Game News Dragon Age update - zombie kittens are in!

[Jed]

Wait, you guys like David Gaider now? You lot used to hate him, at least, you always whined and moaned at him about everything under the sun when he came and posted here. Oh, how fickle is the Codex!

Some people like him; some don't.

I love how when posters agree on something (i.e., Fallout), the 'Codex is a "hivemind," but when posters don't agree (i.e., D. Gaider), the 'Codex is "fickle."

 

[Wulfgar]

Just don't be an *** about it. I, on the other hand, I may decide to be an *** if I wish, on immersion or any other topic. But that's because this is my house and YOU are the guest here. And because life's not fair.

Either way, there's nothing wrong with opinions. Just don't be an ***, like I said.

Yeah, because on Bioware forums, being a shithead is reserved for developers only.

 

[Hazelnut]

We're not trying to please everyone, we're trying to make one thing and make it well enough that perhaps some of these people come to love it for what it is rather than dislike it for what it isn't.

That's all I need to know. More power you you DG!

Wait, you guys like David Gaider now? You lot used to hate him, at least, you always whined and moaned at him about everything under the sun when he came and posted here. Oh, how fickle is the Codex!

I've never moaned at him... you are aware there are more than 20 members of this site aren't you?

 

[Fez]

This is usually where Sarvis says something about the Codex hivemind (or the failure of the free market) too.

 

[Dgaider]

I love how when posters agree on something (i.e., Fallout), the 'Codex is a "hivemind," but when posters don't agree (i.e., D. Gaider), the 'Codex is "fickle."

I see nothing contradictory about the Codex being a fickle hivemind. :wink:

Yeah, because on Bioware forums, being a shithead is reserved for developers only.

Absolutely. Whereas other sites obviously let just anyone be a shithead. It lowers standards, I think, but hey -- more power to ya.

 

[denizsi]

I looked for some tough noogies, but couldn't find any. You are disappointing.

 

[merry andrew]

I looked for some tough noogies, but couldn't find any. You are disappointing.

tough noogies!

 

[sabishii]

Just don't be an *** about it. I, on the other hand, I may decide to be an *** if I wish, on immersion or any other topic. But that's because this is my house and YOU are the guest here. And because life's not fair.

Either way, there's nothing wrong with opinions. Just don't be an ***, like I said.

Yeah, because on Bioware forums, being a shithead is reserved for developers only.

I'm glad your reading comprehension is so great that you could paraphrase the second and third sentences you quoted, but it's not that great of a feat to brag about.

 

[elander_]

I'm playing Baldurs Gate II now for the first time (played BGI last year) and comparing it with modern games really shows the important of good game design more than technology. This game is an excellent rpg with the intelligent quests and the moral decisions we have to make with our companions. Every other that comes after had more software tricks and crazy features (including NWN2) but there's something in the way that game was done that makes it special. Games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect don't add anything significantly new to the BG2 receipt (on the contrary) and if Dragon Age was able to at least follow the character interactions in BG2 and the way quests are made then this could be called moving forward.

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

elander_, you really should give Planescape: Torment a go.

 

[Lumpy]

Why does there have to be a spell limitation, anyway? How about allowing infinite spells? Or a recovery time after a spell? Or anything that doesn't use a pool.

 

[Atrokkus]

You're showing your age, VD. Where are the linkies to source material? Tsk tsk tsk!

 

[Wulfgar]

Just don't be an *** about it. I, on the other hand, I may decide to be an *** if I wish, on immersion or any other topic. But that's because this is my house and YOU are the guest here. And because life's not fair.

Either way, there's nothing wrong with opinions. Just don't be an ***, like I said.

Yeah, because on Bioware forums, being a shithead is reserved for developers only.

I'm glad your reading comprehension is so great that you could paraphrase the second and third sentences you quoted, but it's not that great of a feat to brag about.

Oh, I'm sorry. Please everyone, go back to sucking the e-cock of a developer whose company didn't release a decent (RPG) game for almost 8 years. I won't disrupt you anymore.

Absolutely. Whereas other sites obviously let just anyone be a shithead. It lowers standards, I think, but hey -- more power to ya.

Sure. Hey, since you mentioned lowering standards, let me just wish you all the best in the race with Bethesda for lowering cRPG standards. You totally have a chance of winning!

 

[AnalogKid]

Absolutely. Whereas other sites obviously let just anyone be a shithead. It lowers standards, I think, but hey -- more power to ya.

Yeah I can't stand sites that do that!!1! Those Bethsoft boards are a real shithole, aren't they?

 

[Antagonist]

Sure. Hey, since you mentioned lowering standards, let me just wish you all the best in the race with Bethesda for lowering cRPG standards. You totally have a chance of winning!

I still can't wrap my mind around the concept of a Sonic RPG. There's something so profoundly wrong about this that my brain refuses to compute it beyond a certain point.

 

[Atrokkus]

I still can't wrap my mind around the concept of a Sonic RPG. There's something so profoundly wrong about this that my brain refuses to compute it beyond a certain point.

Goddamnit, not again. I thought only Bioware boards harbored such idiots.
Read again: DGaider's reply on BioWare boards

UNLESS I misunderstood you, and you were merely thinking about Sonic the RPG without any correlation to other Bioware products, in which case it's your opinion and I retract my statement abovve.

 

[Spectacle]

Why does there have to be a spell limitation, anyway? How about allowing infinite spells? Or a recovery time after a spell? Or anything that doesn't use a pool.

Yeah, the solution to this conundrum seems to be obvious. Limiting the number of spells per day is a PnP mechanic intended to keep the guy playing the magician from hogging the spotlight by solving every problem the group encounters with magic. There's no reason why a CRPG should be the same. Mana acting as "fuel" for magic spells also feels a bit silly compared to how magic is described in myths and good fantasy literature.

I kinda like the mana mechanic described for the Broken Hourglass, where your mana limits the the amount of spell power you can use at the same time, so a mage has to divide his mana between buffs, offensive spells and powering magic items. This seems to give some interesting tactical options, while not encouraging silly metagaming like the D&D model. It still feels a bit mechanical, but I guess there's no way around that in a game. I hope Bioware copies this model off for Dragon Age.

 

[Antagonist]

UNLESS I misunderstood you, and you were merely thinking about Sonic the RPG without any correlation to other Bioware products, in which case it's your opinion and I retract my statement abovve.

Correct, and I suggest some anger management sessions. I don't have the time to read every game related message board on the internets so I'm out of the loop regarding certain developments unless it gets mentioned on the Codex somewhere.

As for Dragon Age, I haven't been following its development very closely as most of Bioware's recent games have not been interesting to me so I'll wait until the first flood of (user) reviews hits the net and then decide if it is worth my money and more importantly my time.

 

[elander_]

elander_, you really should give Planescape: Torment a go.

I am in doubt with these two games. I don't think at the moment that Planescape has more role-playing than BG2. It's all about how you treat your companions but in the end whatever you do doesn't matter. Maybe that's not as important as the choices along the way.

For what i can see BG2 has more companions and can offer the kind of choices i prefer in a game. Some of these choices will imply that one companion will change his ways of acting or even leave the party and turn against the player later. In Planescape there are fewer companions and they must be there with the player no matter what and join him in the ending.

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

It's all about how you treat your companions but in the end whatever you do doesn't matter.

You can remind Ignus of his tough apprenticeship years and he will attack you. You can prove Vhailor he doesn't exist. Hell, you can do plenty of things!

For what i can see BG2 has more companions and can offer the kind of choices i prefer in a game.

BG2 companions are more... predictable. You always know what to expect from them. They're just generic fantasy characters.

In Planescape there are fewer companions and they must be there with the player no matter what and join him in the ending.

If you piss off Ignus or Vhailor, one of them will fight you near the end of the game.

 

[elander_]

Why does there have to be a spell limitation, anyway? How about allowing infinite spells? Or a recovery time after a spell? Or anything that doesn't use a pool.

That reminded me of how i just finished a battle against a single foe - an Elemental Lich - with my team of degenerates. If you ever played magic the gathering cards you will see that D&D games (the old games at least) tried to follow the same kind of fun, so spells are limited like the cards in a MTG deck. This leads to very interesting and challenging combat scenarios.

In this battle with the Elemental Lich my party always gets screwed in seconds if they attack all at the same time (i could cheat and wait for his spells to timeout but it would be no fun) so i decided to have my wizard battle alone against the foe by trying to dispel and breach his defenses and throw him conjured foes until he has wasted all his powerful spells. By some chance my spells and his spells were closely balanced so it required some messing up with the right sequence of spells at the right time to win and that was very fun. In this sense it is similar to playing MTG.

 

[sheek]

What exactly is the problem with mana? Only problem I see is if it leads you to sleep after ever encounter in a dungeon. Simple solution: make resting risky. RoA had a mana system but I had to be careful with using magic (which by the way was most useful outside combat) in a dungeon because resting often left you worse off than not resting. An eight hour rest would almost always be interrupted by a fight and you'd recover at most 10% of your hitpoints/magic points. Regenerating your total mana allowance would take many days.

You just need to make regeneration realistic. The player could still exit the dungeon, go to a doctor/inn (couple of days travel away, and an encounter along the way) to rest for three days straight... but I doubt very many people would be prepared to do that.

Magic is for special occasions, you are careful with it and don't throw it around. If you're in a dungeon and waste your remaining MPs you either use expensive potions or you try to finish it with your party's conventional skills.

 

[elander_]

BG2 companions are more... predictable. You always know what to expect from them. They're just generic fantasy characters.

They are more generic because there are more of them and the setting is also less original than Planescape. Still BG2 is doing his job by showing us their lives and ambitions and letting the player interfere with it. Being generic is not a problem for me as long as it is well written.

My opinion is that planescape characters are more interesting but whatever you do has little consequence except for a few situations like those you mentioned which doesn't amount to much and BG2 has less developed companions but there are more ways for you to influence them.

However both games could have used a faction reputation table, to be able to develop their consequences better instead of that alignment system. This is what is limiting those games - reputation centralized on the player - but then this will lead to more generic quest templates and a game more close to a simulation and this is what makes life difficult to writers.

 

[Lumpy]

Role-playing isn't limited to companions. Not at all.
And in BG, as far as I know, you piss a companion off by going the other way than his alignment. Which doesn't make sense for some of them, yet it applies to all except Imoen.

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

this is what makes life difficult to writers.

And to programmers. Tracing all those boolean variables doesn't sound fun.