Well, it was my intention to compare D:OS to BG 2 because BG 2 is seen by many people (though there are of course people who disagree on that) as the best game of its genre. It wasn't my intention to say that D:OS should be like BG 2, not after all. I just wanted to show why BG 2 was so captivating in many aspects and how D:OS does compared to that.
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Even if systems are different you can always take inspiration from working solutions. That doesn't mean that you follow the same route or abandon your own solution. But imo it's worth to see how other games solved similar problems, for better or worse.
Which is understandable and commendable, even if I don't necessarily agree with that methodology or that BG2 is the greatest rpg, there's certainly good things to be taken from it, that's a given.
It's more about a feeling for me than about the actual enjoyment of reading stuff...
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Hm, I think there is a great difference between the Bioware of BG2 and the Bioware of Dragon Age/ Mass effect, for once. But I think you either misunderstood what I was trying to say or I wasn't able to make my point clear enough. I agree that maybe your actions in D:OS have more actual impact. But that's not what I critizie
d here. I critized the lack of possibilites for actual role playing. Let's take for example the co-op dialogues. In the current state of the beta you have to choose between two answers, both extreme positions. This actually destroys roleplaying because your have to take one of these extreme positions even if it doesn't fit your character and the way you want to play. So maybe those are two different levels of player agency. The first, which is quite good in D:OS, about what you can actually do and influence, and the second, which is lacking in D:OS, about how you can roleplay your character.I agree that games like Ultima VII and D:OS have their focus on the first one, interactivty and influencing and changing the world like you want. Bioware games usually have a focus on the latter one with a quite "solid and unchangable environment" but pretty strong options to roleplay a character. I think it's maybe even two distinctive way of game design: a more linear, emotional approach like in Bioware games and a more sand-boxy, open approach like in a game like D:OS.
Well, I do admit that I'm quite a fan of Bioware games (though I think that BG 2 was the top and they slowly decayed after...) and I somehow miss the depth or role-playing the the richness of dialogue. To each their own I guess.
I guess this is where we diverge the most. I did enjoy some Bioware games myself, but this is one design philosophy/goal about which I strongly stand on Larian's side : I don't care about roleplaying options that don't actually have any impact in the game, because, as far as I'm concerned, those are not roleplaying opportunities.
I see no value in "roleplaying" something that's only for you, something that the game world or other characters will never acknowledge (something that some slightly less friendly posters on some slightly less friendly forum might call "larping"). I can see how it can seem appealing to some and how it can add some flavor to their game experience, but I'd rather see Larian focusing on polishing quests & dialogues with already existing, actual variable outcomes than divert resources to implementing new things like that.
So, I don't have a problem with the "extreme" positions you can currently choose in decision dialogues : I care that whatever my choice is, it will affect the game in a (relatively speaking) meaningful, tangible way. I'll always prefer limited, meaningful choices, than multiple, purely cosmetic options. So far, D:OS didn't disappoint me on this, and this pleases me very much !
As you said, to each their own, but don't ask me to get on board to make D:OS more Biowarian in this regard.
Again, it wasn't my intention to say that D:OS should be more like BG 2 or even adopt its systems. It was my intention to detect weaknesses in system design. A comparion with a great game of the same genre (often the reference game) is actually a good way for doing so.
You're right about that and it indeed makes for an interesting discussion, cheers.
