Dragon Age 2 developers BioWare are attempting to tell gamers, who might be new to RPGs, that they’re ready for the mechanics.
When speaking to Gamasutra on how DA2 can reach a wider audience, lead designer, Mike Laidlaw said “For me, I guess, fundamentally, there are more people who are ready to play RPGs than realise it.”
Laidlaw went on to discuss the recent incorporation of RPG elements into more accessible genres.
“These are people who will play FarmVille. These are people who have shot enough people in the head that they’ve leveled up in Medal of Honor. They’ve gained XP and have received awards as a result. That’s an RPG mechanic.
“They’ve played [Grand Theft Auto] San Andreas and they’ve run enough, and gotten buff enough, that their endurance is a higher. They’ve leveled,” he said.
“It’s honestly on RPGs to try to figure out how to take the mechanics that people are actually loving in other genres and say, ‘No, no, no. We had those years ago, but we understand that they kind of were scary.'”
Laidlaw reiterated the company’s previous statement, insisting the combat isn’t dumbed down.
“There were decisions that we made as a team that said, ‘Okay, this is, I think, more welcoming.’ Not ‘dumbed down’ or anything like that, but welcoming,” he said.
Dragon Age II is coming to PS3, Xbox 360 and PC on 11th March.
