Bioware first introduced Dragon Age: Origins as a spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate 2. I was equal parts excited and apprehensive about the prospect – excited because this is Bioware. They have some of the best role playing games in their lineup, including Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect, Knights of the Old Republic and the legendary Baldur’s Gate 2. Apprehensive because they weren’t using the Dungeons & Dragons licence. How can you have a fantasy-based traditional RPG touted as a spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate without D&D? Also, how would the controls feel on the console? Read on to find out why my excitement should’ve been higher and how my fears were wiped out.
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The first thing you notice about Dragon Age is blood. There’s blood everywhere – from the loading screen to the splatter on the characters to a new school of magic. That sets the tone for the rest of the game. This is a serious game – there are no venerated elves and dwarves don’t go “hi ho” in the caverns. Templars are not without fault, and your companions don’t follow you blindly because they believe in the greater good. There are politics, there is personal agenda, and there is pride and ambition and hubris. All this comes through in a well executed story backed up by an outstanding script and great voice acting. The land of Ferelden is under threat by an evil force, and an old order is out to stop it. The player character is recruited as a member of the Grey Wardens and the story plays out from there. The setting is generic but the execution is not.
You start off by playing one of six Origin stories depending on your selection of race (Human, Elf, or Dwarf) and class (Warrior, Mage, or Rogue). Each of the stories is different and takes place in a different part of the world with its own back story, characters and quests. And as you progress through the game, you realise that your Origin is tied in with the game. At no point did I feel that the conversation was generic to any character. I was referred to as elf or a mage, and characters from my origin story remembered the actions that I had taken earlier. This is no mean feat and Bioware has executed it well. This helps in furthering the illusion that Ferelden is a real living world with its own problems – villagers spoke to an Elf rather than a Grey Warden, and a deserted dwarf doesn’t care that the surface is being overrun with Darkspawn. After all, he thinks of it as a respite from his fight.
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This is a far cry from the usual storyline where the whole world revolves around you and everyone knows that you’re either a friend or an enemy. Here people may or may not care for your mission – usually they don’t unless they get something out of it. Over the course of the story, you will visit various kingdoms to enlist their help and learn more about a world where you are only a pawn trying to advance in the ranks. You can play the mediator, the kingmaker, the destructive force, the lover, and a host of other roles.
Along the journey, you will pick up a great set of companions. There’s Alistair the disillusioned Templar, Morrigan the disapproving Mage, Zevran the uncomfortably frank Assassin, and others who are equally entertaining. Each has their agenda, their own quirks, their own likes and dislikes, and great voice acting. The script and voice acting will take you by surprise because the game lacks in the pretty pixels department. Think of games with great script like Planescape, Baldur’s Gate 2 and you can put this game in that league. Couple this with excellent voice acting and it all comes to life. Managing your companions is no easy task since they are at odds with each other, and with you. There’s no good or evil slider to guide you this time – you will have to wing it and do what you think suits your character.
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This brings me to the conversation aspects of the game. I have already mentioned that the script is brilliant – but it ties in with the gameplay as well. I lament that in recent times RPGs have been very action-oriented and there are rarely options to go the non-violent smooth-talking way. Dragon Age doesn’t disappoint in this area. Bioware has thought of nearly all options that a conversation may take and you can take any branch – that includes tying in with the Origin storyline. It’s possible to persuade, lie, and intimidate your way through many situations. I love games which offer so many choices – this is what role-playing games should be. All quests do not need to be ‘fetch’ or ‘kill’. There are numerous options to explore in conversation trees and you will usually find a couple of choices for the non-violent way. I love a game where you can double cross and philander, causing people to react accordingly.
Next page: Controls and graphics
I need to mention the endgame separately. Yes, it’s that brilliant. Without giving too many spoilers away, you will be satisfied that the game played out as per the choices you’ve made. You will make many choices and will cajole and manipulate people for your ultimate aim. All these actions lead up to a final battle which is unlike anything you’ve seen in an RPG. There are games from the RPG and adventure genre where the final moments have been less than sublime or satisfying because of a weak boss (Saren anyone?) or a hurried end or a combination of both. Dragon Age is a game which picks up on the tempo gradually and finishes with a resounding clash.
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The controls on the console version are an interesting port of an RPG. Traditional RPGs have been hard to port onto consoles because there are so many spells and abilities and multiple party members to control, and while there have been some interesting concepts in the past, Bioware has come up with a simple and easy interface to play on the consoles. The LT/L2 button brings up a contextual radial menu for the controlled character which shows all actions, inventory, and target selection. The RB-LB/R1-L1 buttons control character selection on the fly. Three face buttons have abilities mapped to them, and an additional three abilities can be assigned by using the RT/R2 button. The direction pad allows quick selection between enemies.
It does not take time to get used to this gameplay mechanic – the game pauses automatically when the menu comes up. This is a far cry from the point and click control of the PC version, but it still makes the game highly accessible. The absence of an isometric view in the console versions makes micromanagement tough, and you will instead rely more on real time tactics. You can apply tactics to your party members to help you through the large battles. This is similar to the gambit mechanism from Final Fantasy XII. Tactics are great and offer a great deal of customisation and are invaluable if you want to play the game on anything higher than Easy. This is because the game is not a cakewalk – it will make you cry in places and can get frustrating because of some crazy difficulty spikes. A peaceful walk through the dungeons becomes a nightmare at the end because of a tough group of fanatics.
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The spells, abilities and skills available will seem familiar to anyone who has played RPGs. Each class has multiple trees of abilities it can specialise in, or you can try to be a jack of all trades, although this is not recommended. There is a good mix of direct damage, ranged, area of effect and healing abilities for each character and with judicious party composition and skill point spending, your party will soon become a death dealing army. Each character can also get class specific specialisations, which offer specific bonuses and abilities. A bonus would have been statistics on damage for the spells but suffice to know that higher levels will deal higher damage. The journal is a useful tool with a ton of information – each action, note and enemy met in the game is explained in detail with accompanying lore. The codex fill in the backstory of Ferelden and its inhabitants and the amount of information available will fill up a small book.
The art style in the game is reminiscent of Neverwinter Nights 2 – and unfortunately, the graphics seem to be from that age as well. The game world has been designed well, especially the interiors, and a trip through the dwarven kingdom of Orzammar or a deserted Elvish ruin is breathtaking. The endgame setting is suitably grand. After all, this is the culmination of your story. However, exteriors are bland and often without scenery. Character models and armour are well detailed and effects on the characters are visible. The spell effects are excellent and some of the high level spells look devastating.
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The PC version looks far better than the console versions, benefiting from the higher resolution textures. Amongst the consoles, the game does have a sharper resolution on the PS3. but the Xbox 360 version makes up with better framerates. Even in the heat of battle with 20 characters on screen and spells flying about willy nilly, the framerate did not drop once on the 360. The music and sound effects complement the game perfectly – it doesn’t jar with gameplay and sets the mood of the situation. The Collector’s Edition of the game comes with the entire soundtrack on the bonus disc and you will want to listen to it again and again.
One single playthrough of the game will take anything from 50 to 80 hours depending on your appetite for sidequests and exploration. The sidequests contain the usual mix of fetch and rescue missions given by various guilds and characters throughout the game. Some of them can even be triggered by exploration and are worth completing for the loot available. The replayability of Dragon Age: Origins is amazing and you will want to play through at least the different origin stories for a new twist to the age old induction level in RPGs. RPG lovers will play through the game multiple times because of the large number of paths available, and even new RPG players will want to give the Mage a whirl after they are comfortable with the Warrior class.
Next page: Console vs PC comparison and IVG Verdict
PC version review by Utkarsh W
As far as story, content and presentation goes, Dragon Age: Origins is pretty much the same game on the PC. However, there are small differences that. when looked at as a whole, make the PC version a completely different experience, which is in many ways the best way to play the game. Probably the biggest and most welcome difference it has in comparison to the console versions is the option to use an isometric birds-eye camera view in addition to the behind-the-back third-person view from the console version. When in the isometric view, the game plays like any other standard top down RPG in the vein of Baldur’s Gate or Neverwinter Nights. You can zoom in and out or even pan the camera around. This way, you get a more strategic view of the battlefield.
The PC version features a proper pause function which let’s you pause the action at any time and give individual commands to party members, which is a lot more flexible than the power wheel from the console version. Once again, if you’re familiar with games like BG2 and NWN, you’ll know how micromanaging your party during combat can not only be a lifesaver, but also make battles far more interesting and strategic.
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And trust me, you’ll need use the pause function quite a lot on the PC since the overall difficulty level is certainly higher than the console version. Some fights, which took me a few minutes on the Xbox 360 version took more than 15-20 minutes to get past on the PC. The Tactics option, which feels like an additional feature on the console version, which you may end up using only when facing tough battles, is actually a must here if you’re playing on anything above the ‘Easy’ difficulty setting. However, the user interface coupled with the isometric view and the pause function makes most of the challenging fights manageable and thrilling.
Contrary to the 6 quick skills that are available to you on the console version (via the face buttons), you’ll get a standard RPG skill bar at the bottom of the screen on PC. The first 10 skills/items are automatically mapped to the number keys but you can add more to the skill bar and activate them by clicking on them manually. At any given time you will feel like you’re in complete control of your party and their actions.
The user interface is also far more streamlined and looks a lot better on the PC. The journal and inventory screens are easier to navigate and have better colours, thus making them more legible. This is definitely a plus considering the amount of optional text the game gives you to read. Much like any other PC RPG, you can jump directly to any of the secondary screens from the game screen using hotkeys unlike the console version where you end up spending time sifting through screens to get to what you need after hitting the Back/Select button.
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The in-game Codex is arranged in a grid-like fashion and it’s very easy to find what you’re looking for, thus eliminating the need for endless scrolling up and down. One area where I felt the console version interface has an edge over the PC version is while hunting for Codex entries. The console version automatically highlights objects of interest while on the PC you have to press TAB to highlight all objects in an area.
As described in the main review, Dragon Age: Origins isn’t quite the looker you’d expect. However, the presence of higher resolution textures on the PC does manage to add some additional visual sheen to the environments and characters. The outdoor scenery is still a bit on the bland side, but indoor areas and dungeons look impressive featuring extra detail on the PC version. The game runs extremely well even when everything is maxed out and there are almost zero frame drops. The presence of a quick-save option is welcome given the challenging nature of the game. The load times however can be a pain. They aren’t as long as the console version, but are frequent enough to cause some frustration. The load times also start to become longer the longer you play the game. It’s also interesting to note that turning down some of the graphical settings actually reduces load times significantly.
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I also faced some issues with the downloadable content that I had installed. At times, some of my saved games wouldn’t load because the game wasn’t able to recognise me as a valid owner of the content, even though I was signed in to the EA servers. This made me lose around 10 to 15 minutes of gameplay on two occasions. It’s not something that happens on a regular basis, but when it does, pray that the game loads at least one of your recent saves. Bottomline – save often!
As with most other PC games , Dragon Age: Origins features a lot of content outside the main game. Apart from the EA-licensed DLC that’s already available, there are many other mods, tweaks and additional user-created content that you can download from the BioWare Social Network site. This is definitely another plus for the PC version.
Overall, the PC version is the definitive version of the game despite some minor flaws (which should get addressed in forthcoming updates). If you own a console and a decent PC and are on the fence about this, just get the PC version and enjoy the game the way it’s meant to be. If you don’t have access to a gaming PC, the console version is decent enough to experience the awesomeness that is Dragon Age: Origins. Regardless of the platform, this is still the best RPG that money can buy at the moment.
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Conclusion
This is one of the best games to come from the renowned Bioware stable, and if you are remotely interested in RPGs, you will want to pick this up. It offers a heady mix of story, script, acting and gameplay which has been missing from RPGs for some time. For those who have never played RPGs or are not interested in the genre, let this be your introduction into a world where you can truly role-play. This is a must play game for everyone. Even in a year which has seen excellent releases from strong names like Uncharted, Mario, Call of Duty and Halo, a fresh new IP like Dragon Age Origins can hold its own. If you want to play one RPG on your system this year, let this be the one. Actually, nix that, if you want to play one RPG, let this be the one.
(+) Great story backed up by outstanding script and voice acting
(+) Ferelden is a vast world with lots of diverse areas to explore
(+) Good port of traditional RPG gameplay mechanics to the console
(+) Array of interesting characters
(+) Lots of skills, spells, abilities and specializations to play around with
(-) Bland visuals in the exteriors
(-) Difficulty spikes at places can be annoying
(-) Lack of isometric view on the console
Title: Dragon Age: Origins
Developer/Publisher: Bioware/EA
Genre: Role-playing game
Rating: 18+
Platforms: PS3 (Rs 2,499), Xbox 360 (Rs 2,499), PC (Rs 999)
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