Dragon Age: Inquisition Pre-Release Thread

[Ninjerk]

Let the backpedaling and flip-flopping begin

https://twitter.com/BioMarkDarrah/status/374622005552631808

Mark Darrah ‏@BioMarkDarrah
There will be a threshold that you will heal back to after combat. This threshold will change at different difficulties. #DAI

Still dealing in the illusion of difficulty. Same old Bioware. Naturally the vocal part of the fanbase that is bad at playing games is so relieved with this news.

Yeah, you heal back to a threshold, not regenerate! Totally different mechanic!

 

[Zeriel]

And no doubt the "threshold" will be somewhere like 80% on the easier difficulties. Ah, PR. PR never changes.

 

[Delterius]

What's the point of cladding a character in realistic plate or chainmail, only for him to get taken down by a dude wielding a saber? Or a lad with a shortbow?

Perhaps because it might look better? 'Realism' isn't just a band-aid for obsessions, its also a source of inspiration. Another example: as far as protection value goes, I could not care less that women are often clad in bikinis instead place of armor. To say otherwise would likely be a fake attempt at political correctness on my part, after all, I am selecting this instance of plot contrivance to bitch about and in this day and age everything seems to be about gender politics.

However, this is all room lost for interesting armor and clothes. It is less creativity channeled into making that lady an interesting character. Not that I'm allergic to nude people who charge into the fray or are otherwise extraordinary (like Gods and Nymphs or whatever else that actually doesn't need armor), but it is best that they actually are the latter. Not banal or to be expected.

I get that this is a bit of a derail. I'm speaking of striping characters as opposed to a stylistic choice. But I'm not defending one style over the other. This is merely an example of how a realistic point of view can be a good source of inspiration for art design. Indeed: we are talking about the Souls series, which is certainly not devoid of the fantastic. In the Northern Kingdom of Boletaria the seemingly impossible contrast beautifully with the rest of the world, with the supposedly mundane, and all look pretty good. This is the kind of fantasy I like, truly wonderful but not over the top. And as it turns out, the latter may be achieved when the when the fantastic elements don't clutter the background, or have some degree of realism behind them.

But I could have spared myself a few words, pointed out the Souls guy looks awesome and, if one must call his art design the product of some kind of '-ism', then it would be a foolish decision to do so in a derogatory manner.

Let the backpedaling and flip-flopping begin

https://twitter.com/BioMarkDarrah/status/374622005552631808

Mark Darrah ‏@BioMarkDarrah
There will be a threshold that you will heal back to after combat. This threshold will change at different difficulties. #DAI

Still dealing in the illusion of difficulty. Same old Bioware. Naturally the vocal part of the fanbase that is bad at playing games is so relieved with this news.

Indeed. This is sad but unsurprising.

 

[Roguey]

And no doubt the "threshold" will be somewhere like 80% on the easier difficulties. Ah, PR. PR never changes.

Uh huh. Like how glancing blows in DA2 were 75% on casual, 50% on normal, 25% on hard, and 10% on nightmare (shit difficulty, do not play) so playing on the difficulty setting that received the most balancing will still result in doing a lot of damage even on a "miss."

I didn't see any outright misses against opponents in the presentation so it looks like they're preserving that in some form as well.

 

[Zeriel]

I'd really like to see Bioware's D&D sessions.

*Sound of dice rolling.*

Gaider: Oh, darn. I missed.

Laidlaw: The orc's head flies away from your brutal deathstroke!

Gaider: But I--

Laidlaw: Shut up, Dave. Stick to writing romances.

 

[Ninjerk]

Roll the dice, something AWESOME happens!

 

[drae]

Perhaps because it might look better?

Subjective. And people usually disagree. Functionality rarely looks better than artistically designed shit that serves no purpose. That's why decorative/ceremonial swords look different to functional swords.

I mean, what's the point of making sure the plate armor in the game is accurate? Does it matter that they've prettied it up? Sure, it means it loses some fuctionality (omg! No helmet, only one arm cladded in armor) but it's not like that functionality is used within the game.

'Realism' isn't just a band-aid for obsessions, its also a source of inspiration.

Inspiration does not mean 'copied exactly'. Take a look at the picture above criticising Dragon Age's armor - 'obligatory elbow whale fin'? What the fuck is wrong with that? Spiky gloves? Again I don't see the problem. Yes, they're not realistic, but you're hardly going to be engaging in realistic combat. And furthermore, it's based off actual armor. So what's the problem with it?

And as it turns out, the latter may be achieved when the when the fantastic elements don't clutter the background, or have some degree of realism behind them.

The world of Dark souls has little realism involved. It gets a rap for comtaining realistic elements, but I have no idea where that comes from.

Speaking of which, I have a little niggle about the Dark Souls game. When facing an enemy which is 5 times bigger than you, wielding a crushing weapon, why are you even wearing armor at all? You utter fool.

I hope this isn't one of your 'elements of realism.'

 

[Delterius]

Perhaps because it might look better?

Subjective.

You use this word and yet you managed to miss the very nature of the post. Indeed, I even said 'it might look better'. 'Realism' here is a source of inspiration for fantasy, nothing more. Meaning that, in measured doses, 'Realism' would be but one style of art design. A more balanced equilibrum between fantasy and reality. It is not a magical way to 'legitimize' art design (realistic art isn't necessarily above all others) and I most certainly don't care for an accurate portrayal of reality. If I did I wouldn't try to escape it in regular intervals.

 

[Zeriel]

Realistic, "hum-drum" environments and art design also serves to amplify the effect of "fantastic" elements in a game or setting. Really basic tenet of storytelling, too bad pretty much all game developers can't grok it. Make everything "epic", and nothing is epic.

 

[2house2fly]

That does seem to be the design philosophy behind Project Eternity. And Skyrim, to its credit: you start off in country villages, and then after a... really really long time... you're exploring steampunk ruins, giant glowing mushroom caves, and an evil demon god's book dimension.

 

[Space Satan]

Let the backpedaling and flip-flopping begin

https://twitter.com/BioMarkDarrah/status/374622005552631808

Mark Darrah ‏@BioMarkDarrah
There will be a threshold that you will heal back to after combat. This threshold will change at different difficulties. #DAI

Still dealing in the illusion of difficulty. Same old Bioware. Naturally the vocal part of the fanbase that is bad at playing games is so relieved with this news.

Isn't that, well, a copy of Mass Effect 3? 5 sections of health, each regenerating until you lose a full section?

 

[Commissar Draco]

That does seem to be the design philosophy behind Project Eternity. And Skyrim, to its credit: you start off in country villages, and then after a... really really long time... you're exploring steampunk ruins, giant glowing mushroom caves, and an evil demon god's book dimension.

Morrowind did this better cause you started in western European style Imperial Village and you didn't met f... Dragon after one minute of game.

Also someone who things the former looks better than latter should be gassed, impaled and shot.

 

[Ninjerk]

Not a good order. They wouldn't be able to feel the impale or shot after gassing. Impale first, gas second, save the bullet for a worthy kill.

 

[abnaxus]

Morrowind did this better cause you started in western European style Imperial Village and you didn't met f... Dragon after one minute of game.

Morrowind is actually worse.

 

[Roguey]

Isn't that, well, a copy of Mass Effect 3? 5 sections of health, each regenerating until you lose a full section?

Not quite the same. As I understand it means that, using completely made-up numbers for examples, after combat is finished casual difficulty heals you up to 80% of your total health, normal heals you up to 60%, hard heals you up to 40%, nightmare heals up to 20%.

It's kind of like the injury kit issue I mentioned much earlier in the thread where they improved the penalties over DA:O and then botched it by limiting the number of injuries you could have based on difficulty and giving you a lenient threshold number so you'd have some in your inventory. I believe the numbers were 12 on casual, 9 on normal, 6 on hard, and 3 on nightmare so it's totally impossible to not have injury kits, win fights by letting your companions die as much as you want, no need to learn how to play better.

 

[Smejki]

What a schizophrenic series.

I wouldn't think that taking steps back and re avaluating game design after releasing DA2 would be a bad thing.

It isn't a bad thing, but the fact that this game went from being a "Baldur's Gate spiritual successor" to what we see today is pretty depressing, and it's all thanks to consoles.

Consoles cannot make decisions

 

[eremita]

What a schizophrenic series.

I wouldn't think that taking steps back and re avaluating game design after releasing DA2 would be a bad thing.

It isn't a bad thing, but the fact that this game went from being a "Baldur's Gate spiritual successor" to what we see today is pretty depressing, and it's all thanks to consoles.

Frankly, they never stated that the series is tied-up. It's not like Mass Effect, but more like a random stuff set in the same universe. I can understand that creating a universe for every new game must be pain in the ass. There is no corelation; devs are not bound to make the same shit just because it happens in the same world. Also, with all that good old-school Kick-starter stuff, I don't really need another Baldur's Gate or Planescape successor... And from what I've seen so far, they are more likely trying to experiment with it than dumbed it down.

BTW, still better than Bethesda with all their games being fucking identical...

 

[evdk]

Bioware Apologists: The Thread.

 

[Delterius]

I'm sure people complain about how Morrowind and Daggerfall are identical to Oblivion and Skyrim.

 

[Zeriel]

Yes, Daggerfall and Skyrim share many similarities. For example, they are both games you can play on a personal computer.

 

[eremita]

Bioware Apologists: The Thread.

Don't get me wrong, I'm prepared for DAI being let down. I just don't like to bitch for the sake of bitching...

I'm sure people complain about how Morrowind and Daggerfall are identical to Oblivion and Skyrim.

It's the same shit with dumbed story and quests...

 

[Kem0sabe]

From what i saw in the video demo, the tactical view is not very zoomed out, and actually has a somewhat counterintuitive perspective, much like DA:O

It's a pity bioware doesn't see the need to include an option to pull back the camera as far as the player would wish (within a limit), ridiculous when you take into account that TOR or WoW allow more camera zoom out than a single player rpg.

 

[Delterius]

From what i saw in the video demo, the tactical view is not very zoomed out, and actually has a somewhat counterintuitive perspective, much like DA:O

I don't understand, I had no issues with DA:O's camera.

 

[Stabwound]

What a schizophrenic series.

I wouldn't think that taking steps back and re avaluating game design after releasing DA2 would be a bad thing.

It isn't a bad thing, but the fact that this game went from being a "Baldur's Gate spiritual successor" to what we see today is pretty depressing, and it's all thanks to consoles.

Consoles cannot make decisions

No, but they can influence them. And they certainly did with the Dragon Age franchise.

Awesome button; button, awesome.

 

[Kem0sabe]

It was not bad for encounters, but for exploration is was near useless, at least i felt that the game was designed to be played mostly from the third person behind the PC camera. Down to the fixed camera perspective with no tilt option while zoomed out.