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 3 of 6

Crispy Gamer: So maybe like Baldur's Gate II?

Gaider: Well, that game is in a class all its own. Some players, God bless them, loved Baldur's Gate II a lot. I loved it a lot. However, even now I look back and I'm not sure that Baldur's Gate II needed to be as big as it was.

Crispy Gamer: Can you talk about the origin stories?

Gaider: Not yet. I will say that people have looked at Mass Effect and seen how you can mark an origin story down. It affected the game, it came into play. The Dragon Age origin stories have entire chapters devoted to them. It also determines where I start. If I'm a poor person from the human city and I grew up in the ghetto -- if I go back to that area, I'll meet people who will remember me and I'll get an experience unique to my character because that's where I'm from.

If you're a dwarf and you come from where the dwarves live, and you go back, you'll get unique dialogue and they'll know you. The important thing isn't how many choices you give. You can give a million choices. The important thing is that those choices are recognized during play. Like, if you have an origin story that makes you a noble -- if someone knows your noble, they'll treat you differently. Or if you're a race that is looked down on, people can sometimes behave differently towards you, even in a racist manner.

Players like feeling that the experience is more tailored to them and that they're not just getting some cookie-cutter story. With origin stories, I'm hoping that someone plays as a dwarf and says, "This really feels like it's made for a dwarf. What happens if I play as an elf?" It'll feel the same way for the elf. That's the idea.

Crispy Gamer: Is there a level cap in Dragon Age?

Gaider: Sure, I could tell you the cap but it won't mean anything. Without knowing the system, there's no way to quantify it. Make no mistake, when you're Level 1, it's not like you're a nobody. Not everyone has a level and class. That makes you special in this world. Most people don't have a class of their own. That makes you a hero. You're special and that's why you're recognized as being someone with skill, but we aren't looking at godlike power.

Crispy Gamer: Here's something I'm curious about: In Bethesda games, they've gone back and forth on whether or not the monsters level with you. For instance, in Morrowind, you can go places where you will get your ass kicked.

Gaider: Sure.

Crispy Gamer: In Oblivion, though, they match your level. How are you guys going to handle that?

Gaider: Hard to say at this point because we're still playing with it. I think the plan is to have a little bit of scaling depending on the area, but there's a top limit and bottom limit. If you go to an area that you're too powerful for, you won't have bandits running around in glass armor or anything. It depends on the creature as well. We might say a boss creature might scale more than your average bandits.