Wait, what? My first post, the one you originally made a reply to, states:
"Hehe, if someone from Bethesda or BioWare had said such things, people would've butchered him for "finally admitting they're dumbing down games!". That's what he's essentially saying, even though he's trying to hide it behind "but the story isn't dumbed down"."
Yeah, I'm arguing the point. The difference being that he's ADMITTING to it, and Bioware isn't.
I'm not saying: "Great, they're dumbing it down." - I'm saying "Refreshing honesty."
I don't see any dumbing down whatsoever, as the original combat was spectacularly bad. They're apparently making it more exciting, which is a positive - and their motivation is irrelevant.
You didn't even argue the point, yet now you're claiming that everything about DA2 sounds worse than DA1, but everything about TW2 sounds better than TW1. That's the same hypocrisy that I'm talking about - CDP is being given credit for something BW would be butchered for. Had this interview been about DA2, everyone would be going crazy on how he's admitting that TW2 is going to be a dumbed down version of TW1 because it's going to be more action oriented
.
My point was that we'll never ever see Bioware being honest about this in an interview.
Yes, every single thing I've heard about W2 makes it sound better than the prequel - but that's mostly because I didn't care for the gameplay of the first game. It's the gameplay I'm talking about - as we have no idea about the quality of the story - and we can't have before release.
MOST things I've heard about DA2 sound absolutely awful, yes.
I really mean that.
I have no idea about the hypocrisy you're talking about.
You seem to be confusing action-based combat with dumbing down. I don't, it depends on the result. I can't, honestly, imagine a worse combat system than the one in W1. Oh, I can, but it would be a shock.
What they're doing that I lament, perhaps, is making it into an action-based combat system - rather than perhaps a more cerebral combat system, and that's what they're being honest about. Not that they're "dumbing it down" from W1. Well, that's not how I see it, anyway.
But the key is honesty.
The reply people tend to make is nothing short of silly: "Oh, but in TW2 they're focusing on the story!". Right, and that's not the exact same point BioWare has been trying to make: Their very reason for sticking with a premade character (just like TW) is to improve the storytelling. Again, they got butchered for such statements.
Yes, because Dragon Age was NOT just about the story. The old-school combat with a cerebral approach was a HUGE appeal to core fans. That's what they're moving away from.
No such thing is happening in The Witcher. Combat is one of the key points of critique against it, even from many of its fans. They're making it better in a way that will ALSO appeal to the masses. They're not "dumbing it down" - but they're also not "clevering it up"
But they're being upfront about WHY it's not going to be a more cerebral combat system.
I understand that people expect different things from BW and CDP, and franchises such as DA and TW, but in the interview the general trend of making more action oriented RPGs and yet people are still just nodding with understanding.
Why are you ignoring these expectations when they're at the very core of the contention?
My only point is that such understanding would simply not have been shown had it been David Gaider or some such thing.
I can only speak for myself. But I will give you my personal guarentee, that if a Bioware dude officially spoke so frankly about why they're catering to the masses- I would give pretty much the EXACT same reply. I would find it most refreshing.
