- By Imran
- on Jan, 4 2010
- in General
-
I have a confession to make – I am blisteringly addicted to Bioware’s latest game, Dragon Age: Origins. I’m not quite sure what it is about it, but there’s just something about the game that I find ultimately really, really entertaining. Is it the setting? The combat system? The characters? The story and story mechanics? Well, it’s a combination of all of the above.
The Setting
The setting in Dragon Age: Origins can best be described as what would happen if Lord of the Rings was written by Frank Miller. It’s a fantasy realm with the typical trappings – elves, mages, rogues, ogres, golems, but it’s really, really dark. The elves aren’t the Lord of the Rings holy elves with polished columns. These elves are the scum of the world, relegated to either slums or remote forest communities. The mages aren’t benevolent wizards, they are religious apostates that are continuously tempted by “blood magic” (magical acts that require the lives of others to perform). The rogues…well they were always seedy but these aren’t the kind hearted rogues that eventually turn to the side of good, these are cold hearted killers. I’d go on – but you get the idea. The game also isn’t afraid to show blood, so much so in fact that there are moments in the game where the post-battle blood spatter creates some really comical images. Much like the one below (please note, I didn’t even take this image, the game took it for me as it considered to be an “important story screenshot”). I’d go into why the character is half naked, but come on, you know it’s so much better without the story.
The Combat System
If you’ve played Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, you’ll feel right at home in Dragon Age. Granted, the combat system originated in Bioware’s Baulder’s Gate games, but I never played them and my closest exposure to them was in fact the evolution of that combat system in SW:KotOR. This is a tried and true, old school western rpg system. It’s turn based, but the game doesn’t pause at every turn – so you have to think on your feet as your stacking moves. On top of that, the game offers your own set of miniature AI programming tools (this is really barebones, so don’t expect a command prompt or anything) that allows you to tell your ai teammates exactly what to do in any given situation e.g. “If player character is surrounded by 2 or more enemies cast sleep spell.” There’s a lot of logic going on with each turn – how much damage are you rated? What’s the chance of a successful hit? What’s the chance of a critical hit? How will poison affect you? – All this happens in the course of a second, and it happens with a really well done animation set and some really nifty sound effects.
The Characters
Alright, the characters are pretty cookie cutter I admit it. There’s the holy sidekick hero, the malevolent witch who is a reluctant ally, the sadistic beast-thing, the smarmy yet funny assassin, and even the innocent warrior priestess who took up the fight to defend her faith. The thing about it is, however, they’ve got enough personality and interaction between them that it’s actually really good. You can just be walking along the world with two random party members and they will actually strike up a random conversation…with each other. I cannot even fathom how long it took Bioware to record all the lines of dialog in this game – I can also not fathom how much of it goes unheard because people just haven’t exposed themselves to it. Also, I love the voice acting – that is all.
The Story/Story Mechanics
While the story itself (so far at least) is pretty typical, the way its told and the dynamic nature of how its told is really surprising to me. There are just so many options in this game as this story progresses, and unlike other games with lots of moral choices, the choices come back to you. I just got through a story mission where my dead father confronted me on actions that I took throughout the course of the game. Woah. On top of that, if you’re playing as a meaner, angrier character you will laugh at just how audacious some of the options are. Is a child possessed by a demon? Forget exorcism, just kill the kid. Do you need to find a key to some door? Forget it, ignore the door, break it down and kill everyone inside. Need to convince someone to fight for you? Put a knife to his throat and threaten him to die.
I’m not even done with Dragon Age Origins, but I wholeheartedly recommend it. Do yourself a favor – set some time aside (we’re talking a day or two), curl up (?) in front of your PC, and get ready to have some fun. The game is worth it, and I really hope Bioware keeps the franchise alive. Between this and the upcoming Mass Effect 2, it’s already been a great year for an RPG fan.
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