14 DAY TRIAL // A lot of games have ended up on the desks around here and all of them look good enough to receive a review. At the frantic work pace that has been imposed by them, some things had to be taken down from the responsibilities board, while others got reassigned. As such, it seems like BioWare's Dragon age: Origins has been handed down to me and I will have the honor of writing an in-depth look at the game. As such, I plan to get field-ready by providing you with a very short impression of the entire title.
Upon completion, the first thing that caught my eye was that, just like Borderlands, even before getting to the end-game credits, I could hardly wait to do it all over again with another character. But the difference is that, while with Borderlands I stopped playing and planned to continue my adventure on Pandora sometime in the very near future, DA didn't give me a single second to rest. As soon as I took in the ending of the story, I gasped for air, got ready and I went back in the character creator, starting the game all over again.
If the first time I finished it in a mild and tempered fashion, with a powerful tank-warrior with enhanced damage-dealing abilities, the second time around, with an in-depth look at the specializations, I decided to make a mage for which I prospected an Arcane Warrior-Blood Mage Specialization. I unlocked the Arcane Warrior in the first playthrough, and it was a nice surprise to see that it was kept as unlocked for this character as well. So, as soon as I turned level 7, I already started investing skill points in my battle-mage spec-ing.
The origin story for each race is different, but, for the mages, it's a unique one altogether. I'll stay away from spoilers, but I will say that it was a lot more natural to be an evil-orientated character than it was with the warrior. As a human, I was more of a good person that did the necessary evil to accomplish the desired heroic outcome. But, as an elven mage, with an obvious chip on his shoulder due to the elven oppression in Ferelden, I found it very easy to act like a complete sociopath and manifest myself as an arrogant, self-absorbed lunatic that felt like the world's only purpose was to amuse me with its violent death.
The gameplay is completely different than the one with the warrior, even if I still centered around blade fighting, due to the Arcane Warrior specialization. I deal more damage and switch between melee and power casting in a second, but I also have to be a lot more careful. Look away for a second, and my level 8 sword caster is staring at the ceiling with his back on the cold floor, praying that the rest of the party will win the battle. A full review for the game should be ready sometime next week, when I can hopefully have more that just a 50-hour initial playthrough strapped around my waist.