There’s a little more information from the folks at BioWare on Dragon Age 3.
Apparently the title has been in pre-production for a longer period than Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2 or Mass Effect and it apparently at least the size of all of DA2’s levels.
The information arrived via the Edmonton Comic & Entertainment Expo over the weekend (that’s where BioWare lives). Jon Perry, Mike Laidlaw, David Gaider and Matth Rhodes of BioWare presented A Dragon Age: A Look Ahead at the expo.
A couple of pieces of concept art were released too, which we’ve included below.
BioWare producer man Cameron Lee sent a series of tweets throughout the panel communicating some of the most significant moments.
“Jon Perry said he’s had a longer pre-production on DA3 than any other BioWare project he’s worked on,” one tweet read.
Jon Perry is the lead cinematic designer (great title) of Dragon Age 3. He’s been part of the BioWare crew since 2006, where he took on the same role for Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2.
“JP said just one level in DA3 is as big as all of DA2’s levels,” Cameron Lee informed us.
“Haha Mike ‘here’s a castle… And you *cough*… may or may not take control of it’,” Cameron Lee tweeted in a cheeky reveal.
“Mike: customization is going to be bigger than Dragon Age: Origins. Follower customization, etc,” Cameron Lee tweeted.
From information we’ve previously seen, it seems companions’ armor will be able to be changed and will be bespoke to characters. You’ll also be able to dye armor in colors of your choice.
“David answering ‘backgrounds will be in DA3 even though you will be human, it’s not playable but it does significant impact on the story’,” Cameron Lee added.
He’s on about background…as in origins…like those in Dragon Age: Origins. They served the purpose of documenting the social standing, class and race of your characters, which then, in turn will influence your character in the later game.
It sounds a little like Mass Effect’s system in the second and third titles, which lets players pick answers to determine background stories if they aren’t loading a save from a previous title.
Concerning race: Mike Laidlaw had the following to say: “Sorry for those who love elves and dwarves, but long term I’d like to see all four races playable. Future plans!” Apparently the four he refers to are human, elf, dwarf and kossith.
“Yep human only,” Lee tweeted. “That said, I think you’ll be pleased with the options you’ll see in DA3 to make your character your own.”
“‘How will you handle save game import?'” Lee added, relaying a question from the audience. “Mark [Darrah]: we will bring choices across, we’re investigating some ways without save imports.”
“Question: will we see all DA2 followers? Answer: you may see what happened to some.”
This is pretty much everything from the Edmonton Expo but there are a few other features out there. Handily somebody by the (great) name of ElitePinencone has collected these over at the BioWare Social Network Forum.
It seems a couple of Canadian MPs visited BioWare not so long ago and had pics snapped next to DA3 character height-charts. The board features humans, demons and Tevinter. It looks like Tevinter monster include a giant scorpion and a beary-horse thing. There are a few familiar-looking things too (as discussed on the aforementioned forum link).
Apparently it’s “extremely likely” that the man who played Sandal’s vocal talents will make a return in DA3, according to a tweet.
Mark Darrah, DA3 exec producer sent a tweet that said “Helm’s Deep meets the Bat Cave”. We reckon that’s probably something to do with the castle from the concept art. Will we be defending it a la Lord of the Rings? Let’s hope so.
Again, BioWare made reference to a fall 2013 release for Dragon Age 3. No reference of platform yet but plenty of room for speculation.
