{"id":5635,"date":"2009-11-04T08:35:36","date_gmt":"2009-11-04T12:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=5635"},"modified":"2009-11-04T09:45:54","modified_gmt":"2009-11-04T13:45:54","slug":"dragon-age-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=5635","title":{"rendered":"Dragon Age Anxiety"},"content":{"rendered":"

So a couple of Dragon Age characters are appearing in Maxim<\/a> along with the real-world models on which they were based. Maxim? Really, BioWare? It’s like… it’s like I don’t know who you are anymore.<\/p>\n

I’ve been observing the strange, oversexed marketing campaign for Dragon Age and I played around with the puddle-deep character designer. I have to admit I wonder where they’re going with all of this. It’s possible this is an effort to reach out to the less nerdy demographic and get them into some RPG-esque games. That would be fine. But the other, more cynical way to look at it is that perhaps they noticed that Mass Effect – despite being their most shallow and character-thin story in a decade – has outsold their earlier, deeper titles. Maybe they noticed that, and decided they needed less roleplay<\/em> and more sexay<\/em>.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Susan Arendt over at the Escapist had nice things to say about it in her Twitter feed<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Really Shamus? Are you really pinning your hopes for an entire company on a slightly favorable remark in someone’s TWITTER FEED?<\/em><\/p>\n

Yeah… Look, I don’t know. I’m just trying to read the signs here. We don’t have a lot to go on. Russ Pitts gave the thing decent marks<\/a> at the Escapist, but I haven’t really calibrated myself against his reviews yet. <\/p>\n

I really don’t want to believe that BioWare is just abandoning their branching RPG format for interactive Sex In the City on rails. Where else will we look for our next KOTOR? Is this the direction they’re going, or is this just a feint by marketing? Consider this infamous trailer: (Warning: Contains gore, nudity, swearing, and lack of character interactions aside from aforementioned gore, nudity, etc.)<\/p>\n