aries100
SasqWatch
As for BG2, I do somewhat agree with Bioware. I had to force myself to finish the game, and then force myself to finish Throne of Bhaal. [I only beat ToB last year...] The game still suffers from the combat features that newer Bioware games and rpg games like Witcher 1 and Witcher 2 does: build up to the boss battle that consists of fairly easy to beat enemies, be the humans and monsters, and the boss battle itself, which is nearly impossible to do. In BG2; I actually had to cheat with CTRL+Y to defeat the shape-shifting dragon, Abizigail, I think the name was?
As for DA2's faults, I remember Laidlaw admitting (if you know how to read between the lines) that maybe, just maybe the whole re-use of environments was not that great an idea, and Luke Barret has commented on the whole wave combat as well as made thread about it. In these threads he asked the fans how they would like to see waves done in future, if at all. Most of us, myself answered, that the use of waves are fine, it is just their implementation, design and execution that are - ahem- a bit off.
People keep comparing DA2 to the Witcher games so I will continue this -ahem- trend:
In Witcher 1's combat, there are also waves, they don't just appear so because you have maybe 1 wraith waiting for you, then two more will suddenly appear from the ground. If Bioware want to do combat waves, this, imo, is how it should be done.
As for the re-use of areas, I don't know, since I haven't played the game yet. However, my local Gamestop has DA2 on sale for about 178 DKK (that's about 22 Euros or 36 US Dollars) so I'll probably buy it when I get paid next time.
As to who decided these things, development time, money and resources allocated (given) to the project, my guess would the 'powers that be' in both EA and Bioware, meaning JR (as in John Ricitiello), Ray and Greg, Fernando Melo, the senior producer at Bioware and the Project Director for DA2, Dan Tudge. My educated is that they have seen how successfull the CoD games are, and then this thougt appeared 'hey, if we got 1/10 of the CoD gamers, we would be rolling in millions of dollars.' Unfortunately, as I have stated elsewhere and here, I don't think this is gonna happen - if people (like me) want to play a CoD game, they'll buy, and play, such a game. If they want to play an RPG, they go to Bioware, CD Project RED, Piranha Bytes etc.
Mike Laidlaw as the Lead Designer probably is the one to hold responsible for the actual design decisions. However, my educated guess is that he had very little leeway in what he could do - he had to follow the instructions set from above pretty much. And JR did mention at one time that he really liked Jade Empire; this could explain the manga cartoons, the manga art design and the manga art work. The dialogue wheel, I don't know, but I think it works well. The faster phased combat - probably Ray, Greg, JR, Dan Tudge and Fernando Melo who did come out and say 'we want the CoD audience.'
Bioware probably hoped that at least some of the CoD audience would try and like DA2 (solely) because of the combat. However, there's much more to DA2 as an RPG than combat; there's quests, dialogues, character building and so on.
As for DA2's faults, I remember Laidlaw admitting (if you know how to read between the lines) that maybe, just maybe the whole re-use of environments was not that great an idea, and Luke Barret has commented on the whole wave combat as well as made thread about it. In these threads he asked the fans how they would like to see waves done in future, if at all. Most of us, myself answered, that the use of waves are fine, it is just their implementation, design and execution that are - ahem- a bit off.
People keep comparing DA2 to the Witcher games so I will continue this -ahem- trend:
In Witcher 1's combat, there are also waves, they don't just appear so because you have maybe 1 wraith waiting for you, then two more will suddenly appear from the ground. If Bioware want to do combat waves, this, imo, is how it should be done.
As for the re-use of areas, I don't know, since I haven't played the game yet. However, my local Gamestop has DA2 on sale for about 178 DKK (that's about 22 Euros or 36 US Dollars) so I'll probably buy it when I get paid next time.
As to who decided these things, development time, money and resources allocated (given) to the project, my guess would the 'powers that be' in both EA and Bioware, meaning JR (as in John Ricitiello), Ray and Greg, Fernando Melo, the senior producer at Bioware and the Project Director for DA2, Dan Tudge. My educated is that they have seen how successfull the CoD games are, and then this thougt appeared 'hey, if we got 1/10 of the CoD gamers, we would be rolling in millions of dollars.' Unfortunately, as I have stated elsewhere and here, I don't think this is gonna happen - if people (like me) want to play a CoD game, they'll buy, and play, such a game. If they want to play an RPG, they go to Bioware, CD Project RED, Piranha Bytes etc.
Mike Laidlaw as the Lead Designer probably is the one to hold responsible for the actual design decisions. However, my educated guess is that he had very little leeway in what he could do - he had to follow the instructions set from above pretty much. And JR did mention at one time that he really liked Jade Empire; this could explain the manga cartoons, the manga art design and the manga art work. The dialogue wheel, I don't know, but I think it works well. The faster phased combat - probably Ray, Greg, JR, Dan Tudge and Fernando Melo who did come out and say 'we want the CoD audience.'
Bioware probably hoped that at least some of the CoD audience would try and like DA2 (solely) because of the combat. However, there's much more to DA2 as an RPG than combat; there's quests, dialogues, character building and so on.
