Volournian Ideal DA2 Vaguely (minor DA1 soilers)

[Monte Carlo]

I totally agree with developers on the point about horses - the benefit versus effort dividend in terms of gameplay is so negligible that it's not worth it.

 

Horses? Are you gonna make a jousting minigame? A horse archery minigame? Honestly, will you spend mage skill points on Equestriasm so they can cast 'sleep' from horseback?

 

If the RPG was 'Knights on horseback' I could dig it. Or an open-ended world where horses allowed you to move faster (and let's face it, most of those are twitchy Diablo type games that I love but many here don't).

 

Horses = red herring. Equine / piscene comparison done.

[HoonDing]

Horses: no.

 

Griffons: yes.

[jaguars4ever]

Horses: no.

 

Griffons: yes.

[Maria Caliban]

The barbarians origin was going to be Avvar. So no eating your dead.

 

Exploration of teh Maker myth/Black City would make for an epic finish for DA3. And thanks to not being pigeon holed into kowtowing to the needs of an external license (i.e. D&D), we'd be able to actually have an opportunity to usurp godhood rather than merely being teased with the idea (ala Mask of the Betrayer).

 

Please, no. There is no proof of the divine in Thedas. It's one of the strengths of the setting.

 

anyone else think the real DA2 will feature the pc as the bloodritualbaby?

 

No.

 

Been there, done that.

 

I don't believe Morrigan when she says that the child will have the spirit of an Old God.

1) Why would I believe Morrigan?

2) Why would Morrigan - who says that gods don't exist - believe the archdemon is an Old God?

Edited December 14, 2009 by Maria Caliban

[Volourn]

Could be many reasons.

 

1. She doesn't believe in the Chantry's god.

 

2. Just because the 'old gods' are called that doesn't mean theya re actually old gods but something else - ie. powerful mortals who became immortal.

 

3. There's no reason not to believe Morrigan outside of personally hating her. *shrug*

 

 

"Please, no. There is no proof of the divine in Thedas. It's one of the strengths of the setting."

 

Should point out that just because there is no 'proof' doesn't mean the divine don't exist.

 

Just because the maker/black city exists doesn't mean the maker (or the old gods) are actually gods. Maker could just be an extremely powerful wizard.

 

I don't think there being no 'proof' that the divine doesn't exist doesn't mean it actually doesn't. Nor is it a strength. It's totally irrlevant and meaningless, actually. i feel thedas would be better off with the divine existing. I'd rather BIo stop the fakeness and stop trying to make it like our Earth. So so so boring.

 

 

"No."

 

Agree with you. PC should not under any circumstances be the bloodritualbaby. I'd rather the PC potentially have a hevay influence on the baby. And, my main hope is that the baby isn't pegionholded into either good or evil based on some story but based on player choice/action.

[Maria Caliban]

1. She doesn't believe in the Chantry's god.

 

She doesn't believe in any god. You have to have her and Leliana together to hear this conversation.

 

2. Just because the 'old gods' are called that doesn't mean theya re actually old gods but something else - ie. powerful mortals who became immortal.

 

I agree.

 

3. There's no reason not to believe Morrigan outside of personally hating her. *shrug*

 

Strange, I thought I liked Morrigan.

Edited December 14, 2009 by Maria Caliban

[Volourn]

"She doesn't believe in any god. You have to have her and Leliana together to hear this conversation. "

 

I got the dialogue, but again, this doesn't exclude her from believing that the old gods exist. Obviously, she believes in whatever they actually are. Afterall, the archdemon is created in the same way other darkspawn - other living creatures. Obviously, the 'old gods' were living creatures - of what nature who knows, but nothing in game suggests that morrigan doesn't believe in the 'old gods'.

[Maria Caliban]

"She doesn't believe in any god. You have to have her and Leliana together to hear this conversation. "

 

I got the dialogue, but again, this doesn't exclude her from believing that the old gods exist. Obviously, she believes in whatever they actually are. Afterall, the archdemon is created in the same way other darkspawn - other living creatures. Obviously, the 'old gods' were living creatures - of what nature who knows, but nothing in game suggests that morrigan doesn't believe in the 'old gods'.

 

If you're saying that Morrigan believes in 'the old gods' but doesn't believe they were gods, then I agree.

[Nightshape]

I'm so glad Volo isn't a real world game designer. He'd be hell to work with, illogical, annoying... And probably ****.

[Monte Carlo]

^ Many many moons ago Volo sent me a beta of his NWN1 mod to take a look at (remember, Vol?). I call it as I see it - it was pretty good fun.

 

Cheers

MC

[Nightshape]

^ Many many moons ago Volo sent me a beta of his NWN1 mod to take a look at (remember, Vol?). I call it as I see it - it was pretty good fun.

 

Cheers

MC

 

Pictures else it didn't happen.

[Volourn]

"If you're saying that Morrigan believes in 'the old gods' but doesn't believe they were gods, then I agree."

 

I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Morrigan is connected to them somehow. Flemeth, too.

 

Otherwise, like you said, it seems odd that someone who doens't believe in gods wnats to bring them back. Does not compute. That said, Morrigan not telling the player EVERYTHING (or lying if you prefer), isn't beyond the realm of possibility either, of course.

 

 

*ignores the troll*

 

 

MC: I wish I finished it. My major problem is I kept adding things, and my scripts got into huge messes since I kept adding stuff. I mean even the convo with the first character you met had 1000s of words in his dialogue. L0L

 

 

Mods itself had 10s of thousands of words yet was maybe 10 areas long. I even added a few new areas after the copy I sent you. Heh. Silly me. I appreciate the kind words. In fact, pretty much anyone who tried it liked its potential (not that it was perfect or anything). Too bad I failed... like BIS and Troika.

 

But, hey, at least i didn't lose publishers.

[Nightshape]

MC: I wish I finished it. My major problem is I kept adding things, and my scripts got into huge messes since I kept adding stuff. I mean even the convo with the first character you met had 1000s of words in his dialogue. L0L

 

 

Mods itself had 10s of thousands of words yet was maybe 10 areas long. I even added a few new areas after the copy I sent you. Heh. Silly me. I appreciate the kind words. In fact, pretty much anyone who tried it liked its potential (not that it was perfect or anything). Too bad I failed... like BIS and Troika.

 

But, hey, at least i didn't lose publishers.

 

Damnit, foiled again... I admit it, I was just being a general idiot troll.

 

On a more serious note. I wish you'd finished your mod too, if only because I genuinely wanted to see the result, and it could have been fun. Looks to me like you fell into the horrible pit called "feature creep", though I'm not sure a decently write, well plotted mod is truly game design, surely its more story telling, which some may percieve to be a design dicipline considering the complex web of some interactive story's.

 

Perhaps you should finish it Volo, or use a different engine to finish it... It would be interesting to see. Did you think of doing it in small episodic chunks?

 

That said, the very reason I said you'd be hell to work with has more to do with, feature creep, changing one's mind etc... Get's very expensive, to add a new feature can cause terrible things to happen, so alot of designers are actually doing some of their job absolutely blind. Good guess work based on experience, though with a mature set of tools it's far easier to achieve some results quicker.

 

Someone like Peter Molyneux, for example, really did occasionally make design decisions to the media opposed to his design team, and then turn round and expect it to happen, no worries... Ya know?

[Volourn]

Well, I'm sure it be different if I wa sprofessional. Obviously, there'd be deadlines, and the like, and the game would eventually have to be released since people are getting paid and those salaries need to be covered.

 

 

"Perhaps you should finish it Volo, or use a different engine to finish it... It would be interesting to see. Did you think of doing it in small episodic chunks?"

 

Heh. It was a small episodic chunk. First mod was to be 2-4 hours, and was first of series. Oh gah, this is getting me nostalgic for it. I'm now currently reading the old thread for it, and if I was a crybaby I'd have a single tear rolling down my cheek now. Thanks a lot for bring back memoriez...

[Monte Carlo]

^ It would've been when we were on the old BIS boards I suppose.

 

I am currently doing the writing (only) for a DA mod. Compartmentalising the work seems to me, as an amateur, to be a good thing. I mean, all I do is write and let the technical guys make it happen. As long as you take their criticism and advice on the chin (I can't code that... that idea would work better with this feature... let me worry about the character scripting, you just write dialogue) then it's a pretty enjoyable process. My complete lack of technical knowledge is a bonus - I don't have any strong views on the programming because I wouldn't be able to do it myself anyhow.

 

What Volo did, like lots of modders, is do it all yourself - you lose perspective I guess.

 

Anyhow, back to the topic and sorry for the temporary derailment down Ye Olde Time Tunnel

[Azure79]

I was thinking of how choices made in the first game would lead into the new origins in the sequel.

 

I think it would interesting if one of the origins leads from your PC's sacrifice at the end of the first game. You wake up in the royal crypts somewhere, with your life somehow restored, which is part of the mystery you have to unravel as you play through the game.

 

Your origin could be something like, "Living Dead" and most people that run into you will fear you as some kind of abomination. I'm sure the PCs face is well known as a hero throughout Ferelden. You could have Chantry undead assassins come after the PC, since they think your corpse has been possessed by a demon.

[Tigranes]

You're a liar, Monty. You can't have that much writing in a fighting-in-tunnels mod.

[Monte Carlo]

NPC Dwarf to <CHARNAME> "Welcome to the tunnels adventurer"

 

<CHARNAME> "Why am I here?"

 

NPC Dwarf "To fight. Lots."

 

---

 

:: Wipes sweat from brow, puts down quill ::

 

My work here is done.

[HoonDing]

NPC Dwarf to <CHARNAME> "Welcome to the tunnels adventurer"

 

<CHARNAME> "Why am I here?"

 

NPC Dwarf "To fight. Lots."

Keep it up, and you might get a job with Bethesda.

[Tigranes]

[intelligence] So there will be a lot of fighting?

[Monte Carlo]

^ Yes. In tunnels.