Interview Dragon Age II Won't Be Dumbed Down

[Hawke]

I didn't get the drog vibe however, more like bioware skirmisher - rpgcodex has gotten some press over on the bioware social network so he's probably gonna troll us some back.

Figures...

Shame he won't last here, they never do (maybe apart from Volly)... Lack of a decent attention span, you see...

My attention span is quite adequate. And trust me, I'm just here to observe and maybe say a few things against the masses. This forum is quite the funny one.

 

[Jack]

You already said that you twat. Only 8 posts and already ignored by 4 people, one of them being me.
1/10, you are so pathetic I almost feel sorry for you.

 

[Hawke]

You already said that you twat. Only 8 posts and already ignored by 4 people, one of them being me.
1/10, you are so pathetic I almost feel sorry for you.

Your attempt to troll was too obvious. Rethink and then "Come at me, bro."

 

[Kz3r0]

 

[a budda]

i, for one, welcome huge knockers in mah gamez

 

[GarfunkeL]

Try harder if you want to troll. Also, welcome to the Codex.

to Mondblut. Also, Roguey is probably right. "I spent eight to ten hours a day on a shitty job being shat upon upon by my manager, when I get home I just want to feel AWESOME and FABULOUS!"

 

[torpid]

The hate on this game is incredible. Anyway, while you guys sit here crying over how these games are dumbed down, I'll be owning ass in yet another great RPG <---- made by BioWare.

Yeah, you'll be owning a lot of gay dwarf ass in Bioware's latest romance simulator.

 

[Rohit_N]

Bravo! Great interview.

I bought Xbox Live Gold just so I could download the DA:2 demo. Was totally worth it! For a long time I have been hoping that a game development house would start a move away from the antiquated systems of the past. In Pen and Paper games dice were a necessary way to emulate random chance. Action bars and turn based "click and wait" mechanics were acceptable and mostly needed due to limitations of the hardware. But now we have machines that can do sooo much more, I think it is high time developers started utilizing possibilities within the RPG genre. DA:2 looks to put the person back in the role play. When I played table top D&D long ago, it was more about being the character, THAT was the role you played. Lately you are simply a tank, or a DPS... I think that concept has taken the humanity out of so very many games.

DA:2 looks to be in a position to start bringing back that personality to the genre, by moving away from stagnant ideas and allowing us to become immersed in a fantasy, not just a setting, and for that I applaud Bioware!

Who wrote this?

 

[RPGMaster]

Fuck you Laidlaw. I played Fallout when I was 8. How the fuck is that a "high barrier to entry"?

As for tactical RPG. Bollocks. Ninja Gaiden is more tactical than DA2. You wouldn't last a minute in NG if you spammed one button. If you're going to try and copy hack n'slash at least do it right.

 

[J_C]

Every comment from the Bio forum is gold.

About the issue that there are no misses in the game, every attack hits:

That's good that they got rid of misses.It made no sense for my attacks or my opponent's attack to miss when we're both standing right in front of each other taking turns hitting each other without trying to avoid the hits.

Personally, I think it's the conditioning rationale. Missing sucks. It's annoying. Constantly hitting is like the rewarding food pellet.

Personally, I loathe dice roll misses, so I don't mind the new system

Even in a hack'n slash like Diablo, sometimes the character misses. Dammit Bioware, you can't even get this right.

 

[Reptilian Shapeshifter]

Fuck you Laidlaw. I played Fallout when I was 8. How the fuck is that a "high barrier to entry"?

As for tactical RPG. Bollocks. Ninja Gaiden is more tactical than DA2. You wouldn't last a minute in NG if you spammed one button. If you're going to try and copy hack n'slash at least do it right.

Indeed. I played and successfully completed almost every RPG from SSI and Origin when I was 8-12 years old. My view is: if there's no challenge, nothing that tests your skills, either analytical/problem-solving or hand-eye coordination, there's no fucking point to doing it.

DA2 doesn't do either. All I see it giving me is a headache.

 

[Storyfag]

Every comment from the Bio forum is gold.

About the issue that there are no misses in the game, every attack hits:

That's good that they got rid of misses.It made no sense for my attacks or my opponent's attack to miss when we're both standing right in front of each other taking turns hitting each other without trying to avoid the hits.

Personally, I think it's the conditioning rationale. Missing sucks. It's annoying. Constantly hitting is like the rewarding food pellet.

Personally, I loathe dice roll misses, so I don't mind the new system

WHY did you have to post it? I'm feeling the loss of brain cells from just reading that

 

[Mrowak]

Fuck you Laidlaw. I played Fallout when I was 8. How the fuck is that a "high barrier to entry"?

As for tactical RPG. Bollocks. Ninja Gaiden is more tactical than DA2. You wouldn't last a minute in NG if you spammed one button. If you're going to try and copy hack n'slash at least do it right.

Indeed. I played and successfully completed almost every RPG from SSI and Origin when I was 8-12 years old. My view is: if there's no challenge, nothing that tests your skills, either analytical/problem-solving or hand-eye coordination, there's no fucking point to doing it.

DA2 doesn't do either. All I see it giving me is a headache.

Both of you newfags seem to be getting it

 

[visions]

Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Bioware and all the odious apparatus of Casual rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in IRC, we shall fight on the forums and comment sections, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the Bioware community site, we shall defend our Codexian values, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the General RPG discussion, we shall fight on the Codex Workshop, we shall fight in the News and Content Comments, we shall fight in the Codex Playground; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this forum or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the Old School Guard, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the new gaming world, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the true cRPG genre.

I'm sure Churchill would shed a tear on this.

Evidentally, Churchill would propose gassing the Bio boards.

 

[deuxhero]

Why doesn't Bioware just start making vusal novels?

And make it compulsary for their fans to read? Do you not know what welcoming is here, boy? It means they're welcome not to read.

And nothing is stopping Bioware from making it have full VA

 

[Freelance Henchman]

Don't mind me, just spreading the gospel of Saint Racofer the Dickrider.
http://www.imgbox.cc/images/dksm.jpg

EDIT: whoa, don't remember if we're not supposed to post offensive images in news. Link only now.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

Who wrote this?

Mike Laidlaw.

 

[Roguey]

Every comment from the Bio forum is gold.

About the issue that there are no misses in the game, every attack hits:

That's good that they got rid of misses.It made no sense for my attacks or my opponent's attack to miss when we're both standing right in front of each other taking turns hitting each other without trying to avoid the hits.

Personally, I think it's the conditioning rationale. Missing sucks. It's annoying. Constantly hitting is like the rewarding food pellet.

Personally, I loathe dice roll misses, so I don't mind the new system

Even in a hack'n slash like Diablo, sometimes the character misses. Dammit Bioware, you can't even get this right.

I think people tolerate the missing in Diablo because it doesn't draw too much attention to it and everything happens quickly that it doesn't even matter. Anyway, if there should be transparent missing I think it should be clearly shown through animation, and since Bioware claims that's too difficult to do with DA, it doesn't seem all that horrible to me that they're using glancing blows (1/10 damage) instead.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

I think people tolerate the missing in Diablo because it doesn't draw too much attention to it and everything happens quickly that it doesn't even matter.

Happens quickly? Diablo is contemplative yet fluid in comparison to DA2's combat. It's like some kind of speed retard chess where pieces are banged against each other as fast as possible and everyone makes weapon sounds with their mouths.

Anyway, if there should be transparent missing I think it should be clearly shown through animation, and since Bioware claims that's too difficult to do with DA

The damage and combat feedback is nigh terrible. Just about no impact feedbacks or hit reations whatsoever, and all you could tell was when someone died because they let you know by exploding.

Seriously, to compare DA2 to Diablo 1 or 2 is an insult to the latter games.

 

[Roguey]

Happens quickly? Diablo is contemplative yet fluid in comparison to DA2's combat. It's like some kind of speed retard chess where pieces are banged against each other as fast as possible and everyone makes weapon sounds with their mouths.

And yet those DA2 HP sponges still take too long to die. If combat against any given mob takes that long in D1/2, something's wrong.

The damage and combat feedback is nigh terrible. Just about no impact feedbacks or hit reations whatsoever, and all you could tell was when someone died because they let you know by exploding.

You have to trigger force effects to get those reactions. Otherwise it's like two big bags of HP passing in the night...

 

[sgc_meltdown]

You have to trigger force effects to get those reactions. Otherwise it's like two big bags of HP passing in the night...

I'd assume you've experienced the demo firsthand. Would toggling said force effects look like they do here?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRz2uerFyi0

If so I really have to say that it has no appreciable effect. It just looks like they're larping with blood cgi. The fights at the end of Deadliest Warrior are better than this shit.

 

[Kaanyrvhok]

And yet those DA2 HP sponges still take too long to die. If combat against any given mob takes that long in D1/2, something's wrong.

Trueeee

Unless they are blocking or dodging

 

[aries202]

I have two things to say that might contradict each other:

The first thing is this:
Did Bioware and Laidlaw ever imagine that the reason most of the audience (let's call it that) that left the game after about an hour did so because of the story, not the combat. Or because they thought this was going to be Call of Duty with swords - just like the ads for the game, DA: Origins, suggested?

The second thing is this:
People learn in small increments, one step at a time. A baby has to crawl before it is able to walk. When learning a foreign language, we learn small phrases first, then longer and longer structures. As such, and also as a teacher, I can certainly understand why Laidlaw, his team, and Bioware made the decisions they did before making the DA2.
Having played the demo for DA2 a second time, I can see they decisions in effect. In DA2 you start by picking a class, then Varric's tells his tale. And youre right in the heat of battle, learning how to play the game. After Cassandra reveals Varrric's 'lie' about the hero of Kirkwall, the player gets to play again, in more normal mode, and at normal difficulty. The player then already know what spells like fireball and mind blast etc. do as well the player know hows the combat in general is. The players can then use their preknowledge of the combat, the story, the quests, and the spells to get more into the game than thet maybe else would.

And a third point (just thrown into the pot for good measure):
I'm not necessairly sure that the Call of Duty audiences this was (is) done for, will stay with the game for more than maybe 1 or 2 hours. I play Call of Duty myself, and it is really really good game, It is not what I would define as an RPG, however. You do get (some) upgrades to your weapons, though. And in CoD, you also get missions (quests?), however the solution to these missions will nearly always be - combat. The CoD audience will maybe then expect combat, combat and utter combat. Not story, although the story for Modern Warfare seems to be quite good...