Dragon Age Origins – PC – Preview

E3 2008 Preview

“We often referred to origins as the
spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate.” That was the opening statement by BioWare
Executive Producer Dan Tudge, as he opened the E3 demo of BioWare’s upcoming
RPG, Dragon Age: Origin.

This is a game that borrows heavily
from the mechanics of such games as Neverwinter Nights and the aforementioned
Baldur’s Gate. But inasmuch as it borrows from them, it also takes some new
steps forward and presents an epic adventure in an epic setting.

The story of Origin has players
taking on the role of a Grey Warden recruit, a force of warriors dedicated to
fighting the Blight and the Dark Spawn horde, which is threatening to overrun
the world. The level shown in the depths of the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Los
Angeles during E3.

As the demo opened, you are in the
company of Duncan, a revered member of the Grey Wardens and the game plays out
much like previous BioWare titles. The cut scenes are in-game assets in which
you play an active role. The dialogue swims around you and you are given choices
for your answers to questions posed. How you answer will but be aware that what
you say may affect not only how people react to you, but also how the story will
play out from that point forward.

Part of the adventure is the choices
players can make. You can play at martyr, hero or tyrant and the attention to
detail, graphically, is amazing.

The level shown was a battle
sequence in Ostagard, leading up to and involving the lighting of a tower
beacon. Of course, the enemy has overrun the structure and you will have to
fight through with your party to the room where a boss battle awaits. If
successful, you can light the beacon.

The game features scalable combat,
but while you in combat, you can zoom in and make it feel more personal. You can
also pause the game, select party members – and yes, as the game unwinds, while
a single-player experience, you will need to build up parties to meet the
challenges – and issue commands, whether of a tactical nature or to triggers
spells and skills.

Graphically the game is superb, with
amazing textures on the armor and in the environment. As you engage in battle,
you will encounter blood spatters and that will accumulate and stay on your
armor. Spells can interact with each other in this game, and they can be
interrupted. By way of example in terms of spells interacting, you can pause the
game, throw a spell that coats the floor in grease to hamper movement, but then
ignite the grease to make it an area-of-effect damage spell.

The game also focuses on finishing
moves and highlights those with the popular slow-motion camera to allow details
of the attack to come across with jaw-dropping effect. Boss battles are meant to
be tough

But this is “scalable combat where
you are always the hero,” Tudge said, and then announced that with Dragon Age –
which is a brand new IP – “BioWare returns to its roots.”

When it ships, the game will include
world-building tools, similar to the Aurora Toolset. The game will also be
supported with downloadable content.  And because it is a new IP, the universe
is very big, very full with lots of back story and just pieces of it were used
in the game.  

No definite release date has been
set for the game though it is planned for 2009.

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Previews