Dragon Age: Inquisition

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You know that I was talking with a twinkle in my eye? ;)

I surely don't want to play DA:I for its hectic combat system. I value emotional attachment and clever storywriting in my games very high myself.

But then again I fear that Bioware is just repeating itself over and over again. The storytelling approach is the same in every game of them in the past few years. You are the one and only hero who can save the world but somehow you need to find a few friends first and then you can kill some super-evil enemy. That pattern was most obvious in ME2 but it's basically the core of every story Bioware told in the last 10 years and it has become kind of boring...
 
But then again I fear that Bioware is just repeating itself over and over again.

Oh, they are. It's been a complaint since ME1. They just have an army of apologists who stamp out dissent and new ideas. Could well be the DNA of the company at this point.

I can't resist:



 
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^ Orlais, the capital of doing pointless things and calling it art.

Yeah, the hour of footage they released so far was full of that fuckin' LGBT crap. It's DA2 and ME3 all over again.
Lesbian haircuts, homo fireballs, transgendered mounts, and -- even worse -- a bisexual open world?! Even the UI uses some of the Rainbow flag colors...
Okay, you convinced me. That at least would be more interesting than what we've seen so far.

So here's the rundown- confirmed heterosexual romances are Cassandra and Cullen. Translation, you'd have to be a religious zealot nutjob to be hetero. Alrighty then. Bioware is the master of subtlety.
 
Just been over at the Obsidian forums checking to see if i've missed an update (nah they're just in crunch) and read a thread where this blokes asking why anybody's bothered about the demons invading? He says he slaughtered thousands as Hawke and the Warden, so any army should be able to handle millions. Got to admit he's got a point, abominations are portrayed as double hard fuckers yet my lad beat 'em like he'd just recovered from two broken arms.
 
Oh, they are. It's been a complaint since ME1. They just have an army of apologists who stamp out dissent and new ideas. Could well be the DNA of the company at this point.

I think they cultivated zealot fans for a while on BSN too, not just at the company level. I remember right after DA2 dropped there was a lot of hate going around and you could say the most vile things to other members in threads and as long as you were 'pro-Bioware' their moderators allowed it.

If you saw a reply to one of them saying something mild 'like hey 'insert name' stop being a tool to others that feel different than you, people have valid concerns about a product they paid for" then hit the 'reload' button to see the latest reply suddenly the guy's post telling the zealot to back off the personal attacks post was deleted altogether or replaced with a moderators message warning the person that made the post. While the original vile personal attack that was pro-bioware was untouched.

To be fair they fired the 2 moderators that were the worst when it came to stuff like that, but only after years and years of that kind of attitude. But then immediately kept them on as 'volunteer moderators'
 
Chris Priestly. Stanley Woo allowed some questionable posts sure (and deleted some posts that maybe shouldn't have been) but Priestly would actively contribute to insulting people that had issues with bioware products. In forums where you had to register your product to post no less, meaning this is how customers were treated on the official forum by company employees, not random internet trolls or people that pirated the game.

So when you pay someone to moderate your forums and they are insulting paying customers for years and allowing pro-bioware posts that are insulting to other members that it's no wonder the devs/writers even want to avoid the forums.

http://dgaider.tumblr.com/post/39544291251/on-fandom-and-toxic-environments
 
I can't resist:


Not DA:I specific but I've wondered for years why game studios don't just hire some real fashion designers to avoid stuff like this.

I know a lot of fashion designers might not know 3D modeling software but could absolutely make sketches and even costumes out of material and even be sitting over the shoulder of a model designer as they work. I'm sure about 70% of the games out there would benefit from that kind of consultant. Making a badass monster or a great looking weapon doesn't necessarily mean you are the best one to design dresses or suits.
 
Or just study fashion design. I mean, there really is no excuse for that. It looks like something out of Loony Tunes. I bet CDPR are neck deep in fashion trends for CP 2077. Style is a huge factor in that universe, so they have to get it right.

Edit- I didn't realize they fired Woo and Priestly. Woo was the one that was an overbearing mod, deleting and closing posts left and right.
 
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You know, if that girl had a muzzled noise while speaking, it would be hilarious.

Anyhow, I can tolerate such grandiose fashion as long as it is actually consistent and wearable, and not simply done b/c "oh, look how eccentric it looks. Orlais is a very exotic place." Really, their heavy accent, pompous nature and 'unique' clothing have been so far very stereotypical.
 
Chris Priestly. Stanley Woo allowed some questionable posts sure (and deleted some posts that maybe shouldn't have been) but Priestly would actively contribute to insulting people that had issues with bioware products. In forums where you had to register your product to post no less, meaning this is how customers were treated on the official forum by company employees, not random internet trolls or people that pirated the game.

So when you pay someone to moderate your forums and they are insulting paying customers for years and allowing pro-bioware posts that are insulting to other members that it's no wonder the devs/writers even want to avoid the forums.

http://dgaider.tumblr.com/post/39544291251/on-fandom-and-toxic-environments
Oh, right. I recall he was saying he would ban the Off Topic forum if he could- the most polite area on the whole damn board. Yeah, just kind of a goof. And Woo seriously needed to let go.

I don't approve of the personal harassment they got though, and Jennifer Hepler as well. At the end of the day it's just a game and they're making a living like anyone else.
 
I don't approve of the personal harassment they got though, and Jennifer Hepler as well. At the end of the day it's just a game and they're making a living like anyone else.

100% agree, if you take a look at all the hate they got for the ME3 ending and DA2 it should have stayed to just the quality of work and not turn it into a mud flinging event.

I think the people that took to calling for people like Mike Laidlaw to be fired and slung insults at any other EA/BioWare they felt responsible took things way to far. Similarly the pro-bioware posters, writers and devs that posted insulting replies to people on BSN encouraged that atmosphere. At the end of the day BSN would have been a better place if they went and banned anyone that fired off insults, pro-bioware or anti-bioware and when higher ups would see employees take to the forums and insult people back they should have been told to knock that off too. It is after all just a piece of entertainment.
 
I don't condone harassing devs, but I still don't see Why Laidlaw has a job there. DA2 was a disaster, why keep him on for the sequel? The same goes for their art director, is it Matt Goldman? Mass Effect humiliates the DA games in art design.
 
True, but making the point you just did Slimgrin is very different than the people that were raging on BSN and making petitions to get people fired. And to your other point, forget mass effect for one moment, I even think the art direction of Origins was far and away better than the cartoony direction they took in DA2.

With DA:I though they seem to be walking the middle ground between Origins and 2.
 
It is after all just a piece of entertainment.

I just assumed this was part of the problem, many people didn't find it entertaining at all, and decided to get their moneys worth of entertainment direct from the devs.

It was disgraceful behaviour, but if you hype a game with PR lies, you'd be foolish not to expect some retribution.
 
I don't condone harassing devs, but I still don't see Why Laidlaw has a job there. DA2 was a disaster, why keep him on for the sequel? The same goes for their art director, is it Matt Goldman? Mass Effect humiliates the DA games in art design.
Or Mark Darrah. I assume the big shots fell on their swords because they're the ones who decided on a limited development time, but I agree, that was hardly the only problem with DA.
 
They didn't fall on their swords, they were fired by EA, or well "forced into retirement" I guess sounds better.

If DA:I fails, then expect heads to roll. Aaron Flynn was able to convince EA to put him in charge and that no really the problems with Bioware came from the directors alone. If he fucks up then he's next.

As long as people like Gaider, Walters, Hudson, Darrah, Hepler remain in Bioware don't expect anything amazing.
 
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True, but making the point you just did Slimgrin is very different than the people that were raging on BSN and making petitions to get people fired. And to your other point, forget mass effect for one moment, I even think the art direction of Origins was far and away better than the cartoony direction they took in DA2.

With DA:I though they seem to be walking the middle ground between Origins and 2.

So the middle ground between mediocre and bad art design makes a good one? Hm...

It's pretty weird that some people who still work at Bioware already contributed to Baldur's Gate 2. I guess some of them are just burnt out from a creative perspective, especially the writers. The art and game design departments which consist of many new guys are just - sorry - plain incompetent compared to other people/studios/departments in the industry or even at Bioware themselves... :thumbdown:
 
You exaggerate @LordCrash. By the end of the day, are the recent products of Bioware been really THAT bad?
Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age 2 are both far from perfect games, but they are still fun to play and have more quality in writing than about 90% other games out there. And isnt that what we all here really want from our games? That they would all focus more to writing in the future?
Whatever you think of Bioware, you cant deny that their success is giving an encouragement boost to gaming industry to give themselves a new direction.
 
You exaggerate @LordCrash. By the end of the day, are the recent products of Bioware been really THAT bad?
Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age 2 are both far from perfect games, but they are still fun to play and have more quality in writing than about 90% other games out there. And isnt that what we all here really want from our games? That they would all focus more to writing in the future?
Whatever you think of Bioware, you cant deny that their success is giving an encouragement boost to gaming industry to give themselves a new direction.

Well...a big fat no to all this stuff.
 
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