DAO - 7 Hours In

Dragon Age: Origins. Yes. It's been a year, and we've finally come back to that. All of my objections from "3 Hours In" have pretty much been washed away as if they never existed.

Update: Battle

Since I last played, I have definitely managed to grasp the battle system. It's actually kind of interesting in some ways in many ways. Most WRPGs I've played are a solo journey. The player is the hero and has no comrades. Most JRPGs I've played are a journey with a party. Most strategy games involve a party, regardless of whether they're Western or Japanese.

Essentially, Dragon Age is a party-based WRPG, with a lot of strategy elements mixed in, which makes for a compelling system. Unlike with many other battle systems, I rarely feel disengaged or bored, as if I'm just clicking a button. For example, there was a party of Darkspawn who were guarding a bridge. My goal was to get to the other side of the bridge, but just hacking my way through was a failure-- I kept dying. So, to get through to my goal, I launched wave attacks. First, I went forward until they noticed me there and killed all who dared come close to my party. The leader of their band was still waiting, though, so we retreated and waited for everyone to rest and heal. Then, my character inched forward and shifted into stealth mode, getting out my bow and arrow and kicking some Darkspawn leader ass. The rest of my party rushed to join me and we pretty much rocked. Then, we retreated again, healed, and slaughtered the rest of the Darkspawn scum. There's strategy involved in how one wins the battles, aided along by the ability to switch between weapon sets with the stroke of a button, different skillsets for even characters that are both warriors/rogues/etc., and the ability to use one of my favorite techniques of coating my blade in poison. (Elder Scrolls or Dragon Age, it doesn't matter. Poison kills.)

Update: Story (and Writing)

The Human Noble origin story was predictable and a little boring because of it. Yeah, I said it. After that, it picked up and became more compelling, with a great deal of depth. Again and again, my character was confronted with the fact that she was a woman and a Grey Warden-- no one was entirely sure what to think of that, since so few women are in the Grey Wardens. They almost made too much of a deal of it, since there are plenty of women in the army-- and bonus points, Bioware, for saying that men and women are represented equally and actually representing them equally. (I'm looking at you, Fable III, who have female bandit uniforms but no female bandits.) But the repeated mentions of my sex actually make sense: the Grey Wardens are a bit of a boys' club. Though I need to walk a thin line between spoilers and actual discussion, I have to say that the culmination of the Joining was disturbing. The person who I had been sort of led to admire let me down with his actions, and people I liked had bad things happen to them. And this is pleasing, because it means there isn't only one-dimension to this story.

The Monsters Are Kickass

Look at these screenshots! Just look at 'em! Click on them to make them larger, so that you get the full depth of the experience. These guys are disgusting. They're scary. When they first appear on the screen, they're rushing in like the armies of Mordor. Countless hordes poured across the screen, heading straight toward Ostagar. I could feel the same fear that I saw reflected in the face of every man and woman in the game who saw what they were up against. I actually thought, "Oh shit, we're dead!" despite knowing that the game is a lot longer than seven hours. The only thing missing from these guys are worms and maggots crawling all over them, but maybe that would be asking too much. I hope not. I enjoyed being terrified of the people, the things, I was up against, enjoyed the fact that everyone I knew in-game was terrified of them. Because I could see why, I could feel it, and that was good writing. The only thing that could be better would be if this was twisted on me, if all of a sudden one of them spoke and had reasons. They don't have to be reasons I agree with, but reasons with their own interior logic. Something that I can understand and comprehend, even be sympathetic to, but which I'm going to have to kill them for anyway. And yes, I am waxing poetic over monsters. This is what Dragon Age brings me to.

Last Screenshot, I Swear

This woman. Morrigan. She is so cool and pwns everyone. I hope desperately (and actually rather suspect, since she has her own Codex entry) that she will reappear. Additionally, although I have no screenshot of him, Alistair is full of snark and I love him. Must go game now. I'll see you in Ferelden.

As a note: this is not an official review, as I am too in love with the game at the moment and have not played long enough yet to give it a decent review. Instead, consider it a play-through commentary, and part of a series of posts.