Dragon Age Central

A video interview focused on party members inter-cut with brand new in-game footage. Seen for the first time are a dwarf, a desire demon and some other creatures.

[transcript will follow]

A video mixing old footage and extensive new footage that introduces us to some of the characters and creatures in the game.

[transcript will follow]

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A Dragon Age-themed Christams holiday card, featuring Santa Claus as he might have looked had he been born in Ferelden. He has a rather striking female elf companion at his feet. The card wishes "Happy holidays from Bioware".

A wallpaper featuring a male Dalish elf. What looks to be a quote from him is printed along side:

"What a wonder it is to see such stalwart bravado in one such as yourself. It is heartwarming, truly, to see that there are yet humans willing to risk a slow and tortuous death in pursuit of our most sacred treasures."

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A shield with the Grey Warden crest, spattered with blood.

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Members of the Bioware team talk about the Grey Wardens, interspersed with previously seen as well as some brief clips of new game footage.

[transcript will follow]

A rendered cutscene of a battle (well, mostly its aftermath), focusing on a solitary Grey Warden. It is slightly reminiscent of the opening battle sequence of Lost Odyssey (but not as good, to be fair). There is no dialogue.

3 vicious looking shrieks stalk down a dungeon-like corridor.

A spider and a genlock in a cave with a fire burning to keep them warm.

An evil creature with an explosion at its back.

A video interview with a number of Bioware employees, intercut with previously seen footage. Transcript follows:

[ray muzyka, ceo] Dragon Age is the spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate, which is also from Bioware. First off it’s got tactical combat which feels very similar to the way that the tactical combat worked in Baldur’s Gate, except in Dragon Age it’s full 3d so you can pull the camera back, adjust it around and have full control over the experience. Pause & Play as well, if you really want to direct the actions of your party. The story, the narrative and the dialogue, the way that flows, is going to be very remeniscent of Baldur’s Gate; so fans who love that kind of story line are going to enjoy ‘Dragon Age: Origins’ as well. And, the team is the same. A lot of the same members that worked on Baldur’s Gate, Never Winter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect, Jade Empire - some of the great games you love from Bioware - are working on ‘Dragon Age: Origins’. Like, the world is going to feel really remeniscent as well, the dark heroic fantasy, Baldur’s Gate it had a taste of that in that game, we’re taking it to a whole new level in DAO, and of course it’s from Bioware, so it’s the next fantasy RPG from Bioware and we’re going to make it our best game yet.

[stan woo, quality assurance design analyst] I’m a fantasy role-play gamer from way back, and ‘Dragon Age: Origins’ is exactly the kind of fantasy role-playing adventure that a gamer like me has been wanting for a number of years. We’ve got henchmen that are so well realised you want to talk with them all the time - you want to get their stories, you want to get their reactions to things - and they’ll give it, they’ll give their opinions, they’ll give their reactions; they may yell at you sometimes. And of course the romances, you’ve got all the combat, you’ve got a huge huge story that I haven’t seen since Baldur’s Gate 2, and I love Baldur’s Gate 2.

[bruce venne, quality assurance design analyst] The world that the writers have made is just so fully developed - the history and religion and the politics...

[chad de wolfe, quality assurance tester] When you actually become one of these great heroes and everything like that, they have all these interactions with all the different cultures, and you get to make choices based on how you are, not on how the populace is, and you actually have some sort of an influence on that.

[david gaider, lead writer] There is a certain amount of darkness in ‘Dragon Age: Origins’ that players will be subject to. And it’s not always clear cut as to how you should respond.

[greg zeschuk, vp development operations] It’s interesting when you sit down with the folks and they compare what you did back then in the Baldur’s Gate days to what we’re doing now. It’s amazing having that connection back to the game, I think that’s in many ways what forms the foundation for being the spiritual successor.

[ray muzyka] And really taking it to a whole new level, sort of the next-generation interpretation, bringing it to really a technology enhancement, making the tools better, it’s got user-generated tools, a whole bunch of cool things we’re adding to the experience, that will enhance what we did in Baldur’s Gate in ‘Dragon Age: Origins’.

[stan woo] There is just so much to do, so much to see, so many people to talk to, and it’s just a beautiful, beautiful world to play in.

[greg zeschuk] It’s in many ways a return to Bioware’s classic past. How the game play plays is very much like we used to do in Baldur’s Gate with the very carefully choreographed combat: they’re almost like a chess match you have to figure out and try and solve, so really it’s very intellectual and exciting game at the same time. And something that you don’t see in other games right now, the industry has moved to sort of different areas yet there’s still a ton of people - ourselves and folks at Bioware and lots of fans - who want that traditional style of gameplay we did in the Baldur’s Gate series, and ‘Dragon Age: Origins’ brings it back in great super-high-tech-awesome presentation.

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Another shot of a skull-headed, but fleshy-boned (skinless) body creature.

A snippet of conversation with Duncan with an overhead viewpoint. The PC, Duncan and a dog are walking out of a building as Duncan says:

[duncan] The Blight must be stopped here and now. If it spreads to the North, Ferelden will fall.

A tower and other buildings nestled into the side of a mountain.