It's been a while since we last saw Bioware's upcoming RPG Dragon Age, but that's done little to diminish the hype surrounding it. A spiritual successor to their classic Baldur's Gate series, Dragon Age is a return to form for the studio that made its name with high-quality PC RPGs featuring epic narratives.

At the E3 demonstration of the game, Bioware showcased general features, such as the dialog trees, armor deformation, and a quick glimpse at the in-game combat. This year at the GDC, it was time to unleash the beast again. This time, Bioware showed off a nice chunk of one of the game's side quests, including a spotlight on a few features not yet seen in action.

The GDC demo took place in a town called Red Cliff. During your group's travels to finish their whole quest (you know, “save the world, kill the bad guys, yadda yadda”) they’ll run into a man from Red Cliff. It seems like the town is in dire need of help as monsters come nightly from a castle on the mountain, attack the villagers, kidnap their families, and do the sorts of things monsters do—usually all bad. It's then that Bioware showed off the main emphasis of Dragon Age's quests: free will.

What you do is your call. You can say “Screw you guys,” and ignore the needs of Red Cliff in order to go after completing your main quest sooner. Alternatively, you can play the great charitable hero, help all the little people, and put off your main tasks. The choices made will impact the game, no matter which one you make; for example, if you ignore the pleas of the Red Cliff citizens, later in the game you might run into a situation where someone from the town could have helped you in some way—but won’t or can’t.