Dragon Age II Retrospective Video Interview

The folks at Video Game Sophistry have published the second part of their audio interview with BioWare writer David Gaider concerning the Dragon Age series, which focuses on Dragon Age II. Gaider is now working on an unannounced new IP for BioWare, but was the lead writer for all the Dragon Age titles published so far, and offers a privileged insight into the development process at the RPG studio.

According to Gaider, the original idea for Dragon Age II (Gaider noted that the game wasn’t always meant to be a stand-alone sequel, though his memories on the early development timeline are fuzzy) was to have a story that developed over a long period of time, with cuts from one important even to the next. Unfortunately, due to the time and resource constraints, many planned plot points had to be dropped. In particular, Gaider was disappointed by the lack of mage-specific content, though he also notes that he understands why the material had to be cut.

Something that didn’t change from the original plans to the final game was the decision to focus on a different subject after every time jump, moving from plotlines like the Qunari uprising to the conflict between mages and templars. That said, with the benefit of hindsight Gaider feels that Act II was the strongest part of the game’s story, and that it could have made for a satisfying conclusion, as long as the lead-up was made much longer than it is in the final game. Gaider also defended friendship/rivalry system, who he thinks was a good idea that wasn’t conveyed well to players that were used to Origins’ system, and concluded the interview by arguing that Dragon Age II set the stage for Inquisition and proved that Thedas isn’t solely about epic battles and the Darkspawn.

In case you don’t have time to listen to the full interview, the folks at Video Game Sophistry have been kind enough to provide a transcript.