Development Info Dragon Age Community Update

[Dgaider]

On second thought, I'd almost rather you go back to the whole hater thing. I'd rather you be pleasantly surprised by Dragon Age rather than the inevitable outrage and sense of betrayal that will follow it not achieving some expectation that's been built up in your mind.

After all, while I think it's the most hardcore game we've done in years, it's hardly a return to "the good old days".

 

[Baphomet]

I do have to feel sorry for you folks if you're going to become the light at the end of the tunnel for us, a group of dirty curmudgeons. Anyway, good luck with this development cycle. This one shows promise.

 

[Kingston]

On second thought, I'd almost rather you go back to the whole hater thing. I'd rather you be pleasantly surprised by Dragon Age rather than the inevitable outrage and sense of betrayal that will follow it not achieving some expectation that's been built up in your mind.

After all, while I think it's the most hardcore game we've done in years, it's hardly a return to "the good old days".

Well you certainly aren't the hypemaster.

 

[hiciacit]

I never payed that much attention to DA, but I liked most of what I read in those threads (although the "you have to work to be good" sounds a little off). I'm curious to know more now.

 

[The_Pope]

On second thought, I'd almost rather you go back to the whole hater thing. I'd rather you be pleasantly surprised by Dragon Age rather than the inevitable outrage and sense of betrayal that will follow it not achieving some expectation that's been built up in your mind.

After all, while I think it's the most hardcore game we've done in years, it's hardly a return to "the good old days".

So the game will only contain soft noogies?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

[jiujitsu]

So, are we now to officially refer to Dgaider as Mr. David "Tough Noogies" Gaider?

I can see that on the front page...

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Dr. Noogies. Yesshh... That will do :twisted:

 

[Ladonna]

He isn't one of the Doctors yet....

In any case, I new they didn't have the Noogies to do something along the lines of 'the good old days'. Still, a nice, fresh Macburger is somewhat better than one thats been in the production bin for several hours like the usual fare :wink:

 

[elander_]

"There's a big difference between dictating how a particular class must feel and dictating how others might feel about that class. A mage is free to be as religious as he likes. That still does not mean he is going to be able to be part of any church. "

That's why i think classes suck. Remove the classes and the only dictators here would be the world and the mentality of npcs in that world and of course their power and influence. No artificial rules or anything interfering.

Say that a mage want's to create a church but the world order says sees this as inappropriate. The factions that oppose this are the dictators and not any artificial rules. Overcome the influence of these factions by raw power or by negotiation and then you will remove this restriction.

There's obviously the problem of limited space for adventures in a game. Say a game will feature around 50 adventures each with 3-4 pages of dialog/descriptions (made for role playing different char types) and that 50% of these chain into 4 storylines while the others are weakly linked to storyline twitches or can be taken isolated (side-quests) or are repeatable events used for the purpose of training player skills.

It certainly is not possible to put in the game every possible situation that role-players wish for. So if someone wants to be a paladin in the classical term it's better that there are enough adventures to give a tone this class or it's simply better to leave this stuff out completely.

I come to realize that the most important thing in any crpg is the feeling of freedom and self determination and of course the existence of specific adventures to give a tone to the playable character types. If an rpg focus on the story and not on the characters the bulk of adventures is a storyline then role-playing without the necessary quantity and quality of adventures for these characters then roleplaying will suffer.

 

[Krafter]

On second thought, I'd almost rather you go back to the whole hater thing. I'd rather you be pleasantly surprised by Dragon Age rather than the inevitable outrage and sense of betrayal that will follow it not achieving some expectation that's been built up in your mind.

Heh, nice. :D

I'm borderline optimistic for Dragon Age at this point. Bioware's console games look like they are obviously targeting mainstream tastes, so I keep hoping that DA will be their throwback title they do on the side while their other teams chase console $$$ and suck up to M$.

Dave, when you say the "good old days" and "hardcore", are you talking Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights? 'Tis a big difference, IMHO.

 

[Volourn]

'Good old days'? That's hilrious coming on the Codex when BIO's more recent games have had way more role-playing than their earlier titles like the greta but vastly overrated BGs eries (which are in my top 5 favorite games).

Stop the bullshit, and stop the lies.

 

[Kingston]

'Stop the bullshit, and stop the lies.

Ask questions. Demand answers.

 

[Krafter]

"Good old days" was Dave's own words, Volourn. I simply asked for a clairification on which "good old days" he was talking about.

I'd love a return to the days of Baldur's Gate. Neverwinter Nights, not so much. I haven't played either of the console games so I wasn't really talking about those at all.

 

[Balor]

It appears much more promising than NWN2 or even NWN.

*blink*
Even NWN2? Isn't NWN2 leaps and bounds better then NWN?
Or you are a Volly in disguise?

 

[dagorkan]

I like the idea of this game:
-anti-D&D
-death
-low magic world

I also know it's 1st person and real-time. But this is one of the few modern RPGs that I can see myself considering buying. I also like to see Mr Gaider getting tough on idiots, a good sign.

Dagorkan's early impressions: worth cautious optimism.

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

I'm actually happy Gaider is the lead designer. Why I very often not agree with what he writes, he sounds like a cool guy.

I'm also optimistic about DA, I'm sure it will repeat many of the stuff BIO do wrong with their games, but anything resembling BG 2 in scope and detail richness would already be good for me.

I shall keep my optimism until the unavoidable announcement saying that the game will come on consoles aswell and in fact has been designed as a multiplatform game all the time.

 

[Volourn]

"Good old days" was Dave's own words, Volourn."

And? Your point? I believe he was being sarcasting about how the Codex feels, and even if he wasn't my ppoint still stands. BIO's newest games are simply better role-playing games than their earlier works. Easily.


"Isn't NWN2 leaps and bounds better then NWN?"

No. And, many non Vollies agree with that no. Only Obsidian fanboys or blatant BIO haters believe thatc rap. NWN2 is a good game; but 'leaps and bounds better'? Hyperbole much? R00fles!

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

 

[elander_]

"No. And, many non Vollies agree with that no. Only Obsidian fanboys or blatant BIO haters believe thatc rap. NWN2 is a good game; but 'leaps and bounds better'? Hyperbole much? R00fles!"

The dumbfuck awakens.

 

[Elwro]

So, to more programming-proficient guys here: how would you estimate the chances of someone writing a DX10 emulator so that the "DX10 exclusive" games wouldn't actually require it?

But even if such an emulator was written, I wonder if the games would run on XP.

 

[Claw]

I'd rather you be pleasantly surprised by Dragon Age rather than the inevitable outrage and sense of betrayal that will follow it not achieving some expectation that's been built up in your mind.

Isn't it a little late for that. I desire to enslave nations with necromancy and shan't accept anything less.


Maybe I should try out Warhammer: Dark Omen. I heard it has undead in it.

 

[The_Pope]

So, to more programming-proficient guys here: how would you estimate the chances of someone writing a DX10 emulator so that the "DX10 exclusive" games wouldn't actually require it?

But even if such an emulator was written, I wonder if the games would run on XP.

I saw one interview with where they said OpenGL will implement a fair few DX10 features. While that won't help for directx games, it will allow DX10 shinyness to be run on XP if the game uses OpenGL.

 

[Solaris]

Well, Dragon Age certainly sounds like it could be a breath of fresh air from the other contrived/disjointed bullshit rpgs I've played in recent years. I hope Bioware really nails this one.

 

[Shannow]

So, to more programming-proficient guys here: how would you estimate the chances of someone writing a DX10 emulator so that the "DX10 exclusive" games wouldn't actually require it?

But even if such an emulator was written, I wonder if the games would run on XP.

There are/will be DX10 "exclusive" games in the near future? This is the first time I've heard that.
MS claims that DX10 runs only on Vista kernels or some such tech-speak. So, either they are lying or there will never be an emulator, patch or update that will make Dx10 possible on non-vista systems.
Whether you believe them or not is up to you of course but I tend to believe them this time...
Either way, Vista is like Oblivion. I probably wouldn't take it, if they gave it out for free.

And now, only for "tough noogies" Gaider: Dragon Age will suck big time. I expect a game that is not even on par with Dungeon Lords.

 

[Elwro]

There are/will be DX10 "exclusive" games in the near future? This is the first time I've heard that.

Well, I said nothing about "near future". For some reason I was convinced DA would be DX10 exclusive, but if it isn't, all the better.