Dragon Age
BioWare's fantasy role-playing series with companions who track their opinion of you.
Where Dragon Age comes up1 episode or test
- No lasting grudges
- No opinion meter
- Companions leave only "in a body bag"
- Visible opinion meter per companion
- Disagreement has consequences
- Losing loyalty is a softer middle ground
Players keep caring about letting companions down
From Mark Brown on Dragon Age
What was said about Dragon Age
1Companion opinion meters in Dragon Age
Dragon Age shows each companion's opinion of you as a visible meter. Dragon Age gives every companion an opinion meter the player can see, so choices carry a readable social cost. Mass Effect 1 lacked this model: its companions never held lasting grudges.
Mark Brown uses it as the contrast case. In Mass Effect 1 the only way a character leaves the squad is "in a body bag", so players stop caring about letting companions down. Disagreement with consequences, as Dragon Age tracks it, keeps that stake alive. Losing a companion's loyalty is a softer middle ground than removing a party member entirely.
Dragon Age: Origins offered gay romances for male heroes, such as Zevran. Zevran is the example given of a romance option open to male player characters in Dragon Age: Origins.
Commanding Shepard
It shows a visible opinion meter for each companion, a model Mass Effect lacked. Dragon Age: Origins also offered gay romances for male heroes, like Zevran.
Dragon Age shows each companion's opinion of you as a visible meter. Dragon Age gives every companion an opinion meter the player can see, so choices carry a readable social cost. Mass Effect 1 lacked this model: its companions never held lasting grudges.
Mark Brown uses it as the contrast case. In Mass Effect 1 the only way a character leaves the squad is "in a body bag", so players stop caring about letting companions down. Disagreement with consequences, as Dragon Age tracks it, keeps that stake alive. Losing a companion's loyalty is a softer middle ground than removing a party member entirely.
Dragon Age: Origins offered gay romances for male heroes, such as Zevran. Zevran is the example given of a romance option open to male player characters in Dragon Age: Origins.
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