So DA:I will have stronghold and crafting too

[salo]

That said, I've no doubt whatsoever that PoE will be the better game, or at the least the game more to my taste ("better", after all, is largely a matter of opinion in such cases). I may purchase Inquisition as well, but that is by no means a definite thing at this point. Neither strongholds nor crafting systems are what I base my decision to play or not play a game on, and from my point of view, BioWare shot themselves in the foot with Inquisition the moment they announced they were going to keep the voiced PC and dialogue wheel and there is nothing they can do to fully dig themselves out of that hole save allow those things to be disabled -- which is not happening. I have my doubts about how much the combat will be improved from DA II as well, and combat in that game was an annoyance. They seem to have at least realised that people do want to play their own character rather than a variation on the defualt (although they don't seem to realise how crippling the voice/wheel mechanic is for that), so that could be a good sign.

 

I really liked the dialogue wheel in the Mass Effect games, I thought it really meshed with the cinematic style of the game. In other games I've actually sort of missed the functionality of knowing the tone of a reply by it's position, and mistakenly angered NPCs with replies that I intended to be friendly or joking, but the game interpreted as sarcastic or hostile.

I really enjoyed Dragon Age: Origins as well, but I'll for sure wait around until I've gotten a solid impression of Inquisition before buying it (perhaps even a Steam sale).

[Sarex]

Ubisoft, on the other hand, has of late (in 2014) surprised me in the other direction: They do actually deliver on their PR-selltalk quite a bit. M&M X, Child of Light, Valiant Hearts, etc.

 

Did they not flop with Watch Dogs, especially with that whole E3 graphics fiasco. Plus I still can't forgive them for what they are planing to do with PoP franchise.

[archangel979]

 

That said, I've no doubt whatsoever that PoE will be the better game, or at the least the game more to my taste ("better", after all, is largely a matter of opinion in such cases). I may purchase Inquisition as well, but that is by no means a definite thing at this point. Neither strongholds nor crafting systems are what I base my decision to play or not play a game on, and from my point of view, BioWare shot themselves in the foot with Inquisition the moment they announced they were going to keep the voiced PC and dialogue wheel and there is nothing they can do to fully dig themselves out of that hole save allow those things to be disabled -- which is not happening. I have my doubts about how much the combat will be improved from DA II as well, and combat in that game was an annoyance. They seem to have at least realised that people do want to play their own character rather than a variation on the defualt (although they don't seem to realise how crippling the voice/wheel mechanic is for that), so that could be a good sign.

 

I really liked the dialogue wheel in the Mass Effect games, I thought it really meshed with the cinematic style of the game. In other games I've actually sort of missed the functionality of knowing the tone of a reply by it's position, and mistakenly angered NPCs with replies that I intended to be friendly or joking, but the game interpreted as sarcastic or hostile.

I really enjoyed Dragon Age: Origins as well, but I'll for sure wait around until I've gotten a solid impression of Inquisition before buying it (perhaps even a Steam sale).

 

Actually that is not a realistic way to do things. Although a certain response might seem to be friendly or joking to you, there are two people in the conversations and not everything is same to both of them. Conversations wheels decide your character and his culture always supersedes the other person. It is a bad way to do it, and completely unrealistic.

[archangel979]

 

 I'm certain EA is aware of how precarious Bioware's reputation is, and are throwing piles upon piles of money at this game.

 

They may be throwing piles of money at the game, but that doesn't mean they aren't completely clueless as to how to translate those piles of money into an actual good game. They threw piles of money at The Old Republic as well, remember?

 

To be fair, after switching to F2P, SWTOR is earning a lot of money and is like top 5 MMORPG in earnings. It does not say much about objective quality of the game, but it has players that are willing to pay.

[Natusake]

I'm still struggling to understand what this has to do with Pillars of Eternity.

Edited July 26, 2014 by Natusake

[MReed]

...wait around until I've gotten a solid impression of Inquisition before buying it (perhaps even a Steam sale).

 

 

FYI:  DA:I will not appear on Stream (ever, in all likelihood).  As I understand it, Stream requires games that offer DLC to offer it for sale via Stream itself (in addition to whatever other channels that they might use) -- which, of course, allows Stream to take a cut when it is purchased that way.  EA has refused to do so, so unless / untill an "Ultimate" (bundled with all possible DLC) version is created, no EA game will appear in Stream.

 

Directly on topic, I've been intermittently following the coverage of DA:I, but for the same reason that people can't look away from a train wreck in progress.  I watched the 2012 Simcity hype in much the same way, and we all know how that turned out...

[Hiro Protagonist II]

If I hadn't bought DA:O billed as a spiritual successor to the BG series (their marketing worked on me) which I never finished, then it would have been more than 10 years since I bought a Bioware game. So I won't know if DA:I does it better or not and I won't care when I'm playing PoE.

[salo]

 

 

That said, I've no doubt whatsoever that PoE will be the better game, or at the least the game more to my taste ("better", after all, is largely a matter of opinion in such cases). I may purchase Inquisition as well, but that is by no means a definite thing at this point. Neither strongholds nor crafting systems are what I base my decision to play or not play a game on, and from my point of view, BioWare shot themselves in the foot with Inquisition the moment they announced they were going to keep the voiced PC and dialogue wheel and there is nothing they can do to fully dig themselves out of that hole save allow those things to be disabled -- which is not happening. I have my doubts about how much the combat will be improved from DA II as well, and combat in that game was an annoyance. They seem to have at least realised that people do want to play their own character rather than a variation on the defualt (although they don't seem to realise how crippling the voice/wheel mechanic is for that), so that could be a good sign.

 

I really liked the dialogue wheel in the Mass Effect games, I thought it really meshed with the cinematic style of the game. In other games I've actually sort of missed the functionality of knowing the tone of a reply by it's position, and mistakenly angered NPCs with replies that I intended to be friendly or joking, but the game interpreted as sarcastic or hostile.

I really enjoyed Dragon Age: Origins as well, but I'll for sure wait around until I've gotten a solid impression of Inquisition before buying it (perhaps even a Steam sale).

 

Actually that is not a realistic way to do things. Although a certain response might seem to be friendly or joking to you, there are two people in the conversations and not everything is same to both of them. Conversations wheels decide your character and his culture always supersedes the other person. It is a bad way to do it, and completely unrealistic.

 

That is of course true, but I meant that the character's delivery and intention is easier to match up with your own when you've got you dialogue options thematically sorted. If I for example intend a lighthearted reply, and the character on screen delivers it like an **** then there's been a miscommunication (and that is what I meant by the game's interpretion, not that the character I'm aspeaking to should conform to my every wish. I can see now that I was unclear).

 

Anyway, the dialogue wheel is just a way to handle dialogue, it sounds like it's the actually writing that you are having a problem with, not the technology that delivers it.

[Rosbjerg]

I'm still struggling to understand what this has to do with Pillars of Eternity.

A comparativ discussion that is branching.

[Tuckey]

DA:I will have some fans, no doubt. However having seen a gameplay demonstration the combat looked a little on the easy side with the pause and play tactics being largely unnecessary for how the combat turned out. As usual these days it will be tuned to baby's first rpg difficulty so won't appeal to me or likely people who enjoy Divinity Original Sin or Pillars of Eternity. (If the combat is your main thing that is)

Edited July 27, 2014 by Tuckey

[Karranthain]

I was repelled by the combat, terrible art style and (last but not least) the positively awful character quotes. Did someone actually read those before posting them?

 

Never got the sieges part.

Edited July 27, 2014 by Karranthain

[Fatback]

I watched a couple videos and to be honest I could barely see past the character they didn't show the tactics view and it looked like a particle spam fest. I'm prob going to pass on it.

[Posbi]

Meh, I've disconnected myself entirely from Bioware after being on the receiving end of their last three underwhelming games. Brand loyalty and nostalgia only get you so far. I mean, I liked DA:O and adored ME 2 & its DLCs, but everything after that was an overly hyped but eventual disappointment. Heck, I really wanted to give DA:O another shot a few weeks ago with a city elf origin playthrough and found out that the game - official and unofficial patches included - still is way too buggy for me to do so. I'm sure DA:I will be graphically appealing and will have the trademark Bioware character interactions *cough* romances *cough*, but I don't see it as able to compete with the type of narrative and immersive depth PoE aims for.

[archangel979]

For me, DA:O was last really good Bioware game. Mass Effect was fun and cool but more for the novelty and cool new setting. ME2 was already a shooter with stats. 

[Karkarov]

 

Ubisoft, on the other hand, has of late (in 2014) surprised me in the other direction: They do actually deliver on their PR-selltalk quite a bit. M&M X, Child of Light, Valiant Hearts, etc.

 

Did they not flop with Watch Dogs, especially with that whole E3 graphics fiasco. Plus I still can't forgive them for what they are planing to do with PoP franchise.

 

If Watch_Dogs is the worst game you play this year then you had a damn great gaming year.  That is all I am going to say about that.

 

As for the topic.... there is plenty of room for both games to have crafting and strongholds and both games to still be good.  They aren't competing with each other to begin with and I think people need to understand and be honest about that.  The hardcore RPG fan is also probably going to buy both regardless of which one they think is "better" over all.  Don't forget the wolf in the room either... Witcher 3 which has no stronghold but will be a serious contender for RPG of the year.

[BruceVC]

 

 

Ubisoft, on the other hand, has of late (in 2014) surprised me in the other direction: They do actually deliver on their PR-selltalk quite a bit. M&M X, Child of Light, Valiant Hearts, etc.

 

Did they not flop with Watch Dogs, especially with that whole E3 graphics fiasco. Plus I still can't forgive them for what they are planing to do with PoP franchise.

 

If Watch_Dogs is the worst game you play this year then you had a damn great gaming year.  That is all I am going to say about that.

 

As for the topic.... there is plenty of room for both games to have crafting and strongholds and both games to still be good.  They aren't competing with each other to begin with and I think people need to understand and be honest about that.  The hardcore RPG fan is also probably going to buy both regardless of which one they think is "better" over all.  Don't forget the wolf in the room either... Witcher 3 which has no stronghold but will be a serious contender for RPG of the year.

 

 

I agree with this sentiment completely, good post

 

And I also think that the Witcher 3 is going to be epic

Edited July 28, 2014 by BruceVC

[Quadrone]

 

As for the topic.... there is plenty of room for both games to have crafting and strongholds and both games to still be good.  They aren't competing with each other to begin with and I think people need to understand and be honest about that.  The hardcore RPG fan is also probably going to buy both regardless of which one they think is "better" over all.  Don't forget the wolf in the room either... Witcher 3 which has no stronghold but will be a serious contender for RPG of the year.

 

 

Eh, I would hope that the "hardcore RPG fan" wouldn't want to be cought dead with a copy of DA:I.

Each time I stumble on news of the game it gets more embarrassing. So, yeah I expect it to sell reasonably well, afterall Bioware has gained a certain "following" the past years, but surely not because of its high RPG exellency.

[talharbash]

I saw the DA:I preview video and they had a Qunari Mage as the main character.

 

Yeah that makes sense... I mean the Qunari keep being reimagined in practically every game in the series. It gets to the point where they just jumped the shark too many times and threw in whatever their fans asked for without keeping the integrity of the world.

 

And a mage leading the inquisition? Hilarious. Reminds me of DA2 where you can play a mage and side with the templars and no one notices you're casting fireballs left and right.

 

Strongholds or not, the DA series needs to be rebooted or shelved.

[Arden]

DA:I is more a console game with a cartoonish interface and action based.

They left out the good from DA:O.

[Karkarov]

And I also think that the Witcher 3 is going to be epic

It'll have romance too won't it Bruce....  Yennefer is back after all.  Of course I am gonna laugh at all the people who only played the games and actually think Triss is his main squeeze.

Edited July 28, 2014 by Karkarov

[Valmy]

 

...wait around until I've gotten a solid impression of Inquisition before buying it (perhaps even a Steam sale).

 

 

FYI:  DA:I will not appear on Stream (ever, in all likelihood).  As I understand it, Stream requires games that offer DLC to offer it for sale via Stream itself (in addition to whatever other channels that they might use) -- which, of course, allows Stream to take a cut when it is purchased that way.  EA has refused to do so, so unless / untill an "Ultimate" (bundled with all possible DLC) version is created, no EA game will appear in Stream.

 

Directly on topic, I've been intermittently following the coverage of DA:I, but for the same reason that people can't look away from a train wreck in progress.  I watched the 2012 Simcity hype in much the same way, and we all know how that turned out...

 

 

No Steam and/or no GOG?  Then no sale.  Sorry EA, already gotten screwed enough by your terrible store.  Never again.

Edited July 28, 2014 by Valmy

[Valmy]

I saw the DA:I preview video and they had a Qunari Mage as the main character.

 

Yeah that makes sense... I mean the Qunari keep being reimagined in practically every game in the series. It gets to the point where they just jumped the shark too many times and threw in whatever their fans asked for without keeping the integrity of the world.

 

And a mage leading the inquisition? Hilarious. Reminds me of DA2 where you can play a mage and side with the templars and no one notices you're casting fireballs left and right.

 

LOL.  Dear God.  It is like Mass Effect 2 all over again.  Remember all that story telling and lore from the last game?  Well arbitrary parts of it are going to change. 

[Doppelschwert]

As for the topic.... there is plenty of room for both games to have crafting and strongholds and both games to still be good.  They aren't competing with each other to begin with and I think people need to understand and be honest about that.  The hardcore RPG fan is also probably going to buy both regardless of which one they think is "better" over all.  Don't forget the wolf in the room either... Witcher 3 which has no stronghold but will be a serious contender for RPG of the year.

 

 

I don't see what that has to do with hardcore. What is your definition of hardcore? The way you put it, it sounds like someone who will just play everything that is thrown on the market, regardless of personal taste. I'm not trying to be hostile, I just don't know how to word it differently. I'm honestly curious for what you mean.

 

Besides, W3 has an official release date of february 2015. Not going to be contender this year.

Edited July 28, 2014 by Doppelschwert

[Lephys]

I always have hopes (though no longer high hopes... just hopes) for these modern games. But... man, they so often overplay their hand.

 

I really just wish they'd stop tossing about super vague adjectives and such and, when someone asks "Hey, how cool will crafting be?", answers with an actual example/breakdown of how crafting will be. Or, "Hey, what will the stronghold be like?" Just tell us what the design plan is. I mean, crap, the Suikoden castle/stronghold management from way back when was far more in-depth than most modern stuff.

 

But, the point is, be clear about it. Don't just toss out "You'll have OVER 110 options for upgrades! 8D!"

 

That's great, until it's "+1 income, +2 income, +3 income, +4 income, +1 weapon sharpening, +2 weapon sharpening, +3 weapon sharpening," and so forth. They want us to get all excited about "over 110" upgrades, then we find out it's all just a big list of passive upgrades. Pretty mundane, really. What will you get to do in the "exciting and dynamic" stronghold management? One thing: accrue passive bonuses. But they don't say that.

 

Ugh, I'm so tired of that happening.

 

No one's gonna fault you for making a game that's lesser than what they want, NEARLY as much as they will if you make them expect what they desire, then deliver less than that.

[Tuckey]

The problem with modern AAA games is that they are marketing led and every factoid that comes out of these 'interviews' is just supposed to get us excited about the game. Point is that they are vague on purpose so that they can interest as many consumers as possible. Details might 'gasp' tell someone that they might not be into the game.