Interview DA II Mike Laidlaw's GameInformer Interview

[Jaesun]

Tags: BioWare; Dragon Age 2

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Parts of the Dragon Age II lead designer Mike Laidlaw interview with <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/102387-dragon-age-ii-interview.html">Game Informer have surfaced</a>:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Many of the caves and building interiors are repeated, even though the locations are supposed to be different. What kind of limitations necessitated this decision?</strong>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In the balance of production, we realized that we had capacity to create and maintain more stories, content, and encounters than we could necessarily create unique levels for, so we made the call to re-use some of the caves and other levels in the interest of providing more sidequests and encounters.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>The fast-paced combat system of the console version is a large improvement over Origins' console entry. How did you zero in on the parts of the system that needed the most attention?&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Lots of both formal and informal usability testing. The real key, we discovered, was that of expectation space. Controllers carry with them the feel that "these buttons are designed to do things." Whether jump or attack or grapple, controllers feel at their best when they trigger a response. The question then became whether we could look at our combat system as a whole and get that level of responsiveness while still using our RPG rules, stats, inventory, and so on as the determining factor in the effect of the action. Another key consideration was ensuring that the changes didn't make the game impossible to play on the PC, which is why we kept to an attack/ability paradigm rather than combos or other action game mechanics.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Meredith plays a significant role late in the story, but is largely absent for the rest of the game. Why keep a prominent antagonist in the background for so long?&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The "prominent antagonist" is a staple of fantasy, be it the brooding eye of Sauron or the endless hordes of the archdemon. For Dragon Age II, we wanted to attempt something different and break the mold and try to vilify circumstance, rather than a specific evil. It's a story of how heroes are made, not born, and I think that by the same token, it's a story of how the antagonist need not always be the villain. To me, that's a very human tale. I believe the early game likely could have used some additional appearances by Meredith, but we were likely being over-cautious of her being perceived as a source of confusion or frustration for players: "I think she's important, but she feels disconnected from my current goals!"&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>What would you say to the PC gamer who feels like Dragon Age II was "dumbed down" compared to Origins?&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>I would suggest that they play on Hard, frankly. Origins on normal delivered a pretty painful experience on the PC if you were new to RPGs, and I firmly believe that it turned people off. There's a very clear "skill gap" between someone new to Dragon Age II and a returning Origins player, and I think it's very easy to forget how steep that learning curve could be once you've overcome it.As such, we've made the early game quests and encounters more forgiving, especially on normal, to help someone just getting their feet under them acclimate. Hard, however, presents a solid, and consistent challenge to veterans, and one where I think teamwork, pause-and-play, and smart thinking are all quite important.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The full post <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/dragon-age-2/show_msgs.php?topic_id=m-1-58789594&amp;pid=988968">can be found here</a>. AWESOME!</p>
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<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/102387-dragon-age-ii-interview.html ">GameBanshee</a></p>

 

[racofer]

Many of the caves and building interiors are repeated, even though the locations are supposed to be different. What kind of limitations necessitated this decision?



In the balance of production, we realized that we had capacity to create and maintain more stories, content, and encounters than we could necessarily create unique levels for, so we made the call to re-use some of the caves and other levels in the interest of providing more sidequests and encounters.

BBBBAAAAAAAHHWHAUWAHUWAUHWUAHEAUHEAUHEUAHUEHAHUEHAU1!!!

 

[commie]

Many of the caves and building interiors are repeated, even though the locations are supposed to be different. What kind of limitations necessitated this decision?



In the balance of production, we realized that we had capacity to create and maintain more stories, content, and encounters than we could necessarily create unique levels for, so we made the call to re-use some of the caves and other levels in the interest of providing more sidequests and encounters.

BBBBAAAAAAAHHWHAUWAHUWAUHWUAHEAUHEAUHEUAHUEHAHUEHAU1!!!

You beat me to it. I chortled heartily at the same thing.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Heroes are made and not born, which explains killing an ogre at level 1.

 

[Xor]

Many of the caves and building interiors are repeated, even though the locations are supposed to be different. What kind of limitations necessitated this decision?



In the balance of production, we realized that we had capacity to create and maintain more stories, content, and encounters than we could necessarily create unique levels for, so we made the call to re-use some of the caves and other levels in the interest of providing more sidequests and encounters.

BBBBAAAAAAAHHWHAUWAHUWAUHWUAHEAUHEAUHEUAHUEHAHUEHAU1!!!

This is the greatest statement ever. I'm serious. Now any time Bioware is about to release a new game and there are doubts about whether it will be good or not, someone can post this quote.

 

[zelda64whatagreatgame]

since the bosses have said that they are ok with the result, this guy would be dumb to criticise them publicly unless he doesn't like his job. the bosses have their goals, they want to become the disney or lucasarts of rpg's and that doesn't involve us as a the core market.

 

[zelda64whatagreatgame]

at the top i bet they are a bit surprised by the continued amount of attention being given to their company by a place like rpg codex, if they knew about it. it's like a magazine about gourme food would write 8-page articles about Chicken McNuggets each issue.

 

[zelda64whatagreatgame]

the only thing that irks me is the "i was a hardcore realttime with pause player and i love this". just leave it alone you fucking douchebag.

 

[bhlaab]

But the sidequests were halfassed too.

 

[felipepepe]

Many of the caves and building interiors are repeated, even though the locations are supposed to be different. What kind of limitations necessitated this decision?



In the balance of production, we realized that we had capacity to create and maintain more stories, content, and encounters than we could necessarily create unique levels for, so we made the call to re-use some of the caves and other levels in the interest of providing more sidequests and encounters.

BBBBAAAAAAAHHWHAUWAHUWAUHWUAHEAUHEAUHEUAHUEHAHUEHAU1!!!

Had more fun reading this than playing DA2.

 

[Andyman Messiah]

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!

Every goddamn thing he says disgusts and offends me like nothing else in this world. Yes, that's pathetic but I don't care, I believe I have finally found a developer I actually HATE. There's no way in hell I'm getting Mass Effect 3 now. I don't care. I don't want to support any part of a company that has this man on the payroll. Fuck this shit! I'm done with BioWare!

*edited for fuckthisshittery*

 

[Befuddled Halfling]

Origins on normal delivered a pretty painful experience on the PC if you were new to RPGs, and I firmly believe that it turned people off

That's it. The delusional hubris is too much. Until I read this, I would have bought Mass Effect 3 in a heartbeat, but no way now. The thought of some portion of my $70 going to Laidlaw's year end bonus now officially outweighs my desire to headshot reapers. Different team, yes, but same Doctor Evil Muzyka. Who, btw, was also on Gameinformer a few days ago saying they he was happy with how things tunred out on DA2, despite some "polarization".

Basically the big picture strategy here seems to be - sit tight and win the war of attrition with the anti-dumbing down critics. Once their patience is whittled away, you can make Dragon Age 3 ArcaniA, and sell 10 million copied to the Call of Duty audience.

 

[Jaesun]

How hard is it to hit the A Button on your XBox Contoller on your PC?

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Many of the caves and building interiors are repeated, even though the locations are supposed to be different. What kind of limitations necessitated this decision?



In the balance of production, we realized that we had capacity to create and maintain more stories, content, and encounters than we could necessarily create unique levels for, so we made the call to re-use some of the caves and other levels in the interest of providing more sidequests and encounters.

BBBBAAAAAAAHHWHAUWAHUWAUHWUAHEAUHEAUHEUAHUEHAHUEHAU1!!!

You beat me to it. I chortled heartily at the same thing.

Just stinks to high hell of laziness, doesn't it?

Compare this attitude to the attitude of teams like Ubisoft Montreal, who actually add more and more stuff to each game they make. Bioware slices things away.

 

[Yeesh]

Many of the caves and building interiors are repeated, even though the locations are supposed to be different. What kind of limitations necessitated this decision?



In the balance of production, we realized that we had capacity to create and maintain more stories, content, and encounters than we could necessarily create unique levels for, so we made the call to re-use some of the caves and other levels in the interest of providing more sidequests and encounters.

BBBBAAAAAAAHHWHAUWAHUWAUHWUAHEAUHEAUHEUAHUEHAHUEHAU1!!!

What did you think he was going to say? "We thought we could get away with it and we basically did"?

Or were you thinking he'd just break down in tears?

 

[Kaanyrvhok]

Lots of both formal and informal usability testing. The real key, we discovered, was that of expectation space. Controllers carry with them the feel that "these buttons are designed to do things." Whether jump or attack or grapple, controllers feel at their best when they trigger a response. The question then became whether we could look at our combat system as a whole and get that level of responsiveness while still using our RPG rules, stats, inventory, and so on as the determining factor in the effect of the action. Another key consideration was ensuring that the changes didn't make the game impossible to play on the PC, which is why we kept to an attack/ability paradigm rather than combos or other action game mechanics.

You would have been better off with the combos and asking PC gamers to get a controller or adding more depth to stat based combat. The responsiveness is just arbitrary.

Do you see Dragon Age ever revisiting the traditional tactical gameplay found in Origins?It really depends on the definition of tactical. For some, it simply means "slower." For others it means more complicated combat scenarios and more engaging/challenging foes. To the former, I would say no. I personally find the responsiveness and personality of the new combat system to be much better for Dragon Age as a whole. My experience with the game feels more like I'm in control, rather than issuing orders, and that direct correlation to my actions is something I really enjoy. This is speaking as a habitual PC pause-and-player.

I call bullshit on several levels. First DA:O was never tactical. DA 2 is still stat based so all that was removed was the ability to miss. Its like the NBA Live lead designer who quit when they were changing the gameplay. This guy sold out. There is no way a PC pause-and-player could belive this crap.

What would you say to the PC gamer who feels like Dragon Age II was "dumbed down" compared to Origins?I would suggest that they play on Hard, frankly. Origins on normal delivered a pretty painful experience on the PC if you were new to RPGs, and I firmly believe that it turned people off. There's a very clear "skill gap" between someone new to Dragon Age II and a returning Origins player, and I think it's very easy to forget how steep that learning curve could be once you've overcome it.As such, we've made the early game quests and encounters more forgiving, especially on normal, to help someone just getting their feet under them acclimate. Hard, however, presents a solid, and consistent challenge to
veterans, and one where I think teamwork, pause-and-play, and smart thinking are all quite important

Fool!! Its not just the difficulty. DA:O was hard compared to most RPGs but it wasnt hard compared to most video games. RPG is just the pussy genre. Also DIFFICULTY IS NOT DEPTH. You baboons have ripped so much out of your games that it is not easy to keep track of all of it. From bashing chest to calender time Bioware has dumbed down the shit out of their games.

 

[Krash]

Looks like gamespotters agree with the codex here. Oh bioware!

 

[Cynic]

This scum needs to be banished from all planes of existence.

 

[Jools]

/

 

[Micmu]

Do not worry. EA will put him to "sleep", eventually.

 

[waywardOne]

Origins on normal delivered a pretty painful experience on the PC if you were new to RPGs, and I firmly believe that it turned people off.

You don't appeal to a crowd which wasn't interested in the first game with the sequel. That's not how you please anybody. The people who didn't like the original are pretty well gone. Xenosaga was a fantastic lesson towards developers in this. First game turned a lot of people off. Second game appealed to those the first turned off, pissing off fans of the first, only those turned off weren't buying it because their interest was lost with the first. Third game sold poorly because everyone was pissed by that point.

 

[Reptilian Shapeshifter]

Laidlaw isn't even a competent liar. Where does he come up with this shit?

 

[LittleJoe]

I would suggest that they play on Hard, frankly.

But playing this game on hard doesn't make it any better, it just prolongs the drudgery.

 

[deus101]

good....fucking.....lordy....lord

 

[Mastermind]

What's the point of posting this shit, we already know Bioware's composed of fucking retards. If I had posted this thread it would have gotten retardoed on the spot.