Dragon Age: Inquisition

[Monte Carlo]

 

Yes, I am Dave's sock-puppet masochist account where I bash myself up.... for pleasure.

When you finish a round of bashing, do you "romance" the sock puppet?

 

 

Oh yes. Yesssssss.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

 

 

Yes, I am Dave's sock-puppet masochist account where I bash myself up.... for pleasure.

 

When you finish a round of bashing, do you "romance" the sock puppet?

 

Oh yes. Yesssssss.

Well then, carpet burn must be a real bitch.

[Malcador]

Well, always suspected Monte Carlo was a deviant.

[Orogun01]

I have a secret man-crush on Dave Gaider. Srsly.

You have seriously bad taste for picking Gaider over the obviously superior Avellone.

[Meshugger]

My psychoanalysis of the pictures of the three devs.

 

- David: Looks like a teacher in grade school. Favourite past time: reading stories from the books by the Grimm brothers, aloud.

- Chris: Looks like celebrity Personal instructor. Faviourite past time: talking to himself in the mirror like Travis Bickle.

- Ken: Looks like ultra right-wing nationalist that has just noticed that the photographer is a jew. Favourite past time: Writing blogs about the decline and endlessly quoting Nietzsche.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

My psychoanalysis of the pictures of the three devs.

 

- David: Looks like a teacher in grade school. Favourite past time: reading stories from the books by the Grimm brothers, aloud.

- Chris: Looks like celebrity Personal instructor. Faviourite past time: talking to himself in the mirror like Travis Bickle.

- Ken: Looks like ultra right-wing nationalist that has just noticed that the photographer is a jew. Favourite past time: Writing blogs about the decline and endlessly quoting Nietzsche.

That is actually uncannily accurate.

[NOK222]

The good folk at /v/ have noticed that Morrigan's dress is exactly what Leliana described in Origins she should be wearing. Something about a low neckline, with purple colors. 

 

Also, is that just a High Dragon, or something more sinister?

[Serrano]

I thought it was Flemeth but having taken my own advice and compared it with Flemeth in DA2 I'm not so sure anymore

Edited June 26, 2013 by Serrano

[LadyCrimson]

*reads through thread*

 

I know it's all in good fun, but could we at least try to stay a teensy weensy bit on-topic of Maria's original intent for a thread about links and info re: the upcoming game itself?

[NOK222]

I thought it was Flemeth but having taken my own advice and compared it with Flemeth in DA2 I'm not so sure anymore

Nah, there's some differences with the horns. 

[Serrano]

http://youtu.be/sjexkoGVKlY?t=2m55s

[NOK222]

I was replaying DA2 recently, now I remember why I got the DmC vibe. I hope they do indeed go back to a more DAO style.

 

That being said, I liked how in DA2 mages and archers have melee attacks and how mages overall looked cooler. 

[Zoraptor]

 

I predict a lot of lulz from this thread.

Is that really Ken Levine? He looks suspiciously like Homo Erectus.

 

He's remarkably well preserved since his SS2 days, barely changed in appearance at all.

 

Funny thing is, if you blocked out the pictures I would almost certainly have picked the other two (might have gone Spector for Levine) but I would have picked Todd Howard for Avellone's quote, since it's almost exactly the excuse used by Beth for their lack of coherent story- even if it is probably meant rather differently here.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

He's remarkably well preserved since his SS2 days, barely changed in appearance at all.

 

Funny thing is, if you blocked out the pictures I would almost certainly have picked the other two (might have gone Spector for Levine) but I would have picked Todd Howard for Avellone's quote, since it's almost exactly the excuse used by Beth for their lack of coherent story- even if it is probably meant rather differently here.

I think that Avellone's quote is golden advice when designing a RPG. Letting the player decide what the story of their character is should be the direction taken, not showing them a kewl EPIC story that they have no control over.

Edited June 26, 2013 by KaineParker

[alanschu]

Ironically I would consider his best RPG to be the one where he doesn't do that.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Ironically I would consider his best RPG to be the one where he doesn't do that.

Which one would that be?

 

In PST, you can decide what the story of TNO is.

 

In KOTOR 2, you can decide what the story of The Exile is.

 

In NWN2, you can decide what the story of the Spirit-Eater is.

 

In FONV, you can decide what the Couriers story is.

 

The way I see it, all of the games he has worked on that are hailed as "RPG Gold" do that.

[Nonek]

I'm often surprised how different my Nameless is to so many others, not just in alignment, build or the mechanical but in how he saw things and what answers he gave. For instance his answer to Ravel's question, his choice of companions and interactions with them, his method of dealing with the Transcendant One in a manner that felt correct, and even how he judged his punishment battling in the shadow of Khin Oin.

 

I've got to admit that I was a little discontented with the denouement of both the Sith Lords and MotB, because I believed that Kreia was right and so was Kaelyn, and even if the force and wall were invulnerable one should still try to tear them down. I suspect however that Obsidian were not entirely free to go that far in their approaches due to outside influences, a pity though.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I'm often surprised how different my Nameless is to so many others, not just in alignment, build or the mechanical but in how he saw things and what answers he gave. For instance his answer to Ravel's question, his choice of companions and interactions with them, his method of dealing with the Transcendant One in a manner that felt correct, and even how he judged his punishment battling in the shadow of Khin Oin.

I believe that is because TNO was created by the player. All of his motivations, emotions, outlooks came from the player. That is how a RPG should be IMO, give the player control over who their character is don't tell them.

 

I've got to admit that I was a little discontented with the denouement of both the Sith Lords and MotB, because I believed that Kreia was right and so was Kaelyn, and even if the force and wall were invulnerable one should still try to tear them down. I suspect however that Obsidian were not entirely free to go that far in their approaches due to outside influences, a pity though.

I disagree with you on both counts and I think that just shows how good of a job Obsidian did with those games. The issues are not black and white and don't have a universally good choice. They are divisive and require the player to think about them deeply, instead of picking between an obvious good or evil.

[Serrano]

 

Ironically I would consider his best RPG to be the one where he doesn't do that.

Which one would that be?

 

In PST, you can decide what the story of TNO is.

 

In KOTOR 2, you can decide what the story of The Exile is.

 

In NWN2, you can decide what the story of the Spirit-Eater is.

 

In FONV, you can decide what the Couriers story is.

 

The way I see it, all of the games he has worked on that are hailed as "RPG Gold" do that.

 

 

I think what Chris meant in his quote was that when something happens in a game that the designer didn't script or plan, like in Skyrim for example when you figured out you can steal from people by putting a pot over their head or when the developers figured out that chickens were reporting you to guards when they saw you committing a crime, those instances resonate more with the player than any game narrative or dialogue that designers can create (which I disagree with personally). I think he was advocating making games with more emergent gameplay like classic x-com or dwarf fortress where interesting situations essentially create themselves through systems interacting with each other and the player in-game raher than leading the player along with a strong narrative story.

Edited June 27, 2013 by Serrano

[Zoraptor]

Thing is for most of the listed games- PST, K2, NWN2/MOTB, even FONV largely- Gaidar's last quote applies "..They get to do what we let them"- and the two examples from Nonek are excellent ones in that regard. Sure, you can make TNO a complete bastard or nice John McNice, you can wade through blood and souls up to your neck or be a LS hippie/ resist the spirit eater or whatever, but that is because that is how the game has been designed. The implication of Avellone's quote is more of an 'emergent' (not a term I like much) story, though I suspect that that is probably not what is actually meant there and he is probably referring to the sorts of choices listed above as being the building blocks for player agency.

 

And 'emergent' story is very much the sort of thing you see BethGS games praised for, as well as games like CK2. Really though, it's pretty antithetical to story in the classic sense. You might want Bilbo Baggins to overthrow Dain and become King Under the Mountain, leading the dwarves in a crusade against the unfair oppression of the Valar but that is not what happens, and it will not be a possibility in a Hobbit RPG because it's almost totally outside the scope of the setting and would simply not be considered a possibility.

[Gorth]

 

It's somewhat big headed of you to make this thread the official website for Dragon Age Inquisition . Thank you for the snippets and screenshots.

Thank you for the catch.

 

I also forgot that there's only a 30 minute timer for editing on this forum so I won't be able to update the OP soon. Oh well. vOv

 

Just PM us if you want more material added to the OP(s).

[Maria Caliban]

 

Thank you Lady Crimson. And, I'll be sure to do that as more information becomes available, Gorth.

 

As for the three quotes: I've enjoyed all games from all three of those gentlemen. I don't see one approach as being better than the other. In fact, I think a diversity of approaches when it comes to RPGs is a good thing.

 

I don't want DA to play like the Witcher, the Witcher to play like BioShock, or BioShock to play like Alpha Protocol. That they give me different experiences is a good thing.

[alanschu]

 

Ironically I would consider his best RPG to be the one where he doesn't do that.

Which one would that be?

 

In PST, you can decide what the story of TNO is.

 

In KOTOR 2, you can decide what the story of The Exile is.

 

In NWN2, you can decide what the story of the Spirit-Eater is.

 

In FONV, you can decide what the Couriers story is.

 

The way I see it, all of the games he has worked on that are hailed as "RPG Gold" do that.

 

 

How do you define "what the story of the character is" because for each of your examples I see "You're allowed to make the decisions that the game allows you to make."

 

Decide to say "Eff this, I don't care about tracking down my past" in Planescape: Torment, and you get an absolute shell of a game that requires you to miss out on a ton of the content.  Decide that you hate Kreia and want nothing to do with her in KOTOR 2, and you literally can't.  She comes with you, and there's nothing you can do about that.  You must go to Malachor.  You must visit the planets before hand.  You can't decide to visit Coruscant, or Naboo.  You are inherently restricted by what the game allows you to do.

 

Fallout New Vegas is a game that grants much, MUCH more freedom for what the player may want to do, and due to the open world nature of the game, you are certainly free to neglect the primary plot of the game and still accomplish a lot of things.  I wouldn't consider this to necessarily be the strength of the game, however.  The strength was a great merging of open-world gameplay yet still having a strong narrative that allows for player choice.

Edited June 27, 2013 by alanschu

[alanschu]

 

 

As for the three quotes: I've enjoyed all games from all three of those gentlemen. I don't see one approach as being better than the other. In fact, I think a diversity of approaches when it comes to RPGs is a good thing.

 

Agreed.

[Malekith]

 

 

Ironically I would consider his best RPG to be the one where he doesn't do that.

Which one would that be?

 

In PST, you can decide what the story of TNO is.

 

In KOTOR 2, you can decide what the story of The Exile is.

 

In NWN2, you can decide what the story of the Spirit-Eater is.

 

In FONV, you can decide what the Couriers story is.

 

The way I see it, all of the games he has worked on that are hailed as "RPG Gold" do that.

 

 

I think what Chris meant in his quote was that when something happens in a game that the designer didn't script or plan, like in Skyrim for example when you figured out you can steal from people by putting a pot over their head or when the developers figured out that chickens were reporting you to guards when they saw you committing a crime, those instances resonate more with the player than any game narrative or dialogue that designers can create (which I disagree with personally). I think he was advocating making games with more emergent gameplay like classic x-com or dwarf fortress where interesting situations essentially create themselves through systems interacting with each other and the player in-game raher than leading the player along with a strong narrative story.

 

I agree that this is what he meant, and i disagree completely with him on that. I wouldn't care about any of his games if he actually followed his own advice.

Even New Vegas was praised for it's story and writting and not for "emergent gameplay", although that may happened because emergent gameplay is a given in a Beth game.

Edited June 27, 2013 by Malekith