Dragon Age

[rk47]

More Orlesians to kill? YES PLEASE.

[Special J]

Might give this one a go as long as there's enough to it.  Had zero interest in getting the last one.

[Slyfeind]

Yay, Leilana! I'm more interested in this one than the previous one. I just might plunk down the whopping seven bucks for it!

[tmp]

Yeah, thinking of getting this one too. I'm curious how the full voice will work since you actually get to play as Leliana -- will they try something along lines of ME with the dialogue cinematics, and will that mean less dialogue choices? Guess will see.

[Lantyssa]

Well, it's not as if the main character ever vocalized anything in the full game...

[tmp]

Yup, there was however a mention from Leliana's VA some weeks ago how she took part in recording dialogue for a new DLC. The Darkspawn one didn't have companions speak anything, so unless that was for yet different and unannouced DLC, it'd seem the recording she did was for this Leliana thing.

[Sjofn]

Well, it's not as if the main character ever vocalized anything in the full game...

The times where you're playing people not-the-main-character have voicework, though.

[tmp]

IGN has interview regarding the new DLC as well as a trailer. This bit was interesting:

Lukas Kristjanson: We wanted a character who could play with what we've already established and still feel genuine. Leliana seemed an obvious fit, because she's a natural storyteller. We also did initial design work for several other followers—some as back-story, some as epilogue, some involving the player Grey Warden, and some not. I'm confident you'll hear about another of those soon, but Leliana's Song isn't a template for what to expect. Leliana tells a stylized tale, and while I enjoyed working with the theme, we've got a different purpose in mind for each DLC release.

also, regarding the VO:

Lukas Kristjanson: "Fully voiced" means full player-character voice over, which is something new for Dragon Age. The player takes the role of Leliana in her own story, so we have a defined character we can record, and we of course brought Corinne Kempa back for the purpose. Dialogue choices are presented as text paraphrases that lead to fully voiced lines. It's a hybrid similar to Mass Effect 2, a system I know well, and we are eager to see how it is received in this setting.

not sure about the ME-like system but on the other hand, voice. hmm.

[Tannhauser]

Yeah I'm getting this one, be interested to see how the voice work works out.  Never getting the dumb darkspawn one though.

[Ingmar]

Was it worth $5 for me to spend a couple hours punching the blood out of the regular party members with an ogre? I dunno, maybe. Cost less than a movie and I never get to punch the blood out of people at the theater.

It *was* quite short, though.

[Sjofn]

Punching out all of someone's blood is the only way the darkspawn one is even remotely tempting to me, but I'm still giving that one a pass. I dunno if I'd get this Leliana one either, I was never crazy about that character to start with. Although ... I find ORLAIS interesting. Decisions!


In other news I finally bought/played the expansion. I liked the main storyline, but it felt kinda rushed on the whole. Still, I'm glad I played it.

[tmp]

Got the Leliana DLC and finished it a while ago. About 1-2 hours worth of play. It feels like they allocated most of the budget to get the VAs and new music, as it reuses locations from the default game. They work around it though by switching the settings from daylight to night to provide some visual variety, and the end effect is interesting and fresh enough. But it's mostly the audio, the characters and the story that carries it through. Found the experience very decent overall, it's not a big add-on but very well put together; they even snuck in a cameo of character i never expected to see.

[Fordel]

So I finally started DragonAge up and easily the most glaring thing for me, especially after just finishing ME2, is my characters lack of voice. It's so weird now, I keep thinking "stop talking FOR me other NPCs!"

[sickrubik]

So I finally started DragonAge up and easily the most glaring thing for me, especially after just finishing ME2, is my characters lack of voice. It's so weird now, I keep thinking "stop talking FOR me other NPCs!"

That's probably the one thing people keep asking about with Dragon Age 2.

Oh, btw, Dragon Age 2 announced.

[Stormwaltz]

DA took a total of seven years to make, though no one seems to mention that.

I wonder how long DA2 will take?

[NiX]

EA has already been pushing a date of Feb 2, 2011.

[tmp]

EA has already been pushing a date of Feb 2, 2011.

Although they've been shrewd enough not to give any details what that date is supposed to mean i think, so that can easily wind up as the longest "countdown to teaser to trailer to announcement" evar.

I wonder what the "new visual style" is going to be like.

[tmp]

So I finally started DragonAge up and easily the most glaring thing for me, especially after just finishing ME2, is my characters lack of voice. It's so weird now, I keep thinking "stop talking FOR me other NPCs!"

That's probably the one thing people keep asking about with Dragon Age 2.

From the information released so far, you will only get to play human male or female in the sequel. I'd guess this is to allow the ME approach and provide a fully voiced protagonist.

[sickrubik]

They could do a full voice thing for other races. Mass Effect is definitely told specifically from the human perspective, since so much of it deals with how humanity is new to the 'world' as a whole, whereas Dragon Age has a much more ... open story.

[tmp]

Well, since the main character has roughly as much dialogue as rest of NPCs combined, i'd imagine there's quite a cost attached to getting that recorded 6 times (for all race/gender combinations) compared to "just" 2 with the human only pair.

[Khaldun]

Hrm. This should be interesting--if DA2 is not about darkspawn as much as it's about political infighting in the world of DA in the aftermath of the first game, well, I like that idea a lot--lets them incorporate a lot of stuff from the first game without just replaying its main narrative. If I could in one game decide to go after the corrupt monarchy because it is a failed institution, in another game work as an agent for Orlais in its efforts to reconquer its old possession, in another game defend the king/queen, and maybe in yet another go find Morrigan's godspawn and team up with him/her, well, I will be very 

[sickrubik]

Well, since the main character has roughly as much dialogue as rest of NPCs combined, i'd imagine there's quite a cost attached to getting that recorded 6 times (for all race/gender combinations) compared to "just" 2 with the human only pair.

Oh, definitely. I never said that it wouldn't be more expensive (depending on the talent, as Mr I'm In Every Game Nolan North probably commands a higher paycheck), just that from the context of the games, Mass Effect makes more sense to do this than DA does.

[Simond]

* Embark upon an all-new adventure that takes place across an entire decade and shapes itself around every decision you make.
* Determine your rise to power from a destitute refugee to the revered champion of the land.
* Think like a general and fight like a Spartan with dynamic new combat mechanics that put you right in the heart of battle whether you are a mage, rogue, or warrior.
* Go deeper into the world of Dragon Age with an entirely new cinematic experience that grabs hold of you from the beginning and never lets go.
* Discover a whole realm rendered in stunning detail with updated graphics and a new visual style.

Translation: ME2 reskin with even less freedom.

[Ingmar]

Where are you getting the 'even less freedom' part from?

[Trippy]

Probably from the cinematic part.

[eldaec]

Well, since the main character has roughly as much dialogue as rest of NPCs combined, i'd imagine there's quite a cost attached to getting that recorded 6 times (for all race/gender combinations) compared to "just" 2 with the human only pair.

Thing is, was the effort for the central freeform character ever worth a damn? With or without VO?

Personally I think you can do better either with the Shepard approach, or even by having a bunch of DA style companions, then have you pick the main character from among them part way through.

[Sjofn]

From the information released so far, you will only get to play human male or female in the sequel. I'd guess this is to allow the ME approach and provide a fully voiced protagonist.

Shit, I liked the humans least.  Most of the human female voices irritated the shit out of me, and they didn't have much to say. 

[tmp]

Thing is, was the effort for the central freeform character ever worth a damn? With or without VO?

It definitely lent to replayability -- DA is one of very few games i've played more than once, 2 to be exact with 3rd playthrough pending. And from reading their official forums seems considerable amount of people played it many more times than that -- 5-6, some even more. The different combinations of races, genders and origins added quite a bit of variety to the game, with this removed i suspect i'll get back to my usual experience with the game. That is, play it once, then maybe try it for the second time but then get bored early on. (like with ME2, ME1 i did finish twice)

speaking of official forums, people there found great enjoyment in the new character's last name being Hawke. There's high hopes default first name will be Mike.

[Lantyssa]

The main difference felt like class, with race being the origin story.  I finally beat the game with my city elf and have been going through with my noble dwarf.  I couldn't recruit my second, and that gave me a whole ten extra seconds of dialog.  (Seriously?  Three lines?  This guy was my Second and my Lover.)

Orzimmar really hasn't changed that much.  I'm betting I don't even get to pick myself nor reclaim my honor.  Which they may surprise me, but I haven't been led to believe will change.  The human noble gets to become Arl.  The commoners get to rise out of misery, take revenge in the case of the city elf, and become the hero.  I'm guessing the dwarf noble will still be exiled with no satisfactory resolution because you get to pick either your scummy brother or some noble who didn't believe you either.

[Tebonas]

Well, ultimately he becomes a Paragon if he doesn't sacrifice himself. But that would be true for the Dwarf Commoner as well.

I agree with you, Orzimmar was unsatisfactory. I wanted to win in the Arena, piss on both factions and tell them they can get bent while I declare the commoners couldn't be worse than the nobles and overthrow our system. But I guess that is how the dwarves work. Bothersome people that threaten to upset the balance get exiled or declared Paragon if they prove too resourceful or useful to abandon (and thus forget). "The dwarf that invented whatitsname? Fucking tool, we kicked him out. He was a Paragon and after his inventions he had some ideas he wanted to try in the Deep Roads. Big damn hero, we are proud of him." The system perseveres. Steady as stone.

[Goreschach]

It bothered me how the background choices in DA served to highlight how the game railroaded you through the storyline. I would have preferred the Mass Effect style of humans with full voice work.

[sickrubik]

Game Informer: Five Facts About Hawk in Dargon Age II

1. Hawke will be a voiced character.
Unlike Dragon Age: Origins, the player's character in Dragon Age II will be fully voiced. This opens the door for a more cinematic approach to dialogue and creates an identity for the character outside of the text you see on-screen. It also eliminates those awkward scenarios where you feel like your character should be reacting, but instead just stares blankly without so much as a grunt.

2. Hawke is human.
Yes, that means that you won't be able to select Hawke's race. However, just because that one aspect of Hawke's backstory is set doesn't mean BioWare is eliminating character creation. You can still choose your class and customize your appearance. When we visited BioWare's studio, we only saw (and heard) the male Hawke in action, but the team promises that players can select either gender for the character.

3. Hawke didn't just survive the blight...he escaped it.
As the Grey Warden from Dragon Age: Origins was fighting darkspawn, Hawke was living in Lothering. Fans will remember that the small village was raided and destroyed (an event that occurred off-screen in Origins), and Hawke was one of the survivors. However, rather than stay and fight the darkspawn menace, Hawke flees Ferelden and heads north.

4. Hawke is the Champion of Kirkwall.
Kirkwall is a major population center in the Free Marches, a collection of city-states north of Ferelden. This means that at least some of the action in Dragon Age II will be set in Kirkwall itself, though Hawke will also spend time in other areas of the Free Marches. What exactly Hawke does to earn the honorary title of Champion, however, is up to you.

5. Hawke drives the story.
Dragon Age II is not about killing an ancient evil or about quelling another blight; Hawke is the driving force behind the narrative. Over the course of the game's 10-year timeline, players' actions and choices will determine Hawke's history, relationships, and regrets...all in service to answering the larger question: Who is the Champion of Kirkwall?

[Sky]

First screenshot leaked, too.

[Ingmar]

I'm glad to read that it won't be in Ferelden, I want to see more of the setting.

[tmp]

The main difference felt like class, with race being the origin story.  I finally beat the game with my city elf and have been going through with my noble dwarf.  I couldn't recruit my second, and that gave me a whole ten extra seconds of dialog.  (Seriously?  Three lines?  This guy was my Second and my Lover.)

Orzimmar really hasn't changed that much.  I'm betting I don't even get to pick myself nor reclaim my honor.  Which they may surprise me, but I haven't been led to believe will change.  The human noble gets to become Arl.  The commoners get to rise out of misery, take revenge in the case of the city elf, and become the hero.  I'm guessing the dwarf noble will still be exiled with no satisfactory resolution because you get to pick either your scummy brother or some noble who didn't believe you either.

I found the origins mainly a helpful factor which added to reasoning when making choices -- it was quite natural for a city elf with very little experience of the world outside Alienage to act different from a snotty human noble or from a mage who suddenly gets free hand at exercising his powers. It made coherent multiple characters without too much overleap between them and without making me pick options in the ME manner (that is, selecting options during the second playthrough based not on what made sense for the character, but on what option i'd select during the first game)