Bioware has done it again, keeping in tune with their reputation as great storytellers and game makers. Dragon Age Origins easily stole hours away from my life from initial purchase till finishing credits. Craving the world of Ferelden, my love for the sorceress Morrigan and the quest, made me steal precious hours away from my busy life in order to push my character along.
Dragon Age is a tale of a Blight (host of demons) being unleashed upon the world of Ferelden and the resurgence of the fabled Grey Wardens to stop their horde. Your adventurer is chosen from the races of human, elf and dwarf then schooled in one of the three disciplines of warrior, mage or rogue. Although the setup sounds like basic Dungeons and Dragons, the complex trees that you can send your hero down combined with the different backgrounds of each race and class makes it a vast web of opportunities for your character. Each class has different archetypes to be learned which separates builds even more – plus the fact that you can combine up to two specialties. My warrior was able to use his conqueror skills to rally the party prior to battle, then once engaged, tapping into his blood rage to go berserk. The heroes quest varies based on alliances, decisions and factions. I am extremely blown away by the differences in the game based on who is playing it.
As is the norm for Bioware, the game is mostly spoken dialogue, leaving the reading only for the moments when you must make a decision. The sexy voice of Claudia Black (Farscape, Stargate SG1) brings the sassy Morrigan to life and the shaky but wise voice of Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway – Star Trek: Voyager) belongs to Flemeth, her mother. The voices help bring the tale to life as you hear men beg for their lives, demons slyly compel you to give up your soul and mighty lords shout down the lowly elves who dare speak.
Within Dragon Age you will find a fair amount of racism as city elves don’t hold jobs higher than maids and servants, dwarves hold a strict caste system and humans scoff at both. I experienced very different treatment on my human noble than I did on my elven rogue. This dynamic content makes the game extremely addicting and the replay value is beyond most any other RPGs that I can recall. Hell KOTOR only made for one more replay after beating it, which was to see the Sith ending. My girlfriend plays an elven mage and I was pretty upset that her being a female and a mage from the Circle of Magi allowed her a bit more tolerance within cities than my elf from the alienage. Needless to say, it seemed like a different game watching her play.
My only gripe about this wonderful game deals with the low polygon count on the PS3 version in comparison to the PC. When I was close to my fellows, chatting, trading etc. you can see a bit of the blurred graphics where on the PC it stayed crisp and detailed. I also found the convenient bra and panties that magically appeared on the women I had sex with to be a bit silly. I did find it liberally advanced in the way this game does not discriminate against sexual preference at all. At one point I had the choice between a sultry dark mage female and a French-accented, elf assassin… who was male. Whoa Bioware, I noticed that I even received a trophy for “conquering” the lady also. My girlfriend will have to unlock the boy conquests for me, not even my crazy mind is that liberal.
If you are looking for an RPG and you are the type who loves role-playing, the way TSR used to do it, then go out and grab Dragon Age Origins. It is by far one of my favorite RPGs of all time, was good enough to become my girlfriend’s distraction of choice (I can’t even get on the PS3 now 
) and the replay is out of this world. With this being so huge, I can only imagine how wonderful The Old Republic will be. Get out there and buy it!
