PC Gamer: I was going to ask, how much you guys feel like you have to react to your fans, to what they want, and how much freedom you have to lead them in almost any regard, from the small decisions you’re making to scoping out the future of the series and everything else?
Mark Darrah: It’s a little bit of both. From a small feature perspective things like control schemes and the way that the narrative or the way that the conversation works and stuff like that, that’s where we take a lot of feedback. That’s where we’re very much, I think people have a clear understanding of what they want and what they don’t like.
The danger is most people, myself included, aren’t perfectly objective when they’re playing a game at the higher level. Henry Ford has a famous quote. If we asked people what they wanted they’d ask for a faster horse. There’s a certain amount of truth to that.
Part of our job is to go out into the wilderness to go farther beyond what the players have seen, what they’ve played and essentially light a torch so they can see what could be and then hopefully they’ll want what we’re presenting. That can be uncomfortable. That can result in concern because obviously what they’re comfortable with, what they’ve played before isn’t completely what we’re delivering.
In the case of Dragon Age: Inquisition I think there is a core there. I think there is a core Dragon Age game at its center. I think that comfort still remains, but we will be pushing you, we’re challenging you with some new things.
