Interview Dragon Age - BioWare's Blue Period

[Jason]

Tags: BioWare; Dragon Age

Over at <a href="http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/dragon-age-origins-mike-laidlaw-interview?page=1" target="blank">Eurogamer</a>, Kieron Gillen had a chat with BioWare's Mike Laidlaw on <b><a href="http://dragonage.bioware.com/" target="blank">Dragon Age</a></b>.
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<blockquote>Eurogamer: The violence and lust from earlier, and entirely up front about it. The usual way critics describe trad-fantasy is twee. However... well, what would you say to someone who played Baldur's Gate and thought that, no, I quite liked this. I don't need it any more mature.
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Mike Laidlaw: To my mind, what was very compelling about Baldur's Gate was that it was a fun cool tactical experience - how do I use these characters together? Which ones do I pick? It's all about the compelling choices. When do I drop the fireball. All those elements are still there. I'm not sure the level of maturity is the difference - but the depth, the experience itself. Does it all hang together on a single theme? Because I think our greatest failing could be it's just a standard oh-look-a-unicorn fantasy... also, this guy's head just popped off. For it to feel tacked on, and not part of the experience.
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Making a decision early, deciding to make a mature game, to target an older audience, then knowing that all the way through... you play and it's like, "that's really challenging. I wasn't expecting that kind of motivation for these characters". That mixes up with, "I wasn't expecting to have that much sex". It goes into the same space. It works as one cohesive unit. It's kind of like having a blue period.</blockquote>
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The interview concluded with Mike chopping off Kieron's head while three lesbians made out in the background and a midget lip synced to "The Beautiful People".

 

[MetalCraze]

well, what would you say to someone who played Baldur's Gate and thought that, no, I quite liked this. I don't need it any more mature.

I'm not sure the level of maturity is the difference

deciding to make a mature game, to target an older audience

Irony made out of pure gold right there.

"Mature" is the new "dark and gritty" it seems.

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

It's all about the compelling choices. When do I drop the fireball.

Choices at their finest. Out-of-context quoting giggles aside, it's still stupid. If you are even contemplating throwing a fireball in a D&D game you don't know what you're doing.

 

[Darth Roxor]

It's all about the compelling choices. When do I drop the fireball.

Some deep choices right over thar, I see.

edit: fuck you Lestat.

 

[wrathofdog]

That mixes up with, "I wasn't expecting to have that much sex".

This is getting embarrassing, Bioware.

 

[Korgan]

No-one with an IQ of 110+ can honestly associate "maturity" with PRONZ and GIBZ past the age of 16.

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

Wonder if they'll break the nipple barrier in this game.

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

Wonder if they'll break the nipple barrier in this game.

GPUs still don't have enough horses to render a nipple.

 

[Turok]

Wonder if they'll break the nipple barrier in this game.

GPUs still don't have enough horses to render a nipple.

ATI and NVIDIA are working with the problem, nvidia is working with phyx to make more real the "bounce". ATI make his bet on HAVOK tecnology, in the next month we will see more fluid movements of tits and posible with directx11 and no more cpu for this, they are going to use the GPU, will be introduced the nipples.

With 3 or 4 cards you can assign 1 of then for just movements of tits if you dont know, the last tomb raider use this tecnology, more tittles will come in then near future.

 

[Andhaira]

Titties gigas?

 

[JrK]

WTF is up with these dev things... Why do they talk in that incomprehensible way... Half-finished sentences, abrupt switches to other subjects, meaningless words like 'epic' thrown in...

And then this "mature" crap. It's just like FO3, all blabber but in the end it's the same childish game but then with more violence and sex. The game still doesn't treat you like an adult and the themes still don't go further than "hero defeats bad guy". Much still doesn't make sense, like stuff wasn't thought through. Part of the mature, I think, is that it all should feel like the real deal: life is tough with all kinds of choices you have to make without full information... When's the last time you wouldn't know what would happen in such a game?

 

[Balor]

Mature means 18+ ratings, but in fact aimed at mid-teens. Hypocrisy much?

Anyway, KOTOR II was mature - as you may have seen by the Kreia thread. One of the best indications that something is 'deep and mature' is that it sparks heated discussions and polarizing opinions even between intelligent people.

And KOTOR II was dark and gritty too. Planescape was deep, mature, dark and gritty.

DA looks like Diablo with sex, and, in fact, MORE shallow and more teenager-oriented.

However, to be fair, since it is 'sex&violence' trailer - it may not be as bad. After all, you may have made very similar trailer for The Witcher, and it is much more then simple 'hack&slash with boobs'.
We'll see.

 

[Annie Mitsoda]

JrK: Regarding the phrasing - depends if he got interviewed over the phone or via email. Email, then sentence fragments are all Laidlaw's doing. Phone, it could be a different interpretation of the phrasing. Humans don't really SPEAK in complete, punctuation perfect sentences unless we're reading something aloud, typically. If something was really faithfully recorded with speech patterns in mind, it'd have a fuckload of ellipsis and italics in there to detail word emphasis. Shit, the reason I tend to write the way I do is to get that emphasis and phrasing across. It nearly drove a creative writing prof I had batshit insane. (Of course, she was egotistical enough to have the graduating class before mine all read her book in an attempt to discuss it "as a class" - and this is 400+ people - and yeah, didn't happen)

I know they're trying to get away from generic fantasy, and while I can applaud them for it, DA looks reactionary instead of calculated - like diving out a window into a well instead of going "well, what parts of this are cliche, why, and how to we change them?" I've said it before and I'll keep saying it: reversing a stereotype completely only strengthens it because it might as well hold up a sign going "WELL NOW YOU DIDN'T SEE IT COMING DID YOU BECAUSE YOU EXPECTED THIS OTHER THING AND LO AND BEHOLD I AM SO THE OPPOSITE OH HO HO!" But yeah.

That being said, games with unique fantasy settings are rare, and I don't think it's just because publishers don't like them. I think it's because a unique setting of any kind is HARD TO DO.

 

[MetalCraze]

After all, you may have made very similar trailer for The Witcher, and it is much more then simple 'hack&slash with boobs'.

Is it?
In that case Dragon Age is too "much more" than simple 'hack&slash with boobs', because it also has a very bad writing. Although I'm not sure if Bioware will go for "bring 10 pelts" quests.

 

[amorax]

One of the best indications that something is 'deep and mature' is that it sparks heated discussions and polarizing opinions even between intelligent people.

Therefore, Halo is deep and mature.

 

[MetalCraze]

Intelligent people don't play Halo and have nothing good to say about it.

 

[amorax]

Intelligent people don't play Halo and have nothing good to say about it.

I know a guy with a certified IQ of 150 who loves that game. He is absolutely awesome at it and can do incredibly long and complex mathematical equations in his head so yeah fuck you.

Also, I knew someone was going to say what you said.

DISCLAIMER: I do not like Halo.

 

[Shannow]

Intelligent people don't play Halo and have nothing good to say about it.

I know a guy with a certified IQ of 150 who loves that game.

IQ ratings are overrated. Common sense, character and taste are underrated.

 

[amorax]

Intelligent people don't play Halo and have nothing good to say about it.

I know a guy with a certified IQ of 150 who loves that game.

IQ ratings are overrated. Common sense, character and taste are underrated.

I seriously can't believe there are still people out there who actually believe this.

 

[MetalCraze]

I know a guy with a certified IQ of 150 who loves that game. He is absolutely awesome at it

Which only proves that IQ tests are bullshit.

and can do incredibly long and complex mathematical equations in his head so yeah fuck you.

So this is how you call "not always using a calculator for something basic" these days?

 

[Silellak]

I know a guy with a certified IQ of 150 who loves that game. He is absolutely awesome at it

Which only proves that IQ tests are bullshit.

and can do incredibly long and complex mathematical equations in his head so yeah fuck you.

So this is how you call "not always using a calculator for something basic" these days?

Logic 101:

An IQ test is a poor judge of intelligence.

Taste in video games is a good judge of intelligence.

Fascinating.

 

[aries202]

I'm sorry, but I don't get it : Blue Period :!: :
Are Bioware developers sudden comparing themselves to master painters like Picasso or Monets ? If so, they clearly have delusions of grandeur....

And it is kind of sad I find if the only way a game developer can get laid is to have sex in a videogame; Mike clearly makes it sounds like DA: Origins is some kind of sex simulator when saying: "I wasn't expecting to have that much sex..."

I strongly object to the sex, blood and violence themes being seen as mature in themselves; it has to do with the context these are themes are presented in within the game itself.

 

[MetalCraze]

What are IQ tests?
Remembering a sequence of images? Finding a logical connection between numbers? (not speaking about how each of the task the test gives you it then repeats again and again over its course)
How does it measure a person's intelligence? Memory and logic probably yes - but intelligence is not that simple.
Halo is also not known for being a game that requires any kind of intelligence, it is mostly known for attracting "You fucking faggot!!!! You've killed me!!!!" kind of guys.

According to Cleve his IQ is "certified" (lol) 168 and out of all games he tries to make a pretty simple dungeon crawler. He also acts as a retard.

If anything Logic 101 is proven to be correct once again.

 

[Silellak]

Halo is also not known for being a game that requires any kind of intelligence, it is mostly known for attracting "You fucking faggot!!!! You've killed me!!!!" kind of guys.

Who cares? Not all intelligent people have the same taste in games. Just because a game does or doesn't require intelligence, doesn't prove anything about the overall 'intelligence' of someone who enjoys it.

A genius might very well enjoy watching shitty movies or TV shows, or playing shitty video games. Why? Because they just want to shut off their brain and relax for awhile.

Playing 'dumb' video games doesn't prove someone is dumb any more than playing 'smart' games prove someone is smart. You might be able to make the argument that, in general, 'dumb' games attract more 'dumb' people and 'smart' games attract more 'smart' people - it seems logical, at least. However, a blanket statement of 'no smart people play Halo' is just absurd, overly-elitist drivel.

 

[Solaris]

IQ ratings are overrated. Common sense, character and taste are underrated.

bingo