Dragon Age II Q&A with Lead Designer Mike Laidlaw
- Thread starter Greg Tito
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Ugh. I do not like this interview at all. Like you only have three questions and you use one of them to ask about crafting? Really? are you trolling? I would hazard a guess and say that over 75% of the people do not care one bit about the crafting mechanics in the game. Also,
"Mike Laidlaw's team at BioWare wanted to bring that style even farther into the current generation by increasing the action and "streamlining" dialogue choices."
Streamlining and increased action in RPG terms means dumbing it down so that it runs better on consoles. Hell, they even said that the PC version for the first game was done a year before the release and had to wait for the console to catch up. After playing the demo version, I'm very sad at the departure from the more classic style of the first game, which they did for apparently no real reason other than bringing it into the current generation. Huh, hello we have plenty of 'current' generation RPGs around that was half the charm of the first game. Hell you are releasing Mass Effect 3 later this year, you couldn't keep the increased action and streamlined dialogue for that?
"Mike Laidlaw's team at BioWare wanted to bring that style even farther into the current generation by increasing the action and "streamlining" dialogue choices."
Streamlining and increased action in RPG terms means dumbing it down so that it runs better on consoles. Hell, they even said that the PC version for the first game was done a year before the release and had to wait for the console to catch up. After playing the demo version, I'm very sad at the departure from the more classic style of the first game, which they did for apparently no real reason other than bringing it into the current generation. Huh, hello we have plenty of 'current' generation RPGs around that was half the charm of the first game. Hell you are releasing Mass Effect 3 later this year, you couldn't keep the increased action and streamlined dialogue for that?
Greg - is Mike still there by any chance? Is there any hope of throwing a few final questions his way?:
Q: Why did you decide to reboot the franchise - was Origins really as bad as you and the marketing director keep repeating in these sorts of interviews?
Q: Why make this more of an action and less of a thinking game? In EA's view, is that the only way to move an IP forward in today's industry?
Q: Do you think all BioWare games in the future will all use the duck + slash/shoot mechanic, or are do you/EA think that other ways to design a game might be possible?
Q: Why is your target audience now kids with consoles? What was wrong with the fanbase you had before - they seemed pretty loyal and revved up, and bought >4million copies of Origins? Why do you (or John Eplar/Stan Woo) really have to ask them to "take leave" of your forums?
Q: You are now working an DA3 - how much "streamlining" are you doing with that? Will you still use the "Dragon Age" name after that process is complete, and why?
Thanks!
Q: Why did you decide to reboot the franchise - was Origins really as bad as you and the marketing director keep repeating in these sorts of interviews?
Q: Why make this more of an action and less of a thinking game? In EA's view, is that the only way to move an IP forward in today's industry?
Q: Do you think all BioWare games in the future will all use the duck + slash/shoot mechanic, or are do you/EA think that other ways to design a game might be possible?
Q: Why is your target audience now kids with consoles? What was wrong with the fanbase you had before - they seemed pretty loyal and revved up, and bought >4million copies of Origins? Why do you (or John Eplar/Stan Woo) really have to ask them to "take leave" of your forums?
Q: You are now working an DA3 - how much "streamlining" are you doing with that? Will you still use the "Dragon Age" name after that process is complete, and why?
Thanks!
all the epic personal story telling and gripping characters in the world cant get me past the atrocious new art design, bioware.
if the demo is anything to go by, id imagine the full game will be something along the lines of the audio from the magnificent seven played to clips of dragonball Z, all trying to be taken seriously.
if the demo is anything to go by, id imagine the full game will be something along the lines of the audio from the magnificent seven played to clips of dragonball Z, all trying to be taken seriously.
Well, the interview was rather vague about stuff. Didn't leave me feeling more either way. However, I will state that I used the crafting system so much in Dragon Age that when it was mentioned in the interview, I said out loud "What crafting system? Dragon Age had a...oh yeah...it did." It was pretty junk in the first game, and you could pretty much get anything you needed to craft from drops or stores.
Interview was awful. There have been SUCH major changes, yet these are skipped over with a wave of the hand, instead talking about crafting?
Further, I thought Origins did have a fair degree of the personal storyline - not the PCs, but, depending on how you played it, on Alastair's. You know - abandonment, fear, redemption, becomes king, dies killing dragon....
And Bioware typically does personal stories, that's why they're so good (and why NWN1 was so bad), but it marries them with the major. Yet I'm not convinced about DA:O.
One of the things I really object to about the conversation options is the introduction of that new symbols thing, identifying tone. Its MY playthrough, I want to decide on MY tone. I don't want tooltips telling me what my tone is. I feel like I'm being pigeon-holed. One of the joys of playing an RPG is defining your own character - and for me, that meant mixing good/bad/neutral dialogue, depending on the situation, giving it its own spin and interpretation, and justifying why my character was talking like that. Now, it seems much more of a - this is how we interpret this dialogue, so you should too. It's also far harder to generate your own identity when the dialogue doesn't tell you the actual words for the character to say... It worked with Shepherd because he had a huge backstory, was a commander from the beginning, so had reputation/necessary command skills beyond what the player himself developed, but why do this when developing a character from nothing?
Further, I thought Origins did have a fair degree of the personal storyline - not the PCs, but, depending on how you played it, on Alastair's. You know - abandonment, fear, redemption, becomes king, dies killing dragon....
And Bioware typically does personal stories, that's why they're so good (and why NWN1 was so bad), but it marries them with the major. Yet I'm not convinced about DA:O.
One of the things I really object to about the conversation options is the introduction of that new symbols thing, identifying tone. Its MY playthrough, I want to decide on MY tone. I don't want tooltips telling me what my tone is. I feel like I'm being pigeon-holed. One of the joys of playing an RPG is defining your own character - and for me, that meant mixing good/bad/neutral dialogue, depending on the situation, giving it its own spin and interpretation, and justifying why my character was talking like that. Now, it seems much more of a - this is how we interpret this dialogue, so you should too. It's also far harder to generate your own identity when the dialogue doesn't tell you the actual words for the character to say... It worked with Shepherd because he had a huge backstory, was a commander from the beginning, so had reputation/necessary command skills beyond what the player himself developed, but why do this when developing a character from nothing?
Funny this... I always took DA:O to be a very personal story. Every character had a fully realised personality... but the Warden.
The Warden you crafted and created as you played and responded to the situations.
Also, funky, please don't equate excessive loot with an RPG. It's just sad.
The Warden you crafted and created as you played and responded to the situations.
Also, funky, please don't equate excessive loot with an RPG. It's just sad.
Fuck off, he hulked out.seditary said:
Notice how DA:O only ever showed Sandal happy, content, or slightly disappointed?
...It's because you wouldn't like him when he's angry...
Lawl. Mass Effect only JUST dropped into the $30 range here in oz, pre-owned or otherwise. DA:0 is now sold mostly in the Ultimate Edition exclusively, and still sits between 50-70. Hope you've got a good book in the meantime.adderseal said:
Also, pre-owned? Don't support retail piracy plzthx.
This is not a personal attack against you adderseal, so please don't take it as such, but to me this general attitude displayed by gamers smacks less of 'cynicism' and more of 'childishness'. I find it very similar to a toddler who does his lolly in the middle of a shopping centre because mummy bought him the blue icy pole instead of the red one. We've had some vague interviews and a demo which revealed as much as the trailers, which is to say not much. People are making descisions to hate the game based on a whole bunch of fuck-all, and it's getting kinda tiresome.
I was enticed. I'm by no means recommending the game for an oscar-equivilant based on it, but I liked what I saw enough to make me want to at least play the full version.RenegadePacifist said:
I've seen fanboy droolings of excited anticipation, but nowhere even approaching a polar opposite of the level of 'THIS GAME IS SHIT AND I HATE IT FOREVER AND BIOWARE MURDERS PUPPIES AND DOES COKE OFF PRETEEN GIRLS EYEBALLS AND EA FUCKED MY MUM' that's coming from the detractors side.
Opinions are fine, but you don't think it's a little premature to damn a game that hasn't even seen release day yet?
Flattery will get you everywhere sugar.
Ok, on the so-called 'retail piracy': I think it's OK to buy pre-owned games, you don't. Whatever, that's fine. We could fill two threads with arguments for and against, here isn't the place so don't bring it up.Timmibal said:
Don't worry, I'm not taking your analogy as personal but I'd like you to show me where I said I 'hated' this game? I said 'cynical.' That doesn't mean I'll never buy it, it means I'll buy it later when it's cheaper. I can wait, I don't mind. I've got all these brilliant old games to play in the meantime.
Also, I don't entirely understand how your analogy relates to what I said...or even to what the general attitude seems to be.
Well, I've played the demo now. I won't say I'm disappointed because frankly, I didn't really know what to expect. I do think the redesigned darkspawn look better than the old LotR-movie orcs Origins had. The character models look fine too, and their animations. Although I assume we'll see the same animations reused so much and in such strange situations that they'll end up being awkward. Combat animations are going into final fantasy territory, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
I'm a bit uncertain about the combat. It seems weird that it takes something like 30 slashes to take down the most basic underling, but I assume that's there to make sure you as a player won't get killed in 5 attacks before you have time to react. Then again, special attacks do an incredible amount of damage compared to normal attacks. Eh, we'll see how that plays out. I can appreciate the FF13-style concept of healing the party after each encounter, meaning you don't need to stack up on a ton of potions before heading anywhere.
The models look pretty good considering how modular the engine is supposed to be, but the terrain could've used some brushing up. The ground textures in the first part in particular look decidedly awful. I realize it's an engine problem, but I predict we'll see fan-made mods to improve those textures not too long after release.
The script is standard BioWare fare. I wish they'd adapt a mission statement to ban the phrase "Maybe you're right", but I get the feeling the writers couldn't handle it. I'm also somewhat confused as to why they chose this sequence to show off their "unreliable storyteller". The storyteller tells it one way first, to which the inquisitor is incredulous, and then tells it again with the only difference being there's some stuff happening prior to the event, and that one more character is present. Why is that more believable, and does this mean we'll have to play the same section twice a lot with tiny variations?
The acting is also what I've come to expect from BioWare, ten colours of awful. A text-to-speech program has more voice modulation and character than the bit players (and some of the main characters) in this game. I also have no clue why BioWare loves to make their bit villains slow-talking brits with broad accents. They're about as threatening as chipmunks. That goes for the inquisitor too. Overall, it just feels like the actors either didn't get the memo explaining their characters meaning they give the weakest reading they possibly could to cover all bases, or they're bored out of their skulls and read their lines like machines while thinking about other things. It's at this point I'd like to request a function to turn off speech for bit players so I can think up voices that don't make me want to kill myself.
I'm a bit uncertain about the combat. It seems weird that it takes something like 30 slashes to take down the most basic underling, but I assume that's there to make sure you as a player won't get killed in 5 attacks before you have time to react. Then again, special attacks do an incredible amount of damage compared to normal attacks. Eh, we'll see how that plays out. I can appreciate the FF13-style concept of healing the party after each encounter, meaning you don't need to stack up on a ton of potions before heading anywhere.
The models look pretty good considering how modular the engine is supposed to be, but the terrain could've used some brushing up. The ground textures in the first part in particular look decidedly awful. I realize it's an engine problem, but I predict we'll see fan-made mods to improve those textures not too long after release.
The script is standard BioWare fare. I wish they'd adapt a mission statement to ban the phrase "Maybe you're right", but I get the feeling the writers couldn't handle it. I'm also somewhat confused as to why they chose this sequence to show off their "unreliable storyteller". The storyteller tells it one way first, to which the inquisitor is incredulous, and then tells it again with the only difference being there's some stuff happening prior to the event, and that one more character is present. Why is that more believable, and does this mean we'll have to play the same section twice a lot with tiny variations?
The acting is also what I've come to expect from BioWare, ten colours of awful. A text-to-speech program has more voice modulation and character than the bit players (and some of the main characters) in this game. I also have no clue why BioWare loves to make their bit villains slow-talking brits with broad accents. They're about as threatening as chipmunks. That goes for the inquisitor too. Overall, it just feels like the actors either didn't get the memo explaining their characters meaning they give the weakest reading they possibly could to cover all bases, or they're bored out of their skulls and read their lines like machines while thinking about other things. It's at this point I'd like to request a function to turn off speech for bit players so I can think up voices that don't make me want to kill myself.
having recently played the demo for Xbox, what I want to know is:
Will it be a button mashing "tap 'A' to win" type of deal like in the demo, aka Dynasty Warriors (puke and gag)? Or will I be able to autoattack like DA:O so that I can worry about the tactical situation at hand rather than mashing the A button all day?
Will it be a button mashing "tap 'A' to win" type of deal like in the demo, aka Dynasty Warriors (puke and gag)? Or will I be able to autoattack like DA:O so that I can worry about the tactical situation at hand rather than mashing the A button all day?
I love Dragon Age 2 threads because they always resemble this [http://www.somethingawful.com/d/video-game-article/dragon-age-reaction.php] in relatively short order.