Dragon Age: Origins comes to us from EA and Bioware, and this is about the point where I would talk about the storyline of the game. Instead of a single protaganist in a generic storyline, Origins allows you to choose from six different origins within the three different races of Humans, Elves, Dwarves. The character classes are also boiled back down to the basic fighter, thief, or mage as in traditional D&D. However, Dwarves cannot be mages, and there's only one origin available for human characters - that of a human noble. While I've heard reference to another human origin that would have involved either commoners or the barbarian Avvar, I rather like this due to how the Noble's backstory factors into the latter plot of the story (more on that later). However, all the origins are interesting and offer a look at the various ways of life among the three races in their various facets.
I began, however, with Caric Cousland, youngest son of the Couslands of Highever who - much like Thor Odinson before him - craves a chance to prove himself as a warrior in the armies of King Cailin. Alas, however, his fate is to remain in Highever tending to things...until the outright betrayal of the insidious Arl Rendon Howe (voiced by Tim Curry!) sees the Couslands slain and forces young Caric to join up with the legendary Grey Wardens in order to fight the Blight that is coming to the land of Ferelden, and the only way to stop it is to slay the Archdemon!
This is something that that Dragon Age II didn't ever really cultivate, a sense of urgency. There's a massive world ending threat, and every action that you took was towards the defeating of that threat and saving not only Ferelden but the whole of Thedas (well, except for the side quests, that's just for the epic loot). Dragon Age II, on the other hand, starts out with...no, actually, the beginning starts out with you fleeing the Blight, so nevermind that. Though it develops further on the whole Mage-Templar dynamic that was started in Origins...which you can only really get invested in all that much if you're playing an apostate mage or Bethany goes to the Circle...
Really, I stand by my previous statement on it. Dragon Age II just feels like a bunch of Dungeons & Dragons modules all wielded together with a very arc over everything that only kind of becomes involved when it wants to. And while that's not bad in some ways - after all, real life is often just random things happening in no particular order and for no particular reason - but that's not what we want in an epic fantasy RPG adventure. Origins understood that, so I'm not really sure what happened in-between games that made them think that was a good idea.
But this isn't a comparison piece between the two. If it were, I'd have to mention how I actually prefer how II does its combat. It's more involving. Unless you're playing a mage, Origins combat is very un-involving. Sure, every character is given special abilities based on various skills in their profession, but unless you're just itching to get into the crazed trick shots and backstabbing of rogues or the "kill things slightly faster" abilities of fighters, there is literally nothing that can't be taken down just by hitting the attack button and waiting, necking health and mana potions as you go.
Mages have a little bit more variety, their abilities coming through in spells that can be access from a handy radial menu that pauses the world around you so you can prepare and unleash your Armageddon spell without fear of a Darkspawn turning your insides into a nice, wholesome mage casserole.
There are also specializations that characters can pick up, two apiece, that basically translate to either stat boosts, new spells for the magically inclined, or (again) a "kill things slightly faster" button. By the end of the game and its DLCs, I ended up having Caric with a Champion/Spirit Warrior build that worked very well. However, the player character is only one-fourth of the battle as we find ourselves engaged in squad combat of the highest caliber! You manage not only the equipment and stats for your player character, but for your NPC team, three of which you can bring along with you into hijinks.
Given that I'd gone with the Human Noble Warrior, I ended up creating a team consisting of Alastair (alongside me, tanking), Leliana (thievery and long-range), and Wynne (healer), and this was the team that ended up carrying me to the end of the game. There are, of course, plenty of other possible combinations, though I found this one to be the best that I worked with through all my playthroughs. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the characters themselves.
While Dragon Age II only had them slightly scratch my interest and only in a few cases, Origins' companions are very well developed and you're given more than enough opportunity to both speak to them (after all, talking is a free action) and learn about their backstories through events that occur within the narrative. Through the dialogue options, quests, and even gifts you can earn friendship points which can open up new dialogue trees, bring in new subplots, and even initiate romances between your characters and your companions (for the record, Caric ended up helping Leliana through her morality issues and bagged him some of that sweet Orlesian lovin'). It's definitely worth the effort to go through most of them, if not all of them. But that also goes for the NPCs as well, in many cases.
Remember my mention of Arl Howe before? Let's just say that the Cousland family was avenged by the end of the game, and deliciously so.
So, yes. A storyline that has a sense of urgency and a well-written set of characters...and hell, that's pretty much all you need, isn't it? I can get past the combat and the lack of variety therein, which is really the only fault I have for it...besides the whole traps thing. Yes, traps. I don't understand why, in a game about wandering across the world trying to save it, you'd have traps. There's really no point in which you can set them up with an efficiency, so why even have them in there? Seriously, it's pointless!
But yes, beyond those two...this game is just good. On it's own, its one of the definitive single-player RPG experiences right up there with the entries in the Elder Scrolls series. I'd recommend it anytime.
...god, I hope Inquisition doesn't further train wreck it...
Dragon Age: Origins is now available from Electronic Arts and Bioware.
For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, follow him Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.
No comments:
Post a Comment