Unlike many modern role-playing games, which tend to shove players into the action head first and throw in a morsel of dialogue here and there, Dragon Age: Origins (360/PS3/PC), the long-gestating fantasy RPG from Edmonton-based Bioware released Tuesday, places enormous value on the story being told, the characters we meet, and the history and culture of the civilization in which we find ourselves.
The nation of Ferelden is beset by invaders known as the Darkspawn; orc-like creatures led by demons who seem to get it in their hellish heads every few hundred years that they ought to try to take over the planet. The world’s first defense is an ancient sect known as the Grey Wardens; heroes who have a secret connection with the Darkspawn and hold the power to unite humans, elves, and dwarves as a single, massive army to fight off the blight.
Clearly, there are plenty of parallels to other fantasy tales—most obviously J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy and John Boorman’s classic Arthurian film Excalibur—but Dragon Age churns out enough chronicles and lore to feel its own. Indeed, I’ve managed to amass nearly 200 entries in my codex—sort of a Fereldenian encyclopedia—each loaded with information about the game’s creatures, types of magic, cultures, and personalities. And that doesn’t include many of the stories I’ve heard during hours of discussions with non-player characters.
Put plainly, this is a game with the depth, imagination, and richness of a Neal Stephenson novel.
And don’t worry that all of your time spent reading and listening will result in nothing more than knowledge of some obscure monsters and made up history. There’s some emotional and philosophical meat attached to this dragon’s bones. Casual discussion topics range from women’s equality and racism to slavery and same-sex relationships. Indeed, there are plenty of interesting ideas to chew on here.
Of course, none of this is new ground for Bioware. The storied developer has a history of creating rich characters and tackling interesting sociopolitical topics in recent games like Mass Effect, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Jade Empire. What is new is how so little of it is black and white. There’s no morality meter, no dark or light side leanings; just people, their actions, and the consequences of those actions.
In fact, even if you want to do the right (or wrong) thing you may find it difficult to recognize it when it comes along. While trying to convince a stubborn dwarf that he should help defend a village from invading ghouls I tried to intimidate him a bit to get him to see reason. He attacked my party. My guys defended themselves, and before I knew it had slain the dwarf and his friends. It felt wrong, and I wished I would have tried some other avenue of persuasion, but it was too late. Still, it’s scenes like this that might make the world of Dragon Age Bioware’s most realistic yet.
Party member Leliana shows her surprising prowess with a bow in close quarters combat.— EA
Of course, there’s more to the game than just non-stop talk (even if at times it doesn’t feel that way). There are epic fights to be waged and lengthy dungeons to be crawled. And the tactics inherent in these battles are anything but simple and arcade-like.
