revisiting a beloved classic
Following the thrilling release of the pre-pre-trailer for the upcoming new installment to the Dragon Age franchise, I felt compelled to go back and take my Nth swing at Origins. Yes, yes, I’m a novelist, I’m supposed to be talking about books. Well, I may love the written word above all else, but I’m also a more all-purpose fantasy nerd. Dragons, magic, elves, check check and check? Sold!
And this is one of my all-time favorite RPG’s. I even wrote a series inspired in part by aspects of the world-building that felt illogical to me. I haven’t published it yet, but probably will, details later.
How has it aged? Not badly, honestly; the things that annoyed me were there last time I played the game a decade ago. I’ve tried most of Bioware’s games and I think this is the weakest pantheon of companions they’ve made; obviously the game is homely in comparison to anything more recent.
That said, the things I loved remain sublime.
It was an immense pleasure to plunge back into the series in an era before 90% of combat had been reduced to holding down right-click, when it was actually a strategy game more than a make-your-own-adventure movie. When mages had spells instead of auto-attack and waving that staff around like a drum major at Southern.
Virulent Walking Bomb, my god. Time has not dulled the joy I take in you, my wicked darling.
A few thoughts about the experience:
- Every time Morrigan gets on my case about helping sad-sack little people, I want a 4th-wall breaking dialogue option: “Can I explain to you how XP works?”
- Orzammar. Oh, Orzammar. Everything about that sequence, from the Provings to the Deep Roads to the Machiavellian politics. Just fabulous.
- I’d forgotten how snarky Alistair is, I remembered him as a tiresome Boyscout. He’s got some funny one-liners!
- Hey, wow: my taskbar is big enough to fit all my abilities. What a novel idea!
- The country is called Fereldan. Should the people not be Fereldanites? Fereldanese? ‘Fereldans’ feels weird.
- Got to love the Landsmeet. You spend days accruing votes, acquiring damning information, until you defeat Logain in a landslide victory. His response is, ‘Piss off, I’ll never relinquish power’ and everyone goes: ‘Duel!’ Um, guys…?
- Gaxkang!
- Bioware: Blood magic is evil. Me: Why? Bioware: Because. Me: In any further detail? Bioware: Because it’s blood magic! Me: So? Bioware: Blood magic is evil. Me: <gives up and walks away>
- I want gifts and approval bars back. Why the hell would I want approval to feel more organic and not be able to buy affection? That’s called RL, I already play that game all day, thanks.
- Why, why, why did I never keep Shale in my party? Awesome tank + best background bitchiness, ah, she is a gem! And yes, I can imagine what she would say about that lame pun.
Anyway it was intensely fun and a shockingly fast to play through; games have gotten bigger in the interim. I definitely wouldn’t recommend playing it yourself unless you already own a copy; EA isn’t bothering to support the game even though they’re still charging for it, and it’s rife with bugs that were there 10 years ago and never got fixed. Even with a bunch of tweaks to my system, I was having to save and restart every half hour to keep it from crashing, especially late-game when you’re running a lot of sustained abilities. Not worth spending your hard-earned money; totally worth the mild headache if it’s free.
Can’t wait for the next installment. Will I take a crack at DA2 next? Possibly, no guarantees. It was still such a joy to revisit.
P.S. Gaxkang!
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