At E3 BioWare Boss Hails Dragon Age as Spiritual Successor to Baldur's Gate

Electronic Arts promised that the E3 trade show would be the place where more details regarding Dragon Age would become available. BioWare, which is now a studio fully owned by EA, has made good on the promise and offered some very interesting information regarding the role playing game.

The first interesting tidbit of information we were offered was the fact that the game now has a complete title. It's called Dragon Age: Origins and the developers say that the game will most likely create a new world and tell the beginning of a story that will span multiple games.

The game itself includes a prelude, called Origin Stories, which is designed to establish the way the main character sees the world the game takes place in. Depending on the various options the player chooses in the prelude, the way the game plays out will be different, with some characters having other reactions to the player and with certain situations requiring different solutions.

BioWare will host a few private game sessions at E3, where it aims to show off some of the most important features of the game. Large scale battles, involving hundreds of enemies, and a scalable player party will be shown alongside an entirely new spell system, which allows characters to combine different spells and create new ones as they grow in power.

Ray Muzyka, who is the general manager at BioWare and now vice president at Electronic Arts, stated that "We're thrilled to be returning to BioWare's fantasy roots, with Dragon Age: Origins representing the culmination of over a decade of experience. Dragon Age: Origins is a dark heroic fantasy that doesn't pull any punches. Our fans are in for the most emotionally intense gaming experience we've ever created, and we hope to surprise them with just how dark and gritty it gets".

Dragon Age: Origins will most likely arrive in the first months of 2009 and is currently only slated for release on the PC.