Dragon Age Origins: Playing spin the bottle with a dragon

I want to apologize in advance for being vague. It is nearly impossible to discuss what’s so great about Dragon Age Origins and why without spoilers. I did my best to avoid them but that choice came at a cost. One that will change this review forever. One I’ll have to live with for the rest of my life. I just really don’t want to ruin one of the better stories I’ve played in a long time. You’ll understand when you’re older…. or play the game.

Since story is the most important part of an RPG, let’s talk about that first. This game is being advertised as one that will change based on your decisions, good or bad. It does do that but not quite in the way it sounds. With every bad decision you make, you run the risk of upsetting another character in your party as well as the NPCs you encounter. However, that’s only true for NPCs that have to do with that quest, all others will seemingly be oblivious to those choices. Because of that, you’ll really only care what your party thinks and you really will care what they think. The other party characters really bring the game to life and draw you into the world. They each have their own stories that become intertwined with yours and the way you help or don’t help them with their problems effects how they treat you and react to your choices within the main story.

For example, early on a particular angry and cold character joins our party, for some reason I really liked this person and tended to talk more to them and give them better items. As the game went on, I noticed this person opening up more and more to me about their life and then eventually things heated up. After the hot pocket cooled, I began basing my story decisions on what he/she would want as to not ruin the relationship. And this all started with a character who begrudgingly joined me and routinely gave me one word answers to questions early on. It became a story within the story that really felt like my own. It was like I was playing spin the bottle all over again, except this time there were dragons and it was actually magical.

It’s very common while you’re walking through the world for the other characters to start talking to one another about recent events and questioning each others stances on said event. They might also reveal a bit more about their background during these random conversations based how much they like the other party member involved. Those touches are what really make the game come alive.

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