... axes, warhammers, poleaxes (by the 1400s English ones were steel-hafted hammers with a long thin spike on the opposite side) and even broadswords.

 

Of course, in the realworld, common cannon-fodder grade medieval people were rather small because of poor nutrition and had a life-span of about forty-odd. Although thousands of Englishmen could still achieve the 120-odd lb pull of a longbow. Go figure.

 

Conversely, I once visited a German castle full of comedy-sized zweihanders and polearms that I am assured were genuine.

 

Cheers

MC

[Sammy Chung]

With regards to over-size weapons:

Of course, in the realworld, common cannon-fodder grade medieval people were rather small because of poor nutrition and had a life-span of about forty-odd. Although thousands of Englishmen could still achieve the 120-odd lb pull of a longbow. Go figure.

 

The life-span thing is not really true. The average life expectancy around the medieval age was heavily skewed by infant mortality. If you managed to survive to your 30s and 40s, you had a good chance of living to your 60s.

[RPGmasterBoo]

With regards to over-size weapons:

Of course, in the realworld, common cannon-fodder grade medieval people were rather small because of poor nutrition and had a life-span of about forty-odd. Although thousands of Englishmen could still achieve the 120-odd lb pull of a longbow. Go figure.

 

The life-span thing is not really true. The average life expectancy around the medieval age was heavily skewed by infant mortality. If you managed to survive to your 30s and 40s, you had a good chance of living to your 60s.

 

Yes. Its a wonder how often the life span thing is abused without clarification. In fact a medieval person was probably several times healthier than a modern age person given the natural selection at birth, healthier surroundings and diet. Still we got progress

[Purkake]

Yes. Its a wonder how often the life span thing is abused without clarification. In fact a medieval person was probably several times healthier than a modern age person given the natural selection at birth, healthier surroundings and diet.

 

You CAN'T be serious. The medieval people literally threw their crap out the windows onto the streets. They couldn't drink the water because it was full of that same crap so they had to drink very diluted wine. They believed that washing was bad(can't remember the reason). Not to mention the plague and other fun diseases.

 

Fast food and pollution might be bad, but they have nothing on the medieval times.

Edited August 26, 2009 by Purkake

[Monte Carlo]

^ Many medieval physicians maintained, well into the 15th Century, that washing weakened the skin and made a person more vulnerable to disease.

[RPGmasterBoo]

Yes. Its a wonder how often the life span thing is abused without clarification. In fact a medieval person was probably several times healthier than a modern age person given the natural selection at birth, healthier surroundings and diet.

 

You CAN'T be serious. The medieval people literally threw their crap out the windows onto the streets. They couldn't drink the water because it was full of that same crap so they had to drink very diluted wine. They believed that washing was bad(can't remember the reason). Not to mention the plague and other fun diseases.

 

Fast food and pollution might be bad, but they have nothing on the medieval times.

 

There was only one large city for hundreds of years and that was Constantinopole, (500000 people) all the rest were practically village size - hence pollution of the sort you describe is a small issue. Many civilizations had thought of solutions for these sort of things as well. Its the enlightenment age propaganda in their fight against theology that labeled the middle ages as "dark", contemporary scholars point out that this is bull.

 

Going even further back I had the genuine pleasure of meeting "modern" stone age people (Kalahari Bushmen) in Africa and can without a doubt say that they are healthier and livelier than anyone who comes to these forums, or any average modern person. They have a large number of old people in their communities, without modern medicine etc etc so all the age talk is nonsense.

[HoonDing]

You CAN'T be serious. The medieval people literally threw their crap out the windows onto the streets. They couldn't drink the water because it was full of that same crap so they had to drink very diluted wine. They believed that washing was bad(can't remember the reason). Not to mention the plague and other fun diseases.

 

Fast food and pollution might be bad, but they have nothing on the medieval times.

'Twas pretty healthy living in Sherwood Forest, though.

[Niten_Ryu]

Yes. Its a wonder how often the life span thing is abused without clarification. In fact a medieval person was probably several times healthier than a modern age person given the natural selection at birth, healthier surroundings and diet. Still we got progress

 

This is probably the most stupid thing I've read in this board... or any board.

[Purkake]

There was only one large city for hundreds of years and that was Constantinopole, (500000 people) all the rest were practically village size - hence pollution of the sort you describe is a small issue. Many civilizations had thought of solutions for these sort of things as well. Its the enlightenment age propaganda in their fight against theology that labeled the middle ages as "dark", contemporary scholars point out that this is bull.

 

Going even further back I had the genuine pleasure of meeting "modern" stone age people (Kalahari Bushmen) in Africa and can without a doubt say that they are healthier and livelier than anyone who comes to these forums, or any average modern person. They have a large number of old people in their communities, without modern medicine etc etc so all the age talk is nonsense.

 

They even did it here in Tallinn. Quite a few people lived in cities by that time and cities were pretty much super gross.

 

People in villages were probably somewhat healthier, but they still died because of diseases etc.

[RPGmasterBoo]

Yes. Its a wonder how often the life span thing is abused without clarification. In fact a medieval person was probably several times healthier than a modern age person given the natural selection at birth, healthier surroundings and diet. Still we got progress

 

This is probably the most stupid thing I've read in this board... or any board.

 

Which just shows that you don't know the first thing about history, anthropology, demographics, political history etc. In any statistics an abundance of zeroes will ruin the average, and the zeroes are infant deaths in average life span statistics. If 3 out of 6 children die at a young age that ruins the score significantly and the end result is that it seems everyone dies at 40-50 which is complete idiocy. Take out the infant deaths and you have the same statistic you have today.

[HoonDing]

I think the point is that IF people managed to live well into the 60s in a time where filth was thrown on the streets & diseases were mostly treated by tapping blood, the people must have had heartier constitutions than people nowadays...

[Tigranes]

I very much doubt 'healthier surroundings and diet' - you have a point about infant deaths, but I think you're overcompensating. It is true that the idea of medieval people dropping dead at 30 is bogus (you had a better chance of that in industrial London), but they certainly were smaller and less healthy than the modern man.

 

There was only one large city for hundreds of years and that was Constantinopole, (500000 people) all the rest were practically village size - hence pollution of the sort you describe is a small issue.

 

Not counting Islamic regions or anywhere else (how's that for implicit Eurocentrism ), the failure to construct proper urban infrastructure in terms of public health was a concern for 'smaller' cities such as London and Paris from at least the 15th-16th century. Look, I don't even know how you can make such a claim when at the very least, the Black Death is staring right in front of you and picking your nose. Now, about their immune system, you could possibly make a case.

 

I think the interesting thing is that most high fantasy settings don't consider the lifespan / health issue, and the demographic is pretty much what you'd expect from modern society. There're always decrepit old men thrown around, etc.