Game News We Stripped Stuff Because Origins "Was Busted"

[Jaesun]

Re: Mike Laidlaw: We Stripped Stuff Because Origins

I still firmly believe that RPGs do need to be more accessible to new players. Not dumbed down, not "consolized" (whatever that means. There are insanely complex games on the console), not diminished, but made less imposing and less terrifying to new players. In part because I want more people to play Dragon Age, and in part because there have been a lot of improvements in gameplay and UI design in the past 15 years, and we can learn from them

Enjoying your new directives from your masters eh?

And He thinks they have learned from cRPG's in the past and improved them?



He needs to quit BioWare and become a full time comedian.

 

[racofer]

I doubt that he would make as much money, Jaesun.

 

[IronicNeurotic]

Re: Mike Laidlaw: We Stripped Stuff Because Origins

Enjoying your new directives from your masters eh?.

Those are his "old" directives.

Don't forget he had a big role on Jade Empire and lead the console version of Dragon Age: Origins.

 

[Regdar]

I know absolutely nothing about Laidlaw ...

Looking at his credits the earliest mention is on "special thanks" in Hoards of the Underdark, he is listed as one of the Lead Writers of Jade Empire so I suspect he was hired for the Jade Empire and then moved to the Dragon Age team ... but how the fuck he managed to became "Dragon Age Franchise Lead Designer" is beyond me, considering positions like that is very much EA ... and considering the corporate model of EA ...

As the poster above me mentioned, this guy was the overseer of the console port of Dragon Age: Origins. That was around the time Brent Knowles, the lead designer for the PC version, quit his job, supposedly because he didn't like the way the company was taking the franchise (consolized shit way).

So I guess after eating a plateful of shit for making a crappy port (it was criticized for having awful controls and sold poorly), Laidlow decided to take his frustrations out on the franchise by shifting the main development to consoles, with a shoddy PC port being quickly thrown together at the end of the development cycle.

Or maybe he just doesn't give a shit and does whatever his overlords tell him. Whatever the case it's pretty much rock solid that this guy is a douchebag.

By the way, this Brent Knowles guy has an interesting blog http://yourothermind.com/

 

[Volourn]

"b) insanely complex like Madden amirite?"

Madden is a lot more 'complex' than the vast majority of RPgs - espicially 'old skool' ones. LMFAO

P.S. DA1 360 version is superior to the PC version.

I also laugh hilariously at Codexers whining abnout *anyone* being arrogant, douches, or full of themsleves. that describes 99% of the fukkin' posters here FFS.

 

[Azalin]

Engrish_Major wrote:
No, like I stated before, the memory limitations alone on consoles can't hold enough textures to be able to replicate Crysis 1.
whoDat_whoDat wrote:
thats why they dont need the memory PS3 has a little something something called Blu-Ray. and its 25 times the size of a petty 2gb SD RAM

 

[Trojan_generic]

Madden is a lot more 'complex' than the vast majority of RPgs - espicially 'old skool' ones. LMFAO

I know, but is it the game that is complex or the sport that is complex? I must confess that I haven't played any Maddens (because I'm not interested in football), but other EA sports games not so long time ago. If it is like in the others, I can imagine that there are a lot of character attributes that can vary, making it complex. But I'd think it is a game that you play mainly out of interest for the sport, not because it is such a great game.

Also, what I should have written in my previous post already, are there any other 'insanely' complex games for 360?

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

P.S. DA1 360 version is superior to the PC version.

Bro, I'm not so sure. I played the 360 version of DA:O and it was just sloppy. Long loading times, lots of stutters, terrible controls (they added a realtime hotkey function for spells but no pause outside of the ability wheel, making it impossible to make multiple positioning moves; wish they would've ditched the KOTOR controls and just made an overhead control mode with a thumstick serving as a shitty mouse substitute), and a lot of unique bugs (Exclusive Content for Microsoft Xbox 360™ amirite?).

I know they had some under-the-hood differences, like the 360 version supposedly being harder or something, but yeah, the 360 version wasn't a great port at all.

 

[villain of the story]

How can Madden be complex? It's a fucking straightforward KwanBall game FFS. Characters can have all the behind-the-scenes complexity to define their sportive qualities and how formations and positions play out based on those stats but gameplay-wise, it is just straight fucking KwanBall. There's no complexity to it beyond the complexity of the real sports game.

 

[Black]

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Crpgs don't tend to be that much more complex either.

And I assume "busted" is an euphemism for "shit".

 

[Roguey]

Laidlaw's a busta. Even one of the ME writers knows more about good game design than he does:

On the flip side, when we do need to make an area more challenging, he was quite clear that adding more of Generic Bad Guy 6 or increasing the hit points for Generic Bad Guy 6 does not actually make a fight harder. It makes a fight longer, which means that if you had a dull, easy fight before, you now have a dull, easy fight that takes longer to finish. When we decide to make a fight harder, we'll do it by changing the AI pattern or adding different creature type, not just by plunking down more of the detault bad guys.

I think that what it comes down to, as in all things, is the engine. If you have a good engine, you can make good hard combat. If you have a bad engine (or an unfinished or untested good engine), the best approximation of hard combat you can get is average combat against guys with more health.

The difference between somewhat-competent people using a halfway decent engine and functional retards using Eclipse/Lycium. Why does he still have his job?

Based on the way he talks, however, I'm willing to bet you a large sum of money that this toolbag sold used cars or fax machines or those things you see on telemarketing at some point in his life. He wasn't actively searching for a career in video games, but then the opportunity presented itself and he thought "what the hell, it beats my old job/being unemployed" and through rigorous bootlicking and sexual favors for male superiors, got to where he is now.

He started off as a game journalist.

I know they had some under-the-hood differences, like the 360 version supposedly being harder or something, but yeah, the 360 version wasn't a great port at all.

Actually it's easier. No friendly fire on normal, 50% on hard, and some of the larger battles are done in waves instead of one large group (love those memory limitations). I think Volourn likes it because it has the superior codex presentation.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

I see they're sticking with the bethesda 'wait our previous game was shit and disregard whatever we said before that'' defense of innovation

 

[Kaanyrvhok]

How can Madden be complex? It's a fucking straightforward KwanBall game FFS. Characters can have all the behind-the-scenes complexity to define their sportive qualities and how formations and positions play out based on those stats but gameplay-wise, it is just straight fucking KwanBall. There's no complexity to it beyond the complexity of the real sports game.

If a videogame is balanced enough to where it moderately mimics the processing of any of the major team sports then it’s going to be a very complex videogame.

 

[Data4]

Exactly, turn-based games require no skill. It doesn't require the player to think fast or react fast at all.

Anyone remember back in the good old days when something like that could be seen as an OBVIOUS troll? I mean, I'm not a fan of turn-based play myself, but it's just a preference and has nothing to do with player skill.

There is a good reason why I don't have a "Kill All Morons" button.

 

[Kaanyrvhok]

How can Madden be complex? It's a fucking straightforward KwanBall game FFS. Characters can have all the behind-the-scenes complexity to define their sportive qualities and how formations and positions play out based on those stats but gameplay-wise, it is just straight fucking KwanBall. There's no complexity to it beyond the complexity of the real sports game.

If a videogame is balanced enough to where it moderately mimics the processing of any of the major team sports then it’s going to be a very complex videogame.

Actually it's easier. No friendly fire on normal, 50% on hard, and some of the larger battles are done in waves instead of one large group (love those memory limitations). I think Volourn likes it because it has the superior codex presentation.

Hard was harder because it didn't have pause movement. The Xbox version was worse but it was certainly harder. Imagine playing Baldur's Gate without pause movement and thats all you need to know.

Also, what I should have written in my previous post already, are there any other 'insanely' complex games for 360?

Nothing that I know of.

Most of the top shooters on the Xbox could be noted for their depth. Even though they are simple in their design they are balanced and well crafted. Shadowrun was up there. It was cross platform and some of the best clans were beating the mouse with controllers. The best shooters are like that. Teamwork and strategy beats individual marksmanship. Halo Wars isn't very complex but little is wasted because its well balanced.

 

[AlaCarcuss]

I also laugh hilariously at Codexers whining abnout *anyone* being arrogant, douches, or full of themsleves. that describes 99% of the fukkin' posters here FFS.

Volly! You finally said something that no one can disagree with.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

yes but which one is volourn then

 

[space odyssey]

I love how everything this guy puts out seems to go "I know we made a bad game and you players raised many points and you are right, but you are wrong and should like it and we will continue to improve the awesome."

 

[Kashrlyyk]

Exactly, turn-based games require no skill. It doesn't require the player to think fast or react fast at all.

There actually exists a computer player that has never heard of "Chess"??????????????????
Or did he and he really thinks you don't need skill to win in "Chess"????????????????
That is definitely a new high on the "stupid remarks" scale.

 

[DalekFlay]

As some others have said I really wonder how he got the job of running the franchise, and perhaps more importantly why he is keeping it after DA2 sold and reviewed much worse than DA1.

 

[Jaime Lannister]

Exactly, turn-based games require no skill. It doesn't require the player to think fast or react fast at all.

There actually exists a computer player that has never heard of "Chess"??????????????????
Or did he and he really thinks you don't need skill to win in "Chess"????????????????
That is definitely a new high on the "stupid remarks" scale.

Twitch skill is actually really important for multiplayer games to stay competitive since the strategy in most multiplayer games is closer to Rock-Paper-Scissors than Chess.

Actually twitch skill makes every game harder, or would you say this looks easier than turn-based chess?

 

[sirfink]

The Codex can be so fickle.

I thought most folks here thought Dragon Age Origins was shit. So we're mad at Bioware for making shit even shittier.

 

[Data4]

Exactly, turn-based games require no skill. It doesn't require the player to think fast or react fast at all.

There actually exists a computer player that has never heard of "Chess"??????????????????
Or did he and he really thinks you don't need skill to win in "Chess"????????????????
That is definitely a new high on the "stupid remarks" scale.

Twitch skill is actually really important for multiplayer games to stay competitive since the strategy in most multiplayer games is closer to Rock-Paper-Scissors than Chess.

Actually twitch skill makes every game harder, or would you say this looks easier than turn-based chess?

Yeah, but the original quote was referring to RPGs. Of course good twitch reflexes are a plus in shooters.

 

[villain of the story]

If a videogame is balanced enough to where it moderately mimics the processing of any of the major team sports then it’s going to be a very complex videogame.

Major team sports, you say. I take it that "minor team sports" wouldn't be complex at all, then?

And no, it's not. It will have a complex coding perhaps, complex algorithms and whatnots built into the game but the way it plays will be anything but complex since it's a fucking sports game.