’ve got a history, one that comes complete with beards, Dungeons & Dragons and cheap cider. I’ve spent the better part of a decade pretending those years didn’t happen, but when the lights go down and I sit in the dull glow of my TV, I’m rather partial to skulking through a dungeon with my +4 Dagger of Stabbing. This I can confidently say as I realised I’d clocked up over 30 hours on Dragon Age: Origins without realising I’d let those hours slip away from me.
This is an action RPG, of that there is no doubt. From the multiple character creation screens that allow you to pick race, class, skills and stats right through to the party management, regular levelling and the required scavenging of every crate and bookshelf you pass, there is nothing here that pretends to be anything else. Unlike Sacred 2, which I played significantly on both PS3 and 360, Dragon Age: Origins manages to drop the core mechanics into a massive game world without the detail and effort becoming threadbare.
The land of Ferelden is torn asunder by strife, with renegade generals working to further their own aims while committing atrocities across the country. As a member of the Grey Wardens, an honourable collection of good knights, you must travel the world to garner support from the various nations – elves, dwarves, and the magic circle – before pressing on with your campaign to remove the despots from the equation.
Cue masses of running around killing things by the thousands, bartering with shopkeepers in every major town, selecting which party members to take out into any part of the map, and so on. But coming from Bioware, you should expect this well developed world to have an equally well developed history and depth, and you’d be right.
Conversations with NPCs are similar to the developer’s earlier title, Mass Effect, being deep and filled with multiple plot threads, which unravel based on the NPC’s perception of you as a person. The same thing rings true in Origins, with your attitude and course you chart through discussions having a big effect on any potential outcomes. A quick glance through the Achievements also shows that most main plot points have two possible endings, encouraging multiple play throughs. Considering the length of time it takes to play through the campaign I don’t see the appeal of doing it all again (up to seven times) to scrape the last of the Gamerscore points from it, although if you allow yourself to become absorbed in the world then I guess it’s possible.
Another problem I see with the replayability is actually a side effect from one of the better decisions made, and that’s allowing the player to control any of the four-man party at any time. Players that created a rogue character at the start but tire of sneaking all the time can just take control of one of the other party members, allowing them to experience the mage’s role and the massive depth in abilities they have, and so forth. On a first playthrough it’s certainly fun to flick between the various classes, but I think it probably hampered any growing desire I had to get back and start it all again.
Comparisons to Oblivion also appear, because it’s carved from the same piece of stone and because it looks like Oblivion, and that’s not a good thing. When you first start the game it stands out as an issue, when the main characters look like they have wooden teeth (although I realise that’s it’s probably somewhat accurate having people that lived in a medieval timeline had grotty teeth). The problems extend into the environment, with objects drawn in the distance being 2D and lacking any sort of detail. Once that hurdle has been cleared, more appreciation can be given to the character movement and detail – little things like the shininess of the armour and the way the eyes of NPCs move while in conversation are some of the best we’ve seen.
Another thing which we have to give credit to – partly because it’s where many of these console RPG experiences fail – is the party and inventory management. While it’s all very well and good having multiple spell trees and powers, multiple skill paths, and more potions and weapons you could shake a beard at, they need to be interwoven with a functional method of using them. Quick buttons (three, and an alternate three with a press of a trigger) make accessing things like health potions and often-used character skills a breeze, while a wheel system, instigated with the left trigger and a simple thing to navigate, means that, unusually, everything you collect or learn has the potential to be used frequently.
Combat itself is on the simplistic side for the most part, with one button tap enough to set your character hacking an enemy to pieces until they’re finished. It’s almost too simplistic – the same methods in Mass Effect still required the player to engage in third person shooting which at least felt like the player was doing something – but by jazzing up the approach by using skills and items rapidly then it begins to feel a little like you’re in control.
While the tale you’re unfolding is certainly a little hackneyed, the addition of a little history does wonders in making it palatable, and the options with regard the dialogue trees, and the very obvious decision-making moments through the game, makes this something unique. Although there may be other games in this genre on the shelf, I don’t think any of them come close to doing what Dragon Age: Origins does. There are times when you really wish you had a mouse and keyboard but all in all, this is about as functional as it can get.
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