MOVIE NEWS – A prominent ex-BioWare developer says that a TV adaptation of one IP would be a terrible idea, and for the other, he doesn’t think it would make much sense either.

Recently there has been a huge success with series made from games. Castlevania, Cyberpunk 2077, Halo, or more recently Fallout are all popular. David Gaider, former lead writer of Dragon Age, shared his views on this. His opinion is that everyone wants to see Dragon Age in such an adaptation, but he calls it a terrible idea. He’d rather see a David Lynch (“on acid”) style Disco Elysium, or maybe Banishers.

I imagine everyone would expect me to say Dragon Age, but that'd be a terrible idea. I want to see a David Lynch-style (on acid) Disco Elysium. Or maybe Banishers. https://t.co/vljIVHAKKc

— David Gaider (@davidgaider) April 15, 2024

Gaider was the lead writer on the franchise between Dragon Age: Origin and Inquisition, and has worked as a designer on Baldur’s Gate 2, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Anthem, so if anyone has experience in storytelling, he certainly does! In a response, he explained why he thinks this: “Take away the interactive element and you’re left with a pretty standard fantasy story. It would take a pretty deep dive to distill the elements of each that make them unique and interesting. Not impossible, but it would take more than a rote adaptation.”

Yeah, you take away the interactive element and you're left with a pretty stock standard fantasy story. It would take a pretty deep dive to distill the elements of each that make them unique and interesting. Not impossible, but it would take more than a rote adaptation.

— David Gaider (@davidgaider) April 15, 2024

Gaider says that along with Dragon Age and Baldur’s Gate 3, it’s hard for him to imagine Mass Effect on TV without following a formula we’ve seen at least a dozen times before, and believes that this IP could have been in Halo’s place. He would see such an adaptation of Banishers because it has a focused story with many different elements that would all shine in a show format. Disco Elysium, in his opinion, has a story that features a rarely seen “hero”. The sides of his personality can be portrayed as real characters. There are many unique elements to work with, even leaving aside the interactive element.

Absolutely. It’s such a focused story, with so many individual elements which would totally shine in a show format.

— David Gaider (@davidgaider) April 15, 2024

I think there’s a trippy narrative to be explored, honestly, with a “hero” we don’t see that often. Maybe with the sides of his personality as actual characters. There’s lots of unique elements to draw from, even with the interactive element put aside.

— David Gaider (@davidgaider) April 15, 2024

Really, Disco Elysium would be exciting to make into a series…

Source: PCGamer