BioWare is returning to its roots with Dragon Age: Origins, a swords and sorcery RPG in the vein of Baldur's Gate. And here's something unheard of in this day and age: it's going to be PC exclusive. We caught up with BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk and asked him all about it.
Once more into the breach, dear friends.
Electric Playground: Why go old school?
Greg Zeschuk: We wanted this game to be the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate. When we were building it, we decided to really embrace the classic old school formula we had with the original Baldur's Gate, and, in Dragon Age: Origins, take it to the future.
EP: Have you missed the old school approach?
GZ: I think in some sense. It's kinda funny to play again. It all comes back to you. You're like, "Wait a minute! I know exactly how to do this!" It's fun, you're getting into it, it's very different than the way games have been going lately, with things very streamlined and action-oriented. Even though we are very action-oriented, when you've got your own team to command there's still that tactical element that you cannot beat.
EP: Would you say that a good game is a good game forever, even though it might be ten years down the road and the graphics are dated?
GZ: I would say so. There's something special about it that makes it a good game. You have to look past the graphics and the antiquated presentation and [ask] "what was it that made it special?" You can still find it there. You may be put off by the presentation, but the core is still there.
EP: The plan is to go PC-only with Dragon Age, at least initially?
GZ: We're focusing on PC first. We've said we're going to be looking at consoles, thinking about the plans there. We're not in any big rush; we want to make sure we make the right platform decision.
EP: I remember back in the day when it was announced that Knights of the Old Republic was going to Xbox first. There were those that complained that BioWare had "sold out." Is this a sort of response to that? Why PC now?
GZ: It's not so much a response to that; it's the right platform for the game we're building. To really get the full experience. To build a game that we think has big appeal for fans of PCs.
I think it's interesting to point out that people have that "PC is doomed" kind of [attitude]. Seeing them declining and making a blanket statement. But [usually] what you're talking about is the retail box sales in North America. Worldwide, PC is stronger than ever. There's been an incredible explosion of PCs in Russia, Eastern Europe, Asia as well. More people are playing games on PCs than any other platform these days.
EP: What did working with the Dungeons & Dragons license teach you?
GZ: Combat. How we sequence it, how we time it, how it all fits together. That was a big thing I think we intuitively knew how to do it right. What's exciting about that is [in Dragon Age] we not only allow you to have that tactical view--that party-of-characters top down view--you can dive down into it. Using the knowledge we have from Baldur's Gate, we were able to make that all work.
EP: What advantages does doing your own swords and sorcery game have over doing a Dungeons & Dragons game?
GZ: One of the disadvantages is that you lose the ruleset, the system, the world and the content. So right off the bat it's a challenge. It's an exciting challenge, because we have to replace it all. We have to build the world, and that's one of the very time-consuming elements of the development Dragon Age: Origins, but also fun. The experience that we had building those games, franchises and other worlds, we've learned lots of stuff that we've applied. We're happy with the outcome.
EP: Of course, Dragon Age is not just about the old school. How is Dragon Age going to move things forward and innovate?
GZ: A couple of things.
I think the tactical combat will be a big thing people will think of. It's not innovation so much as reintroduction of something that was very popular, very successful in the past. Something that's still super fun. When you pull back, look at the whole battlefield, take your four characters, arrange them against the enemy... Fighting 20 guys, figuring how you're going to lay them out. Are you going to protect your mage? How are they going to defend themselves? It has a sense of urgency, even though you can pause at any time. It's still exciting.
No school like the old school.
[We'll] show [players] what was so great about those games from the past. For the ones who have played them and missed them, they can play something very much like them now.
EP: BioWare is famous for its moral choices throughout its games. With Dragon Age, you have Martyr, Tyrant and Hero alignments. Can you tell us a little more about those?
GZ: Those aren't specifically the archetypes you can be, as much as they're indicative of the types of actions you have to undertake. Once again, we're coming in with a good system of alignment and how people see you in the world. What's interesting is that we tie back into the origin stories. We're not going into detail about these; we'll talk a bit more about them later in the year. But at the beginning of the game you go through a personalized experience that kinda gives you a lens on the world. It also affects how the world sees you. You tie that together with your alignment and the decisions you make. Many decisions you make throughout the game are influenced by what happens at the beginning. It personalizes the whole thing more.
The Hero, Tyrant, Martyr concept has a lot to do with the big epic feel to the choices you make. If you think of the analogy with Lord of the Rings, you're sitting in Mount Doom, do you throw the ring in or not? Those are the kinds of epic decisions that we want try to reflect in this game.
EP: Taking that analogy, whether I throw the ring in or not makes a big difference to the plot. How divergent is the story in Dragon Age because of my choices? Whole new areas, different battles?
GZ: There's a moderate change. If I play off the example of Mount Doom and the ring, I imagine if you kept the ring, Sauron would reign and the world would be destroyed! So probably not that big. The choices you do make affect armies, kings... We thought of ways of [adding] a very epic feel to the decisions you make, so you actually do change the world. As far as new content associated with that, there's always some degree of this, but it's not enormous. It doesn't turn off half the world, or turn on another half.
EP: BioWare games are also famous for sidequests, character specific quests and romances. Are we going to see any of that?
GZ: You will see all of those things in a lot of delightful detail. When we think back to that classic BioWare formula, those are right in the sweet spot. Things that generate emotion, like having your party members needing something from you. Those are things that we always focus on as being fundamental to the experience to create emotion. That genuine emotion is our goal.
EP: Is the world builder going to be like Neverwinter Nights, where you can build a module and invite people in?
GZ: Dragon Age will be played as a single player game, even with the stuff you create with the tools.
EP: You guys have been quiet about Dragon Age for some time. Why was that, and why break the silence now?
GZ: We did announce awhile ago. We went to the console with Knights of the Old Republic. We wanted to show the fans that hey, don't worry, we're working on a game called Dragon Age on PC. We wanted people to know that we're still dedicated to the platform. The timing of it has been very purposeful. We don't want to have too many things in the pipe, where our fans will have too many games to worry about. We want to give each game some time in the sun. The focus on Mass Effect is slightly less, now we can shift it to Dragon Age: Origins. Now's the time, because we're coming out in early 2009. It looks great, it's running really well and we want people to see it.
EP: How's life under EA treating you?
GZ: They're treating us well. We find we've had tremendous support for the products we're working on. It's very exciting, having a tighter and closer relationship with the team that's working on publishing and distributing this product. We do the marketing ourselves internally. We have a great marketing team that sits right next to the great development teams. All those things from our perspective lead up to a better result and we're very happy with that.
EP: Tell us why Dragon Age will kick ass.
GZ: I think Dragon Age will kick ass because it brings back the classic BioWare formula of great exploration, personalization of the character, really cool tactical combat, spell combinations, giant creatures and great story. We think those are going to make a great game.
-Interview by Jason MacIsaac, July 17, 2008
Jason MacIsaac is the Executive Editor of Elecplay.com. He's been a BioWare fan since Shattered Steel.