The Player: Dragon Age: Origins

I ended up “buying” this one. Well, I used some Game Stop store credit to pick it up. I hate doing that but what can you do? Sometimes you have to live like the other half and all that.

I’m a fantasy RPG fan from way back. Like, pencils, paper and polyhedral dice way back. Yes, I’m a D&D geek and I make no apologies. Loving the shit out of that kind of stuff and talking and thinking incessantly about it has led to this point. “What point is that?” you ask? Getting paid to talk and think and write about that kind of stuff… FOR A LIVING. So, suck it.

So, yeah, Dragon Age: Origins – I picked it up. Considering the enormity of this sort of game (I’ve heard this thing runs close to 70-80 hours), you’ll probably get a few of these entries detailing my crazy (fake) adventures and whatnot.

To start, BioWare is all about RPGs. They’ve been doing expansive video game RPGs for years. They continually push the envelope with these things. It’s edge of the seat type stuff, yeah? RPG gold that has you obsessed after only an hour of play. If you compiled a list of best all time RPGs, I’m thinking they’d score a few in there. Maybe even the top one. I know they make my favorite: Mass Effect. Sure, that’s not a fantasy one but still, it’s BioWare at their RPG-loving best.

I decided to go with the standard: male, human, fighter. The vanilla of fantasy characters. I’m also a noble, but that was the only choice available. I’ve played about two hours and things are already hardcore addictive. The whole “origins” thing in the title is that the first part of the game sets up an origin for your character – and they have different ones depending on your race and social standing. I guess it really amps up the replayability. Without getting spoilery, my origin had some sex, some sweetness and lots of tragedy. I’m not even sure I’m finished my origin yet. Right now I’m hanging out with the King’s army and trying to complete a special task that will help me join this special group of warriors called the Grey Wardens. Their job is to fight all the bad shit in the world. Sounds awesome, right?

I don’t think I’ve even scratched the surface yet but this weekend I’m pretty sure I will. I think I’m just on the surface. Or maybe above it in a sea plane or whatever. There’s still a shit ton of political intrigue, supernatural terror and crazy fantasy action to come.