Erm, no, this is not about that movie Sparta. They were half naked in that one and it was set in ancient Greece. And it wasn't a video game. This is, however, about the upcoming new "interactive experience" from game developer Bioware, who also brought us the highly acclaimed Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic, the exotic and mystical Jade Empire, and the deservedly praised Mass Effect.
Dragon Age: Origins (slated for release late this year on PC and Xbox 360), according to Bioware's Ray Muzyka, will be the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate, an esteemed Bioware RPG released 11 years ago. But whereas Baldur's Gate was a standard Dungeons & Dragons style romp, Dragon Age will forge a different path gameplay-wise and looks to be richly story and adventure based.
Dragon Age: Origins (slated for release late this year on PC and Xbox 360), according to Bioware's Ray Muzyka, will be the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate, an esteemed Bioware RPG released 11 years ago. But whereas Baldur's Gate was a standard Dungeons & Dragons style romp, Dragon Age will forge a different path gameplay-wise and looks to be richly story and adventure based.
The designers are incorporating 'origin' stories for each race and some classes in the game. For example, a Dwarf Noble will begin the game as part of the royal family in one of the Dwarven cities, and a Dwarf Commoner will begin on the streets of the city. Origin stories determine the background of the player's character prior to the main events of the game's story, forming an introduction to the game world and hours of game-play. People that the player meets during the origin story may reappear throughout the game, some of whom may be adversaries.
There is no tracking of alignment as in previous BioWare games, but the moral choices of the main character throughout the game will still affect the story. You may save the world whether you are good or evil, but the decisions that you make in the process will change the world around you – deciding who will become King, for example, and affecting nations and races and their places in the world. These decisions will also influence your companion NPCs, and could ultimately lead to an NPC deciding to leave your party if he does not agree with your approach.
As with the Baldur's Gate series, players will be able to issue orders to NPCs in real time or while the game is paused, and queue up actions such as spells and special attacks.
- Wikipedia
From what I've read thus far it looks to be a decidedly traditional approach to single player role playing, but with that special narrative touch that Bioware and only Bioware can do. And that is why I look forward to experiencing this. I'm not usually a knights, mage, dragons type gamer and just several years ago I would never have touched something like this, but I've played the marvelous Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (by developer Bethesda), Knights Of The Old Republic (both I and II), Jade Empire, and Deus Ex and have since been hooked by certain adaptations of the Western style single player RPG, primarily from Bioware and Bethesda (who also created Fallout 3, which I started a few months ago and will soon jump back into).
More screenshots courtesy of IGN.com.
Bioware excel at nuanced storytelling in their games, and that is one great reason for me to always look forward to titles from them. Their stories often revolve around well written tales of macrocosmic fate intertwined with intimate, personal affectations on individual characters and spiced with moral dilemmas. Strong narrative fused with strong gameplay is the nucleus of a Bioware RPG, which gives a certain meaningfulness to this gamer's experience.
That and hot heroic guys casting powerful spells and wielding big hard weapons will always make my evening. Bring it on, baby! *wink*
That and hot heroic guys casting powerful spells and wielding big hard weapons will always make my evening. Bring it on, baby! *wink*
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