It has been so many years since playing Dragon Age: Origins, and recently I bought the Game of The Year edition for the Xbox 360, which includes all DLC (which I never played)
I am playing the game on the Xbox Series X, and thankfully, it is backwards compatible. It would have been nice to play it on the 360, but I think the Series X is a good choice, especially with the Screenshot feature, so I can semi-capture my playthrough.
The loading screen.
Alone, this brings back memories, one thing I really liked was the EA logo screen, becoming a dragon and flying away. I used to love changing logos in video games, and it's something that I don't really notice in gaming these days.
Darrion of The Alienage.
I decided to play as a city elf, which I don't think I ever played before.
The ine playthrough that I destinctly remember back in the day was a commoner dwarf. I can't fully remember the origin story, but I'm pretty sure it involved being treated like scum, and working in a gladiator arena.
Another I remember was the Human Noble, but the details are a bit spotty.
Here are my cousins.
During this origin story I woke up to find out that I am getting married to another elf in some sort of arranged marriage.
Also, the alienage is a slum filled with Elves who used to be enslaved by the Humans.
Lovely start.
We made it back safely, with the brides intact.
Jesus, this game is so dark... and I love it.
I remember this being a very dark game, story-wise, and it is unlike many games of its time.
This origin story involves us having a double wedding, but a Human noble arrives with his friends to basically use and abuse some elf women. My cousin bottles him, so he comes back, takes her, and the brides, as well as some other women.
They bring them back to their manor to have their wicked way with them and inevitably dispose of the bodies, because the nobel is a sicko.
We arrive at the manor, kill everyone, save nearly everyone, but we're too late to save Darrions cousin from being assualted.
We have our first major decision in the game, kill the nobel or let him live.
He's dead now.
Then we make it back home just in time for me to be taken off to join the Grey Wardens.
This game came out in 2009, about 2 years before the Game of Thrones TV series, but the book series at that time were atleast 4 books in.
I wonder if the novels inspired this games dark subject matter?
Each are fantasy, but have a dark twist when it comes to story-telling, each are filled with colourful characters, there seems to be morally grey individuals throughout and tough choices.
Also, the dark spawn are awfully similar to the White Walkers, especially the fact that each are held back by appointed watchers/ wardens, who have both seen better days and are lacking man power by time the new threat emerges.
I'm going to look for more similarities, but I think I'm finding a good few.
Ostigar.
This place feels a bit like osgiliath in LOTR.
This is the camp where everyone has gathered to fight of the horde of dark spawn who have mobilized at the edge of civilization.
Grey Wardens, as well as the kings army and plenty of allied lords are making their first stand and throughout Ostigar, there are plenty of people to help.
I think this works really well as an opener of the true game, as there are plenty of quests to do, and there are a bunch of interesting people to talk to who elude to the wider world beyond this camp.
There are no major unprompted lore dumps here, but the information is there if you choose to seek it out.
I met a tranquil mage, and I remember the name, but thought it came up way later in game. They are essentially emotionally crippled mages that have been sedated with magic to stop them from wreaking havok. Or, at least that's what I took away from it.
Alister
He was one of my favourite characters in the game back then, and during the short time we have traveled together he has made me laugh a couple of times.
He is a templar turned Grey Warden within 6 months of the war breaking out, and as a Templar he is a follower of the chantry and doesnt trust mages.
Morigan
Traveling through the wilds we encounter a witch named Morigan, I like her as a character too, but currently we aren't able to recruit her into our party yet.
After this scene we went back to camp so I could join the Grey Wardens alongside some other new recruits.
I'm loving the game, and I'm lucky, because it has been that long that there are so many details I can't remember, but there are major events that have come back to me since playing it again.