In terms of the writing, this is obviously a dialog heavy game and whenever there’s an opportunity you’re trying to present the player with choice while at the same time still trying to steer them in certain directions. How difficult is it to avoid circular dialog where different answers lead to the same responses?

AWell there needs to be a bit of that. I can explain why. It’s because, to my mind, the thing that you can miss is player consistency. If my voice is such that I am perfectly neutral [monotone], “Yes, hello. I would like some stuff. I would like some stuff. Give me stuff. I’m doing quests for you. Hello. Hello. KILL THE BABIES!!!” Out of the blue, it’s like what the hell? The consistency is completely lost. But if your character is always like, “Couldn’t we let them die?” It’s like, “No, we can’t because we need them for-,” and you’re like [frustrated], “Fine.” And then it’s like, “KILL THE BABIES!!!” then you’re like, “Well, okay, yeah that was the same character.”

So, it’s not so much circular, but there’s only small branches and they come back together. My strategy to dealing with it and I think a lot of our designers think in these terms is that we have to create a space for the player to play in and that space is not infinite. It can’t be, otherwise we cannot make the game. That’s real life. But, in that space, we try to establish – and I said earlier where you can go, you know, elves are consistently allowed to say things like, “I hate humans,” so that becomes part of their space. Dwarves have constant relations to their family and ancestors and “the stone,” so that creates their space. And the character that you have within them is consistent and our goal is that in every interaction you feel like you can explore this space that we’ve created, consistently, all the way through it. As a result when you come up to these larger responses, the ones that shake the earth, that you still have that same space and you feel like, “Yeah, this is my character. My character is able to interact in a way that I’ve been leading up to the whole time.”

Obviously, I’m sure there’s a lot of things about this game you’re very happy about right now –

Like being done!

Yeah, no doubt that’s high up there. From the point of conception, stuff that you wanted to do from the very beginning, and at the end that was there and it was as good or better than you hoped it would be, what stands out to you?

I think getting a party experience that felt as good as or better than the Baldur’s Gate 2 party experience. For me, that was one of the game’s triumphs. It isn’t key to the game for a lot of people, in terms of story, but I’m talking about the whole party experience; the tactical side of it as well as their storylines.

So you have characters that no only bicker, have their own agendas and goals, fight with one another, at times try to manipulate you, but also offer distinct tactical roles where you’re kind of agonizing, “Man, do I take the dog in my party? Do I want to use Morrigan or Wynne? What kind of characters will I do, and how will I build my party, and then how will I use them in concert?” So having that sense of class and race and talents, all those elements together from the tactical side and then understand that the story side can affect that.

You might want Morrigan instead of Wynne, but you constantly choose things that piss Morrigan off. Ugh! Now I have a choice to make. The player is in this beautiful space where each party is going to have its own flavor and character because these guys have banter all around the world as you explore. They comment on what you see. They comment on what the other person commented on. They banter back and forth. I still remember to this day the first time I heard the voice over going for a dialog between Sten and Leliana as you’re exploring and she is teasing him mercilessly and then I went into a new area and she continued teasing him and I’m like that is exactly what I wanted to hit.

In terms of the party building then, because you’ve created a lot of interesting characters that can join your party, but you’ve limited the player to adding three characters to their party. Are you looking for people to be mad at you that they can’t have more?

I think, yeah. Everyone… everyone wants everything, right? Like, “I want to bring all ten!” But at the same time, there’s something to be said for – you know, it’s like parents making you go to bed early. But I do need sleep, right? You can recognize that. I think what it does is it forces you to not just put whoever in your party, but to really question: Do they have a role? Do they have a place? Do I want two rogues? Do I want two mages? Do I want three mages? Those kind of questions, I think, keep you engaged and keep you understanding that there are trade-offs to be made.

It might make the occasional person angry, but I think it makes the game a stronger experience because the second time through it does give you another thing to explore and for certain environments it’s like, “Oh, I need my two-handers because they have a talent that makes them better against golems. Hey! Hello, golems!” You know what I mean? And suddenly you feel like you’ve made a smart choice. You’ve done something to react to the challenges around you. That’s what I like. That’s where I think the game becomes rewarding and not just an experience in throw whatever you have at it. Instead, you’re thinking tactically.

In terms of intra-party interaction – I’ve seen a lot of it. They do a lot of talking between themselves. If you stuck with the whole party throughout the game, the same three companions, at what point are they going to start running out of things to say to each other? Will it continue through the game or will they suddenly get quiet on you?

I think what you’d find is there would be certain points where they would kind of run out of things to say, for now. But what we’ve done to combat that - because certainly I think people do tend to fall into that one group that they enjoy - is introduce plot elements that then spark up new dialogs that continue on. You’ll even find instances where having pursued, say - Alistair’s got his own personal story and he asks a favor of you over the course of the game. When you do that favor, you proceed through it, and suddenly some of the other followers are now like, “So, um, about that…” You know, and they’re questioning him and he’s all embarrassed. So, it’s very interesting to have the player’s interaction unlock new elements or larger story events too. There are some that actually introduce new quests and such.

We talked about what you liked. What was there at the beginning of the game that you wanted to do that either didn’t make it or didn’t come out quite the way you wanted it to?

It’s hard to say because it was sooo long ago. There are systems on the cutting room floor. There are plots on the cutting room floor. Many of them are of the kind that, yes this is a really good idea and we have some really cool concepts around it and stuff, but to do it to the level of quality that we demand of ourselves - Bioware is kind of traditional - we don’t have time. Or, to do that we’d have to sacrifice something else and that something else, and that something else I think is more integral or more thematic and thus a stronger part of the game.

One that leaps to mind is Lyrium, which is what mages use to enter the Fade and restore their mana. It’s also addictive, which is something you discover as you talk to the templars. We actually had a system around Lyrium addiction where it was looking to be quite promising. But at the same time it didn’t quite hit the notes I wanted it to. I didn’t want you to end up being a junky. I didn’t want you to do that, because to my mind the Greywarden has got bigger problems than that. So, the system itself was really good and had some great ideas, but we decided to lose it so we could re-focus our systems guys on stuff that was much stronger, like item sets, certain armor progression bonuses that –at the time- I thought were bigger bang for the buck and better for the player.