Board 8 > Bioware: We took a poll for what fans wanted, then ignored the results

(+) Yeah! (+)

http://kotaku.com/5896021/skyrim-is-the-wrong-place-to-look-for-dragon-age-iii-inspiration

tl;dr version: Bioware took a poll to ask what fans wanted in DA3, then ignored them and went with a dialogue wheel and voiced main character again (which probably means no more origin stories like in DAO, which most people liked), then said they're going to look at Skyrim for inspiration.

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Dragon Age should be voiced and dialogue wheeled though. It just needs to be good is all.

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IT'S... IT'S THAT DAMN EA'S FAULT!

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That was one of the stupidest and whiniest nerd rants I've ever read. DA3 will probably still be bad, but for reasons entirely unrelated to the ones he suggests.

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"Glorious return"? That'd imply the first one was good.

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It's probably because they think that the dialogue wheel + voiced main character would appeal to a larger audience. They're probably right.

Their mistake was assuming that their core fanbase would feel the same way as that larger audience and then pretending to listen to them.

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Doesn't this series suck? I know the first game sucked because I played it, and I've heard but bad things about the second.

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I'm pretty sure that's your opinion. The first game got rave reviews.

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The first one was somewhat enjoyable. At least the PC version was, whereas my roommate had it on 360 and it played considerably differently. (His was less Dungeon Siege, more Baldur's Gate.)

I've only heard bad things about the second and haven't gone near it.

vcharon posted...
I'm pretty sure that's your opinion. The first game got rave reviews.

So did GTAIV. Didn't stop that one from being painfully boring either!

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Origins ruled but there's no need for every DA game to have origin stories.

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Again that sounds like a personal (and minority) opinion and I'm not sure what bearing it has on the direction Bioware takes the franchise.

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baron von toast posted...
Doesn't this series suck? I know the first game sucked because I played it, and I've heard but bad things about the second.

A lot of people like DAO, personally, I think it's bad, but not so horrible that it's unplayable or something. DA2, however, actually does cross that line with its amazing "respawning waves of enemies in literally Ctrl-V environments" system. Most people also dislike DA2's companions. Honestly, I kind of like Aveline, but yeah, the game is not good.

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I liked playing a rogue in DA2, but yeah that game needed a lot of work

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Donny: Are they gonna hurt us, Walter?
Walter: No, Donny. These men are cowards.

are the origin stories really that necessary? i mean they're cool in the first game i guess but I can't say that there were any points in the second where i thought, "yep, this game would be so much better if i could be an elf"

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RyokIes posted...
are the origin stories really that necessary? i mean they're cool in the first game i guess but I can't say that there were any points in the second where i thought, "yep, this game would be so much better if i could be an elf"

It's a masked complaint. What 'I want Origin stories' really means is, 'I want to play my characters, not yours, Bioware bro. Stop forcing your character on me. It's MY adventure.'. That complaint make more sense now?

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Twostuck, Homestuck RPG: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/62168402

Actually, it's Bioware's adventure.

Since they're making it.

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you're still playing Bioware's characters, it's just whining

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Donny: Are they gonna hurt us, Walter?
Walter: No, Donny. These men are cowards.

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...
Actually, it's Bioware's adventure.

Since they're making it.

It isn't, Biscuit. 'I'm making the adventure' does not mean 'I'm going to make the choices for the player in a role playing game'. They are entirely different things, and people majorly resent being forced to take actions they don't consider logical or appealing - which includes being forced to be a certain character instead of making your own protagonist. There's a fair bit of whining, as Neon says, but there's a justified complaint at the core.

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Twostuck, Homestuck RPG: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/62168402

And the justified complaint is that... you have too few choices, and one of these choices is that you don't get to pick who the protagonist is.

Oooooookay.

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PrivateBiscuit1 posted...
And the justified complaint is that... you have too few choices, and one of these choices is that you don't get to pick who the protagonist is.

Oooooookay.

No, the justified complaint is that having a protagonist that is more defined, but poorly, shatters immersion, and reduces the player's ability to delve into the game world and live the adventure through his protagonist. Again, you have to read between the lines for this, because nerds are notoriously poor at articulating their complaints, including the one who wrote this article. Compare the Bhaalspawn of the Baldur's Gate series, or the Shepard of Mass Effect to Hawke. There's some very major differences between the former two, but they're much more similar to each other than the latter.

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RyokIes posted...
are the origin stories really that necessary? i mean they're cool in the first game i guess but I can't say that there were any points in the second where i thought, "yep, this game would be so much better if i could be an elf"

It's emblematic of a larger problem, which is laziness and a lack of choice. DA2 was set in another location and thus your choices in DAO have no effect, with the biggest difference being freaking how big a cameo Alistair gets.

Add to that the fact that being Hawke in particular is pointless; nothing in the game's plot required Hawke or anything, he just comes off as some dude in the right place at the right time, and this is what origins were removed for.

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Both DA:O and DA2 were great games. DA3 will probably be great as well.

Seriously, the dialogue wheel and voiced main character were great additions.

Dragon Age 2 sucked, but not because of a voiced main character and a dialogue wheel. Those were positive directions for the series.

Thing is, the game was just horribly un-fun and Kirkwall was such a boring place to spend the entire game.

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Highwind89 posted...
Both DA:O and DA2 were great games. DA3 will probably be great as well.

Seriously, the dialogue wheel and voiced main character were great additions.

Sorry, I tried to read to read your post, but the respawning letters as I finished the first, original post made it impossible to use any kind of strategy for taking in the meaning.

DA2 spoilers



Also lol Leliana showing up in the end working for the Chantry even if she runs away with the Warden in DAO's ending.

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This just in: Gamers suck at game design.

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It's not a big deal if you can't choose race or whatever. That's like whining because you can't make a Krogan Commander Shepard. Dragon Age can be just fine without trying to mimick Skyrim; I can only hope Bioware realizes it before its too late.

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Still smilin'
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The dialog wheel was a matter of presentation. It really didn't matter which direction they went with because Origins typically had two real choices and the nine or so pointless question responses that plague WRPGs. A silent protagonist can work when Bioware isn't at the helm, because it allows for more complex interactions and leaves more to the player's imagination as a bonus. Games like Skyrim and New Vegas make as few assumptions as possible about your character, because it's yours.

vcharon posted...
It's not a big deal if you can't choose race or whatever. That's like whining because you can't make a Krogan Commander Shepard.

It's more like if you could make a Krogan Shepard in ME1 but ME2 took place in a different part of the galaxy and replaced Krogan Shepard with human Commander Ass and the most the game will acknowledge the previous game with is a shot of Garrus polishing his gun on the Citadel.

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Also, DA2 pretty much cut every corner imaginable, even weird things like not bothering to make dwarven female models.

It'll be interesting to see if DA3 actually continues the Morrigan plot from DAO or if it'll just get ignored.

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vcharon posted...
It's not a big deal if you can't choose race or whatever. That's like whining because you can't make a Krogan Commander Shepard. Dragon Age can be just fine without trying to mimick Skyrim; I can only hope Bioware realizes it before its too late.

It is too late. We'll be lucky if they don't add humans versus dragons multiplayer.

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Customization is key in games. What they did in DA2 was basically give you an outline and told you what they would allow. Why do you take away features like that? There's really no reason for it when you've shown to have the capability to allow it. Removing what makes a better playing experience like they did was just a bad idea in general.

Edit: And by customization, you get what I mean.

You know, this is actually a really common story in the gaming industry. Even so-called indie developers want to go for the mass appeal rather than appealing to the people who actually care about a series.

If anyone tells you they care about your opinion, they are lying. End of story.

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I'm one of those crazy people that enjoyed DA2 more than DA:O so good, I want a dialogue wheel and I want a spoken character. Nothing better than a snarky Hawke response.

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I liked two with its voiced protagonist system better than Origins, so this article was really weird for me to read. It was good news delivered in an overwhelmingly negative voice