A Farewell to Licenses

Can BioWare do it again, this time without the D&D license? David Gaider thinks so.
9/2/2008 8:10 PM | 0 Comments | Page 2 of 6

The Dark Spawn worshipped dragons, which are now known as the Old Gods. The Maker imprisoned the dragons for lying to mankind about being the real god. So, the Dark Spawn search for their gods and when they find one, their corruption spreads to it and makes it into an Arch Demon. It then bursts from the ground and they come pouring out with it. That's what begins a Blight.

In the game, it has been a long time since the last Blight, and that was one soundly defeated. Humanity then decided that the Dark Spawn were defeated. This leads to the dwindling numbers of Grey Wardens. When the game starts, a new Arch Demon has arisen and started a new Blight. The Grey Wardens are then called upon to do what they're poorly equipped to do.

Crispy Gamer: Well, for the game itself, is it skill- or level-based?

Gaider: Level- and class-based. You start with the very simple, "holy trinity" classes and from there you specialize your talents. I can't really go into details of what those skills and talents are, but I can say that there are a lot of choices on how to array your skills. You're also leveling up your party as well, so you can lay them out as you need. If you're a heavy fighter-type, there's no problem. You can do that. There's also quite a bit to do with the mage classes, as well.

Crispy Gamer: In Dragon Age, during the demo I noticed a lot of talk about choices affecting how the game plays and where you go. How much do choices factor into the ending of the game?

Gaider: BioWare creates story-driven games. We don't really create sandbox games. There's even a point in Baldur's Gate II where the world opens up and you can go wherever, but it's still under our control. Of course, you can lose yourself in the world of Dragon Age, the choices are there. I would say that there are more choices than in our more recent titles, but that's hard to judge.

There are a few big decisions that you have to make towards the middle of the game that change things quite a bit. In fact, those are really hard to write because once those things are in place so you have to account for them through the rest of the game. To that end, there have been places where we've been tempted to take things out because it would be easier on us.

Crispy Gamer: Do some hand-holding?

Gaider: Right, but we decided to keep them in because we love those parts. We love the way this works and how there's more freedom. For endings, we have big endings and small endings. I love the Fallout idea where you find out how the choices you made effect different areas we went to.

Crispy Gamer: How long are you expecting the game to be?

Gaider: That's hard to say. The only thing I've been seeing lately is that, content-wise, this is the biggest game we've attempted since Baldur's Gate II. When we get closer to being finished and we have most of or all of the quests in the game, we'll be able to better judge, but right now all I can do is look at the amount of areas, dialogue and quests and say, "Wow, that sure is a lot."