Dragon Age: Inquisition

[Nonek]

Personally I thought all of the DA2 companions were poorly designed caricatures, part of the reason why I tried to solo the game, except it kept forcing the needy, overly emotional dullards into my party. Was never able to find a way to get rid of them until near the end either.

[BruceVC]

Personally I thought all of the DA2 companions were poorly designed caricatures, part of the reason why I tried to solo the game, except it kept forcing the needy, overly emotional dullards into my party. Was never able to find a way to get rid of them until near the end either.

 

But you must have liked Isabella's outfits? Especially her boots.....

[Tale]

I hope top right appears in the game. It brings to mind masquerade balls.

[Orogun01]

Merrill was fantastic. Everyone that says otherwise is an enemy of man.

Yep, anyone who didn't like the cute girl with psychotic tendencies is an enemy of man. I mean who in their right mind would not like the crazy girl that kept ****ing around with that damn mirror even when you told her not to.

DA2: "How to babysit and care for the mentally deficient and the criminally insane"

[Maria Caliban]

One has to wonder why the young lady is holding an overly ornate Rabbit?

You mean the cane? Her mage staff?

[HoonDing]

Deedlit > Merrill.

[tajerio]

I actually enjoyed Merrill as a change of pace from BioWare's typical mentally ill/emotionally damaged companion.  No matter how you as the player shepherd her along and argue with her to act differently, she doesn't change her way of thought one iota.  That her way of thought is so incredibly stupid is another matter.

[Nepenthe]

 

 

Personally I thought all of the DA2 companions were poorly designed caricatures, part of the reason why I tried to solo the game, except it kept forcing the needy, overly emotional dullards into my party. Was never able to find a way to get rid of them until near the end either.

But you must have liked Isabella's outfits? Especially her boots.....

I like big boots, I cannot lie.

[Bryy]

 

Merrill was fantastic. Everyone that says otherwise is an enemy of man.

Yep, anyone who didn't like the cute girl with psychotic tendencies is an enemy of man. I mean who in their right mind would not like the crazy girl that kept ****ing around with that damn mirror even when you told her not to.

DA2: "How to babysit and care for the mentally deficient and the criminally insane"

 

You either take posts too seriously or video games too seriously. I'm not quite sure which yet.

[Nonek]

 

One has to wonder why the young lady is holding an overly ornate Rabbit?

You mean the cane? Her mage staff?

 

 

Good grief, well I think that seals the deal and this game is most certainly not designed for me, I shall adieu and hope the game meets your expectations good people.

[Orogun01]

 

 

Merrill was fantastic. Everyone that says otherwise is an enemy of man.

Yep, anyone who didn't like the cute girl with psychotic tendencies is an enemy of man. I mean who in their right mind would not like the crazy girl that kept ****ing around with that damn mirror even when you told her not to.

DA2: "How to babysit and care for the mentally deficient and the criminally insane"

 

You either take posts too seriously or video games too seriously. I'm not quite sure which yet.

 

Right back at ya

[BruceVC]

 

 

One has to wonder why the young lady is holding an overly ornate Rabbit?

You mean the cane? Her mage staff?

 

 

Good grief, well I think that seals the deal and this game is most certainly not designed for me, I shall adieu and hope the game meets your expectations good people.

 

 

Wow, so you aren't going to be play DA:I because of one item represented in the artistic interpretation of one charatcer... tough crowd

 

( I hate to think about what you will say when they start talking about the Romance implementation in DA:l ...  )

Edited March 27, 2014 by BruceVC

[Maria Caliban]

Good grief, well I think that seals the deal and this game is most certainly not designed for me, I shall adieu and hope the game meets your expectations good people.

But you'll still post on the thread, right?

[Nonek]

 

 

 

One has to wonder why the young lady is holding an overly ornate Rabbit?

You mean the cane? Her mage staff?

 

 

Good grief, well I think that seals the deal and this game is most certainly not designed for me, I shall adieu and hope the game meets your expectations good people.

 

 

Wow, so you aren't going to be play DA:I because of one item represented in the artistic interpretation of one charatcer... tough crowd

 

( I hate to think about what you will say when they start talking about the Romance implementation in DA:l ...  )

 

 

More a case of the straw that broke the camels back Bruce, the emphasis on style over substance in this Vivian ladies case is only one egregious element in a long tally that i've been keeping, far more important was the previous blurb announcing that she would be a suicidal dullard. I didn't like the unmotivated, idle and idiotic female characters of DA2 for this very reason and so i'll pass on the next installment.

 

 

Good grief, well I think that seals the deal and this game is most certainly not designed for me, I shall adieu and hope the game meets your expectations good people.

But you'll still post on the thread, right?

 

 

No. I don't wish to negatively affect anybodies enjoyment of the game, and realise that my complaints are not shared by most Bioware fans (and are not even able to be seen by many of them) so i'll leave you to discuss the game without my perjorative opinions.

[BruceVC]

 

 

 

 

One has to wonder why the young lady is holding an overly ornate Rabbit?

You mean the cane? Her mage staff?

 

 

Good grief, well I think that seals the deal and this game is most certainly not designed for me, I shall adieu and hope the game meets your expectations good people.

 

 

Wow, so you aren't going to be play DA:I because of one item represented in the artistic interpretation of one charatcer... tough crowd

 

( I hate to think about what you will say when they start talking about the Romance implementation in DA:l ...  )

 

 

More a case of the straw that broke the camels back Bruce, the emphasis on style over substance in this Vivian ladies case is only one egregious element in a long tally that i've been keeping, far more important was the previous blurb announcing that she would be a suicidal dullard. I didn't like the unmotivated, idle and idiotic female characters of DA2 for this very reason and so i'll pass on the next installment.

 

 

 

But Nonek let me ask you an different question, what if DA:I does offer us the most realistic and rewarding Romance options ever seen in any Bioware game. Are you really going to deny yourself that kind of interaction and entertainment? I guess what I mean is " we mustn't cut our noses off to spite our faces"....

[213374U]

One has to wonder why the young lady is holding an overly ornate Rabbit?

 

While I generally share your criticism of style over substance, I don't think the art direction is necessarily a good example. After all:

 

 

 

Yup. Leave it to us Europeans to produce something so obscenely ornate that ends up being caricaturesque. (though I suppose a valid complaint is about the taste of anyone who draws inspiration from that...  )

 

edit:

 

Also, because why the hell not:

 

 

"Yo dawg, I heard you like sceptres, so we put a sceptre in your sceptre so you can rule while you rule..."

Edited March 27, 2014 by 213374U

[Maria Caliban]

No. I don't wish to negatively affect anybodies enjoyment of the game, and realise that my complaints are not shared by most Bioware fans (and are not even able to be seen by many of them) so i'll leave you to discuss the game without my perjorative opinions.

But I'll miss you! Just say here and talk about what you don't like. We still want to hear your opinion.

[Maria Caliban]

XBox Magazine preview!

A poster at the bioboards got his copy today and was kind enough to write a detailed summary. C+P for her pleasure.
 

Hi fellow Dragon Age: Inquisition fans!

 

I just bought the Official Xbox Magazine featuring their preview for Dragon Age Inquisition. (It came out today in a Singapore bookshop)

 

Below are points that I hope you will find noteworthy and enjoy reading:

 

1. There will be 5 regions in Dragon Age: Inquisition: Fereldan, The Free Marches, Orlais, Nevarra and the Dales:

• 2 of the areas you can expect to visit are; a war-torn region in Orlais and an elven burial ground, known as the Emerald Graves.
• The Emerald Graves, according to executive producer Mark Darrah, is where the Dalish Elves planted one tree for every soldier killed in the Exalted Marches.
• According to the magazine, while enemy levels don't scale to your characters, you can affect environmental changes to drastically influence local settlements, establish trade routes, capture territory and disrupt the local ecosystem.
• Wild flora and fauna, useful for crafting can be hunted to scarcity, allowing other species to proliferate.
• Defeating intelligent enemies like bandits or dragons will have a significant effect on a given region.

2. Dragon Age Inquisition Companions:

• There will be no DLC Companions: According to Creative Director Mike Laidlaw: "Because of how deeply enmeshed in the system companion characters are, we can't just add them on the fly; part of them has to be shipped on the disc...which was led to criticism that we're forcing people to pay for content they already own. It's not the case, but we've decided this time to not go that route. There will be no DLC party members."
• Solas is an apostate and an expert on the Fade.
• The Iron Bull is confirmed as a companion, who is described as "a one-eyed mercenary and outcast from the Qunari faith"
• Sera is confirmed as a companion, and is described as "an elven archer. Little is known about them [referring to both Sera and the Iron Bull] at this point, particularly Sera, who turned up seemingly on accident during one of several combat demonstrations..."

3. The Dialogue Wheel:

• "We have three wheels that we use in response to any given piece of dialogue" says Gaider. "One of those is what we call the 'tone wheel', which is mostly for role-playing choices. The other two are the 'choice wheel'- for taking an action or stating an opinion-and the 'reaction wheel,' for emotional moments"

4. The Inquisitor:

• There will be 4 voices for the Inquisitor 2 for each gender, for all races
• To address why the same voices apply to all races, Mike Laidlaw made the following statement: "It's a matter of file size...if we were to have eight voices, two for each race, we would be shipping on 14 discs or something. We figured that with four voices, that would give players enough options while staying within our size limitations"
• Bioware is currently exploring options to differentiate the voices, like changing the pitch of the audio.
• The Prologue Section (or the "Origin" section" will be the same for all players. The player's appearance, class and dialogue responses during the prologue section will fill in the details, presumably of the Inquisitor's background, and in particular inform how other characters respond to you throughout the story.
• The Inquisitor is the sole survivor of a reality-shattering event which results in the Fade tearing opening throughout Thedas.
• "Presumbly as a result [of the Fade tearing open throughout Thedas], you're also endowed with a singular ability: you can close these rifts wherever they appear throughout the continent."

5. Endings:

• "Bioware is promising a staggering 40 possible endings for the game, dependent not only on choices made in character generation but by actions taken throughout the storyline. [Mark] Darrah stresses, however, that the endings will all be meaningfully different from one another. You won't find 40 endings with only slight degrees of variation between them."

6. Customization:

• Armour weights are no longer class specific. Meaning a rogue can wear a mage's robes, and a mage can wear a warrior's armour. The magazine speculates the penalties will be similar to the  fatigue penalties used in DA: Origins

7. Other information:

• There will be a jar of bees, which can be used as a combat item which according to Bioware: "You throw it, the jar breaks open, and little bees fly around stinging your opponents."

I hope you guys will enjoy the information provided!

[Malcador]

"You won't find 40 endings with only slight degrees of variation between them."

 

Uh huh.   Other than that, all sound good.

[Nepenthe]

Thanks for the info. Looking forward to this, there isn't much else to look forward to this year... Two miserably quiet game years in a row to me, and living here in the boondocks, too.

[Tale]

"We have three wheels that we use in response to any given piece of dialogue" says Gaider. "One of those is what we call the 'tone wheel', which is mostly for role-playing choices. The other two are the 'choice wheel'- for taking an action or stating an opinion-and the 'reaction wheel,' for emotional moments"

I want to hate this. But maybe it's my natural distaste for their wheel and attempts at cinematic dialogue. I don't think I'll love it, but maybe it just won't annoy me.

 

"You won't find 40 endings with only slight degrees of variation between them."

 

Uh huh.   Other than that, all sound good.

It's like a parody at this point and you have to laugh. There's a fundamental disconnect between Bioware and the audience for what constitutes "slight degrees of variation." Bethesda's an offender, too. But you think someone would catch on and just stop saying this stuff.

[Monte Carlo]

Bioware's hyperbole machine is flashing and jerking around, steam escaping from the exaggeration nodules.

[Meshugger]

Merrill was fantastic. Everyone that says otherwise is an enemy of man.

 

Hello chap, how's the weather? Now, let me introduce myself: I'm an emeny of man.

[Volourn]

"You won't find 40 endings with only slight degrees of variation between them."

 

Uh huh.   Other than that, all sound good."

 

Yeah, I have my doubts they'll be wildly different.

 

 

"There's a fundamental disconnect between Bioware and the audience for what constitutes "slight degrees of variation." Bethesda's an offender, too. But you think someone would catch on and just stop saying this stuff."

 

Eh. Every company that ever existed does the same thing. Even the beloved Obsidian, BIS, and all the other 'cool guys'. *shrug*

[Tale]

I'm curious as to when Obsidian made a claim about how many significantly different endings a game would have. Not to claim it didn't happen, but I do like to keep track of these things. I remember Bethesda's remark about having hundreds of endings for Fallout 3 and Bioware's remark about having so many endings you couldn't really classify them as a, b, or c for Mass Effect 3.

 

I will note that the further back it goes, the less excuse there is for doing it today.