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Column'Dragon Age' game leaves many choices up to player Date published: 11/20/2009
FEW THINGS get me more interested in a product than the promise of an epic fantasy story, and the new game "Dragon Age: Origins" from Bioware promised just that. In it, the Tolkienesque world is facing an old problem, the Blight. This demonic force ravaged the lands years ago and was defeated by a huge army led by a group called the Grey Wardens--and recently it has returned. As a child it is likely you read a choose-your-own-adventure book, where by deciding the main character's actions you jumped to certain pages. That is a rudimentary idea of how you play "Dragon Age: Origins." You see, "Dragon Age" is the epitome of a virtual role playing game. It rests heavily on giving you near-complete choice of how you interact with the environment: how you lead your party, where you go, how you interact with non-player characters and so on. While there is a place for linearity in games, I love this concept, and have been scorned by the promise in the past.
As far as video games go, "Dragon Age" is the closest to complete choice I have played and enjoyed. It doesn't actually let you do anything you want, but it is exemplary at making you believe you can.
To start the game I created my character, Leohnard. He is a dwarf from the underground city of Orgamar, one of the two remaining "thaigs" of the previous 12 that existed before the first blight. Leohnard is the second son of the king and the people's favorite son. His older brother is heir to the throne, and some don't like that. The norm in dwarven politics is corruption, so as the character it is expected that either you or your brother will assassinate the other, and I did, resulting in my banishment to the surface.
My favorite situation I've been placed in thus far is how I attained my party member Shale. He is a golem, a living stone statue created by the dwarves, and was magically frozen still. To reanimate him I had to find the correct spell, and the only person who had it told me to retrieve a young girl from deep inside a cellar laden with magical traps placed years ago by his father.
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
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