Auto @trainerauto I've found myself with an extremely strong love for Solas despite everything. You write characters-esp liars-beautifully. Did you expect people to be as in love w & taken by Solas as they were/are? I assume that was intention but was it more/less effective than u thought itd be?
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes I really wanted to make sure that Solas didn’t feel like a stock villain, that even people who disagree with him and want to kill him accept that he has a reason for what he’s doing. Having his romance hit some as hard as it did was unexpected and touching.
it's funny I didn't really like solas until he wanted to destroy the world.
Not surprising, really. The reveal of who he really is and what his plans are has re-contextualized basically everything he did or said when he was with the Inquisition.
Last Edit: Jan 13, 2019 14:50:34 GMT by midnight tea
“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”
it's funny I didn't really like solas until he wanted to destroy the world.
Not surprising, really. The reveal of who he really is and what he plans are has re-contextualized basically everything he did or said when he was with the Inquisition.
He was definitely a more interesting character for me on my second run - not that I didn't find him engaging the first time around, but there's something to be said for a character that makes you yell 'YOU FUCKING LIAR!!!' on a regular basis once you know what he's about. (Not to mention finding his worst fear in the Fade is a whole new experience. 'Dying alone' seems kind of bland compared with some of the others ... until you know what he actually means by 'alone' and why he feels that way. Ouch.)
it's funny I didn't really like solas until he wanted to destroy the world.
Not surprising, really. The reveal of who he really is and what he plans are has re-contextualized basically everything he did or said when he was with the Inquisition.
Indeed... But I liked having him around, even in the early runs, as he was one of the few characters I felt like I actually learned something from. He had some insight to offer in pretty well every place you went.
Auto @trainerauto I've found myself with an extremely strong love for Solas despite everything. You write characters-esp liars-beautifully. Did you expect people to be as in love w & taken by Solas as they were/are? I assume that was intention but was it more/less effective than u thought itd be?
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes I really wanted to make sure that Solas didn’t feel like a stock villain, that even people who disagree with him and want to kill him accept that he has a reason for what he’s doing. Having his romance hit some as hard as it did was unexpected and touching.
Every villain has a reason for what they're doing. Having a reason doesn't promote him beyond a stock villain, which he is.
Dumped, Drunk, and Dalish 🐺 ⬆️ @drunkdalish @biomarykirby I saw from the blog that you listened to Gershwin while writing "In Hushed Whispers." What pieces did you listen to, and why?
Mary Kirby @biomarykirby "So Am I" seemed to have a wistful sadness that fit Dorian/Alexius/Felix's relationship. "Rhapsody in Blue" because it feels like it's telling a story about a grand plan going wildly awry and the attempts to salvage it.
John Epler @eplerjc Game narrative wisdom gleaned from a decade of doing various bits of it - collaboration is where you get the best work. Isolating narrative from gameplay, or vice versa, is how you get clunky and totally incoherent experiences.
The best experiences I've had are when narrative reinforces design mechanics and vice versa. Yakuza is a great example of this. STALKER is another.
Knowing the strengths and limitations of your genre means you can tell a story that works. You can, of course, tell any story in any genre, but certain mechanics and systems - even as 'simple' as where the camera sits - are going to influence that narrative.
Games are a different medium than film, or theatre, or television, or novels.
It requires different skills and different knowledge. Some of it is transferrable, but there is plenty that isn't.
Sounds ominous lol. Classless DA4? No tactical cam? Maybe I'm just thinking negatively.
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard Posts: 767 Likes: 1,560
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard
Not surprising, really. The reveal of who he really is and what he plans are has re-contextualized basically everything he did or said when he was with the Inquisition.
Indeed... But I liked having him around, even in the early runs, as he was one of the few characters I felt like I actually learned something from. He had some insight to offer in pretty well every place you went.
Ikr. I had him with me everywhere my first PT, just in case he had something interesting to say about the lore of a place. I even went back to a previous save so I could take him with me in JOH.
Remember, remember the Palace of Winter, the Qunari gaatlok attack. I know plenty of reasons, why Fen’Harel’s treason should end with a knife in his back.
Emily (aka Domino) Taylor pentapod Also it makes me excessively happy that when I searched for a @patrickweekes quote, twitter gave me a promoted ad to “fight the fade” 🤣💯
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Apparently I’ve got a brand.
Susan Arendt @susanarendt It drives me bonkers when I find all the elements of a quest in an RPG but can’t actually *do* anything until I properly “find” it and it activates. There must be a technical reason for it, as it’s so common in RPG design, but it’s aggravating.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes At least when I’ve done it, it’s because there was enough of a gap between design and implementation that by the time it was in, there was no way to do rewrites or add lines — and we forgot to write the “you stumbled over this” part.
So I write the quest giver, it goes to VO, comes back, then gets implemented, and then we go, “Hey, these lines don’t work if you stumbled over Part 2 early, can we add new lines for doing that? We can’t? Can we make Part 2 not spawn at all until you have Part 1? We can’t? Ugh.”
Susan Arendt @susanarendt It drives me bonkers when I find all the elements of a quest in an RPG but can’t actually *do* anything until I properly “find” it and it activates. There must be a technical reason for it, as it’s so common in RPG design, but it’s aggravating.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes At least when I’ve done it, it’s because there was enough of a gap between design and implementation that by the time it was in, there was no way to do rewrites or add lines — and we forgot to write the “you stumbled over this” part.
So I write the quest giver, it goes to VO, comes back, then gets implemented, and then we go, “Hey, these lines don’t work if you stumbled over Part 2 early, can we add new lines for doing that? We can’t? Can we make Part 2 not spawn at all until you have Part 1? We can’t? Ugh.”
Actually Odyssey seems to have solved this issue at least somewhat, just ran into another quest where I acidentally did it (they attacked me) and then I went to the quest giver and was all like "The gods smile on you, I just did that!" It always warms my cold dead heart.
Patreon (for my writing, posting chapters of my novel)
Susan Arendt @susanarendt It drives me bonkers when I find all the elements of a quest in an RPG but can’t actually *do* anything until I properly “find” it and it activates. There must be a technical reason for it, as it’s so common in RPG design, but it’s aggravating.
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes At least when I’ve done it, it’s because there was enough of a gap between design and implementation that by the time it was in, there was no way to do rewrites or add lines — and we forgot to write the “you stumbled over this” part.
So I write the quest giver, it goes to VO, comes back, then gets implemented, and then we go, “Hey, these lines don’t work if you stumbled over Part 2 early, can we add new lines for doing that? We can’t? Can we make Part 2 not spawn at all until you have Part 1? We can’t? Ugh.”
Actually Odyssey seems to have solved this issue at least somewhat, just ran into another quest where I acidentally did it (they attacked me) and then I went to the quest giver and was all like "The gods smile on you, I just did that!" It always warms my cold dead heart.
Heh this inadvertently made me think of another option. What if the PC had some custom response for doing a quest early, but it was the same line every time? Like, rather than tailoring it to every situation, just have the PC, completely dead-eyed, repeat the exact same VO as the last time, as if that’s a normal thing to do.
Then have an achievement for collecting all the quests where that happens. Just fully lean into the fact that it’s an edge case.
Actually Odyssey seems to have solved this issue at least somewhat, just ran into another quest where I acidentally did it (they attacked me) and then I went to the quest giver and was all like "The gods smile on you, I just did that!" It always warms my cold dead heart.
Heh this inadvertently made me think of another option. What if the PC had some custom response for doing a quest early, but it was the same line every time? Like, rather than tailoring it to every situation, just have the PC, completely dead-eyed, repeat the exact same VO as the last time, as if that’s a normal thing to do.
Then have an achievement for collecting all the quests where that happens. Just fully lean into the fact that it’s an edge case.
The NPCs delivery is I think the pretty stalk standard dialogue for when you finish their quests 'normally' but I am reasonably sure that Alexios's is fairly the same no matter what you decide to do.
Patreon (for my writing, posting chapters of my novel)
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard Posts: 2,660 Likes: 6,535
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard
Emily (aka Domino) Taylor pentapod Also it makes me excessively happy that when I searched for a @patrickweekes quote, twitter gave me a promoted ad to “fight the fade” 🤣💯
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Apparently I’ve got a brand.
Or a band. Fight the Fade sounds like an *awesome* band name.
Emily (aka Domino) Taylor pentapod Also it makes me excessively happy that when I searched for a @patrickweekes quote, twitter gave me a promoted ad to “fight the fade” 🤣💯
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Apparently I’ve got a brand.
Or a band. Fight the Fade sounds like an *awesome* band name.
More like a song name then a band name.
Patreon (for my writing, posting chapters of my novel)
Auto @trainerauto I've found myself with an extremely strong love for Solas despite everything. You write characters-esp liars-beautifully. Did you expect people to be as in love w & taken by Solas as they were/are? I assume that was intention but was it more/less effective than u thought itd be?
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes I really wanted to make sure that Solas didn’t feel like a stock villain, that even people who disagree with him and want to kill him accept that he has a reason for what he’s doing. Having his romance hit some as hard as it did was unexpected and touching.
Every villain has a reason for what they're doing. Having a reason doesn't promote him beyond a stock villain, which he is.
And just what would evolve a villain beyond stock, in your opinion?
EDIT: Hunh, #1,000th post, and I didn't even notice it .
Last Edit: Jan 14, 2019 18:38:26 GMT by Walter Black
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Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Dragon Age The Veilguard
Heh this inadvertently made me think of another option. What if the PC had some custom response for doing a quest early, but it was the same line every time? Like, rather than tailoring it to every situation, just have the PC, completely dead-eyed, repeat the exact same VO as the last time, as if that’s a normal thing to do.
Then have an achievement for collecting all the quests where that happens. Just fully lean into the fact that it’s an edge case.
The NPCs delivery is I think the pretty stalk standard dialogue for when you finish their quests 'normally' but I am reasonably sure that Alexios's is fairly the same no matter what you decide to do.
NPC: So, you killed the thing(s) I asked you to kill?
PLAYER: Yes, the thing(s) you wanted killed have been slain. Every. Last. One.
"Every. Last. One." is reaching arrow-in-the-knee levels of memedom in my head.
wizeman305 said: Faith in humanity has been restored thank you BSN.
So, my friend has reached DAI and he's had issues with quite a few weird bugs, and then this happened...
Kinda wish the devs could see it, would be hilarious to see their reactions!
This has happened to me. It's over in Exalted Plains. Very annoying glitch. I did end up managing to kill it, but had to have an archer and the mage spam it. I couldn't do any damage to it myself, being a rogue and obviously the tank couldn't do anything. Took about five or six minutes.
The NPCs delivery is I think the pretty stalk standard dialogue for when you finish their quests 'normally' but I am reasonably sure that Alexios's is fairly the same no matter what you decide to do.
NPC: So, you killed the thing(s) I asked you to kill?
PLAYER: Yes, the thing(s) you wanted killed have been slain. Every. Last. One.
"Every. Last. One." is reaching arrow-in-the-knee levels of memedom in my head.
"So you quit adventuring after getting an arrow to the knee?"
.
