Dragon Age

Dragon Age
Dragon Age series logo (2013-present)
Genres Role-playing
Developer(s) BioWare
Publisher(s) Electronic Arts
Creator(s) David Gaider and BioWare
Platforms Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, OS X
Platform of origin Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
First release Dragon Age: Origins
November 3, 2009
Latest release Dragon Age: Inquisition
November 18, 2014

Dragon Age is a Canadian dark fantasy role-playing video game series created by BioWare. The first game, Dragon Age: Origins, was released in 2009. Dragon Age II, a sequel to Origins, was released in March 2011. Dragon Age: Inquisition was released in November 2014. The series' fantasy setting has been used by a variety of other media, including books and tabletop games, and the three main games have been joined by a variety of downloadable content (DLC) add-ons. A fourth yet unnamed installment has been revealed to be in production.[1]

Video games

Main series

Year Game Type
2009Dragon Age: OriginsMain game
Dragon Age: Origins – The Stone PrisonerDLC
Dragon Age: Origins – Warden's KeepDLC
2010Dragon Age: Origins – Return to OstagarDLC
Dragon Age: Origins – AwakeningExpansion pack
Dragon Age: Origins – Feastday gifts and pranksDLC
Dragon Age: Origins – The Darkspawn ChroniclesDLC
Dragon Age: Origins – Leliana's SongDLC
Dragon Age: Origins – The Golems of AmgarrakDLC
Dragon Age: Origins – Witch HuntDLC
Dragon Age: Origins – Ultimate EditionCompilation
2011Dragon Age IIMain game
Dragon Age II: The Exiled PrinceDLC
Dragon Age II: The Black EmporiumDLC
Dragon Age II: LegacyDLC
Dragon Age II: Mark of the AssassinDLC
2014Dragon Age: InquisitionMain game
2015Dragon Age: Inquisition – Jaws of HakkonDLC
Dragon Age: Inquisition – The DescentDLC
Dragon Age: Inquisition – TrespasserDLC
Dragon Age: Inquisition – Game of the Year EditionCompilation

Spin-offs

Dragon Age Legends

Dragon Age Legends is a strategy role-playing game developed by EA for the Facebook Platform. Dragon Age Legends gives players their experience of the Free Marches, the setting of Dragon Age II. Dragon Age Legends gameplay will unlock items within Dragon Age II. The game features character customization and an upgrade system that is not similar to Dragon Age II .[2]

Dragon Age Journeys

Dragon Age Journeys was planned to be a three-chapter Flash game spin-off by EA 2D. The first chapter of the game, The Deep Roads was released for free. Players can unlock achievements in the game, which will unlock unique items in Dragon Age: Origins. The second and third chapters were to be purchase-only, but have been cancelled.[3]

Heroes of Dragon Age

In August 2013, EA announced an upcoming game for mobile devices, Heroes of Dragon Age. The game is free-to-play, and is battle-based, featuring digital 3D figurines of characters from the Dragon Age universe. Rather than introducing new lore, the game will be based on "what if?" scenarios drawn from plotlines in the existing games. The game is expected to be available for iOS and Android.[4]

On October 8, 2013, EA soft-launched Heroes of Dragon Age on Google Play in Canada, with the iOS release following in December of the same year.[5]

Characters

Other media

Aggregate review scores
As of November 11, 2014.
Game Metacritic
Dragon Age: Origins (PC) 91[6]
(PS3) 87[7]
(X360) 86[8]
Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening (PC) 82[9]
(PS3) 80[10]
(X360) 80[11]
Dragon Age II (PC) 82[12]
(PS3) 82[13]
(X360) 79[14]
Dragon Age: Inquisition (PC) 85[15]
(PS4) 89[16]
(XONE) 85[17]

The Dragon Age setting is also used in several other media.

Books

  • Dragon Age: The World of Thedas Volume I was released April 2013. This comprehensive guide offers detailed insight into the lore of the Dragon Age universe, including the geography of Thedas, races, and magic.[18]
  • The Art of Dragon Age Inquisition was released November 2014. It features concept art for the third game in the series.[19]
  • Dragon Age: The World of Thedas Volume II was released May 2015. Expanding upon Volume I, this edition includes insight into the cast of characters across the franchise. It also features The New Cumberland Chant of Light (an edition of the text central to the worlds fictional religion 'The Chantry'), The Seer's Yarn: A Treasury of Tales for Children All Over, and a mini cook book called The Whole Nug Culinary Treasures of Thedas.[20]

Novels

There are currently five novels set in the Dragon Age universe.

Tabletop role-playing game

A tabletop role-playing game, titled Dragon Age, was released on January 25, 2010 by Green Ronin.[27] Green Ronin has stated that the game uses "an all-new game system"[27] using three six-sided dice. The game's initial release is a boxed set including a Player's Guide, Game Master's Guide, map of Ferelden and three dice. An electronic (PDF) version of the game is also available, offered for free to those pre-ordering the box set.

Anime film

An anime film adaptation was announced on June 7, 2010. It was co-produced by BioWare, EA and anime company Funimation Entertainment. It was released in Japanese theaters on February 11, 2012.[28] The film is called Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker with Funimation Entertainment releasing a teaser trailer on their website.[29] Main character Cassandra appeared in Dragon Age II and would later appear in "Dragon Age: Inquisition".

Comics

Dragon Age: Origins, a webcomic by the artist of Penny Arcade, was made available in 2010, and it tells a story about a group of Templars sent on a search & destroy mission for Flemeth, the Witch of the Wilds. The timeline is set before the game Dragon Age: Origins, as Morrigan has not yet been recruited by The Warden.

Another webcomic, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening, was also released in 2010 by Penny Arcade. This short story tells how Nathaniel Howe broke into Vigils Keep prior to his arrest in Awakening right before meeting The Warden.

Dragon Age: The Revelation, written by David Gaider, was published in 2010 on BioWare's website, and features art from Aimo. The story is based on a script from the video game Dragon Age: Origins that did not make the final release. It details a meeting between Morrigan and Alistair after the Grey Wardens learn from Riordan that in order to kill an Archdemon the warden who slays the beast must die. Morrigan seeks out Alistair to ask his advice on the lengths one would go to help a friend in need. The story assumes a female warden as Duncan's last recruit, and ends with Morrigan on her way to Alistair's bedroom to offer The Dark Ritual.

Three graphic novels and a series of comic books have also been released: Dragon Age, a 133-page story written by Orson Scott Card with the help of Aaron Johnson and released by IDW Publishing in 2011, tells the story of a mage becoming romantically involved with a templar. It was originally released in 6 individual comics but was collected and issued in a single graphic novel. The story is set before the events of the video games and takes place in and around the Tower of Magi.

A second series of graphic novels set after the events of Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age II were released beginning in 2012. The novels were The Silent Grove, Those Who Speak, and Until We Sleep. The Silent Grove follows Alistair, Varric and Isabela as they uncover the truth behind Alistair's past. It is written by David Gaider. The second and third graphic novels in the series, Those Who Speak and Until We Sleep, were released as well by Dark Horse Comics[30] in the same plotline, and later re-released in a 'Library Edition' compilation.[31]

The third series of graphic novels, titled Dragon Age: Magekiller, is set before and during the events of Dragon Age: Inquisition. Written by Greg Rucka, the story follows Marius, a mage-hunting mercenary, and Tessa Forsythia, his assistant, as they progress through Thedas to seek for their targets. The story aims at "expanding the world of Dragon Age", and will involve areas that are never shown in the Dragon Age games.[32] The first issue of the comic was released on December 16, 2015.[33]

A semi-sequel to Magekiller from the same team, Dragon Age: Knight Errant, launched in May 2017 and followed elven thief Vaea. A third entry for the series, Dragon Age: Deception, is slated to launch with the first issue in October 2018.

Action figures

A series of four action figures was released by DC Direct. Series one includes action figures of Morrigan, Duncan, Loghain and a Genlock. Each highly detailed figure features game-accurate accessories and can be found in game and hobby shops and various online retailers.

Web series

It was announced on February 15, 2011, that actress Felicia Day, in partnership with BioWare, would be releasing a six-part web series called Dragon Age: Redemption sometime in the summer of 2011. The series is written by Day, who also serves as a co-producer. Filming took place over a dozen days in January 2011 in the L.A. area, with associate producer Peter Winther (Independence Day) as director and John Bartley (Lost) as cinematographer. It was teased as #mysteryproject on Day's Twitter feed for several weeks before the announcement.

The web series premiered on October 11, 2011, the same day as the release of the new Dragon Age II DLC, Mark of the Assassin, which features quests based around Day's character.[34]

References

  1. ↑ Writing the next Dragon Age, Eurogamer
  2. ↑ "Dragon Age Fans Wiki". DragonAgeFans.com. 2011-02-02. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22.
  3. ↑ John Davison. "Browser Based Dragon Age Journeys". Gamepro. Archived from the original on 2009-10-31. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
  4. ↑ Davis, Justin (19 August 2013). "See Heroes of Dragon Age in Action". IGN. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  5. ↑ Tony, Zhang (October 9, 2013). "First Look at Heroes of Dragon Age". AppsGoer. Retrieved October 12, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Dragon Age: Origins Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Dragon Age: Origins Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Dragon Age: Origins Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  12. ↑ "Dragon Age II Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Dragon Age II Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Dragon Age II Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  15. ↑ "Dragon Age: Inquisition Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  16. ↑ "Dragon Age: Inquisition Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Dragon Age: Inquisition Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  18. ↑ Gaider, David (2013). Dragon Age: The World of Thedas Volume 1. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Books. ISBN 978-1616551155.
  19. ↑ Bioware (2014). The Art of Dragon Age Inquisition. Milwaukie, OR: Bioware, Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1616551865.
  20. ↑ Bioware (2015). Dragon Age: The World of Thedas Volume II. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Books. ISBN 978-1616555016.
  21. ↑ "Macmillan: Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne: David Gaider: Books". Us.macmillan.com. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  22. ↑ "Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne". isbndb.com. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
  23. ↑ "BioWare : Dragon Age : *Spoilers* Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne discussion thread". Daforums.bioware.com. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  24. ↑ "The Calling (Dragon Age) (9780765324092): David Gaider: Books". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  25. ↑ "The Calling (Dragon Age)". isbndb.com. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
  26. ↑ "Tor Books Announces New Dragon Age™ novel with BioWare Senior Writer Patrick Weekes". Retrieved March 29, 2013.
  27. 1 2 "Dragon Age RPG: Dark Fantasy Roleplaying". Greenronin.com. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  28. ↑ "Funimation Entertainment Sign Anime Movie Deal For Award Winning Dragon Age Franchise". Anime News Network. 2010-06-07.
  29. ↑ Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker teaser trailer
  30. ↑ "DRAGON AGE: UNTIL WE SLEEP #1".
  31. ↑ "DRAGON AGE: LIBRARY EDITION VOLUME 1 HC".
  32. ↑ Polo, Susana (July 6, 2015). "Dragon Age: Magekiller, a new comic series that parallels Dragon Age: Inquisition". Polygon. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  33. ↑ Juba, Joe (December 16, 2015). "Dragon Age: Magekiller Comic Releases Today". Game Informer. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
  34. ↑ "GT TV Episode - September 16, 2011". Gametrailers.com. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
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