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Interview Greg Zeschuk Interview

VentilatorOfDoom

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Tags: BioWare

<p>BioWare's Greg Zeschuk <a href="http://www.vg247.com/2010/07/14/interview-biowares-dr-greg-on-dragon-age-2-and-the-triple-a-trap/" target="_blank">gets interviewed by VG247.</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>You&rsquo;ve made the decision to only have a human lead character in Dragon Age II, and not allow people to choose their race. Can you explain why?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Greg Zeschuk:</strong> With all our games, we don&rsquo;t always want to create a true sequel in the sense that it&rsquo;s more of the same. You can see it from Mass Effect 1 to Mass Effect 2 that you&rsquo;ve changed up quite a bit of stuff.</p>
<p>We decided to sort of change and create a different type of game at least on the surface. And the interesting thing is that in the case of Dragon Age II, we&rsquo;ve only shown a little slice of it so far. And everyone&rsquo;s very excited, right? If you&rsquo;ll remember with Dragon Age 1, we had the Marilyn Manson trailer and everyone freaked out and we said, &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t worry: we&rsquo;re just showing you a different perspective.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Over time, I think people will kind of understand what we&rsquo;re doing and probably really like it.</p>
<p>We like to challenge our players on a sequel. It&rsquo;s still a Dragon Age game, that hasn&rsquo;t changed. But it&rsquo;s going to be challenging and interesting in many ways. We think it&rsquo;s ultimately going to be a better game, so I think ultimately the fans will agree when they get to play it. That&rsquo;s the fundamental thing.</p>
<p><strong>Dragon Age has been a more successful product for you than Mass Effect. Why do you think that is?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Greg Zeschuk:</strong> Well, Mass Effect 1 is probably at a similar level, maybe even higher, than Dragon Age. It got a head start. I think it was a Christmas game versus a non-Christmas game. Second would be that there&rsquo;s one platform short on Mass Effect.</p>
<p>It&rsquo;s interesting when you look at it now. For example, Mass Effect 2 is still a top ten seller in North America. It&rsquo;s still doing really, really well from the beginning of the year to now. I think over time, you&rsquo;ll see it&rsquo;ll probably even out. I don&rsquo;t worry too much about the sales numbers of what&rsquo;s more or less successful as much as the idea that each game keeps getting higher and higher quality.</p>
<p>I think they&rsquo;ll find their fans. Mass continues to sell really well, so it&rsquo;ll probably catch up and pass. You never know.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Also the other BioDoc entered the magic world of Poker:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>We heard rumours over E3 that Ray may be thinking of leaving BioWare. Is there any truth in that, or do you think that was just poker-related?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Greg Zeschuk:</strong> [Laughs] No, Ray&rsquo;s still very dedicated to BioWare, but he also loves poker. It&rsquo;s his hobby, right? Ironically, he&rsquo;s now at the World Series of Poker. He was supposed to do the talk jointly, but actually he went to Vegas. And if he won, if he started doing well, he was going to have to stay as he&rsquo;s still in the tournament. And he is. So no, no: I think that&rsquo;s probably a tongue in cheek question, as he&rsquo;s still very into it. He&rsquo;s on a bit of a sabbatical right now, which is a good thing because he&rsquo;s got the whole group level management &ndash; he&rsquo;s got GM at every studio. But he still thinks about BioWare every day.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/98757-greg-zeschuk-interview.html">GB</a></p>
 

Darth Roxor

Royal Dongsmith
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This would explain the 'Everyone is aware that to be successful in RPG games, you need a strategy and execute it to perfection. The same thing applies for online poker games, especially in texas hold'em' ad banner.
 

Quilty

Magister
Joined
Apr 11, 2008
Messages
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" But he still thinks about BioWare every day."

I read this and had an Orwellian Big Brother moment there. Hell, imagine what brainwashing Bioware employees must go through until they embrace the awesomeness of Bioware. And actually be willing to make a Manson trailer. Now that takes a lot of indoctrination.
 

Angthoron

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Joined
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Messages
13,056
VentilatorOfDoom said:
We heard rumours over E3 that Ray may be thinking of leaving BioWare. Is there any truth in that, or do you think that was just poker-related?

Greg Zeschuk: [Laughs] No, Ray’s still very dedicated to BioWare, but he also loves poker. It’s his hobby, right? Ironically, he’s now at the World Series of Poker. He was supposed to do the talk jointly, but actually he went to Vegas. And if he won, if he started doing well, he was going to have to stay as he’s still in the tournament. And he is. So no, no: I think that’s probably a tongue in cheek question, as he’s still very into it. He’s on a bit of a sabbatical right now, which is a good thing because he’s got the whole group level management – he’s got GM at every studio. But he still thinks about BioWare every day.

I wanna hold 'em like they do in Texas Plays
Fold em' let 'em hit me raise it baby stay with me (I love it)
Luck and intuition play the cards with spades to start
And after he's been hooked I'll play the one that's on his heart


Can't read my,
Can't read my
No he can't read my poker face
(he's got no love nobody)
Can't read my
Can't read my
No he can't read my poker face
(he's got no love nobody)
 

Shannow

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You’ve made the decision to only have a human lead character in Dragon Age II, and not allow people to choose their race. Can you explain why?

Greg Zeschuk: With all our games, we don’t always want to create a true sequel in the sense that it’s more of the same. You can see it from Mass Effect 1 to Mass Effect 2 that you’ve changed up quite a bit of stuff.

We decided to sort of change and create a different type of game at least on the surface. And the interesting thing is that in the case of Dragon Age II, we’ve only shown a little slice of it so far. And everyone’s very excited, right? If you’ll remember with Dragon Age 1, we had the Marilyn Manson trailer and everyone freaked out and we said, “Don’t worry: we’re just showing you a different perspective.”

Over time, I think people will kind of understand what we’re doing and probably really like it.

We like to challenge our players on a sequel. It’s still a Dragon Age game, that hasn’t changed. But it’s going to be challenging and interesting in many ways. We think it’s ultimately going to be a better game, so I think ultimately the fans will agree when they get to play it. That’s the fundamental thing.
So he can't explain why they chose to go Human but he expects people to over time understand it. :roll:

Greg, or anyone who knows Greg and reads the codex, here is what you'll answer next time:
You’ve made the decision to only have a human lead character in Dragon Age II, and not allow people to choose their race. Can you explain why?
We at Bioware have a history of making great and epic stories. We also want to provide our fans with the ability to make the story their story and the player character their player character. I believe we did this very well with DA:O with the different Origins, but as ME 1 and 2 show, a story focussed on a single character can be emotionally even more engaging. In sequels we don't like to simply repeat ourselves, we like do mix things up a little. With DA2 we'll be able to tell an even better story than in DA:O. It will feel even more tailored to each player than previously.
There, full of lies, hype and bullshit without a single "fuck", needs a little polishing and it's ready for press release.
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
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The paragraph about Mass Effect just obfuscates things further. So Mass Effect sales are comparable to Dragon Age, but Dragon Age got there faster and the second one may or may not be trying to catch up? At least he admits to being a "big picture" and not a details person.
 

Achilles

Arcane
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Sep 5, 2009
Messages
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I think that the following...

VentilatorOfDoom said:
For example, Mass Effect 2 is still a top ten seller in North America. It’s still doing really, really well from the beginning of the year to now. I think over time, you’ll see it’ll probably even out. I don’t worry too much about the sales numbers of what’s more or less successful as much as the idea that each game keeps getting higher and higher quality.</p>
<p>I think they’ll find their fans. Mass continues to sell really well, so it’ll probably catch up and pass. You never know.</p>

... proves that Dragon Age has indeed sold more units than Mass Effect 2. First he says that ME1 is probably even with Dragon Age, then he says that "Mass" (obviously Mass Effect 2) is doing very well still and sales with Dragon Age will probably even out at some point. Which makes the decision to turn Dragon Age 2 into Mass Effect With Swords even more baffling.

The only reason I can think of is that Dragon Age maybe sold more copies on PC and that is somehow....bad? Other than that, I can't think of anything.
 

Gay-Lussac

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" With all our games, we don’t always want to create a true sequel in the sense that it’s more of the same."

Hahaha
 
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Like the way he dodges the most important question/point in the interview:
'Dragon Age has been a better seller than ME series - why?'. I read the subtext of that as 'When will you guys actually acknowledge that lots of folks still want dialogue trees, larger party sizes, spell selection and zoomed out map control, rather than streamlining everything into a TPS game with minimal party size (yet still maximum party drama)?'

Not that DA is a great example of any of those things, but it was clearly a step towards them from ME. And Bioware seemed shit-scared that it wasn't dumbed down enough, what with their Marilyn Manson marketing and ultragore. Now they seem to be trying to ditch all that 'unsellable' stuff, despite all indications that the fans actually want MORE, not less, compleixty.

It's like there's this 'newspeak' going on that prevents anyone in the game industry from acknowledging a demand for more complexity, no matter what evidence is presented to them. Gamers: 'this sucks, the battles are repetitive, way too easy, just the same tactics each time'. Developers: 'Damn, we didn't dumb it down enough. We''ll have to make sure it's more streamlined next time.'
 

Bladderfish

Augur
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Apr 10, 2006
Messages
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What a load of whoreshit. He couldn't make up any more crap if he shat it out by the bucket-load.

I actually find it hard to understand the mindset capable of lying so blatantly. How could any trust such a gobshite?

Does anyone know a person who works in marketing? Do they bullshit as much in real life as they do at work? Does their mobile truth extend beyond the confines of the workplace? I've always wondered.
 

bhlaab

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Directly compare the new gameplay ideas to the awful trailers that everybody hated, still hates and will always hate forever. Good idea.
 

Volourn

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Nowhere does he say DA outsold ME2 just ME1. Last checked (a few weeks after ME2's release), DA was at 3.2M and ME2 was at 2.8M.
 
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Someone on a Destructoid podcast said it pretty well this week:

If you fall in love with a game you tend to get pissed when the next game isn't anything like it.

It might be a good game on its own merits, but that's not what you wanted.

They then explain it being like being a guy, falling in love with a woman and she then decides to just want to use strap ons on you.

That might even be your thing, but it sure as hell isn't why you got with her in the first place.




They were more talking about it in response to those console games that then went 3d and seemed like entirely different games with the same characters/setting, but it applies to RPGs as well.

If Dragon Age sold the 3.2 million listed (which should be a mega hit by anyone's standards), in what fucking retarded brainfever would you think its a good idea to rip out almost everything people liked the first damned time around?

And his responses seem similar to Big Steve Jobs who is realizing not every consumer is a cumguzzling whore that will happily take whatever shit you throw at them and whatever corporate lies you use to placate them.

Its like most of these game devs have the mindset of " WE WILL FUCK YOU TILL YOU LOVE US " and just don't understand when it fails miserably.

For every Mario 3d there was a Xbox 360 Shadowrun, or Deus Ex 2.

There are very few games that were incredibly different from their prequel games that did well.

(Not counting internet whining which if any of us bitching on forums mattered would have made Fallout 3 such a sales failure everyone from Bethesda would be forced to suck dick for a dollar.)

I can get behind improving and updating your game. The first 6 Ultimas did this while still keeping the core fundamental gameplay THE SAME.

But it looks like Bioware is going THROW THE BABBY OUT WIT DA BAFFWATA mode and I hope they choke on it and learn from what should be a massive fuckup if there is any justice in this world. (There isn't but let me dream for a minute, kay?)
 

AnalogKid

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Azrael the cat said:
Gamers: 'this sucks, the battles are repetitive, way too easy, just the same tactics each time'. Developers: 'Damn, we didn't dumb it down enough. We''ll have to make sure it's more streamlined next time.'
You missed the critical detail that (most) gamers bought the game first, then some complained as you described. That leads to:

Developers: 'Damn, if we dumb it down more, using those dev resources to port the game to more platforms (instead of make the game interesting), and then spend the remaining budget on MOAR HYPE (and reviewer payoffs), then we'll have a game with higher... erm ... "quality". :P
 
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Volourn said:
Nowhere does he say DA outsold ME2 just ME1. Last checked (a few weeks after ME2's release), DA was at 3.2M and ME2 was at 2.8M.

Didn't EA say that ME2 sold 1.6M total in March?
 

Roguey

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There's a difference between "shipped to stores" and "actual copies sold." They shipped 2 million copies to stores in one week, but only sold sold 1.6 million as of March 31. That 3.2 million Dragon Age figure is also only counting shipped copies.
 

Volourn

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Should it really matter? What is known is that both ME2 and DA are BIO's best selling games to date betaing out the previous winner NWN. Deal with it fuckers.. Bg is fuckin' dead!!!
 
In My Safe Space
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Codex 2012
When I was a teen, some time after playing Baldur's Gate, I made tens of copies of photo of Ray Muzyka from a gaming magazine and used it for a BB gun target.
 

Gay-Lussac

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Your mom
Volourn said:
Should it really matter? What is known is that both ME2 and DA are BIO's best selling games to date betaing out the previous winner NWN. Deal with it fuckers.. Bg is fuckin' dead!!!

wtf, who's talking about BG?
 

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