Interview Dragon Age tidbits and BioWare design philosophy

[Brother None]

Oh, burn! Total burn, baby!

And so witty, too!

 

[Mamon]

Awwww

 

[Claw]

So you never played BG2, the king of the Bio portfolio, yet you nickname yourself OldSkoolKamikaze? LOL, and people want to dumbfuck me.

I don't get it. Is there an NPC named OldSkoolKamikaze in BG2? I can't think of any other implication that would make sense..

 

[cardtrick]

So you never played BG2, the king of the Bio portfolio, yet you nickname yourself OldSkoolKamikaze? LOL, and people want to dumbfuck me.

I don't get it. Is there an NPC named OldSkoolKamikaze in BG2? I can't think of any other implication that would make sense..

He was attempting to claim that BG2 is a totally old school game, and that anyone named OldSKool* must certainly have played it or else would be a TOTAL HYPOCRITE!!!

Also, it's possible to unlock (well, discover, actually) an NPC named Kamikaze in ToB, if you have both Sarevok and Imoen in your party, but I doubt that's what he was implying.

 

[Azrael the cat]

not sure that I'd call BG2 oldschool - but it WAS good

I'm not buying into the whole oldschool argument, but one thing I will agree with is this:
- you shouldn't rip into Bioware's back catalogue without having played BG2. It towers above everything else they produced before or since. BG1 was frankly behind its time - basically a combat-fest with a shiny new engine. BG2 on the other hand had C+C (ok, mainly for sidequests, but there were LOTS of sidequests), the sidequests were mostly very interesting and well thought out, some even were minimal combat and would easily have been at home in PS:T (I'm thinking the underground temple of the dead god), genuinely challenging fights, lots of optional challenging fights, lots of stuff to explore and find that isn't simply handed to you on a platter (or quest compas), strategic combat where you have to think about what combination of shield-busting spells, shield-making spells, anti-spell-spells etc to bring in or you'll get your ass handed to you, and most of all 2 of the best villains to ever appear in an RPG. It is also one of VERY few games where the villains don't just sit around waiting for you to come kill them. You fight them VERY early in the game, and in fact you have 3 full-pitched battles against each of them at different times of the game (not including dumb cutscenes where they pwn you and teleport out), and most importantly they PROGRESS both in strength and as characters at the same time that you do. When I played it it was so refreshing to have villains that act in the same timeline as your characters, rather than waiting at an end of a dungeon to be killed (especially after BG1, which with a few lame exceptions fell into the latter category).

Sure it also has many flaws, and I understand that quite a few people around here didn't like it. But few people who played it at the time would dispute that it is by FAR the best thing that Bioware made - I get more replay out of that these days than KoTOR, and everything Bioware has produced since BG2 has been disappointing for, well, not being BG2. So I'm certainly not going to disrespect anyone who, having played BG2, thinks it sucks. But you have no standing to rip into Bioware's past catalogue without having played BG2 - it's like criticsing Pink Floyd having never heard The Wall / Dark Side of hte Moon.

 

[sabishii]

So you never played BG2, the king of the Bio portfolio, yet you nickname yourself OldSkoolKamikaze? LOL, and people want to dumbfuck me.

I don't get it. Is there an NPC named OldSkoolKamikaze in BG2? I can't think of any other implication that would make sense..

He was attempting to claim that BG2 is a totally old school game, and that anyone named OldSKool* must certainly have played it or else would be a TOTAL HYPOCRITE!!!

Also, it's possible to unlock (well, discover, actually) an NPC named Kamikaze in ToB, if you have both Sarevok and Imoen in your party, but I doubt that's what he was implying.

So he just defeated his previous statements by saying that (1) what happened "1000 years ago" - aka "old school" - doesn't matter, then (2) using "old school" BG2 as an example of Bioware's greatness.

 

[OSK]

So you never played BG2, the king of the Bio portfolio, yet you nickname yourself OldSkoolKamikaze? LOL, and people want to dumbfuck me.

I wouldn't even know where to start…

But you have no standing to rip into Bioware's past catalogue without having played BG2

So I can't have a negative opinion on the Bioware games I have played because I haven't played their best one?

it's like criticsing Pink Floyd having never heard The Wall / Dark Side of hte Moon.

It's more like criticizing a shitty/mediocre song from Pink Floyd without ever having heard The Wall / Dark Side of the Moon. The only criticism I made of Bioware itself was that I can't understand how someone can be so enthusiastic about a Bioware game based upon what I've played firsthand and heard about their games. I hope you understand where I'm coming from. Even if BG2 is as great of a game as you say, if everything else they've produced since this game that came out years ago has been disappointing, I have trouble understanding how someone can keep such a company in high esteem.

 

[Shannow]

BG2 is my second favourite RPG and still I can't get worked up about anything that concerns Bioware simply because they didn't produce anything interesting since.

The game will take on a dark, brooding atmosphere, they say, yet remain a heroic experience.

Good + Bad = I'm neutral about this.

But BG2 definately isn't oldschool for Codex perceptions.

 

[elander_]

Dragon Age Forever is taking too much time. We should have seen at least some gameplay movies by now.

And yes the old Bioware was no more once they were acquired. EA needs a transfusion of talent to make their own rpgs. If this will work to something good we still have to see but i don't expect much from it.

 

[Annonchinil]

Re: not sure that I'd call BG2 oldschool - but it WAS good

I'm not buying into the whole oldschool argument, but one thing I will agree with is this:
- you shouldn't rip into Bioware's back catalogue without having played BG2. It towers above everything else they produced before or since. BG1 was frankly behind its time - basically a combat-fest with a shiny new engine. BG2 on the other hand had C+C (ok, mainly for sidequests, but there were LOTS of sidequests), the sidequests were mostly very interesting and well thought out, some even were minimal combat and would easily have been at home in PS:T (I'm thinking the underground temple of the dead god), genuinely challenging fights, lots of optional challenging fights, lots of stuff to explore and find that isn't simply handed to you on a platter (or quest compas), strategic combat where you have to think about what combination of shield-busting spells, shield-making spells, anti-spell-spells etc to bring in or you'll get your ass handed to you, and most of all 2 of the best villains to ever appear in an RPG. It is also one of VERY few games where the villains don't just sit around waiting for you to come kill them. You fight them VERY early in the game, and in fact you have 3 full-pitched battles against each of them at different times of the game (not including dumb cutscenes where they pwn you and teleport out), and most importantly they PROGRESS both in strength and as characters at the same time that you do. When I played it it was so refreshing to have villains that act in the same timeline as your characters, rather than waiting at an end of a dungeon to be killed (especially after BG1, which with a few lame exceptions fell into the latter category).

Sure it also has many flaws, and I understand that quite a few people around here didn't like it. But few people who played it at the time would dispute that it is by FAR the best thing that Bioware made - I get more replay out of that these days than KoTOR, and everything Bioware has produced since BG2 has been disappointing for, well, not being BG2. So I'm certainly not going to disrespect anyone who, having played BG2, thinks it sucks. But you have no standing to rip into Bioware's past catalogue without having played BG2 - it's like criticsing Pink Floyd having never heard The Wall / Dark Side of hte Moon.

The Wall sucks and has maybe like five good songs on it, Wish You Were Here is the much better album.

 

[Ryuken]

These are already 8 IPs, created by Bio and Pandemic, owned by EA. I'm sure they should come up with another 2 until 2011.

Learn to read. He said there will be games produced in at least 10 properties, that is at least 10 games (i.e. at least one per property), he was - very noticeably - not talking about creating new intellectual content.

Consider BioWare always tended to produce games with 2 years intervals, you don't see any possible issue in creating - let's say - 2 games a year?

Flattening out of product line, anyone?

I don't like EA nor the prospect of Bioware possibly becoming a factory (their recent RPG's were already disappointing enough when compared to BGII) but Bio themselves said, before the acquisition, that they were seriously considering episodic content for all their future titles. A standard addon usually only takes year, a Premium Module or DLC perhaps even less so. I don't think Ricitiello necessarily only meant real sequels.

 

[Brother None]

I don't like EA nor the prospect of Bioware possibly becoming a factory (their recent RPG's were already disappointing enough when compared to BGII) but Bio themselves said, before the acquisition, that they were seriously considering episodic content for all their future titles. A standard addon usually only takes year, a Premium Module or DLC perhaps even less so. I don't think Ricitiello necessarily only meant real sequels.

I think the statement includes ports, sure, but addons or DLCs? No, probably not. There's also this bit in his statement:
They are paying $860 million in consideration, as we reported earlier, and they expect the deal to close by early 2008.

EA expects to break even on the deal by 2009 and start raking it in by 2010.

Breaking even on the deal in 2 years means raking in a net profit of 800 mill in that period, which is what...30 million full-price games sold in 2 years?

That's insane.

Ricitiello may be taking on the cloak of penance for PR purposes and BioWare may try as hard as they like to assure everyone everything will stay the same, but I see no reason to buy it.

 

[aries202]

My take on this is that someone at EA can't do math properly. While it is true that Bioware games have sold more than 20 million games, Bioware has only ever sold about 1½ million games pr. game in a year, I think. BG2 sold about 3-4 million games, I think, but that would have been since the game's initial release in 2000? or so.

It is true that when you add the numbers up, it looks like a lot. 22 million games (or units) sold, but that is since 1996 or 1998 or so. (and probably also includes re-released of games such BG1+BG2 etc.)

Pandemic might have sold more games than Bioware, but I don't think they have sold more than 5 or 6 million units (or games). Then again, this was probably over two-three years.

Bioware needs to sell 15 millions units as does Pandemic each year to get EA to breake even e.g. get their invested money back. Eventually, the profits will come, but I don't Bioware will be able to sell 5 million copies of Mass Effect, Sonic RPG and Dragon Age in a single year, not even over the course of two years, me thinks...

Bioware games have always been slow burners, e.g. the games did not sell a lot initially, but people heard about them from other games and bought them and then told their friends etc. etc. Then maybe after 5 years or so, Bioware games have sold like maybe 5-6 million games (or units).

In other words, it would be near impossible for Bioware and Pandemic to live up to EA's projectory sales figures. And then EA (finally) has en excuse to shut Bioware down and engulf Bioware (totally) into the EA-family...

I hope this does not happen as John Riccitielle recently gave a key note speech at GDC? in which he talked about city states under the umbrella of EA e.g. he now thinks that the game developers under the EA umbrella label ought to have their creative freedom. It sounds allright...untill the money does not gather quickly enough...

 

[Binary]

Re: not sure that I'd call BG2 oldschool - but it WAS good

The Wall sucks and has maybe like five good songs on it, Wish You Were Here is the much better album.

wtfbbq, Dark Side of the Moon

 

[Azrael the cat]

apologies - not my intention

So you never played BG2, the king of the Bio portfolio, yet you nickname yourself OldSkoolKamikaze? LOL, and people want to dumbfuck me.

I wouldn't even know where to start…

But you have no standing to rip into Bioware's past catalogue without having played BG2

So I can't have a negative opinion on the Bioware games I have played because I haven't played their best one?

it's like criticsing Pink Floyd having never heard The Wall / Dark Side of hte Moon.

It's more like criticizing a shitty/mediocre song from Pink Floyd without ever having heard The Wall / Dark Side of the Moon. The only criticism I made of Bioware itself was that I can't understand how someone can be so enthusiastic about a Bioware game based upon what I've played firsthand and heard about their games. I hope you understand where I'm coming from. Even if BG2 is as great of a game as you say, if everything else they've produced since this game that came out years ago has been disappointing, I have trouble understanding how someone can keep such a company in high esteem.

No actual disagreement here - I wasn't saying you couldn't rip into individual games, was commenting more on critiquing the back-catalogue as a whole. My apologies if I made it sound otherwise

 

[Section8]

The Wall sucks and has maybe like five good songs on it, Wish You Were Here is the much better album.

Which only has maybe like five good songs too.

At least neither album is The Final Cut.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Re: not sure that I'd call BG2 oldschool - but it WAS good

- you shouldn't rip into Bioware's back catalogue without having played BG2. It towers above everything else they produced before or since. BG1 was frankly behind its time - basically a combat-fest with a shiny new engine. BG2 on the other hand had C+C (ok, mainly for sidequests, but there were LOTS of sidequests), the sidequests were mostly very interesting and well thought out, some even were minimal combat and would easily have been at home in PS:T (I'm thinking the underground temple of the dead god), genuinely challenging fights, lots of optional challenging fights, lots of stuff to explore and find that isn't simply handed to you on a platter (or quest compas), strategic combat where you have to think about what combination of shield-busting spells, shield-making spells, anti-spell-spells etc to bring in or you'll get your ass handed to you, and most of all 2 of the best villains to ever appear in an RPG. It is also one of VERY few games where the villains don't just sit around waiting for you to come kill them. You fight them VERY early in the game, and in fact you have 3 full-pitched battles against each of them at different times of the game (not including dumb cutscenes where they pwn you and teleport out), and most importantly they PROGRESS both in strength and as characters at the same time that you do. When I played it it was so refreshing to have villains that act in the same timeline as your characters, rather than waiting at an end of a dungeon to be killed (especially after BG1, which with a few lame exceptions fell into the latter category).

Sorry, I played BG and hated it. I played the BG2 demo, but after an afternoon of it, I was sick of dealing with it. "I gets better later on" just wasn't a justification for me to keep drudging through it. PS:T is the only Infinity engine game I played more than a week's time, and that was mainly because of the unique setting and a bit of the story. BG2 just didn't hold a bit of interest for me because it felt like playing D&D with an exceptionally crappy DM. You know, the kind of exceptionally crappy DM who tried to keep you coming back to his house by offering up teh ph4t l3wt and little else.

 

[Annonchinil]

The Wall sucks and has maybe like five good songs on it, Wish You Were Here is the much better album.

Which only has maybe like five good songs too.

At least neither album is The Final Cut.

Clever,

BTW since I am too lazy to start a new thread how is Beyond Good and Evil for the PC?

 

[gromit]

It doesn't support a gamepad, and the game was designed for one.