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Bioware: "Dragon Age flawed", promises improvement

MetalCraze

Arcane
Joined
Jul 3, 2007
Messages
21,104
Location
Urkanistan
sheek said:
Personally I never liked the IE look and don't know why it's held up as the holy grail of art design.

http://www.gravytea.com/florian/AR0300.jpg

Streets that look like streets, buildings of realistic size, looks like a docks area. Finally while Athkatla was only presented with a few areas it did feel like a real big city.
The main question when looking at cities in 3D games is "people live here?"
 

sheek

Arbiter
Joined
Feb 17, 2006
Messages
8,659
Location
Cydonia
MetalCraze said:
sheek said:
Personally I never liked the IE look and don't know why it's held up as the holy grail of art design.

http://www.gravytea.com/florian/AR0300.jpg

Streets that look like streets, buildings of realistic size, looks like a docks area. Finally while Athkatla was only presented with a few areas it did feel like a real big city.
The main question when looking at cities in 3D games is "people live here?"
You expect realism? All I need is to know what function objects/buildings serve and getting a sense of atmosphere second.

IE looks too (plastically) pretty and frilly at the expense of function, because almost none of the little details that crowd the screen can be interacted with.

My preferred interface for city exploration would be a higher-res this:

Realms_of_arkania.png
 

bhlaab

Erudite
Joined
Nov 19, 2008
Messages
1,787
DA 2 is going to be much more "console friendly" you heard it here first folks
 

Silellak

Cipher
Joined
Aug 19, 2008
Messages
3,198
Location
Tucson, AZ
bhlaab said:
DA 2 is going to be much more "console friendly" you heard it here first folks
Oh, no question. DA was designed for PCs then, much later, the decision was made to port it to consoles. DA2 is undoubtedly being designed with consoles in mind from day one.
 

MetalCraze

Arcane
Joined
Jul 3, 2007
Messages
21,104
Location
Urkanistan
sheek said:
IE looks too (plastically) pretty and frilly at the expense of function, because almost none of the little details that crowd the screen can be interacted with.
True that however we talked about looks and art design.

My preferred interface for city exploration would be a higher-res this:

Realms_of_arkania.png
You call it 'high-res'? You mean you just prefer to explore world from FP perspective?
And Sheek, RoA's "cities" had even less "function", I'd say they were the weak part of the game as they were basically 'hubs' with shops and would've been much better if they were done with pre-made 2D backgrounds at least. Each district in Athkatla was different and thus more interesting to explore.
 

Volourn

Pretty Princess
Pretty Princess Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Mar 10, 2003
Messages
24,924
"Their very own 2D BG games look way better than this."

Complete and utter bullshit.
"
 

Jaime Lannister

Arbiter
Joined
Jun 15, 2007
Messages
7,183
Diodax
Diodax @ Jan 29th 2010 5:30PM

"It felt like WoW single player."

And that's exactly why I found it awesome
 

Dny

Educated
Joined
Jan 20, 2010
Messages
398
There isn't a single place in DA that feels like an actual city. Denerim is pathetic shit compared to Baldur's Gate, BG2 Athkatla, Arcanum Tarant or even what can be found in Morrowind.

Biowhore newly found love for the "cities in a small hub" is boring shit.
 

janjetina

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 28, 2008
Messages
14,231
Location
Zagreb, Croatia
Torment: Tides of Numenera
IE games managed to implement cities right, so they looked and sounded like cities. Detailed city locations were one of the biggest appeals of BG 2 and new 3d games fall pathetically short in that regard, as their cities look like a cluster of props.
 

Antagonist

Liturgist
Joined
Jan 6, 2004
Messages
484
Location
Glorious Vaterland
MetalCraze said:
Streets that look like streets, buildings of realistic size, looks like a docks area. Finally while Athkatla was only presented with a few areas it did feel like a real big city.
The main question when looking at cities in 3D games is "people live here?"

Athkatla, Baldur's Gate and Sigil also made the impression of a living and breathing city because the developers nailed the ambient sounds for these locations. You could hear people talking, peddling their wares, working and doing all kinds of other activities you would expect from the inhabitants.
 

Trash

Pointing and laughing.
Joined
Dec 12, 2002
Messages
29,683
Location
About 8 meters beneath sea level.
sheek said:
Trash said:
Area (especially wilderness ones) and encounter design could use some serious work and the game mechanics need some tweaking as well. The bad guys could use some more character as well. As it is the whole plague ork thingie grows a bit stale after awhile. Other than that it was quite a fun romp.
What is wrong with the outdoors? It's not a hiking simulator.

The area design. Almost all indoor areas look good and are filled with interesting details. A mayority of the outdoor areas on the other hand look bland, generic and even empty.

On a side note, a believable city is always a tricky thing to pull off. BG 2 did it quite well, mostly because of the amazing art and sound direction they had. I also enjoyed the simple but effective aproach of Betrayal at Krondor and Betrayal at Antarra.

lamut.png
 

Lonely Vazdru

Pimp my Title
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
6,656
Location
Agen
All who visit Lamut are equal for in Lamut all is equally queer.

Gay town detected.

Also, I side with MC on his praise for Athkatla. If only because for once he's "preaching for", instead of "bitching against".
 

lightbane

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,158
With more BLOOM, obviously (possibly accompanied with greater boobs and even more EXTREME shoulderpads)...
 

Trash

Pointing and laughing.
Joined
Dec 12, 2002
Messages
29,683
Location
About 8 meters beneath sea level.
56K emo cries again.

Blackadder said:
How are they going to make things look "better" when they need to fit it onto the current consoles?

Improve the engine? The older a console is the more developers usually manage to cram out of it.
 

Grunker

RPG Codex Ghost
Patron
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
Messages
27,386
Location
Copenhagen
Codex criticising next-gen for giving characters personality instead of looks n' boobs?

My time here has finally come full-circle.
 

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