Inexplicable Video Game Review: Wherein I play Dragon Age wicked late

I love Bioware games, but I always lag way behind in playing them because of my dubious PC hardware. For example, I whipped through both Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games, but I didn't start either until they were out for at least six months. I wasn't as enamored with Baldur's Gate 2, since it is definitely more Dungeons and Dragons style, but I did give it a pretty serious playthrough before abandoning it.

Therefore, please excuse me as I talk about Dragon Age Origins now, even though it actually came out in November 2009, and even the expansion pack has been out for six months, and actually, the sequel is due in March 2011. Hey, what can I say? I didn't get a PC capable of handling it until September 2009, and at that time and until I began my prep to move, I was still busy dealing with a glut of content from GameFly. (Speaking of, I have another backlog of content on there - Green Day Rock Band, Dragon Quest IX for DS, a bunch of PSP games...)

Anyway! The story varies slightly depending on what origin you chose, but essentially, you're the last of the Grey Wardens, who are not drably-attired prison guards, but rather, legendary heroes who are destined to clear the land of the Blight.

Easiest way to describe the Blight - Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Think of a huge mob of goblins and orcs and trolls, and you basically have the Blight, although Dragon Age gives them all different names for no discernible reason. This is especially confusing because humans are still humans, dwarves are still dwarves, and elves are still elves, although you do deal primarily with an off-shoot of them known as the Dalish. (Whatever - They still have pointy ears and fight primarily with arrows and magic.)

From that preceding paragraph, you can probably guess the general tone of Dragon Age. It is definitely a swashbuckling adventure, and you can play your character as a virtuous good guy (which I do, since my favorite Star Wars character is Luke Skywalker) or a vicious heel. I also play as a warrior that uses two swords and no shield, because like in basketball, I prefer to be all-offense and no defense. Rounding out my squad of four is a sly knight, a foxy redhead thief [right] that uses ranged attacks, and a mage that primarily serves as a healer.

Judging from a couple of the game guides I've read, I'd guess that I'm about half to two-thirds through the game, since I'm almost done with the four major quests that make up the middle portion. It's definitely worth checking out if you like the scope of epic games like Baldur's Gate, but hate all of the arcane rules and damage calculations.

Both pictures come from the excellent Dragon Age Wiki, which saved my bacon several times. You can check it out here.