Game News Dragon Age II Shorter And More Cinematic

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: BioWare; Dragon Age 2

<p><a href="http://360.mmgn.com/News/Dragon-Age-II-Shorter-but-More?" target="_blank">Rejoice everyone!</a> What everyone hoped for turned out to be true, <strong>Dragon Age 2</strong> cuts down on shitty RPG elements but focuses on cinematics instead. It's also shorter.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>At the GDC 2011, Bioware exposes the localization for the upcoming title <strong>'Dragon Age II'</strong>. Presented by localization representative Ian Mitchell, statistics were shown that involve the measurement and volume of what the game comprises of and some detailed information on the scope of the game in comparison to its predecessor (Dragon Age: Origins).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And a comparison with DA:O reveals:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dragon Age: Origins</span> </strong> <br /> &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp; 1,000,000 Words <br /> &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp; 1,000 Cinematics <br /> &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp; 1,000 Characters <br /> &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp; 56,000 Spoken Lines <br /> &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp; 60 Hours of Gameplay <br /> <br /> <br /> <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dragon Age II</span></strong> <br /> &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp; 400,000 Words <br /> &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp; 2,500 Cinematics <br /> &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp; 500 Characters <br /> &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp; 38,000 Spoken Lines <br /> &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp; 40 Hours of Gameplay</p>
</blockquote>
<p>You see, despite being much shorter the number of emotionally engaging cinemtatics inbetween exploding darkspawn by bashing the A-button is substantially higher. Personally, I think it's a good thing. It's where games are heading nowadays. It's welcoming. When I just 'sploded a wave of dorkspawn I want to have a cinematic with some meaningful dialog, like:</p>
<p>- They are everywhere!!??</p>
<p>- We gotta keep moving</p>
<p>.. or something along those lines.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Newsitem brought to you by Brother None.</em></p>
<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/101768-dragon-age-ii-is-shorter-but-more-cinematic.html">GB</a></p>

 

[treave]

That just makes it more welcoming too, which is the icing on the cake. Nobody likes an RPG full of paragraphs of descriptions. They're unfriendly.

 

[turn_based_fanboy]

Good less stupid dialogues to click away before sex scene.

 

[T-T]

Hey, the available options on the dialogue wheel are awesome from what I've seen in the demo!

A-wesome hero character. (" Thank you for the help.")
A-musing, witty, and/or shitty about everything rogue. ("I want to be a dragon.")
A-rrogant/dark hero. ("We didn't need your help!")

Anyone else feel that the "I'm trying to be funny" dialogue options in the demo were actually the most cringe worthy of the whole lot?

 

[BlaineMono]

THIS IS THE NEW NEW SHIT

 

[Gosling]

In my opinion this isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it could result in a very tight, focused experience.

 

[T-T]

In my opinion this isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it could result in a very tight, focused experience.

I'm sure Merrill will be a -very tight- experience.

 

[Gosling]

In my opinion this isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it could result in a very tight, focused experience.

I'm sure Merrill will be a -very tight- experience.

Merril... She's a keeper.

 

[Angthoron]

In my opinion this isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it could result in a very tight, focused experience.

I'm sure Merrill will be a -very tight- experience.

Merril... She's a keeper.

And a bi.

 

[Black]

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3562 ... eave-games

 

[racofer]

Of course it's shorter. Bioware got smarter and will expand the remaining game time to at least twice as long as DA:O with DLCs.

 

[Sisay]

The "longer game is better" and "100 hours of gameplay" style of thinking got us deep roads, the fade and throwaway sidequests.

 

[ortucis]

I am probably the only one who enjoyed Deep Roads (okay, the creepy voice-over bits part only before the secret of Golem construction is revealed). I could be mistaking the name for some other location since I didn't pay attention to the generic lore.. I stopped doing that back in 2001 for all RPGs.

I will have to replay DA:O with the DLC's (didn't buy all, was waiting for ultimate edition) before I get DA2. Fucking save import bullshit in BioWare games is pissing me off. First Mass Effect, then this (what sucks is that if you don't import your own save game in ME, you get BioWare's shitty version of the story where half of the encounters never happened and you killed important, few good, characters as well).

Looks like Witcher will be doing the same. It's like STD CDProjekt probably got while using Aurora.

 

[Gosling]

The "longer game is better" and "100 hours of gameplay" style of thinking got us deep roads, the fade and throwaway sidequests.

This also perfectly explains why they cut down the amount of text in dialogues and increased the number of cutscenes.

 

[Carlos' Bitch1]

The "longer game is better" and "100 hours of gameplay" style of thinking got us deep roads, the fade and throwaway sidequests.

Did it? It also got us Ultima V, Wasteland, etc etc etc...

What got you these things you don't like is the developer in question. Developers love to cut things out, and this kind of whining gives them an excuse. Wouldn't you prefer that the things you dislike are improved instead of just made to be vanished and replaced with cutscenes?

Looks like Witcher will be doing the same. It's like STD CDProjekt probably got while using Aurora.

An import feature will be included in the Witcher 2?

 

[Pika-Cthulhu]

I see now why they were so tight lipped about the game, and released a swathe of loot for early orders, then bumped the price and offered less items for orders, then slowly began to release info, but offering more in game items. They wanted to lock people in with orders and knew that they would have cancelled if those special amazing in game exclusive content items did not exist.

Its brilliant marketing,
"Okay, so we've got a real turd here, the morons will love it, but those who were actually expecting a Spiritual successor to BG will drop it like the turd it is, what can we do to stop that?"
"Whores!"
"No, that only works for the journalists, what else?"
"We could make a game that they would like?"
"YOU'RE FIRED!!!! Next!"
"Exclusive items?"
"Hrm, no, they wont go for it, too cheesey and smacks of moneygrubbing.... but wait, what if we offered exclusive items, had them lock themselves in, then jack the price like that Semite Kotick and then release info about how much of a turd it is. YES!!! I give myself a raise, the rest of you, go back to polishing this turd!"

Then again, I am giving Bio too much credit, I can, however, see an EA handler steering them this way, wont be long until the assimilation is done.

 

[Black]

An import feature will be included in the Witcher 2?

TW2 wiki says it will be.

 

[ortucis]

An import feature will be included in the Witcher 2?

TW2 wiki says it will be.

Aye. Hopefully, it will be limited to all the whores Geralt did or didn't sleep with coming back for a cameo.. or something like that.

 

[Black]

An import feature will be included in the Witcher 2?

TW2 wiki says it will be.

Aye. Hopefully, it will be limited to all the whores Geralt did or didn't sleep with coming back for a cameo.. or something like that.

Why? The import feature was something I have nothing against in me2/me3/da2. It would be neat if there were consequences to who did you side with at the end (Scoiatel, Triss/neutral or the Order).

 

[ortucis]

Why? The import feature was something I have nothing against in me2/me3/da2. It would be neat if there were consequences to who did you side with at the end (Scoiatel, Triss/neutral or the Order).

I hated it in ME2. My first playthrough (female shep import from ME) I experienced everything. I had all party members alive (except the one you are forced to leave.. I won't be surprised if that character turns up in ME3 though) and had completed all side quests/encounters which lead to some cool ME2 moments with NPC's from ME running into me here and there.

All that was great up until I replayed the game with a new character and experienced BioWare's version of events. Most encounters never happened and I even lost the only ineresting Krogan team member from ME as well. This left the world feeling even more lifeless than it was before. Only few side-quests and no other NPC interaction/surprises. That sucked.

Basically, I hated it cause what if I haden't played the first game and had to experience BioWare's version of events only to realise that there are better events which weren't unlocked cause I hadn't played the original game? PS3 players had the same thing happen to them (they get to pick events from a comic thingy instead of playing the whole game). Basically, the whole system feels broken and forced.

It's a nice way to force players to play your other games though. Maybe in future even more major events and equipment/skills can be locked out completely if the player doesn't import crap from the prequel (forcing you to eventually give in a buy the prequel). I am sure we all know how DLC's have been used to shorten the original playtime for games already by the same dev.

 

[Excommunicator]

I find it offensive that they would claim "1000 characters" in DA. Clicking the humanoid button in the editor and click-dragging them into the world doesn't qualify them as characters.

 

[Xor]

*snip*

It really doesn't make a huge difference. Most of the encounters in ME2 based on your ME1 save are cameos with a handful of dialog. I think there's one quest that you can get if you solved a quest in ME1 a certain way, but that's about it. The consequences are pretty superficial when you think about how hyped the feature was.

Although I am curious what the defaults will be in ME3 since pretty much your entire crew could die in the suicide mission. Knowing Bioware, though, none of those characters will play an important role in the 3rd game and their appearance will be limited to cameos.

I find it offensive that they would claim "1000 characters" in DA. Clicking the humanoid button in the editor and click-dragging them into the world doesn't qualify them as characters.

That's a good point. The vast majority of those characters were probably cardboard cutouts with no dialog.

 

[Jaesun]

Add less actual gameplay (because that actually requires thought and creativity), and add more cinematic's?

BIOWARE!

They better not pull this shit on ME3, OR THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY!

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

So what's with this She and I bizness? Is that wrong? Should it be her and me? Or what?

 

[Jaesun]

It was one of those you had to be there reading the thread kind of moment VOD.