Your interactions with certain characters will also vastly differ depending on what origins story you choose. For instance, I was very familiar with Jowan, a mage accused of practicing Blood magic, which is expressly forbidden. His role becomes a somewhat significant one in the plot (from where I could tell), but my relationship with him was solely due to the fact that I decided to take my origins story from a mage’s perspective. A rogue, for example, would not have had the same encounters with him, but would instead have an entirely different setting in which to interact with him when the time comes.
The plot, dialogue, and characters were clearly very thought out while the game was in development. At the same time, however – and this is where
Dragon Age really shines – your actions and your own personality have a significant impact on the storyline and even the characters themselves. Whether or not you can accept members to your party, creating friends and foes along the way, will depend on your interactions with them. Similar to
Mass Effect, you may choose between a charming demeanor or an intimidating one, with some variations in between.
The correct path when interacting with other characters is not always clear – in fact, there really is no correct path. I found myself constantly debating contrasting directions to take a conversation – whether or not to trust what the person in question is so convincingly telling me or to play it safe and slay them on the spot. Depending on how you feel is best appropriate to deal with the situation, you and I will possibly have created entirely different storylines with characters behaving in entirely different ways. Mike Laidlaw, in my interview with him, expresses that in developing the game you can barely see either end, and playing the game reinforces the validity of his point. They have developed a game so expansive that the possibilities seem endless.
The characters you meet along the way all have intriguing backgrounds and reasons for their respective behaviors – they are intricate and complex creatures that are not always easy to understand. Is Morrigan to be trusted? I met her on uncomfortable terms, and by a mere swindle of language was I able to create a slightly friendly interaction with her and convince her to join my party. However, what is her interest in me and, furthermore, what is the deal with her mother? As I’m sure many of you have seen from the video clips, both Morrigan and her mother are odd characters that seem to have hidden secrets and intentions. The more you play the more you realize that the game is not all focused on you, but that rather there are other characters that can drastically impact your storyline depending on how you decide to deal with them.
In my experience as an Elf mage, I found that it was hard to win people’s respect or help, even as I so generously offered my own. The consequences of your actions are not always clear, and create a very immersive gameplay style than I have seen from most RPGs.
Ferelden itself is incredibly intriguing. Dark and epic, the environment sets the mood for the story. You get a sense of despair from the gloomy cities – whether it is a refugee camp of sullen souls, bewildered and empty, or the destruction of city walls and a clear desperate need for supplies and support. You almost feel an innate obligation to help these people who are somewhat less fortunate than you, most of whom seem abandoned and helpless. The story itself is so complex and deeply intertwined that I have high hopes for a possibly seamless storyline. While you encounter so many fragments of the storyline that you feel you’ve obtained a copious amount of information, you still realize that they are merely pieces of a puzzle that you have barely even taken out of the box. I suppose in tandem with this fact of gameplay is my only complaint: the save method. Although you will hit various save points for your automated pleasure, I experienced a sudden drop of these same as with
Mass Effect. I got to a point of becoming OCD with saving my game in the fear that something important would be lost.
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