All play and no work

Warning: Content may be too geeky for some readers.

A friend of mine gave me Dragon Age: Origin on the PC last Sunday, and I can't seem to teat my self away from it.


Let me just add before anything else, that I really enjoy getting into characters in RPGs. Thought the extent of my RPG knowledge is the Diablo series of games and Fable 1 and 2.

... O and world of Warcraft.

Actually thinking about it as I just wrote that last sentence, those are actually some of the bigger mainstream titles.

But I've never really been into the "Hardcore" ones... Usually I play anything where you just zone out and click in something until it dies.

I love a game where I can explore though... what ever the design of the game maybe, if it offers huge areas where you character can wonder around and discover things at his leisure, that stuff really ices my cake. As I said earlier, I also really get into my characters. To the extent that I played World of Warcraft for like close to four years and only ever had two serious toons.

My Warlock from WoW

I had a druid who was my noble hero, defender of the weak and champion of the Horde. When I'd play him I'd make sure to be very courteous and helpful when ever I could. I know it sounds super geek-fest lame, but that's how I saw the character.

I think that's why I started having so much fun when I made my Warlock. Now that guy was a farkin dick. I'd be the jerk who swears when ever something goes wrong, or diss on people if they didn't know what they were doing, and then swear some more at people who dissed ME for not knowing what I was doing.

Of course it helped a lot that I strived to have my Warlock in the best possible gear and such that I could get my hands on. If there was a armour set or weapon that caught my attention, I would "farm" a dungeon for weeks and weeks until I got it.

So of course being the highest on the damage metres meant that I could be a dick and not have people kicking me for it. But I did it not to be liked or kept around, I did it cause I could have nothing less for my character.

... what was the point of all this again?

O right... so I've been playing Dragon Age, and man is it awesome.

I love the way the game totally allows you to shape the out of of everything around you. Everything you do in it (EVERYTHING) snow balls into something that could either be a good thing or something that will totally mess you over. The game also has some of the most memorable characters I have ever met in a video game. To the extent where my best bud in the game, this warrior guy named Alister, I made sure that he had all the best gear I could possibly get before I started to find stuff for my self.

Clarence and Alister (Helmet)

My guy's name is Clarence :D

And he isn't a bad guy, but I do play him according to what I personally feel is the right choice at the time. But if it means anything to anyone who's played the game;

> I'm a Berserker/ Reaver, so yes I desecrated the holy ashes.
> I killed the elves and made friends with the werewolves
> I made a deal with that mage in that warehouse and sacrificed his salves to make my health bar longer.

... so yeah I guess I'm not the nicest guy either :P

I'm not going to do some bullshit review of the game, as there are lot of em available online, but as far as RPGing goes, This would defiantly be one of the bigger, better titles to pick up. Or even if you're out for something with a solid story and dialogue, this game is serious drama.

Now I'm hacking my way through the games expansion, but after this weekend I think I'll pace my self a bit.

Expect some Dragon Age related art to be up soon.