Dragon Age: Origins - Different Origins, One Path

on

Dragon Age: Origins Cover shows the title "Dragon Age Origins", with a dragon flying across the screen that appears to be made of blood. Within the dragon is a warrior with a shield and sword standing on the battlefield with swords in the ground and a mysterious hooded woman is behind the warrior seeming to cast a spell with one hand

Dragon Age: Origins, a game by Bioware, is a RTWP (Real Time With Pause) RPG set in a medieval setting in the world of Thedas. The game takes place in the region of Ferelden, a backwater by the world's settings, and it allows the player to start in one of 6 Origins and from there become integrated into the greater world.

Each origin is great for world building as each one takes place at the same time with the one that the player chooses being the one having the element that allows the character to survive.

What is also great is that by playing each origin one can get a great perspective of how the world operates. When taking into consideration how it plays into understanding the narrative decisions that are taking place and going in with this knowledge it does enhance certain aspects on repeated playthroughs.

Beyond picking a Origin, one also need to choose an archetype and this further reinforces the world lore as it is restricted to a origin. When the story starts, the starting class loadout is appropriate to the type of Origin selected in relation to the archetype.

Character Creator showcasing a red haired, shoulder length hair plated in the front female mage character

The next step of the journey is to become a Grey Warden,willingly or unwillingly after playing through the character's specific origin, which acts as a tutorial. After which you are taken to Ostagar and instructed to prepare for the Joining - which is a ceremony to formally become a Grey Warden.

Once the ceremony is complete, you are drafted into and expected to participate in the Battle of Ostagar. Needless to say the battle does not go as planned.

After a series of events that leads you away from the front, a decision is made as Grey Wardens to invoke a call to arms to fight back the Darkspawn and attempt to prevent a Blight from spreading. 

A Blight, in universe, is when the usually disorganised mob of darkspawn that live in tunnels are seen organised and unified under the command of a corrupted old god. Once one starts it usually is a sign of great trouble for as long as a Blight lasts everything in its wake becomes either corrupted and joins their ranks or dies. 

Discussion at Ostagar between the senior Greywarden and the player character at the entrance to Ostagar
It has only been through the creation of the Grey Wardens have Blights been fought back and defeated, because of this they were given authoritative rights over combating the it and in times of peace, have been granted authority to recruit those who they deem fit to maintain their ranks. 

When Blights do occur, all nations are then bound by an ancient treaty to support and gather their forces to what amounts to a crusade against it.

To this effect, the player is exposed to the world map with the location of the major factions from which support can be gathered. It is here where the game throws a lot of decisions at the player to shape what type of Ferelden they wish to support as each faction is dealing with their own issues and until it is resolved they cannot offer you their support.

Random combat encounters can occur while traveling over the world map, but not something one can grind out, and this is true throughout the game itself as once an area is cleared it is cleared for good.

Mission Board for the chantry showcasing how smaller quests can be accepted by going to a job board and deciding to fulfill the conditions of the board's request

The choice in decision making can range in simple terms of directly solving the problem and be done with it, have a resolution and move on to the next or it can be an investigation where you interview, discover and complete sub-objectives to reach a conclusion that a player can be happy with.

All the faction quest decisions do culminate in the final moments and is a nice touch to see the effects of your actions play out and seeing it having an effect on world.

During your journeys, you pick up companions and something that is quite impressive is how every combination of party has some form of banter amongst themselves and it is a great insight into what type of personalities they have. Additionally every companion has their own set of alignment leanings with likes and dislikes which can lead to companions leaving your group if they are too dissatisfied with your leadership or in the case that you work on and improve it can make them stronger and open up to you with additional dialogue options. Some companions can even be convinced to change their morals and beliefs when confronted with a particularly difficult position if you have their trust.

Combat Encounter where the player is surrounded in a house as enemies attempt to overwhelm the player's party
There is also romantic pairings and each one has their own specific flavour to them. The stand out being a female warden romancing Alistair. However every romance option does have at least something that can make them unique enough to stand out on their own.

Skills are fairly diverse with each class having something that makes it stand out, magic especially so as it has a selection of specific spells when combined create a new enhanced effect. Every class also can learn up to 2 specialisations from a selection of 4. These class enhancement options are unlocked by either gaining the trust of your companions to teach it or through completing quests in a specific way, but are permanently unlocked once you do so.

All this plays into the game proper where the classes have a defined role in combat and this logic can be applied to enemies to. The general idea being 

  • Mages are dangerous with status effects from strong spell damage and area effects, 
  • Rogues focus avoiding direct combat and hit hard with alpha strike damage and taking advantage of  a distracted or incapacitated foe
  • Warriors being able to take and dish out damage in equal measure while still having an effect on combat flow to allow the other classes to shine.

A camp site is setup a makeshift tent to the right a bed to the bottom middle that is at the foot of the player's character, a large fire burns behind the player character while two companions stand around it. A fire is spotted in the back of the camp on the right
It can be rough to look at, but it makes up for it with some cinematic flair which in combat can trigger on enemies in melee and is more impressive on the larger foes that gets defeated. Once one gets into it one can have a lot of fun with tactics and  trying to exploit any advantage a player can muster in order to defeat your foes.

Music score is appropriately fantasy and swells with that the high points in the game and carries itself throughout the experience. The sound design is well realised and the effects work well in its respective environment and I consider it overall very competent to be able to sell the setting of Ferelden.

Overall, this is one of Bioware's best contained experiences, with a rich world, expansive lore and interesting moral choices wrapped in a fantasy epic trope that ends with a satisfying ending with choice that felt meaningful.

Images Source:

 IGDB Dragon Age Origins

Video Source:

Dragon Age: Origins Story Trailer

Comments

Post a Comment