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Author Topic: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons  (Read 165654 times)

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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #550 on: 19 Mar 2011, 14:43 »

Not as far as I'm aware. Besides, if ME3 is anything like ME2 there won't be many stats like "attack speed" and "damage resistance" that will affect the game. ME2's combat system is pretty simple, and effective.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #551 on: 19 Mar 2011, 15:16 »

I'm pretty sure that the DA:O editor works because most of the original programing/tech was left untouched in the DA2.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #552 on: 19 Mar 2011, 16:14 »

That's not uncommon between sequels. Many of the tools used to mess with code in Bethesda games work from Oblivion all the way up to New Vegas. As I understand it, you can even use Morrowind-era tools to a point. Reusing systems familiar to coders should theoretically result in faster turnaround times and fewer bugs.

Anyway, lead developer quote time!
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"Is it important to have more content in the game, or is it important that the content be 100-percent unique?" - Mike Laidlaw
Mike Laidlaw  8-)
« Last Edit: 19 Mar 2011, 16:21 by KvP »
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #553 on: 20 Mar 2011, 02:54 »

Betrayal
Quote from: A Speaker for the Bioboards Hivemind
every previous BioWare game, I always felt that almost every companion in the game was designed for the male gamer in mind. Every female love interest was always written as a male friend type support character. In Dragon Age 2, I felt like most of the companions were designed to appeal to other groups foremost, Anders and Fenris for gays and Aveline for women given the lack of strong women in games, and that for the straight male gamer, a secondary concern. It makes things very awkward when your male companions keep making passes at you. The fact that a "No Homosexuality" option, which could have been easily implemented, is omitted just proves my point. I know there are some straight male gamers out there who did not mind it at and I respect that.
When I say BioWare neglected The Straight Male Gamer, I don't mean that they ignored male gamers. The romance options, Isabella and Merrill, were clearly designed for the straight male gamers in mind. Unfortunately, those choices are what one would call "exotic" choices. They appeal to a subset of male gamers and while its true you can't make a romance option everyone will love, with Isabella and Merrill it seems like they weren't even going for an option most males will like. And the fact is, they could have. They had the resources to add another romance option, but instead chose to implement a gay romance with Anders.
You know what, disregard everything I've ever said about DA2. Buy it, so you can spite twats like this.

Meanwhile, Fair-skinned Isabela is the 4th most downloaded DA2 mod in existence ("Basically, this is a complete revamp of Isabela. She is by far my favorite companion in DA2, but I couldn't stand her overly dark... everything! (just not my type). ;) So, I put my PS skills and patience to the test and started makin her a whole new kind of beautiful! The work was worth it cause here she is, in all her fair skinned, blonde haired and blue eyed glory. :)")
« Last Edit: 20 Mar 2011, 03:03 by KvP »
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #554 on: 20 Mar 2011, 03:42 »

The sad thing is that he's restarted the same thread at least three times (the latest was 12 hrs ago or something). I feel really sorry for this guy.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #555 on: 20 Mar 2011, 06:06 »

To be fair I remember Isabela being more fair haired than gypsy-ish in the first game.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #556 on: 20 Mar 2011, 14:25 »


Sort of...
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #557 on: 20 Mar 2011, 17:02 »

It would be less disconcerting if the mod restored her to her DA:O look instead of an explicitly Aryan ideal.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #558 on: 20 Mar 2011, 19:05 »

The redhead version of the mod looks the closest and the most visually appealing imo.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #559 on: 20 Mar 2011, 19:11 »

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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #560 on: 21 Mar 2011, 22:51 »

This is a particularly fucked bug because of the vaguely drawn events that Johnny alludes to at the end of Act 2. As far as I know, it plays out to the player's benefit if you have certain friendship bars maxed. Now there's some choice and consequence!

it unequivocally does! and like wouldn't even be a thing if isabela was at all fucking useful for a dual-wielding rogue. god damn it
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #562 on: 22 Mar 2011, 15:34 »

I disagree with that review on number of points, but at least I get the strong impression that we've been playing the same game even if we disagree on some of the highly subjective stuff.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #563 on: 22 Mar 2011, 22:12 »

Ugh I don't think I can finish Act 3 because I am tired of mages attacking me when I am on their bloody side.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #564 on: 22 Mar 2011, 22:18 »

We weren't kidding when we said everybody's a goddamn blood mage.

Anyway, it'll be worth it once you reach the end.

...
...
...
...
...
SPOILER
...
It really won't be.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #565 on: 23 Mar 2011, 04:07 »

I have no idea how to frame this post... I'm going to end up doing some crazy hobo rant, I just know it.

I want to like DA2 more than Origins. I really, really do. All the pieces are there for me to like it more. The more Low Fantasy-ish plot line, the lack of a genuine outright villain, and significantly more gray morality. (The one possible exception is in the Deep Roads and he's more a greedy asshole than an outright cackly villain type.) Other features such as the revamped combat, the voiced protagonist and the new dialogue range from big improvement to minor improvement to mild indifference, respectively.

It's the story though that's twisting me up. I feel like I'm reading every second or third chapter of what is actually a really good book, but I can't get into it like I should because I'm missing so much of the narrative. It's just barely enough to pick up the plot but except for Varrics little blurp at the start of a few acts there's very little exposition or, more importantly, build up.

It's like having your friend lend to a book with only his marked "best bits" in it and told you to just read those without realising it's them in context to the whole story that makes them so good. It's like reading the about the Siege of Minas Tirith, without the greater context of the Lord of the Rings. Sure, it's still pretty cool, but lacking context it stops short of Bioware's usual epic-ness.*

Also, don't get me started on the epilogue. This game has less resolution than a 12" monitor from '96 with half the pixels burnt out. Any narrative has three parts a beginning, middle and end. This counts for each Act, not just the story as a whole. For each act I feel like I've played through the middle without a cohesive beginning or end. A framed narrative doesn't give you the excuse to ignore narrative causality.

*N.B. I wouldn't normally use "epic-ness" to describe anything in this context but it's the word the Dev team keeps throwing around.
« Last Edit: 23 Mar 2011, 13:13 by cyro »
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #566 on: 23 Mar 2011, 04:23 »

It's very weird - The two things I can reliably depend upon in Bioware games are a definite sense of discipline when it comes to pacing and a focused narrative, and DA2 is really severely lacking in both. It's is such a complete break from tradition, I'm convinced it was either a fundamental design fuckup or a rushed release. It's probably a lot of both. I'm actually hoping it's the former, because if it is then there's little reason to worry about the implications for ME3 (few if any DA designers work on ME, though some writers do, particularly Gaider who pens Kaidan and... one or two other characters I think). If it's the latter, we could be looking at similar quality compromise via EA's push to perform.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #567 on: 23 Mar 2011, 11:18 »

the new dialogue system i actually like a bunch because it is closer to alpha protocol than mass effect in spirit
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #568 on: 23 Mar 2011, 11:41 »

It would be less disconcerting if the mod restored her to her DA:O look instead of an explicitly Aryan ideal.
Well blonde is just one option you can take.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #569 on: 23 Mar 2011, 13:13 »

Hey JD

"in all her fair skinned, blonde haired and blue eyed glory. :)"

Like that is the actual quote from the mod page by the author.  How can you not say that he wasn't going for a somewhat creepy Aryan ideal?  In that statement he pretty much says that he was.  That smiley emoticon Speaks volumes.  

The other hair options are just after thought palette switches.

the new dialogue system i actually like a bunch because it is closer to alpha protocol than mass effect in spirit

That is why I don't like it.  There were a few times when I wasn't sure what the heck what Hawke was going to say.
« Last Edit: 23 Mar 2011, 13:14 by Caleb »
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #570 on: 23 Mar 2011, 14:08 »

Oh certainly, I'm just having trouble getting worked up about it.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #571 on: 23 Mar 2011, 14:17 »

It'd be easier for me to be dismissive of it too if it weren't for the time my sister cried because she thought her skin meant she'll never be pretty. People are free to do what they want with their games, but such comments will continue to disappoint me a bit.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #572 on: 23 Mar 2011, 14:26 »

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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #573 on: 23 Mar 2011, 15:21 »

To be fair, most new RPGs tend to separate strict quest/story progression and background info/world building dialogue streams instead of giving a long list right off the bat.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #574 on: 23 Mar 2011, 15:50 »

Because they're not bound to text. If you have to tell people most things through telling, not showing since you simply can't show that much, it would be stupid if you had a narrator tell you everything, so it's better just to cram info into NPCs.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #575 on: 23 Mar 2011, 15:57 »

"the perfect font for this image about how rpgs have been dumbed down is comic sans"
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #576 on: 23 Mar 2011, 16:02 »

Yeah, shoulda used Helvetica for the first one so they could at least claim it was intentional.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #577 on: 23 Mar 2011, 16:08 »

have i mentioned how pissed off i was when i found out i couldn't do the blood smear on my custom guy's nose. i was pretty pissed off
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #578 on: 23 Mar 2011, 16:21 »

I think the savegame editor hacker dude figured out a way to at least customize the default face to some extent. I can try and track it down if you like. If you feel like going through the game again.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #579 on: 23 Mar 2011, 16:58 »

Meanwhile, the 360 version got bumped up to a 79 on Metacritic, one point above Shadows of Undrentide, which takes it out of the running for least well-received Bio product (though in SoU's defense, it was essentially an xpac that an outside company royally fucked up and Bioware admirably turned around in short order).

An interview with DA2's lead level designer gosts published. It apparently wasn't from a gaming site, so the questions were surprisingly hardball:

Quote from: Yaron Jacobs Interview
Q: It seems DA2 abandons the free origin choice and its predecessor's variety of powers in favor of a defined and dubbed main character. What was the thought line behind this change?

A: In this game we wanted to tell a specific story, more personal. A talking hero is a very strong thing and so is a specific man with a history and family of his own. This is a different approach which meant we had to give up the freedom of the character designs. The team believes that overall this approach is better and developes the genre towards more interesting directions.

...

Q: Kirkwall is a very small area compared to vast Ferelden we could play during the first game. Have you prefferd giving the city more depth over creating more places where you can hang around? Can you give an example?

A: This time we tried a different approach - enable the players to investigate only one main area, which has more depth and responsiveness. You can compare it to GTA game, where you are always in the same city, or maybe even compare it to Assassin's Creed to a certain degree.

Q: Why are the city's streets not as crowded as one can expect from a city as congested as Kirkwall? Is it due to technical limitations?

A: Yes, this is completely due to technical limitation. We had more people crowding the streets in early stages of development but we had to cut the number to be able to cope with the limitations of game consoles and low-end computers.

Q: Could prolonging development time for the game result in a better variety within the city itself and avoiding reused areas, as seen in the game?

A: Obviously, more time would enable more areas and bigger variation. Honestly, we did not expect this to be such a big deal, but it seems the subject gave rise to a significant number of complaints by both critics and players alike. We listen to the reviews and we will try to address the issue in future games.

...

Q: Does every battle consist of enemy waves? What is your answer for all those people that claim the lack of ability to know the number of waves and where they will pop up causes a battle that consists of reactions instead of tactics and planning?

A: Part of the tactical game is adapting to changes. The waves might feel different, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. I do not agree with those that think the wave pattern is terrible as of itself, but I do agree that there are things it's possible to do in order to improve the use of the waves. We can use them less often and improve the breeding mechanic, for instance. All in all I think the waves are an excellent addition to the game.

...

Q: Why is the tactical game view unavailable in this game? Is the reason technical, aesthetic or a design problem?

A: Support for upper angle of view means creating the graphics in such a way that'll enable cutting the upper parts of the geometry, when you use that option. This causes a decline in quality because it's impossible, or at least very hard, to create the same environments in this way. In short - it was a difficult decision but we believe it was right.

...


Q: Blood Magic is a forbidden art in the world of DA2, but the main character uses it freely during the game against civilians and Templars. How is that logical?

A: Well, sometimes you have to give up perfect inner logic to make the game more fun. This is one of these cases. Anyway, this can be explained by the fact that the champion is someone who can do whatever he wants. No one is bold enough to lecture him about that. This is kind of like when the authorities ignore certain crimes because the criminal's aid is of great importance.

...

Q: Why is it no longer possible to manage your party's gear? Why is it that an armor worn by Hawke cannot be given to other characters?

A: There are many benefits of keeping a unique appearance for the companions: it gives them presence during cutscenes and dialogues and it's even useful during combat - they're easier to tell apart that way. I know it limits the possible customization but there are still many other elements you can upgrade such as weapons, accessories and even upgrade the main armor's stats.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #580 on: 23 Mar 2011, 18:03 »

It'd be easier for me to be dismissive of it too if it weren't for the time my sister cried because she thought her skin meant she'll never be pretty. People are free to do what they want with their games, but such comments will continue to disappoint me a bit.
Well it's a influence thing. I don't think that many people mod their games at all. Conversely some big name magazine should never promote that sort of view, but they do anyway because it nets the more money.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #581 on: 24 Mar 2011, 01:41 »

"We listen to the reviews and we will try to address the issue in future games."

Excellent.

"All in all I think the waves are an excellent addition to the game."

No no, fuck you.

All the reponses after that are completely shit.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #582 on: 24 Mar 2011, 02:06 »

Quote
it gives them presence during cutscenes and dialogues

Pretty sure that this should be done with VA and writing. I'm hoping that this was only really done because of the development cycle.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #583 on: 24 Mar 2011, 09:14 »

Quote
it gives them presence during cutscenes and dialogues

Pretty sure that this should be done with VA and writing. I'm hoping that this was only really done because of the development cycle.

it's the same thing they did in mass effect but like everything else they ported over from mass effect it doesn't work as well as it did in mass effect

also the biggest "fuck you" in there is probably either the patronizing "you can even pump your characters' stats!!!!!" thing OR the ridiculous assertion that it's "like GTA"
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #584 on: 24 Mar 2011, 09:21 »

Oh, you can compare their approach to GTA or Assassin's Creed. Just not favorably. I'm not a Rockstar fanboy by any means, but barren isn't a word that came to mind when playing San Andreas.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #585 on: 24 Mar 2011, 11:15 »

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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #586 on: 24 Mar 2011, 11:39 »

I never want to go to hell now.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #587 on: 24 Mar 2011, 11:45 »

i love how bioware is in the same category
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #588 on: 24 Mar 2011, 15:44 »

For the same game, even
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #589 on: 24 Mar 2011, 22:55 »

Patch Info!
Quote from: Luke Barrett
There are a VERY large number of fixes in this patch. We've addressed everything we could - most people will be happy their issue has been fixed, unfortunately (as usual) some people will still scream obscenities for ignoring them (though the reason a fix may not be included is always more complicated than that).
The ETA is 'soon' - I can tell you for sure it will not be this week (ending Mar27th) aside from that there is nothing close to concrete enough to give you any more information.

Man I've seen developers get defensive before but throwing in jabs at malcontents in patch release announcements is a little much.

Meanwhile, I think I found the weak link, so to speak.
Quote from: Mike Laidlaw Interview @ Gamespot
GameSpot: How do you think the reception for Dragon Age II would have been different if this had been the first game in the series?

Mike Laidlaw: I think it would have been different--exactly how is probably hard to tell, at this point. When you think about Dragon Age, one of the things that comes to mind is the legacy, going back to the Baldur's Gate games and that kind of thing. Actually, [that comparison] was drawn during Origins. It was an explicit, spiritual successor kind of connection. Certainly, I think Origins did a very good job of following in that vein. What Dragon Age II does, or what I perceive it as doing, is take a lot of those gameplay elements--working together as a team, functioning as a combat unit, having a story that unfolds with choices (all of those core things that I see as principal to both Baldur's Gate and, more importantly, to Dragon Age)--and tries to bring some newer ideas to the table (elements of responsiveness, elements of interactivity in the way those fights are coordinated) into what I think is a more modern setting and expectation. For most players, the idea of the solo combat is surprising.
...
I've talked to Origins players who said, "As soon as I moved it to hard, I totally see where Origins is again." That's fair, and I think that's something over time we'll continue to tune and capitalize on that fusion between the Origins experience and Dragon Age II.
...
The goal that we were going for (with a pre-defined character) is twofold. First, we did want to focus in on a more personal experience--the experience of one person and not the avatar of an organization. To be quite frank, that's a story we told before, and while there's nothing wrong with it, we really wanted to challenge ourselves to not have you end up in the Jedi Order or a Child of Baal, what have you.
...
When I look where Dragon Age II leaves us, it leaves us with a phase that's inherently more interesting--one where we see strife and things falling apart. This is in stark contrast to the ending of Origins, where we saw things resolved. Oh good, the Blight's over. That's great.
...
The key driver behind (the lack of CNPC customization) was the idea of unique visuals, being able to have Isabela stay Isabela instead of generic rogue put into the same leather armor your character is wearing. It lets us create a visual space between Hawke and the companions. And it gives the companions their own personalities [in the form of] unique body models and animations that are tied to how they idle--simple stuff like Aveline and the way she stands with more of a straightforward stance as opposed to the cocked hip Isabela has and so on. The overall goal there was to keep the companions in a place where they had more personality, but still provide customization in terms of amulets and rings, because having things like fire resistance is important.

It's likely that we'll end up coming back to a way to equip your followers, but at the same time, I really do think that having their own visual signature is really important. It's something that resolves one of the parts I really disliked about Origins where I'd see people's screenshots with their badass team and they would kind of all look the same.
...
I don't think (a tactical system) is particularly welcoming or something that I would want to integrate as core gameplay. It's a "with great power comes great responsibility" system where it's possible to make your characters do nothing as a result of it. I think it's best if someone seeks it out, looks up tutorials, messes with it in a way that they have an intent to understand how it works and to play at a higher level.
...
Looking at the fundamentals and looking at the overall pacing and flow became our focus for Dragon Age II, and the thing we have a mandate to do is add in suitable and fitting additional activities. My next big goal is to make sure that there are deeper interactions with crafting or the next steps in terms of being able to do more than talk, fight, and disarm traps.
...
You have to take a read of what the fans are saying, what reviews are saying, and what the non-fans are saying. Are there people out there who are saying, "I could not play Origins, but love Dragon Age II" or "I couldn't play Origins and this is more of the same."

I think the big key is to not adjust 180 degrees again, because we've done this. I think, as a team, we're quite happy with what we've done with Dragon Age II, and this is establishing a solid foundation that keeps a lot, in fact almost everything I want to keep about Origins, but still has tons of room to grow and, frankly, a more viable future for the franchise.
...
GS: How does this spot you're in right now compare to, when you first started Dragon Age, where you thought you might end up after a second game in the series? Are you largely where you expected to be?

ML: For context, our original expectation for this franchise was established when we were working on Jade Empire.

It has party members. It has banter. It has equipping stuff--some of those amazing, classic RPG mechanics that I loved since playing Wasteland or the original Bard's Tale. We wanted to make RPGs, especially fantasy RPGs, accessible, cool, and interesting to people who have been playing RPGs for the last seven years and not realizing that every time they ate food or went for a long run in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, they were essentially grinding constitution.

Meanwhile, back in the blogosphere, Brent Knowles, former Bioware employee and DA:O lead designer, gives his thoughts on the demo.
« Last Edit: 24 Mar 2011, 23:46 by KvP »
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #590 on: 25 Mar 2011, 04:30 »

Then I suppose it makes me a bad person to be able to see where Mike Laidlaw is coming from.  :-(
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #591 on: 25 Mar 2011, 06:16 »

For the same game, even

Well same series. The Hell screenshot is ME1.

Then I suppose it makes me a bad person to be able to see where Mike Laidlaw is coming from.  :-(

Not at all. I get where he's coming from. I even agree with a fair bit of it. I think a fair bit is the fact that he has to (for employment reasons) tip-toe around the development cycle issue. DA2's biggest change in my opinion is it's short develpment cycle. A lot of the issues he's acknowledged but can't expand on because it's plainly his job on the line.

DA2 needed another 6 months to a year in development for them to have made something truely spectacular with it. In my opinion, that's what this whole thing boils down to.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #592 on: 25 Mar 2011, 11:57 »

I don't think Laidlaw's crazy, but I'm not convinced that, given the design flaws of the game, that another year would have made much difference. The combat system, such as it is, is quite polished, it's just not good.

It just strikes me as funny that he would say this:
Quote
When I look where Dragon Age II leaves us, it leaves us with a phase that's inherently more interesting--one where we see strife and things falling apart. This is in stark contrast to the ending of Origins, where we saw things resolved. Oh good, the Blight's over. That's great.
When DA2's ending is most reminiscent of KOTOR2's, and completely (and I mean completely) removes all player choice. Nothing you do matters at the end at all. And it's a cliffhanger.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #593 on: 25 Mar 2011, 12:05 »

Damn, that's harsh. But now that I think about it I kinda see where you're coming from. But still, if I were a developer I'd take that comment like a kick to the junk.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #594 on: 25 Mar 2011, 12:17 »

It seems like an excuse to sell us DLC.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #595 on: 25 Mar 2011, 13:13 »

Essentially. I'm not anti-DLC at all but when you release a shoddy game sans closure (at $60, no less) and shore it up with paid DLC, that's pretty bullshit. If they give it away for free (which, considering the Exiled Prince, seems unlikely) that would be better.

But it would make sense, given that DA2 was promoted as taking place over 10 years, but the core game only takes place over 7.

Every statement I've read from Mike Laidlaw indicates that he's just... not a very good designer, even if you take into account all the spin that goes into what he says. Something like this:
Quote
The key driver behind (the lack of CNPC customization) was the idea of unique visuals, being able to have Isabela stay Isabela instead of generic rogue put into the same leather armor your character is wearing. It lets us create a visual space between Hawke and the companions. And it gives the companions their own personalities [in the form of] unique body models and animations that are tied to how they idle--simple stuff like Aveline and the way she stands with more of a straightforward stance as opposed to the cocked hip Isabela has and so on. The overall goal there was to keep the companions in a place where they had more personality, but still provide customization in terms of amulets and rings, because having things like fire resistance is important.
You can definitely posit that the lack of CNPC customization is a result of the dearth of dev time that DA2 received, but it's hard to not come to the conclusion that Laidlaw thought his system was a good one. It's one of several things from ME2 that the DA2 devs tried to replicate in a way that misses the point entirely. In ME2, the lack of customization really worked the way that Laidlaw claims it does in DA2, in that the models in UE3 were well-detailed but mainly because there wasn't really an inventory system to speak of, so it didn't matter. It was neat and economical and worked. In DA2, by contrast, if you play as a mage, the majority of the stuff you pick up is worthless, with all armors being unusable by you and unusable by your party, resulting in a level of inventory clutter beyond the usual flotsam (and why does Hawke collect so many torn trousers and moth-eaten scarves? Is he/she a hoarder?). It's less pronounced as a fighter or rogue, but the standardized stat requirements act as de facto class restrictions (rogues are weapon-locked just as mages are)

I don't think, given another year of dev time, that issues like that would have been resolved. It's a cheap knockoff of good design that doesn't capture any of the good elements of DA:O or ME2, despite all attempts.

Also, fire resistance is important in exactly one encounter, in which you fight a dragon.
« Last Edit: 27 Mar 2011, 21:15 by KvP »
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #596 on: 25 Mar 2011, 13:38 »

No one said you have to buy the DLC(hint hint wink wink). Though if the initial game doesn't give you any jollies I don't know how the DLC would.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #597 on: 25 Mar 2011, 13:39 »

Essentially. I'm not anti-DLC at all but when you release a shoddy game sans closure (at $60, no less) and shore it up with paid DLC, that's pretty bullshit.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #598 on: 25 Mar 2011, 13:52 »

I'm not anti-DLC either, but I think we need to add another column to the HEAVEN/HELL jpeg.
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Re: Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
« Reply #599 on: 25 Mar 2011, 14:30 »

VGChartz has sales figures.

Comparison between first two weeks of DA:O and DA2 sales -

Quote
DA2 (360)

Week    Americas    Japan    EMEAA      Worldwide    Running Total
1            292,492    N/A           100,016         392,508    392,508
2             96,235     N/A            32,662        128,897    521,405
 
DA:O (360)

Week    Americas    Japan    EMEAA      Worldwide    Running Total
1            243,262    12,860    79,819      335,941            335,941
2            132,395    3,240    37,595      173,230       509,171

....

DAO
Week    Americas    Japan    EMEAA    Worldwide    Running Total
1            112,887          39,756    3,017    155,660    155,660
2             58,460            11,726    2,118    72,304     227,964

DA2 (PC)
Week    Americas    Japan    EMEAA    Worldwide    Running Total
1          89,198            N/A    54,632    143,830            143,830
2          27,446            N/A    10,556    38,002            181,832

Holy hell the PC Market fucking sucks
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