I am talking of course, about the fact that I started a new game of Dragon Age: Origins this weekend. I had played through the demo for Dragon Age II a second time (as a rogue on this go-around, which I think is the way I will go for the full game, I am not too fond of what I have seen for the warrior's skill sets), and I was just about done with the first Dragon Age book (which is fan-fricking-tastic, if you like this game, get the books, they are amazing). I didn't want to start a whole new other game before the sequel's release, but neither did I want to not play anything until then.
So...new game it is. Already I am so hooked. The level of story-telling in this game is just unbelievably deep. I worried last week that Dragon Age might eclipse my love of Stargate. At this point, I don't even think there's a question of that anymore, as much as I hate to say that. Once SGU finishes up its run and there is no new Stargate coming my way, Dragon Age will be free to just continue filling that void. I don't think my love for Stargate will be diminished, but it won't have the opportunity to grow anymore, and if just my brief entry into a second play through of Origins is any indication, my love for Dragon Age is going to grow every time I fire it up. Heck, Family Guy was a rerun last night, but before deleting it from my DVR, I fast forwarded through the entire thing just so I could see the thirty second Dragon Age II commercial that I knew would be airing during the program. Hooked.
This time around I am playing as a human mage, starting out in the Circle of Magii. Even though this origin story starts out by throwing me straight into the Fade, which is the part of the game considered so annoying by most players that there is a mod out there designed to let you just skip the whole Fade quest, I am still enjoying myself immensely. The Fade actually never really bothered me that much, to be honest. Yes, the quest there later on is a bit too long and can get tedious, but I still maintain that the idea behind it is really nifty. Anyhoo, so, completely different character, completely different origin story, just as much fun (if not more) as the first time!
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| Lyssa, a human mage. |
I think part of the reason I am enjoying it a bit more this time is because I am already familiar with the controls and I know how I should be leveling up. Also, once I moved on past the origin story into the main story, I kind of had an idea of what was coming--which means I was more prepared and remembered to do things like stock up on potions and buy a backpack before the camp was destroyed.
Also, I can have a little bit of fun to amuse my inner twelve-year-old. Early on in the main plot, you get three characters added to your party, but two of them are permanently killed off before too long. Knowing this was coming, I opened up my inventory and divested them of all of their armor and weapons so that I could sell it (early times means I could use all of the cash I can get to stock up on supplies). If you take off someone's armor in the game, however, and don't give them something else to wear, they then run around in their underwear. So I was having a field day giggling to myself as these two big burly guys are running around in their burlap skivvies (the undies are not really period accurate, but are amusing, nonetheless), having serious discussions about Serious Things, completely oblivious to the fact that they were almost naked. It was awesome. I tried to find a screenshot for you, so you could see just how ridiculous, but alas, that particular part of the game didn't garner and automatic shot, and I didn't think to take one myself (I have got to get better about that).
I think it is needless to say that I am having fun with this. The only thing that has truly been annoying me is that I kept running into all of these locked chests that I could not freaking open because I am not a rogue and I didn't have my permanent rogue party member yet. Grrr.... It is just frustrating. I am sure there are only a few bucks and some health potions in them, but what if there was some super badass weapon that now I will never get, huh? I finally got Leliana (the first rogue member of your party) yesterday afternoon and immediately went running around unlocking every chest I could find. Oh my goodness, so playing DAII as a rogue. My only regret is that I probably won't get to play this game all the way through, because I know I will want to drop everything and play the sequel next week when I get it. But hopefully I can come back to this afterwards. We shall see.
Saturday morning my husband and I were clearing out the DVR and I saw that I had recorded a gamer show because Felicia Day was on it talking about the Dragon Age webseries she made. My husband joked that I was going to start watching the gamer channel and shows now, and I had to think about it for a moment before disagreeing. Right now, I am not seeking out any new information on games other than from Bioware. They have three big games coming out over the next year that are already going to suck up a good chunk of my non-parenting life (Dragon Age II, Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG, and Mass Effect 3). Add that to the huge pile of games we already have at home that I would like/need to play, and I think that's enough to be going on with, don't you? I have already pretty much signed my soul over to Bioware (the parts of it that I didn't give to my husband and daughter, at least). Unless a game is mentioned on some non-game-specific site I keep up with, then hopefully I won't hear about any of the next new games for a while. I have an obsessive nature, and it would be too easy to just get caught up in trying to play every new game that comes out. I think I'll just try to stick with the franchises I am already lost in for now, that way I can have more time to really enjoy them without just rushing on to the next big thing.
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