Dragon Age: Inquisition news continues to trickle out post-E3 and here's what I've found. As always be forewarned of spoilers below for all previous games, books, comics, and DAI itself. If you spot any errors or omissions, please let me know!
The biggest news was the announcement that the release date has changed from October 7th to November 18th. It's disappointing to wait another six weeks, but I'm not disappointed that the extra time is being spent to make sure the game is as good as it can be (The Know and many others applaud the decision, while you can see elements of paranoia from one of the IGN podcasters). There were fans who freaked out far more than I did and their reactions elicited some great answers from various BioWare folks (mostly Alan Schumacher, but also John Epler, Bryan Johnson, and Joe Hegarty):
[AS] The year long push [break; the decision to push from 2013 to 2014] was to expand the scope of the game and it added a lot more. This one is just about taking the content that we have and polishing it a lot. It'd [a 2013 release] have been a much smaller game (and in some ways different as a result) for sure, but yes I think the game's quality would have suffered if we had released last year. I was super excited about the extra year. I like this one [delay] too (of course I'll say that though, right?) because an extra month of polish still goes a long ways.
Presumably the 2013 version of the game would have largely skimped (or even skipped) the open-world concept and likely racially locked to human (both surmises on my part, but I think reasonable ones).
[AS] Unfortunately, I can't confirm that it's the ultra ultimate definite no-take-backsies release date, although I'd be ridiculously surprised if it slipped again. Take that for what it's worth.
[JE] A month of pre-ship bugfixing/polish time is equivalent to a year/year and a half or more after ship.
[BJ] I wouldnt say there is a small subset of bugs that are causing a delay, you would be surprised what can be found and fixed in a short period of time, with some of the talent we have here.
[AS] Before the game goes to Microsoft and Sony, we can basically do whatever we want with it (though we still need to pass their certification process). Patching involves a much more thorough process including (but not limited to) things like size restrictions, what things are allowed to be changed, as well as a limit on the total number of patches that can actually be deployed (although Sony doesn't do this, they just charge us for the bandwidth). I can't speak for the specifics of the timelines John [Epler] detailed, but pre-release we have more flexibility because there's no such thing as a baseline release that we need to strongly adhere to. So, for example, if we notice a bug in the save game system and we need to change it which will invalidate all of the older saves, we can do that. Sony and Microsoft aren't as keen on letting us do that to a shipped game because it'll only (rightly) make people very unhappy. So now we're engineering creative workarounds and basically trying to find a way to remotely deploy fixes that otherwise would have just been obliterated (though still in source control) in the office. Note that "bug in the save game system" is pretty nebulous, but with as much game data as we have changes that come to it are always a risk for saved games since the data it was saving may no longer be valid in any way.
[BJ] The bandwidth isn't hyper expensive but it can add up. I believe the cost is about 16 cents per gb. Also to speculate potentially more on John's [Epler] comment, after you launch a project a good amount of the team moves off, so whereas you had a few hundred people before ship that number will decrease meaning it is harder to get work done quicker. There is also some things you can do before you ship, if you need to make a change that changes the way the entire game is built then it is easy to do in development, as you just suck it up and do it. But you cant do that when you ship, could you imagine if you had to download a 10gb patch that only changes 1 minor thing? (it has been done before in the industry). This means that you have to try and find some less ideal alternative which may require a lot more testing and have weird effects that you never even thought of.
[JH] We're still discussing what impact (if any) this will have on plans for the Keep so we don't have anything ready to share on that front right now
There wasn't much news from SDCC over the weekend, but a Game Front recorded demo featuring Jessica Merizan (the same demo from E3) included a pair of interesting comments from her:
Redcliffe castle is a mage stronghold, so these phylacteries [will] allow us to control the mages.
This comes at the end of what would be the first half of the demo and at last explains what that find at the docks means; then before the second part begins:
We promised you we'd bring the mage and templar conflict to an end, so let's jump ahead in the story to when that happens.
So it appears the E3 demo illustrates one ending (the ending?) of that conflict, which is an interesting reveal (I agree with Believe it's theory that the mage/templar war is not the end game of DAI; more about that theory later).
The videos from GaymerX are out and in Freaking Out the Neighbours an interesting stat was given: 86% of DA players choose "good" options in the previous installments (they also referenced that rogue's are the least played class by a large margin, which is interesting).
Speaking of videos, DA Fan has started posting breakdowns of released material, largely focussing on game mechanics and symbols seen throughout the game--they are well worth watching.
A tidbit that I missed from the Q&A is that we'll finally learn who the Friends of Red Jenny are (we already know Sera is one of them). For those who may have forgotten, both DAO and DA2 referenced the group.
Quivers have been added to the game.
A potential huge spoiler dropped in an as-yet unconfirmed Achievement List from the game that was leaked. It's potentially too spoilery for me, but I've linked it for those who want to know as much as possible. There is a reference to Corypheus in it, apparently, so if the list is legitimate it appears he plays some part in the story (perhaps optional, perhaps not).
CVG emphasized something that's worth remembering when it comes to companion approval and party choices:
Each follower has a set of goals they aim to achieve and consequently it really matters who you take with you on quests--manage your party wrong and they might leave.
Speaking of geography, the guys at Joystiq mentioned that The Hinterlands run from Ostagar to Redcliffe, which is an east-west axis, whereas I'd assumed (from the map in the demo) it was north-south, so assuming that's correct it's quite interesting.
I don't often peruse the theories on the DA Wiki, but I came across one from Believe it that attempts to explore the plot of DAI. It's difficult to boil down the nearly 12,000 word piece to its essence, but his theory is anchored into the fates of the Hero of Ferelden and Champion of Kirkwall. Where are the two previous player characters (excluding, of course, Warden's who choose to die at the end of DAO)? I agree with:
the Hero's [Warden] disappearance is probably not based on anything that the Hero is doing or wants to do.
It's unlikely a surviving Hero of Ferelden would simply disappear with none of his companions the wiser. Believe It concludes that both characters have been captured by Razikale, one of the Old Gods; he includes the idea of Flemeth being The Formless One, one of four ancient demons called The Forbidden Ones--the other three have appeared already (Gaxkang in DAO, Xebenkeck in DA2, and Imshael in The Masked Empire), with both Gaxkang and Xebenkeck dead if the optional quests were pursued (or for anyone using the DAI default setting). Unwrapping his entire theory would be a lengthy process and I won't do that here for now.
ShoddyCast is aiming to do a series of DA lore videos. I wasn't familiar with them, but they make similar videos for Skyrim and other games. The only comparable for DA that I'm aware of are from Lady Insanity.
On the more fun side of things, I've seen the BioWare Cliché Chart posted a few places and thought I'd include a good response to what I see as something intended for amusement:
People seem to believe that if stories follow a formula or are cliched, that somehow makes them bad or unworthy, but the fact of the matter is these definitions are often so loose every single story under the sun could be applied to them. Being cliched doesn't necessarily make something bad anyway. You can take the same sentence and say it in millions of different unique ways. As long as your cliche is dressed in it's finest, I don't think it's a bad thing
Exactly right.
Destuctoid offered five reasons for non-DA fans to be excited about DAI:
1. An open world with multiple environments (he contrasts it with Skyrim)
2. The mounts
3. The combat (emphasizing the variety available)
4. Graphics
5. A good starting off point for newbies
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
No comments:
Post a Comment