Dragon Age

[Musopticon?]

I think everyone understands Bioware's reasons for the decisions, but a nice alternative would have been the ability to e.g pay money to train the under-leveled whelps in an adventurer school(/whatever)

[Maria Caliban]

Characters that fall in battle get less XP than those that don't.

[alanschu]

You don't gain more XP for playing solo.

 

 

Can you explain this a bit? Lets say you have one party member and kill one darkspawn for 100xp. If you have two party members kill one darkspawn both get 100xp each? Not 50xp each?

 

That sounds likely, as other Bio games have done the same.

 

I think there is a mortal fear these days of having underlevel friendly NPCs, so the solution is to lock the entire party at the same level. Thus, if you could solo and gain loads of XP, the game would level up your NPCs to match and it would be 'cheap.' I don't agree with the sentiment, but I understand where they might be coming from.

 

 

I don't think it's necessarily a mortal fear. Just a realization that failure to play with all characters evenly would be a self-fulfilling prophecy that other characters would get played even less.

 

The problem is compounded if events occur in the game that would eliminate one of your frequently used characters.

 

 

EDIT: And I think that allowing more party members would not be a particularly advantageous system, nor would it make for more interesting combat. Ignoring the technical limitations of a 9 person party (and the combat to balance it), it gets to a point where it's just adding stuff for the sake of adding stuff.

Edited October 20, 2009 by alanschu

[Pidesco]

Does whipping out 3 lvl 5 chars against lvl 20 enemies count as varied and interesting combat? Or using the same 3 throughout the game because the others are under leveled?

Btw they did this so the player isn't stuck with a quote "dream team" and can change them when/if she wants to.

 

 

I'm not sure how you got that from what I wrote, but I was talking about having a party of *insert # of Dragon Age party NPCS here* guys and gals duking it out against whatever the game throws at you. Assuming all the party NPCs are different and unique, as far as gameplay is concerned, this could allow for varied, interesting and challenging tactical combat.

[Gfted1]

So I suppose this also means you can only choose the skills/spells of the protagonist? With everyone in camp leveling in lockstep, the game must chooses for those NPC's, right? Or if you choose one of those guys after several levels you have a pile of points to spend on them?

[Pidesco]

More than likely it's the second option.

[alanschu]

Yes, while you're in camp (or after you leave camp with a different party member), you can level them up the way you see fit.

 

It is pretty much exactly the same way they handled it with KOTOR and Mass Effect, if you're familiar with those games.

Edited October 20, 2009 by alanschu

[Cl_Flushentityhero]

Does whipping out 3 lvl 5 chars against lvl 20 enemies count as varied and interesting combat? Or using the same 3 throughout the game because the others are under leveled?

Btw they did this so the player isn't stuck with a quote "dream team" and can change them when/if she wants to.

 

IMO, you should be locked into neither a certain size nor composition.

[alanschu]

You aren't locked into a certain size or composition. (aside from the 4 person cap)

Edited October 20, 2009 by alanschu

[Tigranes]

As alanschu said, it happened in pretty much every Bio/Obsid RPG after KOTOR, and it makes a lot of sense. It's not the ost ideal in terms of gameworld making sense but the gameplay benefits are obvious.

[Raithe]

Heh, it could just represent that while you are off with your "team" killing things and looting the dead.. ahem. I mean.. adventuring... the party memberss who are back at base camp are also going off and doing stuff and thus earning xp equivalent... after all in times of war and near dark magic apocalypse I suppose it makes sense to kick back in a camp and eat and drink and do bugger all...

 

It might not be much.. but it could be the "kinda story idea" behind why those members will level up to the same level as those who have been off with you...

[Wrath of Dagon]

I think everyone understands Bioware's reasons for the decisions, but a nice alternative would have been the ability to e.g pay money to train the under-leveled whelps in an adventurer school(/whatever)

[Purkake]

Once again people are arguing about the most minute details. Seriously, people still getting XP while back at the base camp is enough to annoy you? I'm sure there will eventually be actual problems to complain about.

[Musopticon?]

I think everyone understands Bioware's reasons for the decisions, but a nice alternative would have been the ability to e.g pay money to train the under-leveled whelps in an adventurer school(/whatever)

[Cl_Flushentityhero]

You aren't locked into a certain size or composition. (aside from the 4 person cap)

 

You are if the combat is "challenging" and smaller parties cannot obtain the levels to succeed.

[alanschu]

So the game should be equivalently challenging no matter what?

 

The difficulty should scale if you take different builds, as some will undoubtedly be more effective than others?

 

 

Or is it a complaint because the game might be too difficult to solo?

Edited October 21, 2009 by alanschu

[Cl_Flushentityhero]

It is what it is. Suffice to say I will be personally annoyed if I can't survive the game with anything less than a full complement of Bio's typical run-of-the-mill NPCs, whatever the underlying mechanics that prevent it.

 

As mentioned repeatedly in previous incarnations of the thread, I'm stoked about the game in general. That's different from being excited about every feature or lack thereof.

[theslug]

Once again people are arguing about the most minute details. Seriously, people still getting XP while back at the base camp is enough to annoy you? I'm sure there will eventually be actual problems to complain about.

Yeah, I demand we change the title to Dragon [R]age. I don't even know why I read this thread anymore becuase 90% of this and last has been a constant source of complete irrelevant nothing-arguments.

Edited October 21, 2009 by theslug

[Volourn]

"Furthermore, it could turn the characters into something more than the typical spineless puppets, and it would allow for potentially awesome party banter. But, of course, Bioware aren't the self-proclaimed champions of storytelling in games or anything."

 

Define 'typical spineless puppets'? NPCS will argue with you, will leave you, and will even attack you if you do things they disagree with.

 

 

Also, people whining about their being no penalty to falling unconcious other than helaing poitions - it should be pointed out that there are penalties for doing just that. I'd personally pefer actualy death myself.

 

As for the xp argument, meh, useless argument over uselessness. It really doens't matter hwo the game handles experience as DnD tends to handle it ine very single way that one can think of as well. More importnatly, as long as the game is balanced for the xp you will potentially gain... *shrug*

[Nepenthe]

Once again people are arguing about the most minute details. Seriously, people still getting XP while back at the base camp is enough to annoy you? I'm sure there will eventually be actual problems to complain about.

Yeah, I demand we change the title to Dragon [R]age. I don't even know why I read this thread anymore becuase 90% of this and last has been a constant source of complete irrelevant nothing-arguments.

 

QFT.

[Cl_Flushentityhero]

You guys read the thread so that you too can complain, apparently.

[Bos_hybrid]

How boring would it be if everyone agreed on the same thing?

[Nepenthe]

You guys read the thread so that you too can complain, apparently.

 

At least we've read the thread. We'll wait for the game before we start to complain about it.

[213374U]

Does whipping out 3 lvl 5 chars against lvl 20 enemies count as varied and interesting combat? Or using the same 3 throughout the game because the others are under leveled?

Btw they did this so the player isn't stuck with a quote "dream team" and can change them when/if she wants to.

For a game that puts so much emphasis on story, this setup makes no sense at all, from a story perspective. What sense does it make dumping the faithful, battle-hardened companion Z, who has been with the player since day one, to take the green companion X that has spent the whole game sitting by the campfire, for the EPIC END FIGHT?

 

Imagine Frodo suddenly going, "sorry Sam old chum, you'd better go back to the Shire. I think I'd feel safer with, say, Elrond once I cross the Black Gate..."

 

Also, the alternative has worked fine in the past. I just don't see the need to constantly re-invent the wheel.

 

 

The problem is compounded if events occur in the game that would eliminate one of your frequently used characters.

Virmire revisited?

 

Ok, ok. I'm stopping now...

 

 

Once again people are arguing about the most minute details. Seriously, people still getting XP while back at the base camp is enough to annoy you? I'm sure there will eventually be actual problems to complain about.

We're discussing the gameplay. This is a game, last time I checked. Feel free to comment on other aspects... but since the game isn't out yet, we gotta work with what we're given.

 

People complain about this and that. You complain about people complaining about this and that. Where does that leave you? Is there a weekly quota of hours spent here you must fill or...?

[HoonDing]

Combat & story is all meaningless for me if the game setting isn't interesting.

 

Oblivion, generic as it is, at least takes place in a setting with unique & imaginative lore. There's tons of detailed lore-books dealing with geography, religion, racial phylogeny, history... pretty much everything. The same is true for the Dark Eye universe.

 

I don't doubt BioWare can craft interesting stories/characters & write witty Eddings-like banter, I just hope DA:O doesn't disappoint lore-wise. But from snippets I've read so far on the wiki it doesn't sound very earth-shattering.