Dragon Age Preview
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With authors such as George R R Martin producing grittier, bloodier takes on fantasy, and film-makers like Peter Jackson emphasising the war and corruption at the heart of Lord of the Rings, it's no longer enough to fill a fantasy game with comedy orcs. Fantasy has moved on, and games are only just starting to make the transition.
Hence Dragon Age's entirely new world of Ferelden, custom-written to emphasise the bleakness of existence. In the world of Dragon Age, magic is dangerous and weird, magic users feared, and the consequences of great spells still being felt by a downtrodden and broken populace. Gone are the D&D cliches: the flick-of-a-wrist fireball, the saving throw. In comes inter-species tension, religious hatred, and good old fashioned betrayal.
Consider the elves: tall, slender, smarter, almost idealised humans in most fantasy. In Dragon Age, they're nothing of the sort: in Dragon Age they're terrorists or freedom fighters, depending on who you talk to.
Dwarves live beneath society, literally and figuratively: those who choose to live above ground are treated like dirt, those who remain in their caverns are rarely seen. And no, dwarfettes don't have comedy beards.
