"Now, let us crush something soft and watch its fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?"
Released: November 3rd, 2009
Developer: Bioware
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Genre: RPG
I had not played a Bioware game since Neverwinter Nights. That's seven years of sitting and waiting. My crappy computer couldn't run anything newer and I didn't have an Xbox so I missed out for a while (and yes I know about the Sonic game but it didn't interest me). Dragon Age: Origins came out, and I was really afraid of it. I was 11 the last time I played a Bioware game. So I put off playing it until I finally decided to give it a chance a month ago. My fear was that Bioware itself had changed over the seven years in which I hadn't played anything and that this new title would be so different and odd I wouldn't like it.
Now, I want to travel back in time and smack my doubting self in the face and buy the game on day 1 instead of several months later. Bioware has not lost their touch with RPG's, and this is by far the best RPG of this gen. Do keep in mind in this review, I haven't played Mass Effect so I can't compare the two. I'm putting DAO against other RPG's, such as Oblivion.
At first glance, the story is very bland. You play as somebody of your choice, from some village, and somehow end up with the famed Grey Wardens. The Grey Wardens' job is to help push back the darkspawn and save Fereldan, the land in which DAO takes place. The Blight is a particularly nasty, mass-siege of the darkspawn. Without getting too deep, the Grey Wardens all die except you and one of your companions, and you're off to unite the different people of Fereldan to fight against The Blight.
I purposefully did not say much about the story. It's giving away too much and it should be for you to discover and be shocked by. DAO is like watching an interactive movie. You want to be an elven mage from the Circle of Magi? Alright then. You want to be a dwarven rogue who uses short swords but is technically a ranger? Alright then. Each one of the three races have different points for you to start off with. For example: the elf can either be a City Elf or a Dalish Elf. One lives in a city, the other in a forest, and the two are very different. The quests intertwined between being radically different from your choices, and being generally the same.
With that said, ALL of your choices effect everything (conversation and action wise). A character will remember if you've been a dick or them, or if you've helped them out, or if you're violent or anything. All of these choices build up and cause many many MANY different types of endings. My friend and I both played it and beat it days apart from each other. We made similar choices, but we had a major difference in what we chose to do end-game. My ending was radically different from his. This happened from just a few choices difference. It is not directly good or evil, such as the karma system in games like inFamous. The game is very real in it's characters and their emotions. Each one is so different and unique, with no copy pasta Elder Scrolls style. Sometimes, one will leave you or turn on you if you select a certain option they strongly disagree with. Others are romancable, and you can start a relationship with them. All of the characters are so detailed and real. Some are charming, others will disgust you. The voice acting is remarkable and each and every single NPC have their own unique voice. Even their speech and quirks in how they talk are all different.
Your character, known as The Warden, is a quieter type. They tend to listen more than speak like the others. Of course, you'll still love your own character. You choose their personality, their name, what they are, their class, and physical appearance. There are a ton of options for customizing, not as many as in Saints Row 2, but it's still a nice selection. My only complaint is the lack of longer hair styles but that's ok. Anyway, you have three classes, the warrior, rogue, and mage. Inside each class, you can learn up to two of the four specializations, or none if you choose. One warrior can wield magic, one just smacks thing, one relies on death, and one is semi-magic orientated. Combining these and using different weapons can really mix things up.
Combat-wise, the game is simple. Point, click, watch them get to work. You do not have to pause and give commands then unpause on lower difficulties (casual and normal). If you play it any harder, it's recommended you play in that fashion. As with all of Bioware's game, you have a party. It consists of your main character and 3 others. You get more companions than you get actually hold. This gives you so many choices as to who to use. You always get at least two of each class and they always specialize in something different. The companions not in your party don't fall behind though. They stay and level up gradually so when the time comes and you want to use them, they can be used without having a huge level difference. Switching between character is very easy. When the computer is using them, you can select specific tactics to what they use and when.
The quests are not generic "Go fetch me that bucket because I'm lazy". They get deep and sometimes scary. I was doing part of the main quest, starting to get bored with it...until I noticed little mutilated bodies all around me starting to show up. Then I find some insane woman deeper inside and it got very interesting after that. Having certain members in your party at a time can spice things up as well. Luckily, I had a particular member who was a part of this and it got very interesting. I later found out, if I had selected a different option, I would've had to kill my team mate. There are often times were you can side with one person, or the other. These are VERY hard choices. They greatly effect your game and none are black and white good and evil. It settles down to The Warden's beliefs and if he takes his team member's opinions to heart.
As with most RPG's ever, you can buy and sell items you find. You can also enchant items by putting runes in them for added effects. The items and weapons look cool at first, and just get better and better as the game goes on. It gives you a sense of "Damn, I'm powerful!" at the end. They are sold/found in quests and towns all over. Gifts can be given to your teammates to increase their approval ratings and increase the romance option for some. You'll be mainly visiting the merchant and the enchanter at your party camp (where your other companions stay at). It's pretty much your safe house. While you're traveling to and from place, set events or attacks will happen. They are not annoying or get in the way. They feel very natural. It becomes second nature to be watching the blood trail on the map screen go to the town (you select the town to travel to and don't really play during this time), then the swords appear and it switches you to controlling the combat and you think "Bandits!"
The game gets extremely deep and sucks you in. It isn't through leveling (the cap is 25), it's just through your choices and the characters. The lore and everything about Ferelden and the surrounding countries are so deep. Clicking on certain objects add to your "Codex" which is pretty much your history book in the game. It's fun to just sit and read through the entries sometimes. You'll be making so many different characters just to see how things could've gone, and whether you would've lost a team member here or not. It's generally a good idea to not re-load if you lose a team mate if they leave you, unless you are specifically trying to see something. To lose one forever, they have to leave or you kill them or tell them to fuck off. If they die in combat, they will be revived as long as 1 of your party members is still alive at the end of combat. Speaking of loading, DAO has a smart auto-save system. It auto-saves right before a huge battle or important event. It save it by character, so you don't accidentally erase over characters since you'll be having so many anyway.
The game is pretty much combat, conversation, conversation, combat, combat, conversation. DAO is more character focused than combat and leveling. There is only so much you do and you can't really play anymore once the game is over. You can still play through DLC content but that's it. There is a reason why I avoided saying any of the companions names. I went through the entire game my first time with two of them dead. I had no idea they could join my party, but they were dead and it was too late to recruit them. Both were such small, little hidden details. I strongly suggest you look nothing up on your first run. It makes it that more awesome to play.
The environments are alright. Nothing too impressive normally. It does have it's moments of, "Wow". The music is great, it fits the atmosphere exactly. With all this combined, it really makes DAO an amazing game. It's always nice to play a game that does not rely on grinding for replayability. This is one of those rare games that you'll be sad to beat.
But the best games sometimes have noticeable flaws. For starters, DAO is buggy. There have been times where most of my screen has turned black during a conversation, or I'll have to repeat a conversation twice because it didn't register I already had done that. Or a character will talk and their speech will be heavily lagged or not show up at all. I haven't heard of anything game-breaking though. The bugs are only minor annoyances. Although they can be amusing; one of the mages in my party got stuck in a mid-run animation and was skating around without moving her legs.
You probably figured this, but the lack of races and classes can led to some very similar playing styles. The specializations tried, but really, everybody plays the same with the exception of the mage. But with that said, the game is huge enough with the number of things you can do with those three. The game is more character orientated than combat, so maybe this isn't a bad thing? There is also the "Buy DLC!!!" in the game. I was talking to a guy in my party camp, thinking it was another side quest, but instead, the conversation option was pretty much, "So you want more quests, more locations, and better items? So then buy this *hint hint* *wink wink*" I find that irritating. Don't put that in the game. Advertising day 1 DLC? That's just lame.
However, my copy of DAO came with two free DLC's (limited time thing). One of them, I suppose I can forgive for being day 1 DLC because she was meant to be in the full game but they had to cut her due to time. I gotta say, she's pretty awesome though. She is my favorite companion too. The other one was a suit of armor. I slapped it on one of my warrior's when I could and forgot about it. Nothing too special, or nothing I would pay money for. Except the extra companion, she is worth it.
The rest of the problems are console only. The best version is the PC by far. The console has tiny little issues. For example: there is only room for 6 icons on the quick bar in the corner. This is such a hassle, especially for mages. How can you fit spells up spells, items, and quest items on only 6 slots? It is a real pain. The selecting gets awkward too. Because of the lack of a mouse, the game tries to select things for you. You'll end up spinning your camera around, moving your character, or rapidly hitting the crosspad to select what you want. It really gets annoying when there is a dead body near a chest. You normally are forced to loot the body and take the useless alchemy ingredient you can't use.
The console ports just feel sloppy. It is still epic to play, but has frustrations too. Trying to switch team members can be a mess because you have to scroll down them one at a time, and if one if dying quickly, you better hit that button fast.
Dragon Age: Origins is an amazing title. You will be proud to own this in your collection. It isn't for everyone, as like I said, it isn't as combat focused. It will have periods of long combat which bore, then it will throw an interesting spin on your quest and grab your attention back. Either way, Bioware has not disappointed, and there is an expansion on the way that is being released both digitally and in stores. Thank you!
+ Unique and real characters
+ Addicting by a different nature
+ Your choices matter
+ Smart auto-save system
+ Expansion is being sold as a hard copy and digitally
+ Everyone who plays will play differently and have a unique ending
+ Involved and interesting quests
+/- Limited classes and races
- BUY DLC integrated in-game
- Bugs
- Not enough icon space (console only)
- Awkward selecting (console only)
Dragon Age Origins gets a 4.8 for the PC, and a 4.5 for both the Xbox 360 and the PS3.
"Dragon Age Origins is such a rip of Mass Effect!"
Well ok then. I haven't played Mass Effect so I have no idea what you're talking about. But I'm sure your 360 collection has room for both.
