BruceVC Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 I for one am glad Bruce doesn't type with the inflections of the South African accent. What do you mean, we South Africans don't have an accent..its all the other English nations that speak strangely "Abashed the devil stood and felt how awful goodness is and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely: and pined his loss” John Milton "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” - George Bernard Shaw "What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead" - Nelson Mandela
TheChris92 Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 (edited) I'm now reading his posts in a Southern state accent. Good fun! Anyway, I don't want to derail things anymore. So, Dragon Age Inquisition actually seems to have plenty of Dragons this time around. Imagine that? Edited March 12, 2014 by TheChris92
Humanoid Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 I'm concerned that I have to walk two miles off the beaten road to use the services. How am I supposed to hold it in that long? L I E S T R O N GL I V E W R O N G
alanschu Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 I'm now reading his posts in a Southern state accent. Good fun! Anyway, I don't want to derail things anymore. So, Dragon Age Inquisition actually seems to have plenty of Dragons this time around. Imagine that? I have heard that the original builds of Dragon Age didn't actually have a dragon! (I think Uldred was the main villain) Though this is all looooooong before my time, so it's just hearsay at this point.
Monte Carlo Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 Maybe it belongs in the heresy thread, but Dragon Age would be better without dragons.
Humanoid Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 Also better without darkspawn and demons and whatnot. And elves, obviously. L I E S T R O N GL I V E W R O N G
Monte Carlo Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 (edited) Yes. In fact having an elf plague in the next Dragon Age would definitely help. Just humans, dwarves and the guys who begin with 'Q' who are an analogue for 16th Century Islam. Edited March 12, 2014 by Monte Carlo
TheChris92 Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 (edited) I'm now reading his posts in a Southern state accent. Good fun! Anyway, I don't want to derail things anymore. So, Dragon Age Inquisition actually seems to have plenty of Dragons this time around. Imagine that? I have heard that the original builds of Dragon Age didn't actually have a dragon! (I think Uldred was the main villain) Though this is all looooooong before my time, so it's just hearsay at this point. I seem to recall that the game has been in production since 2003 or something. Think that's the first time news came up about it. Were you to remove the Dragons it would simply be A Song of Ice & Fire minus the sex-part. Gaider would smithe me for saying that. Edited March 12, 2014 by TheChris92
213374U Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 example: perhaps bio could improve their romances cutting fat. the small handful o' dialogue encounters do not contribute to character development, so why not remove the juvenile foreplay and get straight to the cut-scenes? I don't know about you, but I enjoy the XP and loot from romance sidequests. Cut that out and I won't be able to mash spacebar fast enough. Seriously though, I mostly agree with you. The bluntness and lack of narrative coherence, to put it that way, is a necessary side effect of the format the romances are presented in. "Fast forward to the important moments" and skip the rest, but the result is going to feel half-assed, rushed and disconnected. But it's either that, a full-fledged relationship sim, or nothing. What I'm not so convinced is that the protagonist's ability to trigger a catharsis on teammates is silly or unrealistic. After all, in Bio games you are routinely beating impossible odds, so it's not so out there. Taking out a race of sentient machines possibly older than life on Earth and fixing the secret insecurities of the genetically perfect Princess Bitchface with a few clichéd phrases? About on the same level. 2 - When he is best, he is a little worse than a man, and when he is worst, he is little better than a beast.
TheChris92 Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 Er, doesn't GoT have dragons? If it does then I sure haven't them yet *wink* *wink*
Monte Carlo Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 *shrugs* I haven't read the books. Don't want to spoil the TV series (more blasphemy).
Noviere Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 *shrugs* I haven't read the books. Don't want to spoil the TV series (more blasphemy). I read and enjoyed the first 3. I couldn't get through the 4th though. Now I just enjoy the show.
Gromnir Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 example: perhaps bio could improve their romances cutting fat. the small handful o' dialogue encounters do not contribute to character development, so why not remove the juvenile foreplay and get straight to the cut-scenes? I don't know about you, but I enjoy the XP and loot from romance sidequests. Cut that out and I won't be able to mash spacebar fast enough. Seriously though, I mostly agree with you. The bluntness and lack of narrative coherence, to put it that way, is a necessary side effect of the format the romances are presented in. "Fast forward to the important moments" and skip the rest, but the result is going to feel half-assed, rushed and disconnected. But it's either that, a full-fledged relationship sim, or nothing. What I'm not so convinced is that the protagonist's ability to trigger a catharsis on teammates is silly or unrealistic. After all, in Bio games you are routinely beating impossible odds, so it's not so out there. Taking out a race of sentient machines possibly older than life on Earth and fixing the secret insecurities of the genetically perfect Princess Bitchface with a few clichéd phrases? About on the same level. a relationship sim is, we believe, unnecessary. no, there is a simple solution, albeit an unpalatable one-- make romance integral. romance that is actual part o' the main plot would diminish the ridiculousness o' achieving emotional breakthrough in a handful o' tangential romance encounters. developers coulds Potentially create a mature and meaningful romance if they would use the entire length and breath o' game... but again, while making integral and expanding romance would solve many problems, it is not something for which Gromnir would lobby. more bio romance? *shudder* forebear. as we noted earlier, the thing that makes bio romances endurable is the thing that most impedes any sorta meaningful improvement. bio romances is, thankfully, tangential and optional. makes romances integral only makes improvement possible, not likely. HA! Good Fun! 1 "If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."Justice Louis Brandeis, Concurring, Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927) "Im indifferent to almost any murder as long as it doesn't affect me or mine."--Gfted1 (September 30, 2019)
BruceVC Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 example: perhaps bio could improve their romances cutting fat. the small handful o' dialogue encounters do not contribute to character development, so why not remove the juvenile foreplay and get straight to the cut-scenes? I don't know about you, but I enjoy the XP and loot from romance sidequests. Cut that out and I won't be able to mash spacebar fast enough. Seriously though, I mostly agree with you. The bluntness and lack of narrative coherence, to put it that way, is a necessary side effect of the format the romances are presented in. "Fast forward to the important moments" and skip the rest, but the result is going to feel half-assed, rushed and disconnected. But it's either that, a full-fledged relationship sim, or nothing. What I'm not so convinced is that the protagonist's ability to trigger a catharsis on teammates is silly or unrealistic. After all, in Bio games you are routinely beating impossible odds, so it's not so out there. Taking out a race of sentient machines possibly older than life on Earth and fixing the secret insecurities of the genetically perfect Princess Bitchface with a few clichéd phrases? About on the same level. a relationship sim is, we believe, unnecessary. no, there is a simple solution, albeit an unpalatable one-- make romance integral. romance that is actual part o' the main plot would diminish the ridiculousness o' achieving emotional breakthrough in a handful o' tangential romance encounters. developers coulds Potentially create a mature and meaningful romance if they would use the entire length and breath o' game... but again, while making integral and expanding romance would solve many problems, it is not something for which Gromnir would lobby. more bio romance? *shudder* forebear. as we noted earlier, the thing that makes bio romances endurable is the thing that most impedes any sorta meaningful improvement. bio romances is, thankfully, tangential and optional. makes romances integral only makes improvement possible, not likely. HA! Good Fun! "make romance integral. romance that is actual part o' the main plot" Gromnir I can honestly say that is one of the most unquestionably insightful and wise things I've heard on the Internet in ages. Brilliant suggestion "Abashed the devil stood and felt how awful goodness is and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely: and pined his loss” John Milton "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” - George Bernard Shaw "What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead" - Nelson Mandela
Fighter Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 "make romance integral. romance that is actual part o' the main plot" To do this well there should be just one main love story plot for the entire game. At most two, to account for both genders. Bioware of today won't do this.
Gromnir Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 "make romance integral. romance that is actual part o' the main plot" To do this well there should be just one main love story plot for the entire game. At most two, to account for both genders. Bioware of today won't do this. agreed. is just one reason why the solution, while simple and elegant, is not going to happen. thank goodness. HA! Good Fun! "If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."Justice Louis Brandeis, Concurring, Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927) "Im indifferent to almost any murder as long as it doesn't affect me or mine."--Gfted1 (September 30, 2019)
aluminiumtrioxid Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 To do this well there should be just one main love story plot for the entire game. At most two, to account for both genders. Bioware of today won't do this. Or you can have a century-spanning story about body-changing, immortal posthumans, and have the main character's LI be a completely different person each time we see him/her(/whatever gender you assign to a disembodied consciousness who can freely change the gender of the bodies they inhabit) 2 "Lulz is not the highest aspiration of art and mankind, no matter what the Encyclopedia Dramatica says."
Keyrock Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 I don't so much care about the particulars as long as we get more hilariously awkward sexy time scenes. 1 RFK Jr 2024 "Any organization created out of fear must create fear to survive." - Bill Hicks
Monte Carlo Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 Yes, with diapers. After all they wear them on spaceships as well as in Ferelden.
Amentep Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 If they can just fix that neck thing going on (see Morrigan in DA:O) so that I'm not creeped out when it comes to nappy* time, I'll be okay. I'm not sure the only way to make romance work would be to make it integral to the plot (although that would make them have to make it work). I do think that if romances are to be a less perfunctory portion of the game, then developers need to get away from a few things, like resolving them in a single story or requiring that all of them end in some form of consummation (or, for that matter, that all of them succeed unless the player rejects the romance). Part of why they're - as they exist now - problematic is because they exist as a player ego stroke where the NPC in question stops being a character and becomes an object puzzle that the solution results in a horizontal mambo cut scene and some sort of bonus somewhere (quest items, relationship bonus, etc). *nap·py1ˈnapē/nounBrit.noun: nappy; plural noun: nappies1. a baby's diaper. I cannot - yet I must. How do you calculate that? At what point on the graph do "must" and "cannot" meet? Yet I must - but I cannot! ~ Ro-Man
TheChris92 Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 Let's not forget about the infamous BioWare hands - They seem to look slightly better in Inquisition.
tajerio Posted March 12, 2014 Posted March 12, 2014 To do this well there should be just one main love story plot for the entire game. At most two, to account for both genders. Bioware of today won't do this. Or you can have a century-spanning story about body-changing, immortal posthumans, and have the main character's LI be a completely different person each time we see him/her(/whatever gender you assign to a disembodied consciousness who can freely change the gender of the bodies they inhabit) Tree of Life Meets Cloud Atlas: The Game?
Bryy Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 Let's not forget about the infamous BioWare hands Or eyelashes.
BruceVC Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 If they can just fix that neck thing going on (see Morrigan in DA:O) so that I'm not creeped out when it comes to nappy* time, I'll be okay. I'm not sure the only way to make romance work would be to make it integral to the plot (although that would make them have to make it work). from a few things, like resolving them in a single story or requiring that all of them end in some form of consummation (or, for that matter, that all of them succeed unless the player rejects the romance). I know Gromnir didn't think that it was a valid suggestion but integrated Romance would be one irrefutable way to end this debate around the "role of Romance in RPG". I would support it for a number of reasons. Firstly I know many people will say " but I don't like Romance, why subject me to me something I don't like". But that view wouldn't really exist if Romance was mandatory. It would be no more strange than choosing a different race, a class or a selection of spells. Secondly this would put more attention on the developers creating more meaningful Romance that would appeal to the fanbase. They would have to do this as now Romance is part of the game and whether you can complete it and they would get judged on that. Finally I think most of us agree a well written Romance does enhance the RPG experience and improve interaction in your party so logically wouldn't integrated Romance improve the overall entertainment of your RPG journey in a particular game? "Abashed the devil stood and felt how awful goodness is and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely: and pined his loss” John Milton "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” - George Bernard Shaw "What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead" - Nelson Mandela
Recommended Posts