While yesterday we reported the closing of the DA2 saga, today we deliver some of the strongest words we’ve seen out of BioWare’s mouth about the future of Dragon Age. Mike Laidlaw dropped a small post letting folks know that the new things the team is working on is a new Dragon Age game.

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Mike Laidlaw: “The expansion was already pursuing certain mechanical changes to our RPG systems, which will absolutely be carried forward to The Next Thing ™, so you’ll see how those have evolved.”
Mark Darrah: “We are definately [sic] looking into getting a clean starting point of choices for DA3.”
Mike Laidlaw: “Q: Will Mark be taking over Lead Designer?
A: Nope. That’s still me. Creative Director is a franchise or brand-level title, while Lead Designer is a project title. In the case of the DLC’s Aidan Scanlan (a Bioware veteran and very good friend) was Lead Design for those. Mark is the Executive Producer for Dragon Age, and has been since the end of Origins. He’s my boss. You’re talking to the top.

Q: Will there be a collection pack for DAII that combines all the DLCs?
A: Nope. Mark actually mentioned that there would be no ultimate edition a few months back here on BSN; I’m just reiterating that point. So if you’ve been waiting on Legacy or somesuch, go for it!

Q: Will we be going to silent protagonist?
A: A few months back, I noted that we’d be continuing on a voiced protagonist. We feel the voice improves the overall experience, thought we know that some of your disagree. Sorry! STILL, we have, however, heard feedback on paraphrase clarity. What I’ve often seen is feedback that the paraphrases fail when your character DOES something unexpected. Would you folks agree that moments of action or major choice are the issue that most needs to be addressed?

Q: Will I play my… {protagonist here]… again?
A: Again, reiterating something from a few months back, our goal is that new major installments in the DA games will have new protagonists and, generally, tell new stories. It’s safe to assume we’ll do that for “The Next Thing™”, and then we’ll evaluate again. Starting over with new characters provides us a chance to tell new stories in the place and time of the Dragon Age, rather than just one character’s story.

Hope that clears up some commonly asked questions. Very much looking forward to telling you guys more!”
Mark Darrah: Maybe I should just put a stop to something right now.
We ARE NOT going to:
* Burn DA2 to the ground
* Pretend it doesn’t exists
* etc…
I am proud of what DA2 accomplished in several areas. It is certainly not without flaws.
We have things to learn from BOTH Dragon Age games as well as other titles.
Starting your post by telling me to ignore the hard work of over a hundred people is NOT a good way to start a dialogue with me.

Mark Darrah: Going foreward, we will try to learn from both titles. They both have good aspects.
Will this please everyone? I doubt it. But hopefully, most people will see things that they can love.

Mark Darrah: Expect more female representatives of the races going forward.

Mark Darrah: There are parts of the story of Exalted March that will be rolled into future things. As a result, we likely won’t talk too much about the plans for it.