Let’s take it from the top shall we?

The game’s main focus is undoubtedly the plot and the way the story is weaved around the player’s choices. Bioware is a developer known for writing great material in terms of an epic story and an engaging world and as such, makes it a point to prove it and push the line with each game. As the title of the game says, when you start out in the game you get to choose an Origin story to follow. Depending on whether you play a male or a female character and which race you choose, you will have access to certain classes and an Origin story. The Origin is practically a different start in the game that’s unique to your character which will shape the adventures that are to come.

Hey there little fella', can you lead me to some phat loot? I got cheese.

I’d like to point out that while it might seem superfluous and just tacked on, the Origin of a character is more then a customized 1-2 hour intro. Depending on whether you are male or female and depending on your race you will have a different experience for each. From customized dialogue options to actually plot-changing scenarios, i suggest everyone think long and hard about what character to play, since it will affect your gameplay experience.

I played a Rogue dual-wielding female elf with the City Elf origin story and i was surprised on more then one occasion to what lengths my particularities affected my surroundings. To provide some concrete examples, people will react differently to elves, considering them second-class citizens, and also the fact that i’m a rogue was referenced more then once. I can’t help remembering the time a blacksmith greeted me with something like “Hey elf, grab that box and take it to the advisor, and be quick about it, i have more work for you” and me totally flipping the guy off. Later on in the game, being male or female of a certain race can seriously impact the storyline and make for a lot different ending. I’ll leave explaining that alone since it’s got ’spoilers’ written all over it. Also you will eventually be able to even interact with your Origins story and either make up for lost time, or take vengeance on previous baddies. It will become obvious on a second or third play-through of the game how intricate the connections are and how deeply they go rooted in the game.

All fear my Swordbow! *graphical glitch*

After the intro, you get thrust into the main storyline of the game, your character following the path of the Grey Wardens, helping reunite the Dwarves, Elves and the Humans against a common foe. The Wardens are a society of warriors that band together and unite empires in times of great distress, to fight off Blights. A Blight, without revealing too much of the story, is an event in which Darkspawn, twisted ghastly creatures, are lead to the surface by an Archdemon. This is the very jist of it, though the game makes full use of its new world and explains the events that are unfolding in detail.

The world of Dragon Age: Origins, is as described by the developers, a “dark heroic fantasy” universe, meaning we get a bit of Conan-like grim mixed with a bit of Lords of The Ring style. While it strives to go a bit beyond the usual elves/dwarfs/humans route by introducing elves as second-hand citizens following centuries of slavery and dwarfs as very complicated civilization with an intricate political sphere, it’s still as fantasy as you can get. They kept all the stereotypes of dwarfs being great blacksmiths and miners, and elves being agile bow-wielding forest-keepers for example. I really wished they would go further then that and step out into a new and exotic world, something i haven’t seen since Morrowind, but sadly we have to settle for ‘usual’ fantasy. Bioware goes the same route as it did with Mass Effect and chose to make their own world, but unlike Mass Effect which vaguely detailed the world, they really pulled off the brakes on this one.

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