Funny you should say that, Mr. Gaider, since a major problem with DA2 was that it never seemed to have a direction at all, except for five minutes before the end credits.Andy Chalk said:
Dragon Age Writer Prefers "Polarization" to Apathy
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
Dragon Age 2 was my first bioware game and I thought it was horrible.
The stiff eye to eye conversations
The 3 different types of dungeon which are recycled with the only difference being different doors being opened and closed.
The plot that didn't deliver
The fact that no matter who you choose to side with, you get the same result
All the important plot decisions save who you choose to side with are made by characters other than Hawke.
The only thing I liked is how the dwarves seemed to be american. I found that fitting.
The stiff eye to eye conversations
The 3 different types of dungeon which are recycled with the only difference being different doors being opened and closed.
The plot that didn't deliver
The fact that no matter who you choose to side with, you get the same result
All the important plot decisions save who you choose to side with are made by characters other than Hawke.
The only thing I liked is how the dwarves seemed to be american. I found that fitting.
I loved ME2. But it wasn't an RPG. It didn't have real levels. It had predetermined points of advancement. It didn't have any gear management or customization, or armor at all. The rpg aspect of ME1 was imo the soul of the game(aside from an incredible story).
With DA2 I unfortunately got the same feel, that they were trying to move away from the rpg focused side, in favor of action, and that saddens me. The vast majority of E3 showcased ME3's combat. If I cared that much about cover based shooting I'd play Gears of War. Bring back the rpg side! It's what you're good at.
With DA2 I unfortunately got the same feel, that they were trying to move away from the rpg focused side, in favor of action, and that saddens me. The vast majority of E3 showcased ME3's combat. If I cared that much about cover based shooting I'd play Gears of War. Bring back the rpg side! It's what you're good at.
Maybe so many people would've not showed up with so much hate if Greg did not praised DA2 like the second coming, just saying.Andy Chalk said:
OT: I just hope bioware release swtor so it can come back to polish its games (and hopefully change its marketing director)
Oh come on. In a game where you're given options, it's not retconning to proceed with the story in the next game assuming only one canonical option. Laziness, possibly. But this seems to be whinging of the pettiest kind. Baldur's Gate 2 did this, to an extent, by forcing you to start under assumption that in the previous game you'd been playing the 'canonical ' party of Imoen, Minsc and Jaheira. I doubt anyone lamenting the passing of classic RPGs brought that up...RedEyesBlackGamer said:
If you're going to complain about DA2, complain about the many legitimate flaws in the game like the respawning enemies, recycled terrain, insipid story, bugs that make the main character's armour disappear from his model, cutting out characters to market as preorder DLC, etc. This however is just petty.
Except that it isn't. My complaint was specific to Gaidar. Who was the one interviewed.Shamanic Rhythm said:
Seconded. While it almost certainly wasn't, the review was so positive it felt like EA had bought it.stranamente said:
Even those that liked it admit it was a flawed gem, not a master piece.
Otherwise, as someone else said, David Gaider lost respect when he blew the fans off, insulted them and told them to "Deal with it" after he started retcon'ing the cast back to life with no reason. The blatant backtracking isn't going to get me to purchase DA3.
The company has pissed me off and the games direction means it just isn't fun for me anymore.
I'd rather make a game with a st ory that everyone hates passionately than a game with a story that no one cares about!
Actually... that's probably the better opinion sales-wise.
Actually... that's probably the better opinion sales-wise.
Who is he kidding? They wanted people to love it, they'd put a lot of effort into it (I'm assuming, since it was only in development for a year), this feels like an attempt to rationalize some of the fans' sincere disappointment. Bioware should simply admit that DA2 failed to meet expected standards and then search hard to discover what they did wrong.
... I'm sorry, but, what? The story, was a cluster fuck of sidequests, nothing but sidequests until you finally make it to the end of the chapter, where they hinted a resolution that finally takes you forward. Unified is so far from the description I would use. DA:O was unified, there you had a purpose, there you had a goal, there you had a reason to care. DA2 had a boring protoganist who I couldn't care two shits about and, at best, a couple of really good characters (that was probably the only redeemable thing I could say about the writing, some of it was top-notch).The Gentleman said:
On a related note; a loose quote from before the release "...Hawke being the most important character in Dragon Age", like fuck he was. I felt like a bystander almost the entire game. Anders defined this game, and I stabbed him in the face afterwards, being the twat he was. I'm not looking back on DA2 with kind eyes.
And the review here I'm not going to comment on, I might get a warning, or worse...
Kudos to Gaider, though, I like him, despite this game and where the potential sequels are going - at least he seem to care.
THISFrenger said:
The game seemed to be DO THESE SIDEQUESTS UNTIL THE PLOT QUEST IS UNLOCKED
Also the only reason I didn't stab Anders in the face myself was because he was the only healing mage. Irony..
Ok, maybe its just me. Perhaps there is a point to people being pissed off.
I know people have selective memory, but let us look back
What we got was .....
Yet what they used to "hook" people was...
Combat scene, bloody and brutal all away around is what they showed us. What they gave us was repetitive and tedious game play mechanics. One could forgive that, but the bigger problem is they didnt give us a "bad ass" story arch.. they gave us a boring story of someones rise to just above mediocrity.
So is it love and passion for the franchise? or is it people sort of pissed off they spent a wad of cash on the product and they simply didnt deliver. I would think you would rather have a content fanbase as opposed to upset (potentially ex) customers.
I know people have selective memory, but let us look back
What we got was .....
Yet what they used to "hook" people was...
Combat scene, bloody and brutal all away around is what they showed us. What they gave us was repetitive and tedious game play mechanics. One could forgive that, but the bigger problem is they didnt give us a "bad ass" story arch.. they gave us a boring story of someones rise to just above mediocrity.
So is it love and passion for the franchise? or is it people sort of pissed off they spent a wad of cash on the product and they simply didnt deliver. I would think you would rather have a content fanbase as opposed to upset (potentially ex) customers.
"At the end of the day, Dragon Age can't be everything to everyone," he said. "So we simply have to pick a direction and make it the best experience we can."
Wasn't DA2 the result of trying to be everything to everyone? Trying to keep just enough RPG elements to hold on to their traditional RPG audience while using the new combat and reduced scale of plot to bring in lovers of action games.
And Bioware had already picked a direction for the Dragon Age series and had publically announced it too. It was meant to remain their more traditional RPG-heavy series while Mass Effect was to be their lighter, action-oriented series.
So basically is this yet another 180° turn from Gaider? Or is he still just trying to spin DA2 as not being the big steaming pile it turned out to be?
BTW, David, writers who hate playing games are probably not the best choice to be video game writers. Just let Jennifer Hepler go back to writing bad Twilight fan fiction and find yourself some writers who are passionate about the games they'll be working on. After all, keeping the writing and the gameplay separate is just doing a disservice to both. The Anvil of the Void quest line is probably the only halfway decent thing she's written in her life, and even that was kinda cliched, and relied pretty much entirely on dialogue without really weaving much story into the gameplay, because she doesn't know how.
Wasn't DA2 the result of trying to be everything to everyone? Trying to keep just enough RPG elements to hold on to their traditional RPG audience while using the new combat and reduced scale of plot to bring in lovers of action games.
And Bioware had already picked a direction for the Dragon Age series and had publically announced it too. It was meant to remain their more traditional RPG-heavy series while Mass Effect was to be their lighter, action-oriented series.
So basically is this yet another 180° turn from Gaider? Or is he still just trying to spin DA2 as not being the big steaming pile it turned out to be?
BTW, David, writers who hate playing games are probably not the best choice to be video game writers. Just let Jennifer Hepler go back to writing bad Twilight fan fiction and find yourself some writers who are passionate about the games they'll be working on. After all, keeping the writing and the gameplay separate is just doing a disservice to both. The Anvil of the Void quest line is probably the only halfway decent thing she's written in her life, and even that was kinda cliched, and relied pretty much entirely on dialogue without really weaving much story into the gameplay, because she doesn't know how.
Oh lordy, cue raging (reads some of the comments) AHHH, YOUR OVERREACTIONS, SO DELICIOUS, LET THE HATE FLOW THROUGH YOU.
I personally didn't have an issue with a couple of the changes they made, but there was multiple ones I didn't agree with as well. I don't consider the direction they're taking as a bad one, rather one that just needs to be properly applied over a broader period of time so it comes out less rushed then Dragon Age 2 (my major complaint about it).
Although plenty of people have raised legitimate points over the game and the issues involved, I personally get a kick out of the constant whining of some fanboys on the internet who don't understand that whether a game is 'good or bad' is not an objective notion. Most often they ruin their own argument before I have to. Case in point, anyone who calls out the Escapist's review as being 'wrong' or 'bought out' really needs to understand that SOME PEOPLE LIKE DIFFERENT THINGS THEN YOU.
I personally didn't have an issue with a couple of the changes they made, but there was multiple ones I didn't agree with as well. I don't consider the direction they're taking as a bad one, rather one that just needs to be properly applied over a broader period of time so it comes out less rushed then Dragon Age 2 (my major complaint about it).
Although plenty of people have raised legitimate points over the game and the issues involved, I personally get a kick out of the constant whining of some fanboys on the internet who don't understand that whether a game is 'good or bad' is not an objective notion. Most often they ruin their own argument before I have to. Case in point, anyone who calls out the Escapist's review as being 'wrong' or 'bought out' really needs to understand that SOME PEOPLE LIKE DIFFERENT THINGS THEN YOU.
Hey, they changed the skyboxes for each act! What more do you want?!Woodsey said:
Somewhat related city question: Why does the city of Kirkwall, named after a town off the northern coast of Scotland, seem Mediterranean? Its like the map of Thedas was printed upside down, with it getting colder the further south you go, and tropical islands in the far north?
I agree here. I remember when Origins came out people were screaming about the Dwarves not being Scottish like it was the Apocalypse. The Dwarves come from Orzammar, which is in Western Thedas. Americans are in the Western Hemisphere. Makes sense all around.Dead_Lee said:
Western Fereldin actually, google 'map of Thedas' and you'll see that Orzammar is actually far east on the continent.Soviet Heavy said:
Whoops, I forgot about that. But isn't Orzammar the furthest east settlement? I know most of the Deep Roads are overrun, but how far west is Kal Sharok?Blind Sight said:
Can't recall if the map has that on it, but the geography as a whole doesn't really fit an 'Earth-like' setting, considering that Orlais (France) is west of Ferelden (England), Antiva and Rivain (Spain and city states like Venice) are to the north, and Par Vollen (the Ottoman Empire) is even further north. For the dwarves, they don't really fit any culture on earth, considering that their architecture is Aztec and their social structure seems to be based on Plato's Republic.Soviet Heavy said: