Mike Laidlaw: We Stripped Stuff Because Origins "Was Busted"
~~ 我們刪除某些元素因為 闇龍紀元 序章 是失敗的 !
我只知道如果 DA3再交給他製作 或是照著目前 DA2 的方向開發，
那好不容易建立的 Dragon Age 系列就可以開始拿紙箱整理了。
Bioware is definitely one of the better companies on this score,
all the more impressive given that they're a major developer...but they
could do more. Summarising the pieces of feedback they've heard and
indicating what they feel does and doesn't need changing would go a long
way to helping people know that they really are listening, without
having to wait for the cast iron proof of a future release.
Oh, and to go some distance toward what you want and look at some hot-button items:
1. Area Re-use.
An obvious problem, and one we are keenly aware of. Not an intentional
issue, and certainly not "by design" but something that happened and
needs to be addressed. Players should not have to accept that Cave A is
also Caves B through D. While -some- assets will be reused in the course
of any game (and should be, otherwise games would simply be too
expensive to create), they should be done so with considerably more
discretion. In retrospect, I probably should have just cut content to
reduce the re-use, but that's a tough call to make in the moment.
2. "Wave" combats
When everyone talks about how it's raining men in DAII, there's clearly
something wrong. Simple problem: waves were introduced as a mechanic
and overused without enough time to tune them. Fan reaction prompted us
to start making adjustments to the system pretty much immediately, and
Legacy demonstrates the start of the result. I am amused when people
note that waves are "gone" from Legacy. They're actually there, just
done much better. So, yes, the bad waves are gone. Still more work to
do, but a good start.
3. Impact of choice
We knew we
were taking a risk making a story about a major even in Thedas that was
pretty much going to happen, and reaction has been very mixed. While
some folks love the "sound of inevitability" that pervades DAII, there
are a number of weak spots in the impact they feel they should have on
the world. Fair point. If we're going to offer you a decision, it should
matter. Easy fix would be to cut decisions, but that's not what DA is
about, so we're going to have to get better about clear impact of those
decisions within the same game you're currently playing. Addressable,
but not within a DLC, as they are pretty self-contained items.
4. Follower customization
A mixed bag. Lots of folks liked unique looks for followers. Many more
hated losing the ability to put new platemail on Aveline. Completely
understandable, and likely aggrivated by finding platemail that your
mage character would likely never be able to equip. Needs to change, but
we'll cement how before talking in detail. Also not really addressable
in a DLC, as there would be fundamental changes to the core game needed,
which goes beyond the scope of what a DLC can deliver.
There's more issues out there, for sure, but those are some that I'm comfortable talking about at this point.
(...)
i
do not want it to die, but i also don't know if i'm fully compeled by
the way it's going right now, and that is why i try hard for my voice to
be heard.
And it has been.
Up until Legacy,
though, I don't think anyone would have believed me if I'd said we were
going to take it into account. A lot of people on this forum had built
up a grand conspiracy theory where we were deliberately stripping RPG
out of Dragon Age because we are MEAN.
I've said it before, and
I will say it again: we stripped some stuff out of DA becuase it was
busted. Other stuff was simply a design choice, and some of it was
circumstance. There is no way you guys could know exactly what falls on
what side of that triangle, and as devs we are not always able to be
crystal clear on that kind of thing, especially immediately after a
controversial game launch when the community was so far out for blood
that they took my suggestion that setting a game that was too easy to a
higher difficulty might be a good call was some sort of gigantic,
egotistical middle finger to the entire fanbase. That was not a time for
reasonable discussion, clearly.
Now is the time. And I'm still very
interested to hear what you folks have to say (unless it is a demand
for gameplay videos before we announce anything, that is. ;) ), and we
are still working on the formula. If I'm going to piss you guys off,
it's going to be because I still firmly believe that RPGs do need to be
more accessible to new players. Not dumbed down, not "consolized"
(whatever that means. There are insanely complex games on the console),
not diminished, but made less imposing and less terrifying to new
players. In part because I want more people to play Dragon Age, and in
part because there have been a lot of improvements in gameplay and UI
design in the past 15 years, and we can learn from them.
So on
that point, I'm sure we can all agree to disagree, so long as the end
product is more choice-driven, offers more "twiddle" to the player's
experience in terms of equipment, offers satisfying, constructed
encounters and a deep story. DAII clearly didn't deliver on all fronts
for you guys. For some it did, but I'm truly, deeply cognizant of the
parts that are weak, and while we're not going to agree on everything,
there's a game out there that's better than both Origins and DAII, and
I'll be damned if the talented folks of the DA team can't find it.
落落長一段多半是為 DA2 在銷量跟口碑上都不盡理想而開脫，並針對玩家提出來的不滿之處狡辯。
遊戲粗糙可以用增加開發時間來彌補，但遊戲方針走偏，卻是成功與失敗的分水嶺，
搞不清楚到底是哪些人在玩你的遊戲嗎? 做好翻譯跟配音這種"本土化"工作還不是一樣可以把餅做大。
不相信?? 看看人家 CD Projekt Red 的 Witcher 2 。
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