Dragon Age: Origins - Eurogamer Hands-On

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Shir'le E. Illios
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Dragon Age: Origins - Eurogamer Hands-On

Post by Shir'le E. Illios »

I've got a hands-on article, and a couple of other things, for Dragon Age today.

The hands-on comes from [url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/drago ... 6:2xgeftj9]Eurogamer[/url:2xgeftj9]. With the exception of one paragraph (the second paragraph on page two, the one starting with "After your origin") the article is largely spoiler-free. And they seem quite positive regarding the game. Here's an excerpt:

[quote:2xgeftj9]Having spent a good six years exploring science-fiction, kung fu, SEGA mascots and console-led development, BioWare is returning to neglected roots with Dragon Age - PC-centric, trad fantasy roots, which drew on Dungeons & Dragons to grow Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights.

The scale of Dragon Age's ambition dwarfs those games, however, as BioWare debuts a new fantasy universe and RPG ruleset that are all its own work, and that will in time form the foundations of much more than this one game. One immense game, which estimates put at something between 50 and 100 hours in length depending how much of it you want to see, and many more if you want to explore the permutations of its narrative in multiple play-throughs. Then there's the unprecedented two-year plan for DLC releases which will extend Origins' lifespan (and, no doubt, help pay for its epic development).

It's an important game, then; we got an indication how important (and how big) when publisher EA started distributing a complete PC review version to press months before its release. That never happens. We've already had plenty of time to sink our teeth into it, and bring you this run-down of how it all fits together ahead of our review in the coming weeks.[/quote:2xgeftj9]
[url=http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/drag ... l:2xgeftj9]Strategy Informer[/url:2xgeftj9] has another interview, this time with Mark Darrah. No real spoilers that I can see. Here's an excerpt:

[quote:2xgeftj9][color=#606060:2xgeftj9]Dakota Grabowski:[/color:2xgeftj9] [color=darkorange:2xgeftj9][b:2xgeftj9]If you had to create an origin story for the darkspawn, what would it entail?[/b:2xgeftj9][/color:2xgeftj9]

[color=#606060:2xgeftj9]Mark Darrah:[/color:2xgeftj9] For the darkspawn?

[color=#606060:2xgeftj9]Dakota Grabowski:[/color:2xgeftj9] [color=darkorange:2xgeftj9][b:2xgeftj9]Yeah, if there was to be a character that a player could control, how would you go about creating an interesting story?[/b:2xgeftj9][/color:2xgeftj9]

[color=#606060:2xgeftj9]Mark Darrah:[/color:2xgeftj9] I think one thing with the darkspawn is that they are elemental.

[color=#606060:2xgeftj9]Dakota Grabowski:[/color:2xgeftj9] [color=darkorange:2xgeftj9][b:2xgeftj9]Are they truly evil?[/b:2xgeftj9][/color:2xgeftj9]

[color=#606060:2xgeftj9]Mark Darrah:[/color:2xgeftj9] They are more elemental with no intelligence within themselves. An arch-demon brings them in and collects them. It’s more of a hive-mind type of thinking. So if you were to do an origin story for the darkspawn, you would have him break away from the arch-demon and the hive-mind to explore free will. They aren’t irretrievably evil. They are more a force of nature. They are a force of destruction and would create a unique situation that could be explored.[/quote:2xgeftj9]
[url=http://kotaku.com/5385022/you-can-play- ... s:2xgeftj9]Kotaku[/url:2xgeftj9] also has a brief look at the game, detailing four ways in which you can play it (though they seem to miss out on the "pause a lot and micro-manage every character's action manually" Baldur's Gate option... but then maybe that's not as viable a way to play on a console). Here's an excerpt:

[quote:2xgeftj9]Gamers can play BioWare's next epic as if it was an action-role-playing game, an MMO, like Kingdom Hearts or like Final Fantasy XII, a company rep recently explained to Kotaku.

EA/BioWare senior product manager David Silverman explained the four Dragon Age playing styles during a live demo of the PlayStation 3 version of the game in New York last week.

He provided the explanation as a BioWare employee battled through what Silverman said was the second-toughest battle of the game — a fight with a dragon, naturally — and then as I took the controls and brought a party of four adventurers into the dwarven city of Orzammar.[/quote:2xgeftj9]
Oh, and I've [url=http://store.steampowered.com/app/901081/:2xgeftj9]pre-purchased my copy on Steam[/url:2xgeftj9]; all good to go in little over two weeks. :)


[[url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/drago ... 6:2xgeftj9]link[/url:2xgeftj9]] to hands-on article at Eurogamer.
[[url=http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/drag ... l:2xgeftj9]link[/url:2xgeftj9]] to interview with Mark Darrah at Strategy Informer.
[[url=http://kotaku.com/5385022/you-can-play- ... s:2xgeftj9]link[/url:2xgeftj9]] to four ways to play at Kotaku.


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Shir'le
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-= Shir'le E. Illios =-
Chosen of Eilistraee
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