“In war, victory. In peace, vigilance. In death, sacrifice.” – Grey Warden Motto

In the last couple of weeks I’ve spent damn close to 125 hours obsessively playing a single game – Dragon Age: Origins. Hailed as the best RPG of 2009, DAO is one of those games that you HAVE to play if you are an RPG fan. It was created by BioWare/EA (yay, Canadian made) and is available for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. From screenshots I’ve seen floating around, I’d bet that the graphics are mind-blowing on PC but I played it on PS3 and still thought it was beautiful.

The game offers six different origin storylines to choose from: Human or Elf Magi (mage), Human Noble (warrior, rogue), Dwarf Noble (warrior, rogue), Dwarf Commoner (warrior, rogue), City Elf (warrior, rogue) and Dalish Elf (warrior, rogue). Dwarves are not able to be mages, but that seems to be the only class/race limitation in the game. There is A LOT of storyline based on what you choose so just be sure that you’re happy with what you’ve decided and off you go. Your character can be customized as you wish (from the length of your nose to the depth of your cheek hollows to the width of your neck) so there is no reason not to love the character you are playing. The only thing you have no control over is becoming a Grey Warden.

The offerings of mage, warrior and rogue might seem limited but these can be specialized in any number of ways. Each class starts off with many different skill sets to choose from (Mage has Mage, Primal, Creation, Spirit, etc.) which are expanded with specializations (two out of a possible four) that also offer bonuses when they are chosen.

The Mage may choose to specialize as:
-a Blood Mage (+ constitution, +2 spellpower)
-a Spirit Healer (+2 magic, minor combat health regeneration)
-a Shapeshifter (+2 constitution, +1 armour)
-an Arcane Warrior (+1 dexterity, +5 attack)

The rogue can be:
-an Assassin (+2 dexterity, +2.5% melee critical chance)
-a Duelist (+2 dexterity, +1 damage)
-a Bard (+2 willpower, +1 cunning)
-a Ranger (+1 constitution, +5 nature resistance)

Finally, the warrior can be:
-a Berserker (+2 strength, +10 health)
-a Reaver (+1 constitution, +5 physical resistance)
-a Templar (+2 magic, +3 mental resistance)
-a Champion (+2 willpower, +1 cunning)

It’s a lot of fun to have so many different skill sets to choose from. My Elf Mage had some basic Primal spells for damage, but she was mainly a Spirit Healer, with Creation maxed out as well (she was full support/healing). I took up Arcane Warrior as her second specialization thinking that I might put her into plate, but I never actually ended up using any points on it. You don’t NEED two specializations in order to have a strong character – that’s part of what makes DAO so great. Your character can be played entirely as you choose and still be viable (this is assuming the person doesn’t just randomly throw points around, as that might make things slightly harder). My Human Noble Rogue maxed out Archery and two of the four basic Rogue skill sets (I didn’t grab the first row of melee skills as I played her ranged only, and I didn’t take the stealth skill set since I would never use it), as well as Bard and Duelist (except for the last skill since it’s only good for melee). Both my characters were a lot of fun and while my Rogue would have been a lot stronger as a melee, I thoroughly enjoyed role-playing her as the prim and proper noble woman with her bow and arrows who didn’t want to get into the melee and bathe herself in blood.

I originally played the game on Easy (meant for beginners to RPGs) in order give myself a chance to get used to it. The first dragon still gave me some trouble (die Flemeth, you bitch) but I was only level 11or 12 when I tried her the first time and I wasn’t expecting the fire damage she put out. I didn’t have the Spirit Healer specialization yet and I wasn’t fully comfortable with the Tactics setup so I died... a lot. The rest of it was pretty simple but still tons of fun. My second time through, I played it out on Normal (which does prove a jump in difficulty). Harder fights require the use of potions so make sure you’ve got your Tactics set up so that your characters do use them (I set mine to “Self: Health < 25% - use lowest Health Poultice” which worked pretty well). I wasn’t healing this time around so I had to make sure that Wynne was effective, which she wasn’t at first – it took a lot of tinkering with the Tactics menu in order to get her doing what I wanted when I wanted. Once everything was figured out, it was smooth sailing. I haven’t tried Difficult or Nightmare, but I read somewhere that Difficult involves micromanaging and that Nightmare is insane so... play those at your own risk. I have no doubt that Difficult would be fun but I’m not sure I trust my own gaming skills at Nightmare level.

Dragon Age: Origins is all about making choices. When you interact with people and things, you are forced to make decisions that impact the game in small or large ways. Should you pick up the vial, or leave it? Should you kill the woman who begs you to be merciful and end her life, or leave her there in pain? Do you help the unconscious man, or kill him and steal his equipment? Only you can decide whether your character is polite or compassionate or bitchy or just plain evil. You pick up companions during the course of your journey and how much they like you may have a direct impact on your storyline, and theirs. This is the approval system. Your approval with your companions can be raised by talking with them and by giving them gifts. Keep in mind that each companion has a different personality, so answers that would please one won’t necessarily please the other. You need to get to know those you are traveling with, which is pleasant. Each companion has a rich history, and part of the appeal of the game is how much thought was put into each and every story contained within. Certain characters can even be romanced – Morrigan can love a male Warden, Alistair can love a female Warden, and Zevran and Leliana can love either male or female Wardens. Keep in mind that if you are romancing more than one, jealousy can arise and you will lose approval points.

Anyways, I’m going to stop there. The game is so well crafted and there is a lot more to say but the best way to learn about it would be to play the game yourself. I guarantee you, it’s worth it.