Anti-Dragon Age 2?

[alanschu]

We are calling it Inquisition. (I would have preferred if we stayed with Exodus for the second one too).

 

I'm sure some people will have no shortage of jokes, but not much we can do about that.

[Nonek]

So you're expecting them? Nobody expects jokes about Dragon Age: Inquisition, hahahahaha...sorry.

[NOK222]

So you're expecting them? Nobody expects jokes about Dragon Age: Inquisition, hahahahaha...sorry.

 

This joke can be done right in the game if placed carefully.

[Malcador]

So you're expecting them? Nobody expects jokes about Dragon Age: Inquisition, hahahahaha...sorry.

 

Report to Incineration Hall #2, immediately.

 

Not that bad for a title, could have been Requiem or something

[Tale]

This joke can be done right in the game if placed carefully.

The only right way to do Monty Python is to leave it to Monty Python.

 

There's something almost criminal about taking humor that was known for being unexpected and and making it commonplace.

[alanschu]

I hope that we don't use that joke in game personally.

[GhostofAnakin]

they announced DA3 would be an open world game

 

We did no such thing.

 

Yes you did, right around the time that portly fellow from a couple of pages back was confirmed as a party companion.

[alanschu]

Touche!

 

Open world game with Favourites. I forgot!

[Bos_hybrid]

23 pages on this........

 

I fail to see what is wrong with bio doing an open world game?(even though they aren't) Might lead to less railroading of the plot and PC. And drop the 'cinematic experience' hard on bioware has at the moment.

 

Instead of trying to get COD fans, get TES fans. Surely that is an improvement, no?

Edited January 9, 2013 by Bos_hybrid

[Cultist]

The only right way to do Monty Python is to leave it to Monty Python.

There's something almost criminal about taking humor that was known for being unexpected and and making it commonplace.

Noone complained about Bridge of Death and Arthur's power armored Knights fighting Killer Rabbit encounters from Fallout 2.

I'm sure some people will have no shortage of jokes, but not much we can do about that.

Every game earn its own share of jokes. The difference is whether the game itself is the target of the game concepts. DeusEx:HR spawned "I didn't asked for it", Team Fortress2 - got entire joke culture, and joked on itself with Hat theme. DA2 and ME3 "enjoyed" mean and mocking jokes mostly.

[alanschu]

Noone complained about Bridge of Death and Arthur's power armored Knights fighting Killer Rabbit encounters from Fallout 2.

 

This isn't actually true. Unfortunately he has since passed on, but there was someone on this forum that absolutely loathed the references (Judge Hades, otherwise known as Visceris from Black Isle days).

[WorstUsernameEver]

I fail to see what is wrong with bio doing an open world game?

 

Nothing per se, but of a series that wasn't open world moves to that kind of design simply because it's perceived to be more popular (which Alan has confirmed not to be the case for DAIII) there is plenty of wrong. Is that a trend? Mmh, I'd have to think about it, but it seems to me that it is, given the recent popularity of open-world titles, and we've already seen some developers shifting to open-world or marketing titles as open-world/sandboxy.

[Nepenthe]

I fail to see what is wrong with bio doing an open world game?

 

Nothing per se, but of a series that wasn't open world moves to that kind of design simply because it's perceived to be more popular (which Alan has confirmed not to be the case for DAIII) there is plenty of wrong. Is that a trend? Mmh, I'd have to think about it, but it seems to me that it is, given the recent popularity of open-world titles, and we've already seen some developers shifting to open-world or marketing titles as open-world/sandboxy.

I think you're channeling some gaming hipster here. I wouldn't say that the reason for adopting some type of approach to gaming means anything compared to how it is executed.

 

Besides, Open World is a vague enough term. BG1 could easily be labeled open world, while BG2 less so. Having BG1 type open-worldness... might be pretty cool.

[WorstUsernameEver]

I think you're channeling some gaming hipster here. I wouldn't say that the reason for adopting some type of approach to gaming means anything compared to how it is executed.

 

Of course it does, because it means losing variety in design, and personally I don't think that's worth it, even if we potentially got dozens of worthy open-world games. If "open world" is the problem, then I present you another example: the abundance of third-person shooter mechanics that became common in all kinds of genre. Sure, plenty of those games *were* worth it and fun, but is it really a good thing that now even Tomb Raider is essentially an Uncharted clone?

[Azure79]

Alan, can you give us any hints to how combat will be, big picture wise?

 

Wave based combat? I'm guessing no on this since it was a major complaint.

 

Better tactical cam? I don't know why Bioware felt they needed to change DAO's camera. It was perfect IMHO. DA2's felt restrictive and I could never get it to position just the way I wanted.

 

Friendly Fire?

 

Will skill trees still be restricted to certain classes? Why can't I make a dual wield, heavily armored warrior?

 

Enemy and player party skill parity?

 

Probably too early to get answers, but these are the things I'm curious about

[Hurlshort]

I'd imagine Alan probably shouldn't give too much in the way of an official interview here on the Obsidian forums. It might be frowned upon to do so by his management.

[Tale]

I just hope it has a dance battle minigame.

[anubite]

Every game earn its own share of jokes. The difference is whether the game itself is the target of the game concepts. DeusEx:HR spawned "I didn't asked for it", Team Fortress2 - got entire joke culture, and joked on itself with Hat theme. DA2 and ME3 "enjoyed" mean and mocking jokes mostly.

 

You can have a comedic game. There aren't enough funny games really. Portal and others demonstrate this can work.

 

But what's important is setting up the narrative correctly. DA2's dialogue seems like a parody of itself at times, if DA3 can't take itself seriously in the context of the story, then it's doomed. If I'm laughing at the story, instead of with it, I'm not immersed. And if I'm not immersed, I'm not roleplaying. And if I'm not roleplaying, then the gameplay better be amazing. BioWare hasn't even had "passable" gameplay since BG. Jade Empire, Mass Effect, DA:O and others were all deeply flawed and I doubt they have the time or the energy or even the care at this point, to reinvent the wheel they've been using for a while.

 

The mood and atmosphere of an RPG is paramount. VTMB is such a successful RPG not because its combat is very good, or because its level design is even that amazing (only maybe at most 50% of the game really lets you solve each issue without violence), but because it has a consistent mood and theme and it executes it perfectly until the very end. The details are all there. And there are moments where VTMB goes off the rails and even makes 4th wall jokes (one major one is when Nines saves you for the first time, and those vampires look at the screen and address you the audience), so it's not like having Inquisition around a monty python parody theme would be a bad idea for an RPG, the issue though, is setting that mood and setting that tone.

 

If you have the energy to watch my ridiculously long video, I cover this. DA2 has barren soundscapes. VTMB's soundscapes are rich and lively. DA2 has soulless visuals. VTMB borrows its soul from gothic, grotesque and modern imagery. There's a reason why DA2 feels like you're playing a game in a dead void. It's because it completely lacks and sense of tone and whatever serious tone it does establish is killed by melodrama, inconsistent human behavior, hypersexuality, and quirky, awkward dialogue.

 

There's nothing wrong with BioWare making a sandbox game, it's just, they have no experience with it. I mean I guess SWTOR is "sandboxy" but most of the areas after level 20 are barren wastelands and a lot of the design in that game, for as far as I got in it, was haphazard. I can't recall a single quest I did in SWTOR, but I imagine most people who've played WOW recall parts of Darrowshire, or other towns. Clearly, they didn't study WOW hard enough. EA is known for playing "follow the leader" - they aren't innovative (sans the Sims I guess), they follow "big safe things" and basically try to find "the formula" for success. Hint hint: There isn't one. This is why most people are adverse to BioWare copying CoD when making Mass Effect, and maybe Skyrim with Dragon Age. There's no harm in studying other games to learn how they work, but copying a game out-right so far, has shown little success.

 

And seriously, even Skryim had multiple races. Even cat-people. Isn't that a sign BioWare, if a game like Skyrim is willing to have multiple races and a silent protagonist, that maybe, maybe you guys should re-evaluate your choices? Skyrim was so streamlined it was disgusting but they didn't streamline those features - do you understand why???

Edited January 9, 2013 by anubite

[Volourn]

That didn't take long.

[Zoraptor]

6 days 17 hours and 4 minutes, actually. Better than some I've seen.

[Hurlshort]

 

And seriously, even Skryim had multiple races. Even cat-people. Isn't that a sign BioWare, if a game like Skyrim is willing to have multiple races and a silent protagonist, that maybe, maybe you guys should re-evaluate your choices? Skyrim was so streamlined it was disgusting but they didn't streamline those features - do you understand why???

 

I don't understand, can you explain it?

[Tel Aviv]

I hope to see more streamlining in games just to miff you guys off!

[melkathi]

 

 

There's nothing wrong with BioWare making a sandbox game, it's just, they have no experience with it. I mean I guess SWTOR is "sandboxy" but most of the areas after level 20 are barren wastelands and a lot of the design in that game, for as far as I got in it, was haphazard. I can't recall a single quest I did in SWTOR, but I imagine most people who've played WOW recall parts of Darrowshire, or other towns. Clearly, they didn't study WOW hard enough.

 

 

I remember quite a few parts of SWTOR. Some because they were great experiences, others because of sillyness (especially the way dark and light side points are awarded).

Cademimu is a great experience for example. The first rakghoul flashpoint was very well made.

Hoth and Tattooine are fairly well made planets, even though my experience with Hoth was rather lonely as we would be only a handful republic players at peak time. There are quests I remember on Nar Shadaa, Hoth, Coruscant, Dromund Kaas, Taris. I remember doing quests on other planets, but other than bits of the class story, memory is fleeting.

I remember playing WoW. I don't remember Darrowshire.

I remember some troll pyramid near a goblin race track. I remember the Deadmines. I remember Gnomeragan. I remember a lot of terrible pop culture references being quests that I would prefer I didn't remember. I don't really remember why we did any of them other than XP and Loot. I do remember that tauren druids fight to have the Ashenvale forest cut down...

I do remember pretty much every mission I did in City of Heroes and City of Villains. I remeber people being robbed, abducted and murdered on the streets if I didn't intervene.

I remember missions from Auto Assault (If it is clean air, it is HestiAir! 99% contamination free).

I remember some missions from Warhammer Online.... barely. I do remember both sides fighting each other though and not simply shooting blindly even if no opponent was around...

I remember most missions from Champions Online, especially the Crisis Zones, the Nemesis arcs, the Adventure Packs and Comic Issues.

I remember many missions from DC Universe.

I even remember missions from Free Realms.

I remember drop ships flying in in Tabula Rasa and enemy troops ambushing me.

 

Sorry, while I'll happily critisize SWTOR for a number of things, and a barren empty world is part of that, WoW is not the game I'd put up as the example of how thigns are done right. Perhaps with later expansions they did things better - after all, Blizzard is very good at seeing what others did right and integrating it (and yes I see that as a positive thing). The huge demon every now and then attacking the entry gate in TBC certainly was a move in the right direction. But living worlds and immersive quests were done far better by other MMOs, that did not think that clever quest design means escorting a robot chicken or Chasing Amy (seems I remember two quests after all).

[alanschu]

I remember quite a few parts of SWTOR. Some because they were great experiences, others because of sillyness (especially the way dark and light side points are awarded).

 

One of my favourites was male Jedi Knight responding to a pleading pirate (that stole a rakghoul serum) with "Less talk, more serum" hahaha. It actually has become a meme "Less talk, more <subject>" between the friend that was a part of my group and I. We're on the same volleyball team, and I'll be like "Less talk, more blocking!" and stuff like that.

 

 

TOR's biggest draw for me was that it allowed myself and friends to share in entertaining stories. Tons of memories from the game from various things we did, to how we responded to particular points (especially if it was unexpected). Some of the schizophrenic decisions would leave me in stitches. I remember the first Flashpoint, with my Jedi being all heroic "I am here to help" and the moment the ship started getting attacked, it was "Out of my way I need to find an escape pod!"

 

And I don't even consider the Jedi Knight to be nearly as well done as the agent. Having the voice actor actually change his accent based on his cover was an awesome attention to detail.

 

 

Though since you mentioned it, melkathi, I actually needed to google Darrowshire.... Hahaha.

[Volourn]

"There's nothing wrong with BioWare making a sandbox game, it's just, they have no experience with it. I mean I guess SWTOR is "sandboxy" but most of the areas after level 20 are barren wastelands and a lot of the design in that game, for as far as I got in it, was haphazard. I can't recall a single quest I did in SWTOR, but I imagine most people who've played WOW recall parts of Darrowshire, or other towns. Clearly, they didn't study WOW hard enough."

 

KOTOR MMO PLAYER ALERT! KOTOR MMO PLAYER ALERT! KOTOR MMO PLAYER ALERT!

 

For a guy who hates the 'new' BIO you sure love playing their games, tlaking about their games, and REPLAYING them JUST to prove you hate them. L0LZ