Preview Dragon Age II Preview

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: BioWare; Dragon Age 2

<p>PCGamer <a href="http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/11/30/dragon-age-2-preview-the-hero-of-kirwall/" target="_blank">provide a preview</a> of <strong>Dragon Age 2</strong>, BioWare's answer to Fable 3.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They&rsquo;re also ditching the approval system. You won&rsquo;t be trying to lobby your companions by saving kittens in front of them; now they&rsquo;ll agree with you completely, or just stick around as a &lsquo;rival&rsquo;. A rival respects your power and the role you play in the world, but thinks you&rsquo;re kind of a dick. As a side effect of that, you can&rsquo;t have an outright evil champion. You&rsquo;ll have to settle for being ruthless in the pursuit of your ideals.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>If you can't get something right, ditch it. The new bio-design philosophy.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/100592-dragon-age-ii-preview.html">Gamebanshee</a></p>

 

[Roguey]

Gaider said that certain decisions will make them leave forever in addition to the rivalry path. Another games journalist gets things wrong as usual. It's fun watching them play clean-up on the forums every single time a piece of misinformation pops up. Like a mole.

 

[SolipsisticUrge]

Every single piece of information which pops up concerning this game leads me to believe it will be the ultimate abomination. I didn't quite go in for all the hate of the original (certainly a far cry from the classics of old, but not an outright abortion of a game, or so I believe), but this... this may end up trumping Oblivion on my most hated games list.

 

[CraigCWB]

I didn't quite go in for all the hate of the original (certainly a far cry from the classics of old, but not an outright abortion of a game, or so I believe)


Yes... it was better than any Bioware game since Baldur's gate II, in my opinion. Of course, that's not saying much. Something happened to Bioware in between BG2 and Neverwinter Nights and they've just never been the same. Dragon Age was at least an effort to get back on track. And an effort that has now been aborted, it seems. I'm a bit surprised they are gimping the companion conversations, but since there's no doubt in my mind they intend to continue their "interactive movie" approach to roleplaying games I'll predict that the companions are going to frequently interrupt the adventuring with mandatory dialogues. Which they already did in DA of course, but I'm thinking they will be doing it all the time in DA2.

but this... this may end up trumping Oblivion on my most hated games list.

Really? Most hated? What came out at about the same time that was better? NWN2? I'd put both the Neverwinter games far out in front of Oblivion when it comes to truly bad games.

 

[Xor]

Gaider said that certain decisions will make them leave forever in addition to the rivalry path. Another games journalist gets things wrong as usual. It's fun watching them play clean-up on the forums every single time a piece of misinformation pops up. Like a mole.

So they spend all their time...popping moles?

 

[mediocrepoet]

It doesn't even sound like it'd be worth using the disc as a coaster. I wonder when Bioware will finish its transition to developer of high resolution screen savers.

 

[SimpleComplexity]

Half of the Codex has it already preordered.
The other half The Witcher 2.

Whoever wins, the cRPG genre loses.

 

[Jack]

Whoever wins, the cRPG genre loses.

It is already dead, so I don't see what could be lost.

 

[Silellak]

Half of the Codex has it already preordered.
The other half The Witcher 2.

Oh shit, does that mean I don't exis---

 

[SimpleComplexity]

Only paying customers exist in the gaming industry.
If you don't buy it, they'll take that as a sign that the game wasn't streamlined enough.

 

[Azrael the cat]

Only paying customers exist in the gaming industry.
If you don't buy it, they'll take that as a sign that the game wasn't streamlined enough.

And apparently if you DO buy it, in record-smashing droves, and on the back of a marketing campaign that heavily emphasised its similarity to BG2, and with an engine that required at least some tactics in at least some fights (though woefully obscured by masses upon masses of trash mobs), they'll STILL take it that you obviously could neither read their marketing hype nor understand the game you were playing and that obviously they should instead ditch all of that in pursuit of the cinematic approach of a game that sold less than it.

Do that twice - ignore clear market signs, I mean, not make a shitty game (history has proven you can do the latter FUCKLOADS of times and stay afloat) and you have the first signs of a company that is running into strategic trouble. I'd be selling Bioware shares around now.

Damn I need to find which gaming companies list their shares on the Aussie stock exchange. Would make for good investment given that I basically research the damn industry in my spare time - I'd just have to make sure I went with what I thought would make money (or, more to the point, unexpected money - efficient market hypothesis, which still works really well for ordinary shares, just not derivatives and things that get so far removed from 'buying a piece of a company' that folk don't know what they're buying, means that there's no point putting money into the next Bioware hit. The market already knows it will be a hit, and the share price has gone up in advance to compensate. If, however, a CDProject game is lining up to do better than folks expect, there could be profit in that.).

Not to mention, that if you own even one share in a company, under Australian (and US and UK, I believe) law, they must let you attend their AGM. If Bethesda ARE traded on the Aussie stock exchange, any other Aussies up for buying ONE share each (like a couple of dollars plus $20 brokerage) and attending their AGM as a Codex team, with a Codex banner, and asking questions of their CEOs like 'do you think that gradually reducing the intelligence of the average gamer has a negative effect on the long-term market profitability of the industry?' It's a chance to troll, but in real life!

 

[SolipsisticUrge]

Really? Most hated? What came out at about the same time that was better? NWN2? I'd put both the Neverwinter games far out in front of Oblivion when it comes to truly bad games.

Didn't like either NWN OC, but to me it was more of a "my god, this is bland, this is bland, why am I still playing this, uninstall" than the "THIS IS THE MOST HORRENDOUS THING I HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED OH MY GOD THE STUPIDITY MUST FORMAT HARD DRIVE TO STERILIZE IMPURITY" feeling that Oblivion gave me. The difference between being mundane, boring and pointless, as opposed to actually offensive and harmful. Your mileage may vary.

In further reference to DA2, I don't even understand why they're dumbing it down even further. The usual logic of "dumb game sell more lololol" would seem to be trumped by the fact that Dragon Age was hardly a commercial disappointment. Do they honestly think millions more who never touched the original game will flock to the sequel? They seem to be risking alienating people who liked (or could tolerate) the original while not having much chance of bringing in new customers.

 

[Yeesh]

And apparently if you DO buy it, in record-smashing droves, and on the back of a marketing campaign that heavily emphasised its similarity to BG2, and with an engine that required at least some tactics in at least some fights (though woefully obscured by masses upon masses of trash mobs), they'll STILL take it that you obviously could neither read their marketing hype nor understand the game you were playing and that obviously they should instead ditch all of that in pursuit of the cinematic approach of a game that sold less than it.

Do that twice - ignore clear market signs, I mean, not make a shitty game (history has proven you can do the latter FUCKLOADS of times and stay afloat) and you have the first signs of a company that is running into strategic trouble. I'd be selling Bioware shares around now.

Damn I need to find which gaming companies list their shares on the Aussie stock exchange. Would make for good investment given that I basically research the damn industry in my spare time - I'd just have to make sure I went with what I thought would make money (or, more to the point, unexpected money - efficient market hypothesis, which still works really well for ordinary shares, just not derivatives and things that get so far removed from 'buying a piece of a company' that folk don't know what they're buying, means that there's no point putting money into the next Bioware hit. The market already knows it will be a hit, and the share price has gone up in advance to compensate. If, however, a CDProject game is lining up to do better than folks expect, there could be profit in that.).

Not to mention, that if you own even one share in a company, under Australian (and US and UK, I believe) law, they must let you attend their AGM. If Bethesda ARE traded on the Aussie stock exchange, any other Aussies up for buying ONE share each (like a couple of dollars plus $20 brokerage) and attending their AGM as a Codex team, with a Codex banner, and asking questions of their CEOs like 'do you think that gradually reducing the intelligence of the average gamer has a negative effect on the long-term market profitability of the industry?' It's a chance to troll, but in real life!

Your passion is commendable, but I expect that your market analysis is woefully inadequate. Bioware's, on the other hand, is much more likely to be spot on. Of course, any game can be botched and fail, but chances are that the changes they are making for this game are not in spite of what the market wants but rather just what the market wants.

This glorious haven is as relevant to market preferences as conservative bloggers are to science. This glorious haven is as good a measure of what video games will sell as is an aboriginal with no electricity.

You think most people bought Dragon Age because it was the spiritual successor to BG2? Rethink.

Anyway, I contend that Bioware is out to make money. Since the Codex is the forefront of hardcore incline, then surely they support pure unsentimental capitalism, and thus the Codex supports Bioware doing whatever it takes to maximize sales. Anything else would be socialist decline and misty eyed faggotry.

 

[Brotherman Bill]

Do that twice - ignore clear market signs, I mean, not make a shitty game (history has proven you can do the latter FUCKLOADS of times and stay afloat) and you have the first signs of a company that is running into strategic trouble. I'd be selling Bioware shares around now.

Oh, I dunno. When was the last time anyone went broke by underestimating the gaming public?

 

[Volourn]

Therer is no such thing as 'BIO shares'.

Anyways, anyone who thinks any ES game is betteer than any BIO game -including KOTOR or SRPG- are kidding themselves.

Also, the game still has an 'approval system'. Every BIO (action) rpg since BG1 has had an approval system. *shrug*

 

[CraigCWB]

Oh, I dunno. When was the last time anyone went broke by underestimating the gaming public?

To answer that question all you have to do is check when was the last time a game company went broke.

Which isn't always easy to do, because they usually get bought out when they are in distress, the programmers laid off or shifted to other projects, and the label vanishes with a whimper that hardly anyone hears. Interplay-style catastrophic implosions are fairly rare.

 

[Achilles]

We can't win. If we don't buy it, "Teh PC gaming is dead!!!11!1". If we do buy it, "see, even those pc fags and nerds liked it, we were right!11!!!1!".

 

[xemous]

it's a total conversion of mass effect.

 

[Andyman Messiah]

I thought Dragon Age 2 was Bios answer to The Witcher 2?

 

[Relay]

I thought Dragon Age 2 was Bios answer to The Witcher 2?

DA2 is Bio's answer to "How can we further dumb down a game, make it cheaper to produce and still sell like hotcakes ?"
The codex got it wrong in that they're not dumbing it down to reach more customers, they're dumbing it down to make it cheaper. Gayder said as much when he said why he didn't believe in choices and branching quests.
http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=1025

DA2 is the product of a cost-cutting policy.

Don't believe me? I speak from personal experience. The main reason why this is true is the following: when you start adding radically different plot paths into a story, the complexity of that story increases exponentially. So there too does the probability of bugs cropping up in said story increase exponentially. Thus you spend more time to do less. As an example: in an average day of work here at Bioware, I average about 3,000 to 5,000 words of dialogue written. If, however, I am working on a complex character (a major NPC like, say, Aribeth or Aarin Gend in Chapter 2 of the OC), that speed slows down to 2,000 words or less in a day due to the time spent on arranging the structure.

The developers of The Witcher actually follow the opposite policy since they're at least trying to make the story more interactive. Gayder openly stated that it was not a desirable thing.

 

[Merlutz]

Oh, I dunno. When was the last time anyone went broke by underestimating the gaming public?

Arcania didn't exactly sell like hotcakes.

I think this one could still go either way -- despite what's so far been an atrocious marketing campaign, Bioware's big enough to pull it off (see ME2). On the other hand this may be the straw that broke the camel's back. You have to wonder how many more mediocre games it would take, if DA2 is to be well-received.

 

[Morkar Left]

I thought Dragon Age 2 was Bios answer to The Witcher 2?

DA2 is Bio's answer to "How can we further dumb down a game, make it cheaper to produce and still sell like hotcakes ?"
The codex got it wrong in that they're not dumbing it down to reach more customers, they're dumbing it down to make it cheaper. Gayder said as much when he said why he didn't believe in choices and branching quests.
http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=1025

DA2 is the product of a cost-cutting policy.

Don't believe me? I speak from personal experience. The main reason why this is true is the following: when you start adding radically different plot paths into a story, the complexity of that story increases exponentially. So there too does the probability of bugs cropping up in said story increase exponentially. Thus you spend more time to do less. As an example: in an average day of work here at Bioware, I average about 3,000 to 5,000 words of dialogue written. If, however, I am working on a complex character (a major NPC like, say, Aribeth or Aarin Gend in Chapter 2 of the OC), that speed slows down to 2,000 words or less in a day due to the time spent on arranging the structure.

The developers of The Witcher actually follow the opposite policy since they're at least trying to make the story more interactive. Gayder openly stated that it was not a desirable thing.

I think New Vegas is excellent with its multiple story solutions and is a new reference for me. And the multiple endscreens allow showing a lot of different outcomes of your decisions without having them directly affect the maingame (but this is old of course).

 

[racofer]

it's a total conversion of mass effect.

If only it used the unreal engine 3...

 

[CrimHead]

Gears of War with swords.

 

[Overweight Manatee]

Damn I need to find which gaming companies list their shares on the Aussie stock exchange. Would make for good investment given that I basically research the damn industry in my spare time - I'd just have to make sure I went with what I thought would make money (or, more to the point, unexpected money - efficient market hypothesis, which still works really well for ordinary shares, just not derivatives and things that get so far removed from 'buying a piece of a company' that folk don't know what they're buying, means that there's no point putting money into the next Bioware hit. The market already knows it will be a hit, and the share price has gone up in advance to compensate. If, however, a CDProject game is lining up to do better than folks expect, there could be profit in that.).

Problem is, the market value of a game ends up being determined by the market preconceptions, not how good the actual game is. Even if a CDProject game ends up being the best new shit anyone could hope for there is a 50/50 chance of it being overall ignored. The only type of game I could see this working for is one that everyone knows will have some kind of universal appeal and that you personally know will probably be pretty good, and thats a limited set of games.