A break from MMORPGs: Review and prognostications on Bio-ware's DRAGON AGE

[Aronian]

Article by Severian, MMORPGFOCUS.COM Staff Writer

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Dragon Age is an interesting game for MMORPG fans for a number of reasons that have nothing to do with the game itself. First it is made by Bio-ware, which usually translates to one phrase: high expectations. Second, Bio-ware has entered the MMORPG arena with the development of a Star Wars based IP, "The Old Republic" that we expect to be a great game. Bio-ware is much like Blizzard Entertainment in that they have a reputation for delivering their games late, and also in connection with that tardiness, not releasing a game until it is done and the quality is there. Developer's are notorious in the gaming industry for under-estimating the amount of time and resources it takes to make a truly great game. Bio-ware is no exception, but instead of going bankrupt when they run over budget and over time, they have the billion dollar behemoth Electronic Arts to back them up. Electronic Arts is smart to do this as Bio-Ware has been a cash cow, and was probably a smart acquisition for EA. Ironically many said this about the purchase of Mythic due to the successful Dark Age of Camelot, but Warhammer is not exactly turning into a giant cash cow last we heard. (See the story on Tier 1 Warhammer going Free to Play: http://mmorpgfocus.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1381 )

So perhaps Bio-ware will do for Electronic Arts what Mythic could not: give them a game like World of Warcraft in its revenue creating success. However this article is not about MMORPGs directly or about industry politics. It is about a gem of a game with a few nagging flaws that keep it from greatness. The recently released "Dragon Age." The game has been billed by many as the spiritual successor to the original Baldur's Gate games that earned Bio-Ware its reputation for quality in the beginning, it is my opinion that it really is not. This game was originally intended to be PC only, and we all know the decision was made to force the game onto consoles to raise revenue and return on investment, but the game suffers from this. I played through the game on the PC as a human Magi, and could see constantly where they had cut corners to make it "console capable." This is most evident in the combat interface, which had to be simplified to make it work on consoles, and in the graphics. I can run the game on an Core 2 Quad Extreme Edition and Nvidia GTX 280 with every setting maxed to the limit at 1920x1200. The game runs at over 100FPS at these settings. This can be good news though too. If you have an old computer, chances are you can run this game and get great performance. Another slight annoyance is the camera and movement controls. Depending on the camera positioning you are going to want to move your characters differently, and to see everything you need to change the camera view frequently. So you find yourself switching character control schemes a lot, which can get mildly annoying at times. Luckily there is a pause button to queue actions during the heat of battle.

Another strength the game has is the well known at this point Bio-Ware replayability. I mentioned I played through the game as a human Magi, well that is just one of six possible origin stories, and each origin story is full of questions and crossroads that can even change the ending of the game. It is easy to see how the game grows exponential in all the different paths you can take to see one of many different endings. Just a warning there are some spoilers ahead, so if you are a purist stop reading this review and go to the Amazon bar on the left side and search for Dragon Age, it is worth buying and playing.

Something else I like about this RPG is that it reminds me of the old console JRPGs where based on your decisions some characters would become available as party members and other would not. In fact, and this is an old Bio-ware trick at this point, your actions influence other party members. Be a bad guy or gal and a good hearted character will leave you, or impress another with your actions and a romance option becomes available.

The game plays a lot like an MMORPG. You are given quests by people to fetch things, kill monsters, but due to the scripted nature of many events the game does succeed a little better at bringing gravitas to your adventures. You will become very involved in the plot by the time you finish the game and may find that you want to play through again to see what could have happened had you made other decisions.

All players eventually become a "Grey Warden" and journey to Ostagar, a huge fortress to battle an organized army of Darkspawn. It is hinted that behind the army of Darkspawn must reside a demon, shown to look something like a dragon, controlling the will of all the monsters. Loghain, a leige to the King betrays everyone to the Darkspawn and many of the heroic forces die in the battle. You find yourself one of the last Grey Wardens, and can either assemble an alliance to defeat the Darkspawn, or become evil yourself.

Personally we enjoyed the game a great deal and recommend it to those who like MMORPGs but just want to do something new for a while. Playing through Dragon Age makes you more excited to see their true MMORPG offering, "The Old Republic."

[drussx]

DOA is truly a one of kind rare gems in this present times, where many gaming companies have given up on the single player market and rush to join in on the mmo craze.