GB Feature: Dragon Age: Origins Preview and Interviews

It’s here! Our full preview of Dragon Age: Origins is now online, as well as two interviews we did with the game’s lead designer and executive producer up in Edmonton.

First, an excerpt from the six-page preview:

The dialogue trees themselves are pretty standard fare for anyone familiar with traditional RPGs. During each exchange, you’re given 3-5 options to choose from, with some options only appearing if you meet the requirements necessary to intimidate, persuade, or otherwise influence the person you’re speaking to (the appearance of these options is determined by your statistics, your Coercion skill, and previous choices you’ve made). The writing during my time with the game was all above average, and the choices offered weren’t typically among the good, neutral, and evil variety (though this is the case on occasion). As I stated previously, the protagonist doesn’t voice any of his or her lines, though all responses toward you are voiced even when they’re coming from some unimportant villager.

One aspect of the game that really stood out to me is that you’re afforded every opportunity to establish a connection with each follower who joins your group. For example, once you’ve recruited someone into the party, they will typically have quite a bit to add (amusing quips, suggestions, and even outbursts) during your conversations with other NPCs from then on. Additionally, rather than just issuing one-liners outside of party camp (or the Normandy.), the companions in Dragon Age will gladly indulge you with a conversation at any given time, provided there aren’t any fireballs actively being flung in your direction. Ask them about the region you’re traveling through, any of the tasks at hand, or their own personal history, and you’re sure to get an answer.

The followers themselves seem to fall into two groups major companions that are willing to stick with you for most if not all of the game (Morrigan, Alistair, Leliana, etc.) and minor companions that join for specific chapters in the storyline (Ser Gilmore, Jory, Daveth, etc.). Both of these groups will typically have something to say during dialogue, but only the major companions will actively talk amongst themselves while you’re traveling about. At one point, I listened for a couple of minutes as Alistair talked to Morrigan about her mother and whether or not she’s lived in the Korcari Wilds her whole life. This isn’t new ground by any means exchanges like these happened all the time in Baldur’s Gate II but the added bonus in Dragon Age: Origins is that it’s all voiced. No more unexpected interruptions while you’re trying to hoof it to the next quest, in other words.

And if you don’t find what you’re looking for there, check out the transcripts from our interview with Mike Laidlaw…

GB: Are these monsters or the loot in the world ever scaled to your party’s level? You had said that 80 percent of the game was kind of free exploration, so obviously we might stumble into a more challenging area, potentially early in the game. Will the game scale the challenge accordingly?

Mike: Within limits. There are some areas that are harder just by nature, and some areas that are easier just by nature. But generally, the game is attempting to balance itself. What I wanted to avoid, though, was the problem of the game always being the same difficulty level, like one kind of vanilla challenge level. There need to be some spots that spike in difficulty, things that are off the have-to-do list.

There’s more license for my team to build something a little harder, more challenging, but at the same time more rewarding. Right? You know, artifact level magic weapons, or whatever.

And I think people are going to find those, and usually the more obscure it is to find, the more the more likely you are to get sat down the first couple of times you try it. But still, that’s the nice thing about having a world where you can explore, is you can back out, go somewhere else, and come back in a few levels, and try again.

…and our interview with Mark Darrah:

GB: You mentioned a full expansion. Do you think that everything will be released digitally, or can you foresee actually having a $30.00 expansion pack on retail store shelves, like we were used to seeing years ago?

Mark: Yeah. You know, we haven’t firmed up our plans yet, but I do think there is still a market in place for that sort of thing, an actual physical expansion pack. I think that market still exists.

GB: So not just a conglomeration of six previously released add-ons, but an actual standalone expansion pack?

Mark: Yeah. I mean, we might see that as well, where you take existing downloadable content you’ve done before, and packaged up, and put it in a different form. But I think the advantage you get of something larger, the higher price point, that you can put more work into it. It can be a bigger story. It can tie itself together, and have cross-links and things, and whereas if you just take six different plots that you’ve done, and then just sort of put them in one box, it’s still a great experience, but it’s not going to tie itself into a greater story.

Enjoy!