Creating a character, becoming a hero and saving the world is nothing rare for the games released by BioWare. After all, this is the company that introduced classic role-playing game experiences to gamers everywhere with titles including Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect. But this time, BioWare has give the players a new taste of having to choose different races of characters with unique background. The result is that Dragon Age dwarfs other role-playing games in size and scale, and weaves in mature themes amidst a backdrop of chaos and destruction.
Player can add up to 3 partners in a group.
The character creation reveals more of Dragon Age's depth and flexibility. You have three separate races (human, dwarf and elf) and three base classes (warrior, rogue and mage) to choose from. Additionally, your hero will have general skills, class-specific talents and specializations, which you can learn from manuals or other characters willing to teach you their arts. By the end of the game, your hero will feel like a true legendary Grey Warden with a full complement of abilities to destroy the Darkspawn.
Cinematic Trailer
In the game you will play as a recruit in an ancient order, The Grey Wardens. Elves, dwarves and humans, Grey Wardens dedicate their lives to hunting down Darkspawn wherever they go. But before that, you can study your past as the game give you hints about the background of your player. The plot gives your character some lines or dialog based on your character background and past.
I will crush you, weaklings!
The Plot
The plot of Dragon Age is extremely rich with details that unfold over dozens of hours of play. All of this is documented in your in-game codex, which tracks conversations, plot points and other elements of your journey. The general backstory revolves around the Darkspawn threat to the land of Ferelden. Darkspawn are a race of creatures born from magic users who attempted to become gods, but were cursed for their efforts. Led by the powerful Arch-demon, the beasts emerge from underground lairs every few hundred years in a swarming plague known as the Blight.
The Darkspawn.
This is the fractured world your hero or heroine inhabits, a world which can evoke Tolkien-esque imagery. Ferelden has an impressively vast history (as your codex will indicate to you through your adventure). The biggest issue, that arises with the storyline of Dragon Age is that plot elements suffer from repetitiveness. Even though different cities house unique quest events, they all incorporate similar motivating factors – assassination, betrayal or murder. Even though the results of your actions vary, it can become a bit stale.
Choose your origin carefully, because this decision affects how the world treats and views you. Since each background starts in a different location, the origin stories play out in distinctive ways. As you travel on your journey, your character may return to the lands they hailed from, and people you knew will respond differently to you.
Choose your character wisely.
On top of that, your decisions influence the relationships you have with your party members, improving or damaging their opinion of you significantly. On the other hand, make decisions that they don't agree with or completely upset them, and they could choose to leave your group entirely.
The Combat
Of course, Dragon Age isn't just about exploration and relationships. There's combat as well. You can engage the enemy in one of three ways: fight in real time, pause the action and tactically determine your next attack, or set up fighting preferences for your characters. Of the three, micromanaging the battle with pauses after each command is the optimal way of engaging in combat. Trying to command in real time when you're frequently outnumbered is complete lunacy regardless of how fast you use quick commands on the keyboard.
Inevitably, you'll go up against a creature or a "boss" enemy that will use tactics which require a more strategic approach instead of brute force. Selecting battle preferences for your characters works for a while and can be useful, but every now and then the character will disregard your commands and utilize basic actions instead of skills or abilities.
The presentation in Dragon Age is sharp, but it isn't nearly as impressive as other games. In fact, some of the character models and graphics look like they are a few years old, so they don't pack the same visual punch you'd expect from such a high profile game. On a positive note, the ability to manipulate the camera viewpoints is useful and well executed.
Closing
Incredibly deep and expansive, Dragon Age: Origins is one of those titles that can easily swallow up dozens of hours of play and keep you coming back for more. The fact that BioWare chose to include downloadable content, including a new character and side quest, on launch day proves that they have an extensive plan for supporting the game. Couple that with the fact that each character can be developed in radically different ways, and you have an adventure that earns its own place among BioWare's expansive RPG collection. This is the kind of adventure that fantasy RPG fans have been hoping that BioWare would deliver – a game with a ton of re-playability and an incredibly vivid world that is the start of an impressive franchise.
Presentation : 9.0
Graphics : 8.5
Sound : 9.0
Gameplay : 9.0
Appeal : 9.0
Overall Score: 8.9
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