Dragon Age 2

[HoonDing]

Yo Brent, I'm really happy for ya and I'ma let ya finish, but Dragon Age can only incline if it becomes more like Mass Effect.

 

If DA2 cuts back on the single-player MMO combat/sidequest design completely, it can only improve.

 

Also, it should be 'Dragon Fantasy' or 'Dragon Warriors', rather than 'Dragon Effect'. I don't think Hawke will hide behind bricks shooting mooks with a crossbow.

Edited October 8, 2010 by virumor

[Humanoid]

I'd love it if party automation was good enough by default to completely ignore party management though. My concept of party management was back in Ultima 7 on my massively overpowered DX4/100 (upgraded straight from a 12MHz 286!) before the days of MoSlo - I'd hit C and my party would happily run off at the speed of light and smite any nearby hostiles with no intervention. One-key combat, the closest I've gotten in my combatless RPG crusader of the following decade.

 

 

 

I pretty much play all my RPGs on the easiest selectable difficulty setting so I can at least sleepwalk through the tedium.

[HoonDing]

In Mass Effect one can at least insta-kill most enemies with the right combination of powers. In Dragon Age, this is impossible without a mage spamming Cone of cold or Cloudkill Storm of the century.

 

Level-scaling & painfully slow animations make non-mage combat as exciting as watching the traffic lights change. Fighting even the lowliest Genlock grunt as a warrior feels like chopping down a tree. A very big tree, like a baobab.

 

At least BioWare got the right idea with speeding things up (although, it seems fanboi butthurt might make them slow it down again).

Edited October 8, 2010 by virumor

[Nepenthe]

A former Bio Dev Brent Knowles blog, on why he left.

So basically BW sold their souls and he refused to.

 

A bit stretching it, aren't we?

 

I was checking out the bio forums yesterday, and now understand what D. Gaider was replying to. I think the gist was that the original plan for DA2 was indeed to make it fantasy mass effect, but they've scaled back (squad control is still/again in)... I wish I had the time to find that specific thread, but am late from work as is.

 

I'm actually looking quite a lot forward into seeing the demo in a couple of weeks, because I want to see what the new combat system is like (and I can compare it to both DAO ps3 and pc)...

 

And, verily, the fanbois squealed and poureth forth their accusations of 'hater' when the unfaithful pointed out that the intention was 'Dragon Effect' all along.

 

LOL.

 

Wot?

 

Is your need to personally attack me so great that can't be bothered to read what I'm saying? That they were originally going to totally bone the series over by creating a dragon effect, down to the control one character and swing sword with right trigger mechanic, but now SEEM to have slightly come to their senses and are enabling something close to what it should be?

 

The reason 'I'm looking forward to seeing the demo' is not because I want to have a circle jerk with the 'fanboys' or 'haters', but because I, unlike a lot of people, actually personally decide what I like and don't.

 

Now, I'm sure that I could write a long essay that would explain all my viewpoints in a way that everybody would understand, but since I already have to write for a living, I save the extra clarification for the part that gets me paid.

[Monte Carlo]

Calm down love, it wasn't aimed at you.

[Nepenthe]

Generally you are commenting on the post you're quoting, darling.

[RPGmasterBoo]

In Mass Effect one can at least insta-kill most enemies with the right combination of powers. In Dragon Age, this is impossible without a mage spamming Cone of cold or Cloudkill Storm of the century.

 

Level-scaling & painfully slow animations make non-mage combat as exciting as watching the traffic lights change. Fighting even the lowliest Genlock grunt as a warrior feels like chopping down a tree. A very big tree, like a baobab.

 

At least BioWare got the right idea with speeding things up (although, it seems fanboi butthurt might make them slow it down again).

 

Why should they ditch a good concept - just because it was badly implemented?

 

Remove level scaling and speed up the action and it would be fine. Of course they would have to expand the besitary and cut down on the combat...

[sorophx]

Remove level scaling and speed up the action and it would be fine. Of course they would have to expand the besitary and cut down on the combat...

 

makes you wonder, where is all the money going? Origins cost how much? I refuse to believe it all went in voiceovers and marketing.

[Rosbjerg]

Remove level scaling and speed up the action and it would be fine. Of course they would have to expand the besitary and cut down on the combat...

 

makes you wonder, where is all the money going? Origins cost how much? I refuse to believe it all went in voiceovers and marketing.

 

Obviously it's just a front for the Illuminati But my guess would be that the vast hordes of programmers, artists, Q&A testers, marketing and senior staffs all need paychecks.. and that the company uses the excess to further develop their other titles (and keep their shareholders happy).

[sorophx]

so the lazy programmers, artists and seniors are to blame then. they get payed but can't be bothered to put a little extra effort

[Volourn]

"So basically BW sold their souls and he refused to."

 

No, no they didn't. You seem to have this cocnept that BIO should only make games the way cetrain people want. On top of that BIO's first game wasn't even a RPG. So.. when they made BG, that's when they sold their souls. L0L

 

Knowles can do what he wants but no one eprson who is not the boss should determine what a company does. I'd be surprised if he can find a job in the game industry as solid and stable as the one he had with BIO. Perhaps, he should go work for Troika. LMAO

 

(not that I like everything I heard about DA2 but the arrogance and selfishness of some people is hilarious).

[Morgoth]

I concur with Volo. Giving up a safe place like Bioware just because you didn't like some design decisions is silly.

 

But hey.

[sorophx]

call it anyway you like, but it's certainly not silly. I call it 'character'

[Thorton_AP]

In Mass Effect one can at least insta-kill most enemies with the right combination of powers. In Dragon Age, this is impossible without a mage spamming Cone of cold or Cloudkill Storm of the century.

 

Level-scaling & painfully slow animations make non-mage combat as exciting as watching the traffic lights change. Fighting even the lowliest Genlock grunt as a warrior feels like chopping down a tree. A very big tree, like a baobab.

 

At least BioWare got the right idea with speeding things up (although, it seems fanboi butthurt might make them slow it down again).

 

 

Well, DAO was decidedly not like Mass Effect. Hard to say what DA2 is like at this point.

[RPGmasterBoo]

Remove level scaling and speed up the action and it would be fine. Of course they would have to expand the besitary and cut down on the combat...

 

makes you wonder, where is all the money going? Origins cost how much? I refuse to believe it all went in voiceovers and marketing.

 

As far as DA is concerned I have no idea. It was too long in the making and the technology was too outdated upon release for me to believe they worked on it in a dedicated fashion. I think a lot of cash went down the drain with the protracted development period.

 

But frankly it all pales in comparison to the laziness of the writing team who took 5 years to create DnD without the license. I've seen a single person cook up a better setting (eg Talislanta) in a lot less time. And don't get me started on the storyline.

 

They must have paid them in peanuts.

[Orogun01]

"So basically BW sold their souls and he refused to."

 

No, no they didn't. You seem to have this cocnept that BIO should only make games the way cetrain people want. On top of that BIO's first game wasn't even a RPG. So.. when they made BG, that's when they sold their souls. L0L

 

Knowles can do what he wants but no one eprson who is not the boss should determine what a company does. I'd be surprised if he can find a job in the game industry as solid and stable as the one he had with BIO. Perhaps, he should go work for Troika. LMAO

 

(not that I like everything I heard about DA2 but the arrogance and selfishness of some people is hilarious).

They are free to make whatever games they want but I was promised a sequel to BG on DA. But know BW is RPGs for hipsters.

[Hurlshort]

I like Bioware games, I must be a hipster

[Volourn]

"call it anyway you like, but it's certainly not silly. I call it 'character'"

 

It's not character. Changing jobs has nothing to do with character. Nothing wrong with him moving on but it was nothing but a personal aka selfish decision. Nothing wrong with that as I've made the selfish decision to leave job before. 8shrug* But, don't try to hold up as some sort of moral saint because he quit a job. L0L

 

 

"They are free to make whatever games they want but I was promised a sequel to BG on DA."

 

Bull. DA was pushed as a 'spirirtual succesorr' (lol lame) of BG, NWN, KOTOR, and every other BIO game but the patheticly drunk BG fanboys (who make me hate that series more every day), and it was exactly that. DA has lots in common with the Bg series. You were definitely not promised an actual sequel so why.

 

Also, DA2 was never promised to be a sequel to BG. LMAO

[sorophx]

Nothing wrong with him moving on but it was nothing but a personal aka selfish decision.

ahaha, you sound as if he was indebted to you and to every other gamer in the world, to work for Bio forever and ever what do you mean "selfish"? I don't see how this word applies when a person's job choice is concerned. it's not like he's a savant, trying to make the world a better place. and by quitting his job because it doesn't pay, he lets the humanity down.

 

on the contrary, he doesn't want to make Bio games so instead of tagging along and subduing his creativity urge he decides to look for a place where he can satisfy it. even if it means a smaller paycheck.

[Tale]

I concur with Volo. Giving up a safe place like Bioware just because you didn't like some design decisions is silly.

 

But hey.

Yeah, people should never work on things they enjoy and can be proud of.

[Hurlshort]

I'm not really the type to care about the combat all that much, but I was under the impression that the party based combat of DA was fairly challenging and did share some strategic elements with BG.

[RPGmasterBoo]

I'm not really the type to care about the combat all that much, but I was under the impression that the party based combat of DA was fairly challenging and did share some strategic elements with BG.

 

That was never disputed. We were just discussing some of its faults

[ShadySands]

I concur with Volo. Giving up a safe place like Bioware just because you didn't like some design decisions is silly.

 

But hey.

Yeah, people should never work on things they enjoy and can be proud of.

 

If he can afford to be so selective then good on him. Honestly, I don't see what the big deal is.

[Thorton_AP]

Nothing wrong with him moving on but it was nothing but a personal aka selfish decision.

ahaha, you sound as if he was indebted to you and to every other gamer in the world, to work for Bio forever and ever what do you mean "selfish"? I don't see how this word applies when a person's job choice is concerned. it's not like he's a savant, trying to make the world a better place. and by quitting his job because it doesn't pay, he lets the humanity down.

 

on the contrary, he doesn't want to make Bio games so instead of tagging along and subduing his creativity urge he decides to look for a place where he can satisfy it. even if it means a smaller paycheck.

 

 

Volo is quite outspoken that game developers are NOT indebted to the fans.

 

It's a selfish decision because it is. It's not a derogatory statement, but rather that Ben did what was best for himself.

 

 

Volourn thinks most fans are stupid for indicating that any dev "owes" the fans anything.

[sorophx]

and staying with Bio with that kind of attitude towards DA2 and the company's policy would be best for Bio and it's fans? it's not selfish, it's the only decision that makes sense