Dragon Age: Inquisition Pre-Release Thread

[Kaldurenik]

This... I... I dont even know O.o

A classic example of a survey that when you get the results you can read whatever information you want from it.
Epic story? In what way? Epic good? Save the world? Become a god? What is "epic"? Why cant the question be... How important is it that the story change depending on your choices (just to give a example).

Bleh oh well im going to fill this out and see... Not that they will do anything good with it.

 

[J1M]

I filled this out just so I could tell them in the comment box that Dragon Age 2 was the worst game I have ever played.

Also, said that since EA would never allow them to make the game turn-based, they should add a setting that pauses combat after each round.

 

[tuluse]

Bioware hasn't made a game with rounds since 2003.

 

[Corporate_Jew_Master]

This... I... I dont even know O.o

A classic example of a survey that when you get the results you can read whatever information you want from it.
Epic story? In what way? Epic good? Save the world? Become a god? What is "epic"? Why cant the question be... How important is it that the story change depending on your choices (just to give a example).

Bleh oh well im going to fill this out and see... Not that they will do anything good with it.

I think (or I'd like to in any case) that 'epic' refers to the scale.

Meaning you get to travel the game world and are sucked in a major event, ie a war, that can change said world in a radical way.

Dragon Age 1 had an epic setting, albeit a shit one. Archdemon and the rape gangs are out to make Cleve right and only the CHOSEN ONE!!!1 can stop them because lul plotpower. You get to travel a significant part of a large continent and it's underground, gather allies, make or break a kingdom and kill said bigbad.


DA2 did not. You're Hawke and you want to be a dragon. And that's about it.

At the very least they seem to have taken the complaints about DA2 having 2 dungeons and 5 areas overall to heart. But it's a goddamn Bioware game, it's gonna be bad even by the most optimistic expectations.

 

[Delterius]

CHOSEN ONE!!!1

That's less being the chosen one and more the only competent person on the planet.

 

[Corporate_Jew_Master]

CHOSEN ONE!!!1

That's less being the chosen one and more the only competent person on the planet.

Natural selection.

Still CHOSEN ONE!!1

 

[Delterius]

CHOSEN ONE!!!1

That's less being the chosen one and more the only competent person on the planet.

Natural selection.

Still CHOSEN ONE!!1

There's nothing natural with how the developer treats the player, but there's still a big of a difference between just being the protagonist and being the chosen one. I had this discussion with Clockwork Knight and he disagreed, which I respect, but I do think this seemingly minor difference is fundamental in how the game structures itself. Granted, BioWare doesn't take advantage of that, but they still could.

If anything, there's even a DLC showing that Alistair could have very nearly succeeded at the main quest. If that pansy doesn't devalue the charname's self worth, I don't know what else could.

 

[Akratus]

Bioware takes full advantage of it. Maybe not so much in Dragon Age, but in Mass Effect. . .

"Is this the type of person we want protecting the galaxy?"

"That's the only kind of person that can protect the galaxy."

At the start of the freaking game. And then there's the whole prothean hallucinations thing.

 

[Delterius]

By that I meant that BioWare most certainly doesn't make low key stories.

 

[DalekFlay]

Until Dragon Age 2, arguably, which was a pretty low key thing until the end, which mainly sets up a new world for DA3.

 

[Kidd]

I loved pretty much everything they were going for with DA2. Lots of improvements to the DAO designs all over the board, what a sexy design document that must have been. Too bad they didn't really manage it in the end.

 

[sea]

Fucking survey. Does "character customization" mean "lots of hairstyles" or "interesting character building through deep statistics and layered decision-making"? Does "responsive controls" mean "fast-paced gameplay with button = awesome" or "controls that do what they're supposed to effectively"?

I left them a comment:

Your survey is unclear.

1) Does "responsive controls" mean "button = awesome" bullshit or does it mean "hey these controls do what they're supposed to do"?

2) Does "character customization" mean "500 hairstyles" or "interesting character development through layered statistical progression systems"?

3) Does "exploration and discovery" mean "auto-generated massive 3D landscapes with copy-pasted stuff everywhere" or "hand-crafted encounters and environments which have interesting quests, objectives, goals and points of interest"?

Additionally, I highly suggest you move away from cooldown-centric MMO-style combat models, as well as dichotomous character classes (i.e. binary mage/rogue/warrior) in favour of more subtle and nuanced character classes, or even classless systems.

Please also emphasize horizontal character growth and expansion rather than vertical scaling. None of this "herp derp I upgraded my intelligence to 62" stuff, and you'd also better not have any level scaling. The last thing anyone wants is stupid HP bloat.

Yes, even though you denied it, I modded Dragon Age extensively and discovered there is indeed level scaling on damage and defense based solely on the player's level and not items nor statistics. Cut that shit out.

Also, no cheap soap opera romance that embarrasses drug store novels, no "witty" characters based on silly personality gimmicks, no waifus. Seriously, I get enough gay dwarf cock in The Witcher, I don't need even more.

 

[Dreaad]

 

[Kaldurenik]

Fucking survey. Does "character customization" mean "lots of hairstyles" or "interesting character building through deep statistics and layered decision-making"? Does "responsive controls" mean "fast-paced gameplay with button = awesome" or "controls that do what they're supposed to effectively"?

I left them a comment:

Your survey is unclear.

1) Does "responsive controls" mean "button = awesome" bullshit or does it mean "hey these controls do what they're supposed to do"?

2) Does "character customization" mean "500 hairstyles" or "interesting character development through layered statistical progression systems"?

3) Does "exploration and discovery" mean "auto-generated massive 3D landscapes with copy-pasted stuff everywhere" or "hand-crafted encounters and environments which have interesting quests, objectives, goals and points of interest"?

Additionally, I highly suggest you move away from cooldown-centric MMO-style combat models, as well as dichotomous character classes (i.e. binary mage/rogue/warrior) in favour of more subtle and nuanced character classes, or even classless systems.

Please also emphasize horizontal character growth and expansion rather than vertical scaling. None of this "herp derp I upgraded my intelligence to 62" stuff, and you'd also better not have any level scaling. The last thing anyone wants is stupid HP bloat.

Yes, even though you denied it, I modded Dragon Age extensively and discovered there is indeed level scaling on damage and defense based solely on the player's level and not items nor statistics. Cut that shit out.

Also, no cheap soap opera romance that embarrasses drug store novels, no "witty" characters based on silly personality gimmicks, no waifus. Seriously, I get enough gay dwarf cock in The Witcher, I don't need even more.

Yeah i was abit confused also but well whatever results they get they will still have "the right" results for whatever they are doing due to how the questions are made

I also wrote a very long comment to them sadly i did not save it

 

[tuluse]

sea leaves my comment in the dust. I just complained that their encounter variety has sucked since BG2.

 

[Kitako]

I liked how stating you never played DA2, you're forced to fill the replies on DA2 gameplay anyway.

 

[oljebox]

Until Dragon Age 2, arguably, which was a pretty low key thing until the end, which mainly sets up a new world for DA3.

The disappointment with Dragon Age 2, of course, is to be found in everything else. It doesn't help to fix one problem while discarding what worked.

 

[Commissar Draco]

in DAO You were not a Chosen One only one of 2 (or 3 dependent on player choice) Dwarf/Men/Womyn/Gayelf capable of doing the job; in some origins the personal quest of revenge over your Dick brother, Howe and quest for Crown could be more important than Kill the Demon Dragon and save the world shtick. Bonus for DAO of not having Farmer son turned Hero Origin. As to Sea post those points are wasted on Console game for Kwan kids.

 

[Caim]

Fucking survey. Does "character customization" mean "lots of hairstyles" or "interesting character building through deep statistics and layered decision-making"? Does "responsive controls" mean "fast-paced gameplay with button = awesome" or "controls that do what they're supposed to effectively"?

I left them a comment:

Your survey is unclear.

1) Does "responsive controls" mean "button = awesome" bullshit or does it mean "hey these controls do what they're supposed to do"?

2) Does "character customization" mean "500 hairstyles" or "interesting character development through layered statistical progression systems"?

3) Does "exploration and discovery" mean "auto-generated massive 3D landscapes with copy-pasted stuff everywhere" or "hand-crafted encounters and environments which have interesting quests, objectives, goals and points of interest"?

Additionally, I highly suggest you move away from cooldown-centric MMO-style combat models, as well as dichotomous character classes (i.e. binary mage/rogue/warrior) in favour of more subtle and nuanced character classes, or even classless systems.

Please also emphasize horizontal character growth and expansion rather than vertical scaling. None of this "herp derp I upgraded my intelligence to 62" stuff, and you'd also better not have any level scaling. The last thing anyone wants is stupid HP bloat.

Yes, even though you denied it, I modded Dragon Age extensively and discovered there is indeed level scaling on damage and defense based solely on the player's level and not items nor statistics. Cut that shit out.

Also, no cheap soap opera romance that embarrasses drug store novels, no "witty" characters based on silly personality gimmicks, no waifus. Seriously, I get enough gay dwarf cock in The Witcher, I don't need even more.

 

[Kidd]

I think this survey is more about how they should market the game than its actual design. Doubt any of this can be changed when they're but a year from release. Then again, I suppose DA2 was only worked on for a year anyway so who knows?

Fucking survey. Does "character customization" mean "lots of hairstyles" or "interesting character building through deep statistics and layered decision-making"? Does "responsive controls" mean "fast-paced gameplay with button = awesome" or "controls that do what they're supposed to effectively"?

I left them a comment:

Your survey is unclear.

1) Does "responsive controls" mean "button = awesome" bullshit or does it mean "hey these controls do what they're supposed to do"?

2) Does "character customization" mean "500 hairstyles" or "interesting character development through layered statistical progression systems"?

3) Does "exploration and discovery" mean "auto-generated massive 3D landscapes with copy-pasted stuff everywhere" or "hand-crafted encounters and environments which have interesting quests, objectives, goals and points of interest"?

Good list. As a BSN-dweller, allow me to try to translate the terms into what I believe they mean.

Responsive controls mean there's less lag at the tail end of animations. Meaning as soon as that fireball shoots out of your character's hand, you can give another order for them to follow through with immediately. You will notice that the warrior swings in DAI are slower than the ones in DA2, especially in their build-up. I am assuming this is to ensure characters don't attack several times a second any longer, yet still keeping the DA2-like "responsiveness" in that a new order can be given when the player visually sees the old one has been completed.

Character customisation most likely means looks, both of the face and the character's armour. They tend to use more specific words when discussing the character system.

As for exploration, that I sadly do not know. It's not something they've ever tried to put into the game much after the BG days and I wasn't a basement-dweller- BSN-dweller as much of a dedicated fan back then.

 

[oljebox]

dichotomous character classes (i.e. binary mage/rogue/warrior)

Grammar note: "di-" means "two", "twice", "double", etc. If there are more than two things, they cannot be "dichotomous".

I don't know why you're all wasting your time writing nuanced critique. No one important is going to read it. EA has people who collate and summarise the survey data ("82% percent say to include EPIC stuff."), which data is probably then handed over to project director, or the project director's higher-up, to keep in mind while developing the game ("It has to be EPIC. MORE DRAGONS."). Extra comments are going to be dumbed down by ignoramuses who don't know the first thing about games (".08% say they don't like your game.") and only then sent through. You're sending your dissertations into the aether.

That's if it's going to the development team at all, and not to the marketing department, which it well could be.

 

[Stainless Veteran]

Our few surveys will drown in a ton of "I WANT MOAR WAIFUS", "I ALWAYS USE TACTICS BUT THE GAME IS STILL TOO HARD", "I PLAY ONLY ON XBONE I WANT MOAR CHEEVOS", and so on. Anyway, filled this stupid survey, if sorely for "In YOUR FACE" lone vote.

 

[hiver]

There is no game development team really. There is only the marketing team. They are the developing team.


you people are filling an EA survey that is nothing but marketing ploy.

 

[Roguey]

Unsurprised that sea misunderstands the "every time you press a button something awesome has to happen" thing.

Let me spell it out: It's about getting an immediate reaction whenever you issue a command (which does not happen all the time in DA:O), i.e. responsive controls but stated in an obnoxious way for marketing purposes.

 

[sea]

Grammar note: "di-" means "two", "twice", "double", etc. If there are more than two things, they cannot be "dichotomous".

Yeah I know, but I couldn't think of a word that meant "three" in that case.