To the Void with your day/night cycles. They're awful and I hate them.
Ever since the days of Simon's Quest, day/night cycles have always meant the same thing to me: waiting. Waiting for shops to open, waiting for certain NPCs to arrive, waiting for this terrible night to have a curse to finally end.
Eh, I think they're fine as long as there is a mechanic that let's you pass time, like Skyrim has sleeping. If you can't sleep somewhere, you can just "wait" for however many hours.
It gives them a chance to have more dynamic environments. And if I'm being honest, I just really like the idea of seeing the gorgeous maps in all kinds of lighting. It's pretty fun to look at Skyhold at night while the post-Corypheus party is going on.
From my purely amateur point of view I think it really depends how much the dynamic day-night cycle is really worth implementing.
If we'd have one big zone like in Skyrim or Witcher 3, or spend a lot of time in one specific place then I think it'd be worth putting it into game - it'd keep things fresh once we go through the same/similar place for the n-th time.
But if we'd end up with, say, smaller zones that we may be travelling frequently, but not spending that much time in... eh, I don't know. I think in that case maybe i'd be better if environment, weather or time of day changed like it did in Crestwood or in JoH, during main quest? But maybe not once, but multiple times depending on stage of story.
“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”
To the Void with your day/night cycles. They're awful and I hate them.
Ever since the days of playing Simon's Quest on the NES, day/night cycles have always meant the same thing: waiting. Waiting for shops to open, waiting for night time to do certain quests, waiting for this terrible night to have a curse to finally end.
That's what mods are for ...
But in all seriousness, it's an interesting game design trade-off. You're absolutely right that, for certain play styles, simulating the reality of shops closing and nocturnal creatures (usually more dangerous) coming out to mob you is a royal PITA. While for other play styles, the immersive feeling is worth the trouble.
HZD takes a compromise approach -- there are day/night cycles (and storm/clear cycles, which in some ways are worse), but they don't change anything other than the lighting of scenes. That's it. Just visual/aural variety. Everything else behaves exactly the same. Personally, I think it's too much compromise. Why are all these people in the village going about their regular business at 3am in the morning, exactly the same as 3pm? It's a bit too immersion breaking.
Last Edit: May 28, 2017 18:23:02 GMT by PapaCharlie9
Inquisitor: Is that innuendo? Sera: No, it's at the front!
I like having day/night cycles. I found it really annoying that the Hissing Wastes were perpetual night, particularly when it took such an age to cross them. One of the better aspects of DA2 was being able to visit the city during the day or at night and having a different set of challenges as a result. The same was true of Baldurs Gate and Baldurs Gate 2 and when you consider how far game engines have advanced since then, it surely must be possible to implement day/night cycles in Dragon Age.
I like having day/night cycles. I found it really annoying that the Hissing Wastes were perpetual night, particularly when it took such an age to cross them. One of the better aspects of DA2 was being able to visit the city during the day or at night and having a different set of challenges as a result. The same was true of Baldurs Gate and Baldurs Gate 2 and when you consider how far game engines have advanced since then, it surely must be possible to implement day/night cycles in Dragon Age.
Possible to implement? ... I guess?
Worth the effort that could be used for something else? No idea.
Also - do we know of many Frostbite game that utilizes day/night cycle?
Last Edit: May 28, 2017 22:01:12 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.”
I like having day/night cycles. I found it really annoying that the Hissing Wastes were perpetual night, particularly when it took such an age to cross them. One of the better aspects of DA2 was being able to visit the city during the day or at night and having a different set of challenges as a result. The same was true of Baldurs Gate and Baldurs Gate 2 and when you consider how far game engines have advanced since then, it surely must be possible to implement day/night cycles in Dragon Age.
Possible to implement? ... I guess?
Worth the effort that could be used for something else? No idea.
Also - do we know of many Frostbite game that utilizes day/night cycle?
So it probably is just a matter of resources and whether they want to allocate them to something that apparently not all players appreciate. I think if they were to link the day/night cycle to some of the plotlines, so may be someone can only be contacted at night or some sort of secret symbol only shows up in moonlight, then it would be worth doing. Another plotline could be that it is only possible for you to sneak into a forbidden area after dark.
To the Void with your day/night cycles. They're awful and I hate them.
Ever since the days of playing Simon's Quest on the NES, day/night cycles have always meant the same thing: waiting. Waiting for shops to open, waiting for night time to do certain quests, waiting for this terrible night to have a curse to finally end.
That's what mods are for ...
But in all seriousness, it's an interesting game design trade-off. You're absolutely right that, for certain play styles, simulating the reality of shops closing and nocturnal creatures (usually more dangerous) coming out to mob you is a royal PITA. While for other play styles, the immersive feeling is worth the trouble.
HZD takes a compromise approach -- there are day/night cycles (and storm/clear cycles, which in some ways are worse), but they don't change anything other than the lighting of scenes. That's it. Just visual/aural variety. Everything else behaves exactly the same. Personally, I think it's too much compromise. Why are all these people in the village going about their regular business at 3am in the morning, exactly the same as 3pm? It's a bit too immersion breaking.
I was just reminded by that post just how annoying nights were, when you had to force-rest to advance the game timer just to access a vendor. At least you got some banters at rest when you did it in the old games. But since now all banters are done strictly in the hubs, the force resting, particularly if you have to find a tavern to do it in the city AND pay for it... ye gods. The bad old days.
Random weather was okay. And the random ambient light will be fine, but the rest of it? Thank you, but no, thank you.
To the Void with your day/night cycles. They're awful and I hate them.
Ever since the days of playing Simon's Quest on the NES, day/night cycles have always meant the same thing: waiting. Waiting for shops to open, waiting for night time to do certain quests, waiting for this terrible night to have a curse to finally end.
That's what mods are for ...
Forgive me sire, but I am but a humble console peasant, and know not of these mods of which ye speak.
Post by blastoandbubin on May 30, 2017 2:10:45 GMT
I'm pro day/night cycles. They can be a pain in the ass but they've never truly impeded my gameplay, and I like that they sometimes force me to plan a little better than I otherwise might have. Plus they're pretty and immersive, imo. I loved emerging from a dungeon in Skyrim or after completing a Witcher contract, riding back to the nearest town at the crack of dawn with the sunrise shining over the horizon and a fresh trophy dangling from my saddle.
The only problem with them I have is getting the schedule right. Skyrim's was too short in my opinion, I had to console it to be longer. The Witcher's were pretty well-calibrated, and I'd love something similar in Dragon Age, especially if we get a large, intricate city zone (I'm hoping Minrathous gets it's due and not the Val Royeaux treatment.) A waiting mechanic is a must though. Even what they did in DA2 might be nice, where you could switch the map to day/night.
juleston @shoulderacoffin @patrickweekes is solas an asexual sapioromantic im sorry *asexual hetero-sapioromantic
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Seriously, I've got enough people in the fandom who think I'm a giant asshole already without me canonically confirming sexytimes stuff.
zeal @merrihawke patrick always delivers
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes I mean... I'm not saying those people are WRONG.
zeal @merrihawke patrick my dude this a good opportunity to plug in my very own solas meme. hope you enjoy xoxo
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes I mean the bicycle was actually an ancient elven invention, which not a lot of people know because the old lore is lost...
zeal @merrihawke all the more reason for this to be patched in as the last cutscene with corypheus
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes What if Corypheus was the bicycle?
juleston @shoulderacoffin @patrickweekes is solas an asexual sapioromantic im sorry *asexual hetero-sapioromantic
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes Seriously, I've got enough people in the fandom who think I'm a giant asshole already without me canonically confirming sexytimes stuff.
zeal @merrihawke patrick always delivers
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes I mean... I'm not saying those people are WRONG.
zeal @merrihawke patrick my dude this a good opportunity to plug in my very own solas meme. hope you enjoy xoxo
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes I mean the bicycle was actually an ancient elven invention, which not a lot of people know because the old lore is lost...
zeal @merrihawke all the more reason for this to be patched in as the last cutscene with corypheus
Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes What if Corypheus was the bicycle?
Didn't, uh, didn't Bioware already do the colonization storyline?
This one will be better. Because it's Dragon Age.
"Kneel before the Lord Dragon, or you will be knelt." 21 Feb 2019 at 6:59am - It has not been forgotten. It will not be forgiven. We've now met seven times... Revenge is ice cream - Serza, April 2020 Also known as Mike, David, Scott or Bruce
Alexis Kennedy 🕯️ @alexiskennedy I got up at 1am local time to work for an hour and this morning I hardly dared open my laptop in case it was all Overlook Hotel in there I'm still not sure. I'll drink some coffee and then I'll show the deck to the people and I'm sure it'll all be fine
Alexis Kennedy 🕯️ @alexiskennedy I got up at 1am local time to work for an hour and this morning I hardly dared open my laptop in case it was all Overlook Hotel in there I'm still not sure. I'll drink some coffee and then I'll show the deck to the people and I'm sure it'll all be fine
Lori Fisher hunts monsters. Not with a sword or a gun, but with an interdimensional creature called Handler. Together they take down “feeders”—aliens who prey on mankind. When Lori touches a feeder, Handler’s impossibly large jaws appear and drag the beast into another dimension.
It’s a living—or was, until a job for the Lake Foundation goes wrong, and Lori stumbles across the Nix, a group of mutant teenagers held captive on the docks. Now the Lake Foundation is hunting Lori, and if they find Lori, they find Ben, the brother Lori would do anything to protect. There’s only one thing to do: strike first.
Lori teams up with the Nix to take on Lake, and to discover why the Nix were kidnapped in the first place. But as she watches their powers unfold, Lori realizes the Nix are nothing like her. She has no powers. She has…Handler. Maybe she’s not the monster hunter after all. Maybe she’s just the bait.
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda Posts: 6,810 Likes: 3,393
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To the Void with your day/night cycles. They're awful and I hate them.
Ever since the days of Simon's Quest, day/night cycles have always meant the same thing to me: waiting. Waiting for shops to open, waiting for certain NPCs to arrive, waiting for this terrible night to have a curse to finally end.
Eh, I think they're fine as long as there is a mechanic that let's you pass time, like Skyrim has sleeping. If you can't sleep somewhere, you can just "wait" for however many hours.
It gives them a chance to have more dynamic environments. And if I'm being honest, I just really like the idea of seeing the gorgeous maps in all kinds of lighting. It's pretty fun to look at Skyhold at night while the post-Corypheus party is going on.
Day/night cycles are repetitive and become boring real quick... even with a "sleep 8 hrs" command. I'd rather have a night cycle tied to a few quests which breaks the "day only" monotony. Better yet, introduce these as a night missions, to set the stage. Another way is for a mission to start near sunset and work its way into darkness.
Morpheus: "know what happened happened and that it could not have happened in any other way".
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda Posts: 6,810 Likes: 3,393
Member is Online
The Keep is for importing choices and was specifically made to avoid bugs and such that were present with the same process that happened with DAO>DAA>DA2. The Keep isn't perfect, but it is a singular portal that they have to maintain, rather than having problems with up to three game imports (PC, Xbox, PS).
As for the rest of it, I'd rather just play the final game.
-(_MEA_)-
Nah... no quadrilogy in my view. Ergo, no need for a Keep. Makes sense from a cost perspective by starting fresh.
Morpheus: "know what happened happened and that it could not have happened in any other way".
The Keep is for importing choices and was specifically made to avoid bugs and such that were present with the same process that happened with DAO>DAA>DA2. The Keep isn't perfect, but it is a singular portal that they have to maintain, rather than having problems with up to three game imports (PC, Xbox, PS).
As for the rest of it, I'd rather just play the final game.
-(_MEA_)-
Nah... no quadrilogy in my view. Ergo, no need for a Keep. Makes sense from a cost perspective by starting fresh.
On the contrary. Why go through all that trouble to laboriously set things up in DAO, DA2 and DAI and all the supplementary books and comics AND build a place to record all our past decisions and summarize the events across all games.... only to discard it just as the overarching plot is gaining steam?
Last Edit: Jun 1, 2017 13:51:47 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.”