Dragon Age 2 - David Gaider Interview @ Geek and Sundry

Bioware senior and lead writer, David Gaider was interviewed by Geek and Sundry. In the very long, but very good interview Gaider taks about the artistic integrety debate as well as the way Bioware actually makes the games. He mentions that the writers are narrative designers e.g. being responsible for making quest and the story in the game. Also discussed are the romances in Bioware's games - and much more.
Link to the interview at youtube.
More information.

Half an hour of mutton-face girl and David Gaider talking about Dragon Age 2, I dare anyone to stomach it to the end.

Your opinion of the interviewers physical appearance matters because… what? Did you mistake this as a porn clip and you had a hard time keeping it up? How is that kind of comment even remotely relevant?

Ah darkling strikes again to defend Bioware with his holy keyboard. Fear him and tremble.

Originally Posted by darkling
Your opinion of the interviewers physical appearance matters because… what? Did you mistake this as a porn clip and you had a hard to keeping it up? How is that kind of comment even remotely relevant?

Felicia Day makes money off her image as some horrible gurlgamer sex symbol for nerds so yes I'd say her looks are open for criticism, much like David Gaider and Jennifer Hepler's writing and design choices should be open for criticism, but not their looks.

In a thread about a necrophiled horse of a topic I'd say expressing my distaste for the game, the interviewee, the interviewer and the interview itself in one short sentence is still more relevant than some non-sequitur about the turgidity of my penis, you poof.

I can't believe David Gaider would talk about artistic integrity when he doesn't even know what it means anymore. (if he ever did)

Gamergurl: Bioware romance romance romance romance.
Gaider: Yes, I write romance!
Gamergurl: Romance romance fantastic writing romance.
Gaider: Yes, that's right!
Gamergurl: Bioware romance romance romance romance.
Gaider: Yes, I write romance!
Gamergurl: Romance romance fantastic writing romance.
Gaider: Yes, that's right!
Gamergurl: Bioware romance romance romance romance.
Gaider: Yes, I write romance!
Gamergurl: Romance romance fantastic writing romance.
Gaider: Yes, that's right!

They keep going like that for 30 mins?

I watched the whole thing. (yes, I was bored and had nothing better to do.) Its basically a fan girl of Bioware asking silly and obvious questions to David Gaider and then making obvious reactions to his answers. It can be safely skipped, nothing interesting. Unless you are a "super" fan boy/girl of the Dragon Age universe or something like that I suppose. (They kept mentioning characters by name and talked as if they are intimately familiar with them, whereas even though I played the first Dragon Age game, I found the characters to be very forgettable.)

I'm surprised at the level of hatred in this web page for Bioware — and only Bioware — games. When you enjoy a niche it is counter-productive to haterize … oh forget it no-one who hates is going to care what I say anyway.

Can't people allow fanboyz like me to enjoy what we enjoy without pillorying it with ridiculous hatred?

Arkadia7, good post. Thank you for helping me skip what is apparently a boring interview. (I am not being sarcastic, I feel that your post is right on point unlike the other ones which are mostly just haterade.) I'm out, this is not fun to me.

Originally Posted by NFLed
I'm surprised at the level of hatred in this web page for Bioware — and only Bioware — games. When you enjoy a niche it is counter-productive to haterize … oh forget it no-one who hates is going to care what I say anyway.

It's too mainstream for RPG hipsters.

Originally Posted by KapitanUnterhosen
Felicia Day makes money off her image as some horrible gurlgamer sex symbol for nerds so yes I'd say her looks are open for criticism, much like David Gaider and Jennifer Hepler's writing and design choices should be open for criticism, but not their looks.

Females and the gaming industry: if she's not pretty, nobody is interested in her except to make fun of her. If she's pretty, everyone will make a big deal out of her looks, which means she's making a coureer by being pretty which means everyone is entitled to make fun of her.

Why is it so hard to people to act like human beings towards each other on the Internet?

Originally Posted by guenthar
I can't believe David Gaider would talk about artistic integrity when he doesn't even know what it means anymore. (if he ever did)

How come? Neither Mass Effect 3 nor the re-use of DAIIs assets were his fault. What's he done?

I watched the interview and it wasn't really about DAII. More like Gaider's general opinions on writing characters, in-game romance, and fandom. Most of it has been covered on previous interviews, but there were a few new tidbits as well.

Originally Posted by NFLed
I'm surprised at the level of hatred in this web page for Bioware — and only Bioware — games. When you enjoy a niche it is counter-productive to haterize … oh forget it no-one who hates is going to care what I say anyway.
…

It have turned rather silly and somewhat sad with all the bashing.

Im not thrilled by the direction Bioware is going but for some it seems like a personal grudge.

Maybe some oldtimers feel betrayed by BW and that explains the constant venom?
There is less civil discussion now.

Im out.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Ah darkling strikes again to defend Bioware with his holy keyboard. Fear him and tremble.

Eh? All I see in this case is darkling defending a woman's right not to be judged by her looks.
And I happen to agree.

Actually, I'll go much further. The moment somebody makes a comment about a person's appearance, they disqualify themselves as hopelessly shallow and unworthy of attention.

Five words into his post, with his snide "mutton-face girl" remark, KapitanUnterhose places himself squarely in that very, very large category of people on the Internet who probably have nothing interesting to say.

The woman wasn't being judged by her looks - her looks were merely mentioned.

Originally Posted by Raggie
How come? Neither Mass Effect 3 nor the re-use of DAIIs assets were his fault. What's he done?

Because he retcons a lot and then gives "suck it up, princess" responses on the BioWare Social forum. For example, look at how he handled Leliana. If you killed her in DA:O she reappears rather alive in DA2. When asked on the forums why this had been done, he said something like (paraphrasing) 'just because you killed her doesn't mean she's dead.' And changes entire personalities - look at how Anders morphed from a witty rogue in DAA to emo terrorist nutjob in DA2. And changes entire races - see how the Qunari were reinvented from DA:O to DA2. Not built upon, but reinvented. Lots of integrity from everyone!

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Ah darkling strikes again to defend Bioware with his holy keyboard. Fear him and tremble.

Made me laugh so hard

Mr Smiley, you must be one ugly duckling

Originally Posted by Mr Smiley
Actually, I'll go much further. The moment somebody makes a comment about a person's appearance, they disqualify themselves as hopelessly shallow and unworthy of attention.

The moment a serious RPG company allows a person to write and star in a game (MoTA), whose main attribute is their appearance (and perceived sexual appeal to a target demographic), then that fact, imho, makes such a person's appearance a legitimate topic of discussion - be it praise or criticism. This is, after all, what BioWare intended by making Talis a carbon copy of Felicia Day.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
The woman wasn't being judged by her looks - her looks were merely mentioned.

So "mutton-face" is merely descriptive? An objective obeservation? It doesn't matter. Since her looks are irrelevant, KapitanUnterhose disqualifies himself all the same.

Originally Posted by borcanu
Mr Smiley, you must be one ugly duckling

Making things personal is another way of disqualifying yourself. It's very common on the Internet. You try to discuss me instead of my opinion. Probably because you have nothing interesting to say about the matter at hand.

For the record: The interview was boring and Dragon Age II is a bad game.

Originally Posted by Gaxkang
The moment a serious RPG company allows a person to write and star in a game (MoTA), whose main attribute is their appearance (and perceived sexual appeal to a target demographic), then that fact, imho, makes such a person's appearance a legitimate topic of discussion - be it praise or criticism. This is, after all, what BioWare intended by making Talis a carbon copy of Felicia Day.

You may of course discuss a person's appearance. But unless it's in the context of a beauty contest, the fact that you do will make people like me think less of you.

KapitanUnterhose made a comment about the interviewer, not about some game character. And I know nothing about MoTA or Talis; Dragon Age II was so bad that I haven't bothered taking in any information about any DLC.