Dragon Age: Origins Review

Surprisingly few rats!

Let me preface this review: I’m not really a fan of this kind of game. In fact, frequent readers have probably heard/read about my flailing hatred of the RPG genre in general. Having watched Matt and various others walk through mindnumbingly boring landscapes, interact with dull voiced peasants while constantly being ‘surprise attacked’ by various rats/mutant rats while searching for armour made out of a glass, for what seems like days on end, I have nursed extreme prejudice against all games of their ilk. I’ve tried playing them, but I can never get more than a couple of hours past character creation.

The one exception was Knights of the Old Republic, and even then I ended up quitting half way through because it was easier to watch Matt play than slog through leveling up and grinding. All I wanted to know was who the main character was, whether Bastilla was good or not and if you could hook up with Carth. This lead to my standard game playing trick of ‘set it to baby-easy, play through, auto level up’. Weak as piss, right?

That’s probably what kills me. These games are meant to be immersing you in an interactive storyline that compels you to keep playing to find out what happens next. Nothing is more tedious to me than three seconds of storyline followed by twelve hours of collecting the hides from seventeen rats to make a rat blanket to warm a peasant who turns out to be a rat god with acne. Fucking … I don’t know. I just can’t justify putting in time into such a fruitless exercise. How does this help the story? It doesn’t, so I’m not interested. But obviously that doesn’t mean it’s a bad game. I’ve seen Matt play Elder Scrolls: Morrowind for thirteen hours straight, with very little idea of what is going on around him, so it must be engaging on some level. There’s some kind of ‘hook’ that allows days worth of time to be squandered on finding every candle in the map and putting it in your house.*

Finally, with Dragon Age: Origins, I think I’ve found what that hook is.

Kicks like a 500 tonne, scaley, firebreathing mule.

Bioware have created plenty similar RPGs – KotOR, Mass Effect, Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights – to great success (I was actually surprised to find that they’d made the sequel to one of my old favourites, MDK). They’ve got plenty to recommend them in this field and few people truly hate on the games they make. So how can this one game be different to the others, all of which I’ve tried and quit early with alarming consistency over the years?

Well, for one, Dragon Age: Origins gets immediately to the action. You character’s initial situation (along with your sex, race and class) can be selected from one of six separate origins – all beginning in a different area of the map, in differing circumstances, all with alternate cultural approaches to the main plot. Naturally I chose Hot Noble Human Warrior Chick, because I like identifying with my characters.

Your faithful doggy companion! I used him once in the whole game.

Set in a medieval-style country called Ferelden, the DA:O story is one of War. Horrible, evil creatures, called the Darkspawn, have boiled out of the underground byways once lived in by the dwarves and are slowly obliterating the countryside. In Hot Noble Human Warrior Chick mode, your Father and Brother are about to leave for the frontline with their friend Lord Howe. Going with them is Duncan, a member of the elite Grey Warden knights, who shows professional interest in you as a warrior. You find out that the Grey Wardens are legendary warriors with a link to the Darkspawn, both revered and feared. From there, it’s all betrayal, killing of children and the slaughter of your parents before you run away with Duncan to become a Warden.

From there it’s a battle, more betrayal and kingslaying, and then you’re a wanted Warden with a bunch of contracts saying you can call on the three Races (human, elf and dwarf) to fight along side you in the coming Big Nasty Battle ™. Gathering the  army is what takes up most of the game. It’s your standard do X, Y and Z to gain the trust of A, B and C. While the storyline is neither groundbreaking nor simplistic, it manages to marry an engaging emotional content with good acting, infinite options for moral ambiguity and enough frustrating personal calls to have you kicking yourself in the ass for killing some kid. Personally, I try to keep my character good with a hint of wild romantic, in most games I play purely because sometimes the guilt of being evil gets to me. (I am obviously very good at playing the wet blanket character, otherwise known as ‘The Vulcan’.)

"I wonder if I can use this flower to wipe the blood off?"

One of the things Bioware excels at is world building, and in DA:Origins, the codex (those handy scrolls and books people just leave lying around) is phenomenally extensive. They’ve created this world from the underground up and  the codex ends up being a George R R Martin style epic because of the attention to detail, which seems to be very similar to A Song of Ice and Fire incidentally. People who have enjoyed that mammoth epic will get a lot out of this game.

While the game is a standard turn based battle, it doesn’t really do much to simplify or build on the controls of any previous games (the most similar I’ve played being KotOR). It’s still slash-wait-cast-wait-die-wait. You end up spending quite a good deal of time micromanaging every damn character in your party as well, just to make sure they don’t just stand there and wait to die. There are tactical slots available, which made the AI easier to deal with, but I ended up picking my three favourite characters and sticking with them through the majority of the game, just because constantly cycling through became too frustrating. One problem I had was the radial menu. The number of times I lost what I was doing because I accidentally clicked it on and off is embarrassing. But I’m a novice, so those used to these extensive menu shennanigans should have no problem. In fact, those with more skills in this style of gameplay will find the ability to pause during battles to reassign, heal and play around with tactics a great boon.

We could go on and on about who's mother this is, but really, we all know it's yours.

Another irritation I had was the constant inane battle comments. After 3 hours of playing, I went out to see people and found myself saying such witticisms as ‘Would you like a ladder so you can get off my back?’ aloud. As the main character, you manage to say a hell of a lot without actually speaking, but as soon as you get to a battle, you DO. NOT. SHUT. UP.  I could have done without the constant ‘RARR! JUST CALL ME THE REAVER HAHAHAHA’. I’ll call you something love, but it won’t be as nice as reaver. I think this is possibly why I never slept with one of my companions. I bought plenty of hookers, but no-one, not even the bisexual elf assassin wanted anything to do with me because I rabbited on during battle. Or it could be because I was constantly splattered in blood.

Unattractive main characters aside, Dragon Age: Origins gives the gamer a rich, well plotted and engrossing world in which to immerse themselves. While providing enough battles for the easily bored, the epic fantasy storyline plays backdrop to some fairly mature and interesting character interaction. The gameplay provides a solid standard, making it a great way to introduce the n0vices and giving plenty to enjoy for seasoned veterans.

The Verdict:

Pros: Beautiful world, fitting soundtrack and epic proportions, great character interaction and engaging storyline. This is what an RPG should be, right? Also, Tuvok from ST: Voyager voiced one of the elves! And so did Captain Janeway! That’s a stamp of excellence if ever I saw one.

Cons: “Would you like a ladder so you can get off my back?” No bitch, I’d like a mute button so you can get out of my head. Also, not enough actors from ST: Voyager.

Overall: It’s a perfect RPG, as far as I’m concerned, though perhaps only because I managed to stick with the damn thing.  Story, combat and character all come together flawlessly to make Dragon Age: Origins a master work of fantasy.  Hailed by critics and genre-haters alike? Surely this is a full 5 out of 5 kind of game!

* Matt did this. And took photos of it. Bloody hell.