PAX East 2012 - Dragon Age Panel (Part 3 of 3) (by Cherithe)

The BioWare Dragon Age panel at PAX East 2012 hosted by Jessica Merizan with (in order from left to right) Mike Laidlaw, David Gaider, Mark Darrah and Shane Hawco.

Apologies that the video cuts out at the end- battery went dead.  

Notes from the remainder of the Q&A:

• Asunder novel and the Silent Grove comic will have more affect on future products.  Third-party things, like the movie will have less affect.
• The (hypothetical) third game will be larger than two, but they’re unsure how it will stack against Origins time-wise.  Mike said that he wants to make sure that if players want to keep interacting with the game when it’s over, that there’s a way to get that done.
• Ideally, David says he would like to introduce the players to all the major places of Thedas in some way.
• There was a question about the corruption of Blood Mages and whether they are really good people (or have the capacity to remain good people).  Blood magic is not a corruption in the way that the blight is.  People’s view on it is based in fear and the power it gives the mage.  That power can (and often is) the corrupting factor.
• If the Warden showed up in future games, would the Warden be voice acted?  Mike and David both indicated that were that to happen that they would want that choice to go to the player.  Unsure I’d it could be done without the potential disconnect it could give the player - “it would have to be done very right”.
• Some guy that hasn’t finished Origins yet asked a question about getting to Jarvia without a mage in the party.  Of course, there was lot of eye-rolling and grumbling from the audience.
• There is not a current plan for a toolset in the (hypothetical) third game for reasons Mark said that they couldn’t talk about.  (Based on the info from the first video where they show the possibility of color and pattern changes, that could be part of the explanation?)
• There was a question about dialogue options and intent/outcome in DA:O versus DA 2.  David talked about how the red/blue/purple options are more about your characters intent and not supposed to be an indication of what’s supposed to happen.  Then this comment: “You can flirt with Aveline. But she’s never going to be with you.  Ever.”
• A question is asked in part about the difference between the type of story (monster vs. situation) that the games tell.  The panel talks about how DA 2 is supposed to give you an idea about the world the Thedas is going to become.  The catalyst moment that shows you how the change in the world happens.  Given the different types of stories, and the types of stories they like to tell, Mike and David talked about how it’s unlikely they would tell a story like the one from DA 2 again.
• Someone talked about missing the party camp.  David talked about how he liked the way the followers were handled in DA 2 where it was obvious they were out having their own lives.  But then there were problems like the corpse in Fenris’ mansion for seven years. In the future they would like to return to a camp of some form, better than origins… In theory.  And the interactions with the companions would be something more content based on character type and specializations.