A little digression: the Dragon Age

I've long been a fan of Bioware's RPGs and autumn/winter 2009-2010 is a particularly good time with Dragon Age released this week and Mass Effect 2 at the start of 2010.

Dragon Age: Origins was preceeded by a character generator and if you're online uploads your current gear/achievements (and pics) to an armoury-like part of Bioware's sire. I put together three characters earlier in the week -  Andromache, a human mage, Buliwyf a dwarf warrior, and Maebh an elven scout (sound familiar :p) and last night Andro's adventures began.

So far it's pretty good, if linear, with the right mix of fun and challenge and looks great (with your character dynamically updated to reflect personalisation/dress - how things have progressed ...). The combat is very tactical - being an offline game you can pause the action, plot what your party members will do and then let things run (until you want to adjust things). It's also bloody. After one adventure I was left wondering if the school had showers and a laundry. It doesn't look to be pulling many punches with it's 18 rating!

I presume there's a separate start for each class - my adventures to-date have solely been in the mage school (the Harrowing, a mage test, and another adventure with a fellow student) which wouldn't work for other class/race combos. I'll find out when Buli and Mae head out into the world!

Expect more pictures/comments as things progress