Alright...my impression of Dragon Age: Origins can be summed up in one word: wow. Bioware marks a return to high fantasy with an incredible collaboration of talent. Everything – literally everything – is top notch. The environments are crafted to tell stories before any narrative is encountered. Instead of glimmering buildings and inns, the player finds themselves in rough-built villages and hastily laid out campsites throughout the back country of a nation that has just found its independence. The backstory and history is fantastic and in-depth – the story of the in-game church, for instance, stands out as a remarkable commentary on real world religion – though it isn't shoved in the player's face at every turn like so many RPGs seem self-required to do. (Lost Odyssey, I'm looking at you. Don't try to hide it.)
The biggest thing for me, though, are the characters. Party members don't blindly follow your decisions, nor do they just shout opinions at every disagreement. They have loyalty scales of their own, and their own lives outside of the player's story. When combined with the excellent voice acting that BioWare games have become known for, the party members cease being placeholders and become something much more; they become individuals, as potentially corny as that sounds. The characters in DA:O easily gain a place next to your favorite characters from literature, film, and television.
The player can get nine companions in the game, though most will only gain eight – DLC is required for the ninth, and as such I won't be including Shale. (Poor little golem.) I also probably won't be including the "Secret Companion," although I might be persuaded to.
As struck as I was, I had to write something...and this is it. "Perspectives" is a series of shorts, each revolving around one party member. Also, as much as I hate bald summery, I figure it's easiest to describe my Warden here than hope such details are readily apparent later on. Therefore:
The last son of a murdered noble household, Sebastian Cousland is a rogue with specializations in assassin and duelist training. He wields a longbow for distance fighting, and duel-wields a longsword and dagger for those hello-you're-dead close encounters. Equally irreverent and compassionate, he was instilled with a deep sense of morality by his parents and frequently snuck out of the palace with his older brother to mingle at the local taverns. As a quirk, he doesn't sleep in a tent when on his own, but rather builds shelters which can easily be torn down when the party moves on. (When it was discovered he lacked any desire for training as a pure warrior, his father pushed survival courses taught by the roughest ex-soldiers in Ferelden – men, elves, and dwarves – and the impact of them has never lessened.)
Anyway...now that my geek badge is official, time to start!