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Post by midnight tea on Apr 15, 2019 21:27:50 GMT
Have you considered that they have always liked multiplayer and would try and implement it wherever they could? When KOTOR didn't have multiplayer old BW fans made a stink about it because it *didn't* have multiplayer, unlike many of their previous (big, single-player) releases. Heck, their first title in '96 had multiplayer. Considering that EA has mandated that all their games include online elements (multiplayer being one of them), I don't think its as cut and dry to say that they [BioWare] inherently want to include such elements in all their titles. While I can agree that have a storied history with including online-type elements in their games, there's some chance that the next DA game (the Joplin version) was never meant to have a multiplayer component. Since Dragon Age multiplayer wasn't that well received upon Inquisitions release, it possible that the studio may have wanted to drop it for a more singleplayer-focused experience; during development of Joplin. With EA wanting the the next DA game to incorporate live elements, that largely pushes them towards needing to incorporate more multiplayer/online elements into the game. While I personally believe the game will end up having online-only elements for singleplayer, if that turns out to be the case it'll likely upset a number of fans. If BioWare is the only one deciding if their games have multiplayer/online elements in them, then that is what it is and I hope they at least make them functional, worthwhile additions to the game; as I felt ME3 MP was. However, as a subsidiary of EA, they're bound by a number of executive policy decisions that shape the way they develop their games. Yes, EA has to make money with their titles, but to what degree does that affect BioWare's developmental process? Based on Schreiers reporting, and Mike Gambles comments on Twitter, its a "soft" reboot of the next Dragon Age game for live service elements sake. We weren't talking whether EA's multiplayer was mandated - you were wondering whether EA should recognize that "the Edmonton studio should be allowed to make SP titles?" and I've pointed out that perhaps they're not the ones who want to create purely single-player games, given their history with multiplayer and thus it may be a wrong angle to look at things. And whatever Joplin was supposed to be (and keep in mind that *we don't know* whether Joplin has been scrapped entirely or whether Morrison is basically a re-dressed Joplin) and whatever Inquisition multiplayer recepion was, Inquisition began its life as fully-multiplayer game codenamed Blackfoot - and that project has been tinkered with since DA2 development, before it finally became the basis under DAI. Clearly they've had plans for multiplayer for Dragon Age before EA came and mandated it. Two last Assasin's Creed games are live service games. None of them have multiplayer. In other words - we really can't tell at this point what online elements/multiplayer in DA will actually be. I assume switching to Anthem's codebase was no less of a factor here, and given that Anthem is primed for live service it was kinda a no-brainer for them to go in that direction. Again - we don't really know what live services will entail for Dragon Age, but if it means a longer, more dynamic tail of updates and DLCs over longer period of time, as suggested by Mark Darrah in one of recent interviews then I'm not sure there's much to complain at here. Be wary until we see what that DA live service really is, by all means, if you'd like, but it's advisable to not go too far in area of negativity about the whole thing as well.
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Post by alanc9 on Apr 15, 2019 21:56:58 GMT
The other thing you can add to this whole debate is BioWare might actually like making MP games too. They did do them before being bought by EA apparently. Their 'golden age' (if such a thing actually existed or has passed) might have been known for purely SP but its not like their isn't precedent. Conceptually, it's a bit cleaner to call Bio's SP-only era their silver age. Their golden age would have been their D&D-based titles, which all had MP. Anyway, the general point -- Bio titles having MP isn't something which needs to be explained -- shouldn't be controversial.
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Post by colfoley on Apr 15, 2019 21:57:07 GMT
The other thing you can add to this whole debate is BioWare might actually like making MP games too. They did do them before being bought by EA apparently. Their 'golden age' (if such a thing actually existed or has passed) might have been known for purely SP but its not like their isn't precedent. Either way I am happy with it, unless they go entirely online only with DA 4 and then I might have an issue, but MP modes and lootboxes are no skin off my back, though I would be interested to see if they do go for SP only. I'm fine with MP existing as, even though I haven'y played much ME and DA MP, some people like it and it gets its own budget apart from SP development. I think it's more of a PR thing at this point - "Oooh, look, no MP! Just a pure SP experience...ooooh" despite, like you said, BioWare has done MP before. The ultimate question is what this could mean for BioWare and EA going forward. A. Despite the noise is there really enough of a market for SP only games for EA to think them profitable? Or is it just a very vocal 'minority?' B. Will EA believe that they can monetize a SP game after the fact as effectively as they can an MP game? Afterall there is God of War and ACOD but I have not seen actual numbers for said games so maybe they didn't do to well in that department.
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Post by melbella on Apr 16, 2019 1:25:33 GMT
I mean, Anthem has some pretty undeniable flaws, but they have the best-looking faces in any BioWare game. Easy enough when the camera never/rarely has to show those faces. Fort Tarsis is FP and out in the field you're covered by your suit.
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Post by midnight tea on Apr 16, 2019 1:34:37 GMT
I mean, Anthem has some pretty undeniable flaws, but they have the best-looking faces in any BioWare game. Easy enough when the camera never/rarely has to show those faces. Fort Tarsis is FP and out in the field you're covered by your suit. But almost everyone else's face is visible, and in FPV they're even closer to the camera than usual. They're not using different technology to create or animate NPC faces than those of PCs.
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Post by melbella on Apr 16, 2019 1:41:49 GMT
Easy enough when the camera never/rarely has to show those faces. Fort Tarsis is FP and out in the field you're covered by your suit. But almost everyone else's face is visible, and in FPV they're even closer to the camera than usual. They're not using different technology to create or animate NPC faces than those of PCs.
No, but NPC faces don't change based on who is playing the game. They are always the same, which means they have fewer things to take into account when animating them.
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Post by midnight tea on Apr 16, 2019 1:54:53 GMT
But almost everyone else's face is visible, and in FPV they're even closer to the camera than usual. They're not using different technology to create or animate NPC faces than those of PCs. No, but NPC faces don't change based on who is playing the game. They are always the same, which means they have fewer things to take into account when animating them.
Save some bigger cinematics they aren't using individual or hand-keyed animations to animate each NPC in the game, so those animations also have to be designed to fit different features on different faces, as they'd be if we had some control over the layout in character creator.
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Post by biggydx on Apr 16, 2019 2:28:58 GMT
B. Will EA believe that they can monetize a SP game after the fact as effectively as they can an MP game? Afterall there is God of War and ACOD but I have not seen actual numbers for said games so maybe they didn't do to well in that department. I'd be more interested to see how AC:Odyssey has fared; rather than GoW. GoW, while a great game, is made by a studio that's a subsidiary of a 1st-party publisher (Sony). That's a publisher who is not only rolling in cash (based on platforms sales alone), but they also net additional profits via PSN store purchases and subscriptions. As a result, it's much easier for singleplayer games to be produced by them since they've got the money to afford them. There's also less of a financial risk involved, as these singleplayer titles are largely exclusive, and their critical acclaim helps in driving people to buy the platform (i.e. PS4). To a lesser extent, this is also true of CDPR. CDPR is largely able to sustain themselves as an independent studio that can make singleplayer games, because they've got financial backing from their distribution platform (GoG.com). Its basically their background revenue stream. It also helps that their games are widely popular among RPG fans. This makes them oddities in the industry. If you were to compare them to BioWare (pre-EA) and Obsidian, those two were both independent studios who partnered with other publishers to make their singleplayer games; and have made widely successful games. However, their games (prior to their acquisition) didn't sell enough copies to sustain them, causing BioWare to go to EA and Obsidian with Microsoft. Funny enough, its possible that Obsidian got the better end of the stick here, based on the fact that Microsoft could have them push out their own singleplayer games and have similar gains as Sony. I bring this all up because AC:Odyssey may actually be the tradeoff of wanting a singleplayer-only title, but also having a 3rd-party publisher who wants to make continued revenue off of their titles. I'm really curious as to how much recurrent revenue AC:Odyssey makes.
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Post by smilesja on Apr 16, 2019 4:25:52 GMT
Given Microsoft's history with acquiring companies (like Rare) I'm very wary of what they'll do to Obsidian.
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Post by biggydx on Apr 16, 2019 4:54:26 GMT
Given Microsoft's history with acquiring companies (like Rare) I'm very wary of what they'll do to Obsidian. It'll be interesting to see what Phil Spencer has in store for the next Xbox console, and how well their 1st-party titles perform. With as many acquisitions that they've made (announced), you would think this would bode well for them.
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Post by smilesja on Apr 16, 2019 7:06:36 GMT
Given Microsoft's history with acquiring companies (like Rare) I'm very wary of what they'll do to Obsidian. It'll be interesting to see what Phil Spencer has in store for the next Xbox console, and how well their 1st-party titles perform. With as many acquisitions that they've made (announced), you would think this would bode well for them. Given their shoddy history, I’m doubtful.
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Post by river82 on Apr 16, 2019 8:09:03 GMT
It'll be interesting to see what Phil Spencer has in store for the next Xbox console, and how well their 1st-party titles perform. With as many acquisitions that they've made (announced), you would think this would bode well for them. Given their shoddy history, I’m doubtful. People remember that the PS4 beat the Xbox 1, but some forget that the Xbox360 spanked the PS3 aiming at core gamers and having a good exclusive lineup (anti-consumer ahoy. Also PS3's architecture was terrible). But Microsoft then made many errors with the direction of their current console with the eye, and the always online thing, making it more of a media centre and less powerful than the PS4. Basically MS tried to shift their consoles away from gamers, didn't listen to gamers, and lost this generation. Unfortunately for Sony they're emulating some of the same mistakes Microsoft made leading into the XBox One. Primarily Sony's flagging the PSN as a "very strong entertainment platform for all of Sony - very useful for video and music content." Did gamers not tell Microsoft that they don't want an entertainment platform but a gaming platform? I'm pretty sure we did. So this direction is worrying. And Microsoft have recently come off as the "good guys" with the recent Fortnite cross-play debacle. I wouldn't be surprised if MS flip the tables on Sony next time round.
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Post by Kappa Neko on Apr 16, 2019 9:23:40 GMT
As for Respawn's game, EA doesn't need them to have a Multiplayer since they have Battlefront II for which they are still producing content for 1 1/2 years later. Though there may be some truth to this, couldn't the same also be said for why BioWare Edmonton can't make purely singleplayer only titles? Considering that BioWare Austin is their online-focused studio, and that they already have SW:TOR and - soon - Anthem under their wings, shouldn't EA recognize that the Edmonton studio should be allowed to make SP titles? Especially considering how unpopular DAI's MP was... I'm not saying Bioware should ditch MP in all their games. Maybe they indeed want to keep a MP mode because extra fun is never a bad idea. But given how lukewarm the Dragon Age fandom seems to be about MP, I don't quite get why they'd want to try again at a point where just slapping a game into some kind of presentable shape seems to be a challenge for them. Focus on your core game and if you don't end up having to rush something out within a year, consider adding MP.
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Post by Little Bengel on Apr 16, 2019 12:20:18 GMT
But almost everyone else's face is visible, and in FPV they're even closer to the camera than usual. They're not using different technology to create or animate NPC faces than those of PCs.
No, but NPC faces don't change based on who is playing the game. They are always the same, which means they have fewer things to take into account when animating them.
Most BW games as of lately have had their NPCs designed based on each game's CC; this means you can practically recreate their faces if you want, barring any significant characters such as companions. Assuming they have set up something similar for Anthem (and of course, this is an assumption, so there's every chance I might be wrong), then I'd say DA4's CC will be, to some extent, based on whatever they built for Anthem, at least as far as human characters go. Then again, I don't know if there's anything stopping them from porting (and refining) DA:I's CC, so it can go both ways, from my perspective.
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Post by Polka Dot on Apr 17, 2019 18:08:43 GMT
I bring this all up because AC:Odyssey may actually be the tradeoff of wanting a singleplayer-only title, but also having a 3rd-party publisher who wants to make continued revenue off of their titles. I'm really curious as to how much recurrent revenue AC:Odyssey makes. An excellent question, and I've wondered about that as well. The store offers cosmetic items to purchase with an in-game currency that can be earned via gameplay or purchased with money. While I understand the popularity of cosmetic mods, I've often wondered how many people actually pull the trigger on that spending. The bigger favor Ubi did themselves with their ACOD model imho was offering a season's pass. They are releasing additional episodic story content; IIRC they planned 3 episodes apiece for 2 additional questlines (6 episodes total, the equivalent of 2 full story DLCs). Oh, and it also includes a remastered AC3. While BioWare's DLCs have always been quite popular with the core fans, they're always playing to a smaller audience. Most of the people who play a game move on before all of its DLC has dropped, which can also mean more copies hitting the used game market. If they offer a season's pass, it signals that they plan to deliver additional content and could encourage people to stick with the game longer. It could help them capture more revenue for their DLCs and reduce the number of used copies on the market. The only downside I can see is that they would then be committed to delivering that additional content. They couldn't cancel as they did with MEA and an expansion pack they were working on for DA2.
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Post by biggydx on Apr 17, 2019 20:25:22 GMT
The only downside I can see is that they would then be committed to delivering that additional content. They couldn't cancel as they did with MEA and an expansion pack they were working on for DA2. Another potential issue is whether segmenting DLC content will negatively impact the flow of the story provided in said DLC. If it ends too abruptly, fans likely won't take a liking to it, or be left unfulfilled. There's also the topic of DLC scope, and how much content is provided within each one. If its broken into chunks, does each one provide enough replayability to keep someone coming back for another playthrough? Will choices in the main game have any impact on the events within said DLC; and its subsequent pieces? Or will each of these stories be wholly contained? Lastly, Season Passes often gins up uncertainty because you don't truly know what's being offered for the buying price. On this one, I think the concerns that are brought up could be lessened (or worsened) depending on the asking price of the Pass. Fallout 4, when it first launched, charged $15 for its season pass and I'd say it offered up a pretty good chunk of content; albeit most of it being Workshop addons. Even still, you got two medium sized DLC's to go along with it; each having at least 20 hours of content if you fully explore. Odysseys content is spread out, but its supported by monthly updates and content additions to the game. We already know that DA4 is supposed to have multiplayer, so how are they going to balance singleplayer DLC and multiplayer add-ons? My best guess is that they would try to use any new gameplay assets added in the DLC, and incorporate that into multiplayer.
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Post by Polka Dot on Apr 17, 2019 20:49:05 GMT
The only downside I can see is that they would then be committed to delivering that additional content. They couldn't cancel as they did with MEA and an expansion pack they were working on for DA2. Another potential issue is whether segmenting DLC content will negatively impact the flow of the story provided in said DLC. If it ends too abruptly, fans likely won't take a liking to it, or be left unfulfilled. Yeah, I'm not at all a fan of the episodic nature of that content. I suspect they're doing it that way so the playerbase feels like they're getting new stuff. Personally I'll wait until the entire storyline is delivered before I play any of it. Have you played ACOD? The game is huge. Things respawn. It has main story content, but it's a huge open world with lots of things to do. The narrative is what it is, and I don't know that choices have much in the way of consequences, period. There's no character creator; you play Kassandra or Alexis. What I'm suggesting here is that it isn't the sort of game I'd expect to do multiple playthroughs. You could (ostensibly) continue with the same playthrough as long as you want to play; or, I suppose start anew if you'd like to experience the storyline content again. Ubi was pretty clear about the content of their season pass in the offering. BioWare might offer, say 2 story DLCs plus a couple of extra stuff packs (armor, weapons, accessories, schematics, furnishings or somesuch). How do they usually balance SP and MP DLC releases? That isn't new.
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Post by biggydx on Apr 17, 2019 20:52:14 GMT
Have you played ACOD? The game is huge The base game, yes. Put over 200hrs into it. I haven't gotten the Season Pass though. How do they usually balance SP and MP DLC releases? That isn't new. By balance, I mean how are they going to allocate resources for the purposes of adding new singleplayer content AND multiplayer content. Using ACOD as an example, they can devote all their efforts into singleplayer content. Having singleplayer and multiplayer, however, means resources have to be split among the two.
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Post by DragonKingReborn on Apr 17, 2019 20:59:16 GMT
Have you played ACOD? The game is huge. Things respawn. It has main story content, but it's a huge open world with lots of things to do. The narrative is what it is, and I don't know that choices have much in the way of consequences, period. There's no character creator; you play Kassandra or Alexis. What I'm suggesting here is that it isn't the sort of game I'd expect to do multiple playthroughs. You could (ostensibly) continue with the same playthrough as long as you want to play; or, I suppose start anew if you'd like to experience the storyline content again. That's probably what they intended, though. One massive, ever-extending playthrough. There is always the possibility that Bioware - with a CC and different backgrounds or (fingers crossed) Origins - will adapt for multiple playthroughs. Either way, it's just window-dressing for a way to extend the revenue life of a game. ME3 found lightning in a bottle with MP. AC:O has it with ongoing content in an aptly named "odyssey". Anthem and games like the Division have their dailies. Perhaps DA4 will use a modified version of AC:O.
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Post by Polka Dot on Apr 17, 2019 21:27:16 GMT
Have you played ACOD? The game is huge The base game, yes. Put over 200hrs into it. I haven't gotten the Season Pass though. Pretty easy to rack up a ton of time in that game, innit? There is so.much.content. I understood what you meant. I'm saying it isn't anything they haven't done before. There were 3 (4 if you count Javik) full SP DLCs released for ME3, and quite a few for MP as well. I believe they did the same thing for DAI. But I think there may be some misunderstanding with what I was suggesting with the whole "season pass" thing. I don't mean to suggest that BioWare do anything different from what they've always done - just that they offer an optional package that would include all of the DLCs and stuff packs they plan to release. Have you played ACOD? The game is huge. Things respawn. It has main story content, but it's a huge open world with lots of things to do. The narrative is what it is, and I don't know that choices have much in the way of consequences, period. There's no character creator; you play Kassandra or Alexis. What I'm suggesting here is that it isn't the sort of game I'd expect to do multiple playthroughs. You could (ostensibly) continue with the same playthrough as long as you want to play; or, I suppose start anew if you'd like to experience the storyline content again. That's probably what they intended, though. One massive, ever-extending playthrough. There is always the possibility that Bioware - with a CC and different backgrounds or (fingers crossed) Origins - will adapt for multiple playthroughs. Yes, I expect that was Ubi's intent. You can continue one ongoing playthrough with ACOD. You could also begin anew if you want to play through the story content again. I certainly hope DA4 has choices w/ consequences and supports different types of characters and playthroughs. I'd be mighty disappointed if it doesn't. I guess we'll see. I continue to hope that whatever "live service" means in terms of DA4 has a minimal impact on its competence as a good old-fashioned character, narrative-driven, choices and consequences, party-based SP RPG.
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Post by colfoley on Apr 17, 2019 21:34:02 GMT
The base game, yes. Put over 200hrs into it. I haven't gotten the Season Pass though. Pretty easy to rack up a ton of time in that game, innit? There is so.much.content. I understood what you meant. I'm saying it isn't anything they haven't done before. There were 3 (4 if you count Javik) full SP DLCs released for ME3, and quite a few for MP as well. I believe they did the same thing for DAI. But I think there may be some misunderstanding with what I was suggesting with the whole "season pass" thing. I don't mean to suggest that BioWare do anything different from what they've always done - just that they offer an optional package that would include all of the DLCs and stuff packs they plan to release. That's probably what they intended, though. One massive, ever-extending playthrough. There is always the possibility that Bioware - with a CC and different backgrounds or (fingers crossed) Origins - will adapt for multiple playthroughs. Yes, I expect that was Ubi's intent. You can continue one ongoing playthrough with ACOD. You could also begin anew if you want to play through the story content again. I certainly hope DA4 has choices w/ consequences and supports different types of characters and playthroughs. I'd be mighty disappointed if it doesn't. I guess we'll see. I continue to hope that whatever "live service" means in terms of DA4 has a minimal impact on its competence as a good old-fashioned character, narrative-driven, choices and consequences, party-based SP RPG. If Odyssey is any indication it can be all of that.
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Post by midnight tea on Apr 17, 2019 22:45:49 GMT
The only downside I can see is that they would then be committed to delivering that additional content. They couldn't cancel as they did with MEA and an expansion pack they were working on for DA2. Another potential issue is whether segmenting DLC content will negatively impact the flow of the story provided in said DLC. If it ends too abruptly, fans likely won't take a liking to it, or be left unfulfilled. There's also the topic of DLC scope, and how much content is provided within each one. If its broken into chunks, does each one provide enough replayability to keep someone coming back for another playthrough? Will choices in the main game have any impact on the events within said DLC; and its subsequent pieces? Or will each of these stories be wholly contained? Well yeah, but, say, DLCs like Trespasser provided not just story content but also changes to combat, trials, items and so on... so what if DLCs can be split that way? That way they can add the story without having to add all the other stuff at the same time, because thee DLC doesn't have to be a 'full package' anymore. Or add a zone first with sort of a preliminary storyline getting us there... then implement the main storyline for the zone, for example. They could also add the storyline in similar way they do it now in ESO - the story is split between DLCs, but each DLC is its own chapter with self-contained plot/arc that connects with the next plot/arc somehow.
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biggydx
Finished Dissertation long ago lol. Now happily employed :D
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Apr 17, 2017 16:08:05 GMT
April 2017
biggydx
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by biggydx on Apr 18, 2019 0:29:56 GMT
Another potential issue is whether segmenting DLC content will negatively impact the flow of the story provided in said DLC. If it ends too abruptly, fans likely won't take a liking to it, or be left unfulfilled. There's also the topic of DLC scope, and how much content is provided within each one. If its broken into chunks, does each one provide enough replayability to keep someone coming back for another playthrough? Will choices in the main game have any impact on the events within said DLC; and its subsequent pieces? Or will each of these stories be wholly contained? Well yeah, but, say, DLCs like Trespasser provided not just story content but also changes to combat, trials, items and so on... so what if DLCs can be split that way? Maybe. I think I'm just used to the old way of DLC's releasing. If they can pull it off well, that's fine. AC:Odyssey periodically adds in new features for free (like the Hephaestus Forge) that adds a new feature for crafting, but the recent DLC 1 episodes have added in new items and one new ability. It all kinda depends on what gets added in within each segment, and if the stories are well told. The latter is ultimately what I'm concerned about, because I don't know if having a smaller scope for episodic DLC's lends itself well to strong, choice-driven narratives. Either way, details about the game probably aren't gonna surface until at years from now, so we'll see.
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Nov 24, 2021 20:18:46 GMT
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SirSourpuss
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Oct 16, 2017 16:19:07 GMT
October 2017
sirpetrakus
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, SWTOR
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Post by SirSourpuss on Apr 18, 2019 12:30:15 GMT
Another potential issue is whether segmenting DLC content will negatively impact the flow of the story provided in said DLC. If it ends too abruptly, fans likely won't take a liking to it, or be left unfulfilled. There's also the topic of DLC scope, and how much content is provided within each one. If its broken into chunks, does each one provide enough replayability to keep someone coming back for another playthrough? Will choices in the main game have any impact on the events within said DLC; and its subsequent pieces? Or will each of these stories be wholly contained? Well yeah, but, say, DLCs like Trespasser provided not just story content but also changes to combat, trials, items and so on... so what if DLCs can be split that way? That way they can add the story without having to add all the other stuff at the same time, because thee DLC doesn't have to be a 'full package' anymore. Or add a zone first with sort of a preliminary storyline getting us there... then implement the main storyline for the zone, for example. They could also add the storyline in similar way they do it now in ESO - the story is split between DLCs, but each DLC is its own chapter with self-contained plot/arc that connects with the next plot/arc somehow. Pillars of Eternity did pretty well with its DLC, The White March and that was two parts. An episodic type of DLC wouldn't be bad, provided each episode offers a fulfilling enough experience and maybe an item or two, which may or may not be part of a larger set. Seriously, though, the loot in most Bioware RPGs lately has been dreadful. Like, I don't remember Inquisition having any unique items. If it did, they were so underwhelming, I had no idea I had an actual good one. Hopefully that loot designer they are looking for does some work for Bioware's games in general, not just Anthem
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githcheater
N3
Games: Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, SWTOR
Posts: 819 Likes: 952
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githcheater
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githcheater
Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, SWTOR
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Post by githcheater on Apr 18, 2019 22:16:11 GMT
There is always the possibility that Bioware - with a CC and different backgrounds or (fingers crossed) Origins - will adapt for multiple playthroughs. DragonKingReborn said above: ^ I suppose having origins or backgrounds might be a way to keep the revenue stream going ... A healthy dose of added dialog in reaction to the origin/background plus some new content might be a way to keep interest in single player. It is been a while since I played DAO, but I do not recall there was a tremendous amount of new dialog that was needed to keep your origin feeling real.
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