Still Playing: Dragon Age: Origins

Here's what I said about the fantasy role playing game Dragon Age: Origins during E3 last June:

Sure, it looks great and it's from Bioware (The Old Republic, Mass Effect), but aside from that I just can't tell how it's better than the 17,000 other fantasy hack and slashers released every year.

I've already told you that I was very very wrong. But, more specifically, I was wrong because I missed the part where it's from Bioware, which means enthralling writing, addictive gameplay, and a beautiful world packed with details to discover.

My wife and I have each put in more than 50 hours on the game and we're both still obsessed with it. Here are a few examples of why.



Characters With Character

See this girl?

She's someone who joins you early in the game. But unlike similar characters in other games, she feels like a real person. She pines for her homeland, she has an unshakable faith, and she's a storyteller. You can talk to her at any time, listening to tales of tragic love stories, or hearing about how she sees the influence of the supreme being in the world around her. Sometimes she'll start conversations all on her own.

And she's just one of many such characters, all of whom are created through some of the most passionate voice acting I've ever heard in a video game as well as brilliant character designs. If you look closely, you can even see that her teeth are brown - as they would be for someone living in such a time.





Breaking the Fourth Wall



One of the many possible subplots you may or may not run across in the game is a temptation from a Desire Demon.

She wants you to betray an in-game character - someone you don't even really know - and offers you everything from unique weapons to the unconditional love and loyalty of your companions if you agree. Any of it would make the game a lot easier to play in a very real way. All you have to do is bend your morals just a little.

It's a clever and unique way of testing how greedy you actually are and how far you're willing to go in a video game. Even the character itself is rendered in a sexually provocative way (edited in the image above) that makes you think about the nature of games vs. reality.


Epic Action

Considering everything above, the game can almost surprise you with the fact that it's packed with epic fantasy battles.

You can pause the action, look around the scene, and then tell each companion to fire off a spell, hack away at the boss character, shoot an arrow at a certain enemy, and so on; so it's easy for anyone to fight a dragon. Killing one is something else altogether.

It can lead to one of those definitive, unforgettable moments in a game. The kind that you ramble on about to your friends. "So then I was the last guy left alive, and I was almost dead, and everything was covered with blood, but then I jumped up onto the Ogre's back and stabbed him and he screamed and fell and then I rescued everyone! It was so cool!"

Don't be surprised if you find yourself yelling in celebration after a big victory. While playing an RPG.

It's all made even more thrilling by the fact that you actually care about the characters and want to save them.


A Beautiful World


Many times you'll find yourself stopping in the middle of the action to just stare around in amazement at the game world. From the lava-streaked underground dwarven city to the towering ruins of the heroes' fortress, it's absolutely breathtaking at times.

Even more so when you realize that there are hundreds of stories and adventures to discover everywhere you look.