Dragon Age: my first origin story
Dragon Age: Origins came in the mail yesterday and I eagerly installed the game, downloaded my free extra content and created my first character, a mage named Albedo (surprise!). The game is about what I expected, so far, though there is one added change that I didn't know about and don't care for. My character is silent! I hate silent characters (unless they are mute); hate them with a passion. Conversations happen, but I never feel a part of it because all I do is select what I want to say and someone responds to my wordless voice. Instead, my character just tilts his head, gesticulates and otherwise looks like an idiot who's not really understanding what's going on around him. This goes back to my previous post about this game, where I feel Bioware has taken a step back from Mass Effect. The Mass Effect dialogue system wasn't the greatest, but it made strides in improving just the same complaint I have about this game. My character spoke! There was a vocal connection between them. This, I feel, increases my ire with the already monologue-infested dialogue system. So now all I do is hear people yap yap yap, as if they were performing a soliloquy that I happen to hear.
Otherwise, I'm enjoying the game so far, even though the entire thing feels a bit...underwhelming in a story sense. Playing the mage role, I felt that there weren't any surprises. I immediately figured out what was going on in The Harrowing, the mage test the origin starts with. I imediately knew what was going on with my friend, but went along with it anyway and then, of course, I knew how the whole thing would end and I'd be inducted into the Gray Wardens. It's not very surprising so far and feels very "samey." I hope it gets better. Maybe the mage story isn't as powerful or good as some of the other origin stories. It went by really quickly and didn't really offer me much "meat" other than exposition. And soliloquies. I know some of the stories deal with more life-and-death/heavy themes, so maybe I just picked one that wasn't as strong as the others.
From a gameplay perspective, I do love Dragon Age. What I enjoy about it is the fact that you can play it a couple of different ways, especially on the PC. You can zoom in close to the characters, which makes playing the game more like a third person RPG a la Mass Effect. You can also zoom out the camera, to the point that it plays like a top-down RPG like Baldur's Gate. This flexibility allows for a much more strategic game than Bioware has created in awhile. Don't judge me: I am playing on easy. The only reason I'm doing so is that I want to be able to throw around AoE spells with wild abandon and there's unfortunately no separate control for friendly fire. On the console side of things, Normal is automatically friendly fire off simply because it doesn't allow the same camera control (you can't zoom out, which makes placing non-friendly-hurting spells and effects difficult). If the game's too easy, I will definitely switch the difficulty up a bit to normal. But, I'm telling you, playing as a Mage, I want to throw a fireball, shoot lightning or flood an area with spell effects without hurting my team. I've been playing the game mostly through a third person perspective because it's the camera I'm most comfortable with. I'm sure as the game goes along, I'll probably switch things up and move to the more tactical vantage point when things get more strategic, with the pausing and giving actions, etc.
Right now, it's about what I expected. So far, I don't think the game transcends what's come before, but I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would. I knew I'd like it, but what I feel is a few steps above "like," right now.
Otherwise, I'm enjoying the game so far, even though the entire thing feels a bit...underwhelming in a story sense. Playing the mage role, I felt that there weren't any surprises. I immediately figured out what was going on in The Harrowing, the mage test the origin starts with. I imediately knew what was going on with my friend, but went along with it anyway and then, of course, I knew how the whole thing would end and I'd be inducted into the Gray Wardens. It's not very surprising so far and feels very "samey." I hope it gets better. Maybe the mage story isn't as powerful or good as some of the other origin stories. It went by really quickly and didn't really offer me much "meat" other than exposition. And soliloquies. I know some of the stories deal with more life-and-death/heavy themes, so maybe I just picked one that wasn't as strong as the others.
From a gameplay perspective, I do love Dragon Age. What I enjoy about it is the fact that you can play it a couple of different ways, especially on the PC. You can zoom in close to the characters, which makes playing the game more like a third person RPG a la Mass Effect. You can also zoom out the camera, to the point that it plays like a top-down RPG like Baldur's Gate. This flexibility allows for a much more strategic game than Bioware has created in awhile. Don't judge me: I am playing on easy. The only reason I'm doing so is that I want to be able to throw around AoE spells with wild abandon and there's unfortunately no separate control for friendly fire. On the console side of things, Normal is automatically friendly fire off simply because it doesn't allow the same camera control (you can't zoom out, which makes placing non-friendly-hurting spells and effects difficult). If the game's too easy, I will definitely switch the difficulty up a bit to normal. But, I'm telling you, playing as a Mage, I want to throw a fireball, shoot lightning or flood an area with spell effects without hurting my team. I've been playing the game mostly through a third person perspective because it's the camera I'm most comfortable with. I'm sure as the game goes along, I'll probably switch things up and move to the more tactical vantage point when things get more strategic, with the pausing and giving actions, etc.
Right now, it's about what I expected. So far, I don't think the game transcends what's come before, but I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would. I knew I'd like it, but what I feel is a few steps above "like," right now.