World Domination Plan

Another entry in the series of “Facts Only” impressions; this one on Bioware’s latest PC title, Dragon Age: Origins.

The demo really did look and play like a pumped up 3-D Baldur’s Gate.  Fully rotational camera, zoom out for standard isometric view or zoom in all the way to the action.

Skills work as expected:  a bottom action bar with skills and spells.  You can hot swap between two equipped weapons.   The game is fully pausable to issue individual commands to each member.

There is no perma-death. When a party member dies, they are automatically revived after battle (supposing that at least one party member survives the encounter) with stat penalties. Penalties can only be removed by resting at an inn or other safe location.

Parties are made up of 4 players max (with occassional AI counterparts joining the fray - such as when we rescued some caged dogs in a dungeon who then helped us clear out the enemies).  You can swap out party members in towns and camps.

As in past Bioware games, party members will not always agree with your actions.  This time, however, they will turn on you if they think you are doing the wrong thing, and you will have to fight and kill them if you push them too far.

Overworld travel is done via a map, as in past Baldurs Gate games.

Friendly fire is OFF, so be careful with your mage spells!  Sixty to one-hundred hours of content are planned for the game (including sidequests).  Players can expect to be around levels m15 - 20 by the end of the game.

Impressions: I’ve been excited for this game from day 1, and playing the demo only made me more excited.  Everything seems in place and feels right.