Dragon Age: Inquisition

[Leferd]

I actually had more fun with DA Legends than I did with DA2.

 

Then again, I didn't really give DA2 a fair shake...I only completed its prologue.

 

PS

 

I was surprised to learn that DA Legends lead designer was Soren Johnson, the designer behind Civ IV -IMO the best of the series.

[ShadySands]

I liked Legends too, I even had the phone app to do crafting if I wasn't near a comp

 

I quit playing on Facebook after a while though but that was mostly due how burnt out I got on FB games always begging for money that I wasn't going to pay

 

I still play every once in while but it's not quite the same being able to play unlimited 

Edited August 25, 2013 by ShadySands

[alanschu]

I thought I read somewhere that female Hawke is Canon.

 

We kinda dance around the notion of actual canon.  While books and whatnot need to have something declared, the intent is to not slap people in the face with "your choice was wrong" if we can help it.  So even if books have Hawke being female (I don't know), any inclusion of Hawke in DAI would not be that way if the player didn't want it, ideally.

[Leferd]

I liked Legends too

 

I quit playing on Facebook after a while though but that was mostly due how burnt out I got on FB games

 

I still play every once in while but it's not quite the same being able to play unlimited

 

Too bad they didn't port it for iOS -> iPad. I'd probably still play it.

[alanschu]

I enjoyed it for what it was too, though in general run out of steam quickly for most Facebook/MTX games.

 

Though it was eye opening how much people value their time over their money.  I had heard some rumors of people spending absurd amounts of money on it which just floored me.  Was definitely my first experience to the idea of the "whales" supporting games.

[AGX-17]

A new article today - Creating Dragon Age Party Members - which I found perplexing in parts.

"Believe it or not, before a character is even written, the process starts with a concept artist." That's where I stopped reading.

[Leferd]

I enjoyed it for what it was too, though in general run out of steam quickly for most Facebook/MTX games.

 

Though it was eye opening how much people value their time over their money.  I had heard some rumors of people spending absurd amounts of money on it which just floored me.  Was definitely my first experience to the idea of the "whales" supporting games.

Haha yeah. I almost considered actually buying alacrity potions...before I came to my senses and just waited it out. Still, it was a fun game once you took out the silly social/FB/farmville mechanics out of it.

[Maria Caliban]

There isn't any canon Hawke or Warden (at this point). We know the default Warden for DA 2 was a male human noble who accepted the Dark Ritual while the default for DA:I will be a female dalish elf who sacrificed herself to kill the archdemon.

 

I believe the current default Hawke is beardy. Male mage who sided with the mages.

[Guest Slinky]

There isn't any canon Hawke or Warden (at this point). We know the default Warden for DA 2 was a male human noble who accepted the Dark Ritual while the default for DA:I will be a female dalish elf who sacrificed herself to kill the archdemon.

What? You can't be serious?

 

My brain hurts 

[MrBrown]

There's supposedly some way in DA:I to choose what happened in origins and da2. Only if you don't do that or import, you'll go with the default.

[Nepenthe]

 

 

I'm 98% certain he won't appear at all, but might be referenced. There's no real reason to have him appear and Bioware seems to know it'd just result in a lot of upset.

Eh, why? Or do you mean that anything that Bioware does results in a lot of upset? I thought it would be cool in a ballsy way that I haven't seen in ages, if ever, in game design.

I mean that lots of people would be upset to see Hawke being an uncontrolled NPC, as it would very likely defy the character the Dragon Age 2 players made him to be. And there's nothing really for Bioware to gain from that.

True, doing it right would require 6 different versions of dialogue based on which hawke (snarky, straight edge or nuts) was played...

 

Tbh, hawke never felt "mine" in the sense that I'd mind him as an npc at all, in fact I''d much prefer that to any of the alternatives I can imagine.

[Nepenthe]

There's supposedly some way in DA:I to choose what happened in origins and da2. Only if you don't do that or import, you'll go with the default.

As there was already in da2. Imo bith of the two mentioned were da2 alternatives.

 

back to the lecture at hand

 

If Hawke is in as an NPC, joinable or otherwise, what gender is canon? I would assume he-Hawke but it could possibly be she-Hawke or maybe import-a-Hawke

If it's of major importance, probably a choice, so makes 2 vos relevant even for non-importers.

[Maria Caliban]

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.

 

What? You can't be serious?

 

My brain hurts

Why does your brain hurt?

Edited August 25, 2013 by Maria Caliban

[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.

[NOK222]

 

 

Save games may or may not be imported.

 

This shouldn't be an issue for PC. 

[aries101]

Planscape Torment was not a commercial success. It had abysmally low sales numbers.

 

Actually, it didn't. I think it sold something like 100.000 copies or maybe it was about 4000,00 00 or so in the first year after its release. PS:T's problem was - and is - this:  It was released on December 12th, 1999, please look here here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planescape:_Torment  In Euope (at least in Denmark) ot was released 5-6 months later or maybe a year later, in the year 2000. Why am I calling this a problem, then. Simply because of this:

 

In 1997 or even 1998 you could make a living out of making a game which sold maybe 200,000 copies or even 100,000 copies. The guys behind the Arcanum game (and Temple of Elemental Evil) were also affected by this, Arcanum sold like, I think, 400,000 copies of the game. And yet, it wasn't enough to cover the costs of making the game (royalties not being paid may be another reason). Eventually the game ended up selling like a million copies or so, but this is over a span of more than 10-12 years. (from release in 1999 to 2012/2013).

 

Way back in 19997-1999 you could, as I said, get by with making a game which sold about 400,000-500,000 copies.

In 1999-2001 the big IT crash boom happened; a lot of game studios closed, EA took over some game developing studios and closed others etc. etc. And Troika and Interplay went belly up as well. Interplay/Black Isle, I don't still have the all the facts on this one. Troika, it seems that Troika Studios were formed by a lot of developers who simply burned through the money they got from the publisher faster than - ehm - fire? At least that the story I've heard - or rather read

 

After 2001 and certainly after 2006/2007, a game really needs to appeal to a broader audience in order to make the return of investemnts (roi) that the investors (shareholder value) want. Many game companies have also been forced to close since they couldn't find investors backing their next game; the studio behind Titan Quest comes to mind.

 

The point of all this is to say this:

Please don't compare the state of the video market in 1997-1999 with the state of the video game industry it has became in 2012-2013; in order to make money for both developers and publishing houses, it it necessary to make games that appeal somewhat to a more broader audience than way back in 1997-1999. Even PS: Numenera's 1 million backers (or maybe 1,5 million backers) wouldn't be near enough for Bioware to get their invested money back, money they've spent on DA: Inquistion. This game needs to sell at least 2 million, if not 2,5-3,0 copies to break even.

[Sarex]

@aries101 I think you are mixing your numbers there a little bit. I stand by what I said, it was not a commercial success by any standard. Though those things may have happened, the fact remains that they made the game before the "IT crash" happened and they still barely went in to black (if they did even that).

 

This doesn't make the game "bad", so I don't really get why everyone is getting their panties in a bunch, but the fact remains that they chose to concentrate on the story and not the gameplay thus making it a niche game.

[Nonek]

Wonder if with their promises to make players choices count they're going to go back and patch Lilly Alan out of DA2 for those who desecrated the Ashes at Lords.

[Malekith]

they chose to concentrate on the story and not the gameplay thus making it a niche game.

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.

Edited August 25, 2013 by Malekith

[Hurlshort]

I would say the unfamiliar setting has more to do with it than anything.

 

Although I'd call The Walking Dead, or really any adventure game, fairly niche in the current marketplace.

[Malekith]

I would say the unfamiliar setting has more to do with it than anything.

 

Although I'd call The Walking Dead, or really any adventure game, fairly niche in the current marketplace.

RPGs are considered niche in the first place in the current marketplace. In an age that 3Mcopies is becoming the minimum to break even, the RPGs that are considered huge successes can be counted in your fingers. That's why from the Big publisers EA is the odd man out having an RPG division, and Bioware is struggling to keep up. Walking Dead sold way better than what was expected.

Edited August 25, 2013 by Malekith

[MrBrown]

 

 

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.

[Maria Caliban]

 

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.

[Sarex]

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.

Edited August 25, 2013 by Sarex

[alanschu]

I'm not sure if I would say that KOTOR was following the same formula as PST, since I don't really consider PST to be following the formula that Baldur's Gate set either.