Jesus fucking Christ. People who threaten death over a video game should take the bullet themselves...

Side-note - I thought David Gaider was the lead writer on the DA team?

 

Death threats? Over a goddamn video game? Because it wasn't good enough?

People are fucking insane and idiotic.

Also, it says Senior Writer, not Lead, so I'm guessing she was just one of the people who helped manage everyone else

 

I say that you're missing out on one of the best games ever made.

 

Thats effing insane.
. @Scott_Press: Aekiel has the right of it. BG2 is a goddamn masterpiece.

 

I have the graphics disease. But I'll think about it.

 

For all the dislike I have for DA2, I've never supported the ridiculousness that is a personal attack on a writer. I certainly think Hepler was a bad hire and am glad she's gone even in spite of the circumstances surrounding her departure (she really shouldn't have quit, it's just giving her attackers what they really want), but certainly don't condone threats of any kind.

As for you Scott, if you have any sense, you won't choose to ignore old games simply because people (may) overpraise them. Today's games just don't compare to those of the old.

-

As far as Dialogue Wheels are concerned - I think they needlessly reduce dialogue options. Look at PST - up to 20 options at a time. Sure, a lot of the time 2+ options are the same thing worded slightly differently, but a dialogue wheel never allows for more than a few actual responses, a couple of "investigation"-based questions. The way BioWare used to do it offered much more flexbility in design, the only thing the wheel does is make dialog approachable to people just jumping into gaming, or people who have stigmas against RPGs.

 

The story was very frustrating, from how much we don't see of it to ho we can do nothing about it. It's like seeing an incoming train 1000 feet in front of you and just sit there waiting.

The combat was't a disaster or veeery bad, the repeating were very annoying and made any tactic except run to another room almost impossible, the idea to give the mages more action wa good but poorly executed. The melee rogue was fun to play, the warrior mostly. Well until you run out of stamina, then it was shit,

To me the biggest attractive were the characters. Your companions were from awesome like Varric to annoying but very fun sometimes, Anders. Their interactions was very fun to watch, to see friendships and other things develop between them was awesome. By limiting your interactions with them Bioware took much fun of the game.

And then there is Hawke, smartass female Hawke is fantastic, the male is great too, but the female is perfect. And diplomatic Hawke really gives that vibe "I'm a nice gu,y but if the push and shove comes, I'm gonna crush you".

Edit: just saw the news. And wow, insane people are everywhere.

 

Well I definitely thought they went overboard with the romance thing in DA2. Practically every party member is a romance option and every single one is bi -- wat? Not to mention you start trying to be nice to them and get their rep with you up and they suddenly want your dick. I went with Morrigan in DAO and Merrill in DA2.

As bad as her writing might have been in DA2, IIRC she wrote Wynne in DAO who I rather liked, so she couldn't have been all bad.

The Hamburger Helper thing on /v/ (of course it's /v/) was funny early on, but I was concerned some time ago, shortly after DA2 came out, when it stopped just being a joke and they started calling her sewage and practically dehumanizing her. I thought that had abated, but I guess with the new game coming out they ramped it up again. I guess we'll see whether the quality of the writing improves or diminishes from her leaving.

 

@Chime: I don't base my video game choices on whether people 'overpraise' the game. I just don't feel that I'm losing out on some earth-shattering experience by not having played this or that. Who knows, maybe I'll play it sometime.

I think I heard (a while ago) there was a project going on (and it may be finished already, not sure) about a remake of BG's graphics by a group of fans, but don't quote me on that.

That said, perhaps I'll give BG a shot. But I think that all the things that 'true RPG fans' rage about in regard to DA don't get to me so much because I'm not the type of guy to get really deep into the lore and immerse myself in the story. I just like when there's a lot of action and assssplosions going on and if there's a story to boot, then I'm doubly happy. What can I say, I like it if a game does a 'Micheal Bay' on regular basis, which is why I used to play CoD. I stopped when BO came out however, the community devolved into a bunch of retarded screamers (apologies to those CoD players that are normal human beings).

 

Okay, you're making me want to cut you.

This is exactly what is degrading the industry.

 

Death threats. That's just sick.

As for DA2...I remember being pretty excited about it at first, hoping that it was as good as DAO. Then I saw the graphics in the Lothering tutorial and thought that they were a bit minimalistic, but that I could live with them if the story was good.

I played through Act One and, though it were basically only side-quests that were done to get the money for the Deep Roads Expedition, I was still patient. I thought that the Deep Roads would be where the really good stuff would start happening.

But then, well, nada. By the time I put down the Qunari and the Arishok, I was thoroughly sick of Kirkwall, its people and its boring landscapes. I couldn't stomach helping the Templars, who were all pretty much sick assholes, but every fucking mage I came across was a blood mage! I was prepared to help the Arishok burn down Kirkwall and then get out of there.

And then Act Three. It was short and then everything went to hell. My reaction at the end, when I finished DA2 and killed everyone: "WTF? That's it?"

Needless to say, I hope DA:I will get better. The origins are there, at least, and the graphics are better. We can only hope. I'm cautiously optimistic, but I definitely won't buy the game on Day One. Wait and see.

 

I rather think corporate money-grubbing *cough EA cough* has more of a destructive impact on the industry than the fact that I like to blow shit up. I am a simple-minded explosion drone, reading books in the in-game diary bores me. If I want to read, I'll pick up a book, or go to DLP.

That is not to say I don't like to try something new from time to time. I remember playing a point'n'click adventure game once. Was fun. And I also liked breaking seven-digit score barriers in drift in NFS:Carbon.

 

Part of the reason EA is so bad is because they see you and think "this is what every gamer wants," and begin to make every game catered to you.

Sure, you have the right to your preferences and opinions. Problem is, they're ruining things for the rest of us.

 

...Which is still EA's fault, or whatever big name corporation. You can't say people like him are ruining it for you. It's the Developer/Publisher's fault, for not listening to the fans. At this point, your just being petty.

 

I agree, it very well may be that people like me, wanting thing to be simple(r) are 'ruining it' for the old schoolers. Then again, I can't imagine what's so exciting about reading through dozens of pages of the game journal or asking the companions' opinion about every slimy dungeon you happen to stumble upon.

If the skeleton is wearing full-plate armor and swinging around a mighty two-hander, then sure, I wanna know who it was before it became undead. But if it's just a generic zombie with a wooden stick then I don't care that it used to be a farmer in the king's lands.

Because the argument is about if the games should be super-detailed or simple, right?

EDIT:

Well, lucky me I guess.

Spoiler

Just felt like having a douchebag moment.

 

EA is a corporation. You're not going to stop them from doing what every corporation does: making money, and doing everything they possibly can to make that money, including appealing to the lowest common denominator (in addition to violating all sorts of laws and ethics, at least until they're caught with their hands in the cookie jar, at which point they just wait until the public eye is off them and then just do it again).

To change EA you have to change the people they're trying to sell to. If there is no more Call of Duty audience then there won't be any point for them to try to make everything for it anymore. Gamers have to take responsibility for the state of the industry as well.

Hey dudebro, did you forget what the RP in RPG means, or did you never actually know?

 

You... you do realise you're on a forum devoted to reading, don't you?

 

Writer isn't leaving Bioware because of death threats but instead to write a book. Seems people just like to quote bits of stuff that seems exciting.

 

Do you even like RPGs, or have played an RPG older then KotOR?