Dragon Age - Tidbits @ Eurogamer

Eurogamer posts a very brief look at some Dragon Age comments made to them by Bioware Senior PR manager Matt Atwood. Nothing earth-shatteringly new here, but some indication that more info is in the pipeline on Bioware's first RPG made with their own IP. Here's a sample:

Senior PR manager for the company Matt Atwood restated the promise that it would be out before April 2009, and said more information would be released soon.
"When you make a statement like 'this is the RPG that people have been waiting for', then you better back it up and you better spend a hell of a lot of time on it," Atwood told Eurogamer.
"I think we're going to be extremely proud and our fans are going to be extremely excited. And you'll hear more about it pretty quick."...
So far it has only been linked with PC, but when quizzed about it Atwood didn't rule out the possibility of it popping up on other platforms.
"It is for the PC, but as far as exclusivity we haven't said anything on that," he revealed.

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More information.

I am very excited for the game, but always find it worrying when PR folks start talking about 'the game you've been waiting for' and 'spiritual successor' ... starts to sound like Dungeon Lords meets Oblivion to me ...

Yes, we could be looking back fondly at this pre-hype moment--something tells me when the machine gets started it will no longer be a case of 'no information', but a case of where do you go hide to escape it.

Still even I am ready to hear some news about it--I really do think this could be a landmark RPG.

I don't mind the information - looking forward to that part, actually. It is the 'Molyneux effect' I worry about!

txa1265 said:

... starts to sound like Dungeon Lords meets Oblivion to me ...

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I can't get that picture out of my mind... I bet I'll dream of of it tonight and it won't be pleasant dreams.

The thing is this is the game we've been waiting for. After the release of HotU it was announced and we waited, and waited..and waited..and waited...

magerette said:

Still even I am ready to hear some news about it--I really do think this could be a landmark RPG.

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From BioWare? Seriously? Don't you think you're pushing it a bit

Anyway, I also am looking forward to hear more about this project. What I've heard up until now may not have been the best, but then again, it was much better than everything I hear about Fo3, ME and stuff like that...

One thing I do like, is that it's being designed FOR the PC, rather than being an afterthought to a planned Console release!!

Lucky Day said:

The thing is this is the game we've been waiting for. After the release of HotU it was announced and we waited, and waited..and waited..and waited...

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I hope it is ... I really do. I just worry about the rhetoric. And I agree Corwin - PC designed is definitely a plus.

After the let down with NWN2 and all its problems such as pwc file requirements for multiplayer, 20 mb areas, fiddling with (or not) with the DM Client, a painstaking to use toolset, an unwillingness to to allow for certain custom content, and no standalone server, (the latter two were remedied over a year later) many of us have been looking forward to DA as a saviour.

However, I'm worried it will be what Ultima 9 was to UO in that department. For one thing, there's so much talk about the game they treated ideas regarding the toolset as afterthought after the disaster that was the OC with NWN and their focus groups.

NWN wasn't originally slated to even come with a game. The talk with DA early on is it will "probably come with a toolset". I can hope if it really wants to become a "spiritual successor" to NWN that Bio looks at the mistake that Obsidian did in going that direction.

A lot of NWN fans are hoping for that kind of flexibility and more now that Bio does not need approval from other companies on what they are allowed to offer.

I'm also concerned about this garbage I keep hearing from the "good" doctors about their focus on "mature" games, justifying their reasons, denying there's anything wrong with it, then saying its the customer's responsibility.

I can only hope they do the wise thing with DA and make it a Teen rated game to reach a larger and ironically more mature audience.

Lucky Day said:

I can only hope they do the wise thing with DA and make it a Teen rated game to reach a larger and ironically more mature audience.

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There is absolutely no evidence - and a lot of evidence to the contrary - to suggest the rated M games aimed at adults have less of an audience then a Teen rated game... aimed at adults

Bioshock, Gears of War, Assassin's Creed, COD4 and Mass Effect were all Rated M games. I cannot expect that Dragon Age will be any different. BioWare has been very clear that Mass Effect was not made for kids - and Dragon Age won't be either.

NWN was Teen rated because of the requirements of the licensor at Hasbro - not because of Wal-Mart or any perceived strength that would it would provide that game in the marketplace.

Sonic Chronicles - different story.

Lucky Day said:

After the let down with NWN2 and all its problems such as pwc file requirements for multiplayer, 20 mb areas, fiddling with (or not) with the DM Client, a painstaking to use toolset, an unwillingness to to allow for certain custom content, and no standalone server, (the latter two were remedied over a year later) many of us have been looking forward to DA as a saviour.

However, I'm worried it will be what Ultima 9 was to UO in that department. For one thing, there's so much talk about the game they treated ideas regarding the toolset as afterthought after the disaster that was the OC with NWN and their focus groups.

NWN wasn't originally slated to even come with a game. The talk with DA early on is it will "probably come with a toolset". I can hope if it really wants to become a "spiritual successor" to NWN that Bio looks at the mistake that Obsidian did in going that direction.

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If you're expecting DA to be as flexible for multiplayer as NWN you're going to be very, very disappointed. It's already been confirmed that PWs are out for example (most likely because the engine only handles the one area at a time).

AFAIK, Bioware have been careful not to call DA the spiritual successor to any one product - they tend to say it will have elements of BG, NWN and KotOR but not be exactly alike any one of them. One thing they've always said though is that the single player experience is their focus with DA. I would expect multiplayer only on the level of the BG games, and a toolset nowhere near as user friendly as NWN's (it simply not DA's focus).

Holly Avenger said:

If you're expecting DA to be as flexible for multiplayer as NWN you're going to be very, very disappointed. It's already been confirmed that PWs are out for example (most likely because the engine only handles the one area at a time).

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I am willing to be disappointed however you missed the last thread where Steel Wind said the same thing and Patrick Weekes had to say there is nothing actually known about that yet.

Steel_Wind said:

Bioshock, Gears of War, Assassin's Creed, COD4 and Mass Effect were all Rated M games. I cannot expect that Dragon Age will be any different. BioWare has been very clear that Mass Effect was not made for kids - and Dragon Age won't be either.

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yep, and if true that will be entirely too bad. I'm getting more and more disappointed with this company.

Lucky Day said:

I am willing to be disappointed however you missed the last thread where Steel Wind said the same thing and Patrick Weekes had to say there is nothing actually known about that yet.

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Well what is definitely known is that the focus of DA is single player, whereas the focus of NWN was multiplayer and a user-friendly toolset. You've already seen what happens when you move away from the NWN model towards a single player focus with a "toolset we used to create the game, not that we created to be easy" (NWN2). When it's not even starting off on NWN's ethos then it's a lot to expect of DA that it will deliver it as an afterthought.

I have to agree with Holly, Lucky Day. You're chasing shadows. Everything I've read has been pretty clear that the toolset won't be as comprehensive and there is no reasonable way DA will run PWs. This is not a spiritual successor to NWN but if you had to choose a "successor" mantle, it would more likely be BG.