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CVG Home � PC � Previews

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Dragon Age

Format PC

Developer Bioware

Publisher Unknown

Genre Role Playing

9-Jan-2008 Dungeons. Dragons. D20. Delicious!

13 Comments

Ten years ago, when the RPG masters BioWare released their first big game, Baldur's Gate, we were content with the highest fantasy: to play along with template elves and grinning kobolds. But something has changed since then.

With authors such as George R R Martin producing grittier, bloodier takes on fantasy, and film-makers like Peter Jackson emphasising the war and corruption at the heart of Lord of the Rings, it's no longer enough to fill a fantasy game with comedy orcs. Fantasy has moved on, and games are only just starting to make the transition.

Hence Dragon Age's entirely new world of Ferelden, custom-written to emphasise the bleakness of existence. In the world of Dragon Age, magic is dangerous and weird, magic users feared, and the consequences of great spells still being felt by a downtrodden and broken populace. Gone are the D&D; cliches: the flick-of-a-wrist fireball, the saving throw. In comes inter-species tension, religious hatred, and good old fashioned betrayal.

Consider the elves: tall, slender, smarter, almost idealised humans in most fantasy. In Dragon Age, they're nothing of the sort: in Dragon Age they're terrorists or freedom fighters, depending on who you talk to.

Dwarves live beneath society, literally and figuratively: those who choose to live above ground are treated like dirt, those who remain in their caverns are rarely seen. And no, dwarfettes don't have comedy beards.

Similarly, genre clich�s are being wholeheartedly abandoned. Fights, while still viewed from above, don't rely on the usual crit rolls and queued spells of your favourite RPGs. It's as much about tactical use of the environment as it as about the size of your sword.

Meanwhile, potions are simply excised from the game entirely, alongside healing spells. To get through a tricky fight, you'll need to rely on your wits, not a backpack full of red bottles.

But take heart. This isn't a game about unremitting bleakness. It's meant to be a game in which doing good is a made worthwhile by the bad around you.

BioWare lead writer David Gaider says "We're not trying to tell a story about there being no right and wrong and how everything is grey. We do, however, want being good to be an achievable struggle. Even if all the world is against you, you will have love, and friends that stand by you."

We're going to miss the kobolds, those little scamps. But they're being replaced by something new and exciting.

PC Gamer

// Interactive

Share this article:

Posted by berelain

Looks like they've taken more than a few pointers from the work of Andrzej Sapkowski and his world of the Witcher, which has similar themes of bleakness and racial tension running through it. Oh, and there's Elf freedom fighters, too. Interesting how a game that uses a Bioware Engine bears so many similarities to a new Bioware game...

Lets just hope that the bleakness on offer isn't "unremitting bleakness" that results in the game getting a Manhunt 2-alike ban ;-p

Posted by csdaveuk

Oh, I do want this to be a return to the golden age of PC RPGs! And please let them flesh out the "evil" side of the story as much as the "good" this time round.

Posted by lmimmfn

Im with you there, would be great to get back to the good old days of PC RPG'ing. Im enjoying Jade Empire at the moment though :twisted:

Posted by Mappman

Anyone else think that demon-looking thing at the top of the page looks like that really early image of the Imp on the Doom 3 engine?

Posted by DarthMorbus

I've been looking forward to this game for quite a while. It's high on my most wanted list, in fact that only games that beat it are other BioWare games. It's always good to get more news about it.

Posted by Musicalgibbon

Though I've never been the biggest fan of Bioware's stuff, I must admit that I've been following this one quite closely. One of my bigger hopes for the year.

Sonic RPG perchance?

:o

Posted by Mogs

Disappointed by the fantasy setting (dwarves, elves are clich�s in themselves), but very pleased to hear this:

Posted by ossie

Neither game can really lay claim to revolutionising the fantasy genre. I think they're likely to be similar as fantasy themes in gaming are finally catching up with the fantasy genre elsewhere and ditching hokey cliches in favour of gritty storylines and realistic characterisation.

Posted by Grim_Grom

Sounds interesting but also like a bit of a Witcher rip-off.

Posted by DarthMorbus

�Though I've never been the biggest fan of Bioware's stuff, I must admit that I've been following this one quite closely. One of my bigger hopes for the year.

Mass Effect 2 and 3 and KoTOR 3 (or whatever their project with Lucasarts is).

Posted by humorguy

Fed up to the back teeth with fantasy. So still looking forward to Precursors, Mass Effect, Far Cry 2 and STALKER: Clear Sky before I do this. Also, after Jade Empire, more worried than ever about how good a Bioware RPG will be. Bioware have a choice - another classic, or another sell-out.

Posted by Necros

They've been working on this game for a long time too, it's not necessarily a rip-off. :wink:

Posted by The Snot Goblin

Looks like we should take this article with a pinch of salt...

http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=611590&forum=84

Read all 13 comments