The latest RPG from Obsidian studios, the people who brought you Baldur’s Gate, KOTOR and Mass Effect, raises the bar yet again for computer game roleplaying. Dragon Age: Origins is the first part of a new sword and sorcery epic, set in a more-or-less original fantasy setting.
Eschewing the wide-open worlds presented by their RPG rivals at Bethesda, as demonstrated in titles like Fallout and Oblivion, Obsidian continue their technique of offering players a choice of several discrete locations where events will occur according to a relatively limited tree of options. I’m unsure which of these approaches makes for a superior RPG experience, certainly the myriad possibilities present in a Bethesda game can lead to crippling indecision and loss of any kind of focussed narrative, but the occasional feeling of being railroaded along a set path can also lead to frustration with Obsidian’s style. In the case of Dragon Age, however, it would seem that Obsidian are refining their plot delivery and interactivity skills – without giving away any spoilers, the level of influence the player can exert over world events is, to my knowledge, unprecedented.
One Dragon Age’s best moments occurs right at the beginning of the game when, after proceeding through the usual RPG character creation elements (race, class, stats etc), you are taken through an ‘origin story’ directly influenced by the choices made in character creation. Furthermore, your actions during this prelude can have good or bad effects on later events in the game proper. This is a masterful addition to the RPG genre and one that ought to be widely adopted. The game’s setting is a fairly familiar dark fantasy world where prospects are grim and everyone has a headache. Those who remember Warhammer won’t be in for too many surprises.
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