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[Maria Caliban]

darkmax1974 wrote...

Is Maria Caliban one of the staff?

Hello, my name is Maria Caliban!

I’ve hung out on the Dragon Age boards since its announcement at E3 2005, and am one of two admins for the http://dragonage.wik...Dragon_Age_Wiki ' class='bbc_url' title='Lien externe' rel='nofollow external'>Dragon Age wiki (lucy_glitter is the head admin).

I am not an employee of BioWare. On occasion, I will PM one of the devs, and they’ll be kind enough to answer my questions. For example, David confirmed that the ‘hawt lich guy’ I started a thread about was the Architect, not the hurlocks in chainmail as I’d previously thought.

That said, my speculation is just that: speculation.

From David Gaider…
"I think the plot of any future Dragon Age story revolving around YAB (Yet Another Blight) would probably be something we'd avoid."

Okay, from this, I *guess* that DA 2 will not be about a Blight. It would still need to be a big, important story though. I’m *guessing* that DA 2 won’t have the Warden because the main purpose of the Wardens is to fight darkspawn and the Blight.

If you have a story of something other than the Blight, a Warden PC isn’t very useful, especially as the Wardens maintain a political neutrality. If the Qunari invaded Orlais, the Wardens would sit on the sidelines. It’s not a Blight, so it’s none of their business.

darkmax1974 wrote...

I certainly hope she is and also hope against hope, the sequel is already in the final phase, so we don't have to wait 6 months to a yer to find out.

They have a two year DLC plan for Origins. The earliest we should see DA 2 is Winter 2011.

errant_knight wrote...

It really depends on if more expansions are planned for DA:Origins, or if they just move on to DA2.

They've planned more than one xpac.

Modifié par Maria Caliban, 26 février 2010 - 08:21 .

[errant_knight]

Oh, good to know about the expansions! Thanks!

I don't think it necessarily follows that if the story is about something other than the blight, there won't be any wardens. Off the top of my head, a war with the Qunari (or trying to avoid one--Sten's relationship with the warden could be important there) could easily involve wardens, as could an issue about Weisshaupt, or trouble between Kal Sharok and Orzammar. They may be primarily a force that fights the blight, but that doesn't mean that they might not involve themselves elsewhere if they thought it would benefit the warden's future abilities and status.

Modifié par errant_knight, 26 février 2010 - 08:28 .

[blademaster7]

Stoomkal wrote...

I am one of those sad figures that becomes emotionally attached to good stories and good characters, and would dearly miss any opportunity to continue the story of our Warden in a future installment.

Add me to that group. I would love to keep playing with my old character(s) but I'm not really optimistic about it. Chances are, we're starting a new character in DA2

The "Grey Wardens fighting darkspawn" story will eventually grow old. Thedas is a huge world with so much potential
for new adventures. The lore is there, waiting to be build upon. All they need to do is bring the GW saga to an end and start a whole new story with different characters.

There is still Awakening, however. I'm assuming it is not the only expansion planned. We'll just have to wait and see.

Modifié par blademaster7, 26 février 2010 - 08:33 .

[Herr Uhl]

errant_knight wrote...

They may be primarily a force that fights the blight, but that doesn't mean that they might not involve themselves elsewhere if they thought it would benefit the warden's future abilities and status.

They keep out of politics and didn't fight the Qunari the last time they went through. So that is a no, unless the wardens change.

[Maria Caliban]

According to Mary..

Wardens don't participate in Exalted Marches. They don't care if the country they're in gets invaded. They are politically neutral -- they don't go to war unless it is against darkspawn. This is crucial for them: They can't count on the support of the nations of Thedas in the event of a Blight if they start picking sides in territorial or religious wars. They'd be in danger of losing the Right of Conscription as well.

The reason your Warden does all that political wrangling in DA is because there is a Blight.

[Cazlee]

But no blight doesn't mean no darkspawn. In the next game our warden could figure out how to get to old gods before the darkspawn can corrupt them. No blight there, but still a plot worthy of our warden.

[DrekorSilverfang]

I've really enjoyed the whole DA story and like some others have gotten more attention to the world than my character. Not exactly sure why, I really enjoy my character in ME and wouldn't trade it for anything but this game really doesn't attach me to my character much.

[MaxQuartiroli]

SeanMurphy2 wrote...

I think it is easier to start from scratch with a new character and companions in a new nation. Rather than overcomplicate things by accounting for all the backstory in the previous game + expansions.

And even if they did manage to bring back the same character. Fans would still furiously complain about how their decisions were not carried over, their favourite companion is not returning or their romance is not acknowledged.

Also I think it is better for the main character to be adapted to the setting and the story. Rather than having the Grey Warden from Ferelden travelling around each nation in Thedas solving epic quests.

Just because I am one of those people who get very angry if my decisions, romances and companion are not carried over I agree with you...

Beginning a new game with a new character and a new history is much more better than see my old story ruined or not retconned just to be able to jump into the second chapter with the same character.

And I agree also with people who would prefer to play a character who is not a Grey Warden... If we'll have no more blight (and I hope we'll have no more blight because it would be a little monotonous) there is no reason to play as a Grey Warden

[Noilly Prat]

I was playing the game just now, and, as one of the loading screens reminded me, the Grey Wardens were thrown out of Ferelden for supposedly conspiring to overthrow the King or something. Does anyone know if this is true or not? I read the first book but not the second, and I don't recall whether this was mentioned.



If true, then the Wardens obviously have made exceptions to their policy of political neutrality. In which case... DA2 featuring the Warden overthrowing Alastair/Anora?



I'm kidding, of course... except that might actually be kinda cool.

[Herr Uhl]

Noilly Prat wrote...

I was playing the game just now, and, as one of the loading screens reminded me, the Grey Wardens were thrown out of Ferelden for supposedly conspiring to overthrow the King or something. Does anyone know if this is true or not? I read the first book but not the second, and I don't recall whether this was mentioned.

Wardens Keep revolves around that tidbit.

[Fallstar]

Personally I like to interferre a little bit with the politics and that even though I'm supposed to be neutral, just to make sure things turn out nicely for me; after all, I just killed thousands of demons/undead/darkspawn; I deserve at least a comfortable retirement. And then I'm going to be forced to do the whole mass butchering of the darkspawn thing again in Awakening! The tenacity of inhuman monsters these days eh.

[MoSa09]

I'm a little bit ambivalent on this issue. By now, the DA story is left pretty much open in many ways and desperately needs closure. If they provide proper and real closure to all the open endings and we can achieve a real ending for the Warden and put him to a well deserved retirement, i'm fine and won't object playing a new character.

But for now, i won't enjoy playing a new character and i probably won't buy it. Gaider said recently DA is about interesting and epic stories in Thedas and not about the loves and characters of DAO.

But i hope that doesn't mean DA is all about open ended and unfinished stories all about Thedas either.

If they provide real closure to the many open ends, i'm more than fine if they move on. If they just move on without real closure, i'm not really interested to invest in a new character and his/her story when my old one is not yet finished and probably never will.

[MaxQuartiroli]

Indeed MoSa09.. The real difficul is how to extabilish if a story is closed or not... Maybe a story I am able to consider finished is the same story you consider unfinished...

[MoSa09]

MaxQuartiroli wrote...

Indeed MoSa09.. The real difficul is how to extabilish if a story is closed or not... Maybe a story I am able to consider finished is the same story you consider unfinished...

Maybe, but i guess we can agree that the current story is unfinished?
I don't want them to spell out everything in detail, but at the moment, apart from the immediate threat defeated, nearly everything else is left open.
Awakening is said to end with a real bang and important changes in all Thedas, mayabe this will provide a hint in which direction future stories in the DA universe will go and if the return of the Warden is more or less likely.
But i stick to my claim, right now, too much ground needs to be covered before they can move on for me.

[edeheusch]

For me Dragon Age 2 has to feature another hero, at least, for a power level point of view.
The PC has already killed an Archidemon at the end of DAO and will probably gain about 10 levels more in DAA, what else would (s)he fight after that?
Another problem is that, as it won’t be an expansion, it has to be open to new players; could you imagine a new player learning the game by starting at ~level 30?

Indeed, I would like to see the events of “Dragon” Age 2 not taking place during the Dragon Age!
If the story of DA2 take place in Tevinter 200 years after the end of the 5th blight there won‘t be any reason for you to heard what happened in Ferelden 200 years ago.

[Evolution33]

I would personally like to travel to all corners of Thedas at some point in time. I am kind of attached to my characters, but seeing as I have started new characters in Origins and gotten attached to them a new character wouldn't bother me much. I have a hope however that I will get to play my Origins character all the way through to his calling.



Up to this point we have only seen the world through a Fereldan point of view and I think it would be interesting to see it through another countries point of view. I also like the idea of some of the barbarian tribes that still roam through Thedas.



Bioware right now has at least five teams working right now on ME2 DLC, DAO DLC, The Old Republic, DAO2, and ME3. Maybe even after the release of Dragon Age 2 (if it is a new character) they will keep a team running to release new expansions for the first game and continue the story of our Warden until their death in the Deep Roads.

[SirOccam]

The only problem I have with using expansions to get our closure is that if they're always going to be constrained by an expansion-sized budget, then it seems likely that romances and personal drama-type things (in other words, things requiring lots of voiceover work) will continue to get the shaft.

If this can somehow change, then I'd be fine with wrapping up my character's story in expansions and trying something new in DA2. But I don't see that happening. If it didn't happen for Awakening, then why would it for any other expansion?

What I want is closure, and as I stated before, it doesn't have to be a happy ending; it just has to be an ending.

As someone who romanced Morrigan, I'd like to be able to find her and then either live happily ever after, or, if it didn't turn out so great (Morrigan dies, Morrigan turns evil and I have to kill her, etc.) then my character will very much be in a state of mind to sacrifice himself like he could have done in DAO or wander off to the Deep Roads, having nothing else to live for. Happy or tragic, it just has to come full circle.

For characters who romanced other NPCs, there should be similar ways of wrapping up a story, i.e. wedding bells or death deathy death. One of my characters romanced Leliana, and that one I'd prefer to see end happily, but for my HNF+Alistair, I could see a tragic ending.

[MaxQuartiroli]

MoSa09 wrote...

MaxQuartiroli wrote...

Indeed MoSa09.. The real difficul is how to extabilish if a story is closed or not... Maybe a story I am able to consider finished is the same story you consider unfinished...

Maybe, but i guess we can agree that the current story is unfinished?

Mmm... as I said in another thread I actually consider DA:O story as a self-finished story for about 99%

I know that many people don't think so because they consider Morrigan an "unfinished" love story... But for a "narrative" point of view it may also be considered an ended story... Morrigan may also represent the "great regret  of your life" .. no one could ever say that "all love stories must have an happy ending" and this could be just the case... Obviously I hope for all those people who are still waiting for Morrigan that I'm wrong

[MoSa09]

MaxQuartiroli wrote...

MoSa09 wrote...

MaxQuartiroli wrote...

Indeed MoSa09.. The real difficul is how to extabilish if a story is closed or not... Maybe a story I am able to consider finished is the same story you consider unfinished...

Maybe, but i guess we can agree that the current story is unfinished?

Mmm... as I said in another thread I actually consider DA:O story as a self-finished story for about 99%

I know that many people don't think so because they consider Morrigan an "unfinished" love story... But for a "narrative" point of view it may also be considered an ended story... Morrigan may also represent the "great regret  of your life" .. no one could ever say that "all love stories must have an happy ending" and this could be just the case... Obviously I hope for all those people who are still waiting for Morrigan that I'm wrong

Well, as i romanced her, i ofc regard her plot arc as an unfinished story, but that is true for other romances as well. Leliana, Zevran, even Alistair, Flemeth, Darkspawn Origin (Awakening probably), Loghain, Cailan's letters, Wynne's fate, Shale, all o these have open story arcs that were not finished. And i'm sure i forget some important things.
By now, the only thing that was finished was the most obvious story (big bad Blight was defeated). But seriously, we already knew that beforethe game was released, or did anyone expected that the archdemon would win? Everything else that was touched within the game and not knwon pre release was not finished.

[MaxQuartiroli]

MoSa09 wrote...

Well, as i romanced her, i ofc regard her plot arc as an unfinished story, but that is true for other romances as well. Leliana, Zevran, even Alistair, Flemeth, Darkspawn Origin (Awakening probably), Loghain, Cailan's letters, Wynne's fate, Shale, all o these have open story arcs that were not finished. And i'm sure i forget some important things.
By now, the only thing that was finished was the most obvious story (big bad Blight was defeated). But seriously, we already knew that beforethe game was released, or did anyone expected that the archdemon would win? Everything else that was touched within the game and not knwon pre release was not finished.

mmm... Leliana went in the sunset with me... I just cannot image a different better ending.. What other may I see that could ever be better than this? Nothing ! 
And I believe this is the same thing for all those people who romanced Zev.. And all people who romanced Alistair... Can you image a better ending than become queen and marry the love of your life? I think it's just impossible... 
If you continue these stories in some ways, is much more probable that you can ruin them instead of improving them...

[Cuthlan]

I don't think riding off into the sunset is a good ending. I'm not that kind of person.

"Did they live happily ever after? They did not. No one ever does, in spite of what the stories may say. They had their good days, as you do, and they had their bad days, and you know about those. They had their victories, as you do, and they had their defeats, and you know about those, too. There were times when they felt ashamed of themselves, knowing they had not done their best, and there were times when they knew they had stood where their God had meant them to stand. All I’m trying to say is that they lived as well as they could.”

- Stephen King

...I wanna know what happens between getting in the saddle and reaching that sunset.

Modifié par Cuthlan, 26 février 2010 - 02:51 .

[Posioned]

MaxQuartiroli wrote...
mmm... Leliana went in the sunset with me... I just cannot image a different better ending.. What other may I see that could ever be better than this? Nothing ! 
And I believe this is the same thing for all those people who romanced Zev.. And all people who romanced Alistair... Can you image a better ending than become queen and marry the love of your life? I think it's just impossible... 
If you continue these stories in some ways, is much more probable that you can ruin them instead of improving them...

I get what you're saying. And it makes sense, but to me now that awakening is coming out it feels like the epilogue and how things ended doesn't really apply much anymore.

Either way, I'd be fine with DA2 being about a new character. As long as things get wrapped up nicely with this story in expansions. One can hope.

Modifié par Posioned, 26 février 2010 - 02:51 .

[wyvernix]

I'd like to see the history and choices we make affect the future of Ferelden, but I don't want my character to participate in it. Perhaps we could import an old save to influence the changes made in history, but have a new Warden take part in it.

Modifié par wyvernix, 26 février 2010 - 02:55 .

[MoSa09]

MaxQuartiroli wrote...

MoSa09 wrote...

Well, as i romanced her, i ofc regard her plot arc as an unfinished story, but that is true for other romances as well. Leliana, Zevran, even Alistair, Flemeth, Darkspawn Origin (Awakening probably), Loghain, Cailan's letters, Wynne's fate, Shale, all o these have open story arcs that were not finished. And i'm sure i forget some important things.
By now, the only thing that was finished was the most obvious story (big bad Blight was defeated). But seriously, we already knew that beforethe game was released, or did anyone expected that the archdemon would win? Everything else that was touched within the game and not knwon pre release was not finished.

mmm... Leliana went in the sunset with me... I just cannot image a different better ending.. What other may I see that could ever be better than this? Nothing ! 
And I believe this is the same thing for all those people who romanced Zev.. And all people who romanced Alistair... Can you image a better ending than become queen and marry the love of your life? I think it's just impossible... 
If you continue these stories in some ways, is much more probable that you can ruin them instead of improving them...

I hinted in my former post, Alistair might have the best one. But then again, if you become Alistair's queen, you have his baby running about somewhere, a loose end you might want to deal. Zevran and Leliana's ending, correct me if i'm wrong, are both not forever. If i remember correctly, they travel/live together for some time and then they part.
For all romances, there is the question of how to contiue a relationship with a Grey Warden and what happens to the Grey Warden's in general (Awakening might answer some of those questions).
What happens in regard of the Origin story of your character, every possible question finished?
And then, i'm a sucker for nice endings. I'd love to see some real endings than go beyond an epilogue, probably like LotR devoted many pages to explain what happened to each member of the fellowship and the rest of his live. I know not everyone shares this passion, but that is what's needed to finish an epic story, and for now, DAO is lacking such a finish

[MaxQuartiroli]

@Cuthlan: I am a believer of a theory like "what you can't see never may hurt you".. if you are not able to know what happens you may always image whatever you prefer....But if they decide to show you sad things? then you have to face them... maybe I am a little "coward"? maybe...

@Posioned: I am going to consider Awakening for what it is.. an expansion, not a sequel, something like a detached story...a "spin off" if you prefer..

@MoSa09... For a "romantic" point of view I consider "Lord of the Rings" the best story ever.. Everyone survives... Everyone who loves someone at the end of the story marry his/her beloved and stay with him/her til the end of his/her life.... yes, it's really difficult to image a "better finished history" than Lord of the Rings...   But unfortunately we have always seen that there are no other stories like Lord of the Rings.. not even in BW games... Do you remember Viconia?

Modifié par MaxQuartiroli, 26 février 2010 - 03:08 .