Interview DA II Mike Laidlaw's GameInformer Interview

[deus101]

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.

You can post news now?

 

[deus101]

Also...wtf is wrong with gamebanshee users?

 

[Jaesun]

Dear deus101,

Please never quote Mastermind. Also the EDIT button is awesome, instead of posting another shitty reply. Just FYI.

Love Jaesun

 

[zelda64whatagreatgame]

he's got a point though. it degrades this publication to even take the word bioware in its mouth.

 

[Reptilian Shapeshifter]

he's got a point though. it degrades this publication to even take the word bioware in its mouth.

Every garden needs fertilizer.

 

[misha]

There is a question now:what particular developer can be expected to make at least a good rpg game...

 

[Lord Andre]

Someone needs to punch Mike in the face, really fucking hard.

Also Obsidian, Piranha Bytes and witcher potato devs might still make a good game until they sell out too - if they haven't already.

 

[tindrli]

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.

just cant believe what im reading..what'a fuck.. it should be banned BY THE CONSTITUTION for this kind morons to work in the gaming industry

 

[tindrli]

challenge to veterans, and one where I think teamwork, pause-and-play, and smart thinking are all quite important.

Just unbfuckinleaveble!!! shit-staber!!! that's what he is.

 

[Azrael the cat]

Someone needs to punch Mike in the face, really fucking hard.

Also Obsidian, Piranha Bytes and witcher potato devs might still make a good game until they sell out too - if they haven't already.

All designers/developers/creatives sell out eventually. Often not literally in the 'I want megabucks' way. If you want then, then you LITERALLY sell your company out, so that you can bank/invest the rest and be massively rich even if every game by the (sold) company tanks so badly that they make enough loss to deprive a small African nation of food for a year.

No, the way that the creative end of the company sells out is that they get tired of making 'good' games (or games with the qualities that drew their fans in the first place). Of course Bioware developers see making 'summer blockbuster' yet decent games as 'being stuck in the past' (I never 'loved' the company, but I seriously respected them for a while as a competent mass market company, until their recent offerings) - fot them it is quite LITERALLY their past. They spent decades making crpgs - not Codex-favourite rpgs, but nonetheless competent at what they did - before the Mass Effect and DA2 action games. Going back to the same type of games they made 15 years ago would feel like they've been demoted - no-one wants to find themselves doing what they did 15 years ago outside of having sex with 20 year olds.

Eventually the developer just gets bored and wants to move to something else, say cinematic games - as far as their life and career are concerned, making proper rpgs ARE a step back.

So some have more time limits than most. And a very very small few will keep trying all their life - either they'll never get the success they deserve and so they'll keep on striving away, or they just really love the genre so badly that they intend to retire once the genre move on. Most won't. People don't stay in the same job for life these days, and developers don't want to make the same kind of game - even if they improve it greatly as they go - their whole careers.

But having said that, there's no way I would have suspected that Bioware would have gone so anti-rpg so rapidly. And that's taking into account that they were already on the way with KotoR. And whilst individual developers have their heyday, get bored/uninspired and need to move on, companies should replace those guys with a stream of young and excited folks still committed to that genre, with the older guys there to teach and mentor, rather than dragging the company off into action games just because they're sick of crpgs.

 

[Rivmusique]

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.

Maybe I missed something as I didn't actually buy the full game, but in the demo version even nightmare (which was playable with some mod, also let you customize your appearance) wasn't very difficult, with the hardest part being fighting the camera when switching from any one character to another due to that shitty third person camera. This suggestion to try HARD shows what Laidlaw thinks is challenging gaming. If I have to use both hands to play DA3 I will be very suprised. Oh wait we will probably be playing all "PC" games with a controller by then, never mind.

 

[tindrli]

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.

Fuckin FUDGE PACKER!!!!

its a first time in my life that i truly regret for installing this shit at all.
Hopefully i played the first battle and there i realised that i actualy liked the time when i need to pause and position a rouge for proper backstab..


fuckin dissaster

Lord Andre wrote:
Someone needs to punch Mike in the face, really fucking hard.

Also Obsidian, Piranha Bytes and witcher potato devs might still make a good game until they sell out too - if they haven't already.

May the allah bless you with 50 WOMAN-s, not virgins but truly experienced womans wich will fuck you till you die for this statment

 

[abnaxus]

 

[DragoFireheart]

What, who here is honestly surprised?

 

[waywardOne]

only the middle guy is convincing.

 

[Sulimo]

The middle guy looks like an EXTREMEly evil slavic Shepard. God save the universe.

 

[Volourn]

I love the smell of butthurt in the morning.

Super duper l0lz to all the oevr the top silly responses in this thread.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

[commie]

I love the smell of butthurt in the morning.

Super duper l0lz to all the oevr the top silly responses in this thread.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Yours repsponse is not l0lzworthy, thogh it is silly.

f00fles!

 

[Archibald]

Not sure what dear codexers are expecting to hear from him. That he`ll give some reasonable explanation why DA2 flaws aren`t really flaws? Don`t be kiddin yourself.

 

[Xor]

But having said that, there's no way I would have suspected that Bioware would have gone so anti-rpg so rapidly. And that's taking into account that they were already on the way with KotoR. And whilst individual developers have their heyday, get bored/uninspired and need to move on, companies should replace those guys with a stream of young and excited folks still committed to that genre, with the older guys there to teach and mentor, rather than dragging the company off into action games just because they're sick of crpgs.

EA.


Edit: To expand on that, I suspect Bioware would have gone the way of popamole eventually with or without EA, but they're likely being pushed in that direction by their new corporate overlords. Developers and publishers alike seem unable to resist the siren call of the mainstream gaming audience. Actually, I think that's a symptom of how unhealthy the industry is right now - the death of niche markets. But that's another topic entirely.

 

[Jaesun]

Edit: To expand on that, I suspect Bioware would have gone the way of popamole eventually with or without EA

Agreed. They were already doing this before the EA acquisition...

 

[mysterious-stranger]

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.

First time poster here, quick question, if you don't have time to build unique environments, wouldn't it make more sense to take the sidequests and environments you do have and just build on them as opposed to phoning more stuff in, quality > quantity afterall.

I must admit I haven't played DA 2 yet (Big DA: Origins fan though), but this statement hurts my brain.

 

[Kayerts]

he's got a point though. it degrades this publication to even take the word bioware in its mouth.

It is enough to make a man question how prestigious this magazine really is.

 

[mangsy]

The guy on the right looks like he belongs in Oblivion.

Edit: Our right.

 

[Commissar Draco]

he's got a point though. it degrades this publication to even take the word bioware in its mouth.

It is enough to make a man question how prestigious this magazine really is.

This. Drakensang 2 and FNV had 1/10 of the atention Dragon Turd 2 recieves... Combined.
Codexers are not learning animals, as Biowhore developers were not secret that second part woud be consolidated, further animish and more accesible than origins. Which was already ARPG light good for what it was.