Dragon Age - Preview @ RPS

Originally Posted by kalniel
So to get this straight.. you want shiny graphics (to draw some people in), deep non-linear complexity (for others), develop in half the time, and somehow also descrease production costs..! Will it also make my tea for me in the mornings?

I don't want nothing, first of all… if it were for me we'd use Deus Ex kind of 3d tech, or the infinity engine, or Fallout 1 engine until the sun dies.

as for the halved developing times and costs, if you read carefully, i mention it as the result of the utilization of old cheap engines(like the aforementioned DE, or Bloodlines ones), that since they're old they require little maintenance, testing and payment.

but for the rest, yes, there MAY BE a compromise of shiny graphics and non-linear complexity… as seen in Empire:TW and The Witcher, provided we consider those games DEEP enuff.

But again i repeat, if it were for me i'd use 2d engines.

Have you played Geneforge 5? Meets every criteria there: deep, 2D, cheap, fast development.

2d definitely has it's charm, I wouldnt change the original bgs or fallouts for anything, but somthing to be said for 3d. Even if it's only morrowind or gothic-grade, 3d makes for a fun virtual world to explore.

@Skaven - hope i didnt hurt your feelings too badly there, matey! Somedays i just wake up on the wrong side of the coffin. You know I love ya man! (in the most beer-swigging, sock-in-the-arm, ultra-manly, non-homoerotic way possible of course)

Just one last note here to point to a link showing the E3 presentation in question:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video….7958654&ref=mf

No idea if that was the same presenter, of course, but this does give anyone who's interested a chance to judge for themselves.

Peace,

Dave

Not too bad, I enjoyed it.

That video certainly wasn't too bad. I like the dragon fight. I also like the general look of the characters (including armor, weapons and so on).

It's fairly obvious the whole love thing is stripped of its context. It seems much more BG2ish than The Witcher (where Geralt would get laid seemingly at random from time to time). I always liked Viconia (she actually wasn't head-over-heels in love with the main hero from the start of the adventure simply because he was a hero), so hopefully we'll see something similar.

Originally Posted by Maylander
That video certainly wasn't too bad. I like the dragon fight. I also like the general look of the characters (including armor, weapons and so on).

It's fairly obvious the whole love thing is stripped of its context. It seems much more BG2ish than The Witcher (where Geralt would get laid seemingly at random from time to time). I always liked Viconia (she actually wasn't head-over-heels in love with the main hero from the start of the adventure simply because he was a hero), so hopefully we'll see something similar.

the best part of the whole thing is that they say you can make peace with the dragon lady and turn against one of your guys.

And hopefully other mid-level possibilities.

wow, imagine that. Looked pretty cool.

Ok, the voice acting of Morrigan was pretty akward in several places, but the rest was bearable to good. The fight looked nice - which of course doesn't really tell us how well it plays, as they basically just stayed in RT the whole time. The hints at multiple paths and consequences of course goes down well. Still altogether I came away with a significantly more positive impression than the RPS guy.

Yeah, the combat looked cool, and also pretty promising gameplay/tactics/character-development-wise. Nice bit about the giant spider, if that actually represents a useful tactic rather than just showing off.

But Morrigan… :facepalm:

Originally Posted by Dgaider
No idea if that was the same presenter, of course, but this does give anyone who's interested a chance to judge for themselves.

Not much better than RPS', I'm afraid. Morrigan's voice acting is atrocious, you could use the way she says "I'm glad you were able to find it after all" as a voice acting study in the difference between acting and just reading your lines. And the dialogue leading up to the tent sex actually did make me laugh out loud, even seeing it coming. Liliana, meanwhile, sounds like she's swallowed her tongue, so no wonder RPS was unimpressed by that performance, and her "I thought you said she didn't mean anything to you" is possibly even worse than Morrigan's bad line. Also, what's with her lips? Did a bee sting her or something?

Combat looks fairly cool. Epic, if nothing else. It's a good thing I know it's RTwP, 'coz I wouldn't want to play it in hectic RT mode switching between team-mates like that, but with a pause function it should be ok.

Originally Posted by Dgaider
Just one last note here to point to a link showing the E3 presentation in question:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video….7958654&ref=mf

No idea if that was the same presenter, of course, but this does give anyone who's interested a chance to judge for themselves.

Peace,

Dave

I enjoyed it, too - sort of…. anyway, thanks Dave

But why does Morrigan speak High British when she is from the Korcari Wilds and has been raised by her mother, Flemeth? Wouldn't she then more have an accent and a dialect more similar to Flemeth, her mother ?

And Leliana's accent, supposed to be French? is a mockery, I find and I think, to the French accent made famous by Maurice Chevalier…. It is not near the accent found in a tv-series like 'Allo Allo - secret army'.

Those voices are just beyond ridiculous.

They were not really made by real voice "actors", were they?
Text to speech voice generators all the way.

If I buy the game I´ll make sure to play through the romances because this was some Troll 2-hilarity material right here.

I rather like the interface and the inventory screen is nice.
Here´s me hoping for interesting character development and engaging combat scenarios.

LOL and this is why I preferred Drakensang with its limited voice acting. It adds a LOT to the game's expenses, and you will *never* please people. For every 1 "voice acting is good" I see 100 "voice acting atrocious" in game reviews. Worst thing is, I skip through all conversations and just read the text, so sometimes I feel like I'm buying an Apple product (paying a lot for fluff I don't care about)

Originally Posted by aries100
And Leliana's accent, supposed to be French?

It's not supposed to be French, it is French. The actress is from France and is using her natural voice.

Originally Posted by wolfing
For every 1 "voice acting is good" I see 100 "voice acting atrocious" in game reviews

I think most game reviewers just lack experience/knowledge in these fields. It's like judging game musics, there's not a lot of game reviewers who just say "that's not my field" and skip it, they give a judgement even when they have no idea what they're talking about.

Plus it's partially a matter of tastes and standards. They're hard to judge by themselves, too. I mean, what's the golden standard? Bloodlines? Fallout? Oblivion? From these fragments the VA in DA seems to be about the level of Fallout 3. So is that a high or low level?

Originally Posted by Dgaider
It's not supposed to be French, it is French. The actress is from France and is using her natural voice.

Really?

I grew up around French emigrants, you'd think I'd be able to hear, but I don't even hear a hint of a French accent in those lines. But then again, it's just two lines, perhaps if I hear more of it. Right now it just sounds like someone mumbling in a bad half-Welsh accent.

PS: I do love how Laidlaw says "so Leliana is really pissed off with you at this point", apparently aware of the fact that you can't really gage her emotions from her performance. She sounds disinterested, if anything, not pissed off.

Originally Posted by xSamhainx
@Skaven - hope i didnt hurt your feelings too badly there, matey! Somedays i just wake up on the wrong side of the coffin. You know I love ya man! (in the most beer-swigging, sock-in-the-arm, ultra-manly, non-homoerotic way possible of course)

No, problem. I was more pissed at myself for doing something so lame, but like I said, you said exactly what I thought and it bore repeating even if it was annoying Yea, Sammy I love you too (also in the most bar fighting, tobacco chewing, manly way) (never thought I'd use that emoticon ) BTW, I'm not even going to ask what Sock-in-the-arm means…I don't think I want to know

As for this RPS BS, I was over at the codex and they have a thread dedicated to this one at the watch and someone mentioned that all this controversy reminded them of how Fox news treated Mass Effect's sex scene. But now it's EA's PR department that is Fox News….Confusing….Anyways, I would suspect that most of you know the PR department has their heads up their butt. For some reason they just don't know how to market this game and RPS definatly doesn't have a clue or doesn't enjoy the type of games I like.

There is enough information out there already that doesn't involve opinionated reviews from RPS or sex scenes for me to understand that all this nonsense is just that nonsense. Has anyone, who is whining like Paris Hilton after a manicure, actually seen the gameplay portion of the game? You can't tell me that doesn't look and sound superb. Well, I guess you could tell me that, but I'd think you're insane and in need of some medical treatment.

The origins aspect of the game sounds great…IF they can implement it correctly. Just about everything this game has to offer looks great. Well, maybe I could do without so much blood in the cut scenes, but that doesn't bother me too much. My all time favorite movies, all the Evil Dead movies, have tons of blood in it…literally, I think it's a few tons worth of blood.

Aren't the people who are jumping to conclusions being a little over critical at this point? The voice acting is good. You want bad or ridiculous then play Prince of Qin or Metalheart. You want the perfect game. You're not going to get it, ever. It doesn't exist and never will. Everyone will always bitch about something. It's the way humans are made. We tear down first and then think about building it back up again.

Anyways, that's my two cents worth. Have fun debating sex scenes and voice quality, maybe it'll get on Fox News again

@skaven… how can you possibly say the voice acting is *good?* All of them, especially Morrigan, sound like they're reading lines in front of a mic in a studio (which they are, of course).

As for the writing, those Morrigan's come-on lines *were* Glen or Glenda level. OK, I'll grant that come-on lines usually sound pretty awful even in real life, but rarely THAT bad. Here's a similar scene from someone else:

(Note: the speaker is Ellen May Ngwethu, a fighter in the elite Cassini Division, which defends the Earth against Jovian AI's. Long story, read the book if you're interested.)

Originally Posted by The Cassini Division
'I don't know about you, comrades,' I announced, 'but I am not for any discussion. It's been a long day, and a long trip, and we all need some R&R. I'm up for a high-alcohol drink, a low-gee jacuzzi, and some low-gee sex. In any sequence, all at once, and more than once.'
'"If", "Else", and "Repeat",' Yeng grinned. 'Still the basic program logic.' She caught Tony's hand. 'We'll have a drink, but we're going out.'
'That leaves us,' I said to Boris. 'So, big gunner, you wanna make it with me, or just leave me with my suit's imagination?'

The writing is pretty hamfisted here - still there is another problem that amplifies it - digital actors still aren't good enough in expression and body language to make such scenes work well. This is an area where a look and body language is often the most important part of the message. If you'd give the same lines to a good actor and a skilled director and cutter, the end result would be far less painful to watch. For a book of course, your imagination fills in the blanks, which often works best anyway.

Originally Posted by aries100
But why does Morrigan speak High British

What on earth is High British? I'm a Brit myself and I've never heard of it. Do you mean received pronunciation?

Originally Posted by Brother None
PS: I do love how Laidlaw says "so Leliana is really pissed off with you at this point", apparently aware of the fact that you can't really gage her emotions from her performance. She sounds disinterested, if anything, not pissed off.

French girls can sound pretty disinterested when they're pissed off