» Mon Mar 22, 2010 4:48 pm In our opinion, it might be okay for Commander Shepherd to be stoic and gruff as a rule-- he's a soldier, after all-- but that's not going to fly for Dragon Age. We don't intend to lock you into a single personality.
As to our solution for doing that-- well, we'll have to discuss that later on. But we do have one, and it's not something you see in Mass Effect. Dragon Age is a different game, despite the comparisons some people seem pretty quick to make based on a few common features.
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And one thing I actually like, from a writing perspective, is the ability to use player voice to initiate an exchange based on a selection. If the player elects to furiously argue with someone, we can carry on that exchange back and forth a bit rather than forcing the player to select every single response. It can, at times, be much more natural. With player voice you also aren't forced to throw up options like "Go on"/"Tell me more"/"Hurry up" or the like just to move dialogue forward. You have the option to just have the player say "Tell me more", if you really need to, and save the choices for things that actually allow the player to establish personality or take actions.
Is it perfect? No, I don't think so... but that's not to say it doesn't come with advantages that are pretty nifty. And just because you've seen the use of a feature in one game doesn't mean that every game that uses that feature has to implement it in exactly the same manner or emulate that one game's style. That's a set of assumptions that just doesn't fly.
Yes, we will get to showing you exactly what we have in mind, in time. And yes, I absolutely could write that Bastila dialogue in DA2's system. In some respects it would even be easier to do so... and, dare I say it? Possibly more dramatic in its execution.
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Our ability to provide you enough choices so that you can express the type of personality you wish lies in the execution of the writing, not the structure of the interface. Interface-wise we still have six slots available on the wheel, just the same as we had six lines to work with in DAO.
As for being limited to friendly/ flirty/ angry/ investigate-- I suppose there's an element of that, sure, but there was also in DAO. We tended to include the same "categories" of responses so that they covered a limited breadth of personalities or actions. This is no different, and as I said it comes down to the writing style.
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You are incorrect. We do indeed offer you a choice of personality, as I just said in another thread.
As to our solution for doing that-- well, we'll have to discuss that later on. But we do have one, and it's not something you see in Mass Effect. Dragon Age is a different game, despite the comparisons some people seem pretty quick to make based on a few common features.
---
And one thing I actually like, from a writing perspective, is the ability to use player voice to initiate an exchange based on a selection. If the player elects to furiously argue with someone, we can carry on that exchange back and forth a bit rather than forcing the player to select every single response. It can, at times, be much more natural. With player voice you also aren't forced to throw up options like "Go on"/"Tell me more"/"Hurry up" or the like just to move dialogue forward. You have the option to just have the player say "Tell me more", if you really need to, and save the choices for things that actually allow the player to establish personality or take actions.
Is it perfect? No, I don't think so... but that's not to say it doesn't come with advantages that are pretty nifty. And just because you've seen the use of a feature in one game doesn't mean that every game that uses that feature has to implement it in exactly the same manner or emulate that one game's style. That's a set of assumptions that just doesn't fly.
Yes, we will get to showing you exactly what we have in mind, in time. And yes, I absolutely could write that Bastila dialogue in DA2's system. In some respects it would even be easier to do so... and, dare I say it? Possibly more dramatic in its execution.
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Our ability to provide you enough choices so that you can express the type of personality you wish lies in the execution of the writing, not the structure of the interface. Interface-wise we still have six slots available on the wheel, just the same as we had six lines to work with in DAO.
As for being limited to friendly/ flirty/ angry/ investigate-- I suppose there's an element of that, sure, but there was also in DAO. We tended to include the same "categories" of responses so that they covered a limited breadth of personalities or actions. This is no different, and as I said it comes down to the writing style.
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Then you are going to be dissappointed probably, thats the problem with VO, they usually stick with one type of personality(regardless if you are good or evil) that you can't customize. So this will not be YOUR story or personality, this is hawke's. Your just playing an interactive movie and this is just one of the many reasons I hate the decision to VO the main character.
You are incorrect. We do indeed offer you a choice of personality, as I just said in another thread.
there are more things at play here than just the choices you make in the moment. The writers have gone a little deeper than that, and the end result is very cool.
But that will have to wait for a future discussion.
But that will have to wait for a future discussion.
Could I order it off Gamestop? Do they ship to Europe? Nevermind, I'll go check. edit: damn, subscription only. 
The comments are appreciated, folks, both good and bad. Hopefully there will be more for you to look at soon.
