Dragon Age: Origins Review Page 3

03 Nov 2009 at 17:21:37 by Tim McDonald
Systems used to review this title: (PC)

And while there are really three classes – warrior, rogue, and mage – it's astonishing how much depth there is. Each class has a variety of trees, with rogues able to focus on, say, dual-weapon combat, or archery, or stealth, but the real depth comes from the specialisations. At level 7 and 14, each character gets a point which can be put into a specialisation, which unlocks a series of new and extremely cool abilities. A mage could become a Spirit Healer, with increased healing abilities including a curative aura, or perhaps a Shapeshifter. A rogue could become an Assassin, or a Bard, focusing on stabby attacks or party-buffing songs. These specialisations are carefully unlocked through the game, either by convincing party members to teach you, by finding trainers throughout the land, or by finding extremely rare training manuals.

But I really don't like referring to characters as “the healer” or “the rogue.” I'd rather give them their names, because to me they're characters far more than they are units to make use of, and I only refrain here because of the risk of spoilers. This is a game in which the characters and their personalities shine, and hearing any details about them can't help but detract from the experience when you find things out for yourself.

Good as the party members are – and oh, there are so many examples I want to give – there are incidental characters who are more than capable of stealing the spotlight. While there are plenty of stern, brave, and heroic characters, particular mention goes to Wade, the artiste blacksmith in Denerim, who can't deal with the business side of things. To the extent that he has, in the past, finished and order several years late. He is brilliant. You never have to go into Wade's Emporium, but he's an extremely pleasant surprise for anyone who does venture that way when exploring the capital.

It's worth noting that dungeons can take a very, very long time to complete. At first, this was annoying – these days I'm used to smaller dungeons that serve as snippets of combat in between plot. When you realise that each dungeon generally has a very clever theme or mechanic of its own and resemble the sort of single adventures you might find in a D&D campaign, or the best and coolest moments of almost any other RPG, the light begins to dawn. When you realise that inspiration has been drawn from everything from the obvious (Lord of the Rings) to the more unusual (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Poltergeist), it becomes very, very clear that this is something special.

Dragon Age: Origins is a game about love and hatred, betrayal and redemption, greed and necessity. It's a game that is tailored to your personal experience, and right the way through to the ending that explains the impact your actions had on each region in the game, it never stops reminding you that your decisions matter, and that they have consequences for the entire country. In return for the game making me feel like I matter, I'd like to tell you that this game very much matters. Despite the utterly pointless marketing campaign focusing on the sex (a very minor part) and the violence (something you won't see much of from the strategic battle view), this is at its heart a classic, hardcore RPG with BioWare's flair for characters and storytelling. Dragon Age: Origins is utterly, utterly brilliant, and the best RPG I've seen in a long time. Go and buy it.

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