Dragon Age 4 - now The Veilguard

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Anthem was absolutely unquestionably done by "the original Bioware".

Fair. That last snipe was more about the bigwig side of things, the decisions that led to pumping years into Anthem in the first place. And the, uh, special Bioware project management skills to match.

If we want to be specific, too, the guy in charge of DA4 is Patrick Weekes... the guy who let ME fans know the dreadful ME3 ending was entirely written by Casey Hudson and Mac Walters with zero input from the rest of the team, so is arguably a major friend of ME fans

Ah, I didn't know this was that guy! That's good to know. Because I still have not seen anything come close to how terrible ME3 was (not just the ending, but at least hearing back then, that it was all Casey pulling a tantrum, did make things make more sense).

 

[Kaodi]

* = This did admittedly stop in like, 2009 or 2010 when they hired this horrific racist, sexist, homophobic piece of trash proto-influencer, like Asm*ng*ld version 0.5, just a guy who ran a website (that I'd never even heard of, note, despite being a keen WoW player back then). The basis they stated was that they "loved his work" and he was a "great fit for Blizzard" (literally something like that). This was the sort of guy who would have been using the words "woke" and "DEI" in every post (if not actual slurs!) if he was around today, and put him in some kind of public-facing PR position (!!!!??!?!?!!!!), and like, within a couple of weeks he'd done them so much PR damage that he mysteriously disappeared and then we learned sometime later (months I think) he'd been let go.

Is this referring to Geoff Frazier/Nebuchadnezzar? I am not sure proto-influencer is the right term. That guy ran a WarCraft II and later Age of Empires fan site waaay back in the day. Like, the 90s.

Edit: Maybe not. Think Frazier worked for Blizz before many years before being outed.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Sorry I've gone on too long but the whole of BGS needs a clear-out.

No, it's about the right length. Bethesda really just stopped in their design tracks, and are just leaning ever harder on 'modders will fix anything'.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Is this referring to Geoff Frazier/Nebuchadnezzar? I am not sure proto-influencer is the right term. That guy ran a WarCraft II and later Age of Empires fan site waaay back in the day. Like, the 90s.

Edit: Maybe not. Think Frazier worked for Blizz before many years before being outed.

Nah it was a really young guy at the time (like 2009/10), like early 20s. Geoff Frazier absolutely is an ultra-racist and incredibly transphobic piece of trash, and did get fired (or forced to resign, I forget) from Blizzard for it (in 2021 IIRC). I'd be unsurprised if Frazier was the one who wanted them to hire this kid though - he was absolutely the type of guy Frazier intentionally hung out with.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Though as for how WoW is doing right now: some of that has to be attributed to Chris Metzen, conspicuous old white guy, returning to his old job, does it not?

Not really. He returned after Dragonflight had been written and designed, and by his own account didn't have much influence on DF. He didn't make any of the big decisions that were what set WoW back on a successful track. That's Ion and his relatively young team.

Metzen has been the main force between the three-expansion trilogy design with the ongoing story and that seems really cool so I think he'll be a major part of WoW's future success assuming it's good (which The War Within seems to be so far).

It's notable that Metzen wasn't part of the Cosby Suite crowd, indeed he seemed to be slightly distanced from a lot of Blizzard leadership because he's never been as fratty, and has engaged in some self-criticism for failing to act in some ways. I don't think he's been quite as responsible as he should be but equally it's not the "Oh crap I'm outta here" of pretty much everyone else high-up at Blizzard.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Though as for how WoW is doing right now: some of that has to be attributed to Chris Metzen, conspicuous old white guy, returning to his old job, does it not?

Nah. As someone who lived through this era, there was a dramatic culture shift at the end of the Shadowlands expansion, when they were physically dragging the jerks out of the building and throwing them into the street.

They were suddenly talking about making the game more user-friendly, not being beholden to old (and never great) legacy ideas about RPGs being punitive, etc.

Metzen wasn't re-hired until months later, when Dragonflight was far along in the development pipeline.

The "Worldsoul Saga" -- the next three expansions, starting with The War Within this August -- are covered in Metzen's fingerprints, but all of the huge improvements in the Dragonflight era were accomplished without him.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

David Gaider on seeing the gameplay video: "I wish we could have done this for Kirkwall"

Yeah, me too. DA2 has my favorite concept ('see a family establish themselves through the years'), but then just hurried to crunch everything down to release date.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Interview which may be reassuring for those concerned about whether this will be more ME2 or Dragon Age:

Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s director talks RPG systems, skill trees, and being inspired by Final Fantasy XII | RPG Site

After an action-driven first gameplay showcase, the director of the next Dragon Age chats to us about its more hardcore RPG chops.

www.rpgsite.net

It sounds like it'll be more Dragon Age from this, though I suspect the combat is still pretty action-centric and I'll be surprised if the most memorable element of FFXII is implemented, even though DAO and DA2 had it - Gambits.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Thanks for the linking, it's fun to have a short interview only focused on the mechanical bits.

So a few missions in, you unlock the skill tree right away

I think my understanding of 'right away' differs from theirs. But anything that is even vaguely like FFX's sphere grid gets my love.

You get into your specialization about mid-game

Okay, specialization really isn't intended to be your focus, just something you'll pick up once you get around to it. I wonder if you can zoom to them earlier (the whole point of the freedom of the sphere grid), or if they are hard-locked until they let you.

(paraphrased) Comparnion skill trees are organized around their five core abilities (two from class, three unique). So you can get autonomous usage, or lower the cooldowns, or add additional effects to the ability.

So... very streamlined, very Mass Effect of you. I was cool with that in the middle of a gunfight (and actually used voice commands to trigger companion abilities without a need to bring up the wheel), so it could work in the middle of a swordfight as well. but... your party members will then do the same stuff endgame as they did in their first hour.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Personally I preferred the combat in Mass Effect.