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The Dragon Age: Inquisition Thread

DalekFlay

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If your idea of evil is limited to sadist/kill people for fun, then I don't think you know much about the nuances of evil.

Well, I don't believe in evil at all really, but you're missing the point. A religious zealot obsessed with power is "evil" if they rule the Inquisition with an iron hand and smite the unbelievers. That's an "evil path" worth having. Most RPGs just have you kill innocents for money and call it evil, which is boring.
 

dryan

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Jan 14, 2014
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Skyrim sold 20 million copies.

Twenty. Fucking. Million.

Which serves to reinforce my point, when such a widely successful RPG still finds criticism for hanging on to "outdated" practices.

every RPG developer on the planet should have seen that and said "hmmmm... maybe the tens of millions of dollars we are investing in voice acting and cinematics don't mean shit?"
I don't think that's a very good conclusion to draw from the Skyrim's success. The game was successful despite of its silent protagonist, not because of it. I believe most people would prefer Dovakin to be fully voiced like Shepard/Hawke.
 

pippin

Guest
Wait, why is there Baldur's Gate music in this turd? (can't embed the video position, it's from 1:30 on)
Wtf, Bioware, is nothing sacred anymore? :rpgcodex:

oh my god :negative:
I felt a part of my childhood dying right there.
 

DalekFlay

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I don't think that's a very good conclusion to draw from the Skyrim's success. The game was successful despite of its silent protagonist, not because of it. I believe most people would prefer Dovakin to be fully voiced like Shepard/Hawke.

I doubt it. History has shown games with silent protagonists are not negatively effected at the cash register. Why Bioware insists they are is beyond me.
 

Rake

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Evil needs to be more than mustache-twirling. Video games have SUCKED at doing it well. It's either "I must destroy the world because I am the embodiment of hell spawn!" or "punch someone in the face because it's hilarious."

More games should offer a logical evil choice. Want to coddle everyone and be best friends? Instead of getting the "rainbows and sunshine" outcome, the game should have the NPCs see you as weak and too soft to get the job done, which results in more fighting and bloodshed. If, instead, you use brutality to bring them in line, it saves more lives in the long run.

A variation of that (or really, any option where "evil" is more than just lip service to the same outcome or markedly worse/darker outcomes) is something I'd be ecstatic to see in games.

Evil paths usually suck because not many enjoy being a sadist for the fuck of it. Dragon Age actually does well in my experience offering choices between social outlooks (order vs. freedom) and the whole mage/templar thing. I'd rather this game focused on that stuff versus "kill all the slaves for funsies." A religious zealot obsessed with order is more fun than a simple asshole.
Sadism isn't the same as cruelty. Tywin Lannister and Littlefinger would be considered "evil", but both had very good motivations for what it did. PST "pragmatic incarnation" or MotB evil path were excelent examples of evil in games.
I believe much more people would be interested in true (as in realworld) evil options that make sense and reward better than the good ones (after all, outside of asylums, people are being "evil" because they have something to gain from it) than the usual "be a murdering lunatic for no reason, be and asshole to random people, and be penaltized from the game devs on top of feeling you are playing an idiot)
 

pippin

Guest
The voiced protagonist was a ME gimmick, DAO had a silent main character. For biodrones, character customization (especially when it comes to gender) is a bigger deal.
 

DalekFlay

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Sadism isn't the same as cruelty. Tywin Lannister and Littlefinger would be considered "evil", but both had very good motivations for what it did. PST "pragmatic incarnation" or MotB evil path were excelent examples of evil in games.
I believe much more people would be interested in true (as in realworld) evil options that make sense and reward better than the good ones (after all, outside of asylums, people are being "evil" because they have something to gain from it) than the usual "be a murdering lunatic for no reason, be and asshole to random people, and be penaltized from the game devs on top of feeling you are playing an idiot)

You're basically saying what I am saying a different way. I totally agree. My point is "evil" paths usually are just sadist paths without any real complexity or value.
 

Slow James

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Messages
271
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Louisville, KY
Skyrim sold 20 million copies.

Twenty. Fucking. Million.

Which serves to reinforce my point, when such a widely successful RPG still finds criticism for hanging on to "outdated" practices.

every RPG developer on the planet should have seen that and said "hmmmm... maybe the tens of millions of dollars we are investing in voice acting and cinematics don't mean shit?"
I don't think that's a very good conclusion to draw from the Skyrim's success. The game was successful despite of its silent protagonist, not because of it. I believe most people would prefer Dovakin to be fully voiced like Shepard/Hawke.

Given that Skyrim alone has about sold more than all of the Mass Effect and Dragon Age games combined, I'm not sure that's true. Given that DA:O wasn't a voiced main character and yet was more critically acclaimed and higher sales than DA2 also hints this may not be true. Yes, there are alternative explanations for both, but it also is proof that the idea of "we need full vocie acting and movie cutscenes for anyone to buy our game" is not a valid one.
 

Rake

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Messages
2,969
Sadism isn't the same as cruelty. Tywin Lannister and Littlefinger would be considered "evil", but both had very good motivations for what it did. PST "pragmatic incarnation" or MotB evil path were excelent examples of evil in games.
I believe much more people would be interested in true (as in realworld) evil options that make sense and reward better than the good ones (after all, outside of asylums, people are being "evil" because they have something to gain from it) than the usual "be a murdering lunatic for no reason, be and asshole to random people, and be penaltized from the game devs on top of feeling you are playing an idiot)

You're basically saying what I am saying a different way. I totally agree. My point is "evil" paths usually are just sadist paths without any real complexity or value.
Sorry, i read only your first post, and it seemed to me that you only wanted waring consepts like freedom vs order. My answer was to that. Pure selfishness is more than enough, and the root of most "evil" actions, but somehow it's never used in games. In most of them you can act evil because your character gets a kick out of kicking puppies
 

NotAGolfer

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Land of Bier and Bratwurst
Divinity: Original Sin 2
Skyrim is a gud game, fuck the haters.
It might have poor quests and everything else but at least everything happening is presented as RL-like NPC or world interaction, or at least something you can reenact while larping.
Have fun trying to larp all the gamist shit obviously happening in DA:I.
Also Skyrim combat might be floaty and extremely unbalanced (like the rest of the game, Bethesda cannot into balancing games, the most fun are the ones where they didn't even try it), but at least I know what the fuck is going on.
And it isn't a single protagonist game disguised as a party based game like this turd. Why even have a party if you don't have to think about tactics and character building?
Let me guess, because romance. :Gaider on a dick unicorn:

And then in Skyrim at least there are lots of towns with lots of NPCs with lots of (not that great) stories to tell, not just empty wilderness areas full of mobs. So Bethesturd at least tried, which is more than can be said about these Ass Creed lickers over at Biowhore.
Skyrim, even unmodded, is an RPG. You have to actually talk to people, touch and move things to get stuff done, all while leveling your build (and this is the first TES game where char build decisions actually matter on the long run because limited amount of perks). Here it seems the build doesn't matter at all as long as you grind enough XP and half or even more of the content is presented through cutscenes, ingame achievements (what the actual fuuuuuuu?????) and codex or whatever list entries you stumble upon while "exploring".
There are nearly no cutscenes in Skyrim, which is something one can't value high enough in this day and age.
 
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dryan

Arcane
Joined
Jan 14, 2014
Messages
1,443
Skyrim sold 20 million copies.

Twenty. Fucking. Million.

Which serves to reinforce my point, when such a widely successful RPG still finds criticism for hanging on to "outdated" practices.

every RPG developer on the planet should have seen that and said "hmmmm... maybe the tens of millions of dollars we are investing in voice acting and cinematics don't mean shit?"
I don't think that's a very good conclusion to draw from the Skyrim's success. The game was successful despite of its silent protagonist, not because of it. I believe most people would prefer Dovakin to be fully voiced like Shepard/Hawke.

Given that Skyrim alone has about sold more than all of the Mass Effect and Dragon Age games combined, I'm not sure that's true. Given that DA:O wasn't a voiced main character and yet was more critically acclaimed and higher sales than DA2 also hints this may not be true. Yes, there are alternative explanations for both, but it also is proof that the idea of "we need full vocie acting and movie cutscenes for anyone to buy our game" is not a valid one.
I never said that. I'm pretty sure Skyrim sold well despite of Beth's voice acting decisions, not because of them. Skyrim is a success because of its entire package of features, which happens to be appealing to a lot of people and was very well advertised/hyped. Can you imagine Skyrim using the same partially voice-acted dialogue as Morrowind, especially after Oblivion set the standard for full voice-acted NPCs? I don't know if it would be enough to hurt the sales significantly, or if the other features would be able to negate the backlash, but I think Beth would face a lot of criticism. Anyway, I'm not a huge fan of voice acting, in fact I mostly hate it (with few exceptions like VtM:B), but I'm not going to set myself for disappointment by expecting AAA studios to go back to partial or no voice acting, because that ain't gonna happen, period.
 
Unwanted

Goat Vomit

Andhaira
Andhaira
Joined
Apr 15, 2014
Messages
391
Alas my inquisitor mage Torquemada, ready to rid the world of infidels by blazing firestorms, sofar has been rescuing puppies.


Profligates, when will they ever learn?

Not playing as glorious Templar of the Order of the Flaming Rose.
UYrog2K.jpg
 

Slow James

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Joined
Dec 10, 2012
Messages
271
Location
Louisville, KY
I don't think that's a very good conclusion to draw from the Skyrim's success. The game was successful despite of its silent protagonist, not because of it. I believe most people would prefer Dovakin to be fully voiced like Shepard/Hawke.

I doubt it. History has shown games with silent protagonists are not negatively effected at the cash register. Why Bioware insists they are is beyond me.


The fact that Fallout New Vegas did well in sales (5 million is on par or exceeding sales of Bioware games) further indicates this. Similarly, a fully voiced Witcher has not been insanely more successful than non-voiced RPGs with tons of character defintion and options.

I think what RPG players really want is good content, multiple playstyles and a story that keeps them engaged by doesn't get in their way. Games that do a cinematic story like Wolf Among Us (8.5 million sales) do better than RPGs that try to offer both. Middling in the middle gives a false impression of both instead of delivering quality of either.
 

Slow James

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Messages
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Location
Louisville, KY
I never said that. I'm pretty sure Skyrim sold well despite of Beth's voice acting decisions, not because of them. Skyrim is a success because of its entire package of features, which happens to be appealing to a lot of people and was very well advertised/hyped. Can you imagine Skyrim using the same partially voice-acted dialogue as Morrowind, especially after Oblivion set the standard for full voice-acted NPCs? I don't know if it would be enough to hurt the sales significantly, or if the other features would be able to negate the backlash, but I think Beth would face a lot of criticism. Anyway, I'm not a huge fan of voice acting, in fact I mostly hate it (with few exceptions like VtM:B), but I'm not going to set myself for disappointment by expecting AAA studios to go back to partial or no voice acting, because that ain't gonna happen, period.


Who needs AAA development studios? The key is to getting studios who have to beg for money on Kickstarter and developer on a shoestring and mortgage their houses to make a game out of the poorhouse (relatively speaking) and getting them to be successful enough to be self-sufficient. A game doesn't need to spend $100 million dollars to be worth $60 to the right people. Studios like Larian, InExile and the back room of Obsidian need to get to the point where they have $10-$20 million dollar game budgets, yet mostly keep to the simplistic design philosophies.

When that particular gaming industry Delorian hits 88 mph, you're going to see some serious shit.
 
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dryan

Arcane
Joined
Jan 14, 2014
Messages
1,443
I never said that. I'm pretty sure Skyrim sold well despite of Beth's voice acting decisions, not because of them. Skyrim is a success because of its entire package of features, which happens to be appealing to a lot of people and was very well advertised/hyped. Can you imagine Skyrim using the same partially voice-acted dialogue as Morrowind, especially after Oblivion set the standard for full voice-acted NPCs? I don't know if it would be enough to hurt the sales significantly, or if the other features would be able to negate the backlash, but I think Beth would face a lot of criticism. Anyway, I'm not a huge fan of voice acting, in fact I mostly hate it (with few exceptions like VtM:B), but I'm not going to set myself for disappointment by expecting AAA studios to go back to partial or no voice acting, because that ain't gonna happen, period.


Who needs AAA development studios? The key is to getting studios who have to beg for money on Kickstarter and developer on a shoestring and mortgage their houses to make a game out of the poorhouse (relatively speaking) and being self-sufficient. A game doesn't need to spend $100 million dollars to be worth $60 to the right people. Studios like Laria , InExile and the back room of Obsidian need to get to the point where they have $10-$20 million dollar game budgets, yet mostly keep to the simplistic design philosophies.

When that particular gaming industry Delorian hits 88 mph, you're going to see some serious shit.
OK, now I can agree with you. My favorite 2014 game (and the one where I sank most time) was Shadowrun Returns and it had no voice acting at all. These people can afford to do things "oldschool". I just don't know how scalable their model is, but I'll be happy as long as they keep releasing.
 

Psquit

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Sep 18, 2012
Messages
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Ushuaia
I always hated killing Siegfried of Denesle... he was a true bro. :cry::cry::salute::salute:

But at least he is in vydia heaven killing those Dragon age Degenerate faggots

208200305e9ddfd6640f1bb5c93ba795-d5qrxld.png




:negative:
 

Nihiliste

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Jan 16, 2014
Messages
2,998
So I tried this out for a couple hours.

It's honestly not that bad - but its not an RPG. Nowhere near the abomination that DA2 was in terms of quality but not what I'm looking for in a game. Unlike DA2 I can actually imagine why a generation that's grown up with WoW, Oblivion/Skyrim, Mass effect might like this though.
 

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