Bioware have a long history of award winning RPG games such as Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire and the more recent Mass Effect. With an impressive back catalogue like this it is no wonder that all eyes are on Bioware every time they announce or release a new game. Does Dragon Age: Origins stand up to the test?
No matter what was said about the game before it's release I knew it would be a game I'd have no choice but to play as I'm a big fan of Bioware's work and have played everything they've released to date. There was a little noise in the gaming community after they announced certain items included with the retail copy would be available through DLC (downloadable game content) which meant only first time buyers of the game would get these items, but people buying it second hand would not. I wouldn't say it's that outrageous to be honest - they're not essential to the game, but they do add value to it, so it's like they rewarding those who buy it new before June 2010 (when the DLC expires).
In the Collector's Edition of the game it comes with a number of extra bonuses on top: Blood Dragon armour (which is also made available in Mass Effect 2 when it's available), Bergen's Honor (a special helm), the Final Reason (a magical staff), and Grimoire of the Frozen Wastes (a book). On top of this the collector's edition also comes with a bonus DVD that contains a "Making-of" featurette, concept art, wallpaper, and the original game soundtrack. Other DLC can also be obtained by using the character creator (which gives you a ring called The Lucky Stone), and a further three items (Embri's Many Pockets, Amulet of the War Mage, Helm of the Deep) by playing and completing certain achievements in their Flash based game, Dragon Age: Journeys.
Anyone who has ever played a Role-playing game will know what it's like to shape your character as you desire - it's either a monotonous task which takes up valuable game time, or it is a craft to which you can enjoy carefully picking and chose your characters abilities. Whichever of these categories you fall into it will satisfy your needs - you can pick from pre-generated characters and auto-level up when the time comes, or you can sit and chose which attributes and skills to improve.
How the game plays out depends upon which race and class you decide to go for, and each one has it's own origin story and achievement (or trophy if you're on a PS3) so it encourages you to play the game multiple times to get the other achievements, though only as far as the character joining the Grey Wardens.
What matters most about any RPG isn't just the shiny weapons and the illustrious NPCs that you meat along your journeys, but the story that drives your character forwards to his or her ultimate goal whatever it may be. The general outline of the story is that for some reason (depending on your origin story) you have met with a Grey Warden called Duncan who takes you to join the Grey Wardens. After a series of trials and your "joining" you are one of the Wardens, and not too soon as a battle with the Dark Spawn soon ensues and the fate of Ferelden lies in your hands. In most of the origin stories you are a "no one", and through your actions throughout the game you eventually become a well known force for good or evil depending on your actions - but you will save Ferelden from the Blight regardless of your alignment. It is pretty much your run-of-the-mill Bioware story for an RPG and follows pretty much the same pattern as every other game they've made. It's not boring though, as the story does still feel engaging and draws the player in to wanting to find a way to stop the Dark Spawn and seek revenge for Loghain's betrayal and Ostagar. Depending on the choices you make depends on how these final plot points take shape and what the final fate of your party is. This is one of the things I like about the story - it does change based on what actions you take and doesn't deal so much with "light" and "dark". Instead the game understands that life exists in shades of grey and that it is the decisions we make and our opinions that not only shape our story but the story of those around us. This is why each party member has an "approval rating" which can cause them to leave the party or to fight you if they disagree enough.
The voice acting includes Kate Mulgrew (who played Captain Katherine Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager), Simon Templeman (who has voiced many games previously, including Jade Empire and KOTOR), Claudia Black (from Farscape and Stargate SG-1), Tim Curry, Tim Russ, Steve Valentine, and many others adding up to an impressive cast of 144 voice actors. I don't think I've ever seen any other computer game with such a large cast, and it's good to see a few familiar names amongst the list. Tim Curry as always does a great job of lending his voice to our hero's nemesis.
The soundtrack is pretty much your typical fantasy game setting music with a combination of slow, soft and contemplative tracks, and rousing battle themed tracks. The theme tune to the game is unsurprisingly my favourite from the soundtrack and has a very nice vocal piece at the start of the song and an underlying styling that makes me think it has a slight "old English" twist to it that inspires thoughts of Vikings and Saxons and epic struggles between armies of the time. Pieces such as "Ruins of Ostagar" do a good job of setting the mood for the scene to convey the tragedy and the joy of various scenes throughout the game. Other tracks such as "I am the One" by Inon Zur, and "This is War" sung by 30 Seconds to Mars are memorable tracks that despite containing lyrics and being slightly more up tempo are suitable for the style and story in the game. The downside to a lot of the background tracks though is that they feel very generic and could easily be from any fantasy game.
If you've already played this game and found it very enjoyable then you'll probably be quite happy to learn that there are a couple of novels already released which have been written by David Gaider and fill in some of the background about the kingdom and the Grey Wardens. The first of the two novels is called "The Stolen Throne" and covers the story of Prince Maric being in exile from his throne after the death of his mother, and how they go about returning him to the throne. The second book, "The Calling", follows of from the first with King Maric yearning for more adventure. Neither of the books are anything special, but if you want to learn more about the characters then they are worth the read.
The first game I reviewed on this blog was The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and that was my favourite RPG despite it not being a Bioware game. Unfortunately despite how good this game is, I don't think it surpasses what Bethesda achieved with Oblivion as it is a little more rigid in structure and doesn't have as many options available to you. That being said however, Dragon Age: Origins is one of the best RPGs I have played and is like playing a cross between the legendary Baldur's Gate crossed with the style of Knights of the Old Republic. I imagine it won't be too many years before we see a sequel to this game, but we will have Mass Effect 2 to enjoy first when that is released in 2010. If I'd been more flexible with how I can score products on my blog I would have rated it as a 4.8 as it is a great game - instead I've had to stick with 4.5.
Well done Bioware, you've developed a solid game that many RPG and fantasy fans can enjoy playing and replaying for countless hours.
