Dragon Age Forum News (Sep. 27, 05)

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Here are today's Dragon Age forum highlights, taken from the Dragon Age Official Forum. Please take into account that these are only single parts of various threads and should not be taken out of context. Bear in mind also that the posts presented here are copied as-is, and that any bad spelling and grammar does not get corrected on our end.

Stanley Woo, QA Ninja

Update Info

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If I am real nice to you will you name a secret hidden ninja monkey of death in game after me?

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No.

(Please note that this may neither confirm nor deny the possible existence or non-existence of a secret hidden ninja monkey of death in any, all, or none of our games.)

David Gaider, Lead Writer

Turn-Based Combat: A Reprise
Well, it certainly won't be full turn-based. But it also won't have D&D rounds, either, which is a blessing.

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or will it be more instant-control? (Meaning I start an action the second I click the appropriate action button, interrupting whatever I'm currently doing if necessary.)

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Ewww. You mean click-click-click-click-CLICK- CLICKCLICKCLICKITAGAINDAMMIT! No, that kind of combat sadly leads only to reduced IQs and carpal tunnel syndrome. Honestly we couldn't afford the lawsuits.

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A system of instant control always feels more satisfying for me, but it could get hectic trying to control a whole group of characters with split-second click timing...

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I suspect we'll be going more for a queued action system with each action taking the time it takes, but honestly I couldn't say for certain as it's going to be something that we're going to have to play by ear.

Plotline

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Can I implore the developers to have a decent plot this time round, less like NWN and more like the Baldur's Gate series?

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Oh, you want a decent plot? *slaps forehead* And here we were intending all along to have a crappy plot. Well, there goes that idea.

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a) Don't neglect the storyline - people buy CRPGs for their complexity and replay value first and foremost, not for their graphics quality

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All evidence to the contrary.

Naturally we don't intend to neglect the story, but of course I can say that until the cows come home, right? The proof of the pudding will be in the eating.

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b) Slightly more of a minor point, but please, bring back the good old six-player party system! Not only can you get interactions between characters, but you can get an idea of what it's like to play as all the different character classes without having to play the game dozens of times.

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I don't know that it will be a six-person party necessarily, but it will be a party. I suspect four or five, but that's more speculation on my part -- it hasn't been settled yet. At any rate, having a party (which NWN did not, as you point out) means that things like party banter are a given and that many aspects of BG2 will be used again... this is, remember, the first party-based RPG we've done since the BG series. At the same time, there are certainly good things from NWN and KotOR which we will also want to keep, which is why we say that DA is the spiritual successor of all three.

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I think Sasha is referring more to the linearity of the gameplay rather than the "quality" of the plot.

The best way I can think of to avoid a linear game progression is to make the grand story arc more of a thematic development, as opposed to beating some singular end boss, wherein certian key side quests add their own component into some greater resolution which is revealed only near the end ... hmmm, too cerebral?

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No, no. Thematic development. Some greater resolution. I get it. *backs away slowly*

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By todays standards these games are graphically sub par. I still play them. OTHER people besides myself still play them. People still play Ultima Online for cripes sake. How can you say, or believe that?

I'd sooner believe that the people that do still play said games are too busy replaying these great games (not necessarily the ones I listed) to be correctly polled. Thus the majority of people that are polled are obviously the ones not replaying the games.

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If that were true, then any graphically sub-par game which also happened to have an excellent story and replayability would get snapped up by these mysterious folk and would become a blockbuster seller. Unless they're also so busy playing these old games that they never need bother buying any new games ever again?

Hey, I don't doubt that there are people who still play those games. I've been known to load up an old favorite on my computer from time to time myself. But I think you are mistaking this audience to represent the kind of numbers which could actually suppoert a major release.

Not that pandering to the mythical "average gamer" is a good route to take, either, in my opinion. Go too far down that route and you end up losing your hardcore audience completely... which is important. But there is hardcore and then there is niche and it is important to distinguish between which is which. Catering to one is important, catering to the other can be suicidal.

That's my view, anyhow. There's also some excellent articles I can track down on the subject which might be of interest to you, if you like.

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If my reasoning is sound here, I predict that market forces will soon force this viewpoint on a lot of developers. Meaning a lot less unique and involving games for me to play. So somebody, please tell me where I'm wrong.

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There's a lot of guessing in the industry as to how to break into the so-called "casual gamer" market, which is supposed to be the path that leads to the big bucks. Of course, that might not be so. Now, that report talks mostly about consoles, but I don't think it's so far off for the PC market eiter... but it's a perception that is currently dominant in the industry, regardless.

Still, like I said earlier there are levels of hardcore when it comes to your audience and you have to be careful what you're aiming at. Another good article to read is this one, as it discusses the need for innovation in the industry versus the perception of it. Again, that article discusses the console market but I think if you keep RPG's in mind as you read through it you'll see some pronounced similarities.

It's food for thought. Obviously any stance you take on this particular issue is arguable.

EDIT: fixed the links.

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The article would intrest me, or was it one of the two you linked to bellow the post I'm quoting? o.O

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One of those articles is a good read, for certain. There's some others out there which can give you some excellent information on why the industry works as it does and some of the problems we face as developers. I read an excellent article in the Escapist recently, for instance, which goes into some depth on several issues.