Dragon Age should have been "PC-centric" and mod-friendly, says former
Bioware manager

Date:
Tue, 19 Sep 2023 08:48:30 +0000

Description:
Former Bioware manager Aaryn Flynn wishes that Dragon Age had been more modder-friendly like CRPG Neverwinter Nights.

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Former Bioware general manager Aaryn Flynn weighed in on Dragon Age 's past, stating that the game should have been "PC-centric" and mod-friendly like previous fantasy titles from the studio.

In an interview with Edge magazine , Flynn outlined his wish that fantasy RPG Dragon Age had kept a "Neverwinter-like identity", prizing versatility and scope for modding. As part of the interview, Flynn spoke fondly of the design approach behind Neverwinter Nights . One of the best RPGs of its time, this earlier title from BioWare spawned an active and long-lived community sustained by fan content and mods.

"We wanted everybody to be able to say 'I, as a modder, can build the same thing that Bioware does.'," said Flynn. "We didn't want any exceptions to that."

Speaking on how this approach influenced Dragon Age Origins , Flynn made it clear that the first entry in the Dragon Age series "had its fair share of identity crises. Was it going to be a tools-driven, modding-driven game like Neverwinter Nights ? Was it going to be a big single-player RPG like The
Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion ?" (Image credit: EA)

Though Flynn was happy that "Dragon Age [Origins] on PC shipped with the toolset", he expressed his disappointment that this trend didn't continue for Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition." I wish we'd kept that up and stuck to that. Unfortunately, we got, I'd say, a little too homogenous between Mass Effect and Dragon Age. I wish we would have kept more of a PC-centric, Neverwinter-like identity for Dragon Age ."

Having departed Bioware, Flynn became founder and CEO of Inflexion Games, who are currently working on upcoming Victorian-inspired survival title Nightingale .

Though we do not yet know the extent to which Dragon Age: Dreadwolf will return to these mod-friendly roots (if at all), wildly popular fantasy RPG Baldur's Gate 3 is set to receive official mod support of its own in the near future, perhaps ushering in a return to the era of open-ended, mod-friendly RPGs.

Excited for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf? While you wait, check out our list of the best story games as well as our guide to the best single-player games .



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/gaming/consoles-pc/dragon-age-should-have-been-pc-ce ntric-and-mod-friendly-says-former-bioware-manager


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