Dragon Age: Origins Review
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Character Customization There are three general classes in DA:O: warriors, rogues, and mages. That's right: clerics have been folded into a sub-class of magery. Leveling is based, as in most RPGs, on experience that derives from completing quests and defeating opponents in battle. All classes have access to the same group of skills: rogues get a skill point to spend every two levels, with warriors and mages getting one per three. Skills are identical across all classes, and not directly involved in combat, though some, such as poison-making and combat training, certainly can help.
Talents (rogues, warriors) and spells (mages) are another matter. These are combat- and class-specific, one free point earned at every new level. They follow a series of branches, several available at any time to a given class. For example, the first tier talent Powerful on one of the warrior branches is a passive ability that gives them greater health and less fatigue in battle, while the second tier talent following it is Threaten: a sustainable ability that uses up some stamina, but draws enemies away from other party members while it's active nice for a tank. The system has an excellent selection of talents and spells, though people used to playing mages as a (box of tricks) with hundreds of spells available for everything from invisibility to stopping time may feel uncomfortably confined. I didn't, but it's worth remembering.
When an NPC or your character reaches level seven, they gain the ability to select one of four specializations, and a second specialization at level fourteen. There are four specializations per class, each representing a very different take on how to develop its potential. So a rogue who becomes an assassin gains great backstabbing bonuses, while a bard gives party bonuses or distracts and stuns targets; a ranger can summon an animal to fight alongside the party, and a duelist improves their attacks, defenses, and critical hits.
Each specialization brings with it attribute perks, and a branch of new, unique talents or spells. Many of these are ingenious game sub-systems that require strategy to manage well. Mages that become arcane warriors, for example, can gain tremendous defense and spell resistance capabilities, along with powerful weapons attacks whose bonuses derive ultimately from their magic attribute rather than strength. But armor fatigue is factored into the increased mana cost of spells during battle, while some spells require two hands to cast. (A mage staff is an extension of the mage, and doesn't count.) This means sheathing a sword to do spells when you're up close and personal with something large and vicious. Tactical and strategic tradeoffs, in other words, that you need to work out for yourself. Good job.
Note that you don't start the game knowing specializations. As in Planescape: Torment you can be taught them by special NPCs, though you can also find some in odd places, or spend very large sums of money to buy an occasional instructional books from a few merchants. Specialized classes add a lot of character tailoring to the game, and are challenging to master. This, too, is an excellent idea, keeping many specializations as something that will suddenly jump out at you, rather than something you can actively seek. It makes the game feel more alive.
Mods
Strongly on the positive side, a modding toolset has been released for the game. How deep this goes remains to be seen, but within a few weeks of initial release there were already plenty of face mods (as you'd expect) and a few extensive tweaks to combat. With a little luck, we may see new, elaborate quest systems, such as Morrowind and Oblivion possess, or new specializations, as in BG2. But these take time. In any case, the prospect looks good, and BioWare deserves credit for doing this.
