The Witcher 2 and Dragon Age 2 Lessons Learned Part 2

As I mentioned in a post last week-ish I didn't like the first entry in The Witcher series much at all. Despite being a premier member of the PC Master Race, the controls were a little too unintuitive for me (pains me to say that). The writing was also unbearably awful. The game felt like a parody of itself except it wasn't funny. The entire 5 hours I played of it all I could think of was the All My Circuits Futurama where they kept saying "I have...... AMNESIA!"

So the Witcher 2 hit me totally out of left field. So far I am absolutely blown away, and it's awesomeness really makes me sad about how terrible Dragon Age 2 is in comparison. Not to say that w2 is perfect (far from it), but it is pretty damn amazing.

First off the graphics are unbelievably amazing; probably the best this console generation. The bloom effects, the textures, and even on low graphics settings the game looks fantastic. I have the game running on high settings on my mid-range desktop as ultra makes my GPU cry for mercy. Seriously though, how does a barely not indie developer like CD Projekt with much more limited resources then BioWare put out a game that looks THIS much better then Dragon Age 2? Lets take a look at some screenshots I took side by side.


It really is night and day.

Honestly what is BioWare's excuse? One can assume it's development costs i.e. money. Okay, enough BioWare and Da2 bashing, I did that enough last time!

Anyways like Da2 the writing is also very good. Of course the less experienced, Polish developer has a much different style than the very experienced Canadian developer, but The Witcher 2's writing sucked me right in to it's fantasy world. Despite thinking that the first Witcher was written terribly they clearly, in my pretentious opinion, have really honed in on their plot arcs, dialogue, and character development.

The attention to detail in the Witcher 2 really helps the world come alive. Whether it's the background chatter in the local village, the beautiful bloom effects of the sunlight coming through the trees that are gently billowing in the breeze, the amazingly detailed monsters, or just that one cool, weird carved face you see once of the beaten track in the forest, the game world really feels alive.

So far the Witcher 2 has been showing me what it's like to be in it's universe, it hasn't been telling me.

Although flawed, I am really enjoying the action and combat elements of The Witcher 2. One of the biggest complaints I've found is the inability to drink potions during combat. While I would probably prefer the ability to do so, it really makes sense in the game world and for the character to drink potions while meditating. Alchemy is a huge part of the Witcher, as is preparation and diligence. W2 shows us very early on that it is not interested in holding our hand and expects a level of understanding and preparation to get through even the most menial combat. Of course this will, and has turned a lot of people off but are we so afraid of having a game that has a steep difficulty curve? Granted I wouldn't call the first missions a tutorial because they teach you nothing, and they definitely should introduce the mechanics one at a time and make sure the player understands them. There is a LOT to know about surviving even the first battles of the game, but once you do figure out the mechanics there is a certain zen like bliss to picking out potions, managing buffs, and weaving signs, bombs, daggers, and traps into just roflstomping even the scariest of boss's.

The side quests in The Witcher 2 are also much better prepared. Maybe it's that the game has more than 3 dungeons, but I really felt like each task was relevant or important; that each one had a purpose. Even the "kill a bunch of spider-ey things" was more in depth than that.

The inventory and crafting systems in W2 are very old school. The crafting is based around collecting recepies and diagrams and carrying around lots of components. Nothing feels superfluous though. The one area where I prefer the inventory system in Da2 over W2 though is the junk option. It would be nice to go to a vendor and just hit the sell all the crap you don't want button. Aside from that I absolutely love the crafting and inventory systems and they are a shining example of how to adapt old school concepts into a new school game.

Regardless I think the Witcher 2, despite it's shortcomings, is a shining example of what should occur during a development cycle, how to properly "streamline" game mechanics, and how to really tell a story and describe a world that works best in an interactive medium.

I am psyched to pour of my precious leisure time in to this game and once again bravo CD Projekt.

The Witcher 2 vs. Dragon Age 2 and lessons learned

I have purchased exactly 2 action RPG sequels this year. Can you guess which ones? After spending several hours with each title it has really brought me to a few stunning conclusions. Today I will focus on the first conclusion and also why Dragon Age 2 ultimately failed.

FACT! Good writing does not translate into a good game.

There is no game out there that had terrible gameplay mechanics, but the writing was so awesome it made it a positive experience and Dragon Age 2 is the epitome of this concept. Please allow me to ellaborate!

As per the usual, I know I am sounding like a broken record but video games do not share the "luxury" that books do as an artistic medium. It takes more than one skill mastery to create an effective work of art. What makes and effective video game? Of course a game that is very fun is a game that works but a great video game can be so much more than that and it takes more than above average writing. The mechanics need to work together to create an experience that works better as an interactive medium then any other.

I still haven't finished Dragon Age 2. I got to about midway through the second act and, despite loving the characters, the politics, and the idea behind setting the game in one location and not making it the end all be all epic quest to save the world, the game got eaten, nay devoured by it's massive shortcomings.

In my opinion Dragon Age 2 would have worked better as a book because it is only the superior writing that really brought me in to the world of Kirkwall and kept me engaged. The sub par graphics, reused environments, generic power-ranger enemies, and overall lack of polish and progression of the environment really prevented me from becoming obsessed like I did with Dragon Age Origins.

The sad truth is it really seems that BioWare put out DA2 to help pay for The Old Republic.

It is an unfortunate fact of life and of our industry (or any inustry). It is just such a shame when what should be a brilliant artistic statement gets rushed out the door when it clearly needed minimum another year. Just imagine if DA2 had the same 4 year development cycle that The Witcher 2 enjoyed. Continue to imagine the game if we had more than three dungeons to explore for all the quests. If we had more enemy variety and battles that ever played out differently then Dyansty Warriors. If the city actually grew and changed along with the characters. It is incredibly un-immersive when the game just tells you 2 years pass, but everyone is wearing the same outfits and armor, the city looks the exact same as it did, and the only way we can tell that any amount of time passed is the text on the screen. It is always bad game design when the game tells us and doesn't show us. May as well be a novel.

The only real success of Dragon Age 2 is the strong characters who are incredibly well written. When writing is your strongest aspect that should be your focus; ie an amazing book. If I read the dialogue and the plot my mind would be free to imagine the city of Kirkwall, Hawkes epic beard (default male look FTW), dew glistening off a templar's armor in the hot, Freemarches sun, the pointed and misshappen horns on a Quanari, etc. You wouldn't have to worry about good level design or using a somewhat updated graphics engine. Hell the game doesn't look as good as Half Life 2 that came out the better part of 7 years ago!

Quick side note.... there is no excuse for DA2 looking as terrible as it does when Mass Effect 2 looks as amazing as it does. WTF guys?!

Let's be clear; I am (or certainly should be) BioWare's target adience with DA2. I played through Origins 3 times soup to nuts. I have been playing both console and PC RPG's for 20 years (yikes). If they aren't making that game for me then I have no idea who they are making it for. I came in to Dragon Age 2 as excited as could be! I mean hell, it was BioWare's follow up to one of my favorite games of all time! How could they miss (see above)?!

Bottom line is everything but the story and characters reeks of laziness, forced time tables, and rushed deadlines. It is cursed with the stench of what could have been. It ultimately proves to me that good writing doesn't make a good game. It also, unfortunately, demotes BioWare games from day one purchases to wait and see if we can snag a Steam or Amazon deal.

BioWare, we will always have Origins, KOTOR, and Baldur's Gate (which I bought again on GOG.com ironically).

Tomorrow the opposite with The Witcher 2!

Portal 2 is Coming in 2 weeks!

In 2 weeks we will finally receive the highly anticipated sequel to the most important game to come out in the last 4 years. That game of course is Portal 2. I don't think a single, rational person had a bad thing to say about Portal. It was to the point, it was brilliantly written, and, in my opinion, is the first video game in history to reach that artistic emotional impact where I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the end. Any video game (or any artistic meidum) that can be that emotionally confusing and impactful is absolutely brilliant. Portal is the shinning epitome of how to take a cool, unique concept and make it so god damned effective that years later we are all still running around proclaiming that the cake is a lie and humming still alive.

Being the internet troll that I am I feel obligated to mention that there is certainly a lot that could go wrong with Portal 2. One of the most important elements of the first was its brevity; the game never felt padded or wore out it's welcome. Because of it's short length every single inch of every level was perfect, every line of, well, monologue was so meticulously well written, and the ebb and flow of the game was so well paced and thought out that there was never a single point that felt like filler (for instance Highway 17). With Portal 2 there is now 2 full length campains (8 hours each) and the biggest question I have is can they fill 16 hours with as much brilliant writing, pacing, and mechanics as they could just 3?

There have been a lot of game play demo videos, ads, and other media released for Portal 2 and from it all the game looks absolutely spectacular. It really goes to show what Valve does better than anyone; use the meidum of video games to tell stories that would not work as movies, books, musical theater, etc.

I love BioWare, and as I have ranted about frequently in this blog, I am even loving the clearly rushed and half-assed Dragon Age 2. They are a great developer, but they are not the best because their games would work almost as well as movies. Dialogue is a big mechanic and common theme throughout BioWare games and, while immensly fun to watch and navigate the conversation pie, we are not as immersed as we are in, say, Left 4 Dead. In Left 4 Dead there is very little "dialogue" and the story is told soley through brilliant level design. It is why Left 4 Dead would be a lousy movie, but works VERY well as a video game.

I'm getting a little rambly here, but bottom line is Valve is really the only AAA company that is really pushing the boundaries of the FPS. Crysis 2 may look brilliant, but it is still soldiers running around shooting soldiers. Homefront may have sold very well, but it is still soldiers running around shooting soldiers. Halo, CODBLOPS, etc.... Soldiers running around shooting other soldiers. Same base mechanics. Only Valve really shows that fantastic (and profitable) AAA games can be made if you take risks and push the boundries of the genre.

/Rant

Why the Dragon Rage???

Dragon Age 2, the anticipated sequel to BioWare's 2009 surprise hit Dragon Age Origins, released a couple weeks ago to a firestorm of mixed reviews and fan rage. The major complaints seem kind of silly to me because they all boil down to one real complaint:

It's different.

I love(ed) DA:O. I played it through soup to nuts 3 times. I am 100+ hours in to the game through all my experiences with the game. I am certainly an old school RPG guy, hence my nerd-affair with a high quality AAA western RPG that is difficult, unforgiving, and decidedly unwelcoming to newbs. I liked the fact that the world, although kind of generic high fantasy, still had more than enough personality to keep me engaged and interested and that the voice acting was above average (not that it is difficult). The writing of course was top notch cause' it's BioWare. That's what they do. Of course the game had a lot of shortcomings, but us hardcore RPG nerds tend to see those as necessary as we are crumudeonly stuck in our hater-like ways.

Dragon Age 2 is a very different game from Dragon Age Origins. The combat is much faster paced, the interface looks a lot more minimalist, the art styhas chaged (although both games look like ass), and the story structure is a lot less "epic hero makes epic, heroic journey with his friends to save the world from an ancient evil because he is the one and ONLY one who can" and more struggle to survive. The game breaks a lot more old school tropes in favor of a more Grand Theft Fereldan (or Kirkwall) type feel which I for one also really like. There is still a lot of depth, resource management, tactical options, and fantastic writing, but is very decidedly different. On normal dificulty it also is not so punishingly arduous a task to get through basic encounters.

I really like that BioWare didn't push out another overpriced expansion pack. I like the differences in gameplay, the new art style, the minimal interface, and the REALLY intesne and fast-paced combat. It's a welcome change for the IP. If I wanted to play more DA:O I would play through it again. Now for full disclosure I haven't finished DA2 yet, but I am over 10 hours in, playing through my first playthrough on hard, and am having a lot of fun with the game.

We live in an industry now where the status quo is beaten in to us. People pay $60 like clockwork every year for a roster update in Madden, or a couple new maps in Call of Duty. Rift, despite being EXACTLY like WoW but not as good, is off to a strong start. Homefront sold incredibly well despite mediocre reviews and cloned game play. Hell, even my darling Starcraft 2 is very identical to it's 11 year old predecessor. It's not just that publishers and developers fear risk and change, but us as consumers are starting to fear it as well. The only place we are really seeing any innovation is in the indie and mobile gaming scenes and even there I feel like we are drowning in cartooney 2D platformers.

Fact is BioWare has done a lot to draw nerd-ire and flame recently, but releasing a poor followup to Dragon Age Origins is not one of them.


Fact: 4 out of 5 people get crushed by giant diamonds every day.

The Dragon Age 2 Grift and Demo

I played the Dragon Age 2 demo on Steam last night (no XBLA gold anymore so they shut me right down) and I have to say I was relieved. Not only did the combat flow a bit better, but it definitely felt more natural and faster paced. I don't think I really had enough time to say for certain, but it didn't seem streamlined like ME2.

My biggest beef so far is the graphics. Seriously! How can you give us this and then not even give us jiggle physics? The graphics aren't quite as bad as the first, but they still look like complete ass compared to other AAA titles; hell compared to BioWare's other AAA title. If I am paying $59.99 for a game, I want it to at least look better than a game that came out almost 7 years ago!

That brings me to the next major issue that is really facing the industry right now. There was a post from BioWare on Facebook last night that really sums it up. Between the pre-order bonus's, day 1 DLC, and everything else it really feels like we can't get a full game for our sixty bucks anymore. I know games are expensive to make, but seriously?! I understand giving codes out for day 1 DLC with new purchases to give incentive to people not to buy your game used, but I just want all the necessary, balanced tools to play the game when I buy it.