Dragon Age: Inquisition (Plot Details in Spoilers!)
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shabushabu
Molten Core Raider
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khalid
Unelected Mod
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Utnayan
F16 patrolling Rajaah until he plays DS3
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Various organizations. A couple of the very good writers who left after a smashed down ending of ME3 was pushed forward without any of their knowledge went to work on Uncharted 4 and the next Last of us. Ubisoft received a couple and are working on/have been working on, Far Cry 4. There is a reason both games (Uncharted 4 and Far Cry 4) are talking about making the game stories more personal and in depth than they have been in the past. Some of their good designers and level creators/artists followed, some went to work on a few indie games of their own and try to upstart their own studios. Bioware is a fraction of what it once was, for obvious reasons. It is now a paid for and owned IP to generate a brand of a "story developer" which isn't doing any good when their strong story writers left anyway. (That obviously doesn't mean they cannot have good stories still, just that their creative talent that they * did * have, lot of them moved to greener pastures. Folks like Drew Karpyshyn.
Examples of some bullshit with Mass Effect 3, with lack of peer review in the writing itself.
http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/5...ersial-ending/
ME3 alienated a lot of their good talent and the fallout that happened as a result. With DA2, (I heard) a lot of folks left because they were forced to shit out reused textures and atmosphere to extend game length and shit out a game to capitalize when a lot of them didn't want anything to do with that. Key point: The people that would speak up and try to correct what was wrong, or never given the chance, said fuck it and left. And while it happens in all industries, and generally more often than not in this one, especially after a project is done - Bioware had a unique way to keep their employees invested because they believed in making quality games first, and seeing revenue generate as a result of their labors second. They were about the closest thing you could get to Blizzard as far as a blank check, until the EA take over. And well, that took care of that. And it shows in the most recent examples of Bioware with ME3 and DA2, as well as Viscural and the ridiculous Dead Space 3 shoe in's of co-op (Because EA forced every game to be online) and EA management thinking they could turn Dead Space 3 into a mobile market cash shop revenue generator. And while Casey Hudson pretty much fucked the ME3 collaboration on the ending piece, he was pretty vital to the IP before that and was a decent developer. He announced he was leaving 6 days ago.
So yeah, I basically would wait for any of the hype to settle, not believe any of the press bullshit because with that link above you can see how fast that can change when it comes to ME3 and planned endings, and wait to hear user reviews here on this forum. And I say this forum because it is filled with a lot of genuine posters, a lot of folks who also work in the industry and read/post here.
Vaclav
Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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First time for the DAs though and others we're in game rather than online.
Kirun
Buzzfeed Editor
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As a game, SWTOR was amazing. As an MMO, it was terrible. They need to make all the stories stand alone and it would have been phenomenal as say, KOTOR chronicles or some such. Actually, Empire was awesome. Republic can GTFO. Edit: Let me reiterate that I only really mean story; the gameplay was not good and it had other issues, but if it had been a single player game storywise they would have been more easily overlooked. It's worth noting however that I'm more forgiving in regards to gameplay if the story makes it worth it.
Also, having seen the gameplay trailers, the areas just look amazing. (In DA:I. The scale for instance, seems much better.) I am withholding final judgement until I have it, but I have enough hope that I pre-ordered the Inquisitor's Edition. =(
Don't get excited just yet; from what I remember hearing that might be a Cullen only thing.
Tuco
I got Tuco'd!
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The best was when they released a gameplay demo a week before and the community was taken aback. All the fanboys reassured each other with, "Oh this is just something they threw together last minute as a tech demo. The real game will be muuuch better.". Turns out that 'tech demo' was the opening sequence, haha.
Compare that with DAO where some of the opening sequences (both the dwarven ones) were masterpieces.
Utnayan
F16 patrolling Rajaah until he plays DS3
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I love how they do this with the BF3/4 Demos as well. "These are tech demos and from builds LONG LONG AGO. Everything has been fixed"
I cannot believe people fall for that shit. And what's worse is it happens every sequel now.
Hey LadyVex can you point out the changes (Other than the UI changes) in combat between DA2 and DA:I? Use videos if you can. I am not seeing what you are seeing, and at this point I am genuinely curious how you are able to tell the difference in your posted opinion.
Zaphid
Trakanon Raider
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Because if they just rehashed the system from DA1, the game would be fucking unplayable. Some encounters were more like Horde mode in a shooter than executing a carefully planned strategy ala DA1. They also fixed the mage>all of the original, so you didn't have to stack certain class to remain competitive.
I think any of the gameplay trailers will show it; the combat kept the flashy action feel but they removed ninja waves, allowed terrain to matter, and if you check out the e 3 trailer you'll see that the AI is improved enough to stop allies from dying to ground effects.
The worst part about da2 was AI and waves, as it removed the ability to strategically approach a fight. Assuming it works like that trailer, it should be a different ball game. Example: They posted an archer on high ground with a hold command, placing wards and flame walls around them to stop enemies from flushing them out. In da2, enemies would jump on that character anyways , and even if you went through the companion behaviors down to the nitty gritty, that archer would probably ignore your hold command to kill an enemy.
More importantly, it seemed like they don't use certain abilities: Using Isabela in da 2 with a "hold" or "assist" command meant shit because she's use an ability that teleported you behind the target anyways.
I imagine I'll have to set that up, but I spent shit loads of time micro managing my companions so they weren't being dumb, but i never saw them worry about it.
Could be smoke and mirrors but their archer stayed on the high ground and killed in range , instead of moving , blinking or just not fighting. Fucking win.
Yea, I usually put wynne near alistair but away from the actual horde; in da 2 it didn't matter.
And trust me when I say I spent shit tons of time fixing the AI. Merrill for instance; I can't remember the template I used, think it was passive support, but she cast protection spells on engage, attacked those who attacked her, attacked in range, or she held. 3 or more enemies and she flung them with force, an in range enemy with less than 20% health got a stone fist, and under 30% health she drank a pot.
If she was in ground effects, she was supposed to ignore everything and move. She doesn't and it just all goes downhill over the course of the battle. Attacking people in range doesn't activate unless someone has already made her defend herself. Also, while she'll fling people around with her spells in a crowd , she 'd follow them in and move position.
All sorts of weird shit and weird ways that one command might override another. So god damn annoying. On the hardest difficulty it only took a second for a ground effect to kill someone and those dumbasses would drink a potion instead of moving because the 30% health pot parameter would kick in before the ignore everything and move.
Jesus fuck that AI.
And trust me when I say I spent shit tons of time fixing the AI. Merrill for instance; I can't remember the template I used, think it was passive support, but she cast protection spells on engage, attacked those who attacked her, attacked in range, or she held. 3 or more enemies and she flung them with force, an in range enemy with less than 20% health got a stone fist, and under 30% health she drank a pot.
If she was in ground effects, she was supposed to ignore everything and move. She doesn't and it just all goes downhill over the course of the battle. Attacking people in range doesn't activate unless someone has already made her defend herself. Also, while she'll fling people around with her spells in a crowd , she 'd follow them in and move position.
All sorts of weird shit and weird ways that one command might override another. So god damn annoying. On the hardest difficulty it only took a second for a ground effect to kill someone and those dumbasses would drink a potion instead of moving because the 30% health pot parameter would kick in before the ignore everything and move.
Jesus fuck that AI.
So not sure if we've had much discussion about the Keep yet, but here's where you can sign up for the beta:
Dragon Age Keep Beta and FAQ
They've confirmed no direct save file import; at first I was irked - I'm not switching platforms, and who knows what little things will pop up. ME3 was like that for me, where fortunately I had a perfect save file, and things would happen a certain way because of a little known side quest. (Like the things with Conrad Verner.)
But, the more I think about it, the more I think the Keep is fantastic. If you haven't read that, the Keep is essentially a way to make a save file without playing the game. You pick choices, and import that file into DA:I.
The biggest thing is that this will eliminate conflicts with save files. For instance, despite the fact that Nathaniel was still around after Awakening and had met all the criteria for the Finding Nathaniel quest in DA2, it did not pop up in a single of my play throughs.
This also means I won't have to replay DA2 to get a "perfect" save file. There were definitely things I liked about that game, but it gets boring with the repetitiveness.
The third thing about it, was that if you just want to see something slightly different - different LI, different ending to this specific plotline, you can just enter it into the Keep and then away you go.
So overall, it SHOULD be good. We'll see.
Dragon Age Keep Beta and FAQ
They've confirmed no direct save file import; at first I was irked - I'm not switching platforms, and who knows what little things will pop up. ME3 was like that for me, where fortunately I had a perfect save file, and things would happen a certain way because of a little known side quest. (Like the things with Conrad Verner.)
But, the more I think about it, the more I think the Keep is fantastic. If you haven't read that, the Keep is essentially a way to make a save file without playing the game. You pick choices, and import that file into DA:I.
The biggest thing is that this will eliminate conflicts with save files. For instance, despite the fact that Nathaniel was still around after Awakening and had met all the criteria for the Finding Nathaniel quest in DA2, it did not pop up in a single of my play throughs.
This also means I won't have to replay DA2 to get a "perfect" save file. There were definitely things I liked about that game, but it gets boring with the repetitiveness.
The third thing about it, was that if you just want to see something slightly different - different LI, different ending to this specific plotline, you can just enter it into the Keep and then away you go.
So overall, it SHOULD be good. We'll see.
Azrayne
Irenicus did nothing wrong
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I can see why people like certain aspects of the DA2 combat (ie. making melee classes more interesting and fast paced), but I can't get over the parachuting mobs (fuck those guys, seriously, I could rant about it for hours)and the lack of decent CC/other interesting spells (playing a mage almost felt like an MMO raiding rotation - two of them at once, since I usually went W/R/M/M), combined with the fact that it was so fast paced that you had to pause every two seconds if you wanted to control what was going on and who was using which skills. If you just wanted to hack and slash and leave the other characters to be played by AI, w/e, but it totally killed the last vestiges of the BG series' strategic, real time, planned out combat. Which would be fine I guess in any other series, but DA was supposed to be a spiritual successor to BG, which the first game managed to an extent, but the second game completely trashed. I'm sure they could have made warriors and rogues fun and mages less OP without killing the strategic aspect.
I gave it a second shot a few months back (my first playthrough I got about 85% of the way through, then got distracted lost interest) and could only get 1/3 or so of the way in, just too many problems to keep my attention. It's a shame because with better combat, fixing some of the sillier bits of writing and avoiding the constant texture reuse (wouldn't complain if they gave back full inventory control over party members too) it could have been an amazing game. I really like the concept of it being set in this city and it's surroundings (and I thought the atmosphere in Kirkwall was great) and the whole story of a brewing mage/templar war had huge potential, but they just fucked it up and dropped the ball big time.
Although I'll give them this, they didn't shove the relationship/dating sim aspect down your throat as much as the ME games did. Although it looks like that's going to change with Inquisition (we've already been assured that you can bone all of the party members, and that there's an equal number of straights, bi's, gays and lesbians).
I really wish they'd make the relationship stuff something that only occurs if you intentionally trigger it, and most people I think would agree, after all it's still there for the people who want it (although it still takes time from what could be more interesting content...), but those of us who don't give a fuck can complete party member storylines without having to deal with relationship drama. People play games to getawayfrom that shit, except for the (mostly straight women) small portion of their playerbase who spend as much time uploading their latest romantic portrait of their male Warden and Zhevran to deviantart as they do playing the game. Problem is, this small portion is disproportionately represented in the game's forums, and they're making the same mistake Blizzard makes - confusing their forum posters for their entire playerbase.
I gave it a second shot a few months back (my first playthrough I got about 85% of the way through, then got distracted lost interest) and could only get 1/3 or so of the way in, just too many problems to keep my attention. It's a shame because with better combat, fixing some of the sillier bits of writing and avoiding the constant texture reuse (wouldn't complain if they gave back full inventory control over party members too) it could have been an amazing game. I really like the concept of it being set in this city and it's surroundings (and I thought the atmosphere in Kirkwall was great) and the whole story of a brewing mage/templar war had huge potential, but they just fucked it up and dropped the ball big time.
Although I'll give them this, they didn't shove the relationship/dating sim aspect down your throat as much as the ME games did. Although it looks like that's going to change with Inquisition (we've already been assured that you can bone all of the party members, and that there's an equal number of straights, bi's, gays and lesbians).
I really wish they'd make the relationship stuff something that only occurs if you intentionally trigger it, and most people I think would agree, after all it's still there for the people who want it (although it still takes time from what could be more interesting content...), but those of us who don't give a fuck can complete party member storylines without having to deal with relationship drama. People play games to getawayfrom that shit, except for the (mostly straight women) small portion of their playerbase who spend as much time uploading their latest romantic portrait of their male Warden and Zhevran to deviantart as they do playing the game. Problem is, this small portion is disproportionately represented in the game's forums, and they're making the same mistake Blizzard makes - confusing their forum posters for their entire playerbase.
In all seriousness, Bioware should just quit making RPGs and just straight up swap to visual novels & dating sims.
