High or Low? Fantasy in Dragon Age: Origins
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Ideally, Origins is supposed to be a "new" kind of fantasy that does away with Zeschuk's dreaded "elves sashaying through the countryside" and brings to the fore real human drama (but with non-humans). To create that kind of fantasy, BioWare had to find a spectrum of existing fantasy to measure their game by.What's more, Mr. Gaider has denied that the meaning of high/low fantasy was ever even discussed:
"At one end we have Tolkien's [Lord of the Rings trilogy]," Muzyka explained,"and for dark, low fantasy, we're using [George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series]."
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Gaider, on the other hand, thinks that his bosses' definitions of high and low fantasy are "funny" at best. To him, high fantasy has to have "obvious magic" and technically Martin does. But "it's very, very subtle," so he could see where his bosses got the idea to label it low even if he doesn't agree with them.
There's a flaw in Gaider's argument, too, though. If magic has to be obvious in order for the fantasy to be "high," the The Witcher is high fantasy, surely?
Rather than talk his way out of that one, Gaider side-stepped. The skew between Martin and Tolkien still works for Origins, he said, even if it's not a clear example of the divide between high and low fantasy: "Martin's stories are character driven. The characters and their flaws drives the plot, where Tolkien is plot-driven. In that respect, [Origins is] leaning more towards the Martin side, where it's a human tale told within the context of these epic events."
What I find interesting is that I never discussed High or Low Fantasy with this particular interviewer, nor did I offer an opinion on Ray and Greg's thoughts on the subject (or even know they had offered any). He asked me about the fantasy sources for Dragon Age's story, and I talked about George R.R. Martin and Tolkien (amongst other things, like Battlestar Galactica) but he makes it sound like we debated the meaning of High and Low Fantasy and where Dragon Age falls on that scale.
Never happened.
