Now when comments like “The spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate” are thrown around in the land of Role Playing Games someone is either taking the piss or has some mighty big Cojones and better be willing to back themselves. But when said comment comes from a little team that call themselves Bioware, the hype machine kicks in and D&D geeks worldwide start clutching their D10 dice in anticipation.

Not having any dice, I made do with equipping my Rose Tinted Glasses of RPG Fondness and entered the realm of Ferelden to see if things would live up to my own high expectation.

Even before the game proper had started I was pleased with the way Bioware was heading, a Character Creator that harked back to the good old days. Admittedly it looked a lot better but the real joy was in the detail. Attributes, stats, skills, spells, talents and more! All the things to make a good Avatar to champion your cause. And to make it even better, each race/class has its own origin which is played out in its own unique intro/tutorial level. Yet another reason for multiple plays, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Basic premise, without killing too much of the rich story, has you recruited into the Grey Wardens, an elite group of people tasked with repelling the Darkspawn whose Blight has again returned to Ferelden. Be you Warrior, Mage or Rogue, you have shown you have what it takes so get to it. Save the land from the evil that invades.

Now this is a game with a fantastic story and rich history bound within its characters which translates to quite a dialogue heavy game. This is made much easier to deal with with some fantastic voice acting and wonderful scripting. The interaction and comments between your companions alone are worth the price of admission. Ever wondered what a member of the local Clergy wears under her robes? Well so does a certain drunken dwarf. Your choices throughout your quest will all have a sway on what these companions think of you and your ability to lead them. Go too far and they may even turn on you.

Ferelden is full of other groups spanning from your local church group through to your secret assassins society, and of course traders. Like any good RPG there is plenty of loot to be had and a nice touch is to find that a wandering trader and his adopted son tag along with your group and give you the ability to trade every time you return to you camp.

With such a large party at camp and so many wondrous items to be had throughout the land of Ferelden there is a fair bit of micro management to ensure each of your team has the best armour, weapons and accessories to aid you in your tasks. To help you make sure these companions stay alive and use weapons and other abilities to their fullest each character has Tactic Slots you can set up. Through these slots you can have party members carry out certain tasks when placed under certain conditions. Whether  its healing someone with low health or summoning a bear when out numbered, this can get quite overwhelming so there are some presets like Defender, Archer, and Healer for those who want to use them.

One point of difference from many other RPGs is the fact that only a Rogue can pick locks. You can’t even give your Warrior or Mage a few skill points in Open Lock so until you have a rogue in your party, all those locked chests will just sit there and taunt you. Annoying at first, this forces you to select carefully which three party members will accompany you each time you venture away from your camp.

Combat controls are all accessed via a multi-layered radial menu, with the push (or hold) of the left trigger the game pauses and you can get to all your potions and spells/talents and plan your next move. Fans of Mass Effect will be right at home with this radial system. You also have six quick slots assigned to the face buttons ‘X’, ‘Y’, and ‘B’, by holding the right trigger you access the back three. These slots are ideal for sustained talents which are only restricted by the amount of stamina each character has.

Attacking an enemy is as simple as pushing ‘A’ and letting your team do the work while you assign spells and talents to each party member. Moving companions to more strategic locations is also advantageous, your rogue will never get that backstab from a frontal attack now will they.

Now Dragon Age: Origins wasn’t without its controversy when released, the big debate was over the graphics. According to many the Xbox 360 version is down right ugly, and while the PS3 was better looking, it had frame rate issues. All the while the PC fan boys crowing how perfect their version was. Firstly, as long as it doesn’t make your eyes bleed, graphics shouldn’t be at the top of the list for RPGs. There is much more to them than looks, and when a game is as deep and well constructed as Dragon Age: Origins is the low quality textures are easily overlooked. And secondly, I never once thought the graphics were bad, ok, so its no Gears of War but did Gears give you 70 hours of single player goodness for one play through? No. Apples and oranges.

I purchased the Collectors Edition so missed out on the next controversy as the CE included a lot of DLC. But apparently you would meet a NPC in the game who would give you a quest but you had to purchase the DLC to do the quest. Nasty! Now I blame EA’s influence here, surely Bioware wouldn’t stoop so low? Anyway I think the DLC is worth getting regardless of marketing method. And with more due out in the near future, it just adds to and already huge game.

Closing Comments.

Dragon Age: Origins is an epic tale solidly rooted in the old school Dungeon & Dragons style, lots of Long Sword +3 type of thing. Even the odd dragon is found lurking in a dungeon. And after one play through racking up 70+ hours and at least another two play through to come, you won’t get more bang for you buck. Some people may not have the patience to get through this but I’ll tell you now, do it. It is such a rewarding game with so many thought provoking choices that you will want to play again just to see what happens if you make a different choice.

Funny, challenging, entertaining and just a great story. What else do you want from your games? I whole heartedly recommend Dragon Age: Origins to anyone who calls themselves a gamer. Lay down your weapons in Modern Warfare 2 and pick up your axes and swords, the Grey Wardens need you!

Released on 6/11/2009.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 at 8:51 am and is filed under Feature, Games, Reviews, Xbox 360. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.