I’ve been playing Dragon Age: Origins when I’m not playing Star Trek Online. As much as I want to return to Mass Effect to prepare Shepard for the impending arrival of the sequel and write a review for Dragon Age, I think I should finish at least one play-through of the fantasy RPG first.
The problem is that Dragon Age is, for me, long.
Maybe it’s because I’m playing a mage and further complicated my life by going for the Arcane Warrior specialization rather than focusing on big high-damage “OH CHRIST MY FLESH IS MELTING OFF YOU BASTARD” spells, which can make some of the boss fights pretty frustrating affairs. I’ve rearranged my party a couple times and I think I’ve gotten it down now, though. It could also be due to the fact that I’m conversing with my party members because I have this weird notion that I should get to know the people willing to lay down their lives for my somewhat bland-expressioned protagonist. And maybe I’m just playing in the wrong order, since I’m over 20 hours in and have only just now picked up the spirit healer NPC, who is awesome in her magic skills but considering that I’m going for something a bit like a D&D CoDzilla, she’s a bit redundant at this point.
I’m already thinking of playing through again at least twice, once as the Dalish elf I created before the game even came out, and once as a human noble because I hear that backstory’s pretty interesting. My darling paramour (in real life, not the one I picked in the game) has played the City Elf & Dwarf Noble backstories but has been sucked in completely by the Mass Effect universe which is part of the reason I’ll be picking it up next week. But the point is I can’t start a new game quite yet because the old game isn’t done and I’m not inexcusably stuck.
Anyway, I need to shovel out my car, but suffice it to say that I hope to have my Dragon Age review up soon. I’m hoping there will be more moments like the one pictured above. In case you don’t know, you meet the person responsible for the creation of golems, and that story, along with all the peripheral stuff around it, is pretty damn awesome if you ask me.
February 7, 2010 at 5:41 pm
It’s even more interesting if you bring your golem along with you. Oh, and I’ve played through that damn game 4 times now. So if you just want to know the ending, let me know. 😉
February 7, 2010 at 8:13 pm
I think I put in about 60 hours in each of my playthroughs, but that was doing all the side quests and junk. I thought it was a good length though — it felt very epic.
February 8, 2010 at 8:29 am
@Leandra It does feel epic – like sitting through all three Lord of the Rings films. It’s a fantastic story and worth the time investment, but sooner or later your ass is going to start to hurt. 😉