I don’t wanna feel Blue anymore...
I try to keep away from RPGs because they’re so addictive but fail every time. This time I took on Dragon Age: Origins from a passionate recommendation.
I wasn’t really impressed. The graphics aren't great (though I belatedly realized I didn't use a bigger resolution), the controls are hard to figure out (nobody fucking told me about TAB dammit!), I don’t like the fighting system and the gore (why is there so much of it?) and that’s what makes most of any classic RPG game. However, after awhile I realized the character development is interesting enough to keep me through it. Well, there wa also this thing where everyone was telling my char "Woah, a mage AND and woman, that's so rare!" So yeah, there might have been a bit of a female pride there as well.
The crew is hella fun: a cute male senpai, a young bitchy witch, a former bard/thief/spy turned religious, a drunken dwarf, a bisexual elven assassin, a sassy golem, a war dog. At some point it got really engaging so it took less than 2 months to finish the game and the expansion.
Of course there's also the romance thing. I am not used to this in the games I played before. Skyrim and Drakensang have very little companion interaction and Torment gets you a written kiss if you work on it hard enough. But here it's full romance options, for both genders, even more so with some mods. *wink wink* In the end though I settled for Alistair, that stupid sensitive virgin who turned out to be the heir to the throne. And since I wasn’t noble he dumped me and honestly it sucked more that it should have. And you can't go back and hook up with Zev or Leliana if you rejected them.
As I got to Awakening I was disappointed to learn that only the drunken dwarf remains in your party, the rest are rather boring, hey the best tank is the undead dude. And I was determined to enjoy it, at first being above L25 I felt "I got this", and there was no more pressure but soon enough I began to miss my old crew, after all they were the best part. Also when his Majesty king Alistair came to check up on my keep it was like seeing your ex. Fuck this shit. Overall is was too easy, even the endgame, and all the tons of armor and weapons were almost irritating because nobody needs that much. The only fun I had was hacking the game to make my character look a bit older and tougher.
I probably won’t play again because of all the grinding needed to move forward but I kinda wish I could fast-forward and try out other options. I also did 2 small scenarios including Witch Hunt which is no more than a bridge to DA 2 but... nah, I don't think so. I really wish RPGs were more plot and character development and less fighting.