[quote name='Ink.So.Well.']Only the best Adamantium-Virbranum blend fictional billionaires could buy and super-villains aspire to steal my friend.
[/QUOTE]
Am I the billionaire or the super villain in this case? I suppose that, under the circumstances (me treading on your turf :lol: - a.k.a. a Dragon Age thread), I'd be the super villain - but I'd be happy with either side
[quote name='Ink.So.Well.']Oh I'm sure you'll want to shank me soon enough. Everyone does eventually. Oh, and it is an RPG.
.. but barely (in relation to my personal preferences).[/QUOTE]
If I were you, I wouldn't worry about that unless you log on one day to find out that the entire BioWare forum user base has mysteriously disappeared, a handful of people from this site are reported missing, and a good chunk of the internet is wiped out. Even by then, though, my bloodlust would have subsided and I'm pretty sure any weapons I would have used would be worn from extreme overuse :lol:
[quote name='Ink.So.Well.']I imagine each blade is distinctly sharper on mine though neither of us could qualify as a neutral party when it comes to critiquing our pastures.
[/QUOTE]
Touché
[quote name='Ink.So.Well.']You're kidding right? When the exact frame of time is little more than a few hours to a day or two tops how can the dominate side of his psyche possibly disappear? His
stick it to corporate attitude hasn't deteriorated overnight; it has simply evolved for the time being. Reasonably subdued whenever the situation demands it, but such powerful anti-authoritative sentiment can't simply be wished away, mislead, or bought off so easily. Change takes time. Without it one can immediately argue and recognize its existence behind closed doors. Especially if the catalyst behind those ideals (tyrant of a boss, terrible coworkers, questionable work conditions) hasn't undergone a dramatic change along with it.
Showering the laziest or most mistreated employee with an increased sense of responsibility or fatter paycheck isn't necessarily going to curb all of their poor habits, rage and resentment at once. It's more likely to reinforce a much wider range of non-productivity due to a greater sense of importance the company has instilled into the employee. I mean sure he might get a little more work done every now and again when he knows he's being watched. This much is certain if he aims to profit through continuing the charade. However now he'll exercise even less restraint whenever he mouths off to his coworkers or extends his lunch break by another hour because his superiors have deemed him "irreplaceable."
I think this is
exactly the type of scenario we're dealing with here.
The demo is still the daughter of the same CEO (core Origins mechanics) who didn't give a shit about you then, but can't afford to lose you now, so he decided to finally make good on those long forgotten promises. His overall opinion of you however hasn't changed. He may have presented you a new office he can stroll in and out of unannounced, but you still have to knock before you enter his. You may eagerly invite him to your home for dinner now, but he'd never extend the same for an all expenses paid weekend of moral debauchery in Vegas. You aren't on a first name basis and he wouldn't cover the cost of the commute if you were riding in the same taxi together. He'd naturally expect you to treat him because he's still sitting in a dominate position of power. It's still his building, his company, his rules, his final decision over yours.
So while those perks may have boosted your self esteem or significantly elevated you above your piers, you still aren't playing at his level of the game by any length of the imagination. The power players summoned a more comfortable chair with a better view of the action for you. Nothing more judging from demo.[/QUOTE]
While I hate to say this (or should I say "like this"), the biggest problem here is that you're assuming way too much of the general gamer/customer/player with regards to how they go about assessing their opinion of the game - and I am talking about the general person, as I am not putting my personal feelings/thoughts into this part of the conversation (nor was I in the first place, but I'll save that for the end). An overwhelming minority of people who play the demo will/do not put as much thinking into this transition into DA2 as someone like you or me, and even less will put that much thinking into a metaphor about the game or the people playing it :lol:
The example I used boiled down to: they (BioWare) went above and beyond the "call of duty" with regards to the changes made to the game in the eyes of a good portion of the outspoken fans (i.e. me exaggerating the hell out of your "fresh shirt, new tie, ironed slacks" description) and that there's no way that something with so many changes (i.e. stock options, own office, etc.) could still go on to be the same thing that it was originally (i.e. "money changes people"; "DA2 can't be the same as DA:O"). This idea/example is what I gathered as sort of a consensus amongst the angered fans - like I said, not reflective of me.
I'd tend to be a little more optimistic about it, in general, like you've been and try to toss in a fair amount of reasoning into the mix. But this section isn't about me (the only stuff so far that I can claim as my ideas have to do with the initial "this sequel isn't as different as ME's sequel was" in which my overbearing ME ego thrust me in to...the few sentences we spent on that topic, anyways). Believe me, I'm on my side of the fence with the hose I'm using to water my plants spraying the idiots who are running wild in your yard yelling "it's too fast, graphics suck, press A to win, Dragon Effect 2!" while you're doing your best to run them off :lol:
So, unfortunately, no - I'm not kidding you. Which leads me to the next part:
[quote name='Ink.So.Well.']Still going to have to agree to disagree when the crux of their arguments haven't evolved past a snap critiquing of aesthetic modification at breakneck speed. Such reactions prove many of them have fallen so deeply for the illusion of a dynamic shift in genre balance they haven't any interest in delving deeper for a single shred of concrete proof. I haven't seen anyone provide me a single strong counter-argument as to how those changes undermine, override, effectively
REPLACE the core game play mechanics themselves. Not of those surrounding or contributing to them.[/QUOTE]
I'm sure I don't have to convince you how contagious stupidity is, and the fact that two irrational, loud-mouthed individuals can trump ten sane people in pretty much any given forum. However, since we're dealing with much different numbers here than 2-10 (I'd say it feels more like 3-1, respectively), the resulting impact of these negative opinions on the general outlook of the game is very similar to the tsunami in your original example. Granted, it's a tsunami formed from bad judgment, close-mindedness, irrationality, jumping to conclusions, fear of change, and so forth - but it's still a tsunami, and it's still running rampant all up and down the BioWare coast. Though you say you haven't seen a good post to back up their reasoning, it really doesn't matter when you're dealing with the kinds of people/arguments that have popped up so far.
[quote name='Ink.So.Well.']How so when said animal retains fond memories of the hands that fed and nurtured it? The game has always had a soul, X, and the demo has provided a substantial amount of proof it hasn't gone anywhere yet (IMO). I honestly feel like those of us who realize this stuck around long enough to capture the love and affection shown when an owner reunites with a beloved pet on camera. We didn't just leave after it broke free and carried on with the rest of our day with it fresh in our minds.[/QUOTE]
We're back to my opinions here:
I didn't want to imply that the game, for me, was lacking a soul - it was just the combat. When I describe what the combat felt like to me in DA:O, I like to say that it was like beating a Sudoku puzzle. On tougher difficulties, it was almost like a test of wit to out-think the enemies, and use superior (mental) tactics and strategies to overcome any of the challenges set in front of you. That's absolutely fine - no inherent problem with that. However, each battle didn't engross me, and it didn't pull me in to where I was eagerly awaiting the next fight so that I could start the puzzle all over again and get my mind working at optimum capacity. That's not to say that I require fireworks, explosions, lasers, heavy metal anthems, and manly one-liners - but it just got to the point where some fights really became a chore or something that was just "in the way" of me getting to the juicy parts of the game. Sudoku puzzles aren't exactly what I'd considered soulful or exciting in video games, but at least they (the fights) were mentally stimulating and they did challenge you to get better at the overall game.
Flash forward to now. With the new combat system, I'm still getting that mental stimulation of "I'm outdoing these guys on a tactical level" combined with the excitement of "real time" (a phrase which I will use very loosely) combat. I'm going from choosing a command and seeing it carried out (like a general), to choosing a command and then instantly performing it (making me the general and the soldier). It keeps me on my toes, it keeps me thinking - and there's a certain kind of emotional rush to that. I look forward to the fights now, because they're more lively and, in some degree, more interactive. To state it as simply as I can: it's just more fun all-around.
DA2's combat is something that I would consider to have "a soul". Mentally and emotionally? It's leaps and bounds above its predecessor. Technically? If someone wants to just say "they made it faster" then, whatever, I won't put up a fuss over it because that's not what's important. Someone focusing on one (technical side) while ignoring the other (mental/emotional/engaging side) is what makes me click {QUOTE} and start pecking away on my keyboard in disagreement
[quote name='Ink.So.Well.']At the end of the day though we're both speaking in absolutes about a demo so we'll see how it really is in the weeks to come. I'm fully prepared to eat crow should I find any truth to a gigantic disconnect between the old and supposedly new core mechanics. When it comes to anything else though not so much.[/QUOTE]
If the demo is a good indicator of what's to come, then I don't think crow will be on the menu anytime soon.
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I hope I did a good enough job at explaining to/assuring you that these crazy opinions that angry fans have are not my own (something I probably did a terrible job at saying before, but I figured that the quality of my post would suffer from me being rushed - which is why I added that top disclaimer). The only things we outright disagree on boil down to certain aspects of DA2 vs. ME2, which is fine (and, to some degree, expected). I'm merely playing devil's advocate with regards to the public opinion on the demo and the effect that the various reactions have.
#. i always wanted dragon age 1 trailers had me sold. but looked at gameplay and was turned off. having played the demo for part 2. is gameplay from part 1 similar, close , or the same as part 2 ? if it is ill feel real bad for not picking it up.
