Dragon Age: Origins - Previews

[Shir'le E. Illios]

A whole ago BioWare had, again, a bunch of journalists over to look at Dragon Age: Origins. But they weren't allowed to post their previews/hands-on experiences until the 15th this month. Now that that date has passed several sites have begun releasing their views.

First there is [url=http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/drag ... l:2prjun3a]Strategy Informer[/url:2prjun3a] who have a fairly positive preview noting that it "could end up being the end-all and be-all RPG title of 2009". Though a warning; the article contains a rather big early-game spoiler without any warnings. And since the article itself doesn't contain any real new information can thus be skipped. Either way, here's a (spoiler free) excerpt:

[quote:2prjun3a]The dialogue and writing of Dragon Age is one of its strongest selling points. The laughter that ensues after a conversation between Alistair and Morrigan is bound to be one of the high points for a gamer to experience once players leave their origin story. The witty banter interweaved throughout the story is brilliant and helps sell the story to fanatics who look for a vastly involving and widely branching campaign from their RPGs. Players need to remember that their decisions affect not only their character, but everyone in the game world.[/quote:2prjun3a]
Second up is Gaming Trend with a two-part article. The [url=http://www.gamingtrend.com/Articles/art ... 8:2prjun3a]first part[/url:2prjun3a] talks about the game in more general terms and shows how your actions can have repercussions, and the [url=http://www.gamingtrend.com/Articles/art ... 3:2prjun3a]second part[/url:2prjun3a] details the writer's hands-on experience with the game. The article does contain a fair amount of spoilers, but they have been very clearly marked and can thus easily be skipped (which I did to some degree). For the rest it's quite a good and detailed article. Here's an excerpt from the second part:

[quote:2prjun3a]Firing up a recent build, Mike gave us an overview of the control system. The controls are immediately familiar on the PC if you’ve played any recent RPG. Neverwinter Nights, World of Warcraft, Knights of the Old Republic, Aion, Drakensang, The Witcher and other classic PC titles are obvious influences as he points out the 4 member party, minimap compass in the corner, hotkey bar at the bottom, and the ability to customize it to a degree. The WASD keys control movement, or you can use the mouse to click on the ground for travel. The hotkeys are laid out in a row and can be expanded by simply dragging the edge out a bit more. Since each character has their own skills and abilities, this bar will change quite a bit when you select the individuals in your team. Right clicking on your foes initiates basic melee combat, and using special attacks or abilities are accomplished in the same way. On the very top of the screen are the journal, inventory, system settings, the map, and other miscellaneous controls.[/quote:2prjun3a]
[url=http://www.gameshark.com/previews/3454/ ... m:2prjun3a]GameShark[/url:2prjun3a] also has a preview article up, spanning some four pages. As I recall this one is pretty much spoiler-free and quite decent. And just as the others quite positive. Here's an excerpt:

[quote:2prjun3a]That probably won’t come as a surprise to people who have been playing Bioware’s games for over a decade. No, they’re not all perfect, nor will Dragon Age be, but when it comes to RPGs, even the less commercially successful efforts, like Jade Empire, have a rabidly devoted fan base. Indeed, no group of players has more to look forward to from Dragon Age: Origins than Bioware’s oldest fans, those gaming graybeards that helped put Bioware on the map with their enthusiastic support of the two PC-based Baldur’s Gate games.

Bioware has long talked about this being a spiritual successor to those games and that’s no exaggeration. Any fan of the old Infinity Engine-based games that sits down to play this will be right at home and not just because Bioware is bringing back the heroic fantasy of its D&D-licensed days. The controls, particularly when using the tactical camera view, are instantly familiar, whether it’s how you strategically direct your party’s characters during combat or the way you can hold down the Tab key to highlight all clickable objects on the screen. It’s like coming home again after spending years abroad. Everything is familiar and yet oh-so-different. Of course, the scenery in this case looks just a shade better than back in the day.[/quote:2prjun3a]
[url=http://www.thegamereviews.com/articlena ... l:2prjun3a]The Game Reviews[/url:2prjun3a] has a lengthy interview with Lead Designer Mike Laidlaw (which I think is spoiler-free pretty much). Here's an excerpt:

[quote:2prjun3a][b:2prjun3a][John Laster]:[/b:2prjun3a] Earlier, you were talking about a lot about how you don’t just have good and don’t just have bad, but you have that moral ambiguity. Can you talk a little bit more about that?

[b:2prjun3a][Mike Laidlaw]:[/b:2prjun3a] We made the explicit choice not to give a kind of morality meter or anything like that. I think it’s a perfectly good mechanic. It’s exceptional in Star Wars, where the Light Side and the Dark Side is very deterministic. But for Dragon Age, we wanted to do something different and give you a grey morality. I mean, you’re a Grey Warden for a reason, and towards the end we said that, you know, the way people react to you and the way you feel about those choices should be what drives you. So we created a kind of space like the Grey Warden you play can act in following vein, but like you’re never going to be like “No, I’m going to side with The Blight;” that’s not what Grey Wardens do. So within that space we gave you perfect freedom to sculpt your party, to chose who your allies are going to be, and to choose what kind of army you want to forge. Towards that end, you do have the “greater good,” you do actually have that as motivator and that is an amazing opportunity to give the player that is morally more grey. I’m saving the world, and that’s what I’m doing, so sometimes you have to break a few eggs.[/quote:2prjun3a]
And finally BioWare put up [url=http://dragonage.bioware.com/pennyarcad ... 7:2prjun3a]page 7[/url:2prjun3a] of the Penny Arcade comic. Things are not going very well for the Templars.

Also note that the first print reviews are starting to appear. Such as there have been reports of a German print magazine review and one in the next issue of PC Gamer UK (which I might pick up next weekend). And it seems that so far pretty much all reviews are overwhelmingly positive, scoring the game above 90%. One of the main problems seems to be that even on Easy difficulty the game can be quite difficult, and that the graphics might be a bit lacking (as in, compared to some of the more visually stunning current games).

So things are looking really good for the game and I keep hearing whispers of "RPG of the year" and even "game of the year" bandied around (though in fairness there are multiple sites handing out such 'awards' so could well be that it might win some at one and not another). We will see; all I really care about it that it'll (hopefully) be a game I greatly enjoy playing.


[[url=http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/drag ... l:2prjun3a]link[/url:2prjun3a]] to preview at Strategy Informer.
[[url=http://www.gamingtrend.com/Articles/art ... 8:2prjun3a]link[/url:2prjun3a]] to hands-on part 1 at Gaming Trend.
[[url=http://www.gamingtrend.com/Articles/art ... 3:2prjun3a]link[/url:2prjun3a]] to hands-on part 2 at Gaming Trend.
[[url=http://www.gameshark.com/previews/3454/ ... m:2prjun3a]link[/url:2prjun3a]] to preview at GameShark.
[[url=http://www.thegamereviews.com/articlena ... l:2prjun3a]link[/url:2prjun3a]] to interview with Mike Laidlaw at The Game Review.
[[url=http://dragonage.bioware.com/pennyarcad ... 7:2prjun3a]link[/url:2prjun3a]] to Penny Arcade comic.


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Shir'le