BioWare, Endings, Creative Control, and a Rant

Okay, I know recently BioWare has been getting a lot of criticism about Mass Effect 3, the cookie-cutter ending and everything else. Hell, my last review was on Mass Effect 3 and where I felt BioWare went wrong in general. I know there's also a lot of hate for the Dragon Age games, especially the second, and honestly... I have no idea where all this hate is coming from.

Look, BioWare screwed up once or twice. They're trying to make their games for a wider audience. They're trying to do this and that and find their way. Now, although I like a good RPG every once in a while, the Baldur's Gate fans are a little on the insane side in my opinion. I played the first Baldur's Gate and tried the second, and I just have to say that those games have not aged well at all. So, yeah... maybe the story was awesome and moving and whatever, but you need more than just a story and some characters for a good game. And this is me saying this, the king of loving a game for story and characters.

What I think is going on are two things. The first is unrealistic expectations and the second is BioWare's changing demographic. Let me explain myself here and hopefully not appear like I'm talking down to anybody. Let's look at Skyrim for a moment. Not a BioWare game, but a single-player RPG experience. It sold incredibly well, shattered expectations, and showed the world that single-player RPGs could still not only sell well to a Western audience, but could sell REALLY well. Part of the problem for BioWare is that although the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series sell all right, they don't sell Skyrim numbers. This is for many reasons, but they're trying to change that. They want to change that. The problem is that they go for the wrong audience, alienating their old fans in the process.

Now, would I consider myself a BioWare fan? I don't know. I like most of their games, sure, and I've gotten pretty heavily invested in both of their big series, but I've seen some of the lesser things they have put out as well, Mass Effect 3 being one of those lesser products. It's a trend that I don't like, BioWare turning away from what made some of their games great in the first place, but that does not preclude their newer games from being fantastic.

BioWare has a history of really listening to their fans, including characters and gameplay scenarios to appeal to their fanbase. Come on you Garrus and Tali fans, stand up. I think sometimes they overreact or react the wrong way to criticism, for instance completely getting rid of planet exploration after Mass Effect and by Mass Effect 3 having almost no exploration at all. Yeah, that kind of sucked. But they listened about characters and about romances and about everything else.

As a man with a lot of things to do, I still love my video games, but I can't allow myself to become as heavily invested in a lot of these decisions as some people are. I don't really post on the BioWare Social Network forums unless I have a major bug in one of their games, and in general I kind of avoid that scene. Way too many emotions running high and a little too anonymous for my taste. I don't like hiding behind some crazy screen name airing my problems passionately but without any real face behind that passion. That's why I write here where people can easily find me and easily message me if that is so desired. I love feedback, and I'm sure BioWare does as well, but ranting and raving in their faces constantly just pushes everybody down into the fray.

Do I agree with most of BioWare's decisions? Yes, mostly I don't have a problem with them. Most of their games are pretty solid, especially their most recent games besides Mass Effect 3, and I'd happily buy another game from them because they're good people and make great games.

I had the chance to meet some of the developers of the Dragon Age series and spoke to them when I went to the New York Comic Convention. It was incredibly exciting and worth so much to be able to tell them how much I appreciated their products and the work they have put into an incredible series of games. I think so many creators love the feedback, whether good or bad. I know I do. I love being told by someone where I've done a great job and where I need to improve, and I take those discussions incredibly seriously, as I'm sure BioWare also does.

With the Retake Mass Effect 3 movement, I have very mixed feelings about it. While I wasn't happy about the endings to Mass Effect 3 or... uh... the game in general, I kind of had a feeling from the beginning that i would have an issue. Something about that first Earth mission was a forewarning that I should just simply not play this game. But I did. I did and I didn't like it. Did I hate it? No, but it wasn't as good as the other games in the series. That being said, it was pretty solid and although lazy in some portions, I found the game overall very engaging. The ending was rushed very obviously and was disappointing, and I really was very passionate about it in my review, but sitting on those feelings for a week or whatever it is, I have a few comments to make.

The first is that an ending DLC is a terrible idea. It's not that I don't agree with the Retake guys or that I agree with them even. It's more like I don't think it will help. I got the ending I got. Paying for DLC or receiving it for free will not wash the taste of disappointment out of my mouth. I just think it's not worth it. It's not worth the fight and it's not worth the precedence that would be set for a DLC ending to a AAA game. I don't think I could agree with that. It just doesn't feel right to me. The ending will always be there whether the cover it up or not, and I just think people should move on. BioWare messed up. They know it by now. But making them change the ending is not going to help anybody. It would basically be fanfiction at that point and that seems incredibly shallow to me.

The second thing is that I really don't like the indoctrination theory. I like the theory that BioWare was rushed and created something nonsensical because they simply didn't have enough time for an epilogue. That makes a hell of a lot more sense to me.

The third thing is that I feel very mixed. I like BioWare and their games, even if I was disappointed in their latest effort. I wish they had more time sometimes and a lot more room to breathe, but with everybody always breathing down their throats, you have to think that they're in a lions' den of trouble. I won't say I'll never be a paying customer again, because that's silly and a little ridiculous. People get way too worked up about this stuff. I should never be the one to say that people need to calm down about stories. I go and rant about stories all the time on this blog and to my friends and girlfriend and everything else. Hell, my girlfriend more often than not sighs in pain every time I start complaining about Harry Potter or Homestuck, but that's because I take those stories seriously... but even I don't dedicate my time and effort to getting the stories changed. They are what they are. Creators can easily be wrong. Hell, I'm probably wrong in some of the stuff I write too. Nobody can be perfect and oversights in story are easy when they're reinforced by people who think similarly.

That being said there is a ton of passion from the fanbase of BioWare and it must be both humbling and enlightening to BioWare to see the outpouring of people talking about this game. Hell, the complaints are certainly valid as are the praises. Criticism can work both ways and, in general, works best when spoken together rather than apart. Can I pick apart ME3 and hate on it? Sure, and I kind of did, but forgetting the good things in the game would be a disservice to the creators as well.

In general I think that BioWare just has a problem writing endings. They're not easy to write either. I mean, this is the last story of an epic tale. Not everybody in the fanbase would have been pleased regardless of the ending given. The ending just happened to be extra poorly done.

I just don't understand the hate coming out. I was passionate about the game, but I never actively hated BioWare. I was invested in the characters and the story... and then it ended. I've moved on to other games, other stories, and my own life, however bland in comparison it might be.

I guess the question I have to ask myself is am I willing to bring down the sky on BioWare and never receive a potentially awesome game again? No, I'm simply not. BioWare was never my favorite developer, but they're pretty high up there. I think they do an excellent job most of the time, and as much as a rag on DA: Origins: Awakening, I really liked that expansion despite the flaws. In general BioWare's story works, and they do listen to their fanbase, despite maybe not being able to tell the fanbase exactly what they want to hear.

I don't know. I feel like way too many people have become way too sensitive. I think I had become way too sensitive. From all I heard I expected a gem, and instead I got a normal game. Was it bad? No. Was it fantastically great KotOR II style? No. It was pretty good all around. It cut out some of the elements that made the series great, but became better in other ways. So... I don't know.

I guess I wanted to put my opinions out there. I don't think a developer should be hated for trying for mass market appeal or for screwing up their own story. What I do think they should be called out for is laziness, focusing way too much on changing a game series that was already very good, and the multiplayer being more focused on than the single-player game in a single-player series. I can't really forgive that part quite yet. I'm still kind of annoyed about that actually. And no, I'll never play multiplayer and I won't play ME3 again until the multiplayer has no real affect on the single-player game besides making it harder to get the best ending or whatever... not impossible like it is now.

All of this said, it is BioWare's game, and their decision to release an ending DLC is one that walks down a very scary path. I think the push might be a noble push, but it just doesn't sit right with me. The ending certainly sucked, but changing it will not simply change the fact that it sucked originally. It could have been an amazing game, the best game ever, but it wasn't... and I know that's hard to accept, but it's certainly the truth right now. And no amount of whining or hating or even being civil and respectful and awesome about criticism will change what was originally there and what it meant to both the fanbase and the developers.

Maybe I'm trying to be a little profound. Maybe I'm just airing out the things that bother me. I'm not essentially against new endings, I just don't think they'd have any impact on my experience. I had issues with the whole game. Changing the ending would not help me enjoy the game more than I did. Hell, it would probably just make me annoyed in all honesty.

As for other BioWare items: Dragon Age II's DLC and expansion are done for. No more will be made. I find that really quite saddening even if it does make sense. I do wish that BioWare's fanbase would calm down a bit and realize that BioWare is not perfect and that they shouldn't expect perfect games. Nobody makes perfect games. Hell, even companies who do make a perfect game often do not follow it up with other perfect games. I LOVE KotOR II, and I like a lot of Obsidian's other games, but none of the others are as perfect as I think KotOR II is. I love Valve, but I can't stand the Left 4 Dead series. And Half-Life has aged very poorly over the years. And they've made some games that are basically perfect besides with Half-Life 2 and the Portal series.

My point is that many fans of BioWare have unrealistic expectations. They expect perfection... hell, maybe even I expect perfection at this point, and when it isn't delivered they get upset. I'm not saying it isn't justified and no, I'm not talking about entitlement because that's dumb, but I guess what I am saying is that sometimes you have to take a step back and look at the games objectively. The Mass Effect series was never perfect. There were A LOT of missteps throughout. The critics of these games are wrong for giving them close to perfect scores... wrong for giving them perfect scores too. There are issues and problems and people shouldn't have been surprised to see issues and problems in ME3, but they were.

They were... and now people are upset and voicing their ideas... and it's great to see so much brainstorming and so many people coming together, but why hate on the developers who have given so much to your potential enjoyment? Yes, we all paid the money for the game. Yes, we all felt like we deserved better. I felt like I deserved better... but people screw up. Even if they can't say it, I'm sure they realized how badly they screwed up and how badly their game went over. I'm sure they're itching to defend themselves. Itching to show everybody that they did make a solid game... that they did have enough time... that they are listening and taking notes and wishing they could go back and change things or not. I've created stories myself. I understand criticisms and I understand how hard it can be to take... but I also understand how hard it is to listen to when the person criticizing is right and you, the creator, are wrong.

But BioWare is also trying to sell more units. They wanted to make a game that could appeal to anybody, new people to the series, or old returning players. They wanted to create a story and a world that would be easily accessible and not shut out the new people to come... and I understand it. I still don't like the multiplayer, but I understand why it's there. I understand why Ashley got a makeover. I understand why Vega exists. I understand why IGN's Jessica Chobit had a character in the game, why homosexual romances are included, why "boring bits" were cut out in favor of action, why the ending felt so rough, why in the end the entire game mostly felt so... safe... so full of little nothings. I understand these things. I don't begrudge BioWare about them as much as I did or as much as I certainly could.

I just wish that their next game makes me happy. I just wish that they learn from their mistakes. And I hope they understand that I'll be buying their games because I mostly do enjoy them... even if they've taken a misstep from time to time... like we all have. It's not hard to do... and yes, it was the end of the series, the end of an era, the end of these characters... but it was a ride nonetheless, maybe not the best ride, maybe the kind of ride that made you a little ill even, but a ride nonetheless, one that accomplished something positive even with all the problems.

Maybe what it accomplished was simply bringing the fans together... or creating controversy... or realizing that they can't rush other games... or realizing that they have to take a different approach from now on. But they've certainly learned something... and so have we all.

Anyway, I wish you all the luck in the world, BioWare and the fanbase. Get things patched up... and I'll be waiting for the next game regardless.

Also, I told you dudes that critics are always wrong. Don't listen to them. But I'll be talking about that soon enough once I review Silent Hill: Downpour...

Video Game Assessment Revisit: Dragon Age: Origins (2009)

I have already reviewed this video game some time ago (It was my first review here.), but I thought that my review of the game basically sucked and I had not really come into my own as a reviewer with some kind of insane personality that I wanted so much. Well, continuing my apparent bunch of reviews about BioWare games, I am going to review Dragon Age: Origins as well as its expansion pack, Dragon Age: Origins- Awakening and all of the DLC leading up to the second game which I reviewed not too long ago.

So, this game's story is pretty simplistic, very fantasy RPG-ish. Almost every other fantasy story has a similar plot as this game. Well, really this game has two plots... both of which are very indicative of the fantasy genre of RPG. The first is dealing with an usurping "king" and putting the rightful ruler on the throne. The second is dealing with orc-like enemies led by a dragon and defeating this inhuman Blight.

The story frankly is regular and normal fantasy, which sounds like an oxymoron, but there you go.

So, the game has elves and dwarves and orcs (called darkspawn) and ogres and these things called Qunari and obviously humans. And humans are also obviously the greasiest and worst of the peoples, constantly being bad guys and being racist and such. It's pretty terrible. Why are humans always so bad? I know a lotof humans I... well, I know some humans that aren't so... okay, I know like three people I don't think would kill me in my sleep. That means that there are some good people. In this game, humans just seem so selfish and cruel and it's a pity. There are a few good ones, but almost all of them are either in your party or friends of the party characters.

Now, your companion characters are where this game really shines. You have the snarky Templar, Alistair, the snarky dark mage girl, Morrigan, the snarky old mentor mage, Wynne, the snarky elf assassin, Zevran, the snarky and ofttimes drunk dwarf, Oghren, the snarky stoic Qunari, Sten, and the bard Leliana... and your snarky dog for good measure. If snarky is mentioned in most of those characterizations, then yeah... snarky is what most of the characters in the game are. I have never seen such a collection of snarky people in my life. All they do is snark and become cynical and snark some more and become sarcastic or sardonic and... yeah... it's fine for a little while, but why is every character so snarky? Did I walk into s snarky convention while playing this video game? Seriously. And the only character who isn't snarky is the creepy female bard with the terrible voice who watches your character when he/she sleeps. It's creepy and weird and she's awkward and... why does every character have such emotional hangups? Why am I their babysitter/therapist? Why can't they help me out? Maybe my character is feeling a little down what with all the people TRYING TO MURDER ME... Maybe, just maybe, I don't want to her Alistair whine about how he's alone in the world when in my origin story, MY ENTIRE FAMILY WAS KILLED. Seriously, Alistair, I like you, dude, but you just have to stop whining constantly. And Morrigan, stop being overtly evil. Now is not the time when I'm trying to romance you or kill a GREAT EVIL. Can't you just for one second think about being a good person? Seriously.

I could go on and on about these characters, but I think you get the... DOG, NO! DO NOT RELEASE YOUR BLADDER ON THAT UNSUSPECTING CHILD!!!

Uh.... anyway...

The music of this game is fantastic. It really is. It sounds like a lot of music from The Lord of the Rings and I'm basically in love with LotR so there's that. The gameplay is annoying at times and the difficulty is impossible. Even easy enemies are insane to take down on NORMAL difficulty. It's almost as if the difficulty is actually broken. It sucks. I will admit there is satisfaction, a ton of it in fact, for killing big enemies though. There is nothing sweeter than a well-fought battle with an ogre or a dragon or something and plunging the warm, blood-soaked steel of a sword into its blasted throat. The gore elements are pretty well done, although I do wish my character had a handkerchief to wipe his face from time to time. I hate going into a cutscene looking like I just got caught in the flood of blood from Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.

So, now going into the DLC (downloadable content) and expansion: The DLC can be anywhere from really good to really awful. The first DLC actually came with the game, The Stone Prisoner, which introduces a new companion, Shale, who is basically awesome. Shale is a golem and is about as hardcore and hilarious as can be. Shale is very reminiscent of HK-47 from the KotOR series and that just makes the character that much more awesome.

There are other DLCs within the game itself, but most only add new content and items rather than memorable story elements.

Outside the game there are, besides the expansion, four DLC packs. The first is The Darkspawn Chronicles that is a funny little alternate universe in which your player character didn't exist. You play as a Darkspawn and slaughter your entire companion team in the final Dragon Age: Origins battle. It's fun, but short, and has really nothing but combat.

The next DLC is Leliana's Song which is a prequel story for the worst character in the entire game of Dragno Age. Yeah, it's a fun little story, but it very little, if anything to the entire plot of the story. Leliana had mentioned her entire story at one point, and being a bard she wouldn't shut up about it either. I guess I don't really see the point of this DLC. It has some fun moments, but ultimately comes off as overdone and useless.

The third DLC is The Golems of Amgarrok, a very short side mission with some body horror to it. Ilove body horror. The story is interesting as is the gameplay. The only complaint I have is that it is short... and very difficult. Neither of which is a plus. I would have rather had more of this DLC than the two I mentioned previously.

The last DLC, and by far the best, is called Witch Hunt. It details a search for a witch, possibly a witch known to the player character. It's a fun and reminiscent look back at Dragon Age, really tying up loose ends of story and ending the entire story with a bang. I really like it. I think the characters in it are done well, the story is strong, and it ends Dragon Age: Origins in the way it should be ended.

Now I'll move onto the expansion pack, Dragon Age: Origins- Awakening. So, this is basically a new set piece around a third of the length of the actual game. It has new character as well as some old ones, and a new area to explore. It's fairly well done in terms of story and visuals, but falls flat for other reasons. The dialogue system was changed from the one I love so much that reminded me of the KotOR series, where you can just talk to any companion at any time, to  a system of only being able to talk with them when they have something to say. Kind of silly if you ask me. It's a change I don't like and it's a change that stayed around for Dragon Age II, much to my chagrin, although it's done much better there than it is here. Awakening has some great areas within it and has some of my favorite fights within all of Origins. Blackmarsh and everything that happens there is particularly memorable, as is the Architect and what he represents, and the Deep Roads of Kal Hirol, which are so different and much more awesome than the Deep Roads in Orgins. Everything here seems to try improving Origins, and with the exception of dialogue, it seems to. Characters are still a strong element of the game, and Awakening doesn't disappoint with that, having some of the more memorable characters in the series, like Nathaniel, Anders, Velanna (even though a lot of people hate her, I like that crazy elven witch), Sigrun, and Justice. Mother is insane and a pleasure to watch, really bringing body horror to the forefront, which is something I think needs to constantly be brought to the forefront... then again I'm a big Cronenberg fan...

Anyway, the Origins game as a whole is amazing and worth revisiting here. There's so much to it I don't think I could ever go through all of it, but I'm going to damn well try. I like the game a lot. It's great for any fantasy buff, or even anybody who really liked LotR. Check it out, but remember the combat sucks if you're not on a computer, and the Xbox 360 version (which I have) looks like crap.

So, be mindful of those things and have fun.

Video Game Assessment: Dragon Age II (2011)

So, I haven't reviewed anything for a while now. Part of the reason for that is that I was busy, and the other part of that was this game right here as well as bits of its predecessor. The Dragon Age franchise is a fascinating one. It's like one part The Lord of The Rings, another racism and hate, all mixed together with a video game series glorifying the sweeter parts of the thoughts of any person who has ever swung a sword around in their yard or dreamed of being some great adventurer or hero fighting evil things and taking names and never giving up.

The story here is beautiful and stellar. Compared to Dragon Age: Origins (my first review here actually, and a bit of a sucky one at that) this game's story is so much more complicated. It's really wonderful to see. The choices made within this RPG determine your character, Hawke's, story as well as the story of the world itself. The characters here all feel like living and breathing people... albeit maybe a little bit snarkier than most live people I've known. Some of the characters will get on your nerves, others will become your best friends. It's interesting just how the characters were built to have personality conflicts, not only with each other, but the  player character himself. I like that.

The visuals and graphics are amazing and a wonder to behold. I don't care if you read any other video game reviewer and they say "This game sucks." or "This game looks terrible." it doesn't. This game is one of the best looking games I've seen... comparable to the Mass Effect series in that regard.

The gameplay is phenomenal. Oh jeez... it is hack-and-slash gaming with tactics at its best and I like it.

There are some issues here as well. Don't take this as blind praise. The whole game takes place in a single city, and although that city feels like home after a while, it also feels like you're doing the same thing over and over again, especially when the same caves and dungeon maps are used over and over again. I understand that it probably saves on some kind of loading time or something, but with the long loading times already, couldn't it have been preferable to just make a new freaking cave or sewer for different quests? I guess I just don't get that.

One complaint I've seen time and time again is that the game has no coherent narrative, and that the story goes and does random and stupid things, never setting anything, like the main villain, up. Well, this is true... sort of. I think this is one of those games that has to be played completely from beginning to end. What I mean by that is that to get into this game and actually understand what is going on, you must play it as a completionist. It's the only way to really get into the story and see the foreshadowing and understand the world that this game takes place in. Some main stories do kind of come out of nowhere, but not really, not if you're paying attention. There is a lot of foreshadowing.

One thing I will relent on is that the actual climax of this game seems to take place during Act II (of the three acts of the game), and Act II is also and easily the best act in terms of both storytelling and everything else. Act III seems rushed, certain quests not being completable and the quickness of the act really push that. I actually have to wonder if there was a rushed completion of this game and it is partially unfinished. The bugs I've encountered probably go hand-in-hand with that.

So, ultimately, do I like this game? Yes. I think it's fun. It reminds me of the crusades with mages. There is a very Jerusalem feel to the city of Kirkwall where the entire story, save the very beginning, takes place. I like that. I've also never seen or played anything like it before. There are politics in this story, race relations, and dealing with almost sensible prejudices. It's all very fascinating and a really fun game to play. If you've played that first Dragon Age game, you may not necessarily love this one, so watch out and beware. Personally, I find the games very different, with the first having better party companions and romances in my opinion, but the second having an actually unique and interesting story rather than just fantasy cliche. I'm a story guy myself, so I tend to like DA II for that, although I do wish it didn't seem quite as rushed as it actually does.

Video Game Assessment: Dragon Age: Origins (2009)

Dragon Age: Origins is an RPG video game (obviously) by Bioware, the makers of games such as the Baldur's Gate series, KotOR, and Mass Effect. Dragon Age: Origins is a game that came out not too long ago (I think November or so) and became an instant classic to the gaming world. Sure, it may not be the best RPG ever made, but with it's stunning visuals, great gameplay, and memorable characters this is a game that should not be missed.

I guess my mind was made up in my first playthrough. I thought this game was awesome. The characters stuck out in my mind the most, being the best part of the entire game. Characters like Morrigan the swamp witch with a cynical attitude and Oghren the drunken dwarf who loves to flirt with anything even remotely female became not only amazing characters in this game, but some of the best characters I have ever seen anywhere. Even the characters who turn out to be a bit less in the powerhouse character department are still excellent. And this is where the game absolutely shines. These characters help create a world that is not only believable, but as cynical and snarky as our own world and the people in it. Different characters have different likes or dislikes obviously but the characters never feel one-dimensional or one-sided. They all feel real within the confines of the story. Each is complex in his or her own right and you will find yourself liking some characters as friends and confidants and disliking other characters whose personalities rub you the wrong way.

The gameplay is fun, but can get tiring after a while, especially whilst playing on the X-Box 360 (which is how I've played it). It seems to be a game made to be played on the PC, but it does play well on the 360, just, I believe, not as well as it plays on the PC. The difficulty can be painful as well. Painful and demanding. There was one point in the game that I ran into some bounty hunters. No matter what I did I could not get past those bounty hunters. They weren't even named. They certainly didn't seem important... and yet, those damn bounty hunters had me stymied. I had to lower the difficulty to get passed them, which I almost never do in games unless I'm playing at the highest difficulty, and I wasn't in this game. I was playing on Normal difficulty. Dragon Age: Origins is unforgiving in its difficulty. If you take your eyes from the battle just once or use characters in the wrong way, you're going to pay for it.

As for the settings, they were mostly very well done. I thought visually that the Deep Roads (think Moria from Lord of the Rings) and the Fade (a kind of dream world) were absolutely beautiful. They also seemed to be some of the longest areas, probably because they were so stunning in terms of how they looked and the feeling they gave off. Some of the other settings were perfectly fine, but none were as gorgeous as those two were. None of the others had the weight and beauty of those two areas. Their realism and grittiness surprised me and caused me to want to see even more of those areas.

As for the plot, it was fine, but not great. The plot is not why you're playing the game though. The Darkspawn (the main enemies) and their threat is interesting, but just not the holding point of the story. I was much more interested in the storyline with the Landsmeet and Loghain. It made much more sense and was much more emotionally fulfilling. The Darkspawn threat just seemed more like, "Oh, these orcs are evil and they must die." and then I would hack them to pieces and get bored. I guess an "evil" species is just not as interesting as the evil that men do even whilst they call it "good". My point is that most of the game is more about the Landsmeet and Loghain. It isn't until the very end that the Darkspawn really become an important issue to take care of. And the Arch-Demon (the main baddie) just didn't feel satisfying to kill... actually the whole end battle and even the ending just kind of disappointed me, feeling more tacked on than meaningful. Overall the story is very good, but it does seem to fall apart as the game gets past the human evil and get into the creature evil.

The real staying point is the characters though. I can't stress that enough. The characters are wonderfully done. My personal favorite, Morrigan, had such a deep personality that she felt like a real person. Her story, as well as the stories of other characters, became the highlight of the game for me, and the game is worth it just for those character's stories.

Well, I think I got down all the stuff I wanted to say. The low point of the game is the the Blight storyline (the main story), but the high point is certainly the characters. I did enjoy this game quite a lot. It has a great amount of replayability (although you can only play it so many times before the gameplay gets kind of old), but the choices given to you in game with each character makes the game worth playing multiple times. The game becomes very different depending on how you play it and what you do or even what kind of character you are. There are six origin stories all with the two different genders and three different races (elf, man, dwarf), all of which are unique and different and create a character worthy of the Grey Wardens in different ways.

Overall I think it's a solid game, better than most, but has some fundamental flaws in its execution, gameplay, and plot. It is one of my favorite games on the 360, but that's not saying much as most of the games seem intent on being for douche-bags. My point is that Dragon Age holds up against the 360 games admirably and even holds it own against other RPGs quite well. It is a solid game and definitely worth your time.

(Edit: Did an updated version of my first review here."