Dragon Age

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This article or section contains information about an unreleased video game.
It is likely to contain information of a speculative nature, and the content may change dramatically as more information becomes available.

Dragon Age

Developer(s)	BioWare
Publisher(s)	TBA
Release date(s)	TBA
Genre(s)	RPG
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Rating Pending (RP)
Platform(s)	PC

Dragon Age is a computer role-playing game currently in development by BioWare for the PC. The game's publisher and release date have yet to be announced, but Bioware is aiming at late 2007 to mid 2008.

Unlike many of BioWare's previous titles, Dragon Age is not based on a pre-existing franchise; the game mechanics and setting are being developed by BioWare specifically for the game. Dragon Age utilizes a new game engine, named Eclipse^[1], is designed to incorporate both single and multiplayer modes, and will fully support Microsoft DirectX 10. It has been confirmed that it will feature a toolset for creation of fan-made content. This element was present in the previous BioWare game Neverwinter Nights but the Dragon Age toolset will feature more options, such as overhanging terrain. BioWare describes Dragon Age as a 'spiritual successor' to the Baldur's Gate series, saying also that the features of Dragon Age will be a combination of their previous titles including Neverwinter Nights, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.^[2]

As of yet, few specific details have been revealed regarding the game's setting or plot, although more general information is available. The setting will be 'medieval fantasy' and the plot has been described as epic, and involves saving the world. The developers have cited 'realistic' fantasy fiction such as George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones and fantasy paintings by artists such as Frank Frazetta as inspiration for the game - they aim for a dark, mature, gritty fantasy setting as opposed to the High Fantasy Dungeons and Dragons Bioware fans are used to.

In order to avoid the starting out clichés so frequent in computer gaming ('wakes up in a prison', 'lands fresh off a boat', 'suffers from amnesia' etc.) the designers are incorporating 'origin' stories for each subrace in the game. For example a Dwarf Noble will begin the game as part of the royal family in one of the Dwarven cities, and a Dwarf Commoner will begin on the streets of said city. For the first several hours of game play the player will learn about their chosen race, and minor events in their starting location. As an example, each player will have a minor 'nemesis', unique to their origin story, that will follow them partway through the game. Once the player completes their origin story, events will intersect and they will be drawn into the world plot (where, if playing multiplayer, they will meet their fellow players).

The alignment of the main character throughout the game will affect the story, as in previous Bioware games, but the designers are putting a bigger emphasis on 'moral decisions' in Dragon Age. While you will have to save the world whether you are good or evil, the decisions you make in the process will change the world around you, deciding who will become King for example, and affecting nations and races and their places in the world. These decisions will also influence your companion NPCs, and could ultimately lead to an NPC deciding to leave your party if he or she does not agree with your approach.

The game will feature a newly designed camera, which will follow the party in a third person 'explore mode' while out of combat, but will swing up to a RTS style, top down, camera mode while in combat. As with the Baldur's Gate series, players will be able to issue orders to NPCs in real time or while the game is paused, and queue up actions such as spells and special attacks. The combat system will be more 'realistic' than previous Bioware games - a player fighting three enemies will be more susceptible to damage from one he is not facing than the older dice-based game mechanics, and this will be visualized on screen in the way weapons will connect with armor etc.

[edit] Features

The following is the current aimed for but not final feature list:

Epic open ended storyline
Cinematic story-driven single-player campaign
Separate single-player and multi-player campaigns
Full character customization (race, sex, class, abilities, spells, etc)
The character development is class-based; on higher levels, one can choose more specialized classes
The magic system is mana-based; there is only one kind of magic
Set in a new fantasy world created by BioWare for fans of its past titles
Party-based gameplay for outstanding tactical combat and immersive character interaction
Participate in massive battles
Mod tools for great custom content / End-user content creation tools
Top down party-based tactical 'combat mode'
Cinematic 3rd person camera 'exploration mode'