Fans have always felt that Dragon Age: Origins’ mage class was more complete, perhaps even more dominant, than the game’s other two classes, the rogue and the warrior. But why was that? Former BioWare executive producer Mark Darrah has said it’s mostly about second edition Dungeons & Dragons.
In a recently published video, Darrah explained why the mage in BioWare’s much-loved 2009 role-playing game ended up feeling so much better to play.
“It’s actually I would say more because the design space that Dragon Age: Origins was being built into was heavily influenced by second edition D&D,” Darrah, who worked at BioWare from 1997 to early 2021, said.
“So in that case, the reality is mages and rogues were less… they were thinner classes, they were simpler classes. And the mage was the stronger, more fully implemented, more fully considered class. Much more complicated, much more in terms of spells and such.”
Dragon Age: Origins was not designed to be played with Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition rules, but rather it was built on a custom system that was heavily influenced by the design principles of the 2nd edition era of D&D.
Darrah also said Origins’ more grounded tone affected the abilities of the warrior and the rogue, which in turn had more grounded abilities than in subsequent games in the fantasy franchise.
“Also, of all the Dragon Ages, Dragon Age: Origins is the most grounded. It’s the one that’s worrying the most about everything making perfect sense within the overall lore of the game. So, warriors and rogues in Origins basically don’t have talents, or they don’t have talents or skills that violate physics.
“Whereas, as we move into Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition and Veilgard, you get a lot more things that are not really possible for someone to physically do.”
There’s plenty of agreement with Darrah’s assessment from fans, particularly on his point about Origins’ more grounded setting and tone, but also on how important mages were to the game’s story. Morrigan, a mage party member, ended up one of the most popular in Origins. That was in part because she was powerful, but there were also… other considerations.
Of course, this unbalance was rectified for subsequent Dragon Age games, as Darrah points out. But following the failure of Veilguard and the layoffs that followed, fans often point to Origins as the kind of Dragon Age they would love to see BioWare return to one day.
Will that day come? It seems unlikely any time soon, given BioWare is focused squarely on Mass Effect 5. Darrah, meanwhile, via his YouTube channel, has been running through his time at the studio, explaining everything from why there has never been a Dragon Age: Origins remaster to what went wrong with Anthem.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
