Ten Ton Hammer: The choices that we're making in Dragon Age seem much more... pivotal than what we've seen in Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, and Mass Effect. Was this a decision that was made early on, to have each of these decisions actually influence that outcome of your game? Not only that, but there are also more options available to player than what we've seen previously, as well.
Mike Laidlaw: Yes, we wanted to make sure the game was very reactive to the things you're doing, because it all comes back to this idea of building a "customizable" game. We wanted to make sure that this was a game that really was your experience and something that your origin story really shapes.
The origin stories, especially, are a great area to see these decisions showcased. What you see there is actually a mix of things that are going to carry forward and decisions that only affect your immediate outcome. Not everything carries forward, but a LOT of things do.
That's where we're really forging new ground and being more reactive than we have been in the past. It's a really just a conscious choice to make sure that there's a number of things you can choose and do so when we introduce particular characters or go back to a player's origin city, people are going to remember how you behaved and reacted.
To me as a player, that's incredibly gratifying.
