Game News Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt, Dragon Age.

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Dragon Age

<a href="http://au.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/dragonage/news.html?sid=6228668&tag=topslot;thumb;4&mode=previews">GameSpot explain how magic works</a> in Dragon Age:
<br>
<blockquote>While Dragon Age's list of skills is universal for characters of all professions (including such abilities as conversational coercion, potion-brewing herbalism, thievery, and combat training), the game has a unique set of "talents" for mages. Mage characters have a single line of mage-specific skills that include a basic attack spell, an arcane bolt, an improved ability to zap people using a magic staff, personal shielding magic, and an overall boost to wizardly power. This basic line of skills never seems like a bad choice to spend talent points in as you gain experience levels, except that there are four other talent lines (or "schools of magic," if you prefer) with plenty of other interesting and useful spell abilities that are worth exploring.
<br>
<br>
The four additional talent trees for mages are primal (elemental damage spells); creation (healing and protective magics); spirit (which focuses on countermagics and controlling enchantments); and entropy (which focuses on hindering magics).
<br>
[...]
<br>
Finally, the entropy line of talents includes a series of debilitating spell abilities, including a set of talents that weaken or paralyze foes; a set of "hexes" that curse any enemies in range with a specific affliction; and a set of nightmare-based abilities that can freeze enemies in their tracks and that includes powerful analogues to Baldur's Gate II's sleep, horror, and chaos spells, which immobilize enemies in slumber, cripple them with fear, and completely confuse them into performing random acts, respectively. As it happens, sleeping enemies who are then targeted by a horror spell suffer maddening nightmares that deal severe damage to them, instantly killing most weaker foes.</blockquote>
<br>
Pretty in-depth article.
<br>
<br>
Thanks <b>Santander02</b>!

 

[Andhaira]

Well I enjoy playing mages so its cool to hear they will be getting some love. However, there don't seem to be any summoning spells.

 

[Bluebottle]

As it happens, sleeping enemies who are then targeted by a horror spell suffer maddening nightmares that deal severe damage to them

You know that if you die in a nightmare, you die IRL. Shitstain Pete said it happened to his cousin, so it must be true.


Silliness aside, I do like the sound of being able to combine spell effects. Whether it'll be the few examples they've given us, or whether it will be flexible enough to give the player a true sense of creativity with magic, is another matter entirely.

 

[Berekän]

My bets are you'll get in HUGE words in the tutorial

'You can combine spells! Use a lighting bolt in the water!'

And then you'll be spamming the lighting bolt all the game, with enemies attacking you from a pool and shit like that.

That's exploiting a "innovative" mechanic, I don't think they'll leave any little room for experimenting.

 

[obediah]

Does anyone else miss the days when magic systems at least tried to be something...well...magical? Today it's just DD, DOT, buff, debuff, counter, heal, regen, summon, and move on to the next aspect of the game.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

As it happens, sleeping enemies who are then targeted by a horror spell suffer maddening nightmares that deal severe damage to them

You know that if you die in a nightmare, you die IRL. Shitstain Pete said it happened to his cousin, so it must be true.

It's a pokemon combo, too. Sleep + Dream Eater (or something)

 

[Emotional Vampire]

My bets are you'll get in HUGE words in the tutorial

'You can combine spells! Use a lighting bolt in the water!'

And then you'll be spamming the lighting bolt all the game, with enemies attacking you from a pool and shit like that.

That's exploiting a "innovative" mechanic, I don't think they'll leave any little room for experimenting.

True dat. Like Bioshock:

BY THE WAY, DID YOU KNOW THAT IF YOU ZAP THE WATER IT ZAPS ALL THE ENEMIES INSIDE? OH LOOK HERE IS A CONVENIENT POOL WHERE ENEMIES JUMP

BY THE WAY, DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU CAN SET THE PATCHES OF OIL ABLAZE? OH LOOK HERE IS A CONVENIENT WAY TO USE IT

What we need is something like... juggling in fighting games, except with magic. So you freeze the enemy with ice spell, shatter him with force spell, use fire to melt the ice/frost on him into water, and then use lighning spell for 8 HIT COMBO.

Or you could use telekinesis to grab someone and throw them into a pool, except before he hits the water you freeze it. Or throwing burning trees at people. Or invoking a rainstorm, flying up high and casting a freeze spell turning the raindrops in little ice daggers. And so on.

 

[RK47]

dark messiah of M & M tried and failed.

 

[poocolator]

Lightning bolts in water and freezing spells used against fire-based monsters sounds apt for being scripted to death, which it probably will be. In any case, these "innovations" are akin to Bethesda's Failout 3's targeting system which I already forgot the name of; that is to say they're exciting at first but get boring fast from overuse.

EDIT:
VATS

 

[Xor]

Sounds like a dumbed down version of Arcanum's magic system.

 

[NotAnAlt]

They'd better be fireballs. Im not playing if there's no fireballs.

 

[Avu]

Does anyone else miss the days when magic systems at least tried to be something...well...magical? Today it's just DD, DOT, buff, debuff, counter, heal, regen, summon, and move on to the next aspect of the game.

Just like I miss the good old days when thieves were guys that picked pockets and disarmed traps and warriors actually did damage? Compared to warrior = tank with monster magnets and rogues = dps. God I hate mmos.

 

[circ]

Sounds like a rehash of Dungeon Siege.

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

My bets are you'll get in HUGE words in the tutorial

'You can combine spells! Use a lighting bolt in the water!'

And then you'll be spamming the lighting bolt all the game, with enemies attacking you from a pool and shit like that.

That's exploiting a "innovative" mechanic, I don't think they'll leave any little room for experimenting.

True dat. Like Bioshock:

BY THE WAY, DID YOU KNOW THAT IF YOU ZAP THE WATER IT ZAPS ALL THE ENEMIES INSIDE? OH LOOK HERE IS A CONVENIENT POOL WHERE ENEMIES JUM
BY THE WAY, DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU CAN SET THE PATCHES OF OIL ABLAZE? OH LOOK HERE IS A CONVENIENT WAY TO USE IT

What we need is something like... juggling in fighting games, except with magic. So you freeze the enemy with ice spell, shatter him with force spell, use fire to melt the ice/frost on him into water, and then use lighning spell for 8 HIT COMBO.

Or you could use telekinesis to grab someone and throw them into a pool, except before he hits the water you freeze it. Or throwing burning trees at people. Or invoking a rainstorm, flying up high and casting a freeze spell turning the raindrops in little ice daggers. And so on.

I'd go for just a couple more simple combinations. Freeze them solid, then use a force spell to blow them apart in a storm of shards towards the next wave.

An improptu shotgun-style shatter blast.



A dozen of those, one or two more complicated (and massively damaging) combos, and it'll strengthen the game's combat options a lot.

 

[SCO]

More to the point very early games like nethack tried and failed. No emergence since the physical model was just too simple/non-existent.

Script it to death doesn't work, though it provides consistent results, (that is desirable in a game).

A valid world model for magic would have to combine physical simulation with magical "rules". Complex interactions... are difficult to program and death to performance to simulate.

 

[MetalCraze]

Sounds like a dumbed down version of Arcanum's magic system.

But in reality it's just an extremely dumbed down version of DnD 3.5 and apparently EA Edmonton needed whole 5 years just to steal everything from DnD and make it retard-friendly.

 

[Ch1ef]

This is gonna suck.







What, you're saying it's just me?

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Sounds like a dumbed down version of Arcanum's magic system.

But in reality it's just an extremely dumbed down version of DnD 3.5 and apparently EA Edmonton needed whole 5 years just to steal everything from DnD and make it retard-friendly.

Surely you'll admit that making DnD completely retard-friendly is a mammoth task.

 

[Xor]

Sounds like a dumbed down version of Arcanum's magic system.

But in reality it's just an extremely dumbed down version of DnD 3.5 and apparently EA Edmonton needed whole 5 years just to steal everything from DnD and make it retard-friendly.

Surely you'll admit that making DnD completely retard-friendly is a mammoth task.

Well, it only took Wizards of the coast a few years. I believe they started working on 4th edition in 2005.

 

[Volourn]

"Well I enjoy playing mages so its cool to hear they will be getting some love. However, there don't seem to be any summoning spells."

Welcome to 4 years ago, dude.

Magic system seems awesome. The crying of it being 'dumbed down Arcanum' is retarded.

 

[Gay-Lussac]

As it happens, sleeping enemies who are then targeted by a horror spell suffer maddening nightmares that deal severe damage to them

You know that if you die in a nightmare, you die IRL. Shitstain Pete said it happened to his cousin, so it must be true.

Shaun of the Dead? I can totally imagine the fat guy saying it

 

[Jaesun]

Hey, it's Volourn.

 

[Micmu]

Damnit, he's back from the locked ward already.

 

[Satori (original)]

The crying of it being 'dumbed down Arcanum' is retarded.

Why?

 

[Volourn]

"Damnit, he's back from the locked ward already"

Never left.


"Why?"

A. Arcanum magic is simply dumbed down D&D magic.

B. Bio wouldn't waste their time 'stealing' or 'dumbing down' from a failed game (even thoguh I personally liked ARC) as they're trying to sell mil+ copies minimum not 10k. HA.

C. There's nothing really complex about the Aracnum magic system. It's not bad, but it's kinda hard to 'dumb down' such a simple system.

D. While DA's magic system isn't the most complex ever, it's not shallow comapred to most magic systems.