owlmoose | 30 Days of DA: Reference post and Day One

I like these 30 Days memes. Something about answering questions posed by another gets me to thinking about things in new ways. Also, it forces a regular posting habit, which is always a good thing for me. I've wanted to do the Dragon Age one for awhile, but I was holding off until I finished my second time through DA2, to give me a more rounded picture of that game and its possibilities. That happened a couple of weeks ago; then I decided to wait for the new year. Now that time has come, so here goes!

Cross-post note: I will be posting shorter versions of most of these answers to Tumblr, then linking back here for the full-length entries.

Day One: Favorite Dragon Age game (ie: Origins, Awakening, Dragon Age 2)
My favorite game in the series so far is Origins. Awakening was fun, but not substantial enough for me to consider as full a game as the main titles. Dragon Age 2 was probably a better and more complex story than DA:O -- I love how it deconstructs the fantasy and heroic tropes that Origins plays pretty much straight. But in terms of the game as a game, Origins wins for me, hands down. I found it more fun and more engaging. I also appreciate the greater variety in the kinds of missions and characters and places -- and I don't just mean the repeating maps, but the epic sweep of the story and the settings. I'm particularly fascinated by the Grey Wardens: their history, the lore, the outsider culture they have created for themselves.

But even if that weren't true, I expect Origins would still get the nod for sucking me into the world of Thedas so quickly and completely. I haven't fallen in love with a source this hard and fast for a long time -- for a game, not since Final Fantasy X. If I had played DA2 first, I don't know that I would have been quite so compelled by the series. As it is, I have my first new fandom obession in six years, and my life is definitely the richer for it.

The Questions

In high school and undergrad I was a hard core tabletop role playing gamer and I am extremely impressed at how well DA:O captured the feeling of those kinds of games. While the game was never able to give me the "kick Alistair" option that I so dearly wanted, I was impressed with how different most of the dialogue options felt. Of course, unless I figure out a way to look at the underlying logic of the entire dialogue system, I'll never know how much is an illusion and how much is really multi-branched writing but--wow--I'm impressed!

I want to do a hate run where my warden is a machiavellian asshole because I am hoping that gives me a deeply different view of the characters. I might need to metagame a wee bit to pick out the best possible origin story for that play through, but once the origin is selected, metagaming ends.

And I want to do a hardened Alistair romance run.

I also want to play a deeply skeptical, jaded Elf. Not sure if s/he will be a city elf or a dalish.

All that said, I sort of suspect that my first warden will forever color my understanding of the game? Or maybe she won't but I just love her so much as a character that I am not *yet* ready to imagine another warden being as much fun. >_<

30 Days of DA: Reference post and Day One

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