Dragon Age Central

Quote: Posted 05/29/09 03:42 (GMT) by Magister Lajciak

Quote: Posted 05/28/09 20:54 (GMT) by Georg Zoeller
Well, we're protecting the game from the user. We don't like people coming for tech support about very long save times or reviewers complaining about it. Not if we can help it. Therefore, we protect the game by enforcing reasonable limits that the engine is designed to operate with.

Can you tell us what these limits are i.e. how many slots are available and what is the maximum number of like items that can be carried in one slot?

Since identical items stack, the maximum stacksize is pretty much unlimited (I think we display 99+). All the game has to do is store the item one time and then store how many are stacked on top of it.

You start out with I think 60 or 70 slots, and there's ways to increase that.

That is your first glimpse at our brand new trailer, made for us by the fine folks at Blur. This is just your first taste of the coolness that will be coming as part of E3 next week. Not only will there be the cool new trailer, there will be all sorts of great news, interviews and gameplay from E3.

There will be something cool happening here on the BioWare Dragon Age: Origins website as well. This is just your first taste of E3 and the coolness Dragon Age: Origins will be bringing.

October 20th. Hmmm... how about that.

Quote: Posted 05/29/09 02:12 (GMT) by imported_beer
One thing that I share with ldyshayna is the desire to play a good, decent human being who does right by her fellow men and makes a difference in their lives. When the game posits that this is a dark and gritty world where there are only grey choices, and where you will have to sacrifice folk for the greater good, we wonder what role our hero will play in it.

Then let me state unequivocably: you can play a good, decent person who does their best to be a hero. I have said this before. Being a hero may not be the easiest choice, but it is possible. Saying that you must make sacrifices to achieve your goals does not mean that you are forced to stab your friends repeatedly with your sword while you cackle evilly -- but it does mean that not everything you do is going to come effortlessly and without a little pain in some form. If that's what you are seeking, then perhaps getting a heads-up that this is a game that involves occasionally making some harsh, bloody choices is not a bad idea.

Quote: Posted 05/29/09 00:28 (GMT) by Vaeliorin

Quote: Posted 05/29/09 00:18 (GMT) by Ryllen Laerth Kriel
So after all this...both regions basicly have a golden dragon/drake as a symbol...*yawn*

A golden drake and a green wyvern aren't both a golden dragon/drake.

Right. A drake and a dragon and a wyvern are different things in DA.

But if the repitition of draconic symbols in heraldry make someone yawn, they'd best not go to the Tevinter Imperium. Or Nevarra.

Quote: Posted 05/28/09 23:21 (GMT) by empetus
still it would have been neat if he was on Dragon Age team and maybe he could recreate the magic of BG.

Err... he's not on DA now but he created the project and was around during its inception and the first several years. Make of that what you will, I guess. *shrug*

Quote: Posted 05/28/09 08:56 (GMT) by Malanek999
I am assuming Loghain can't see the battle from where he is.

Correct. Loghain's men are on the other side of the tower, out of sight from the darkspawn.

----

As for the subject of realism, every fantasy realm has its own internal measure of reality -- from fireballs and fantastical creatures all the way on down to armor and weapons. Some are going to be more Conan and Excalibur, others are going to be more Frank Frazetta and World of Warcraft. Take your pick which you prefer, but we've chosen our style and so long as we're consistent I don't see the issue.

Dragon Age could literally be a cartoon (which it is not, by any stretch of the imagination) and you could still tell a dark and mature story in that context no problem. If you choose to disagree and point to unrealistic armor or what-not as your sticking point, that's fine -- but I would suggest the blindness is deliberate on your part. Sorry.

Quote: Posted 05/28/09 17:11 (GMT) by Aedan mac Gabran
That's the whole point. You can go back to camp and pick different party members any time you want.

Provided you can get back to the camp, but yes -- that's whole point of not having the "party in a pocket" system.

Quote: Posted 05/28/09 15:12 (GMT) by ushae
I have a question for the very kind Mr.Gaider .. are the Qunari human at all ?

No more so than elves or dwarves are.

Well, you can ignore the storyline, but only for so long.

There are a lot of side quests, subplots, party/NPC stories, etc that you can choose to do as you play Dragon Age: Origins. These are optional content that will be presented to the players to pursue or not as they choose. In general, you can spend as much time trying to complete these as you choose.

However, over and above all the subplots is the core game story or "critical path". The only way to make it from the beginning of the game to the end of the game is to complete the critical path. Some areas of the game (and the subplots they contain) will only be accessible after you have completed otehr sections of the game revealed through the critical path.

Edit: Darned fragments.

Quote: Posted 05/28/09 08:48 (GMT) by Tindle-m8
What I want to know is whether the Qunari can use magic, or whether they're dead to the fade like dwarves.

They... can use magic. That is all I will say.

Quote: Posted 05/28/09 14:09 (GMT) by levi.porphyrogenitus
Well, it has been pretty much stated that Orlais is very close to Medieval France, while Tevinter is very much inspired by the Medieval Roman (Byzantine) Empire. Ferelden is probably closest to Britain (most likely Anglo-Saxon Britain, if the Normans had been kicked out again). the Qunari are functionally similar to the Arab-Turk peoples, but their religion is probably a lot farther from Islam than the Chant is from Christianity (which the latter two are rather different in many respects).

This is pretty accurate. There are analogues to much of medieval Europe present in Thedas, although the comparison doesn't hold up in all cases. Saying that the qunari are either the Arab-Turks or the invading Mongol hordes isn't a bad place to start.

There's various damage types (fire, cold, physical, etc.) but the weight limit really doesn't interact with that a lot.

You wear your best armor and you have two weapon sets for versatility (ranged / melee or bludgeoning / slashing or whatever)

The rest of the items, you drag back into the camp to upgrade your remaining companions and sell of everything else.

And no, there's not going to be an optional weight limit.

Quote: 
By having a weight limit or item limit, means you have to decide whether you want to say keep the Flaming Sword of Thousand Truths or Holy Chainmail Godly Might

.

No. What it would mean is that you throw off a bunch of less awesome items so you can carry both these good items. Or that you'd tediously drop them on the ground, go to a merchant, sell off excess stuff and then walk back and pick up the rest.

That's not how items in Dragon Age are balanced. We've got a bit stronger focus on stores (e.g. stores tend to have several really desireable items) as well as quest rewards (e.g. slaying the dragon yields great items, and you can take them all instead of having to chose - because we balanced them with that in mind).

We don't consider that desireable for the gameplay we want in dragon age and therefore there is no weight limit. We're not particulary interested in adding realism through inventory management (and I've explained the reasons for that in several posts on these boards already) either - the only limits that are in place are for progression/balancing reasons as well as to protect the user from excessive save/load times and memory consumption created by an unlimited inventory.

Quote: Posted 05/28/09 00:51 (GMT) by cheeseslayersmu
I'll end on one note though. Loghain was retarded with his whole beacon idea. Why do they need to light a beacon to signal the army to charge? Can't they just shout CHARGEEEEEEEEEE? I mean jesus. Cmon writers, you could have thought of a better explanation

That isn't what the beacon is for. The King's part of the army charges well before the beacon is lit. I'm not saying you won't find holes in the logic later on, but later on you'll know the whole story to pick apart at least.

Quote: Posted 05/27/09 21:21 (GMT) by lucy_glitter

Holy crap. That thing Sten is fighting is horrific!

The middle picture? Yeah, that is an Ash Wraith. Naaasty things.

Quote: Posted 05/27/09 21:02 (GMT) by Lurklen
Oh wow, I didn't think the DA world was as advanced as that

It's not. The cannons came as a bit of a surprise to the Thedosians.