Dragon Age 2 - Mike Laidlaw Interview

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Dragon Age 2 Lead Designer Mike Laidlaw has been interviewed at Gamasutra, with particular emphasis on "how the team arrived at the decision to change core elements of the game" and building the world:

You talked about the three main points that you wanted to address with Dragon Age II. You said "combat is a big one." People were scared to hear that you were mucking about with combat.

ML: Yup. I think so. It's not specifically just that we're changing combat. It's that the combat has become responsive and faster. I think that from a certain point of view that means ‑‑ to use internet parlance ‑‑ "OMG you are dumbs down like action game!"

And of course, RPGs, people are pretty protective of them. They liked elements of Origins that were very tactical, that were very methodical. So when they hear that now I can jump and attack guys, well, that must be! That is an action trope, therefore it must now be an action game.

That's not true, but I understand how you can make that jump there, because what it represents to me is people saying, "I really like that thing you did. Could you not take it away?" Which I love. I love that.

So for us, it became very careful to be, I guess, protective of the elements of Origins that did work really well, that resonated with the people that like the tactical gameplay, because controlling a party is increasingly rare.​

To keep DA2 stuff in one place, there's also a Mage update at the BioWare site.

 

That he makes fun of it, doesn´t change the fact, that the combat in DA2 is a lousy Diablo/Dynasty Warriors Copy...

 

Diablo copy? Right, Bioware totally ripped Diablo's robust pause and play system, not to mention the classic Diablo 4 man controllable party idea. And the tactics interface... it has Diablo written all over it.

Wait a second... Diablo doesn't have any of those things? How again is the combat in DA2 a lousy Diablo copy again? I can't speak to Dynasty Warriors, because I know nothing about it.

 

Likely the fact that Bioware has turned it into such a massive click-fest. That sort of thing is fine in Diablo or Torchlight. But folks like Nekator, and myself for that matter, would have preferred something a bit more sedate in terms of reflexes necessary to succeed at the game.

 

From what I've read/heard, at least on PC there will be no click-fest required in the final game version. I've heard that there is no auto-attack in the demo, however, so perhaps this is what you're referring to.

 

That and the fact that without some sort of auto-pausing, either official or introduced by a mod, I need to do much more button pushing, both pausing & issuing commands, more frequently than I like with the faster pace the game has. RPGs aren't supposed to be so rapid, at least in my mind. Additionally, with all the other steps taken to make the game more action oriented I'd be surprised if they even have an auto-attack function in any version of the game.

I like to actually be able to think about what I'm doing. Now I realize the game can be paused, but I'm personally afraid of the pace getting such that my party is wiped out before I get a chance to press the button.

All of the features that older fans like seem to almost be an afterthought in the design process these days, if they even get added to the game at all.