Also, what I said isn't subjective. It would be if we were talking about tastes, and I'm not:
On Bungie's jump sequence, it conveys whatever they wanted to convey well. However, that sequence could happen without any kind of estrangement in: a movie, a comic, a video game (via cutscene)
My jump sequence would convey whatever Bungie's sequence conveys. However, it is a sequence that could happen without any kind of estrangement in: a videogame only.
That's not me saying, that's what many great minds said (the media is the message) decades ago... and makes perfect sense. Objective, logical.
Not really. It's only logical based on your initial assumptions.
It's fundamentally an artistic choice as well as a technical one. Not to mention that just cause X is a game it doesn't mean that I have to spend every second of it constantly doing something. Especially in action heavy games, short cutscenes give you a chance to rest your hand and pay attention to the story.
But even so, the fact that you didn't justify the other 2 brilliant ideas leads me to think that you found some reason on the point I was trying to make. Assuming that this particular point was a right decision (which, like I said, me and other people disagree), that still makes for 2 other time consuming tasks that didn't allow for actual game content to be done.
They weren't that bad. I know quite a few people that loved them. I guess it's a matter of what kind of game they wanted to make with what time and resources they had, and not what kind of game I or you would want. No matter what game or design process, people are gonna find something in any game to complain about claiming it should have been done better. You can't please everyone.
On the other hand, newer games have much much bigger budgets and much better tools\tech at their disposal, not to mention bigger production cycles, so it evens out in terms of cash I'd say.
And they need those. Making content has become especially costly and time consuming, since the audience has become spoiled. Everything has to be modeled, mapped and animated in high-detail these days. Not to mention it has to support a wider range of hardware.
As for DA, from what I've just read in their FaQ mainly:
a and b) They claim they have multiple ways of solving the story and that there will be consequences... from past Bioware's repertoir I'd bet my head that those things are only going to really happen in the main storyline, not the side quests. But that's speculation from my part, so let's give them the benefit of doubt.
c) 3 classes to choose from. Easier to balance the game than in Fallout
d) from the classes they mention, I'm pretty sure you won't see a diplomat or "techie" approach to solving 95% of the game. Less workload.
Given that I talk to the devs on a daily basis I can give you some more info on that.
There are 3 starting classes (Warrior, Mage, Rouge) but each has various specialization branches, skills, feats and stuff, making characters highly customizable and difficult to balance.
There are 3 starting races and a total of 6 origins:
- Mage Origin (elf or human mage)
- Human Noble (human warrior or rouge)
- Daelish elf (elven rouge or warrior)
- City Elf (elven rogue or warrior)
- Dwarven Commoner (dwarven warrior or rogue)
- Dwarven Noble ((dwarven warrior or rogue)
An origin is a introduction to the world, a long first unique chapter with quests, NPC and consequences who influence later chapters. An origin defines your family and hte place where you live and starts you towards hte main storyline. You might get a personal nemessis in that origin that will hound you later, or alies, or a whole lot of other possibilities, including different side quests later in the game.
There are multiple ending and they are fractal in nature (thing the Fallout 1&2 ending). There are various ways to end quests, peaceful ones where possible and where it makes sense.
There is no morality meter, only choice and consequences. The dominant belief is monotheistic (the Chantry, with a female pope, a.k.a. Devine, that spreads the faith in the Maker), while the Daelish elves continue worshiping the Old Gods. Dwarves practice a form of ancestor worship. Oh, there's also an Impreeail Chantry in the kingdom of Orleais, with a male Divine. The Chantry and the Imperial chantry are at odds.
There is no proof of God(s) of any kind, so it's all a matter of faith, mages are feared because of they allegedly caused the Blight.
The Circle of Mages takes all children that show magical abilities (they are inborn - you either have it or not. Warriors can't do magic) and trains them in the responsible use of magic. Their final test before they are considered true mages is the harrowing - a mental trip to the Fade, the dreamworld of a sorts, a place between here and the afterlife, where they have to resist demonic temptations.
If they fail and become possessed The Templars (military order of the Chantry) kill them. The Templars also hunt hedge wizzards (apostates, mages who were never trained by the Circle). If a mage doesn't want to take the harrowing, the only other option is to become a tranquil (all conection to the Fade and magic is striped from him. This also makes him emotionless). Tranquill and the dwarves re the only ones who make magical items, since they are the only ones who can handle ilyrium (ore used in enchanting that supposedly makes you mad or kills you if your exposed to it raw). Processed ilyrium is used to make magical weapons, enchanting and in a ritual to enter the Fade. Only dwarves can mine raw ilyrium, since they are insanely resistant to it.
The elves were supposedly immortal and had large kingdoms before the coming of man. They lost their imortality after the Old Gods abandoned them for some reason and their kingdoms fell, conquered by humans. That happened roughly the same time human mages from the Tewinter Imperium tried to open a portal to heaven and usurp it, thus allegedly causing the Blight. Given that all of that happened a long time ago, no one knows exactly what happened, nor if the elves really were immortal back then. They now have a lifespan similar to humans. Elves are second class citizens and live in alianages in human cities, or in the woods among the Dalish clans. Daelish elves are nomadic, follow hte old religion and each carries a tatoo that symbolises his patron god. They travel in search of old elven ruins, looking for old knowledge and lore.
The Dwarves have a caste system and a honour system. Nobility is looked up to and have great power and are involved in constant political scheemings. Dwarves that do not belong to a house are considered unworthy and are all tatooed to mark them as such. They carve their living by doing the lowest jobs, steal or beg.
Dwarves that live on the surface are also looked down upon. The greatest of dwarven hearoes are called Paragons. They are revered by all dwarves and any house that stems from a paragon enjoyes great power. During the first Blight, the dwarvs lost a big chink of their empire to the sudden attacks. The Paragon that collapsed the tunels and sealed the city of Ozrammar from the rest of the kingdom, and thus saved it formed the house that currenlty rules the city.
there..a bit of extra info for ya.
