Dragon Age: Origins Previews

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Written by BuckGB on July 8th, 2009

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I'm playing a sexy female Mage called Solona, who's already completed her Origins story, accumulating three party members along the way. Templar Alistair is my tank, a friend who accompanied me during The Harrowing the ritual that marked my transition from apprentice to fully-fledged mage. I've also got a nameless Soldier and Tower Guard at my disposal both will bugger off at the end of this battle. You'll pick up around a dozen characters during the game, all told.

So while the PC version has a permanent tray of selectable moves mapped along the bottom of the screen, the console version has opted for something akin to Mass Effect's menu wheel. But the wheel has evolved: a squeeze of the right trigger pulls up the radial, showing basic actions - things like spells, skills and items - while each selection then pushes you out onto a second ring, where you can make more specific choices, such as which magic attack to unleash, or which trap to set. Bringing up the menu pauses the action, but you can also toggle between two trays of hotkeys mapped to the face buttons for more instant mayhem, while either bumper allows you to slip seamlessly between controlling the different members of your party.

BioWare took the time in presenting a particular game situation with different histories to show based on the characters involved and the decisions of the player. And lo and behold, the rough course is basically similar, but dialogue, NPCs, and even behavior and composition of players showed significant group differences. Player group? Yep, BioWare leaves you in a group of up to four characters go out between which of course it can change at any time. This may in some situations for the use of specific skills will be needed.

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