Reflections

So I’ve spent the last two days of my rather limited time playing through Dragon Age. Now, obviously I wouldn’t be doing that if it wasn’t any good. First of all, the development studio behind it is BioWare. And well…it’s BioWare. That alone probably means the game is, in the worst case, mediocre. According to them, Dragon Age supposedly incorporates elements from both RP and RTS games. I came across that little tidbit a few years back though, so I no longer know if it’s true. We’ll see.

Anyway, I bought the game last Friday almost on a whim. At the time, I was at Fairview Park Mall to get some other things and just happened to come across an EBGames while wandering around. Of course, I went in and took a look (despite the store chain reducing their focus on PC games, gah). Now since the game had already come out the day previously, there were no immediate signs to catch my attention; indeed, I found only two copies of the game stuffed near the back (though I assume the store has more in stock). It appears there were leftovers from the pre-order promotion, however, since I received some extra item codes at the point of sale. Lucky me.

With regards to the promo codes, BioWare has set up a site where you can redeem them. What came with my copy was a Feral Wolf Charm and a Memory Band, as well as Shale – a potential companion. I haven’t gotten Shale yet, but the first two items came in handy. The Feral Wolf Charm has decent bonuses that blow everything else out of the water until midway through the game, and the Memory Band boosts the amount of experience you get per fight. Now, you’d think that these items would upset the balance of the game and make it a bit too easy. Not so. The fights were challenging for someone not entirely used to the system (that is, me); indeed, one major complaint on the BioWare forums was the difficulty of even the easiest mode – this led to a fix in the first patch.

To continue on, I went home and installed the game on my main laptop. That went by smoothly and I have nothing more to say on it. After the installation was done, I booted up the game and started tinkering with the configuration settings. First of all, after creating an account on the official BioWare site, I linked my copy of the game in order to experience the bonus content previously redeemed. Secondly, I ramped up the graphics settings to maximum because I can.

The recommended system specs. of the game are relatively high, though a modern computer (run-of-the-mill desktop or mid/high-end laptop) shouldn’t have any trouble with it. I wouldn’t bother with the absolute minimum listed though; the game would merely be runnable. Actually, this is where I blast NVIDIA an ATI for crazy product names – the average consumer is not going to know what the hell the video requirements are and how their own hardware compares.

And after all this, I’ll finally begin playing. One of the first things you’ll notice is that there are three classes that you can choose: warrior, mage and rogue. There are also three races that you can play: humans, dwarves and elves. Those two in combination lead to six different origins that you can start with – that is, the background story of your character. Don’t be fooled by the limited class types as well; later on, your character will be able to specialize into different areas such as blood magic and shapeshifting. The second thing you’ll notice is the insane amount of customization options for your character’s appearance. For those who have played Morrowind and Oblivion, think of that plus more.

I first started with the human noble storyline, though I created a mage afterwards. In the former case, your character has to support his/her family as it prepares for war. As for the latter, your character has to endure a mental test called the Harrowing and deal with the events that follow. Without giving away any more spoilers, I’ll just say that BioWare throws a ton of twists at you that will surely keep you on your toes. Indeed, the choices that you make as the story progresses have a profound impact on what happens to the world of Ferelden.

Looking over the battle between the Grey Wardens and the Darkspawn

The controls of the game are relatively straightforward. There is an in-game tooltip that helps you out as you wander around and a Codex that is essentially a tome of knowledge. A journal and a conversation log allows you to play through the game without remembering every single detail (in case it was needed later on). You can set up tactics (basically behaviour rules) for your characters so you don’t have to micromanage all of them constantly.

In battle situations, you’ll likely be pausing a lot to issue commands to your party. It can be quite hectic as you’ll be facing large mobs. I’d recommend having a damage absorber (tank) and several AoE skills as it definitely makes things easier. For the most part, however, you’ll be relying on tactics such as clumping enemies together, attacking from favourable positions and taking advantage of surrounding obstacles (like doors and corners).

The visual quality of the game is pretty awesome. Some people might complain that the graphics are a bit dated, but they really are at the limit of a RP/RTS game. Any more emphasis on graphics and we’ll see even the most powerful computers keel over. Besides, I wouldn’t consider visual quality to be that important. Many of the best games (IMO) are pretty mediocre in that department. Heck, take a look at Crysis and tell me how that panned out.

A lightning storm in combination with a blizzard. Ouch.

The audio aspect of the game was equally impressive. It appears that there was a lot of work put into voice acting; there are many characters whose dialog is spoken out loud. Interestingly enough, however, is that the player character stays silent – I suppose you’re supposed to talk for them. The background music fits right in and helps to promote a great atmosphere.

Anyway, that’s it for now. I’ve spent 9 hours on my mage and am barely 8% through the game (according to the character log). That speaks quite a bit as to the depth of the game, not including potential player mods. I’ll probably talk more about it when I’ve actually completed a storyline or two.

Visit this page to see my progress!