Went and played some DA 2 last night as sarcastic Hawke. Wow shes an asshole.
Sister dies. Mother grieving. 'At least dad will have some company'.
There are actually a couple of pivotal plot points later in Dragon Age 2 where sarcastic Hawke's sarcasm fails her in dialogue options and it actually makes those moments stand out emotionally in a way that isn't quite as impactful as the other ones. In general Jo Wyatt does pretty good readings where Hawke uses jokes and sarcasm to mask things like grief and anger
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
I'm looking forward to hearing it. My first playthrough I generally took the 'nice' options. Actually I do in most games with interactive conversations. So it'll be different, at least.
Went and played some DA 2 last night as sarcastic Hawke. Wow shes an asshole.
Sister dies. Mother grieving. 'At least dad will have some company'.
There are actually a couple of pivotal plot points later in Dragon Age 2 where sarcastic Hawke's sarcasm fails her in dialogue options and it actually makes those moments stand out emotionally in a way that isn't quite as impactful as the other ones. In general Jo Wyatt does pretty good readings where Hawke uses jokes and sarcasm to mask things like grief and anger
Sarcastic Hawke is very Chandler, where it's not all hilarious barbs, sometimes it's emotional distress phrased as an inappropriate joke.
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
Went and played some DA 2 last night as sarcastic Hawke. Wow shes an asshole.
Sister dies. Mother grieving. 'At least dad will have some company'.
There are actually a couple of pivotal plot points later in Dragon Age 2 where sarcastic Hawke's sarcasm fails her in dialogue options and it actually makes those moments stand out emotionally in a way that isn't quite as impactful as the other ones. In general Jo Wyatt does pretty good readings where Hawke uses jokes and sarcasm to mask things like grief and anger
Sarcastic Hawke is very Chandler, where it's not all hilarious barbs, sometimes it's emotional distress phrased as an inappropriate joke.
I grew up watching Friends, so that actually makes sense. I'll keep that in mind.
I always stick to my method: 90% Sarcastic Hawke (standard response to everybody), 7% friendly/diplomatic Hawke (interaction with friends, family and innocents that just have gone through some traumatic stuff), 3% agressive Hawke (this thing is not even going to get my mocking of it, let's just kill it as quick as possible and gete done with it).
The agressive choices come in later when Hawke is getting really tired from all the bullshit thrown their way.
Hawke was never going to be the protagonist of DAI. Bioware has made it pretty clear they don't want that kind of arcing story between DA games. All they ever said about the previous protagonists is that both Hawke and the Hero of Ferelden were planned to make an appearance in DAI. Only Hawke made it, obviously.
I'll be curious if they adhere to this for DA4. Feels like the easier path is to just continue with the inquisitor. They can port the save game in, not have to re-hash any of the main story from DA:I, and claim the ending to Trespasser is why the skills are reset.
Hawke was never going to be the protagonist of DAI. Bioware has made it pretty clear they don't want that kind of arcing story between DA games. All they ever said about the previous protagonists is that both Hawke and the Hero of Ferelden were planned to make an appearance in DAI. Only Hawke made it, obviously.
I'll be curious if they adhere to this for DA4. Feels like the easier path is to just continue with the inquisitor. They can port the save game in, not have to re-hash any of the main story from DA:I, and claim the ending to Trespasser is why the skills are reset.
Trying to explain away the end of Trespasser would be pretty funny.
(end spoilers obviously hurr)
Rogue or 2H warrior? Well I hope you got another line of work prepared. Or better yet I wonder if they'd just Skywalker a new hand.
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ShadowenSnores in the morningLoserdomRegistered Userregular
Hawke was never going to be the protagonist of DAI. Bioware has made it pretty clear they don't want that kind of arcing story between DA games. All they ever said about the previous protagonists is that both Hawke and the Hero of Ferelden were planned to make an appearance in DAI. Only Hawke made it, obviously.
I'll be curious if they adhere to this for DA4. Feels like the easier path is to just continue with the inquisitor. They can port the save game in, not have to re-hash any of the main story from DA:I, and claim the ending to Trespasser is why the skills are reset.
Trying to explain away the end of Trespasser would be pretty funny.
(end spoilers obviously hurr)
Rogue or 2H warrior? Well I hope you got another line of work prepared. Or better yet I wonder if they'd just Skywalker a new hand.
In the ending slides for Trespasser,
if you're a rogue and your character ends up joining the Friends of Red Jenny they have an armbow.
Speaking of Dragon Age books, for them as may be interested, all five novels (Stolen Throne, Calling, Asunder, Masked Empire and Last Flight) are currently $2.99 each in eBook format from the usual suspects.
Also is this the first DA book Hawke shows up in (presuming, since she's on the cover), or any DA protag for that matter?
I'm certain that's not Hawke on the cover. Remember, Varric wrote that book before he ever met Hawke.
I'm pretty sure he wrote An Aveline-like into it, so that might not be true.
Even if there is an Aveline-like, there was a full year where Aveline worked in the guard while the Hawke siblings worked off their debt. Varric most likely met Aveline at that time, we actually see the exact moment he met Hawke.
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CambiataCommander ShepardThe likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered Userregular
I've surprised myself by being unable to stop replaying Inquisition. I finished up an Solas-romancing elf run, got to see how that was applied in Trespasser, then started right up with my first ever human character, a Cullen-romancing two-handed bruiser. My ostensible reason for this was to see how Cullen would react to me choosing Templar, and I did try to just accept Templar and then go talk to Cullen for a reaction, but when it didn't give me one instantly I chickened out and picked Reaver. I did get a pre-training conversation with Cullen about him being worried about me being a Templar, but it didn't really get into details. Maybe if I had waited a little longer before picking my advanced class I would have gotten more.
If I do a Dorian romance next, do you know if he has preferences? I know he's OK with Qunari, but I already played a Qunari dude. What if I went elf?
"If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
Also is this the first DA book Hawke shows up in (presuming, since she's on the cover), or any DA protag for that matter?
I'm certain that's not Hawke on the cover. Remember, Varric wrote that book before he ever met Hawke.
I think the cover is a Dragon Age super-nerd joke. It's Hawke in Mage armor, wielding a dagger (rogue-only weapon) and a sword (warrior-only) weapon.
I'd actually be surprised if Hawke were in the book, though. BW is pretty good about avoiding canonizing details about their protagonists in tie-in works.
I've surprised myself by being unable to stop replaying Inquisition. I finished up an Solas-romancing elf run, got to see how that was applied in Trespasser, then started right up with my first ever human character, a Cullen-romancing two-handed bruiser. My ostensible reason for this was to see how Cullen would react to me choosing Templar, and I did try to just accept Templar and then go talk to Cullen for a reaction, but when it didn't give me one instantly I chickened out and picked Reaver. I did get a pre-training conversation with Cullen about him being worried about me being a Templar, but it didn't really get into details. Maybe if I had waited a little longer before picking my advanced class I would have gotten more.
If I do a Dorian romance next, do you know if he has preferences? I know he's OK with Qunari, but I already played a Qunari dude. What if I went elf?
As far as I know, Dorian's only preference is male.
Want to find me on a gaming service? I'm SwashbucklerXX everywhere.
Kotaku took a deep dive into the state of Bioware. The main Dragon Age things are that DA 4 still exists, but it's been rebooted to incorporate more "live" elements, namely games as a service post-purchase revenue generators. You know, like loot boxes. Wheee!
Though only a small team is working on DA 4. Apparently the vast majority of Bioware's two studios are working on Anthem (their version of Destiny), meaning very little else can get accomplished until that game comes out in early 2019. Apparently the stakes feel extremely high, and if Destiny flops Bioware "could look very different," especially since the last Mass Effect flopped.
With the way Destiny is doing right now, they might want to look twice at Anthem.
I don't think that's true necessarily. Its not the genre that is suffering for destiny, its bungies bad decisions. What they should be doing is looking at what is failing in destiny and stay the fuck away from it.
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
edited January 2018
Not anything I hadn't already figured. Seems like they're putting a lot into that Anthem game. Unlike some folks I don't feel strongly about it either way so I'm in wait and see mode.
I do worry a bit as a lot of senior staff has been retiring and EA recent shenanigans don't fill me with confidence but we'll see.
As far as the stuff about Destiny it'll be interesting to see how it goes. I think the whole games as service thing has lost a lot of its initial hype after folks saw its shortcomings in shit like Destiny.
Also DA:I already had lootboxes. So i'm not sure what "live" means.
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DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
With the way Destiny is doing right now, they might want to look twice at Anthem.
I don't think that's true necessarily. Its not the genre that is suffering for destiny, its bungies bad decisions. What they should be doing is looking at what is failing in destiny and stay the fuck away from it.
Yeah. Destiny's issue is the game doesn't look or play like anything that was initially promised. They actually regressed in some regards.
I think folks would actually enjoy a good hop in/hop out PvE game with strong narrative hooks.
It just has yet to be delievered.
Dragkonias on
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
Kotaku took a deep dive into the state of Bioware. The main Dragon Age things are that DA 4 still exists, but it's been rebooted to incorporate more "live" elements, namely games as a service post-purchase revenue generators. You know, like loot boxes. Wheee!
So I've been playing through inquistions because sure why not. The deep roads expansion was super fun and hard. I totally forgot to grind black walls affection and I want to trigger his loyalty and I've fucking murdered all the dark spawn. NOT LIKE THIS NOT LIKE THIS!
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
Yeah. I usually dislike dungeon crawls and the Deep Roads but thought that expansion was fun.
It was one more reason inquistion feels way more a continuation of origins than say dragons age 2. Like the deep roads expansion really felt like deep roads 2.0 from origins.
Was disappointed there wasn't a brood mother fight though, I wanted to see how awful that would be.
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
Yeah. I usually dislike dungeon crawls and the Deep Roads but thought that expansion was fun.
It was one more reason inquistion feels way more a continuation of origins than say dragons age 2. Like the deep roads expansion really felt like deep roads 2.0 from origins.
Was disappointed there wasn't a brood mother fight though, I wanted to see how awful that would be.
No, thank you. I like sleep. I would miss it terribly.
Kotaku took a deep dive into the state of Bioware. The main Dragon Age things are that DA 4 still exists, but it's been rebooted to incorporate more "live" elements, namely games as a service post-purchase revenue generators. You know, like loot boxes. Wheee!
That's so depressing.
There was a time where I would overlook EA as a publisher in order to purchase the games I loved and consume the content I wanted (re: Mass Effect 3, Titanfall 2, etc.), but after Battlefront 2 I've been finding it progressively easier to ignore the things I have interest in purchasing from them after the way they iced the entire Mass Effect franchise and a bunch of other studios and projects. My tolerance for design philosophy changes in BioWare sequels have been higher than most others on the internet, and it scares me how easily I look at the story and go "well I guess I'm not buying Dragon Age 4 unless this doesn't turn out to be the case"
If BioWare developers are worried about the way YouTubers and internet personalities are tearing down the company, it's because EA has a significant image problem that they've been exceedingly poor in correcting, as opposed to other big companies like Ubisoft (who are willing to actually spend money on goodwill gestures like long-term commitment and investment in their games and longer turnover on traditionally yearly game instalments)
Toxic internet personalities and witch hunts are really just a symptom of something that needs to be addressed on EA's part. They need more stories about EA Originals and less about focusing on tail-end revenue/simultaneously buying a company and dissolving another in their portfolio
Eh I don't fully buy that as a thing. Like EA gets disproportionate hate for things they are doing compared to a lot of other companies. Like at least they pulled the ability to buy loot boxes out of BF2 before it officially released. Shadow of War still has them and they are fucking awful and drags the game down to grindy bullshit town.
I mean hell Destiny 2 did a seasonal event that was basically "buy this stuff on the store" and they still got less shit than EA did and still gets for Battlefront 2. EA isn't a saintly company, but the hate they receive is not entirely on them and at this point its a spiral of hating on their shit. And funny you mention Ubisoft who plans on adding loot boxes to ghost recon, and AC origins had real money purchaseables that were quite good in the game itself and could help you "win" aspects of it.
Preacher on
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
There are tiers of how shitty loot box greed is and EA ascended to the top tier with a quickness. Other devs also being shitty doesn't change that.
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DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
edited January 2018
Yeah, personally while I don't care for lootboxes I'm not as bothered by them as some. I do question not just giving players the ability to buy shit flat out as it starts to pour into some grey area where you're technically gambling but I'll leave that alone.
That said when it gets to the point where you're purposefully making your games more unfun to play(either through excessive grinding or removal of game features that were present before) I really start to question these practices.
Especially when your game is already 60 bucks and you're selling DLC/Season passes on top of that.
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DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
edited January 2018
That said I do think Destiny/Activision is just as guilty of this but I didn't buy D2 to begin with.
I think in EA's case it was the combo of ME:A's troubled devoplement and it feeling like it was sacrificed for Anthem and the whole BF2 debacle.
Them declaring story-driven SP games were dead while housing one of the biggest devs known for just that didn't help either.
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CambiataCommander ShepardThe likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered Userregular
Bioware games have been the only games I've really cared about for the last decade. If they become Just Another MOBA Studio... I'm not going to be playing video games on the regular anymore. That's weird to think about, and highly depressing.
"If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
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DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
edited January 2018
I feel as a whole the game industry is very monkey see monkey do in that they see one thing do well and decide gamers only want this one thing and we have to drop everything else to do this one thing.
Which I'll never understand but that's the reality of it.
If you're known for a thing and make good money doing that thing, keep doing it.
Andromeda was what, nearly a year ago? I think that was the last time I enjoyed a new non-indie game at all.
Hopefully Anthem will do well enough that EA doesn't simply decide to take the company out back and shoot it as they have with so many others, but not so well that BioWare is forced to drop ME and DA entirely in favor of PRINT MORE ANTHEMS. What an odd thing to wish for.
Posts
There are actually a couple of pivotal plot points later in Dragon Age 2 where sarcastic Hawke's sarcasm fails her in dialogue options and it actually makes those moments stand out emotionally in a way that isn't quite as impactful as the other ones. In general Jo Wyatt does pretty good readings where Hawke uses jokes and sarcasm to mask things like grief and anger
Sarcastic Hawke is very Chandler, where it's not all hilarious barbs, sometimes it's emotional distress phrased as an inappropriate joke.
I grew up watching Friends, so that actually makes sense. I'll keep that in mind.
Big spoilers
The agressive choices come in later when Hawke is getting really tired from all the bullshit thrown their way.
I'll be curious if they adhere to this for DA4. Feels like the easier path is to just continue with the inquisitor. They can port the save game in, not have to re-hash any of the main story from DA:I, and claim the ending to Trespasser is why the skills are reset.
Trying to explain away the end of Trespasser would be pretty funny.
(end spoilers obviously hurr)
In the ending slides for Trespasser,
Exquisite jacket quote.
Also is this the first DA book Hawke shows up in (presuming, since she's on the cover), or any DA protag for that matter?
I'm certain that's not Hawke on the cover. Remember, Varric wrote that book before he ever met Hawke.
I'm pretty sure he wrote An Aveline-like into it, so that might not be true.
Even if there is an Aveline-like, there was a full year where Aveline worked in the guard while the Hawke siblings worked off their debt. Varric most likely met Aveline at that time, we actually see the exact moment he met Hawke.
If I do a Dorian romance next, do you know if he has preferences? I know he's OK with Qunari, but I already played a Qunari dude. What if I went elf?
If there's a horizontal bloodstain across the face, it's Hawke. It's her trademark!
e: Dorian will date any male inquisitor.
I think the cover is a Dragon Age super-nerd joke. It's Hawke in Mage armor, wielding a dagger (rogue-only weapon) and a sword (warrior-only) weapon.
I'd actually be surprised if Hawke were in the book, though. BW is pretty good about avoiding canonizing details about their protagonists in tie-in works.
As far as I know, Dorian's only preference is male.
Though only a small team is working on DA 4. Apparently the vast majority of Bioware's two studios are working on Anthem (their version of Destiny), meaning very little else can get accomplished until that game comes out in early 2019. Apparently the stakes feel extremely high, and if Destiny flops Bioware "could look very different," especially since the last Mass Effect flopped.
I don't think that's true necessarily. Its not the genre that is suffering for destiny, its bungies bad decisions. What they should be doing is looking at what is failing in destiny and stay the fuck away from it.
pleasepaypreacher.net
I do worry a bit as a lot of senior staff has been retiring and EA recent shenanigans don't fill me with confidence but we'll see.
As far as the stuff about Destiny it'll be interesting to see how it goes. I think the whole games as service thing has lost a lot of its initial hype after folks saw its shortcomings in shit like Destiny.
Also DA:I already had lootboxes. So i'm not sure what "live" means.
Yeah. Destiny's issue is the game doesn't look or play like anything that was initially promised. They actually regressed in some regards.
I think folks would actually enjoy a good hop in/hop out PvE game with strong narrative hooks.
It just has yet to be delievered.
That's so depressing.
pleasepaypreacher.net
It was one more reason inquistion feels way more a continuation of origins than say dragons age 2. Like the deep roads expansion really felt like deep roads 2.0 from origins.
Was disappointed there wasn't a brood mother fight though, I wanted to see how awful that would be.
pleasepaypreacher.net
No, thank you. I like sleep. I would miss it terribly.
pleasepaypreacher.net
There was a time where I would overlook EA as a publisher in order to purchase the games I loved and consume the content I wanted (re: Mass Effect 3, Titanfall 2, etc.), but after Battlefront 2 I've been finding it progressively easier to ignore the things I have interest in purchasing from them after the way they iced the entire Mass Effect franchise and a bunch of other studios and projects. My tolerance for design philosophy changes in BioWare sequels have been higher than most others on the internet, and it scares me how easily I look at the story and go "well I guess I'm not buying Dragon Age 4 unless this doesn't turn out to be the case"
If BioWare developers are worried about the way YouTubers and internet personalities are tearing down the company, it's because EA has a significant image problem that they've been exceedingly poor in correcting, as opposed to other big companies like Ubisoft (who are willing to actually spend money on goodwill gestures like long-term commitment and investment in their games and longer turnover on traditionally yearly game instalments)
Toxic internet personalities and witch hunts are really just a symptom of something that needs to be addressed on EA's part. They need more stories about EA Originals and less about focusing on tail-end revenue/simultaneously buying a company and dissolving another in their portfolio
I mean hell Destiny 2 did a seasonal event that was basically "buy this stuff on the store" and they still got less shit than EA did and still gets for Battlefront 2. EA isn't a saintly company, but the hate they receive is not entirely on them and at this point its a spiral of hating on their shit. And funny you mention Ubisoft who plans on adding loot boxes to ghost recon, and AC origins had real money purchaseables that were quite good in the game itself and could help you "win" aspects of it.
pleasepaypreacher.net
That said when it gets to the point where you're purposefully making your games more unfun to play(either through excessive grinding or removal of game features that were present before) I really start to question these practices.
Especially when your game is already 60 bucks and you're selling DLC/Season passes on top of that.
I think in EA's case it was the combo of ME:A's troubled devoplement and it feeling like it was sacrificed for Anthem and the whole BF2 debacle.
Them declaring story-driven SP games were dead while housing one of the biggest devs known for just that didn't help either.
Which I'll never understand but that's the reality of it.
Andromeda was what, nearly a year ago? I think that was the last time I enjoyed a new non-indie game at all.
Hopefully Anthem will do well enough that EA doesn't simply decide to take the company out back and shoot it as they have with so many others, but not so well that BioWare is forced to drop ME and DA entirely in favor of PRINT MORE ANTHEMS. What an odd thing to wish for.