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Dragon Age Forum News II (Sep. 19, 07)

Discussion in 'Game/SP News & Comments' started by chevalier, Sep 19, 2007.

  1. chevalier

    chevalier Knight of Everfull Chalice ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran

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    Here are today's Dragon Age forum highlights, taken from the Dragon Age Official Forum. Please take into account that these are only single parts of various threads and should not be taken out of context. Bear in mind also that the posts presented here are copied as-is, and that any bad spelling and grammar does not get corrected on our end.

    David Gaider, Lead Writer

    Alright ladies, let's be shallow

    Since this was first, here you go: one of the romances is a female human mage. And shapeshifter.

    more:


    At the beginning of the game (before the events of even the prologue) is Ferelden at peace? War? Mostly peaceful but with 'unstable' areas?
    At war, though not against another nation.

    more:

    The Dwarven origins start outside of Ferelden (in a dwarven city). The elven origins start inside Ferelden.

    more:

    Just to be clear, there are two main "groups" of elves, culturally speaking -- it's difficult talking about them as a single entity as they're radically different and the only connection would be the historical context. That context is something I suspect we'll save as it sets the elves aside as being quite a bit different from "standard" than our dwarves are, I think.

    If I could offer any tidbit about the elves to entice you, however, I think it'd be this: the elves were once eternal, the ageless beings you probably associate with the name. They are no longer. If you saw a dwarf coming down the street and assumed he might be a merchant, what you would likely think of an elf doing the same is that they were probably trouble.

    more:

    Well, I did say "one of the romances" as opposed to "one of the female romances"... but feel free to speculate however you like.

    And thus ends my question-answering period for the day. I would have put my answers into code like Georg does... or maybe elven... but nah. I'm too tired to obfuscate.

    more:

    No, we never state definitively how old the PC is at any point -- just that they're vaguely young and relatively inexperienced at the beginning of the adventure.

    multiplayer campaign

    Yes, that's exactly it.

    Or it might be that we just know that, considering the way we've made the game, PW's as they exist in NWN are simply not possible. Seeing as how making them was never our goal in the first place that's no real loss -- except for those folks who seem to think that because it was possible to make a PW with NWN that therefore every game we make now must also (as some form of punishment, one must assume). While we feel for those folks, and I'm sure they'd like such a game to manifest, this was never it.

    Take your pick.

    Some Q's about the setting:

    I think that overall we're going less for realism as opposed to plausibility... and consistency. Considering that we have a world that has magic to start with, we're already diverging pretty markedly from history. Not to mention that when realism butts up against fun, fun wins out -- so long as it is still plausible and consistent. The artists have gone a long way to presenting a coherent and colorful setting, but we're definitely not attempting to recreate a historical, medieval Europe here. It's a fantasy world, even if it doesn't adhere to all of the D&D setting sensibilities specifically.

    Charisma and Appearance


    Does anyone know if there is a Charisma stat akin to D&D that will determine ,in some degree, how good-looking you are?

    No.

    Mary Kirby, Writer

    Alright ladies, let's be shallow

    Eternal youth is, in fact, not what the elves had. They aged. They didn't die per se, but they didn't just get to frolic in the woods for all eternity either.

    While it is certainly understandable that you'd equate eternal life with divinity, Cogitation, since that certainly has precedent in literature, it's just as fair to say that it has to spring from some supernatural source, isn't it? And this is a world with definite, proven magic. . .

    Shallow thread 2

    Well, the thing is, it's not always explained by evolution. There are lots of examples, notably in birds, where mates are chosen based on qualities that have nothing to do with survival, and can be detrimental to the creature's survival. Like peacocks, who choose mates based on how extravagant their tails are (and which consequently makes them much easier for predators to spot). Or one study I read a few years ago, in which researchers glued crests onto the heads of finches of a species that didn't have them, and noted that females overwhelmingly prefered their toupeed test subjects. Why? Nobody knows.

    Oh, and to get back to shallowness, I'm sorta partial to David Wenham.

    more:

    That's a circular argument. Males might evolve bright plumage in order to attract females, but why are the females attracted to that feature? Why would they be attracted to a feature, like crests, that doesn't even occur in their species? They evolve these features for no other reason than. . . well, because they are attractive. The reson for the attraction, however, is still a mystery.

    Georg Zoeller, Designer

    multiplayer campaign

    Yes, but we never said the chance to create PWs would be 0. We have said that indeed for Dragon Age.

    Skills and Experience

    Things I can confirm:

    - There are experience points.
    - There are levels.
    - Experience is rewarded for all kinds of things, including (obviously) combat.
    - If you get enough experience, you gain a level (duh).

    more:

    This is a trusted mechanic for RPGs. Innovation does not mean doing all things different from everything else in the genre.

    more:

    Exploration (the 'non forced' kind), exists to allow the player to find optional content.

    The notion that it may too expensive to create such areas because they might not be found doesn't take into account that there are ways to create content that are cost effective.

    Charisma and Appearance

    You can smooth talk if you want to, but there is no attribute that governs this.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 3, 2018
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