Even in the early parts of the game it’s clear that betrayal is a theme that plays a crucial and continuing role, a notion that Mike Laidlaw confirmed while noting that the game’s other themes center around violence and lust (for both love and power). Certainly, each of these is a powerful idea that, if explored thoroughly and maturely, could create a one of a kind gaming experience and lend credibility to Bioware’s claim that this is not just a dark heroic fantasy, but one that will appeal to audiences hungry for a thoroughly adult gaming experience. The question then becomes whether or not the Dragon Age team has been successful at presenting these themes in a way that won’t come off as childish or gratuitous; an idea that has not been effectively sold by many of the marketing videos and presentations over the past six months or so.

Let’s face it, it’s not easy to put mature themes, like sexual content, into a video game and have it come off as sincere and adult rather than the product of a 14 year-old’s fascination with boobies. Nor is it easy to support the idea that the violence inherent in the game isn’t gratuitous when the mere act of slaying a room full of rats leads to your character being coated from head to toe in blood splatter as was the case during my character’s origin story. But then you take a step back and realize that a two minute marketing video or demonstration doesn’t provide the sort of context that you get from spending a few dozen hours playing the game.

Spend some real time playing Dragon Age and you start to see how the idea of something like blood thematically permeates all facets of the game: The role Darkspawn blood plays for the Grey Wardens; the role dragon blood plays in a specific quest for which we watched a demo; the George R. R. Martin-esque nobility, in which the blood in a character’s veins can mean everything. Regardless of whatever impression you get from marketing videos, blood is not just used in this game as a visual to gore it up. It’s a core part of the Dragon Age world, and when viewed through that lens, it’s very hard to view its implementation in this game as gratuitous.

I was not able to progress far enough to see if this same notion holds true for the “romances” your character can engage in, but certainly I get the sense that, like the romances in Baldur’s Gate II, a lot of it depends on how you play your character. If you play your character maturely, there’s every reason to believe that the sexual content in the game will also present that way. Certainly that is the goal.

Moving beyond the game is the look we got at the community site and toolset Bioware is releasing alongside it that aims to bring both players and module-makers together using concepts pioneered by social networking sites like Facebook. Even now you can download a character creator and upload your character’s profile and photo to the community site , which allows you to create a profile that receives updates directly from the game.

Fulfill an achievement and your profile page reflects it. Start a new character and it shows on your page. Are you a module maker looking to get some help from a decent artist? The site can help hook you up with just the person you need or vice-versa. As easy as it is to dismiss the idea of a Bioware-specific version of Facebook, there’s a lot of aspects to it that just plain make sense and should help drive not only a conversation amongst players, but also the creation and distribution of fan-made content much the same way the Neverwinter Vault did (and does) for Neverwinter Nights.