Dragon Age Origins

It finally got here! I've been playing it in my spare time during the week, and finally got to spend some quality time with it over the last few days. Thus far, I have enjoyed it immensely. In the dark recesses of the past, I played a bit of Neverwinter Nights, but it never grabbed me. I also played some Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, which I understand wasn't developed by Bioware. However, I LOVED Mass Effect, and with that title, Bioware has grabbed my attention.

Dragon Age is a very different game from Mass Effect, and not just in setting. The combat still takes place in real time, but you don't directly control every attack your character makes. It is an old fashioned right click on the enemy and your character will continue attacking until they or the enemy perish-type of game. The real strategy comes from the strategic pause, which you can use any time. Right clicking on an enemy will start basic combat, and you are able to script out your hero and parties actions and reactions to a point, but strategic pausing allows you to select specific powers and abilities they use. It seems cumbersome at first, but once you get used to it, this method of controlling the action is very natural and easy to use. I'm playing on the PC, but I imagine that the console versions are very similar to this. I did read that the console doesn't allow you to zoom out to an overhead perspective of the battle, and I can't imagine how hard that must make things. My main character is a rogue, and she needs to get behind foes to do real damage, doing so from the close in perspective is nigh impossible!

As is typical of Bioware, the story is engaging. I read that the team was heavily inspired by George R.R. Martin, and it is readily apparent, but the story is no rip-off. It definitely has hooks. I very much enjoyed the origin story of my human noble, and can only imagine that the other stories are equally interesting. I look forward to trying them on subsequent playthroughs.

I think it is a hallmark of Bioware games to have brilliant character interactions and dialogues. Dragon Age lives up to this expectation well. I enjoy the conversations between characters more than the combat, I think. I miss Mass Effect's interface for the conversations, but perhaps it wasn't a good fit for Medieval times.

I am not terribly far into the game, but I have played several hours and am greatly enjoying the game so far!