Dragon Age: Origins Interview With Mike Laidlaw (Xbox 360)

@ LeFeverBeaver would you mind explaining your statement? yes, halo wars is an rts...so if you like rts games and halo you will likely buy it. Did you mean to say "I figured you play halo *wars* cause you dont like C&C"? because otherwise your using some seriously flawed logic.

Speaking of which, did anybody buy halo wars? Seems like a command and conquer type thing and I figured you play Halo cause you don't like C&C. Just sayin'.

You know what guys, I could care less about multiplayer just because of the amazing replay value that this game will have. Come-on, any good game that has multiplayer always has had lag issues, long load times and so forth. I would prefer having an immense world with storyline, and alot of replay value over a half ass multiplayer component... Give Bioware a chance, multiplayer is not what makes up a game... (Unless you are a Halo freak who will waste they're money the second a new Halo product is released. Even if you are, try to comprehend that multiplayer is not everything! It really ruins RPG's when multiplayer components are added and Halo fans whine for multiplayer to feel more secure in they're FPS bubble...)

@ REX265 Ok, where were you for the Neverwinter Nights games/ expansions, and the Baldur's Gate series? Both of those had online co-op. It wasn't all that thrilling by the way... it's hard to convince your ADD buddies to stop while you read the dialogue :-P

thank goodness developers are still making bada$$ single player RPGs. Don't get me wrong, I like to get my MMORPG on, but sweet single player games will always have their place. Thanks Bioware, and hurry up with Mass Effect 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok BioWARE we know you can make a great RPG, but you are going to have to step up to the plate and give us some online co-op sooner or later!

@ Ntdg1 ...you have opened my eyes to the truth, i cant believe i didn't see that before.

Does anyone else think that the main human they keep showing, the male grey warden, kind of looks like a badass Billy Mays with a pony tail? I mean... not that Billy Mays wasn't a badass in real life or anything.

no multiplayer at all? thats too bad

@martinmt I feel the same

when i found out it's single player only i felt like crying

Im so excited for this game like i cant wait to play it when i comes out im getting it right away looks awesome!!!!

man im excited for this game i want to play baldures gate before just to see how they relate

@i2eaper0f5ouls sh!t. really? that does suck all kinds of ass... but the need to retain all gear from ME1 isn't essential my primary reason for going back to it and focusing, was a) to save wrex and b) to choose a class / skill set that I'd be pleased with come part 2 kinda hoping I do get to keep the face i gave my version though. he was spot on! complete reconstruction of me. My wife HIT THE ROOF when he got it on with Ash! havent stopped laughing at that since

It wont play for me either....

@ Dr_Manfattan Why would I be checking that type of info, given my comments?! I am many things, but i'm not a hypocrite! :)

@Humorguy_basic: at this point i don't know and i don't care lol. On another point you might know about, ive been looking into buying the pre-order collectors edition, but its only on amazon.com...do you or anyone know if the pre-order is coming out at a later date in the uk?

@ Dr_Manfattan, are you sure he's not talking about torrent's?! :)

@MfKiNg360: obviously you need to pay for the game itself, but this isn't online so if you want to know if you have to pay for it like WoW, then no. its just buy the game and enjoy the story on your own

Some video's don't play for me either. They wait for ad.doubleclick,which is a tracking cookie most gaming sites use that track where you browse and report back.Most cookie stoppers try to stop it and firewalls try to stop it too. Spybot,if it finds it,wants to delete it. I don't let doubleclick in, so I have to go to other sites to watch video I cannot on Gamespot because of doubleclick.

this wont play for me any idea why?

1 question DO U NEED to pay

@Humorguy_basic thanks,good point, forgot about the edit function, im quite a new member

Select an action and choose EDIT. I use it a lot!!! :)

writing* a review...theres always something i miss out

@Humorguy_basic well im glad we managed to resolve these disagreements without resorting to the usual "if you think that your a c**t" and i must say i haven't actually played baldur's gate, only mass effect which i enjoyed very much, but do not fear for all is not lost as i have heard many good things about the series while reading about dragon age, and i do plan to buy a box set with all the games, perhaps this will help me pass the time until dragon age comes out. i suppose the only issue we wont be able to resolve is our music taste, and don't worry, i may be new to writing reviews but i do plan to write one on dragon age, and i hope you do so as well, i'd love to know how you thought the game played out. and i do hope you realise that the last point of my last comment was just a little joke.

@Dr_Manfattan It might be exactly what you say; not as open as a real RPG like Daggerfall ( I mention Daggerfall as it's in the news and creating a hub bub in the threads!), which is a shame, but is the way most RPG's are going. I expect change around the edges, so to a small point it will be open. But I worry in reviews, because of the way the media support big companies like Bioware,never complaining about anything they do, that mostly that first hour will be reviewed. So i will wait for user reviews - including yours. So to your surprise, I do pretty much agree with you and think we have met somewhere in the middle,where you don't mind the game being, and I do. I salivate at a Bioware title with the depth of even an Oblivion, let alone a Daggerfall, or better yet, should I say a Baldur's Gate.....?! For whatever you think of a game like Mass Effect, if you went back to three months after Baldur's Gate came out and described ME to those Bioware customers back then, they would not believe Bioware would ever release a title with game elements like that. I am still one of those Baldur's Gate customers. Waiting for a true follow up to those classic Bioware RPG's like Baldur's gate 1 and 2, Planescape Torment and Neverwinter Nights........!

@Humorguy_basic: well i suppose i can sort of agree with you, i don't think this game will be completely open, i think that you will go to different areas which will be open, but there will be a more linear story than that of, say, oblivion, but i dont see this as a true bad point, i believe there will be quite large areas that you can explore to your desire and that suits me because in most "real" RPGs i can end up just wondering of, not doing anything important and getting into trouble(i hate being a vampire in oblivion...i can never find any garlic) so i think dragon age will just let you explore to a good extent, while still keeping you loosely meandering along the main quest line. i dont know exactly how the game will play out but i would hope that there is a fair amount of options to get through to the end of the game, so that if i want to i can go help out a friendly elf, or maybe i want to kill a dwarf commoner, simple differences that keep game progressing at a steady rate, letting you do what you want to a certain limit, but keeping you moving towards the final goal... and i still have to say i enjoy the heavy metal music with all the bloody battles, it just seems to fit in with what the games supposed to be, a dark fantasy. besides i think you should stop worrying about the trailers, the game play videos are the most important things. I look forward to reading your reply which will most likely disagree with all my opinions.

@Dr_Manfattan, the problem is with the heavy metal music, and the bloody battle video's that keep coming out, and the talk of similar story, except around the periphery after the first hour, I am worried that it won't be a totally open 'real' RPG but a semi real and semi Mass Effect. Because what I have always said made a real RPG,is that we all have different stories to tell. While we get 'what did you do today' in Daggerfall and Morrowind and Witcher and Oblivion threads, we don't get those in Jade Empire and Mass Effect and other linear type action-adventure style RPG's.

@Humorguy_basic I suppose I cant say for sure, but I would say that the whole game will give you a different experience depending on your choices, in interviews and gameplay videos they do mention the fact that decisions may come back to haunt you, for example killing the prisoner, and that you do revisit the setting of your origin story later in the main quest( at least in the dwarf commoner scenario, dont know about the others) where the peoples reactions depend on your actions in that first hour of origin story. (also im a metal head so i enjoy the heavy metal music, although its not quite as heavy as it could be) but i wouldn't worry, i don't expect the whole game to have a heavy metal soundtrack, maybe just the trailers and possibly in some big battles in-game, personally i think the heavy metal music fits in with the fast paced battles and all the blood. but i respect your opinion these are just my ideas (and hopes)

@ Dr_Manfattan I saw that video too. I believe that, and many of the other video's we have seen have been from that 'first hour'. The video showing the differences characters make with helping that prisoner in that cage is definitely a 'first hour' part. I wonder if the only parts we have seen from beyond that 'first hour' have been all those combat video's we've seen with that heavy metal music soundtrack. (which is another thing that worries me!)

but... there looks to be so many combinations of starting this game off

i hope this game gets a 9/10 at least or else i wont buy it

@Humorguy_basic yes you do have the same basic story line, but you play it how you want to with other characters reacting differently to you depending on your choices, giving a different experience, for example elves are considered second class citizens so a guard is less likely to help you compared to a human noble, as xdogglegacy said it would be impossible to make every race and class permutation have a completely different story.

"Humorguy_basic" Makes sense, it would be a very vast game if everyone had a different story all the way through.. Just hope they add small elements of your past through out the story to at least make it feel unique.

Did I hear that right? You pick a character and a class, and for an hour you deal with what that character/class has to deal with, and then you become a Warden, and then the game becomes the same for all the character/classes? That's what he said, wasn't it? Listen again, carefully and you'll see what I mean! "A completely different character would have a different reason (for doing the same thing)"!

Looks pretty sick.

i cant fu***ng wait for this game !!!

I'm feeling like playing the ghetto mage, born and raised in the slums, thrives on killing his enemies with rain of fire and bolt of lightning, showing no mercy what so ever! :D

All these people saying "it made me wanna play Mass Effect again"...if anything, it makes me want to play Baldur's Gate 2 again. I'm looking forward to playing in the isometric view. Giving me a sort of updated look on a classic like BG2.

Looking good so far the only thing that Im not to found of is EA being part of this they have a way of messing up games but I still have hope.

Can't wait to play it!

omg this is wut Fable 2 should b like xD thanks bioware

Lol@ TheGreyArea, youre gonna be pissed when i tell you this, but youre not actually going to be able to keep your level and gear that you obtained in mass effect 1 when you go over to mass effect 2. They released a statement about a month or 2 ago. Only thing you keep is the decisions you made. too bad you diddnt know that before eh.

Story-sounds like the strong side of the game.

awsome!

ha haa, all of these "I just had to play through Mass Effect again" comments... Yep! Me too! Made sure that my Shepard was levelled to the max and ready to kick all kinds of a$$ in part 2 As for dragon age? well... I'm trying NOT to wish what's left of this awful UK Summer away. But the more I see of this game, the tougher it gets to avoid doing just that. Cannot Frikken Wait

I can't wait for this game. I am a hardcore RPG fan and they have done this in pretty much the exact way I love to play an RPG that is not mmorpg (fighting mechanics, sandbox world etc.). The only thing that makes this game even better is the fact that Bioware is it's creator!! Sigh, I'm too impatient to wait for this game. There is only one thing that will help me sit back and relax. -Places Mass Effect disc into X360-

I've really been looking forwards to this game it will for sure be the next game I buy new.

I love Bioware games I just finished Mass Effect playthrough #2