It's more of a problem endemic to open-world games than RPGs.Then don't play RPGs.
It's more of a problem endemic to open-world games than RPGs.Then don't play RPGs.
Oh come on. He knows better than that. Laidlaw has been with BioWare for at least a decade in one capacity or another. If he can't design a game well after all that time then curtain call, please. It's not smart to create a game beyond your means, beyond your scope. Clearly they put market first and didn't worry one iota about quests; these are kindergarten-crafted designs anyone with half a brain could do. Is this all wasted talent? Or is it sloppy, inexperienced execution? I guess BioWare didn't have anyone left to hand this off to.I'm pretty optimistic on that front. Kotaku hosted a Q&A with two of the franchise's lead developers back in late March, and Mike Laidlaw in particular openly admitted to getting the balance wrong between exploration and story content. He said it was their first go at this sort of thing and he's definitely taken this particular complaint to heart.
They also mentioned being well aware of the requests for story-focused DLC, as well as using Jaws of Hakkon as a testbed for attempting to do better by the concept of open-world regions by attempting better quest flow that feels more integrated and unified.
This all should have been the gold standard going into the vanilla game itself, ideally, but it is what it is. I agree with most of the rest of your post, by the way. Well, aside from the part about the cast being second only to ME2. I'm one of those crazies who loves ME3's something fierce, too.
Well since no one seems to be noting this, i think they did a pretty excellent job with the MC. Generally respectful, lots of questioning, and very nice acting. Fem voice 2 at least.
Oh come on. He knows better than that. Laidlaw has been with BioWare for at least a decade in one capacity or another. If he can't design a game well after all that time then curtain call, please. It's not smart to create a game beyond your means, beyond your scope. Clearly they put market first and didn't worry one iota about quests; these are kindergarten-crafted designs anyone with half a brain could do. Is this all wasted talent? Or is it sloppy, inexperienced execution? I guess BioWare didn't have anyone left to hand this off to.
They coaxed sunny reviews for this lazy excuse of a game. The quests are objectively bad, the side content is objectively meaningless and it makes up a huge majority of the game. I'm not interested in what critics felt was good or bad about things which are inarguably trash. That Laidlaw got so much pushback on this area would indicate a lot of reviews being, well... Wrong.
Everything except the actual game and overall story itself was well done; audio, visuals, writing (in general) - all great. It's the completely uninspired and lazy structure of the whole thing that brings it down massively. The initial impressions DAI gives are overwhelmingly positive, and this is because the fundamental issues it has only become apparent very late in the game, when it's obvious there's nothing more to it.
Frankly, I'm disappointed that reviewers never caught on to DAI's shortcomings. There's more to a game than just production values, as DAI so triumphantly displays. Then again if it wasn't DAI winning GotY it was Shadow of Mordor, which had pretty much the opposite problems - good core gameplay, with absolutely nothing else to support it.
Bah, humbug.
I guess the game's saving grace is that Bioware finally moved on from corridors, right? Although, come to think of it, that wasn't really much of an improvement
Just because a game designer is experienced in making one type of game doesn't automatically translate to being an expert in all types of game design. The more open world is something completely new to DA, and pretty new to Bioware who have tended to make games far narrower in scope. The imbalance between exploration and narrative content is hardly something that only Bioware gets wrong, the loss of story focus is a common problem in open world.
They didn't 'coax sunny reviews'. It's a good game with flaws. Many don't like it, many do. I'm still having tons of fun with it, and enjoying the bigger quests, which are by no means objectively bad. There's too much filler, too little focus on the plot, sure, but it's hardly the horror show you and others are making it out to be. I honestly don't get the strength and bitterness of the backlash.
@jeffzero yeah I liked James, EDI and Javik too. It's pretty hard to place Bioware's casts because they're all so damned good. I think Neverwinter Nights had the only companions I was less than keen on, but even then there were exceptions (Sharwyn and Linu and that evil monk guy).
Well since no one seems to be noting this, i think they did a pretty excellent job with the MC. Generally respectful, lots of questioning, and very nice acting. Fem voice 2 at least.
DAI haters... AKA a vocal minority.
Thanks, yo. Pretty much exactly how I would have responded.
In any case BioWare is still my favorite developer. I have to hope this shift to open world won't harm their narrative capabilities, and that the issues within DAI are temporary. It is indeed a good game. Its flaws are sometimes hard for me to cope with, but yeah, I still like the story. If they can get the balance down going forward then I'll not hesitate to continue regarding them as top-tier deliverers of the types of games I most enjoy.
No big deal. Every area in the game has the same quests as the Hinterlands does, they just look different. Doing the same things in different places is Dragon Age: Inquisition's MO.I finally got around to trying this out and...
I finally understand the thread title, except for me the chore set-in about 10 minutes after I started playing. I am sorry, but the start of the game is so bland, so boring, so generic fantasy oblivion gates, so...last gen, in every meaning, that I had to force myself to get through the intro..
Got to Hinterlands, got my first share of MMO quests, and quit it. Not gonna be going back.
Witcher 3 just spoiled me completely, I have no idea what to play. I guess it's time to find new hobby until expansions come out.
I suppose Origin doesn't give refunds if I bought it months ago, huh ? :/
At least the environment graphics was kinda nice, I suppose.
No big deal. Every area in the game has the same quests as the Hinterlands does, they just look different. Doing the same things in different places is Dragon Age: Inquisition's MO.
All you do in this game is capture Logging Stands and hunt for Shards.
Party interactions were WAAAAAYYYYY too few and far between, compared to Dragon Age: Origins.I enjoyed the character interactions, but my God was this game a fucking chore to play. Just another Ubisoft-style bar-filling simulator with a forgettable story and lazy side quests.
Party interactions were WAAAAAYYYYY too few and far between, compared to Dragon Age: Origins.
I think they patched that, but I played it at launch.
Then CDPR comes along and does their first open world game and BOOM, it can be done. I'm not a fool, there's more than a few straightforward Help Us Mastah Witchah quests in TW3, but there's a lot you can't see the ending to. Characters surprise you, they reach beyond what you expect of them. And there really is no Fetch 3 Bear Asses busywork as in MMOs from a decade and a half ago, whereas Dragon Age is chock frigging full of these. It's to the brim with these. It's spilling onto its own table with these. I'm supposed to sit here and give its designers milk and cookies because oh, poor babies, they haven't made an open world game before? They can go and fucking experiment somewhere else. What next, will I get called on the floor for never having made a game myself? I've done lots of things they haven't either.Just because a game designer is experienced in making one type of game doesn't automatically translate to being an expert in all types of game design. The more open world is something completely new to DA, and pretty new to Bioware who have tended to make games far narrower in scope. The imbalance between exploration and narrative content is hardly something that only Bioware gets wrong, the loss of story focus is a common problem in open world.
They didn't 'coax sunny reviews'. It's a good game with flaws. Many don't like it, many do. I'm still having tons of fun with it, and enjoying the bigger quests, which are by no means objectively bad. There's too much filler, too little focus on the plot, sure, but it's hardly the horror show you and others are making it out to be. I honestly don't get the strength and bitterness of the backlash.
@jeffzero yeah I liked James, EDI and Javik too. It's pretty hard to place Bioware's casts because they're all so damned good. I think Neverwinter Nights had the only companions I was less than keen on, but even then there were exceptions (Sharwyn and Linu and that evil monk guy).
I played about 20 hours before i gave up. I really should try and get back into it but it's been months. And in those months i've played Witcher 3 which could make the return that much rougher.
Don't have many games i'm looking to get before Fallout 4. Probably Dishonored, and Divinity for PS4 whenever that comes out, but that's about it. So have time to waste. And there seems to be a lot of opportunity to waste time in DA:I.
My question is, how did this get so many GOTY nominations from critics?
Their job is to objectively critique games, yet when ever I come into a GAF thread the base design of this game is getting torn to shreds.
This game was obviously aimed at the mainstream, streamlined, filler quest design, simple combat, etc, but what happened critically?
My question is, how did this get so many GOTY nominations from critics?
Their job is to objectively critique games, yet when ever I come into a GAF thread the base design of this game is getting torn to shreds.
This game was obviously aimed at the mainstream (streamlined, filler quest design, simple combat, etc) but what happened critically?
A vocal minority that was always going to form no matter the quality of the game does not sprout the mythical objective critical truth.My question is, how did this get so many GOTY nominations from critics?
Their job is to objectively critique games, yet when ever I come into a GAF thread the base design of this game is getting torn to shreds.
This game was obviously aimed at the mainstream (streamlined, filler quest design, simple combat, etc) but what happened critically?
My question is, how did this get so many GOTY nominations from critics?
Their job is to objectively critique games, yet when ever I come into a GAF thread the base design of this game is getting torn to shreds.
This game was obviously aimed at the mainstream (streamlined, filler quest design, simple combat, etc) but what happened critically?
I will say, at least I was able to finish ME3, even with its random "walk by people to get fetch quest" system. Dragon Age just got too much in terms of the quest design.BioWare have been on the "game of the moment" EA design treadmill for awhile now. I feel this is their biggest failing and worst AAA game by a large margin. Give me Jade Empire any day of the week. By all means they don't have to or shouldn't make the same type of game ad nauseum, but I thought them smarter than to copy paste Everquest 1-era design..... And in a singleplayer game to boot. Surely no one wanted such a ludicrous result? Anyway, that's the nail in the coffin. They undeniably ran out of time or ideas or talent - or something - and it killed their game.
My question is, how did this get so many GOTY nominations from critics?
Their job is to objectively critique games, yet when ever I come into a GAF thread the base design of this game is getting torn to shreds.
This game was obviously aimed at the mainstream (streamlined, filler quest design, simple combat, etc) but what happened critically?
It was a great game that a vocal minority whines about.
It was a great game that a vocal minority whines about.
It is not a great game. It has well done aspects That attract people to it, but on the whole it is a badly designed mess.