Dragon Age: Origins (PS3)

Dragon Age Origins is another great RPG from Bioware.

Story

The main story in Dragon Age Origin is about how a medieval world is being threatened by creatures known as'darkspawn'' and at certain times in history,they resurface and swarm the world and this is known as'blight''.

There is an elite group of knights known as'Grey Wardens'' and it's supposed to be their destiny to stop the darkspawn everytime the blight starts.

Every grey warden member is specially choosen,and the character you create is one of the people who is specially choosen to be a grey warden.A person who is selected to be a grey warden can't refuse to serve the grey wardens because of consription.

The main story can be emotional at times and has plot twists.I can't give away any spoilers,but I'll tell you that sometimes you'll be forced to make decisions that affect the story and it won't be clear which is the right/wrong decision to make(sometimes the morality in the game isn't black and white).

Every character has a past to learn about.You can play through the story as a human,city elf,forest elf,dwarf,mage,warrior etc. and it makes the story different everytime.

If you play as a city elf,your wife will be taken away by some high ranking humans from the kingdon of Denerim and she will be used as'entertainment'' for human males,and that scenario made me angry and want to go and save her.

The forest elves are a little bit different to city elves,and like to issolate themselves more and hold onto their traditional values.

If you play as a human,you will be in a family of royals that are attacked.

The dwarfs have their own internal disputes,and the dwarfian culture is very brutal and they like to settle many disputes with violence.

You'll learn about how in the past,the elves were used as slaves by humans and it causes a lot of tension.

Gameplay

You create a character,you can choose their gender,and whether you want them to be a human,city elf,forest elf,mage,noble or common dwarf.You can alter the appearance of your character,and choose whether to be a warrior,rogue or mage.A warrior is suited to using powerful melee attacks and they can withstand more attacks from enemies than a rogue or mage.A rogue can use stealth to their advantage,and they can do a decent amount of damage with their melee attacks(although their melee attacks are a little bit weaker than a warrior's)and rogues can use the strongest,ranged weapons(which is very helpful against some bosses)and rogues are very good at picking locks.Mages can cast powerful spells,but their spells require mana which takes time to restore,and mages cannot withstand anywhere near as much attacks from enemies as a warrior or rogue.Mages can be important to your party when you're battling enemies who are capable of doing powerful ranged attacks because your mage can weaken or kill those enemies,making things much easier for your party.

Like in many other RPGs,you'll be fighting enemies for experience points,levelling up,assigning points to specific abilities,upgrading armor and weapons and travelling from town to town.I found it fun to explore the different towns or to travel through the forest and there's lots of sidequests to be found or you might get ambushed by bandits or enemies of the grey wardern when you travel from town to town or through Denerim,and you can never be quite sure what to expect.The towns/civilisations have their own cultures and internal problems/disputes that you can attempt to fix/exploit.There's also deep caves,castles,brothels.

During battle,you control one character and the AI will control the other party members.Althought I think there's 14 playable characters,your group you choose to travel around with can only have 4 people.

When I use a warrior or rogue,I order them to attack a certain enemy unit,and they'll continue to automicatly attack that enemy unit until that enemy unit is dead or until my character is dead.I can also perform special attacks,which require mana and I can learn more or upgrade these special attacks.

I haven't used a mage very often,but I know there's different types of spells and weaker spells or more powerful spells which can be done in different ways and some of the spells are very powerful and can inflict a lot of damage on an enemy from far away.

What I love about this game,and about some of the other Bioware games is the character interaction.You can insult people,or be nice to them,create romance,talk your way or fight your way out of a bad situation or help solve disputes peacefully or with force.You can start fights with other people or help them.You can even annoy your own party members.

Creating romance is not as simple as it sounds,you will have to show that character that you understand and care about that character's feelings and about their past,and you might need to buy gifts for that character or do specific deeds that impresses that character,or that are important to that character.Also,a specific deed that impresses a particular character,might not impress another character,and if you try to have multiple romantic interests,it can create jealousy.

The people you can recruit to your party can come from such backgrounds as elf,human,dwarf,assassin/rogue,mage etc.There's a good mix of male and female party members.If you play as a human,you can have a pet dog in your party(that can be loving and playful towards you but vicious towards enemies).

You can barter/persuade to get better deals/rewards,you can intimidate enemies so you don't have to fight them.

When you kill an enemy you can steal their armor,gold,weapons,which gives a sense of even more realism.

The game is also very long and has many sidequests to keep you busy.

The characters did begin to grow on me,and they had such deep and detailed pasts,sometimes at times they felt like real people.They had their own personalities,and specific things that they were fond of.

Graphics

For the most part,I think the graphics are good,but there's some rough looking areas,especially with some of the trees.There cutscenes are great though and you'll see realistic skin tone on the characters.There's also some spectacular cinematics,and some of them have big battles.

However,sometimes the syncing for the lips of people when they're talking is a bit off.

Sound

It has lovely music,and suits the medieval theme well.The voice acting has some good emotion at times,while others not so good.Also,I've noticed sometimes people will talk but you won't hear what they're saying.There's beautiful songs in the game that are sung,during romance sequences or by Leliana.

Overall

It's a great RPG

This is a special game. Dragon Age: Origins will be remembered and played for a long time to come. It is a classic role-playing game in the mould of Neverwinter Nights, set in a new and lovingly created fantasy world. After you have created your main hero, the game drops you right in the middle of a world-consuming evil darkspawn invasion. As is to be expected, it is down to you to avert evil from triumphing and to restore peace and prosperity throughout the land. You do this by leading a band of heroes, questing to improve your skills and to solve the pieces of the main plot line. As cheesy as this sounds, it is actually executed and designed to perfection (by the team that designed KOTR, KOTR II, Baldur's Gate and NWN, with stunning environments to explore, good combat mechanics and surprisingly good voice acting. Furthermore, the plot is woven in such an intricate and convincing way, that very soon, you feel as if you trully are involved and committed in the events that are happening. You get to feel attached to the main characters and start caring for them. As can be expected, there are many side-quests and countless items and weapons to find, buy or craft. There is nothing new in Dragon Age, however, the designers have taken a classic recipe, and worked it to perfection. There is plenty of playing time to be had and the addiction level is very high. Finally, a refreshing twist is that the game has quite adult themes and situations, giving it an 18 certificate (in the UK). Highly recomended. My personal rating: 92%