Dragon Age 2 Interview With Mike Laidlaw and Mark Darrah

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZYvd5MuwN0&feature=player_embedded]

Most likely the source of information Game Informer used for their 10 page spread on Dragon Age 2 this month, this video showcases an interview with two developers from Bioware–Mike Laidlaw and Mark Darrah. If you’ve been unable to pick up the issue, this interview covers most of the information you’ll find inside of it, and if you have, there are probably a couple of tidbits in there which didn’t make the issue.

Of particular note to me where three things. First, the setting: we’ll be heading over to the Free Marches after starting in Ferelden. Unlike other countries, the Free Marches have city-states which allow a commoner to rise up to power: and that’s exactly whats going to happen with you, apparently.

Second, the difference between the PC and console versions…the word of choice here was ‘tactical.’ It seems as if the PC will maintain tactical focus, but the console versions won’t (to the same degree). This would explain why previews around the net liken the new battle system to a more hack-n-slash style, which bits of strategy peppered throughout–and it would also explain the whole ‘fight like a spartan’ bit. This makes me wonder if like Mass Effect 2, the focus will be less on stats affecting your abilities and instead starting to rely more on player ability/reaction/twitch alone (in ME2, this was your FPS skill). If so, this would be dissapointing..it seems as if major RPGs are forsaking the art of the stat sheet.

Third is the narrative framework–their efforts to streamline the game to focus more on big, important events. Will the game have down-time, ala party camp in DA2? Or is that dispensable? They also mentioned that through this framework, the player can know the consequences of their actions much, much sooner–instead of waiting for the epilogue to spell it out for you.