Dragon Age: Origins

I lied guys. I like blogging about the games I play way too much to post about it once a month. It's nice to share with people, and to not be constantly told how lame I am when I mention that I play videogames to people. Now that I say that, someone is going to comment on this telling me I'm lame.

Anways, this post is going to be all about the game Dragon Age: Origins, a personal favorite of mine. It's an extremely unique game, unlike any other that I've ever played (except its sequel, Dragon Age II). I enjoy playing it because it has excellent character development and a wonderful storyline.

In the beginning of the game, you are able to choose from seven different backgrounds, or origins (hence the name of the game), which are a Human Noble, Human Mage, Dalish Elf, City Elf, Elf Mage, Dwarf Noble, and Dward Commoner. Each background is unique and impacts how other characters view you as the story progresses.

In most of the origins, you start out with little knowledge of the world outside of your home and you have no idea of the approaching Blight, which is a war on humans by creatures called "darkspawn." Darkspawn are similar to zombies, but they move too quickly and have more of a hive mind. At the head of these darkspawn is an "archdemon," which is an old god in the form of a dragon. Each origin story begins with the main character, or the Warden, oblivious to everything around him or her until something goes terribly and they are forced to leave their home with a Grey Warden named Duncan, who is there in every game.

For example, the city elf origin begins with a wedding. Depending on if the main character is male or female, they will be getting married to one of two people. When a human noble named Vaughn interrupts the wedding and takes all the women away, the Warden is forced to save his or her people (either be rescued by your cousin and rescue his bride and your bridesmaids if you are a woman, or rescue both brides if you are a man). You have the choice to kill Vaughn or let him pay you and leave, but both choices will come back to bite you. Either way, you will be forced to leave the city you live in with a guest at your wedding named Duncan, who, as I mentioned, is a Grey Warden. They Grey Wardens are an ancient order of warriors that protect the common people from Blights by partaking in a ritual called the joining, which forces them to drink the blood of the darkspawn. This makes them immune to the taint and allows them to kill the archdemon.

What makes Dragon Age so great is the characters. They are all well-developed and, depending on your choices, will either hate you or love you. Their voice-acting is great, too. Bioware, the game developers, make the characters very 3D, like you could know them in real life. Another amazing thing about the companions in this game is that they will respond to choices you make and you can speak to them and justify your reasons for doing certain events in the game. And the romances in Origins are pretty awesome, too. I feel weird saying this, but I fell in love with Alistair. While some people might see it as odd that a bunch of pixels could cause such an emotion, Bioware really makes it seem like he is real, that he cares for you.

Another wonderful thing about the game is the story, as I mentioned before. There is one main plot, stopping the Blight, and many other subplots that are for gathering your allies for the war against the darkspawn. You must ally yourself with the mages, the dwarves, the elves, and the people of Redcliffe. You face many tough decisions and you have to make careful decisions to obtain allies and ensure that everyone that can live does (unless you don't want to keep people alive).

The only thing I didn't like about this game was the lack of voice for the main character. You are somewhat mute except in battle where the character screams at the enemies and yells for victory. Overall, I would give this game 9/10. Good job Bioware!