Staying True To BioWare

Hey there internet, it’s me again, your friendly neighborhood producer Ethan Levy.  After announcing Dragon Age Legends for Facebook, one of the things we’ve heard the most curiosity about is the story.  BioWare’s mission is to deliver the best story-driven games in the world, and when collaborating with them on a game for one of their franchises, our studio feels it is our duty to stay true to that vision.  When we released Dragon Age Journeys, one of my greatest fears would be that fans would say it wasn’t a true BioWare game; living up to the mantle of delivering the best story-driven games in the world is a scary task to take on.  Of the many things that make me happy about Journeys, the warm reception the story received is one of the things I am most proud of.

With BioWare’s mission in mind, we have spent considerable time crafting the story you will experience in Legends, making sure it measures up to the quality fans expect in a BioWare game.  The world of Dragon Age is incredibly rich and well detailed, and we have studied literally hundreds of pages of document to learn everything we can about Thedas.  BioWare is an incredible partner to have, and they have provided us with the Dragon Age IP bible, the full codex from Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2, and story outlines for Dragon Age 2 and future developments in the series. 

It’s humbling to learn how much work they have put into fleshing out the world of Dragon Age,  and reading through all these pages of history really makes it clear how BioWare delivers the best story-driven games in the industry.  It also leads to some funny moments when working on the game, like when we have to shoot down the idea of Griffins being a monster you would face because they are extinct at the time of our story. 

We worked closely with Dragon Age’s Lead Designer, Mike Laidlaw, to develop the story outline for Legends.  So far, we have written out an outline that tells the first year story arch for Legends.  Following the launch of Legends, our ambition is to update the game in a comic book like fashion, dropping new quests and narrative into the world on a weekly basis to tell a cohesive story.

The story centers around Viscount Ravi, leader of the Free Marcher city of Kaiten.  13 years before the game begins, a group of warriors led by Ravi took down then Viscount Khedra, a demon possessed abomination and Ravi’s uncle.  Although the confrontation took place in an empty coliseum that should have been blocked off by powerful magic, you, the player, were able to enter the coliseum and played a key roll in turning the tide of battle.  Since that day, Ravi has served as your patron. 

When a set of mysterious circumstances form around the Viscount’s son, Eiton, you are the only person he can trust to investigate.  Ravi’s son was born a Tranquil, a great tragedy that had never been seen by Kaiten’s circle of mages, and is watched over by Ravi’s advisor, the mage Lukesh.  Few know of Eiton’s condition, which is why Ravi sends you to the Planascene forest to investigate this most delicate matter.

The opening cinematic of Dragon Age Legends is being animated by our long time collaborator Adam Phillips.  I’ve put character designs and several screenshots from the cinematic here for your viewing pleasure.  So far Adam’s work is simply amazing, and I can’t wait to share the finished product with you.