Game News Building a better RPG: The BioWare Way

[KevinV12000]

I have to admit that the developer's quote was a remarkably polite way of saying "we needed to dumb this stuff down for the console crowd."

It's the way of the world in a mass market economy, the price we pay for many of the good things we enjoy. Sometimes I'm not sure of the trade-off, but it is what it is.

But, you know, people do stop playing for a number of reasons, you can't anticpate them all. I stopped playing because I spent enough goddamn time listening to self-righteous British-accented cunts when I had to live in the hell hole once known as "England" and there was no way for me to play DA:O without listening to that same fury-inducing accent and not want to punch the walls.

 

[Befuddled Halfling]

Fortunately Kaspersky stops all the little BioWare spyware telemetry data from phoning home. I wonder how many people who decided to side with the circle against Jowan now realize that BioWare has a "backstabfriend=1" flag on their account...

 

[Dorf]

That bit about making a better introduction just doesn't make sense to me. If people are still playing the "Introduction Phase" of your game 1-2 hours in then you have a VERY bad game design.

No, what I think happened was that people actually were playing through the game and just got bored and/or didn't like it. I have to believe the guy interviewed is not that stupid and is just spinning this info to fit the narative he wants to talk about in the interview. I mean, he couldn't just say, "Yeah, people were quitting early in the game because it sucked and/or was boring. We are trying to fix that."

 

[Ogg]

"You get to an RPG and fire it up, and ... it hits you in the face with a thousand stats."

That was my favourite part in BG. Or more precisely the only part I actually enjoyed.

 

[tehRPness]

"You get to an RPG and fire it up, and ... it hits you in the face with a thousand stats."

That was my favourite part in BG. Or more precisely the only part I actually enjoyed.

Same here. Being greeted with tons of stats and rules means you're going to have to actually learn a few things and dedicate some time to the game. Since when was that a bad thing? Playing most pure action games just make me feel like I'm rotting braincells like when you watch really shitty TV. I'm sick of it. :patriot:

 

[screeg]

I guess most people would only reach Lothering in a few hours. My bet is actually on them seeing Loghain's derp betrayal at Ostagar.

That's exactly where I quit, because it was boring as spit, and I discovered yet again that the confused mishmash of turn-based with pause is an abortion from hell.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

Laidlaw's man-tits are the twin demons of deceit and treachery.

 

[deus101]

http://gamasutra.com/view/news/33224/Bi ... y_RPGs.php


Thank you Mike...for trying to bridge the gap between facebook games and RPG's.

 

[Esquilax]

Laidlaw's man-tits are the twin demons of deceit and treachery.

I think that maybe BioWare has a bad sample selection here. What they should have done is gotten Codexers to play it for 100 hours, then call it the biggest piece of shit ever created.

 

[Topher]

I guess most people would only reach Lothering in a few hours. My bet is actually on them seeing Loghain's derp betrayal at Ostagar.

That's exactly where I quit, because it was boring as spit, and I discovered yet again that the confused mishmash of turn-based with pause is an abortion from hell.

I too quit in the exact same spot more or less and it sure as hell wasn't because I was overwhelmed with stats. I was fucking underwhelmed with stats and just options in general every aspect of the game felt like a chore. I gave my new character, a rogue, a few boring stats and skills which didn't do a damn thing to make the game play feel any different than had I chosen a warrior and off I went into boredom.

 

[Rogue]

Sure, there are some button prompts here or there

Fuck that, a way too complicated game. It's very frustrating for me having to press so many buttons during the 100-hour learning curve. I', just not mentally prepared for it, you know. I want to have fun playing my game, instead i'm bombarded with constant interruptions that I don't even understand. Make it stop, Bioware, fix my game for me, pleaseeeeeeeee

 

[Volourn]

"That was my favourite part in BG. Or more precisely the only part I actually enjoyed."

DA had way more stats and shit than BG did. Hell, DA2 - even with the removal of certain things - has more stats than BG.

LMFAO

 

[Rogue]

"You get to an RPG and fire it up, and ... it hits you in the face with a thousand stats."

That was my favourite part in BG. Or more precisely the only part I actually enjoyed.

Same here. Being greeted with tons of stats and rules means you're going to have to actually learn a few things and dedicate some time to the game. Since when was that a bad thing? Playing most pure action games just make me feel like I'm rotting braincells like when you watch really shitty TV. I'm sick of it. :patriot:

Yeah, same for me. In games such as Fallout and BG character creation was an event for me. Maybe think about it a bit during the day to decide the direction you want to take, then in the evening make chocolate milk, start up the game, let the stats hit you in the face and soothe the "horrible pain" with sips of cocoa. Thank god Bioware will remove such painful events from their games.

 

[Ogg]

"That was my favourite part in BG. Or more precisely the only part I actually enjoyed."

DA had way more stats and shit than BG did. Hell, DA2 - even with the removal of certain things - has more stats than BG.

LMFAO

I also enjoyed it in DA:O. I was a bit underwhelmed by the small number of classes, but I'm always excited when i choose my stats and abilities.

In DA2 of course, you won't have any non combat skills, so... LMFAO