BioWare's DARK FANTASY EPIC

From the makers of Mass Effect™, Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic™, and Baldur's Gate™ comes an epic tale of violence, lust, and betrayal.

Dragon Age: Origins (formerly Dragon Age) is an award-winning role-playing video game developed by BioWare's Edmonton studio and described by them as an "epic tale of violence, lust, and betrayal." It is single-player only. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2009, and for Mac OS X on December 21, 2009.

GAMEPLAY

The game incorporates "origins" for each race and some classes. Origin stories determine the background of the player's character prior to the main events of the game's story, forming an introduction to the world while also comprising hours of play. Characters that the player meets during the origin story may reappear throughout the game, some of whom may be adversaries.

The moral choices of the player will still affect the story throughout the game. The player will save the world regardless of choosing to be good or evil, but the decisions that the player makes in the process will change the game world accordingly. Players are able to issue orders to NPCs in real time, but pause the game to queue up actions such as spells and special attacks.

There are three base classes to choose from: warrior, mage, and rogue.[21] These classes can be upgraded later into a specialized class, such as the Berserker or Templar for the warrior class, Shapeshifter or Spirit Healer for the mage class, and Assassin or Ranger for the rogue.

GAME PLOT

BioWare has described Dragon Age: Origins as being a "dark heroic fantasy" story told on an epic scale with mature themes.

The player begins the game in one of the six origin stories which serve as an introductory point for the players and present the world from their personal point of view. The origin story chosen (the choices being Human Noble, Human/Elf Mage, Dalish Elf, City Elf, Dwarf Commoner and Dwarf Noble) determines who the character is and how NPCs react to the player. For example, Elves are often viewed as second class citizens.

After completing their character's respective origin story, the player encounters Duncan, leader of an elite group known as the Grey Wardens. Duncan guides the player to their destiny of becoming a Grey Warden, a group who dedicate their lives to the destruction of the Darkspawn, a force of demonic creatures that live underground and have at various points in history swarmed the surface of Thedas in movements known as Blights.

The player and Duncan journey to a fortress called Ostagar in southern Ferelden, to join Cailan, the King of Ferelden, and Loghain, a legendary general and friend to Cailan's father. There they plan to make a stand against the encroaching Darkspawn, who Duncan believes have gathered for the first true Blight in 400 years. Duncan has sensed the influence of an Archdemon, a great being hosted in the body of a powerful dragon, in the Darkspawn's actions, making a Blight possible.

Duncan ordains the player into the Grey Wardens in a dangerous ritual called the Joining. Afterwards, the player, along with another Grey Warden, Alistair, is then given the task of lighting a beacon at the top of the fortress in order to signal Loghain to charge. After fighting through many Darkspawn that have infiltrated the fortress, the player does this, but Loghain, upon seeing the signal, quits the field with all of his men. King Cailan and Duncan die along with most of the army at the hands of the Darkspawn, who take control of the fortress and southern Ferelden. Loghain goes to Ferelden's capital city, Denerim, and proclaims himself regent for Queen Anora, his daughter and Cailan's widow.

The player and his party are nearly killed by the Darkspawn as well, but they are saved by Flemeth, a powerful witch who lives in a secluded hermitage. Flemeth presents the player with the involuntary assistance of her daughter and apprentice, Morrigan. The player, along with Alistair and Morrigan, decide that in order to slay the Archdemon believed responsible for the Darkspawn uprising and put an end to the Blight, a new army must be gathered from a myriad of factions located in the Ferelden area, which the Grey Wardens have treaties with.

After the player successfully encounters and obtains the assistance of the Dalish elves of the Brecilian Forest, the Dwarves of the Kingdom of Orzammar, the Circle of Magi, and most importantly the uncle of King Cailan, Arl Eamon of Redcliffe, a meeting known as the Landsmeet is called between all the nobles of Ferelden at Denerim, during which Ferelden's political unrest is settled and the kingdom is ready to face the Darkspawn at Denerim.

At this point, the player learns that a Grey Warden must personally slay the Archdemon, giving his or her life in the process; the player chooses between self-sacrifice, sacrificing either Alistair or Loghain depending on which is available as a result from the choices made in Landsmeet, impregnating Morrigan with a child that would capture the Archdemon's essence or convincing Alistair or Loghain to impregnate Morrigan with the same result. Regardless of the choice, the player's party reaches Denerim and force a final confrontation with the Archdemon atop the largest tower in the city. The Archdemon is slain, causing all of the other Darkspawn to flee