Dragon Age 2 - News Roundup #4

[Rain Brinson]

It really wasn't my intention to attack anyone (as I believe I said in the post itself) - if anything, I am sympathetic to Mr. Gaider's position, and don't actually fault him (or any other individual) for "betrayal" of RPG Principles Most Pure (TM).

Just got a bit nostalgic after reading those quotes... I guess I was really excited about the stuff Biowarites were writing on those old DA forums (years before even DAO was released), and couldn't resist commenting... Oh, well

(tips hat)

 

[Dhruin]

Now you made me feel bad.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

NWN was out before the first drakensang, which ironically looks almost identical to NWN engine.

Uh ? Are you crazy ? I've played NWN and in no way it looked similar to Drakensang !

 

[rune_74]

Uh ? Are you crazy ? I've played NWN and in no way it looked similar to Drakensang !

Um, I didn't say it was identical…but look at the game…it uses the same style of gameplay. The difference is that it uses the dark eye ruleset, you are totally dreaming if you don't think they look very similar. Yes drakensang uses different graphics, but the over control /engine is very similar if a lot more limited on drakensangs side.

 

[Rain Brinson]

Now you made me feel bad.

Uhm, that's... not exactly what a guy fresh out of lurking wants to hear in reply to his first post?

Anyway, I think quoting those old posts was a really strong point - not in joining either the Bioware bashers or the fanboys or the viciously gleeful schadenfreude crowd or the furry romance lovers - but simply as an objective sort of "historical document".

On one side, we have "what the game was supposed to be" (as quoted by the makers themselves); on the other hand, there's the reality of the game (or as much of it as can be glimpsed from the demo, which should be enough to extrapolate).

Everything else written about the topic recently (is anybody comparing the commentary word count with the game's word count yet?) for me just sort of fades away into the background compared to this simple fact. That's it

 

[MasterKromm]

It's not like you can hold it against the guy… Everyone has to make a living.

I just found it interesting that he was, and perhaps still is, "HC" when it comes to his RPG preferences(IE what he would enjoy playing for himself). It would be nice if the suits that run the show decided truer to form RPGs weren't radioactive or toxic. I would wager that, within the dev community, there is a subconsciously shared vision beyond the stereotypical boobies/gore/melodramatic teenage drama/actiony combat/ect that permeates the genre. I also think, that there exists a market for such a vision…

Not to be inflammatory, but I think some people tend to jump the gun when it comes to defending against perceived slights… The criticism(or at least mine) is leveled at the publishers and perhaps Bioware's bigwigs, not any individual writer, programmer, artist, ect. To criticize Gaider or guys/gals like him would be idiotic, in some ways they're very much like us.

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I have to agree with rune here… In what way, shape or form has Bioware borrowed from Drakensang? The games felt very different(IMO).

-EDIT-

*Clarification* I thought Alrik was comparing drakensang to DA:O… Yes, Drakensang did have a (somewhat) NWN2 feel to it. Though I had no idea that Radon Labs was inspired by Bioware!

 

[rune_74]

I think drakensangs engine looks similar to the NWN engine in the way it's controlled/looks, obviously a bit inferior though since it misses many of the features that NWN engine has.

You also know the witcher used the aurora engine….which was used for nwn

NWN 2 was reelased in 2006, drakensang 2008….it is a good thing that Bioware used their time machine to steal info for their game, or man where would they be now?

 

[Dhruin]

OK, OK, I jumped the gun on the developer "attacks" - apologies!

Re Drakensang vs NWN2, it's a point of fact that Drakensang were inspired by BioWare. From the beginning, they were marketed as "Baldur's Gate in 3D". This is clearly also the sort of vibe NWN2 was aiming for.

 

[Rain Brinson]

No worries. I think everybody is a bit strained to handle the sheer amount of irrational ruckus DA2 has managed to generate... I mean, it was enough to finally kick me out of lurking