Mass Effect Andromeda and the main problem of Dragon Age Inquisition. The importance of the narrative

Hi all! 🙂
Mass Effect Andromeda has only a week left before the release. And I thought that now is the time to talk about such a thing as additional quests and the importance of the narrative in them.
We will speak on the example of Dragon Age Games Inquisition, Witcher 3 Wild Hunt and Horizon Zero Dawn.
Why do some manage to make an interesting add, but others do not have and why fear the mass of Andromeda for the masses is normal 🙂

Dragon Age: Inquisition

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Mass Effect: Andromeda

Horizon: Zero Dawn

The best comments

Wonderful analysis of the mechanics and structures of sid-quests. Now we would convey this to the developers, to recall that we love to study fictional worlds not for the sake of resources or expls, but for the sake of stories that revive the space outside the main plot.

There is always a hope for correction. The main problem of the Inquisition was, in my opinion, additional quests. In this video, I tried to explain what distinguishes a bad additional quest from the good, and where biovars made the main mistake. The main thing is that the developers themselves understand this 🙂

Here, a great example. https://nonukcasinosites.co.uk/1-pound-deposit Remember the quest with the same goat in the Witcher 3. In fact, the quests are identical from the word at all, but in the witcher it was made interesting, and in the Inquisition I wanted to chop this Druffalo. And all why (the author of the video in this is the right by 200%) – motivation and occurring at the time of execution. If the GG Inquisition, or his Sopartians at least a few words mentioned why they were doing this, or ridiculed that they say the messenger of Andraste, the Savior of Tedas instead of solving the problem that only he/she (the necessary emphasizes), staggers along some rocks and ravines in search of a farmer animal in search. A similar approach would have revived what is happening. But, not fate ..

I do not think that the problem was only in add. quests. The main plot was also not so hot. Cardboard villain, without intelligible motivation, who somewhere sits out and yells that the inquisitor is nothing compared to him, and then quickly merges in the final. 1h I passed several times, even 2 part 2 times, but this one does not pull at all

Games for that and games to entertain the player. Accordingly, the player must in some way reward for his actions. And since it came to RPG, it can be some kind of loot or experience, or local currency. But, all these are dry numbers. I can’t argue that a lot who likes to delve into a heap of tables and burst into stats, roughly speaking, a hundred swords that he knocked out for an hour. Accordingly, such people are not so important to the hero’s motivation, it is not so important for them why, for example, Geralt leaned into the forest behind some goat. The quest chain was important to them -> the quest executed -> took the award. In a similar way I work quests in MMO, because there is a character in the character – one of the most important aspects of the gameplay, the specifics of the genre. And in the same MMO stories are created by players, but more on that later. There is another category of people who, given the assessments of the Inquisition and the Witcher, to put it mildly, a lot. They are not so important award for the quest specifically game. They are looking for stories. Interesting stories that underlie one or another quest, as well as the very process of its implementation. The player is motivated by banal curiosity to find out the story. People read books, watch TV shows or films for exactly the same reasons. And exactly for the same reasons some films are considered masterpieces, while others … let’s say not very. Returning to MMO. If you played games like a genre and you liked them, then you must remember that the discussion of such games is based, often in some game situations (the same stories). With the difference that they are created by the players themselves, not the scriptwriters.
Summarizing this canvas – there are two categories of players, we will conventionally call them narratives and roskerists. And the first are motivated to play with history and its presentation, and the latter with desire, roughly speaking, to become the strongest and most cool.

He is interesting, just by serving. Yes, it is small, but I got a lot of emotions during its execution. In it, even, to some extent, Geralt is revealed as a character who is thinking and able to analyze the situation, they say, what the hell should I carry through the forest behind some kind of goat. And the non -list – the quester begins to explain why he needs that goat and, most importantly, why Heralt needs it. Geralt’s stormy reaction to, sometimes absolutely inadequate goat behavior. And t.D. This distinguishes this quest from a quest with the same Drufalo. And there was the following:
– Drufalo ran away from me, catch and bring it.
– OK.
After 15 minutes.
– Here is your Drufalo.
– OK, ATP, keep experience.
All. There was no more.
I hope I could convey my thought to you.

I almost always had glasses in a trim, since in addition to plot tasks, glasses are spent on missions on a global map, you send scouts, diplomats or soldiers to these missies

BioWare is now doing only purely commercial projects, talented people left there. It’s time to get rid of it = (