The Skyrim/Dragon Age Baby

[Bostur]

I suppose the characters wasn't the worst part of DA2, but I'd still prefer the quality of characters from DA:O.

But considering the vast amount of characters in Skyrim this wouldn't really be possible with voice acting, so some compromise needs to be made. The most obvious would be not to have voice acted dialogue, would people find that just as sexy?


But one thing that I think lacks in both the DA series and Skyrim is gameplay polish. Both franchises could benefit much more from that. And that may actually be viable from a commercial perspective, because it scales better than adding better dialogue.

 

[Zhukov]

So... exploring Skyrim with Avaline, Varric and Merrill in tow?

Yeah. Oh yeah.

Now, that would be game of the year.

 

[Cybylt]

I'd find a mix of TES' openness and attention to detail with Demon's/Dark Souls' combat to be better.

Bioware's fallen in recent years as far as I'm concerned.

 

[1337mokro]

Keep Dragon Age 2 away from the good games please.

Dragon Age, fine. But Dragon Age 2? That halfassed copy paste fest can go suck dick. That game made me so bored out of my skull that I had forgotten I owned it until I read this article. That's how bad of a game that was. So goddamn awful I decided to repress the memory of spending money on it.

What I want is Star Wars combined with Elder Scrolls.

The Star Scrolls or Elder Wars something. It would be quite epic to visit multiple worlds with big open areas and pretty much engage in an epic space war for the ages.

 

[Terminal Blue]

But then I realized that would be positivly ridiculous, because nobody in their right mind would ever, under any circumstances, for any amount of money, suggest that Dragon Age 2 had good characters.

It kind of did though..

See, you mention Planescape Torment. I actually went back and played Planescape Torment (until the THACO system pissed me the hell off) recently, and you know what, it's really not hugely different. The characters are fairly broad archetypes, heck, two are just rigid personifications of the D&D alignment system.

The one thing I can assume you're talking about, and it would be a fairly legitimate point, is that the characters in Planescape torment took real effort to get to know. That's not even because they had so much more dialogue, it's a lot more to do with the fact that they'd only respond to specific stimuli in the world outside of their respective mission hubs.

I'm not for one second suggesting that the writing in Planescape Torment isn't top notch, just that I strongly suspect a lot of the people who go on about it are somewhat tainted by nostalgia. There are plenty of well written games, Dragon Age 2 is probably the closest we've got in recent years to being one of them.

Aside from Mort and Nordom, how many of the Planescape Torment party NPCs can you remember the names of without looking it up? Even I can't remember one of them, and I only played it again about a month ago.

Now, even this awfulness she could have achieved without completely losing Anders' original personality, but it's gone! Anders in DA2 is someone else, plain and simple.

So? Anders in DA:A is a clown with attention deficiency.

I'll happily slag DA2's version of Isabella off for being the same thing, but this idea that Anders in DA1 was the deep beautiful snowflake which deserved to be preserved just makes me scratch my head. Take the bad jokes of Alistair, subtract the vulnerability and genuine charm, you now have Anders.

Even if everything else you've said is true, and I'm not 100% convinced it is because, to confess a little, I kind of enjoyed the Anders romance and I still think Edward Cullen can go eat a fat mormon dick, I'd still argue his personality is a vast improvement.

 

[Xanthious]

I just threw up in my mouth a little at the thought of mixing Skyrim and Dragon Age 2. Why not just say "Ya know what would make that Sistine Chapel thing even cooler looking? Smearing moldy dog shit all over it!" That being said, if you compared Dragon Age 2 to moldy dog shit you'd be insulting moldy dog shit the world over.

 

[Knight Templar]

Now that is an idea I could get behind. Thinking over it though I think the music isn't as area spesfic as it could be for Skyrim. The only time the sounds and location seemed to sync was in

Spoiler: spoiler for Skyrim

Sovngarde

They let you have a dog.

Never anything for the cat person.

You can be one, that must count for something.

But then I realized that would be positively ridiculous, because nobody in their right mind would ever, under any circumstances, for any amount of money, suggest that Dragon Age 2 had good characters.

It kind of did though..

That fellow is just being an arse, I don't think you're going to have much of a conversation there.

 

[Terminal Blue]

That fellow is just being an arse, I don't think you're going to have much of a conversation there.

Fair enough.. I seem to be an involuntary sucker for internet pugilism sometimes.

 

[Dfskelleton]

Did Dale Cooper come to anyone elses mind when they read the description of this article?
"Blending the locations of Skyrim and the characters of Dragon Age 2 would make one damn fine RPG."

OT: Not a bad idea, I would agree.

 

[Kahunaburger]

It kind of did though..

See, you mention Planescape Torment. I actually went back and played Planescape Torment (until the THACO system pissed me the hell off) recently, and you know what, it's really not hugely different. The characters are fairly broad archetypes, heck, two are just rigid personifications of the D&D alignment system.

The one thing I can assume you're talking about, and it would be a fairly legitimate point, is that the characters in Planescape torment took real effort to get to know. That's not even because they had so much more dialogue, it's a lot more to do with the fact that they'd only respond to specific stimuli in the world outside of their respective mission hubs.

I'm not for one second suggesting that the writing in Planescape Torment isn't top notch, just that I strongly suspect a lot of the people who go on about it are somewhat tainted by nostalgia. There are plenty of well written games, Dragon Age 2 is probably the closest we've got in recent years to being one of them.

Aside from Mort and Nordom, how many of the Planescape Torment party NPCs can you remember the names of without looking it up? Even I can't remember one of them, and I only played it again about a month ago.

*Morte. Also, Annah, Ignus, Falls-From-Grace, Vhailor, Dakkon, (as you mentioned) Nordom. Played it about 2-3 years ago.

Don't get me wrong, Bioware has okay characters, but it's nowhere near the Planescape: Torment level. And Dragon Age 2 is not the game I would put forward as an example of the good characters that Bioware creates. Half the characters in it are basically designed around their romantic subplot, for crying out loud!

 

[SpaceMedarotterX]

But then I realized that would be positivly ridiculous, because nobody in their right mind would ever, under any circumstances, for any amount of money, suggest that Dragon Age 2 had good characters.

It kind of did though..

See, you mention Planescape Torment. I actually went back and played Planescape Torment (until the THACO system pissed me the hell off) recently, and you know what, it's really not hugely different. The characters are fairly broad archetypes, heck, two are just rigid personifications of the D&D alignment system.

The one thing I can assume you're talking about, and it would be a fairly legitimate point, is that the characters in Planescape torment took real effort to get to know. That's not even because they had so much more dialogue, it's a lot more to do with the fact that they'd only respond to specific stimuli in the world outside of their respective mission hubs.

I'm not for one second suggesting that the writing in Planescape Torment isn't top notch, just that I strongly suspect a lot of the people who go on about it are somewhat tainted by nostalgia. There are plenty of well written games, Dragon Age 2 is probably the closest we've got in recent years to being one of them.

How the fuck can I be nostalgic about a game I played a month ago? And no, it has nothing to do with how hard it is to get to KNOW a character, it has to do with how that character is, how you interact with them, how they tie into you.

See in DA2 I have a collection of utter fucking morons I can't get to leave me the hell alone up until I inevitably sell Fenris off into slavery, murder Anders, Isabela and Merill, and you have to be barking mad if you think I brought ANY of the fucking DLC.

There's a difference between DA2 and Planescape Torment can be summed up in an image

WHAT IS THE NATURE OF A MAN?

And I love how you can state "Well DA2's characters are good" while utterly failing to provide any argument as to WHY they are good, while I have stated, again and again, why they are terrible wastes of space.

 

[Dudeio]

That video was cool but if you really want to hear the music from each of those three go together good heres an awesome one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVGYMCYAPow&feature=endscreen&NR=1

Seriously, watch it, I mean sound quality isn't the best but it's really awesome. I'm not a proffesional when it comes to sound and music but to me, that is something I aprove of.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

One of the things I like most about Skyrim is there are no generic "citizen" filler people. They all have names, they all have jobs, they all have houses and beds where they go to sleep.

 

[Susan Arendt]

The Skyrim/Dragon Age Baby

Blending the locations of Skyrim and the characters of Dragon Age 2 would make one damn fine RPG.

Read Full Article

Susan, just out of curiousity - whom did you romance in DA2 and what would be your reaction if Bioware had pulled a Garrus on Varric (that is making your ultimate bro a romance option)?

You know, I actually thought about that, and I'm not really sure. I think I would've liked to have had the conversation, because of how it would reflect on their characters, but ultimately I don't think I'd have gone through with it. Part of what makes Varric Varric is how he holds himself apart from everything - he makes it pretty clear that he doesn't feel tied to anyone or anything in particular. Messing with that...I dunno. Wouldn't be right.

I encourage this union for purely selfish reasons, that I might someday get to play a game that has Skyrim-quality environments and Dragon Age quality characters.

And what game would you then marry Skyage with in order to get rid of the uninspirering, bland (and dare i say terrible?) combat systems both games had? Mass Effect? Baldur's Gate 2? )

I actually didn't hate the combat in DA2, but I understand the problems people had with it. I genuinely enjoyed the combat in Mass Effect 2, but the laser pistols don't quite mesh well with the high fantasy setting of Skyrim. Perhaps just keep much of what Skyrim has, but mix in some of Dark Souls' heaviness? Where you actually feel like you just thwacked someone with an axe, instead of just sort of waved it in their general direction. That might be good.

They let you have a dog.

Never anything for the cat person.

It is my mission to ensure that a kitty cat mod is prepared for skyrim.

My demands:
1. Kittens are collected and deposited in your homes.
2. You must feed them various animal parts.
3. They pounce on and batter around any small objects.
4. They multiply rapidly.

I love this idea. Well...I'm not sure about the body parts thing. Can I just feed them rabbit instead?

 

[Dastardly]

The Skyrim/Dragon Age Baby

Blending the locations of Skyrim and the characters of Dragon Age 2 would make one damn fine RPG.

Read Full Article

Why can't we do things like this? This is one of the huge drawbacks to how intertwined Art and Commerce have become... we can't get groups of artists to collaborate on potentially-awesome things like this because of budgets/profits/competition/etc. Yeah, it's the real world -- but isn't one of the points of Art that the "real world" kind of sucks, and needs to be improved?

 

[Darth Sea Bass]

I never wish to see the result of that unholy union unless it's to burn it with fire!

 

[Susan Arendt]

I for one would be very pleased with an amazing Dragon Rim.

I'm guessing Susan isn't a fan of Tom Bissell.....

Why do you say that?

I just assumed you were aware of his wisecrack he made about female gamers and his big ole' apology. You writing an article about Skyrim, I thought it rather ironic.

http://kotaku.com/5864134/to-whom-i-have-offended-an-open-letter-from-tom-bissell

Also....I like me a good ole' fashion Dragon Rim. That isn't what you were referring to is it?

Of course I'm aware of it. Tweeted about it a few times, actually. But I don't really see how one has any bearing on the other. Lots of people are writing about Skyrim at the moment.

 

[Hoplon]

One of the things I like most about Skyrim is there are no generic "citizen" filler people. They all have names, they all have jobs, they all have houses and beds where they go to sleep.

The results of which are none of them have anything to say beyond some generic line of dialogue repeated ad nauseum. The huge problem with Bethesda is that no one in their games seems anything more than a faint smudge on the lens as far as personality goes.

 

[cynicalsaint1]

Oh ye gods ... you just had to mention DA2, didn't you?

Don't get me wrong I loved DA2, but damnit ... now you've given all the haterade chugging morons of the internet another opportunity to come crawling out of the woodwork. Because apparently there's some sort of law against having a fair and balanced opinion of something on the internet - everything must either be the best thing ever or the worst thing ever.

Though more on topic - yes that would be awesome - if somehow you could combine everything that BioWare was good at with everything that Bethesda was good at it would indeed be a massive conflux of awesomeness.