Dragon Age - Preview @ Ars Technica

Another GDC preview of Dragon Age is up at Ars Technica:

Dialogue is a key factor in how one interacts with the various NPCs in the game. As opposed to the chatter wheel that we experienced in Mass Effect, Dragon Age will feature dialogue trees like those in KOTOR and Jade Empire, with full sentences written out, and no actual spoken parts from the game's protagonist.

What was really on display during the demo was the game's robust combat system, particularly the control scheme known as the Tactics System. This system is much deeper than any that have appeared in Bioware's previous games, as it allows players an incredibly flexible amount of control over how their party fights. If you want, you can micromanage your party members' behavior or simply control your own character while Tactics handles the rest of the group.