As I mentioned in my post a week ago about the launch of Final Fantasy XIII, I’m completely submerged in the world of Dragon Age Origins. If many of you readers haven’t noticed we here at My Remote Radio are huge Bioware loyalists, and that isn’t about to change anytime soon. Doc Oz is more of the sci-fi expert when it comes to their games (he loves him some Mass Effect) and I play more in along the lines of the fantasy/horror world, but it all started with a little game called Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Cue Wayne’s World flashback…
(Ecsqueeze me? Baking powder?)
It was the summer of 2002, the summer before college, when Doc Oz and I started to really become close friends. I had convinced my parents that a new video card for my then brand new Sony Vaio was a necessity for some college courses. They believed me and paid for it, in reality I was just trying to meet the specs to play KOTOR. Doc Oz and I spent hours in front of my 1 ton, 19″ CRT monitor hardly blinking as we fought our way through several dangerous planets, recruiting Wookies and droids…and eventually warding off the Sith.
Flashback over.
Now Bioware is a household name…okay, household for geeks. The success of KOTOR and the follow up KOTOR 2 really set a nice quality of work that was now to be expected from future RPGs. Then Mass Effect came out and blew us all away. Though, amazing as Mass Effect was, as I previously mentioned, I’m more comfortable in the fantasy/horror world.
That is why, as of my current stats in Dragon Age, I’ve logged over 25 hours…that’s more than double what I logged in the first Mass Effect.
So what is it about the game that makes it so darn good?
I’d say “don’t get me started”, but that would bring and end to this article and you would be left with the image of random celebrities eating sandwiches in your head.
(Nobody wants this image in their head during lunch.)
The main premise of the game is simple, and very common to other games of this genre. There is a horde of darkspawn (aka the baddies) that are threatening the good nature of the world Ferelden. Your character’s task is to align all the different races of Ferelden and pose as a united front, to push the darkspawn back to hell. Along the way you can take side quests and help, or hurt, as many people as you wish.
The one hurdle of this game, is just deciding which race you want to play as. You have the choice of, Elf, Human, or Dwarf. Then each character has 2 different origin stories (both of which earns you achievement points for completing) and many different classes to choose from. All these choices give me anxiety. My first go at this game I chose dwarf…that was a bad decision, so I restarted as an elf…that was a smart decision.
(You have 2 options Dwarf, or no dwarf…answer is always no dwarf.)
I’m sure the whole 25+ hours number is still lingering in your mind, so let me clarify this a little more. This game is gigantic. You have an entire map to work through, on top of pretty steep requirements for achievements, if you play for those. Given a vast game world like this, and an achievement of “step foot in all areas of the game”, I become an in game hoarder. I have to open every chest, walk through every tunnel, and generally kill as many baddies as possible before I’m satisfied. So that’s where a majority of the time logged comes from, oh and that 25+ hours is only with 50% of the entire map of Ferelden explored.
That 25 hours isn’t just mindless sandboxing though. There are so many different quests that someone can take in each town, and there are multiple solutions to almost every single quest. Also, as you speak to more of the natives of the area, you learn more about the lore of Ferelden and really get enveloped in the story. It truly is a masterwork. I’ve found myself watching the full motion videos in awe, not because they are beautiful, but because I’m actually reacting to the story, feeling betrayed when someone betrays my character, feeling glad when quests are successfully completed. I think that I would fit in very well with Felicia Day and her fellow guildies as I admit all this to you now, but that’s what games are supposed to do! They are a medium for escapism, and Dragon Age has it down.
Much like in Mass Effect, you are able to recruit new members to your party, form custom teams, and further your alliance with certain people or fall in love with others (again, all of which unlocks achievements). Also, like in Mass Effect you have your standard ground where you can talk with your team, discuss emotional issues, and further their loyalty to you. In Mass Effect it’s you spaceship, in Dragon Age it’s a simple campground. There are obviously a lot of similarities from Mass Effect to Dragon Age, but I’m not going to list any more off. I promise.
(Ah if only the real one was so easily wooed by you.)
One of the things that I really love about this game is the map system. When you want to travel, you are given a map layout of the entire world of Ferelden. You can check your quests, and decide where to go based on that. It’s a quick way to move about the game, and move back and forth from your campsite if you wanted to change your party for specific quests.
My typical party consists of my character a warrior/rogue, another rogue, and two mages. This way I use myself in the thick of battle hacking and slashing, my second rogue brings up the rear with a bow, one mage is for healing (mostly for conservation of health potions) and my second does more powerful damage on baddies from a distance (i.e. freezing them in place, or stunning them) giving me uninterrupted killing maneuvers.
The battle engine has been well worked where you jump right into battles and are given a series of attributes to gain greater damage/hit. Just as seamlessly as you enter into battles, you enter into cut scenes that keep you interested in the story, and really help you learn about the world that they have molded in front of you. So far the only flaw, and it really isn’t a flaw per se, is the in game graphics. People are sometimes fooled by the commercials that are on display in between tv shows. The commercials show graphic, movie quality battles and smooth actions. While we would all like to see something like this in every game, it just isn’t possible in one this size. However, don’t let a few rough edges spoil this gaming experience for you.
My favorite part of the game has to be the sheer amount of options that you are allowed to make. It sounds silly, but you really can analyze what type of person you are in real life, by the simple choices that you make in this game. You can take the high road, help everyone you can or you can take the low road and play as a total jerk. I always take the high road, I feel bad when I’m a dick, even in a game.
I think that everyone needs to play this game, even if you aren’t an RPG fan. You’ll so easily be pulled into this extremely well crafted world, and you wont even notice it. I look forward to playing this game in the wee hours of Saturday and Sunday morning with my morning coffee now, and the best part is, even when I finally beat the game, I don’t need to worry because, since this world is so vast they are always releasing new content.
So far there has only been on map add-on to download for both Xbox360 and PS3 versions of the game, and there is a new expansion pack releasing today!
So pick up your controller, brew your pot of coffee, and get ready for a gaming experience you are bound to see as one the best yet!
