Serielley's Adventures in Gaming

I’ve spent the last six or so months listening to my husband talk about how much he’s been looking forward to Dragon Age: Origins. My interest in the game wasn’t really all that much to talk about, as I’ve never played a Bioware game, and really didn’t think it would be all that amazing based off of what I had seen in the gaming press. Fairly sure that it would be “just another RPG”, I dismissed it with all the scorn I could muster (which can be a lot, I promise.) It wasn’t until he got the game and kept gushing over it, saying things like this from across our computer desks:

• “You’re missing out on one of the best RPGs I’ve ever played!”
• “How can you pass up an RPG with such a great story? Aren’t you supposed to be an RPG nerd?”
• “Wow, that was awesome! I can’t believe that just happened!”

So, since I’ve been in a gaming rut lately, I decided to check out the reviews and see what all of the hoopla was about. I skulked to my favorite gaming sites to see that for the most part, everyone was in love with DA:O, and it was a must-play game for anyone who loves a good RPG. I certainly love my RPGs, so catch my thoughts below the fold after playing for about 40 hours so far, and completing only 40% of the game.

Thus far, I’ve been very impressed with DA:O. Everything has run smoothly, from the DLC to the game itself. The graphics are outstanding on the PC, and I don’t even run a high-end machine. (See end of post for my specs.) The gameplay is familiar and comfortable, and the only thing I really have a problem with is the tactics system. The best use of this type of system so far that I’ve experienced would have to be in Final Fantasy XII and its Gambit system. It could be either very shallow, meaning you just set up whatever you wanted and usually ended up micromanaging the actions your party took, or you could really take it deeper and set gambits for specific triggers. The AI in FFXII worked wonderfully with the Gambit system, and though DA:O has on the surface a very similar system, the AI doesn’t respond half as well as it did in FFXII.

That’s really my only gripe with the game. Everything else has been a blast! The story is fantastic, and in reference to the title of this post, really makes you think about your choices. Little choices at the beginning of the game come back later on to show you what changes were wrought by your actions. Every choice in every conversation is weighted with this, and every time I make a choice, I always ask myself, “Is this the choice I want to make?” It can sometimes be very frustrating,  ha!

My husband has been a fan of Bioware games for a while now, but I’ve held off the temptation until now. I’m ready to hop on the bandwagon with him, but I think I’ll draw the line at Star Wars: The Old Republic. I have a lot of love for you now, Bioware, but your art style for that MMO is enough to make me run away screaming.

Here are my computer specs for comparison:

• AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor running @ 2.13Ghz
• 4G of RAM
• NVidia GeForce 8800GT graphics card
• Windows 7 Pro
• ran game in full-screen mode @ 1980 x 1020 resolution

It’s very far from a high-end machine as you can see, but it handles the game beautifully. I run everything on high, and the only slowdowns I experience are due to a known memory leak, which should hopefully be fixed soon via patch.

My first playthrough has been with a Dalish Elf Rogue, and her specializations are Ranger and Bard. I really enjoy the class choices, and Ranger/Bard is a good combo for my playstyle. I’m thinking that my next playthrough (and trust me, if you enjoy the game, you’ll want to play through it again to see how things go differently!) I’ll choose a human warrior type. Or maybe an elven mage… so many possibilities!