Dragon Age: Inquisition Pre-Release Thread

[DalekFlay]

Say whatever you want Mordin in ME2 is a great character and the best example of Bioware bullshit done correctly. Unfortunately in my ME3 he suddenly and without much reason became the exact opposite? Suddenly his entire purpose and philosophy changed and they didn't get anywhere near earning that. At least that's how I saw it.

 

[Xeon]

I thought he ended up wanting redemption,

Spoiler

At least I thought he started to think about it after finding out his student was trying to cure the genophage.

 

[Akratus]

Likeable does not equal good. I would call Garrus a very likeable character. But I wouldn't really call him well written.

 

[tuluse]

Bioware is clearly able to make characters likable for approximately 5 million people.

Argument is retarded.

 

[Aeschylus]

Characters are the last thing Bioware still does somewhat competently. Too bad they're forced by their fanbase to shoehorn in those ridiculous romances.

 

[Xor]

"Likable" is such an abstract term that any argument on the subject is just going to devolve into a back and forth. Bioware tends to write pretty weak characters - and by weak, I mean their characters are drawn from archetypes without going beyond those archetypes, often lack a motivation or have their motivation tied to the protagonist, and frequently don't grow or change in any meaningful way - but there are obviously people who still like them. There are people who like Jersey Shore. No accounting for taste, I suppose.

Bioware is clearly able to make characters likable for approximately 5 million people.

Argument is retarded.

I'm not really sure where you're getting this 5 million figure from. Are you just looking at sales and assuming everyone who bought a particular game liked the characters?

 

[tuluse]

Bioware is clearly able to make characters likable for approximately 5 million people.

Argument is retarded.

I'm not really sure where you're getting this 5 million figure from. Are you just looking at sales and assuming everyone who bought a particular game liked the characters?

Essentially. Maybe not everyone liked them, but up to ME2 customers liked their characters enough that they kept selling more games.

 

[Athelas]

Since when does popularity equal quality?

Bioware's character writing is not very good, and the fact that their games hinge a lot on long and involved companion interaction only brings that to the spotlight. They'd probably do much better writing less detailed archetypes.

 

[tuluse]

Since when does popularity equal quality?

Bioware's character writing is not very good, and the fact that their games hinge a lot on long and involved companion interaction only brings that to the spotlight. They'd probably do much better writing less detailed archetypes.

It doesn't matter because Bioware is built to be popular. So they're doing it right. It doesn't matter if it's actually bad, that's what people apparently want.

At any rate "likable" implies that a lot of people would like said character. Bioware has achieved this.

 

[Xor]

We don't know how many people who bought (for example) Mass Effect 2 did so because of the characters instead of for other reasons, or how many people who played it liked the characters. But we do know that only 50% of the people who bought the game finished it. I kind of doubt every single person who bought ME2 did so for the characters.

 

[Jedi Exile]

Viconia

Stereotypical drow we've seen a million times before. She's also a bitch. What's there not to like?

 

[Valestein]

As far as companions go, Bioware writes bobbleheads that are there to stroke the player ego and not characters with actual motivations and character. Wrex throws a fit in ME1 over Shepard letting the Rachni Queen go? That's okay, it's as if nothing ever happened a minute after. DA companion disapproves of something? Bribe them with a gift or game the system in some other way.

 

[Rake]

We don't know how many people who bought (for example) Mass Effect 2 did so because of the characters instead of for other reasons, or how many people who played it liked the characters. But we do know that only 50% of the people who bought the game finished it. I kind of doubt every single person who bought ME2 did so for the characters.

We know that Minsc is more popular than Dakkon or Fall from Grace. Case closed. Quality doesn't necessarily make something popular, or "likable".

 

[Xor]

We don't know how many people who bought (for example) Mass Effect 2 did so because of the characters instead of for other reasons, or how many people who played it liked the characters. But we do know that only 50% of the people who bought the game finished it. I kind of doubt every single person who bought ME2 did so for the characters.

We know that Minsc is more popular than Dakkon or Fall from Grace. Case closed. Quality doesn't necessarily make something popular, or "likable".

Where did I say that it does?

 

[Rake]

Then you two agree with each other. Bioware makes likable characters just fine, it's with good ones they have trouble with.

 

[Infinitron]

Bioware has some of the better writers in the gaming industry.

(That is not a particularly high bar to clear.)

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

Bioware has some of the better writers in the gaming industry.

(That is not a particularly high bar to clear.)

problem is they aim for some fucking retarded audience. Romances/Waifu faggots, SJW, LGBT...

 

[Decado]

I knew after watching 5 minutes of game play on DA2 I didn't want to play that piece of shit game. I don't know how I feel about this one. It strikes me as not-as-bad as DA2, but I still don't want to fucking play it. I guess if it was on steam for 10 bucks or whatever, I might give it a whirl. Whereas DA2 could be free and I still wouldn't fucking touch it.

Too many feels, I don't know what to do.

 

[Decado]

Bioware has some of the better writers in the gaming industry.

(That is not a particularly high bar to clear.)

Oh god no they don't. All of their writing since BGII (and possibly including BGII) has been vanilla, cliched horseshit. They are not even good when compared to the writing that is being done in the field now. Take SRR: Dragonfall, just as an example. Those guys made the game on a shoestring budget but with genuinely good writing. There are so many other studios out there producing good writing, and I don't mean the SJW garbage either. Shit, Blizzard is probably better than them, at this point.

STOP THE REAPERS, I MEAN DARKSPAWN.

 

[Xeon]

I think I read somewhere that you could change Viconia's alignment to good in BG2 or in the expansion or something, That's a pretty big deal for a drow, no? Aside from the OP elf you encounter in BG1 was pretty rare for good drows to exist or something I think.

In ME2 all characters had a missions they wanted to complete to clear their minds or something and concentrate on the last mission. Might not be that good of an explanation but it was pretty great and fun. I think most of the characters were also pretty good IIRC.

The only game where I hated most of the companions was DA2, Aside from Varrik and the Arishok character none of them were that good and I really hated how nothing changed about them in the time skip, they were always in the same place doing the same thing. I kinda liked the idea of the time skip of how they will age and progress in life and shows my choices effects or something but it was kinda of a bummer that nothing happened.

 

[Infinitron]

STOP THE REAPERS, I MEAN DARKSPAWN.

I didn't say their stories were good. You can have cheesy/cliche stories that are competently written.

Shit, Blizzard is probably better than them, at this point.

Hah, no.

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

Decado said: ↑
STOP THE REAPERS, I MEAN DARKSPAWN.
I didn't say their stories were good. You can have cheesy/cliche stories that are competently written.

no you cant at least not on codex. its either MCA BEST WRITTEN CHARACTER EVER KREIA 2DEEP4U or bethesdas oblivion banal,borin,shit level.

Decado said: ↑
Shit, Blizzard is probably better than them, at this point.

get the fuck out of here

 

[Rake]

Bioware has some of the better writers in the gaming industry.

(That is not a particularly high bar to clear.)

Oh god no they don't. All of their writing since BGII (and possibly including BGII) has been vanilla, cliched horseshit. They are not even good when compared to the writing that is being done in the field now. Take SRR: Dragonfall, just as an example. Those guys made the game on a shoestring budget but with genuinely good writing. There are so many other studios out there producing good writing, and I don't mean the SJW garbage either. Shit, Blizzard is probably better than them, at this point.

STOP THE REAPERS, I MEAN DARKSPAWN.

Agree with the rest, highlighted part is wrong

 

[Xor]

Yeah, Blizzard's writing has been getting steadily worse with each game since around Warcraft 3 (although I can't comment on RoS because I was barely paying attention to the dialog). That's a discussion for another thread, though.


As much as I might rag on Bioware, they are capable of writing decent characters from time to time. I just wish they'd make that a priority - it seems like they generally put more focus into developing the story and the protagonist's journey than on developing side characters. That doesn't really make for good storytelling, though - the world shouldn't revolve around the protagonist. Even DA2, which was supposed to be a breath of fresh air for its lack of a save the world plot had this problem.

Some inter-party conflict beyond one character occasionally making a rude remark to another would be nice, too.

 

[Infinitron]

it seems like they generally put more focus into developing the story and the protagonist's journey than on developing side characters.

Uh, I think a lot of people would tell you that their problem is that they do the exact opposite of that.