Dragon Age

[Sky]

Yeah, they really got it right in ME2, going for more good cop/bad cop rather than good guy/bad guy. Mel Gibson or Danny Glover, I guess. The puppy kicking was never very convincing, but when I finished my Paragon play-through of ME2, I was pissed I couldn't find my install disc for ME1 to do a Renegade play-through of both games.

[Khaldun]

ME2 got the jackass choices right. It wasn't like KOTOR with kicking puppies or stomping on old ladies; they genuinely made you want to use the renegade stuff even when you were aiming for a righteous do-gooder. The dialogue breaks make all the difference in that regard.

My favorite moment was the part when I broke into the tower during the quest to get the assassin, and I sneak up on a henchmen who's on the horn with his other henchmen talking about how easy it's going to be to take me on. I tell him he's busted and demand that he gives up the intel on his boss. He essentially told me to go fuck myself, and right as he's doing that, the renegade dialogue break pops up. I'd been the do-gooder all game, but I just couldn't help myself. I tossed his smug ass off the building.

The best part was after that, from behind Jacob says, "I guess we don't need to read him his rights."  

I did the same thing on my Paragon run. Which, yes, means that they made the hardass choice narratively irresistable rather than just being a dickface. Which is the way to go. I also liked that the Dudley Do-Right choices weren't usually "Gosh, we can't do that, that's not nice" but instead were often a different flavor of pragmatism.

[tmp]

more dev info on dialogues

From what I've been told, Dragon Age 2 won't feature a morality meter, and will be using the dialogue wheel from Mass Effect as opposed to Origins's traditional stacked responses. Mass Effect's wheel generally puts the Paragon responses on top of the wheel and the Renegade options on the bottom. I'm wondering, will this be applied to Dragon Age? I know that Origins featured plenty of grey situations where the "good" and "bad" options weren't clear, so I'm wondering whether Hawke's responses will be split into "good", "bad" and "neutral" or whether a response's position on the wheel has no bearing on what the response is. Is the wheel merely a slick interface with limited options to facilitate the game's VA, or will it be used to categorise responses?

We tend to put similar types of responses in the same area-- just the same as we did in DAO (perhaps you didn't notice, I don't know). But, no, we aren't splitting responses into good/bad/neutral or anything like that.

[Sky]

I also liked that the Dudley Do-Right choices weren't usually "Gosh, we can't do that, that's not nice" but instead were often a different flavor of pragmatism.

Really more for the ME2 thread, but I agree. The whole Krogan/Salarian thing was just so well-done, I actually had to sit and think about my responses trying to roleplay a Paragon in those situations. Having Mordin as one of my regular team members tightened that up a bit, too. As a renegade I think it might have been easier just to John McClane my way through it, but trying to play as a paladin-archetype, it was really difficult.

I'd lean on the side of not having blue/red text and just having it greyed out if not available due to alignment. The blue text often became a 'press button, receive paragon points' exercise, despite trying to put a roleplaying spin on my conversations.

[Paelos]

I like the idea of the Dragon Age world mostly being choices in a shady grey, rather than being able to do instantly see the good/bad in huge flashing lights. I also would like to see more things like in ME2 / The Witcher where you think you were making the right choice, only to find out you were duped by an evil person.

[eldaec]

DA was all about who approves or disapproves. You can't really put that on a wheel anyway.

[Ingmar]

I also liked that the Dudley Do-Right choices weren't usually "Gosh, we can't do that, that's not nice" but instead were often a different flavor of pragmatism.

Really more for the ME2 thread, but I agree. The whole Krogan/Salarian thing was just so well-done, I actually had to sit and think about my responses trying to roleplay a Paragon in those situations. Having Mordin as one of my regular team members tightened that up a bit, too. As a renegade I think it might have been easier just to John McClane my way through it, but trying to play as a paladin-archetype, it was really difficult.

I'd lean on the side of not having blue/red text and just having it greyed out if not available due to alignment. The blue text often became a 'press button, receive paragon points' exercise, despite trying to put a roleplaying spin on my conversations.

I always kind of figured the blue/red was more due to the fact that there's so little room for your reply to have a description on the little wheel that they needed a way to tell you 'this is the special reply you have unlocked and it's the mean one'.

I think if I were a writer, I'd probably prefer the DA method. Some of the best lines they write are responses that most people will probably never pick, and in a game where you don't hear the actual lines of dialog unless someone actually picks them, that means that a lot of people will never hear some of that good stuff.

As an interface/general gaming sort of thing, I like both in their way and I'm not sure I have a strong preference.

[Morat20]

As long as there are verbal bitchslaps like "Elves are a lithe people who excel at poverty", I'll probably play it. Especially if they're aimed at the player for going too far one way or the other.

[tmp]

Some more artwork by the looks of it

[Ingmar]

The evil stripper heels on that 4th5th picture =  

[tmp]

Hah, i didn't notice. May be because she also has spikey feet in her 4th picture form, too.

[Lum]

Nice to see Bayonetta got work.

[caladein]

That's a perfectly fine piece of concept art, ruined by stripper heels .

Really though, Dragon Age has never been a terribly classy IP...

[Lum]

How dare you say th...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SuJ5T9sfAA

oh.
 

[AutomaticZen]

Larger ass screenshots.

[tmp]

Can't help it, i keep expecting to see that ogre break out into "I'm just a sweet transvestite" song and dance...

[NiX]

So, it looks like Dragon Age. Cool... I think.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Good to see anime weapons making an introduction. 

[Ironwood]

Eh ?

[Paelos]

Good to see anime weapons making an introduction. 

The sword is a large 2her, but by no means THAT bad.

[Segoris]

Good to see anime weapons making an introduction. 

The sword is a large 2her, but by no means THAT bad.

^ This. It is a little bit wide and has a saw edge on part of it, but that's it. I think the sword in the concept art fits the DA setting really well.

[sickrubik]

Fantasy swords have always had a certain amount of crazy anyway.

[Lakov_Sanite]

This is how it starts people, just watch the shoulderpads!

[tmp]

Good to see anime weapons making an introduction. 

The sword is a large 2her, but by no means THAT bad.

^ This. It is a little bit wide and has a saw edge on part of it, but that's it. I think the sword in the concept art fits the DA setting really well.

That particular sword is lifted directly from the first game. It's qunari sword if i remember right.

And heck, they had oversized weapons in the first game too for that matter. Maybe to go with oversized hands but not big fan of it, personally.

[Segoris]

I didn't realize that was from the first one, guess it fits in DA more than I realized

Admittedly, I'm also not a fan of that sword in particular but I just think the "anime" comment didn't belong here.

[Sjofn]

This is how it starts people, just watch the shoulderpads!

This totally made me laugh. 

FIRST THEY EMBIGGENED THE SWORDS AND I SAID NOTHING

[Sky]

Reminds me of a quote Lum linked from a linkedin on his blog about a civ mmo...anyway, corporate culture meme and whatnot:

The team also developed an iconic visual style for the game which took the IP in a bold new direction that was designed to favor low system requirements and attract players familiar with highly stylized Asian-inspired MMO’s.

How much you think that sentence has been passed around the last few years? Dmart should copypasta it for that shit mmo he "works on".

[Bunk]

I installed a Diablo style loot randomizer mod for DA recently - it's really quite fun. The loot is totally random in both enchantments and the models used, so every possible weapon or armor model in the game can show up.

The result, is my dinky little Elf rogue using a "long sword" that was clearly a model intended for the bigger darkspawn types to use. The bloody hilt is bigger around than her shin. Looks cool though. 

[tmp]

Couple more screenshots in article on german game site, by the looks of it.

http://www.gamestar.de/_misc/images/original.cfm?pk=2119685
http://www.gamestar.de/_misc/images/original.cfm?pk=2119686

not sure if this was the best location to try and show off the new "super hot" graphics...

[rk47]

Looks bad. The weapons model, what is the function of that darkspawn curved sword, very awkward and unnecessary.

[veredus]

I installed a Diablo style loot randomizer mod for DA recently - it's really quite fun. The loot is totally random in both enchantments and the models used, so every possible weapon or armor model in the game can show up.

The result, is my dinky little Elf rogue using a "long sword" that was clearly a model intended for the bigger darkspawn types to use. The bloody hilt is bigger around than her shin. Looks cool though. 

You have a link handy to that mod? Sounds awesome. Or at least remember which mod site you found it on?

[Ingmar]

Looks bad. The weapons model, what is the function of that darkspawn curved sword, very awkward and unnecessary.

It's pretty much a khopesh:

[schild]

I don't care that it's missing shaders, etc. It looks awful. And sounds more awful.

Dragon Age 2, that is.

[Hawkbit]

I'm glad someone finally said it...  I strongly prefer DA1 graphics, uncanny valley and all.

[kildorn]

.. did they fire all their artists? Or is this build not using the final rendering engine?

Beyond anything on the art direction, the actual images are jagged and angular as shit. Those have to be placeholders/not the final models.