Dragon Age II - Final Thoughts (Bioware interview)

[Trolldor]

Laidlaw's opinions may be dissapointing for some, encouraging for others but there is one thing that stands above all considering people's thoughts on DA2.

Why does everyone act like they own the game, the direction of development and what is right or wrong with it?

In my opinion the game was a step forward concerning many little annoyances the first one had. Sure, some things may appear devolved from my perspective.. but who am I to say its better or worse?

There's this comment on the OP link that struck me:
"whitemute

Posted Apr 4, 2011 9:36 am PT

I'm just so tired of giving my money to these greedy people...."

So ... this guy is complaining that he gives away money -FREELY- to bioware and he dislikes what he's doing? Maybe you shouldn't do it then, you twat! Why do you and everyone else think demos/reviews/previews and dev interviews exist?

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TLDR: Do you think Leonardo da vinci working on Mona Lisa (or wtv other masterpiece) cared what some customers that bought his work think?

Make no mistake: games are art! If games would be made mechanically to stardards like cars or other engineering products they would all be dull!

About the aspect of finances I'd reckon if they'd have trouble selling DA2 they will take measures like retcons in comics.

PS: i hate that isabella didn't upgrade her armor(in looks/style) as merril did. Other than that.. i liked the chars iconic gear and i hate mages'shoulderpads being made of feathers and fur.

I lol'd.

Isabella didn't wear armor. She wore a piece of cloth. A fan service redesign, a completely ridiculous overhaul.
The elves suffered the same insult.
The world was narrowed, the characters simplified, Hawke was a titan of fuck-all characterisation. If both his siblings AND parents are dead, why does he not ever fucking acknowledge the fact? Just carries on as if nothing ever happened. You get one cutscene and that's it.
Games might be art, but Dragon Age 2 is a finger-painting from a first grader.

 

[Irridium]

wasn't it just so in origins?

I mean in some way it may be a little less build up since we didn't get to impregnate a witch again hardiharhar
but still the choice remains the same

Kill a dude Y/N, Side left right or centre, choose a team, fight the "war" this time instead of factions joining your battle , you get people you helped or didn't help in sidequests showing up

you know the only real issue with the story is that you can't actually play centre
That's my only critique on the game

You can't give me a centre option and then just keep on saying "OH YOU WANT THAT? C'EST IMPOSSIBLE"
Hawke should have been able to become the leader of kirkwall

In Origins there was a nice Epilogue that detailed what happened after the game. You learned what happens to the Dwarves, Elves/Werewolves, the Kingdom of Ferelden, your companions, the Arl's son, the Mages Tower, Andraste's Ashes, and plenty of other side missions. You get to see what your choices did to people, and how they ended up based on a choice you made. It wasn't anything spectacular, just some text. But it offered closure, an ending. Something thats very lacking these days.

Dragon Age 2 doesn't have that. Its basically you fighting a battle, then according to Varric you all ran away. And apparently shit's getting real. But then the credits roll.

What about the mage kid who can walk in/out of the fade at will? What do the Qunari do when they learn about the Arishok's death? What happens to most of your companions(Varric says most go their separate ways)? What happens to Bodan and Sandal? What happens to that slave girl you could save? What happens to your uncle? What happens to the Bone Pit(does it stay dead or does it get revived by someone)?

All we learn is that the Chantry/Templars/Mages all over Thedas are all in disarray, but thats all we learn. And even then it just sets things up for a sequel.

 

[Frotality]

minor note: stop countering criticisms of DA2 by exclaiming that someone must not of played the game fully; its childish, ignorant, and isnt helping your case. while that might be status quo on the internet, surely you can present better retorts than to just deny that the other person is aware of what they are criticizing.

...onto the OT: im certain its another of those interviews where the actual interview took place behind the scenes, then some PR guy "improved" the answers for public broadcast/posting. laidlaw basically just says "this is what we did in DA2. its probably what we'll do from now on. goodbye.". he doesnt actually DENY any criticism, mostly just covers his ears and goes "lalalalala". im sure laidlaw himself has very different opinions on the subject; sadly this interview wreaks of executive meddling; pretty common nowadays, and not at all unexpected from EA, but still, its kinda sad to see my once-favorite developer bioware stoop to this so shamelessly.

its becoming more and more obvious that yahtzee was right; indie games are where its at right now, AAA developers are getting more and more like hollywood, releasing countless cash-in sequels and having interviews consisting entirely of padding with no insight into the development process to be gained at all. if you'll excuse me, i think its time i finally finished my giant mage tower in minecraft and dump some more lava on elves in dwarf fortress.

 

[Instant K4rma]

What?! Someone has taken pride in the work they have done?! What's next? Genocide? I guess BioWare just can't win. They release one game and everyone writes them off as a failure and a disgrace as a gaming company. Other great companies have released bad games, too. And, while I'm at it, DA2 wasn't even all that bad. It was just a change form the original, which has everyone up in arms (Though I will admit that DA:O was a better game). People are even getting pissed at them giving away free copies of ME2 to everyone who has already purchased DA2, or purchases DA2 by the end of the month as a celebration of it's successful sales numbers. They get flak for giving good games away. Really?

Bah, this whole thing will blow over by the time Skyrim comes out. By that time everyone will be crying about Bethesda being a terrible company for not copy/pasting Oblivion and calling it a sequel.

 

[johnnnny guitar]

To Instant K4rma
Dude just go to say love your pic

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

a more viable future for the franchise.

That's everything you need to know. They spent five years on DA:O, and it showed - both in the quality of the product and the development cost. Someone told them that kind of development cycle was no longer feasible, so they shortened it to 14 months and hoped we'd all just play along. That hasn't happened, so it will be very interesting to see what happens next. If they rush out another sequel, we'll know they've basically caved to shareholder concerns and jettisoned their artistic integrity. At that point, they are no longer worthy of my support. If they do something crazy, like spend two whole years on DA3, we'll know there was enough pushback from fans to make an actual difference.

I can't help but feel this is all related to The Old Republic. They're taking their sweet time with that one, which is commendable, but the sheer cost of that project is clearly affecting other franchises.

 

[neppakyo]

a more viable future for the franchise.

That's everything you need to know. They spent five years on DA:O, and it showed - both in the quality of the product and the development cost. Someone told them that kind of development cycle was no longer feasible, so they shortened it to 14 months and hoped we'd all just play along. That hasn't happened, so it will be very interesting to see what happens next. If they rush out another sequel, we'll know they've basically caved to shareholder concerns and jettisoned their artistic integrity. At that point, they are no longer worthy of my support. If they do something crazy, like spend two whole years on DA3, we'll know there was enough pushback from fans to make an actual difference.

I can't help but feel this is all related to The Old Republic. They're taking their sweet time with that one, which is commendable, but the sheer cost of that project is clearly affecting other franchises.

Heh, most of that time was creating a new engine and all the lore/characters. Also shopping around for publishers to publish DA:O. Then the 6+ month wait when it was done so they could port it to consoles (The 360ver is the only one Laidlaw is credited for)

DA2 is using the same engine, but tweaked, and also asset re-use from Origins.

I'm hearing TOR is already cost around $100 million. Could be wrong, but that number keeps popping up.

 

[mrhateful]

ML: I'm very happy with it. The wheel, as a whole, provides a couple of really cool advantages. It lets us hold more conversation options than we had available in Origins where we had a cap of six. We technically have a cap of 10, so you can get a nice, cleaner interface to ask questions for clarification. I love the investigate system. It also provides what I see as the prize behind every door insofar as when you read a line of Origins dialogue for comparison, you see everything you could potentially say. In your brain, you've done the totality of that conversation. Whereas looking and saying, "Oh, I know that's going to be a smart-aleck line, but I don't feel it'd be right to use it," you're left with that temptation or that urge to pick it because you can't tell exactly what you'll say. What I think is the key gain with the icons is that you do know it will be sarcastic, which allows you to make a much clearer choice about how you want to interact with characters. If it was going to be suave or if it was going to be diplomatic, you know at a glance rather than having some confusion around what might happen.

you're left with that temptation or that urge to pick it because you can't tell exactly what you'll say

hat I think is the key gain with the icons is that you do know it will be sarcastic, which allows you to make a much clearer choice

you can't tell exactly what you'll say

which allows you to make a much clearer choice

This guy is talking out of his ass, I hope we'll realize their mistake before its too late.

 

[bootz]

Cops:Kirkwall

I felt like I killed every citizen of Kirkwall and thats how i got to be Champion, noone was left. This game needed a villian so bad. ( all the way through playing i thought it would be awesome to have a gaurdian of the sword attack kirkwall and you have to defend it. Way better story)

Spoiler

Why do you get kicked out of the city your champion of that made no sense at all