Dragon Age: Inquisition

[GhostofAnakin]

I feel somewhat compelled to point out that Gaider isn't a designer anymore

 

What role does he have in this game?

[Nonek]

Judging by the concept art one has to wonder whether mounts will be available in the game, the Skyrim allusions would seem to demand their inclusion.

[Drowsy Emperor]

The thing is, I hate dungeons. So I'd go along with the one-dungeon design as long as all dungeons are 100% optional. The difference this time though should be that the time and money saved by doing so go into the overworld game rather than into Riccitello's pockets. (Yes I know he's gone, but point remains)

 

I'm bored to death of dungeons as well. I like exploration but the typical enclosed area filled with predictable mobs of increasing power and masses of loot should be a thing of the past. 

[Tale]

http://www.gamefront.com/dragon-age-3s-open-world-informed-dialogue-choices-discussed/

 

Some stuff from PAX Aus. Nothing big.

 

I think the important bit is that they recognize people didn't like the autodialogue of ME3 or DA2's paraphrasing.

 

Also

 

Speaking at the panel, Cameron Lee, the game’s Producer, said that the developers intend for the player to feel as if Inquisition is “their story.”

But they always say that and fail. With Gaider going so far as to pretty much reject that idea publicly.

[Malekith]

I feel somewhat compelled to point out that Gaider isn't a designer anymore

You say that as it is a good thing. I find his writting mediocre, and judging by BG2 and especially Ascession mod by him, he is a good designer.

I would be more confident in DA3 with Gaider as Lead Designer instead of writter.

[GhostofAnakin]

http://www.gamefront.com/dragon-age-3s-open-world-informed-dialogue-choices-discussed/

 

Some stuff from PAX Aus. Nothing big.

 

I think the important bit is that they recognize people didn't like the autodialogue of ME3 or DA2's paraphrasing.

 

Also

 

Speaking at the panel, Cameron Lee, the game’s Producer, said that the developers intend for the player to feel as if Inquisition is “their story.”

But they always say that and fail. With Gaider going so far as to pretty much reject that idea publicly.

 

 

Dragon Age 2 was my story ... until they railroaded me in Chapter 3 and forced their story onto me no matter what choices I made.

[alanschu]

 

I feel somewhat compelled to point out that Gaider isn't a designer anymore

 

What role does he have in this game?

 

 

 

He's a writer (and has been for a long time).  He'll deal with the general plot and characters and so forth, but if you want to rage up on someone for overall design issues, Mike is probably a better person to be all ragey (although even then he's more "Creative Director" now.  I actually don't know if the lead designer is even much of a public facing figure <.<)

 

 

 

 

You say that as it is a good thing. I find his writting mediocre, and judging by BG2 and especially Ascession mod by him, he is a good designer.

 

That's fine (I don't know if he did writing on BG2 either), but I wasn't saying it with any sort of "it's a good thing."  I actually find your point interesting, because people slag on him (incorrectly) for general design stuff when 1) he isn't a designer and 2) a game where he was a designer was one that most here would love.

Edited July 19, 2013 by alanschu

[Amentep]

 

In its defense, everything seems to be going open world next generation. I guess it makes them have to worry less when it comes to level design.

 

Because that was an area that much effort went into in DA2. 

 

 

Well they reused a handful of really small maps for DA2.  DAI now uses one really big map for everything.

 

And people thought Bio didn't learn anything from DA2 ...

 

(I kid, I liked DA2 reused maps and all).

Edited July 19, 2013 by Amentep

[Monte Carlo]

Dave Gaider is a legend. I beat him up routinely, but his work on BG2 was superlative, and his support for Ascension was remarkable.

 

Due respect is given, despite what transpired since.

[Tale]

I've said for a while that I would love to see a game where he was lead designer instead of lead writer.

[Malekith]

 

You say that as it is a good thing. I find his writting mediocre, and judging by BG2 and especially Ascession mod by him, he is a good designer.

 

That's fine (I don't know if he did writing on BG2 either), but I wasn't saying it with any sort of "it's a good thing."  I actually find your point interesting, because people slag on him (incorrectly) for general design stuff when 1) he isn't a designer and 2) a game where he was a designer was one that most here would love.

 

I think this is happening because he is some kind of public face for Bioware. When people critisize him they critisize more the whole company and their direction than him personaly. And some things he says in interviews just rub "old school players" the wrong way.

I'm not the biggest fan of Bioware, but David is the one person in the company that if he left EA and gone to kickstart an RPG, i would trust him to deliver a good game.

Edited July 19, 2013 by Malekith

[GhostofAnakin]

 

 

I feel somewhat compelled to point out that Gaider isn't a designer anymore

 

What role does he have in this game?

 

 

 

He's a writer (and has been for a long time).  He'll deal with the general plot and characters and so forth, but if you want to rage up on someone for overall design issues, Mike is probably a better person to be all ragey (although even then he's more "Creative Director" now.  I actually don't know if the lead designer is even much of a public facing figure <.<)

 

Keep in mind I'm one of the few on here who liked Dragon Age 2, despite not being a fan of some of the decisions (for instance, the aforementioned railroading in the final chapter).  So you likely won't find me raging.  Not unless you guys pull a Mass Effect 3 style ending.

[Volourn]

"DA3 with Gaider as Lead Designer instead of writter."

 

Yeah, he is a horrible WRITTER indeed.

 

 

P.S. When I, of all people, making fun of your typing skills, you know you are a lost cause. L0L

 

 

Gaider is awesome. Even if he was the worst game designer ever, I'd still like, just because of all the crybaby butthurt he causes on the internet.

[licketysplit]

I find his writing to be overly snarky.

[Maria Caliban]

New concept art:

 

 

 

 

Epicpinecone was at the PAX aus Dragon Age panel and took notes. Here's their post:

 

 

Stop press: just heard that Gamespot AU recorded the entire panel, it'llbe uploaded most likely tomorrow Australia time (so 12-24 hours from now). I'll link to it if I can, but somebody else will probably find it first.

 

Bioware panel - PAX Australia

First of all, everyone from Bioware was incredibly nice and enthusiastic, and Patrick Weekes is genuinely hilarious. They couldn't say much about DAI *at all*, and so the response to almost every question was "we can't talk about that yet". Cameron had a presentation prepared but most of the session was Q&A.

 

I wasn't able to copy exactly what people said in many cases, so don't overanalyse the language I'm using here - I got pretty much everything related to Dragon Age down on paper, but it's not exactly using the words that the Bioware staff used.

 

- The E3 trailer was made by approximately 30 people and took 5-6 weeks - they deliberately included certain scenes and characters because they wanted to get a few messages across to the fans.

 

- The DAI artwork of the Inquisitor reaching for a helmet (and wearing rings) is more about a representation of the player being immersed into the game, and that it's *our* story. This was a theme that they constantly repeated, they want DA Inquisition to feel like "our" story. Cameron said people had wondered a lot about who the helmet figure was, and what the rings were for - he never really explained either of them, though.

 

- They want to emphasise "an epic story and a world in chaos". A bigger, broader story like Origins. Cameron pointed to a few of the new creatures in the trailer: one is a new type of demon, the crystal/rock monster thing has a giant club to use in combat, and the thin, skeletal one is called a "Nightmare". At the same time as a demon invasion is happening from a breach in the Veil, chaos also engulfs human nations and factions as they go to war with each other. The story is a long one (that sounds obvious but it was part of a larger sentence and I forget

the second part).

 

- Another section of the E3 trailer was intended to represent "decisions that matter". The scene with Varric and the dead bodies actually occurs in the game - a village is destroyed and its people wiped out because of actions that the Inquisitor did, or failed to do. They want consequences for our choices to ripple through the game.

 

- Old news, but the player leads the Inquisition - and the Inquisition is not part of the Chantry.

 

- The map scene with Cassandra from the trailer was the Inquisition plotting and planning an attack, with various people gathered around the table, plotting.

 

- Cameron showed a screenshot from the E3 trailer of the environment/fortress where lightning strikes (the one dotted with statues, I don't have a picture) and said this place appeared normal but strange things happened there. This location has been something they've been working on for the last few months.

 

- Three new pieces of concept art (I don't have pictures, but people were taking them):

 

- A desert scene, Cameron mentioned it had oases, with a door and some kind of symbol above it.

- A swamp landscape, "hidden ruins"

- A really interesting shot of a qunari sitting/lying in a sandy/arid location, next to a large-ish reptilian animal (someone said "dragon" but it didn't look like it?) that had *qunari-shaped horns*. Cameron made the connection between the qunari's horns and the animal's, which were exactly the same shape and type.

 

- Again, they're aiming for a mix between the tactical combat of Origins and the "fluidity" of DA2.

 

- Patrick Weekes seemed to imply that the tensions or conflict between Empress Celene and Grand Duke Gaspard will be a significant plot point in DAI. The reason he's writing The Masked Empire is that (to paraphrase) they wanted to give more background about internal Orlesian politics and the characters of Celene and Gaspard, and a novel was the appropriate narrative method to do it justice in terms of length, etc.

 

- Karin Weekes said dealing with the writers was occasionally like, I quote, "herding rabid cats"

 

- Lots of exploration, they mentioned Bioware's history of exploration in previous games and said it was a theme they were returning to.

 

- The player can explore maps and find new things, including (I have it quoted as, by Cameron) "small dungeons or big dungeons".

 

- DAI has a diverse range of environments. Patrick said (like Mike has said at other events) there won't be the same cave repeated seventeen times, etc. The team went through and listed some, as well as showing all the concept art we've seen so far (including the new ones they showed at PAX Aus).

 

- Desert, swamps, mountains, grasslands, ruins, snowy locations - possibly some more but I didn't catch them.

 

- On save-files, they can't reveal anything yet but decisions will carry across.

 

- They're not going to scrap "Bioware-style choices", and there was an interesting discussion of persuasion options (Patrick said Mass Effect arguably became 'pick the glowing blue/red option to win'). They want to have *some* other influence on dialogue and choice outcomes, whether that be stats-based, or having certain options require having a particular companion present, or having dialogue or choices dependent on other things said earlier in the conversation.

 

- Patrick said the best choices are the ones that get people genuinely thinking and debating the one they chose. He wants to write them so that each choice looks "right", depending on the player's worldview or philosophy - not just "save the baby or save the warlock", which are absurdly obvious binary good/evil choices.

 

- Patrick, Cameron and Chris (I think Chris was involved) talked about the proposal of using random numbers in determining the outcome of dialogue options or choices, and said they've basically rejected doing this. Players like seeing the consequences of their choices, and seeing a cause -> effect relationship, and introducing an element of randomness to choices/dialogue could be seen as unfairly punishing them. Also, players would reload if they "randomly" got a "bad" outcome, or something they didn't want, and anything that forces the player to constantly reload their saves isn't very fun gameplay.

 

- On dialogue:

 

- Patrick Weekes was talking about the reaction to Hawke and the way dialogue in DA2 was affected by previous things the player had said in the conversation. He said some players found this confusing and that

they were looking at it for DAI.

 

- Patrick also said (unprompted) that they're aware of the backlash against ME3's 'autodialogue'

 

- People were also occasionally frustrated by dialogue paraphrases in DA2 (where the dialogue option they picked didn't really sound like what Hawke actually said), Patrick and Karin Weekes had an interesting and entertaining conversation about the difficulty of paraphrasing. It's an issue that they're kept in mind when developing DAI.

 

- Finally, they said more information is coming, eventually. They're asking us to be patient, but with an extra year of development the panel really seemed to be positive about DAI's potential.

Edited July 20, 2013 by Maria Caliban

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I find his writing to be overly snarky.

I find this comment to be overly snarly.

 

I kid of course, I'm not that fond of Gaider's writing, but if he can make a living at it and enjoys it he can go right ahead. I'll just sit back, poke fun at some of the more obsessive Bio-ware fans, and enjoy my wide catalog of games.

[Maria Caliban]

This World's Bitter End - Possible music from the game.

 

I am still trying to confirm that this is part of the official soundtrack.

 

 

I feel somewhat compelled to point out that Gaider isn't a designer anymore

What role does he have in this game?

 

Lead writer. Same as in DA:O. Edited July 20, 2013 by Maria Caliban

[alanschu]

 

 

Keep in mind I'm one of the few on here who liked Dragon Age 2, despite not being a fan of some of the decisions (for instance, the aforementioned railroading in the final chapter).  So you likely won't find me raging.

 

Was more the "royal you" in that case (not that that was clear).

 

 

I agree with Malekith that he's likely targeted because he's a very public facing character, however.

[Halaster]

I wonder when (if?)  BioWare will actually start showcasing the RPG credentials of this game - or has that direction gone out of the window officially now? All I've seen so far are references to it being an 'action RPG' but then they called Origins that, when it really wasn't very 'action' at all.

 

It would be nice to know if this game will even be trying to incorporate more RPG conventions and appeal to its 'traditional' customer base, or whether DA:I is another foray into general action gaming with a smattering of stats and inconsequenial side quests for consumption by a 'wider' customer base?

 

I have this strange feeling that there'll be lip service only, sort of like 'added' RPG elements to ME3 which in reality boiled down to ... gun mods making a comeback.

[HoonDing]

I've said for a while that I would love to see a game where he was lead designer instead of lead writer.

It truly would be the RPG of RPGs.

[NOK222]

But what about Kossith romances?

[Maria Caliban]

I wonder when (if?)  BioWare will actually start showcasing the RPG credentials of this game - or has that direction gone out of the window officially now? All I've seen so far are references to it being an 'action RPG' but then they called Origins that, when it really wasn't very 'action' at all.

 

It would be nice to know if this game will even be trying to incorporate more RPG conventions and appeal to its 'traditional' customer base, or whether DA:I is another foray into general action gaming with a smattering of stats and inconsequenial side quests for consumption by a 'wider' customer base?

 

I have this strange feeling that there'll be lip service only, sort of like 'added' RPG elements to ME3 which in reality boiled down to ... gun mods making a comeback.

What specific elements are you asking about when you say 'RPG conventions?'

 

But what about Kossith romances?

According to the 'leaked survey' there might be a male qunari companion named Iron Bull.

 

If that's not a fantasy porn name, I don't know what is.

Edited July 20, 2013 by Maria Caliban

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

 

But what about Kossith romances?

According to the 'leaked survey' there might be a male qunari companion named Iron Bull.

 

If that's not a fantasy porn name, I don't know what is.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if that is an actual porn name.

 

Also, it begs the question: Would the average player let their character(or self-insert) get into a relationship with a porn star? I'm sure it would be hotly debated by the fine minds at BSN.

[licketysplit]

Iron Bull...good lord that sounds terrible.

[BruceVC]

According to the 'leaked survey' there might be a male qunari companion named Iron Bull.

 

If that's not a fantasy porn name, I don't know what is.

 

 

"Iron Bull"

 

Nice, I have always felt that Bioware could develop there relationship arcs in different ways. The concept of RPG porn in there games is intriguing?