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Text adventure The Last Court ties Dragon Age 2, Inquisition
Failbetter Games, the studio behind Sunless Sea and a virtual cornucopia of text adventure games, has partnered with BioWare to create The Last Court: a text-based game that promotes you to ruler of Serault, a small township located within the nation of Orlais. As the marquis, you'll need to manage threats both physical and fiscal, forging alliances and interacting with major characters from Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2. Players will be able to choose the Huntress or Scholar archetype for their character, giving themselves a boost to physical or mental stats, respectively. If you're not too keen on playing the medieval fantasy version of Parks and Recreation, here's some added incentive: The Last Court will connect the events of Dragon Age 2 to the forming of The Inquisition, the driving force behind Dragon Age: Inquisition. Failbetter did not announce precisely when The Last Court would go live, but when it does, you'll be able to access it via the Dragon Age Keep - a website where you can sync and customize your personal saga through BioWare's universe. A first-look video is available after the break.
Deals with Gold: Outlast, Rayman Legends, Dragon Age
This week's Deals with Gold on Xbox Live discounts three games and one add-on for Xbox One users. Players can download Rayman Legends at 40 percent off, Outlast for 25 percent off and Worms Battlegrounds at 40 percent off. Additionally, the Battlefield 4 Support Shortcut Kit is also 33 percent off this week for both Xbox One and Xbox 360 versions of the game. Xbox 360 players can save money on RPGs this week as well, with Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2 both 75 percent off. The sequel's Mark of the Assassin and The Exiled Prince DLC packs are both half-off, just in time for Dragon Age: Inquisition's launch on November 18. Lastly, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is 67 percent off and its Teeth of Naros and The Legend of Dead Kel add-ons are also half-off. This week's deals are good through Monday, October 20 for Xbox Live Gold subscribers. [Image: Ubisoft]
Dragon Age: Origins now free on Origin, naturally
EA's digital distribution platform Origin now offers users a free download of the publisher's flagship fantasy roleplaying series, Dragon Age: Origins. You may recall Dragon Age: Origins as the expansive, complex roleplaying game that gave everyone hope that developer BioWare could still do high fantasy akin to its excellent Dungeons & Dragons games of the 1990s. Plus, it introduced the world to Ser Pouncealot, the finest combat kitty this side of Eternia. Our review awarded Origins five stars while describing it as "a glowing example of the RPG genre done very right." Normally the game is priced at $20 on Origin, but "utterly free" is an undeniably better price for such a captivating adventure. There's only one major caveat attached to this deal: You must have a valid Origin membership. Fortunately, acquiring a membership is both free and relatively quick, so if you're interested in a gratis copy of Dragon Age: Origins, visit the digital distribution platform and sign up. [Image: EA]
Mass Effect 2 has highest completion rate in ME, Dragon Age series
BioWare's director of online development Fernando Melo presented the above player completion rates for Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3, Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2 during a panel at GDC Europe. Mass Effect 2 topped the charts with 56 percent of players completing the entire game, followed by Mass Effect 3 with 42 percent, Dragon Age 2 with 41 percent, Mass Effect with 40 percent and finally Dragon Age: Origins at the lowest rate of 36 percent. The spike in Mass Effect 2's completion can be attributed to Mass Effect 3's recent launch, when an influx of players were reminded of the game and attempted to finish it before that release, Melo said.
Majority of profit from Dragon Age: Origins DLC was from launch DLC
"Having something post-ship is absolutely essential," BioWare director of online development Fernando Melo told an audience at GDC Europe today, during his discussion of day-one DLC, online passes and long-term monetization. Shipping DLC on the day of launch is essential from a business standpoint – Dragon Age: Origins, for example, saw 53 percent of all of its paid DLC transactions solely from sales of its day-one DLC packs, The Stone Prisoner and Warden's Keep.This figure accounts for those who bought Stone Prisoner for $15 in a used copy of Origins, and those who purchased Warden's Keep for $7 outside of its inclusion in the Digital Deluxe Edition. Since these two DLC packs, Dragon Age: Origins has had seven additional iterations of downloadable content, which account for less than half of the total DLC revenue from Origins.Melo stressed the importance of day-one DLC from a business standpoint for any developer. Launch day sees the highest number of players and offers the widest possibility for catching long-term, continuously paying players, he said.
Remember Dragon Age: Origins or 'How to keep a good RPG going'
This is a weekly column from freelancer Rowan Kaiser, which focuses on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. With The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim's first expansion being released on multiple platforms as well as Mass Effect 3's first single-player add-on announced, it's been a busy week for the biggest role-playing games in recent months. Yet, my reaction to each piece of news was quite different, despite my similar feelings about both games. Hearing that I could finally play "Dawnguard" on my PC got me excited that there'd be more Skyrim when I got to it, because that was a game about exploring and finding new things. Mass Effect 3's "Leviathan," on the other hand, held no appeal for me. The entire third game was an emotional ending (although not always inspiring good emotions). Maybe I'd get excited doing another quest built into the middle of the game if I ran a new Shepard through all three games, but there's no appeal for me now.I spent last weekend playing the Dragon Age: Origins expansions, which I'd left on my hard drive for far too long following the completion of the initial game. As I worked on my "Awakening" and pressed through more of Dragon Age's add-ons, the difference in form crystallized in my head. Role-playing games have specific issues to deal with involving add-on content, and by trying a wide variety of different strategies, Dragon Age: Origins demonstrated the strengths and weaknesses of those plans.%Gallery-81512%
Red claims Dragon is 'single most significant sensor in the history of image capture'
Red Camera's bombastic CEO, Jim Jannard, says that internal testing of the new 6K Dragon sensor proves that it's the new "resolution and dynamic range king." He also claims it will be "the cleanest sensor you have ever seen, ISO 2000 looks better than MX [the current sensor] at ISO 800." The imaging chip was first outed at NAB in April, promising 15+ stops of DR and 120fps at a full 5K of resolution, with $6,000 upgrades for Epic customers by the end of the year. Owners of the $9,700 (brain only) Scarlet-X will also get the Dragon, though no price or date has been given yet for that camera. Needless to say, some independent testing will be needed to substantiate his claims, but Jannard sure does sound confident.
Lighten up!: On thematic consistency in role-playing games
This is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. One of my all-time favorite role-playing games features a militaristic, near-fascist race of rhinoceroses who walk on two legs and wear uniforms. When you encounter them, they slide across the game screen, waving their muskets and cutlasses. They also fly spaceships around the galaxy, and are considered one of the most powerful empires in space, along with their spider-like rivals. It's a fantasy world.The game is Wizardry VII: Crusaders Of The Dark Savant, released in 1992. The setting and story aren't what make the game great (see: the mechanics of the class system) but they are part of the whole, pleasant experience of the game. Yes, the setting is utterly ridiculous, but that's not a point against the game. If anything, it's a benefit. It's not serious, and it knows it's not serious, so why not just do fun weird stuff, like take on an army of blue-skinned theocrats aligned with an empire of spiders?
Dark Side 'Cause It Looks Cool: The Failings of Moral Choice in Games
This is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. Morality systems have become role-playing. Or at least, a significant amount of people have come to believe this. To take one example, this review of The Old Republic is premised on the concept that BioWare's style of moral choices are effective character-building mechanics. It's a fine review, but it's one that I can't agree with because I find the model of game morality used in The Old Republic and many other role-playing games ineffective at creating a moral system.In order for a moral choice to have weight, it needs to have two components. First, meaningful choices have to cause the player to lose something in order to gain power. Something has to change, or be expected to change, within the game in order for the decision to matter. In Mass Effect, at one point in the game, you have to choose which of two party members to rescue – the other dies. Or, in Fallout: New Vegas, working with Caesar's Legion turns the New California Republic into an enemy, and vice versa.Second, a moral choice has to be a difficult choice. The old adage "If doing the right thing were easy, everyone would do it" applies here. This is where games usually fail. They can do it with little choices, like with stealing even when you won't get caught in New Vegas. Take the owned items and you'll lose karma, which might be a small hit compared to the benefits of a new weapon. Alternately, in some games, honorable characters will simply refuse payment for quests, forcing money to be acquired by other means.
Amazon offering dramatic discounts on digital EA games starting this Sunday
Amazon doesn't care for your silly stack of unplayed, unopened games -- it simply wants to trick you into buying more with a variety of impressive deals, albeit on games that exist only in the digital realm. Starting this coming Sunday (the 15th) and running through the end of the week (the 21st), individual EA titles will be offered day by day at ridiculously discounted prices: Bulletstorm and Dead Space 2 for $7 a pop, for instance. The daily itemized list is just after the break, should you be preparing for yet another (admittedly minor) assault on your bank account in the effort to catch up on 2011's best games. Might we suggest conquering the concept of time scarcity first?
Big discounts on EA games, DLC on Xbox Live this week
Xbox Live is hosting some decent deals on Electronic Arts content this week. Notable games include Risk: Factions for $5, Shank for $7.50 or Dragon Age: Origins for $15. Plenty of DLC is up for grabs as well, including Dead Space 2 "Severed" or Mass Effect 2 "Arrival" DLC for $3 each, or Dragon Age's "Witch Hunt" DLC for $4. You can check out the full selection of sale items – oddly split into two different lists – here and here.
The Light and How to Swing It: 5 clever tricks for maximizing your Dragon Soul healing
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Every Sunday, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered, like why paladins are so awesome. If you're a holy paladin with a pulse, there's no reason not to be raiding Dragon Soul. The Raid Finder allows us healers to find groups in minutes, with no strings attached if you have to leave early. The normal versions of the bosses are all accessible for guilds across the spectrum of dedication levels. Healing a raid in Dragon Soul gives you access to the best gear available and provides us with the greatest challenge we can face today. I was looking at my World of Logs parses from the old days, and I was surprised to see how bad my HPS looked then when compared to more recent parses. The first step in preparing yourself to heal in Dragon Soul is to realize that the instance isn't built like Bastion of Twilight or Firelands. While the Ascendant Council repeatedly punished the raid for clumping and Baleroc crushed our tanks, many fights in Dragon Soul involve tight stacking and tons of AoE healing. Optimizing our AoE healing has become a key to succeeding in Dragon Soul.
Muzyka: BioWare to throw previous Dragon Age games into a blender for next title
Dragon Age 3 is going to blend the best features of Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2, BioWare CEO Ray Muzyka told PC Gamer at Gamescom. After Dragon Age 2's inconclusive, varied review scores, BioWare is focused on making all fans, core and new, happy: "What we need to do as developers is take that feedback from both sets of fans to heart and see about marrying that in future games in the Dragon Age franchise. I think that the team has actually got a great plan," Muzyka said. We're on board as long as that plan doesn't involve throwing raspberries into the blender -- a raspberry and chain mail smoothie may sound good, but it is a bad idea. Trust us on this one.
BioWare's Laidlaw: DA2 'Legacy' DLC is a response to fan complaints
"There's a game out there that's better than both [Dragon Age] Origins and DAII, and I'll be damned if the talented folks of the DA team can't find it," BioWare lead designer Mike Laidlaw concluded a recent response to one fan on his company's forums. He was engaged in an ongoing conversation over the past few days in a subject thread titled "Dragon Age 2 reception and community discussed," wherein fans sounded off and a handful of BioWare reps responded to criticisms about the critically divisive Dragon Age 2, and its improved follow-up DLC, Legacy. "Legacy, I think, goes a long way towards demonstrating that we are listening, that we are aware of the weaknesses of DAII, and that we will continue to address them," he responded to another, specifically citing combat encounters, asset re-use, loot, and choice impact as areas to improve. While he of course didn't speak to Dragon Age 3, he did note that "Reasonable, passionate feedback is the best possible thing to provide. Seeing strongly negative reaction to DAII, and strongly positive reaction to Legacy, even from some of DAII's strongest detractors (and yes, I know it's not universal, but what is), is incredibly useful."
EA Week on Steam kicks off with discounts on Dragon Age titles
Every day this week, Steam's offering discounts on select EA titles and franchises. To kick things off, the retailer's knocked a number of bucks off the various installments of the Dragon Age franchise today, including Origins, Awakening and ... um, 2.
Dragon Age: Origins PC servers experience 'unidentified failure,' DLC unplayable
BioWare finally responded to the Dragon Age: Origins server outages yesterday by saying it is working to resolve the issues on its end. BioWare's Rob Bartel acknowledged on the company's forums that the problems began over the weekend of April 9 when the servers experienced an "as yet unidentified failure." The server issue caused connection errors, which flagged DLC content as unauthorized. Although we've yet to test this ourselves, folks on the forums say that the game is still playable in offline mode. Bartel expressed that the company will update the thread once it knows more. A similar, unintended incident occurred only a few months ago due to server maintenance.
Impulse takes dragon-sized bite from Dragon Age: Origins Ultimate Edition price
From a value perspective, it's pretty hard to deny the cost to amount of game ratio of Impulse's half-price deal on Dragon Age: Origins. It includes both Origins and the Awakening expansion for 25 bucks. Throw in the fact that it's actually a good game and, well, you've got yourself a heckuva deal.
Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra gets in the video game concert game
Hey, Video Games Live isn't the only contender in the market for orchestral performances of ludological accompaniment, you know. The Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra -- for those unfamiliar with their Midwest geography, that's Dayton, Ohio -- is putting together a game-themed show, aptly titled PLAY.
BioWare describes making of Dragon Age 2 in new video
Gamespot has posted a brand new video about the making of Dragon Age 2, and there are some nice tidbits in there for those seeking more information about the sequel to BioWare's fantasy RPG. The game's devs talk about how they began with the art style, putting together an animatic first that showed off what they wanted the look and feel of the game to be. Dragon Age: Origins had the Grey Wardens providing a strange sort of justice, but Dragon Age 2 is a little dirtier, with werewolves licking blood and heads getting smashed in. It's also "more personal," according to the developers. Rather than DAO's create-a-character templates, BioWare wants to customize Hawke's story by showing how he affects people, so treating someone one way early in the story will have an effect on how they act later on, creating what the company hopes is its "most reactive game to date." You can watch the whole video after the break.
Music to kill by: The making of Rift's score
The musical score is often one of the little-appreciated aspects of MMOs, providing mood, tone and emotion for the player while hopefully refraining from being annoying or too repetitive. In a new dev diary, Trion Worlds showcases the audio talent behind Rift: Planes of Telara's score. Audio Director Yannis Brown and Composer Inon Zur (Dragon Age: Origins, Fallout: New Vegas) talk about how the music lends itself to character identity and the environment's atmosphere, while giving us an aural sneak peek of Rift's tunes. One of the cool concepts the audio team is the creation of multi-layered music tracks that provide the same theme in different degrees of intensity based on how big the rifts have grown. Hit the jump to watch the diary and hear for yourself whether this will be a game in which the default score stays on -- or gets quickly turned off in favor of personal playlists.
