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 5 of 6

Crispy Gamer: Using a fantasy archetype saves you a lot of explanation.

Gaider: I discovered while writing Dragon Age that there are elements of the world that you have to introduce to the player, and it can be hard to do. As the player, you're supposed to already know this stuff. You're from this world. What I try to avoid is the character asking what everything is. You should know. You've lived here your entire life.

Crispy Gamer: ...And you're one of the heroes of the world.

Gaider: Right. It helps that if they meet an elf that they can assume enough about them to understand it. I can then gradually introduce the rest of their history subtly. If you raise the bar too high, it's harder to get into, so we want to keep it relatively simple. And, you know, if you don't like elves or dwarves, do you actually even LIKE fantasy?

Crispy Gamer: I've known a few people that are constantly looking for the best of something or other and don't like what they've had so far. So, my thought is: Do you actually like this thing?

Gaider: I think The Lord of the Rings has brought about a certain level of fantasy exhaustion. But if someone doesn't actually like fantasy, well, the game isn't for them. There are a lot of people who love it, and will be interested by fantasy that is recognizable but with different twists and quite a bit darker. Not as much hand-holding and lots of hard decisions. As a writer, I love sticking the knife into a player and twisting it around. If I can make a player cry, that's awesome. I'm sure whoever wrote Aeris dying in Final Fantasy VII sat around chuckling thinking about all the people who will cry.

Crispy Gamer: Watching the demo, I really liked watching the way magic worked together. I liked that you can light a grease spell and then put the fire out with a blizzard.

Gaider: Yeah, the mage that they had in the demo has all sorts of spells you wouldn't really put together. The designers loved putting that in.

Crispy Gamer: There was no dialogue or combat, and yet it was engrossing for hours. My point is, though, that while playing Bloodlines I got to Chinatown and the sewers and started thinking, "What if they had the time?" What could this have been?

Gaider: In that respect, at BioWare, we produce polished products. We've had the opportunity to put out the vision that it started with. For someone like me who works there in a creative capacity, that's a great feeling. Like with Dragon Age, I've been on it for five years. I'm very eager at this point to talk about all the characters and romances that no one knows about yet. It feels good to know that BioWare is going to work on it until it's ready to go, and we'll get it to where it should be.

Crispy Gamer: You guys have a rough idea of a release date?

Gaider: First quarter next year is but we're aiming for. Of course, projects slide. I'm sure there are people who will swear it will be first quarter, but who can tell? I don't have a crystal ball to be able to tell.