Dragon Age News Thread

It's a subject they've touched on every now and again, and it's good to get a recap of the reasons why. The paraphrasing has never bothered me either unless the delivered line was very different from what I was expecting... But it has improved from DA2 to DAI.

I'm not a big fan of the dialog wheel (or voiced protagonists), but I do think the paraphrases improved greatly between DA2 and DAI. I also really liked the different wheels for different scenarios. I remember a discussion thread on the old BSN with Allan S(omething) about this, and one of the issues I and others brought up was that the three set tones made conversations too restrictive (ex. I don't want my character to say something sarcastic or aggressive, but I don't like the diplomatic response). I thought DAI handled this much better by only using tones/emotions in conversations where it was appropriate and having more neutral options.

I'd heard about the subvocalization issue before (which honestly doesn't bother me), but I hadn't considered localization. I can see where that would be a much bigger issue for today's games than those made 10+ years ago.

Mandy d'Nadie ‏@mandydnadie
First, as a writer of tragic romances, I understand. That being said, I romanced Solas and HOW DARE YOU.

Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes

Mike Laidlaw ‏@mike_Laidlaw
Some fun news! Saturday afternoon at PAX South, I'll be participating in a "Hidden Gems" panel, celebrating amazing games you may not know.

Mike Laidlaw ‏@mike_Laidlaw
I'm just lining up the last speaker now, but really excited that @mikeyface will be joining me up there as well.

Amen! I don't want to abandon voiced PCs, but I also don't want them to repeat what I just read to myself.

Maybe someday some dev will make an RPG where all you do is indicate your intention and then a RECORD light goes on and you say your own words into the game. Once. And then you click a DONE button and the NPCs react to your selected intention. The voice recording isn't necessary saved, except on your Twitch stream or whatever -- but that's the point. You're performing for yourself or your followers, not for the NPCs or the game. The game doesn't need your words.

In for a dime, in for a dollar.

Jason Hill ‏@lazertuna
This is what's happening #xmasshitshow2016



Mike Laidlaw ‏@mike_Laidlaw
Our staff party is ski chalet themed. I’m not really playing along, but dang @thefiddzz and @lazertuna

Mike Laidlaw ‏@mike_Laidlaw
The waitress just lifted me. This is clearly the start of an epic night.

Arty ‏@artmusing
Soon..
@teamsanshee @dragonage

That's just you, though. And perhaps many other players as well, but it doesn't apply to ME. I play with the subtitles on for the first few plays and I already read and hear everything anyway.

Frankly, I find it insulting that they continue with the same lines about the player not knowing what they want, or that implementing a toggle -- yes, the dreaded toggle -- would be confusing if they accidentally turn it on. Keep in mind, I don't say anything about the practicality of implementing it in the game from a developer standpoint. On Ye Olde BSN, they did actually say that there was concern that players would mistakenly turn a toggle on, dislike that feature, and not know how to turn it off. That's fucking stupid. While I am normally happy to give new and inexperienced players a LOT of leeway -- I've written guides that take this into account and explain things in minute detail -- people need to be held accountable for certain things, and purposely rooting around in menu options is one of those things. They're saying that people are so damn dumb that they won't recall that they turned a feature on. [edit] To say nothing of the fact that the function of whatever option is supposed to be explained in the menu item itself.

Now, if you want to talk about how it would be a pain to implement it so it works well with the UI, it would look messy and clutter the screen, the developers just don't want to for their own reasons, they like the paraphrase system, and any numbers of things, I am totally with that and happy to discuss the merits of ALL of those. But what I outlined above? No.

scotty ‏@scottyartist
About to listen to #MassEffectAndromeda sound track played live for the first time... chills to be had.



scotty ‏@scottyartist
Holy shit the #DragonAgeInquisition Theme and full choir was so Epic. I feel battle ready.

Michael Gamble ‏@gamblemike
let us know how it is!

scotty ‏@scottyartist
So far, first part ended with #DAI and it made me want fight dragons and somehow want to hug everyone in the choir



scotty ‏@scottyartist
This Epic Bass is the size of 2 people.