Dragon Age - Interview @ GameSpot

Once again Executive Producer Dan Tudge fronts for an interview at Dragon Age. This time, GameSpot focuses on the different class roles available, although here's a bit on the titular dragons:

GameSpot: For a game named "Dragon Age," we sure haven't seen too many dragons…until now. Tell us about the dragons in the game. Who and what are they? What part will they play in the story?
Dan Tudge: There are different kinds of dragons in the game, ranging in size from large to "I can't believe I'm actually fighting something this huge!" One of the cool features in Dragon Age: Origins is large creature combat, so players can expect some pretty epic battles if a dragon is involved. As for their role in the story, dragons were once worshipped as deities, but "the maker" shackled them under the earth to sleep for all time. The darkspawn, who dwell underground, search for these "old gods," and when they find one, they corrupt the dragon with their taint, transforming it into an archdemon that commands the darkspawn to the surface, unleashing a devastating "blight" on the world. It will be up to you, as one of the last remaining Grey Wardens, to stop it.

More information.

Pretty cool idea on dragons…..looking forward too seeing how they handle this.

Maybe like Shadow of the Colossus, a game I'd really love to play, if only it was available for PC … from what I know, basically the bosses were the levels. Huge.

Or like Zelda, where there can be many parts to a boss that you have to defeat independently before you can charge at the heart.

I just love Bioware games, but I just keep questioning how they're gonna pull off many of these things, from making a party-based pause-and-play RPG work on consoles, to epic sized creature battles. I'm sure they'll do it, and do it well, but that doesn't mean I won't be any less shocked when I see this stuff.

I just hope killing a dragon gives me a MAJOR sense of achievement. Now… where my stack of BG CDs go…

Oh, and edit - If noone noticed, the new trailer is there too.

Originally Posted by Dan Tudge
You'll have to experiment to see what kind of strategy works best for you, but one thing I find useful is the "pause and play" system. The ability to freeze the game and examine the situation from different angles can give you some great ideas on how to shift the odds in your favor.

Dragon Age will be so innovative.

Originally Posted by Guest
Dragon Age will be so innovative.

Bear in mind, we're trying to lure in people who played Mass Effect. Not everyone grew up in the old glory days of the SCRPGs.

EDIT: No, that's too vague: I'm not trying to say that it's dumbed down or simplified or anything like that. I'm trying to say that the interviews are going to talk about things that are of course old hat to some people. I don't think that Dragon Age is trying to be innovative. Dragon Age is trying to be, as Tycho from Penny Arcade said, "…like some Hot Rod version of Baldur's Gate, all roaring chrome and fire up the side."

Originally Posted by PatrickWeekes
Bear in mind, we're trying to lure in people who played Mass Effect.

…..

Originally Posted by PatrickWeekes
I'm not trying to say that it's dumbed down or simplified or anything like that.

I have nothing to say.

Originally Posted by Guest
…..



I have nothing to say.

Good. Marketing strategy is probably not a topic an anonymous poster should be talking about.

Since this site has rules against overt rudeness, and I don't believe I'm able to put guests on the ignore list, I'll take that as an end to attempts at useful discussion on my part.

Why so serious?

One more reason to deman registration before posting….oh well.

Originally Posted by Guest
Why so serious?

Because you are an anonymous troll. Dealing with you is a waste of time. Do us all a favour and go away.

Originally Posted by rune_74
One more reason to deman registration before posting….oh well.

That's exactly what I proposed in the internal forum two minutes ago. We'll see if the others agree.

I've always agreed with the concept of no registration= no posting!!

Not commenting on the quality of the actual game, but the bit about classes is just hilarious… Really, I can have my Rogue enter sneak mode and lay traps? Really, I can have him have do sneak attacks from behind?!! Whoa, mind blown. It's just kinda funny.

The only drawback to Dragon Age I've seen so far is the fact that it got pushed back by quite a few months. I was hoping to play it during Easter.

Can we please, please require registration before posting. The right to post insipid asinine drivel is something that will probably always exist online, but this is intolerable.

You do realize that you're feeding the troll, don't you?

Originally Posted by Maylander
The only drawback to Dragon Age I've seen so far is the fact that it got pushed back by quite a few months. I was hoping to play it during Easter.

Agreed I like everything I have said and read from the developers. Was pretty upset when hearing it got pushed back. But in the end in BW delivers a game as good or even better than the BG games all will be forgotten and the wait will have been worth it.

I think I'm going to adopt a "wait and see" approach for this one. I am not convinced enough of the old school RPG stuff is going to survive the need to attract the Mass Effect fans.

Sounds good to me. Can't wait to see how they tackle the diffeferent ways to handle the "corrupted" dragon. Hopefully there will be more than one way to deal with these demi-gods instead of just the usual "kill the dragon."