Dragon Age character creator now live

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Oct 13, 2009 1:25 pm PT

Free utility will allow PC players to get a head start on BioWare's upcoming RPG, upload avatar to developer's new "social network."

With Dragon Age taking flight the first week of November, BioWare and Electronic Arts are giving prospective players a chance to tool around with the role-playing game's character creation process. A new Dragon Age: Origins Character Creator utility was made available to North American and European PC owners today from the game's official Web site.

Maybe a little makeup is in order.

As the name suggests, the Character Creator will allow players to build their own protagonist for the game, one they will be able to export into the full PC version of Dragon Age when it launches. Players will also be able to upload them to the BioWare Social Network, an online repository of user characters, blogs, screenshots, and forums.

This isn't the first time EA has hyped a game's release by giving players a sneak peek at its character creation tools. The publisher released Spore Creature Creator in advance of Will Wright's Spore, as a free download (with limited features) and as a $5 retail package.

Dragon Age: Origins ships on November 3 for the PC and Xbox 360 (November 6 in Europe), with the PlayStation 3 edition arriving later in the month. For more information on the game, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.

111 Comments

  • Ravonna

    Posted Oct 23, 2009 9:31 am PT

    I'm rather disappointed with the Character Creator demo, and not only because you can't do anything with the character right away. The body types look wrong, no matter what gender or race you choose, and you can't select a body build. If you want your character to be skinny, nimble rogue or a muscled warrior, you can't do it, because they all look the same. Also, the rules system seems really similar to DnD, which is a Bad Thing.

    I had high hopes for the game, but this "demo" knocked them down a notch. Still, I really, really hope I'm wrong, and the game will be similar to Baldur's Gate or Mass Effect in depth.

  • swmeek

    Posted Oct 20, 2009 6:40 am PT

    Anybody else have problems getting the damned thing to work?
    I tried it from the official site as well as Atomic Gamer and Fileplanet and all three times gave me errors opening up the files to install the creator.

  • Eldramesha

    Posted Oct 16, 2009 10:14 pm PT

    Dexterity typically refers to nimbleness and coordination. Perhaps they are fast but not nimble?

  • shaedar

    Posted Oct 16, 2009 5:04 pm PT

    Faces are definitely prettier here than in Mass Effect. Agree with previous comments about arm proportion, though.

    Also, am I the only one who thinks it's weird that Elves are the only race that DOESN'T get a dexterity bonus?

  • sieg6529

    Posted Oct 16, 2009 6:50 am PT

    better than nothing, I suppose

  • Spoiledgenius

    Posted Oct 16, 2009 5:11 am PT

    Waiting.....

  • fawllen

    Posted Oct 15, 2009 8:24 pm PT

    I agree that people who cry about PC compatability issues have no clue what they are doing ona computer beyond surfing the internet... i have Vista 64- Bit ultimate... love it never had a problem with it, thats because i downloaded the correct drivers for all of my hardware. also PC building is more of an Art than it is for just sheer gaming, gaming power is just the bonus we get for giving life to a god like rig. i disagree with having a PC connected to a TV though i have a full HDTV and i would much rather run my games on my 24" widescreen Acer @ 1900 x 1200. refresh rate is 2 ms ... although the new LCD tvs are amazing just really expensive

  • brownba3

    Posted Oct 15, 2009 7:17 pm PT

    video is cool - "free utility" is kind of worthless - you get to create and upload your character? - it takes about 1 minute - and then you can't do anything with it - a playable demo would be a much better present...

  • Eledran

    Posted Oct 15, 2009 2:07 pm PT

    Character creation is decent, not super special, but just decent.
    It allows you to create a reasonably unique character. I'm just hoping for mod support in the future so this can be expanded like in Oblivion etc.

    The arm/leg ratio looks a bit off on first glance, but it's actually not too unrealistic (the way they stand makes it look worse imo).

  • seblet23

    Posted Oct 15, 2009 10:50 am PT

    Am I seriously the only one who thinks these character models look beyond awful? You can make a decent looking face, but then you have to endure the hideous hands and feet (Seriously, clown-sized, I'm not kidding. Look at the mage), the absurdly long arms and shortened legs--hey, Bioware 3D modeler, here's a protip: arms are not longer than legs--and the bland and lifeless looking poses.

    I understand being loyal to Bioware. They are awesome. I love them. I have preo-ordered this game and I'm sure the rp elements and story-line are going to be fantastic...but is it unreasonable to expect that the 3D models conform somewhat to anatomical standards!? These models are so freaking bad. For god's sake. Also, to the person who thought the blood looked so cooool...it looks ridiculous. It looks retarded. It looks like pixelated chickenpox spattered on every surface. I think they came up with that to try and hide how horrible the modeling was.

  • Syzgygy

    Posted Oct 15, 2009 8:57 am PT

    Over 14000 characters uploaded to the BioWare Social site so far.

    http://social.bioware.com/

  • Syzgygy

    Posted Oct 15, 2009 2:15 am PT

    I think the lack of options has to do with the DLC plans for Dragon Age. There's going to be a lot of content coming - I bet that packages that add more styles of hair and so forth to the creator will show up soon.

  • addicted2050

    Posted Oct 14, 2009 11:04 pm PT

    @AllHailTheSith
    what i really wanted to say is, even if they announced it 5 years ago, but started development 3 years ago, it's a long time to make a good game..

  • auron11022

    Posted Oct 14, 2009 9:35 pm PT

    @Chronikas
    I don't think that anybody would say that consoles are more powerful than a top tier PC. It is just annoying when people talk about their rig and then say that consoles have no redeeming qualities. (exclusives, PRICE, different styles of games, etc.)

    Now to the real point.
    After reading some of the comments there seems to be a common thread here. The customization is serviceable but not great. I think that if you are going to release a part of your game early then you should only do so if it is amazing. Granted that most of the people that downloaded this already plan on getting the game, but it just doesn't make much sense to release a part of your game unless it is pretty amazing.

  • l-town4l

    Posted Oct 14, 2009 9:02 pm PT

    i was pretty disappointed with the limited hair styles and no clothing options but this game will be good i know it.

  • Leg3nd4ry

    Posted Oct 14, 2009 8:03 pm PT

    I was rather disappointed in the lack of customization options. It is a bioware game though, and i know this game is going to be great.

  • Haeravon

    Posted Oct 14, 2009 6:34 pm PT

    Demons Souls looks awesome, I wish I had a PS3 for it. The character creation is awful on Dragon Age. You barely get any options. It's about on par with Mass Effect, except I didn't expect much going into ME, since it was Sci-Fi and all. Why do you only get like eight hair colors, five complexions, and twelve hair styles for each GENDER (not race)? That's.. a pathetic amount of customization.. and to think I thought Oblivion was sparse when it came out. What do RPGs have against letting you actually customize your characters these days?

  • Adam_the_Nerd

    Posted Oct 14, 2009 5:19 pm PT

    I thought we'd at least get to see some opening cutscenes featuring our character. Too much to hope for. I enjoyed the Spore Creature Creator much more, but hey this was a nice look at the skills and graphics.

  • Solid-Snake1990

    Posted Oct 14, 2009 4:06 pm PT

    Anyone dissing demons souls couldnt even beat the first enemy, so dont listen to them. They are clearly not gamers!

  • AdamWriter

    Posted Oct 14, 2009 3:51 pm PT

    @Chronikas

    I second that motion. I wish everyone had a top notch pc.

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