Mass Effect 2/Dragon Age: Origins Interviews, Part Two

The second half of Gamerzine and CVG’s interviews with BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka are now available, though this time there’s very little mention of Dragon Age: Origins.  First, a bit from Gamerzine’s Q&A:

GZ: Do you think the inclusion of celebrity voice actors has added to the reception as well?

RM: Yeah they added a tremendous amount to characterisation, personality and the level of emotional engagement in the game. It has been an honour to work with great actors over the years, all of our games have always had great voice talent. You go back to when we started putting voice in our games we always had really exciting roles, with Mass Effect and Dragon Age being the best yet! The companion characters and the people you meet in the world are the foil to your actions. They are an important part of how we tell story, not the only way but still important.

And then a little something from CVG’s Q&A:

There seem to be a million games releasing in the next few months. If one of our readers only has £45 to spend, why should they get your game over the competition?

Because I think it’s the kind of game that can appeal to a rarely wide audience in a deep way. It’s as much a shooter as it is a role-playing game, it’s got the best of breed features of both genres, it’s a really interesting hybrid and I don’t think it’s every been done before in that way.

Not only that, it’s got a really emotionally engaging narrative, a story that’s very cinematic, elegant and immersive. I think the characters in Mass Effect 2 are some of the most realistic that we’ve ever created and some of the most realistic, credible and emotionally engaging characters that have been built thus far in the industry. They feel like they’ve come to life when you talk to them – you care about them.

I think a game that can actually make you feel something like that… that’s a rare thing. Games that actually provoke emotional reactions are what we strive for as a group ultimately, across Edmonton, Austin, Montreal and Virginia. Our vision is to create, deliver and evolve the most emotionally engaging game experiences in the world – and Mass Effect 2 is an example of that. I think it really achieves that vision.

I don’t really think about competition in the sense that it’s a win/lose proposition. If you make a best of breed entertainment experience – and I think Mass Effect 2 holds up in any category of entertainment released in the last year – that is something that people make time for. They’ll stand in line around the block and wait for it and they’ll come back because they know we’ll never break that line of trust; when they see our brand on a box they know they can trust the quality.