Schmooples' Den! The DA News Discussion Thread

Following up on that, here's another snippet from a large Game Informer piece on DAI:

Wait... who made the claims though?

Anyway, I think there may be a difference between 'we want to have multiple races and work towards that whenever possible' to 'it's guaranteed that it will happen, especially at this time of development'. So Bioware devs may remember things differently than us because the reality of game development is way more complicated and taking many twists and turns than what scarce information trickling down on us can ever convey.

thats1evildude
www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2013/08/14/the-return-of-races-in-dragon-age-inquisition.aspx

Watching the video it appears it was planned to have 3 races but because of the release date (2013) the work on Elf and Dwarf wasn't finished, but the delay to 2014 allowed them to finish the work on Elf and Dwarf, and also to add Qunari.

The Strix @the_strix
Can I just say how pent up and stymied I feel by the incredible lack of intimate sensuality there is in video games? Because of our weirdo hyper-violent/puritanical culture we get lots of murder and sexual violence narratives, but intimate sensuality is basically kryptonite!

Like, look. I am a sexual, sensual being. I love stories. I love intimacy. I swoon over sensual tension. It is ridiculous that we cannot tell stories about positive sexuality within the world's largest narrative medium.

Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes
It’s amazing how designer guys who don’t bat an eye at discussing the specifics of decapitation and dismemberment start coughing and trying to change the subject when it comes time to discuss getting pinned against the wall by your lover.

The Strix @the_strix
As a games writer, I feel doubly stymied when I write authentic characters who engaged with that part of their psyche (because they are whole people, dammit!), and it invariably gets nuked from orbit. I blame the ESRB rating system. But also Americans are just weird about this!

Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes
On the bright side, I’ve gotten extremely good at implying things without ever directly saying them, so anyone who gets the joke has only themselves to blame.

...

The Strix @the_strix
And that's the the thing, intimacy does not have to directly equate to sexy times. Intimacy can stand on its own and has its own value.

Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes
Yeah. Some of my most vulnerable real-life moments happen during quiet talks in bed — it’s not just sexy times. It’s hard to do that when we don’t have a budget for blanket/sheet physics or a mattress that moves realistically. (Our cine folks do amazing work with what we get.)

The argument isn't really about sexy times

Even with whole DA and ME franchises, games with content like that are a niche on the market. Plus, even within Bioware there may be designers that are kinda weird about content like that or they may have a limited budget for it, as described by Patrick Weekes.

Each Dragon Age game has been better then the last one...also works for the DLC more or less.  

www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-11-03-biowares-inquisition

Gareth David-Lloyd @pancheers
So, just completed @dragonage What a ride!! Though I don’t think 140 hours of research is enough so on to the dlcs!

John Epler @eplerjc
I hear that Solas guy shows up a bunch in Trespasser.

Cori Nicole @genevrael
BUT HE STILL WON'T LET ME LEAVE WITH HIM JOHN NO MATTER WHAT I SAY WHY CAN'T WE RUN OFF AND DESTROY THE WORLD TOGETHER wait I know the answer, I was there

Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes
We TALKED about this, Cori. At length.

Cori Nicole @genevrael
*mutters, disconsolately*

Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes
Or disconSolasly?

There was always a plan with DA for I think 5 games? Correct me if I'm wrong. The story is not over yet and I personally would be incredibly pissed if it never got told in the form of games. I'm super invested in the world, and regardless of what happened with ME:A, and who has left the DA team, the fact remains that the franchise still has trustworthy and talented people involved who give a shit.

The realities of game development are what they are, so no game is 100% guaranteed to happen until they are released, but it'd be super-weird (and disappointing, to say the least) if they ditched the series OR ongoing storyline when the overarching story seems to be just getting started AND they keep enforcing the idea that they have all the intentions to continue it with their auxiliary materials and tease(r)s.