Dragon Age: Inquisition (Plot Details in Spoilers!)

Yeah LA Noire was fantastic.

(great post)

Another good video

LA Noire was a cool setting and story, but a shittygame.

(N/M followed the conversation trail back for it)

No reason to expect the "fast forward" nonsense in DA:I though right? Just a side comment forcing the LA Noire discussion.

[Didn't like LA Noire, got worried a sec]

Yeah I didn't even read back to the original sidetrack and forgot I was a part of it. It's really not applicable to current discussion of DA:I.

That second video just built up the impression of an over-curated game experience, actually. That sidetracked discussion wasn't off-base after all. They just couldn't help themselves, they had to show off their narrative chops and it seems Laidlaw and co. really DIDN'T learn their lesson after all. We're destined for another over-curated interactive novel dolled up with enough of the trappings of a rough-hewn open-world game to sell in a post-Skyrim RPG market.

The game isn't supposed to be open world Skyrim, nor was it ever intended to be. Did you feel Mass Effect was over-curated?

The Ancient_sl said:

The game isn't supposed to be open world Skyrim, nor was it ever intended to be. Did you feel Mass Effect was over-curated?

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The hipsters are invading all aspects of culture, including gaming. If it's not open-world-sandbox it's just not cool these days.

Didn't you hear?

The Ancient_sl said:

The game isn't supposed to be open world Skyrim, nor was it ever intended to be. Did you feel Mass Effect was over-curated?

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Indeed - if ME was "overcurated" throw me firmly in the camp of wanting "overcurated" stuff. (Barring the ending of ME3 at least - rest from ME2-3 was top notch, and 1 was decent)

The Ancient_sl said:

The game isn't supposed to be open world Skyrim, nor was it ever intended to be.

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Oh my bad, I was just going off the multitude of sources where the studio's founders, several developers and Mike Laidlaw pretty much acknowledged that theywere aggressively pursuing Skyrim's open world design,though it won't be quite as open. There's a ton more interviews and sources in that vein but I'm curious if you're referring to a more recent development where Bioware says it was "NEVER" intended to be.

khorum_sl said:

Oh my bad, I was just going off the multitude of sources where the studio's founders, several developers and Mike Laidlaw pretty much acknowledged that theywere aggressively pursuing Skyrim's open world design,though it won't be quite as open. There's a ton more interviews and sources in that vein but I'm curious if you're referring to a more recent development where Bioware says it was "NEVER" intended to be.

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The gist I got from that khorum was that they wanted each "section" or whatever of the world to be a Fallout 3 sized open world with tons of nooks and crannies for you to get distracted in if you choose. Not that it would be very light story telling with 90% wandering like Skyrim is.

Bioware without strong narrative flow really wouldn't be Bioware. And Skyrim has many pros but one of it's cons is a weak narrative flow overall - it's less about BethSoft crafting the story and more about you crafting YOUR OWN story in Skyrim. (Which is a good thing, but in a completely different angle from Bioware)

To be frank, with the glut of open world games - I'm happy to see a few with strong narrative flow and slightly more limited open world elements.

(Sidenote: Don't think any founders of Bioware are involved with the company anymore since around when DA: I started being developed - Director probably is what you meant, right? Or something else current)

"aggressively pursuing", eh? Is that what that article says?

Look I think if you were expecting Skyrim you were setting yourself up for disappointment. Bioware wasn't going to do a complete 180 from every game they've made since Baldur's Gate and drop their complex narratives in favor of a sandbox. And I doubt most people want them to. One of the largest complaints leveled at DA:2 was it's linearity and I think that when Bioware talks about "opening" up their game, they are talking about taking a step back from that. We all should take it with a grain of salt too given ME3's ending. But looking at the video w/ gameplay(!) I think things are looking pretty positive for DA:I.

Bioware is good at telling a story. I like their games. I like that they'll be more open, but they should just try to flesh out the interactivity within their narrative framework. Elder Scrolls lacks the tight story progression of Bioware's products, and I prefer Bioware's method. I like FO3/F:NV much more than Skyrim. I want FO4, 5, and 6 before another Elder Scrolls.

Kirun_sl said:

I really hope there are going to be ways to change that camera view. That shit is awful.

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They showed at the E3 video pulling it back to almost DA:O-ish when they were issuing commands while paused - dunno if you can use that outside of combat though, but clearly you're not stuck "butt-cam" mode all the time.

The Ancient_sl said:

"aggressively pursuing", eh? Is that what that article says?

Look I think if you were expecting Skyrim you were setting yourself up for disappointment. Bioware wasn't going to do a complete 180 from every game they've made since Baldur's Gate and drop their complex narratives in favor of a sandbox. And I doubt most people want them to. One of the largest complaints leveled at DA:2 was it's linearity and I think that when Bioware talks about "opening" up their game, they are talking about taking a step back from that. We all should take it with a grain of salt too given ME3's ending. But looking at the video w/ gameplay(!) I think things are looking pretty positive for DA:I.

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So what kind of open world are we looking at? I didnt think it would be exactly like Skyrim, but they do tend to say "open world" quite a lot in their videos (ie. the one just linked at 7:30) and several other places. Open world as in, you can journey to any spot you've previously visited in the story line?