Dragon Age: Inquisition

[ShadySands]

 

 

Save games may or may not be imported.

 This shouldn't be an issue for PC.

 

They could be scraping saved games for something else though.

 

 

Is PC still even considered the lead platform?

 

I thought that was abandoned after it sold better on consoles...

 

Or maybe I hallucinated that whole thing. I do drink too much

 

Also, still butthurt about DA2 camera changes

[Gromnir]

 

 

What? You can't be serious?

 

My brain hurts

Why does your brain hurt?

 

It seems to have this crazy idea that some consistency in the main canon might have a positive effect for the franchise.

 

That or I have one of those brain eating amoebas.

 

am ambivalent... can't decide if we is more puzzled that such canon exists, or that mc knows and bothered to find out such stuff.

 

 

HA! Good Fun!

[alanschu]

 

 

Is PC still even considered the lead platform?

 

I thought that was abandoned after it sold better on consoles...

 

Or maybe I hallucinated that whole thing. I do drink too much

 

Also, still butthurt about DA2 camera changes

 

DA2 did shift to XBox as lead platform, but more from the "it's much easier to take that and adapt it for PC than it is to take PC DAO and try to shoehorn it onto the consoles."

 

The DA2XP actually shifted the lead platform to PS3, because we still ran into "It's a pain to move from the 360 to the PS3...."

 

 

For DAI, I'm not sure what would really be classified as "lead platform" but for all intents and purposes at this juncture, nearly 100% of the development and playing happens on the PC, though with a controller (only very basic keyboard/mouse functionality exists at this time).  Due to a variety of performance reasons and so forth with ramping up on Frostbite, as well as next gen console stuff, we're not really at the point of "make sure it works on all platforms" at this juncture.

[Guest Slinky]

 

 

 

What? You can't be serious?

 

My brain hurts

Why does your brain hurt?

 

It seems to have this crazy idea that some consistency in the main canon might have a positive effect for the franchise.

 

That or I have one of those brain eating amoebas.

 

 

I don't see how this would help much, if they're still going to write for various player choices.

 

I would be inclined to agree, if they would write the various player choices without resurrecting npc's when they feel like it. I don't know how the end product is going to end up, but I'm just not personally impressed how they handle these things at this point.

[alanschu]

I don't know why, specifically, things like the Dalish Elf female were chosen.  Though on some level the defaults exist to minimize reference to the previous game, as defaults will be the most common playthrough of someone picking up the game for the first time.

 

Excessive reference to a past character or past choice without providing context (which would probably be boring and uninteresting for those that HAVE made the choices) run the risk of just being confusing/alienating.

 

 

In DA2, whether or not the Warden chose the Dark Ritual wasn't really relevant.  In DAI, the hope is for it to result in some unique content for those that did choose it.

[ShadySands]

 

Is PC still even considered the lead platform?

 

I thought that was abandoned after it sold better on consoles...

 

Or maybe I hallucinated that whole thing. I do drink too much

 

Also, still butthurt about DA2 camera changes

 

DA2 did shift to XBox as lead platform, but more from the "it's much easier to take that and adapt it for PC than it is to take PC DAO and try to shoehorn it onto the consoles."

 

The DA2XP actually shifted the lead platform to PS3, because we still ran into "It's a pain to move from the 360 to the PS3...."

 

 

For DAI, I'm not sure what would really be classified as "lead platform" but for all intents and purposes at this juncture, nearly 100% of the development and playing happens on the PC, though with a controller (only very basic keyboard/mouse functionality exists at this time).  Due to a variety of performance reasons and so forth with ramping up on Frostbite, as well as next gen console stuff, we're not really at the point of "make sure it works on all platforms" at this juncture.

 

 

Thanks for the clarification Allan 

Edited August 25, 2013 by ShadySands

[AGX-17]

We don't know how DA:I is handling world state information.

 

We know there's a default and method for world state generating that BioWare won't talk about at this point. Save games may or may not be imported.

 

I'm not even sure how they'd do save game imports on PS3 to PS4 or X360 to XOne.

Probably in a similar way to importing saves from PS to PS2. There were at least a few PS2 games that utilized PS saves from previous titles in a series to unlock bonus content. All you have to do is make your game capable of reading the save data from the previous game, it's not like it's hardwired or part of the OS.

Edited August 25, 2013 by AGX-17

[Malekith]

 

Walking Dead wants a talk with you.

Back in the day RPGs were the hobby or D&D nerds. Even now it's the "old-school" crowd that is louder about 'gameplay above graphics/story/whatever" Now that you reach in a broader audience, games for gameplay aren't the rule anymore (sadly).

You have an ever expanding audience that plays games strictly for the story and the characters (a large part of Obsidian,Bioware,CDPR audience),or eye candy and do every idiotic thing you can think of(Bethesda). Many fans of the mentioned companies in fact dislike the gameplay of their favorite games, but they love them anyway.

Go to the Witcher forums. PS:T has a cult over there.

As games are pushing to be more like movies,(or novels in Planscape's case), gameplay is starting to take the backseat. And quess what? The audience is there.

 

KOTOR was following the same formula as PS:T, and was a success for Bioware.

So the reason that PS:T wasn't because it focused on story. It was because it was ahead of it's time, had an unfamiliar setting when a more traditional would ease people in, and had ton of writing, when the people who like to read are the minority.Today that cutsceens had taken over the games, that "problem" is eliminated as all people like watching TV/movies.

 

 

Walking Dead only tried to do the story, PS:T tried to do both, as for KOTOR the gameplay was infinitely better.

 

If PS:T was ahead of it's time people would like it more then the BG series now days, which is not the case.

 

KotoR  gameplay better? No

Is more liked than the first BG and both IWDs.

Way more. Check the poll Obsidian made about which game PE we want PE to resemble more.

Edited August 25, 2013 by Malekith

[Serrano]

 

We don't know how DA:I is handling world state information.

 

We know there's a default and method for world state generating that BioWare won't talk about at this point. Save games may or may not be imported.

 

I'm not even sure how they'd do save game imports on PS3 to PS4 or X360 to XOne.

Probably in a similar way to importing saves from PS to PS2. There were at least a few PS2 games that utilized PS saves from previous titles in a series to unlock bonus content. All you have to do is make your game capable of reading the save data from the previous game, it's not like it's hardwired or part of the OS.

 

 

The bigger problem is probably how many variables there are after every sequel, expansion and dlc. If they stay in the same region then the list gets bigger all the time, and if they move far enough out to different parts of the world then most of what we've done shouldn't logically impact what happens anyway. I think anyway. 

Edited August 25, 2013 by Serrano

[alanschu]

 

 

Is more liked than the first BG and both IWDs.

Way more. Check the poll Obsidian made about which game PE we want PE to resemble more.

 

I noticed you stated "the first BG."  Where does BG2 rate on the list?

[Tale]

Probably in a similar way to importing saves from PS to PS2. There were at least a few PS2 games that utilized PS saves from previous titles in a series to unlock bonus content.

PS2 was backwards compatible with PS1. Fully so, to the point where it accepted the memory cards of the system and was able to recognize and manage those files.

 

The XB1 and PS4 have no reason to allow transfer or management of those old save files.

[Sarex]

KotoR  gameplay better? No

Is more liked than the first BG and both IWDs.

Way more. Check the poll Obsidian made about which game PE we want PE to resemble more.

 

Yes, waaaaay better.

BG2?

How many people voted?

[Gromnir]

 

KotoR  gameplay better? No

Is more liked than the first BG and both IWDs.

Way more. Check the poll Obsidian made about which game PE we want PE to resemble more.

 

Yes, waaaaay better.

BG2?

How many people voted?

 

did a quicky search... were a few such polls:

 

which ie game do you want pe to most feel like

 

which crpg do you want pe to most resemble

 

etc.

 

250 votes were most we saw for any single poll. kotor were never mentioned save as fitting in "other" category along with mass effect and a half-dozen other games. bg1/bg2 were typical lumped together... lord only knows why. big winners were typical bg1/bg2 as clear #1, and ps:t #2 just ahead of the field.. but were not Gameplay polls per se.

 

am not sure if such polls is actual meaningful in any way, but there you have what we were able to see.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Volourn]

They aren't meaningful. Only those who voted  in it who have an inflated self worth about their silly opinion think a handful of voters online mater in the grand scheme.

[Gromnir]

sidenote: am not thinking the gameplay of either ps:t or kotor were great. bio developers did manage to get the feel of star wars combat and universe, but gameplay was quite shallow. ps:t is our favorite crpg, but is not 'cause o' gameplay. combat were almost an afterthought in ps:t-- bad afterthought. also, a walk-through of ps:t can be distilled thus: put every attribute point into wisdom and talk to every named npc for win. as much as we like ps:t, it were horribly balanced and Gameplay were no deeper than kotor.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Malekith]

 

Is more liked than the first BG and both IWDs.

Way more. Check the poll Obsidian made about which game PE we want PE to resemble more.

 

I noticed you stated "the first BG."  Where does BG2 rate on the list?

 

First of course. And i was basing my opinion more on GoG best selling list. BG2 is first, and it more popular than PST, no one can say otherwise. But PST is second. It sells more than BG,IWDs or Fallouts. Not that GoG sales are the definite arbiter of older games popularity, but chances are PS:T aged better and is more liked nowdays than IWDs and BG1. BG2 is another matter.

[alanschu]

 

 

First of course. And i was basing my opinion more on GoG best selling list. BG2 is first, and it more popular than PST, no one can say otherwise. But PST is second. It sells more than BG,IWDs or Fallouts. Not that GoG sales are the definite arbiter of older games popularity, but chances are PS:T aged better and is more liked nowdays than IWDs and BG1. BG2 is another matter.

 

Well, I brought it up because the original assertion was:

 

If PS:T was ahead of it's time people would like it more then the BG series now days, which is not the case.

 

To which you responded:

 

Way more. Check the poll Obsidian made about which game PE we want PE to resemble more.

 

 

If this was the case, there may be some level of vote splitting going on.  (Granted, there's nothing stopping someone from voting for BG1/BG2 yet considering PST their #2 vote).

[Malekith]

 

First of course. And i was basing my opinion more on GoG best selling list. BG2 is first, and it more popular than PST, no one can say otherwise. But PST is second. It sells more than BG,IWDs or Fallouts. Not that GoG sales are the definite arbiter of older games popularity, but chances are PS:T aged better and is more liked nowdays than IWDs and BG1. BG2 is another matter.

 

Well, I brought it up because the original assertion was:

 

If PS:T was ahead of it's time people would like it more then the BG series now days, which is not the case.

 

To which you responded:

 

Way more. Check the poll Obsidian made about which game PE we want PE to resemble more.

 

 

If this was the case, there may be some level of vote splitting going on.  (Granted, there's nothing stopping someone from voting for BG1/BG2 yet considering PST their #2 vote).

 

Ah, i undertand. Well, the poll for the backers listed BG series as a whole, so we can't know. But most people like BG2 much more than BG, and generaly it's considered a better game. BG series wa first,PS:T close second, the rest way behind. But it's more propable the majority of people who voted BG series were voting for BG2.

Edited August 26, 2013 by Malekith

[alanschu]

PST I think also went kind of under the radar.  I remember it had a trailer as part of BG's install, but I knew nothing about the game from that.

 

On top of some initial barriers at the time (I was intimidated by the wall of text, and frankly was looking for "more BG" when I picked it up), I didn't actually pick it up until someone on PlanetBaldursGate happened to recommend it.

 

And even then, I had two false starts before I finally committed.  Though now it's probably my favourite RPG of all time

[Gorth]

I was sort of the opposite. It took PS:T to get me to eventually warm to BG1.

 

Didn't like BG1 when I tried it at first, but then I picked up that big orange and blue box one day from a store shelf. Gaming was never the same again. Got BG2 when it came out and loved it. Long, long after, went back and completed BG1. The latter is still my "least" favourite of the bunch though. PS:T probably offered the best single session experience and BG2 the most replayability (and IWD the most fun encounters). I'm sure other peoples mileage varies.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I would definitely say that most of the love the BG series gets is from BG2. Replaying the first stretch of BG is pretty damn tedious when a hit can kill a party member, and there are so many weak foes who can get a lucky hit and dire wolfs in the first few areas.

 

On Topic: alanshu, you're an insider, can you tell us anything about combat mechanics?

[alanschu]

I was sort of the opposite. It took PS:T to get me to eventually warm to BG1.

 

Didn't like BG1 when I tried it at first, but then I picked up that big orange and blue box one day from a store shelf. Gaming was never the same again. Got BG2 when it came out and loved it. Long, long after, went back and completed BG1. The latter is still my "least" favourite of the bunch though. PS:T probably offered the best single session experience and BG2 the most replayability (and IWD the most fun encounters). I'm sure other peoples mileage varies.

 

Preaching to the choir my man.

 

 

 

 

On Topic: alanshu, you're an insider, can you tell us anything about combat mechanics?

 

I coullllld.  Tell you what, swing by PAX and well go over it

[Gromnir]

since this is a da:i thread, we will observe that we is,for the first time in awhile, curious 'bout a bio development. sure,we has played most bio releases (not all) since release of BG, but recently we were far less interested in development side of things.  the thing is, da2 were something new, and am curious to see how bio responds. all full bio games has either improved or expanded 'pon previous games, with the exception o' da2. 

 

bg2 improved on bg1 in a grand way. nwn, although not as enjoyable to us as bg2, were clearly more ambitious in scope. me, though not necessarily our cup-o'-tea, were bio's step into consoles, and they stepped in big. etc.  the thing is da2 were the first full game bio made that we could clear say, "this falls short of your previous works-- it was not a worthy effort." is possible that me3 falls into that category as well, but we never played... it were also released after da2. regardless, da2 is, in our estimation, the first time bio has taken a clear step backwards, and we wanna see how they respond. 

 

btw, am not gonna belabor the point, but we noted that the announcement of some da2 "features" previous to its release were indicating that bio were actual cutting corners on da2.  we suggested that da2 would clear be a scaled done affair from da:o, and not 'cause bio thought doing so would make better. am thinking that post mortem of da2 makes obvious that Gromnir's predictions 'bout da2 were correct-- nonsense like recycled maps n' such. one cheerfully ubiquitous bio minion said we were wrong here on these boards. am thinking we still deserve an apology. not expecting, but think we deserve.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

 

On Topic: alanshu, you're an insider, can you tell us anything about combat mechanics?

 

I coullllld.  Tell you what, swing by PAX and well go over it

 

You tease.

[Felonious]

one cheerfully ubiquitous bio minion said we were wrong here on these boards. am thinking we still deserve an apology. not expecting, but think we deserve.

Do BioWare employees frequent this forum?

Edited August 26, 2013 by Felonious