Dragon Age: New details

We've not had a whiff of info on BioWare's PC role-playing game Dragon Age for a long, long time now, some might say an age, but that's all changed today as new details on the 3D fantasy romp through the kingdom of Ferelden have hit the interweb.

According to an article on 1UP, players will be presented with a plot far darker than fans of previous BioWare PC RPGs will be used to, the storyline apparently influenced by - the utterly fantastic - A Game of Thrones series of fantasy novels penned by George R. R. Martin. Beefing up the storyline aspect, each character archetype selectable by the player features its own origin story, offering variety in the open stages of Dragon Age and, we reckon, potentially allowing for multiple endings to the adventure.

We can expect in-depth interaction between characters and NPCs too, with BioWare said to be employing a modified version of the conversation system that features in its Xbox 360 game Mass Effect. Allowing you to engage in conversation by selecting from sets of 'chat' statements - like in KOTOR - the system is dynamic, cinematic, lets you interrupt conversations for example and is also enhanced by realistic facial animations. We can only guess at how this is being modified for Dragon Age at the moment.

Additionally, a few details have been spilled on combat, it described it as being in the style of Baldur's Gates' real-time tactical combat, but evolved. Plus, orders can be queued up for members of your party who are able to execute coordinated attacks, according to 1UP. And what sounds really cool is that Dragon Age will feature big scraps with large creatures, what BioWare is aiming for with this sounding not unlike the battle scene from the first Lord of the Rings movie where the Fellowship fights the massive troll in Moria.