Blogging Dragon Age Part 1: Origin Stories

(This blog series will be kind of long, so I'm splitting it into 3 parts. When they're all published, they'll be linked to here. Expect the next part tomorrow.)

Title Screen logo

I started playing Dragon Age: Origins on February 16th, after Felicia Day announced she was partnering with Bioware to make a web series based around the best-selling video game series. I love Felicia Day's work, and figured that if I was going to watch her new webseries this summer, I better have some context. Having not played a video game in a couple months, I thought this was an excellent excuse to retune that center of my brain, and also something worth blogging about. If you've played the game before, or are a gamer that hasn't had the chance to pick this up, then this is my take on Dragon Age: Origins, drawing from my previous RPG experiences. If you're not a gamer, then consider this a chance to peek into the gaming lifestyle.

After borrowing the CD and downloading the game, the first order of business was to create my character. I'm a big fan of Bethesda's Elder Scrolls: Oblivion game, which gives you eight different races to choose from, so being stuck between the common 'Human, Elf, Dwarf' options when starting Dragon Age was a bit awkward (in case you want to know, I chose to be a Khajit [see below] in every Elder Scrolls game I've ever started).

Shouldn't come as too much of a surprise.

At first, I thought I'd prefer to be a dwarf; I'm a human in real life, so it's no fun playing as one in a video game if there are other options, and elves are a bit too common among fantasy fans. Dwarves, which I've never been a huge fan of, are at least different and interesting. When I talked myself into the idea, however, I realized that dwarf characters can't use magic. Since I had no experience with the game, I didn't know exactly what that would prevent me from being able to do (besides being a magic-based character, or a Mage), and I wanted to keep as many options open for me as possible in my context-building run-through.

My final character design.

So I chose to be a Human female, with the Human Noble origin story (each different origin story, which range from Human Noble and City Elf to Dwarf Commoner and Human/Elf Mage, puts the character in a different context within the story, making it slightly different with each run-through). The origin story ran through basic control commands, and introduced me to my character's family and the base story of the game.

From right to left - Kyoko's Father, mother, and brother, his wife, and son.

 The Kingdom, Fereldon, is at war with some demon things called Darkspawn, and we have an elite group of fighters specially trained to fight Darkspawn called Grey Wardens. My character's brother leaves during the origin story to join the front line, and after playing around a bit, the family's estate is attacked by another nobleman who wants our title. In the fight, my character's father is mortally wounded, and a Grey Warden who had been visiting with us offers to escape with me while my character's mother stays to protect (and die with) my father.

My dog, Kilobyte, and Kyoko with Grey Warden, Duncan, and mother and father.

Writing this, I'm running into the first problem of RPG review - the difference between me and my character. In game, of course, the emphasis is on the fact that my character and I are the same person, but in reality that's not true. My character's family isn't my family, but because of how Dragon Age presents the story, it's really easy to get caught up in the role play and act the part completely. From here on, I'll refer to my character as 'Kyoko' (the name I always give my female RPG characters), though I may occasionally refer to her things as mine (Especially my in-game dog, Kilobyte, who I named after my real-life cat Megabyte).

Duncan introducing Kyoko to King Cailan.

Duncan takes Kyoko to the front line, where both King Cailan and her brother are, in Ostagar (We actually never see her brother here - more on that later). This is the point where the origin stories converge, and all the slight differences starting to pop up after this (For example, throughout the game Kyoko or other characters will mention Arl Howe, the nobleman who had Kyoko's family killed, and she'll vow to get revenge on him). In Ostagar, we prepare to join the ranks of the Grey Wardens, which includes collecting some Darkspawn blood for some secret ritual, and meet Alistair, the first of ten total companions that can join us for the rest of the game (Technically, my dog was the first, but every other origin story gets the dog later). Out of all the companions I ended up getting (eight - more on that later), Alistair's my favorite personality-wise, lending a lot of comic dialogue and interaction to the game.

Meeting Alistair, another Grey Warden and first companion.

The next paragraph is a spoiler, so you can skip it if you want to. I'll try to keep spoilers to a minimum, but since it's so early in the game I don't know if it matters much.

It turns out, the Grey Wardens are so powerful against the Darkspawn because they've drunk the Darkspawn blood (a feat which would kill most people, as their blood is poisonous). This gives Grey Wardens the ability to sense Darkspawn and their weaknesses. Of the three recruits to join the Grey Wardens' ranks, my character is the only one to survive.

War plans with King Cailan and Teyrn Loghain.

With some major battle about to start, the King sends Alistair and Kyoko to prepare to light a beacon on a nearby tower, which will alert Teyrn Loghain, an army general, to join the battle in a surprise attack from the side. When the battle starts (in an awesome and slightly haunting cutscene), we rush off, joined by some random mage who eventually dies, and thus isn't really remembered, to climb the tower and alert Loghain.

Of course, the tower has been unsuspectingly overrun by Darkspawn who climbed up through the lower catacombs. It would've been too easy otherwise.

A somewhat long battle sequence commences, made longer because my computer isn't well trained at loading complicated game instructions. We fight our way up the tower, to the very last room, and one of my favorite non-story moments in the game. Just before we're going to light the beacon, an enormous ogre appears, a boss-level enemy to us this early in the game. My processor running just a tad faster now that there aren't as many enemies, the four of us (Kyoko, Kilobyte, Alistair, and Unnamed Temporary Companion #1) get down to the dirty business of bringing this beast down.

Oh joy.

And by the time half of its life is depleted, three of us have passed out. I admit, I'm not the strongest person when it comes to battle strategy. I tend to do a straight-up forceful attack, a move in gaming called "Tanking." This doesn't exactly work for me because I don't heal up enough, and I'm rarely strong enough to pull off a good tank. I'm pleased to say that, through the course of the game, my battle strategy skills improved (Because that'll help me in real life), but at this point in the game, I was left with three unconscious humans and one Mabari Warhound against a huge, boss-level Ogre.

Aw, you're so cute, Kilobyte! Who's a cute doggy? *Bark!*

You heard me right - my dog, versus this monster. I couldn't wake up anyone else on my team, so instead I had Kilobyte run around in circles while his health slowly regenerated, and the Ogre's slow attacks all failed to hit. Eventually, the Ogre would ram into a wall, stunning himself for a moment, and when that happened, I'd have Kilobyte rush in and inflict as much damage as he could before the Ogre could counter attack. Lather, rinse, repeat (adding in a few health potions when I could).

It took about twenty minutes, but my dog finally took down the beast. SINGLE-HANDEDLY.

*Bark?*

I almost couldn't even continue at this point, because my fiero level was so high (Fiero - An emotion termed by Paul Ekman as the feeling of triumph over adversity, and probably a mix of norepinephrine, epinephrine, and dopamine). My dog just killed this thing for us. For the rest of the game, Kilobyte became my favorite companion character, even though I wasn't able to use him as often as I would like. I knew that, if necessary, he could take down every single monster in the game, even the end boss, through sheer force of will.

When I finally got around to lighting the beacon, I was treated to another important cutscene. This final scene finishes up the beginning of the game and sets the stage for the rest of the story, which means it's also a major spoiler if you've never played the game.

Loghain and his right hand, with an important decision to make.

When the beacon is lit, the cutscene jumps down to Loghain and his army, standing by as the King as his men fight, and seeing the beacon lit far in the distance. Seeing this, Loghain turns to his second-in-command - and tells her to retreat. Loghain's entire army turns away, back to the capitol city, and leaving the King and the Grey Wardens to their fate. The cutscene jumps to King Cailan, who, overcome by the Darkspawn and another large Ogre, is killed. After avenging Cailan, the Grey Warden Duncan is also killed, and everyone else on the field dies.

King Cailan versus the Ogre.

In the tower, our team watches the battle unfold, unable to do anything. Another group of Darkspawn appears behind us, kill Unnamed Temporary Companion #1, and suddenly a bright light overcomes us, and the scene disappears.

I made an effort, when I started this game, to emotionally attach to the story. I feel this makes games more fun, especially since it's easier to be empathetic with a story when you're a part of it. That's why this scene was so jarring. I figured someone would die - it is war, after all - and I was only half surprised by Loghain's betrayal (I was a bit suspicious after Arl Howe). However, I didn't expect it would be the king who died, and the combination of Loghain flat out refusing to aid the king, King Cailan's somewhat grotesque death, and Duncan's powerful sacrifice, left me a bit emotionally drawn.

Of all the characters to get less than two hours of screen time, Cailan was my favorite.

I'd grown to like the King; he was kinda silly, had this grandiose vision of the Grey Wardens as invulnerable in the war against the Darkspawn, and really didn't deserve to die. Duncan's death was a shock; he'd saved Kyoko from Howe, introduced her to the Grey Wardens, and had now left me (the player) on my own, with no hint of what I should do next.

When Kyoko finally came too, we were in a hut in the woods. Apparently, Kyoko and Alistair (and presumably Kilobyte) had been rescued by a woodland witch (who we'd actually met earlier), and we were the only surviving Grey Wardens of the battle. She explained to us what had happened, as she had seen from the forest - Loghain's betrayal, Duncan and King Cailan's deaths, and Ostagar overrun by Darkspawn.

The witch, Flemeth, and her daughter Morrigan, an unexpected rescue.

Alistair was visibly more distraught by Duncan's death than Kyoko was, as Duncan had been a sort of surrogate father to Alistair. Together, we decided it was our job to join forces with the various groups around Fereldon who'd signed treaties with the Grey Wardens: the Dalish, or woodland elves, the Dwarves of Orzammar, the mages, and the Noblemen. As we set out, Flemeth told us to take her daughter, Morrigan, another wildling witch, with us. They didn't really explain why, but we weren't exactly going to turn down an offer of help to take down Loghain, who was no doubt usurping Cailan's throne, and defeat the Darkspawn.

Thus ends the beginning story of Dragon Age: Origins, and starts our main quest for the rest of the game. We have four treaties to fulfill (all of which, no doubt, would require us to solve somebody else's problem before they can help us), a traitor to enact revenge on (two, actually), a Darkspawn horde to fight, several more companions to meet, and no dwarves or elves so far (besides the few elf servants, of course)!

Human Noble's elf servants, the "best treated" in Fereldon.

More on that later. The first part of the game ends here, with us finishing the 'introductory' section of the plot, and now left with an army of allies to recruit during the main portion of the game. The next blog will be posted tomorrow, with the final part coming Saturday.