Dragon Age: Origins E3 Previews

A couple more Dragon Age: Origins previews have hit the web, the first of which appears to be based on existing information while the other is clearly based on BioWare’s E3 demonstration.

We start things off at Console Monster:

With this focus on introducing players to the games lore, it is no surprise that the game is subtitled ‘˜Origins’ and focuses on telling the story of each available class. So far six origin stories have been confirmed: Human Noble, City Elf, Dwarf Commoner, Dwarf Moble, Mage and Dalish Elf. Whilst it is not known how deep or varied these origin stories will be, it is expected that the origin stories will introduce you to the main quest in a different manner, with a different attitude and personality throughout the game, which have an effect on the game as a whole. If this is the case, then the level of replayability could be overwhelming, something which is fantastic given the role-playing nature of having so many varied ways to play a single game.

And then move to CVG:

Combat is pausable, so you can consider your strategy and queue up spells and attacks, just like in the good ol’ days of top-down goblin slaughtering. Certainly for those worrying about Origins being dumbed down, this notion has been blown out of the window for the combat at least. You can even zoom out outside of combat too, so instead of using WSAD to move about, you can click around the screen instead. It is, as they say, up to you.

As for what is going on behind the scenes, it’s all reassuringly dice roll-y and the number of skills, spells and so on are a far cry from more recent streamlined RPGs. While I won’t go so far as to say the game mechanics are as in-depth as the Baldur’s Gate series, it certainly shouldn’t be lacking in options.