Dragon Age Central

Closeup of the King with his advisor in the background. The King has fine stubble, and strands of hair frame his face.

A powerful jet of fire erupts from a wizard’s fingertips, threatening to burn anything in its path, including one of the enemies that cowers as sheets of flame roll over him.

The wizard spell ‘Tempest’ fills the air above a poor Genlock as the party fight indoors.

The party is surrounded by burning debris as they battle the enemy.

A male wizard casts Tempest outdoors.

A photo of a banner featuring Morrigan and an assortment of other characters, used to decorate the Dragon Age booth at GenCon 2008.

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A second interview for GameTrailers featuring Greg Zeschuk [gz] and Dan Tudge [dt]. It features some of the same interview clips as their other interview with Greg alone. Likewise, it features the same gameplay clips seen elsewhere. Transcript follows:

[dt] ‘Dragon Age: Origins’ is the dark, heroic fantasy that the team has worked on. We often refer to it as the spiritual successor for ‘Baldur’s Gate’.

[gz] The game itself is incredibly emotionally engaging; great cinematic scenes and interaction between the characters. And then the combat is really tactical. You have a party of players on your side - a party or team members - that you actually will arrange on the battle field, almost like a chess game.

[dt] We call it tactical play combat. It’s ‘pause & play’, really the evolution of ‘pause & play’. So you can pause the action at any time, you can zoom out, you can issue commands, issue all your tactics, and zoom right back into the action and get splashed with the blood of your enemies.

[gz] The cool thing is it’s actually a real-time combat system where you select the moves and they execute it, so it’s not like a button-pressing type thing. But it’s very very action-oriented because there’s a lot of things going on. You feel a good sense of urgency; you can jump around between characters to see how they’re doing.

[dt] I’m not really going to talk about enemy scaling at this stand point, but I can say that when we develop the universe - the Dragon Age universe - and the areas that we’re using in ‘Dragon Age: Origins’, we chose those areas to support the story. And those areas have very specific creatures, very specific people that you will meet, and those are supporting the story, rather than having the scale for a random dungeon. Scalable combat is really a key pillar of what we’re doing. So a lot of times the combat’s one-on-one, and other times it’s your party against many. How many? Not really ready to talk about right now.

[gz] The game itself is structured so there’s a lot of what we call the critical path, the main story. There’s a ton of stuff off to the side. You know, the game, it’s... when you’re doing the game you’re always going to be pulled aside to do cool stuff; other characters in your party will want to do cool things as well. So it’s a very unique experience in that way. The length of the game itself we haven’t really talked about yet; we’re still, frankly, working out the details - we’re finished it now. But it’s big. It’s a good, meaty, awesome experience and a lot of replayability for a variety of reasons as well. One of the things in the game, the way we describe it, is you can choose to be a hero, a tyrant or a martyr. The game itself is an ‘M’ game, so it’s quite a mature... you know there’s a little bit of blood.

There’s definitely a class system in the game, so really when you pick your party you want to select your characters in the most effective way to deal with the battle. So you’re going to have a set of folks to choose from, and you’ll choose them based on story elements and things like that; pick them up based on what’s going on. And then when you actually go into battle you’ll decide is it going to be a rogue I’ll be using, or warrior...

[dt] We have mages in the game, there’s this really great thing I like to talk about a lot, it’s called spell-combos. And spell... magic in the game can interact with each other, so you can use spells like grease and then hit them with fire and light the grease on fire. A lot of these combos are going to be documented, but a lot you’re going to have to experiment with yourself, find out what they are.

In regards to ‘Dragon Age: Origins’ as a title, we spent a lot of time developing Dragon Age as a universe, and ‘Dragon Age: Origins’ is really just the first product in that universe.

[gz] With Dragon Age we’re actually making it a single-player game, so it’s really an experience of you as the hero in the story. We are going to have a lot of online features in this game, where you can compare things with other players, but also a lot of downloadable content. There’ll also be a toolset that we provide. So all these things will keep the community integrated. The game itself, the story where you’re the hero, you play by yourself.

You know, we’re doing PC, it’s coming out in early 2009, don’t have quite the date set out yet, but you know, early 2009. And, you know, down the round we’re thinking about consoles in the franchise. We’ve said that, you know, the Dragon Age franchise will have console games, with no details on those - that’s gonna be down the road. So, that’s it, and we hope people dig it.

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Looking the worse for ware, Greg Zeschuk is interviewed for GameTrailers. Previously seen gameplay clips are shown as well. Transcript follows:

[greg zeschuk] ‘Dragon Age: Origins’ is a return to Bioware’s roots. We’ve taken that classic formulae we’ve built classically like ‘Baldur’s Gate’, brought it up-to-date, added next-gen technology. So it’s almost like old-school revisited but awesome technology. Things like the face technology we built in ‘Mass Effect’. The game itself is incredibly emotionally engaging, great cinematic scenes and interaction between the characters.

People have been calling this the spiritual successor to ‘Baldur’s Gate’ and there’s a couple of reasons why that’s the case. First of all there’s a lot of folks working on this [that] worked on the original ‘Baldur’s Gate’ at Bioware. Second, the game is designed very much with the same kind of aesthetic sense, the same kind of story sense, really epic battles, really epic characters, and just the actual visuals themselves - the old ‘Baldur’s Gate’ games have this tactical view where you can arrange your party members - and this game you can do that. You can pull right back with your mouse wheel and you look down and there it is. You can arrange your guys, play like that, or you can jump right in. It really will remind people who have played ‘Baldur’s Gate’ that it’s something like the game, but brought right up-to-date.

It’s actually a real-time combat system where you select the moves and they execute it, so it’s not like a button-pressing type thing, but it’s very very action-oriented because there’s a lot of things going on. You feel a good sense of urgency; you can jump around between characters to see how they’re doing. Then you can also - a Bioware classic feature we have for many years is - pause it. So, you can sit back, pause it, decide if you’re going to shoot off some spells... you know, what you’re going to do. So very good detailed level of combat, but also really exciting and urgent.

The game itself is an ‘M’ game, so it’s quite a mature... you know, there’s blood, there’s also this really touch story choices - stuff that we’ve probably never put into any other game before in this game that you really have to make decisions on. We’re just trying to really always up the ante and try and make a better game each time. Turning out definitely the case in ‘Dragon Age: Origins’.

And that’s it. We hope people dig it; it’s going to be, we think, a real return to Bioware’s roots, satisfying those fans that have been waiting for a game like this for - frankly - 10 years, and it’s very exciting for us to get it finally, almost done.

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1UP interview Greg Zeschuk (GZ) at E3 2008. There are brief clips of the E3 teaser trailer seen elsewhere, but it mostly focuses on the people talking. Transcript follows:

[1up] So, ‘Dragon Age: Origins’. It’s back! And now it’s called ‘Origins’. Can you just bring us up to speed on why the name change?

[gz] Yeah, sure. I think one of the big things about the name ‘Origins’ is there’s really two parts to it. One is the origin stories which are really the lens through which you see the world, a part of the game that’s at the beginning of the game, and each is unique to each player, and then also how the world reflects on you in terms of things that you do. These ‘origin stories’ are just central to the experience. The other thing really is a return to the roots - this is probably the big message we want people to get for E3, is, you know, everyone’s fond of the good old ‘Baldur’s Gate’ and ‘Baldur’s Gate 2’ games that we created a long time ago. This is really the return to that type of gaming.

[1up] I’m assuming that due to the level of customisation that you guys have talked about already that that’s why the dialogue doesn’t work the same way the way that it does in, say, ‘Mass Effect’ where your character’s dialogue is all voiced?

[gz] Yeah, it’s an interesting issue. There are so many choices you have in dialogue, it’s actually... they even depend... it’s very dynamic dialogue choices depending on the origins story and who you are and stuff, so... secondarily there’s also a lot more variety in who you can be in the game: male or female, other races and stuff - we’ll give the details on that stuff - but again, when you start multiplying that stuff out you start going ‘Hmmm’, it’s almost impossible to sort of calculate out.

[1up] But that must have been a hard decision having come off of ‘Mass Effect’ which did that so well, and really created this cinematic interactive experience.

[gz] It was definitely a big decision where we sat back and made the choice, you know in the sense that we actually went through a whole big process involving a ton of people at the studio - not just the couple of folks at Dragon Age, but, you know, everyone in the management team and a lot of the other teams - thought a lot about it and at the end of the day it just seemed to fit the type of game we’re making.

[1up] The things that Bioware has done in the past, especially in the ‘Baldur’s Gate’ series has been really focus on your party and the inter-relationships between them and between the player character, and so I’m wondering if the amount of customisation options that you’re going to allow... are you still going to be able to provide that kind of interaction between all of the characters and non-player characters?

[gz] Like, I’ve talked a little bit about the high concept of the other players in your party, and I think... so they really do serve two purposes. No game sort of did tactical combat like ‘Baldur’s Gate’. Even to this very day it’s still kind of the pinnacle from our perspective of like, you know, the complicated chess match - wizard... you know, the spells going off and the traps, and just everything to try and like manage that. And the other thing is, the really key thing that you noted is the value of other characters is they are like the mirror to the world. I mean, I think that there are a few comments that they make even during the demo that are just kinda funny and entertaining; you know, they’re just there to liven things up. I think secondarily though they do provide companionship, and I think that’s actually the most important thing that we... probably the most important thing that we found them to do, because it just reflects the story, makes the story more real. Otherwise, you know, it’s hard for you to really feel like you’re part of the world. But when you’ve got these people that are literally travelling with you, yeah, it adds a lot.

[1up] So, ummm, how many characters can you have? I think we saw up to four in the demo.

[gz] Yeah, so it’s four at a time in your party. There’s of course a pool you can choose from. For us, part of it ended up being just the graphical fidelity we wanted to have - like, it’s a nice balance between like, you know, really good razzle-dazzle effects with enough pieces, chess pieces in a sense, to move and actually have meaningful tactical combat.

[1up] So it wasn’t dumbed down because of your experience building consoles in the past few years?

[gz] No, it wasn’t. I know obviously that’s been a fear that people have had - these bad console things have gotten into our heads and we’re like ‘oooh’... But actually it’s sort of like a balance point, I guess ease and manageability. I think one of the challenges we had with ‘Baldur’s Gate’ was - we had some pretty big battles - but we trying to have like larger sets of enemies, and that’s one of the big things. And secondarily larger enemies themselves - so you saw the ogre and the impressive large creatures. So we’re actually mixing it up a little more.

[1up] So may I ask a somewhat imperten... rude question? I don’t know if it’s rude... I don’t know if it’s rude! I can’t think of the right word... So I know you... I know... I know you’ve built a new engine and I guess the question is, is that what’s taking so long?

[gz] That is a good question, one we’ve been very up-front with. What’s taken so long - typically in Bioware’s history we kind of get started, announce the game,
then show it at four E3s while we’re developing it. This time we decided let’s just announce it the not show it for the next four E3s and then show it when it’s, you know, nearing completion. And secondarily what happened was we actually had a bit of a perspective shift; not even a new one, but a good strategy for us even while we’re doing all these games is kinda focus on one in the public eye at a time. So you know it was the ‘Mass Effect’ year for like last year - ‘Mass Effect’, ‘Mass Effect’, ‘Mass Effect’. Now we’re onto the ‘Dragon Age’ year.

[1up] The RPG trend has seemed to be a [?] for Bioware, and well to some degree Bioware as well has been seen to simplify, simplify, simplify. You know, let’s get rid of massive numbers of classes and race combinations - even Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition has, you know, is a simplified version of Dungeons & Dragons from what we all remember growing up. So why is... so does ‘Dragon Age’, this return to its roots, is that the main reason, you’re trying to return to your roots, or are you just bucking the trend? How did that decision come about?

[gz] I think at some level, you know, often you are doing the right thing when you are bucking the trend. Because, eventually the trend gets tedious. That’s the other thing that’s interesting about PC gaming. I think PC gaming typically has a higher level of detail and higher level involvement. Its a little more of a relationship with the product. If you look at things like ‘Sims’, or what ‘Spore’ is going to do, ‘Spore’s going to be huge because there are already, what, 1.8 million creatures. And that’s just in a few, you know, a few weeks. I mean it’s... I think that’s actually the difference is where, you know like a lot of console gaming - and hey, we make console games - but sometimes the relationship with a console game is a little more short, a little more focussed on that of entertainment, whereas PC is a longer term thing.

[1up] You mentioned in the demo that blood stays on the armour and stuff, so, ummm, how does that work? Does that, sort if they’ve had a night at the inn are they clean the next day, or?

[gz] Yeah, I think... I think it’s probably like, you know... it’s not quite to the point where like little rain will wash it off... I think it’s simply, you know, how many things you’ve killed in a certain period of time is the density. We’re also reflecting the fact that our typical fan is well past the ‘M’ age and wants to play games that are engaging and maybe a bit cerebral in terms of planning and thinking. At some level we’re not as excited about the very light kind of ‘happy happy’ fantasy as we are about the gritty, more realistic, tougher kind of fantasy that we’re doing in this game.

[1up] Speaking of ‘M’, your ‘M’ audience, how far would you guys be willing to take the romantic relationships you guys have sort of pioneered in gaming. It’s not the kind of thing that most other developers even think to put in their games.

[gz] In many ways the relationships within your party, which really do try and reflect realistic relationships. I think it’s something we think is really important. I think the problem with a lot of games is they just don’t have the basis or the foundation to do that. It was very funny in the first ‘Baldur’s Gate’ because, you know, we really didn’t do too much marketing research then - we just kind of make it - and we discovered like if you asked people "hey, is the romance thing an important part of the game"... "nah no way"... but they totally loved it, like people, like, you know, who was romancing who was like a big huge deal to players. We’re very open to portraying realistic human emotions, and sometimes human-elf relations and other things right, so its - and aliens - ... I think the thing is that’s it’s interesting to explore those things. We like the medium because it gives us the chance to do that.

[1up] Umm, have you guys talked about multi-player at all?

[gz] We actually... it’s a single-player game. It is a single-player RPG. You’re giving me the evil squint?

[1up] Yeah, you really get the evil squint for that. Like, no multi-player at all? Like, no lan?

[gz] No, there isn’t multi-player in this game. Like it’s a single-player game...

[1up] I’m leaving, this interview is done [laughter]...

[gz] Really? No...

[1up] I mean playing ‘Baldur’s Gate 2’ multi-player lan is one of the pinnacles of my gaming life, so, ummm...

[gz] I think one of the interesting... the interesting challenge of multi-player is... I mean it is a challenge, you have to compromise stuff in the story, stuff in the interactions. I think that was the challenge. I think for us, we really said we want make this game about your story, you being the hero and you being the focus. Yeah, and you know what it’s a tough one - you get very emotional reactions to it. You get your reaction...

[1up] I’m... I’m chocking back tears...

[gz] ... and you get another reaction we’re they’re like "thank you so much". It is, in a sense, it’s a balancing of all these compromises and I think that what you have to do is try make the very best game for the people who’ll love it. And I think that that’s really our goal and sometimes it doesn’t quite turn out the way you want and sometimes it does and sometimes you exceed your expectations.

[1up] Is there any chance this game would come to console?

[gz] You know, I think the reality is, hey, we’re part of EA, EA’s a very multi-platform company. But the other thing is, we always make sure - and I think people saw this for ‘Mass’ PC - is that we really really do cater very carefully to the platform we build on. We aren’t just a, hey, just slap it broadly across a bunch of platforms and hey we’re done.

[1up] You know, that brings me to a question, you know, that we... earlier today was the Sony press conference and Jack Trenton made the comment that consumers are moving away from the PC and into the living room. So, given the timing of your game, how do you feel about that?

[gz] You know, I think the really fundamental thing about the PC market is that it’s evolving, it’s changing. I wasn’t aware that most WoW players were playing from their living room. But they might be, it’s quite possible. Some of the traditional gaming that was on PC has moved to console. Then, meanwhile PC has evolved, getting much more connected games, you know. The reality is PC is all about flexibility, in connecting people... there’s reasons in ‘Dragon Age’ we’re going to have toolset, we’re going to be having a lot of downloadable content - we’ll talk details of those later - but there’s things that we want to create that kind of creates a community around the game. You know, it’s very different than the console. I think that’s using the PC for its strengths.

[1up] So you’re basically in disagreement?

[gz] I disagree.

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