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Review Vault Dweller Does Dragon Age II

Joined
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Very informative and detailed review, good read. And while I haven't always liked your style and humour in the past, I thought this review was very well written and had some really funny lines.

Finally, thanks for giving this half-assed rushed piece of shit game the treatment it desevers. Again, very nice read. :salute:
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
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made said:
VD said:
And in Conclusion Dragon Age 2 is a mediocre and deeply flawed action RPG
Boring. His Holiness is old and lost his zeal.

If DA2 is mediocre, what's a truly terrible arpg like?
Lionheart? Dungeon Siege? Harbinger? Space Siege? Dungeon Lords? Mage Knight: Apocalypse?
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
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Haba said:
Vault Dweller said:
Instead of a basic "mages are too powerful, they can't resist the temptation to rise to power" good vs evil setup, the danger of possession does increase the complexity as it makes every mage a potential threat and justifies or at least explains the oppression. Mages are walking bombs and are a danger to society, not through the fault of their own, yet some bombs never go off, which weakens the argument against them. Is what the Circle doing the right thing or is it merely something similar to the barbaric psychiatric practices of the 40s? Are there better ways to prevent possession? Can possessed mages be reasoned with? Can deals be made with the spirits possessing them? At what cost? Certainly there are practical and military applications to be considered. The deterrence factor. Etc.

The sad thing is, even Robert Jordan did a better job with the very same idea.
I'm not saying the idea is unique and original, and I'm not comparing what video game writers can come up with to what established writers, even hacks like Jordan and Goodkind, can do. I'm comparing it to most fantasy settings and saying that it's a pretty good and rarely explored setting for a proper RPG. Agree?
 

Morkar Left

Guest
Good review with explicit examples and analysis of the game mechanics to back up your opinions.

Judging it as an arpg is possibly the best solution when it comes to established genres. But I think bioware created a new sort of rpg that has only small similarities to established rpg categories. Personally I would call it "cinematic rpg". The focus is more on telling a story in movie fashion where the player can alter some minor outcomes in story and the appearance of the lead character with mixed in minigames (aka combat). But square enix already beat them with creating the genre some years before.
 

Xor

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Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Divinity: Original Sin Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Divinity: Original Sin 2
I'm curious how the Bioware defense squad will react to VD's review.
 

Joghurt

Augur
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Xor said:
I'm curious how the Bioware defense squad will react to VD's review.

We'll wait and see what happens when someone posts a link in Bioware forums, but I think they will love the review. They kinda loved the gamecritics 2,5 review and this one sounds a lot better.
 

Drakron

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Vault Dweller said:
Mages are walking bombs and are a danger to society, not through the fault of their own, yet some bombs never go off, which weakens the argument against them.

But that is what happens in DA2 were when pressed they resort to Blood Magic and completely justifying the Kirkwall Templars attitude towards them.

The ideas are there I agree, Merrill despite being ... Merrill does raise some interesting points, as if Fade Spirits are all demons or if Blood Magic is by itself bad but that never really amounts to anything since its not even explored.
 

Micmu

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Joghurt said:
We'll wait and see what happens when someone posts a link in Bioware forums, but I think they will love the review. They kinda loved the gamecritics 2,5 review and this one sounds a lot better.
That will make VD (indirectly) responsible for deactivation of several kids' EA games.
 

Roguey

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I clicked the link and something awesome happened, glad I dodged this bullet. As for possibility of lessons being learned, it'd be a delightfully poetic justice if Edmonton gets some much-needed streamlining in the near-future.
 
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There seemed to be only one mage that stays sane throughout the whole game.

There was you... if you were a mage, or your sister if you were not one.

Every other mage is crazy in some way. Every single one.

Kind of kills the point of "Oh those poor, poor mages." when even the best of them goes psycho under the slightest hint of pressure.
 

Melcar

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Incline of VD reviews? Good show, old man. Oh shit, forgot you´re supposed to be the youngest at what you do.
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
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The Gentleman Loser said:
There seemed to be only one mage that stays sane throughout the whole game.

There was you... if you were a mage, or your sister if you were not one.

Every other mage is crazy in some way. Every single one.

Kind of kills the point of "Oh those poor, poor mages." when even the best of them goes psycho under the slightest of pressure.
I'm glad you asked. Soon you'll be glad too.

http://www.1up.com/features/dragon-age- ... r.offset=0

1UP: So, specifically, was it always intended to have the player fight both Meredith and Orsino? It almost felt like there was a fork in the path, where by supporting the Mages you would fight Meredith and supporting the Templars would get you to fight Orsino. So it actually surprised me to have the player fight both...

ML: It was considered, certainly. Any time you have two opposing villains or forces, that kind of thing gets considered. But to be fair, from the beginning, our goal with Dragon Age 2 was to not have either side be the "good guys." Even up to the player who thought, "I'm choosing the good guys, so I'm going with the mages," the revelation that even at the top level, that mages were still susceptible, was something very important to us. To show that normal people can become villains in the same way that normal people can become heroes.

...

You've gotta admit that Mike is one of a kind. But wait, there is more:

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6305575/

GS: In terms of interacting with these companions or other characters in the game, how do you feel about the way the dialogue wheel came together and how it made things a little more clear and direct?

ML: I'm very happy with it. The wheel, as a whole, provides a couple of really cool advantages. It lets us hold more conversation options than we had available in Origins where we had a cap of six. We technically have a cap of 10, so you can get a nice, cleaner interface to ask questions for clarification. I love the investigate system.

It also provides what I see as the prize behind every door insofar as when you read a line of Origins dialogue for comparison, you see everything you could potentially say.

In your brain, you've done the totality of that conversation. Whereas looking and saying, "Oh, I know that's going to be a smart-aleck line, but I don't feel it'd be right to use it," you're left with that temptation or that urge to pick it because you can't tell exactly what you'll say. What I think is the key gain with the icons is that you do know it will be sarcastic, which allows you to make a much clearer choice about how you want to interact with characters. If it was going to be suave or if it was going to be diplomatic, you know at a glance rather than having some confusion around what might happen.

Text is always a pretty horrible medium for conveying sarcasm or sincerity. Being able to put a heart, as much as you could argue that you could tell, lets you say, "OK, I'm certain with this choice. I'm not making it blind." That's very important when you want to associate yourself with a character.


Oh the irony...
 

dragonfk

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Still waiting for a review written by VD that I would not agree with. :salute:
 
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Yes, it's true... it's impossible to put sarcasm in text. In it's a known fact. No novelist, humorist, or satirist has ever successfully used sarcasm in their novels. There is just no denying this!

---

...seriously though, that shows their schizophrenic planning right there. We want the player to be surprised so we made mages look oppressed and tortured throughout the whole game, then had the leader pull a demon from his ass in the final act. People like surprises, except when they don't. So we color coded the dialog system to make things predictable, but you never know what you'll say next... and GAH!

Can he even understand what he himself is saying anymore?

Also, his answer of "This time we wanted to kick over the sandcastle." is pretty apt, except he thinks it's a good thing.
 

J_C

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Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath

Lockkaliber

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Vault Dweller said:

Text is always a pretty horrible medium for conveying sarcasm or sincerity.

I am going to murder someone. Seriously, if any of the fucking hacks over at Bioware are reading this, get your entire fucking company a classic literature crash course. Ever heard of fucking Hamlet? Candide?


FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
 

Xor

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Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Divinity: Original Sin Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Divinity: Original Sin 2
To show that normal people can become villains in the same way that normal people can become heroes.


I agree that showing an ordinary person becoming a villain could be pretty interesting. But what the fuck? From what I understand, the final boss is possessed by an evil mcguffin. How is that interesting? How does it accomplish your goal?

I'm very happy with it. The wheel, as a whole, provides a couple of really cool advantages. It lets us hold more conversation options than we had available in Origins where we had a cap of six. We technically have a cap of 10, so you can get a nice, cleaner interface to ask questions for clarification. I love the investigate system.

const unsigned int MAX_DIALOG_RESPONSES = 15;
char* DialogResponses[15];
/* Todo: add a scrollbar, which the gui already supports, to the dialog response window. */

Text is always a pretty horrible medium for conveying sarcasm or sincerity. Being able to put a heart, as much as you could argue that you could tell, lets you say, "OK, I'm certain with this choice. I'm not making it blind." That's very important when you want to associate yourself with a character.

[Sarcasm] Yeah, text is such an poor medium for conveying emotion. That's why books are regarded as inferior to video games as a storytelling medium.
 

Gragt

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Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin
Lockkaliber said:
Vault Dweller said:

Text is always a pretty horrible medium for conveying sarcasm or sincerity.

I am going to murder someone. Seriously, if any of the fucking hacks over at Bioware are reading this, get your entire fucking company a classic literature crash course. Ever heard of fucking Hamlet? Candide?


FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

I opened my eyes wide when I read that. I can't believe someone who has any pretension at being a storyteller could say that.
 

waywardOne

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Vault Dweller said:

but where's the conflict? what if the player doesn't give a shit about figuring out the neuroses of society? well-constructed imaginary worlds can be fun and interesting, but DA's is a sophomoric outline of that -- "with potential" doesn't count for shit.
 
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10-15 years from now, people will look back and laugh their asses off at the pathetic attempts at conveying what "text can not supposedly convey" with wooden animations and retarded fanfic writing.

As for me, I don't need to wait at all. I'm already laughing.

But really, Mass Effect, the first game, was already a lot better in this regard than this piece of shit.
 

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