Dragon Age Origins

Starting a Bioware game is deadly to your free time. To mine, anyway.
I played through Dragon Age: Origins for the first time last November, didn’t eat, drink, sleep, just kept playing until I was done. I got to the end out of breath and exhausted, but with the blood of the archdemon on my twin blades and the taint of the darkspawn simmering in my veins.
All those saved games were lost. But playing a rogue through the first time was only one story, and to get ready to play the expansion pack, Dragon Age: Awakenings (and to anticipate Dragon Age 2), I decided to replay the game and make some different choices.
Each different race/class combination has its own, semi-unique, origin story. Human and elf mages share an origin in the insular Circle of Magi, where all budding mages are sent to find their place as either the tools or the prey of the Templars. Your dwarf can either be from the underclass or of the nobility; your human can be from the slums or the castle; your elf can be from the ghetto or the forest. All stories do converge once your are pulled from your old life by Duncan, the Warden-Commander of the Gray Wardens. The Wardens are a mystically bound order tasked with defending the surface world from the depredations of the Darkspawn, twisted creatures formed, says legend, from the mortals who invaded and tainted the Golden City of the Maker. With the Maker departed, his prophet and bride Andraste long ago dead, murdered, and the land on the edge of civil war, an Arch Demon has arisen to lead the Darkspawn on a Blight — an invasion of the surface world.
Through the choices you make along the way, your adventure will bring you along roughly three different paths, once through the origin. Being helpful, kind, upholding the law and never making deals with the evil spirits of the Fade, you will follow the good path. Be self-serving and make deals to your benefit, and you follow the path of evil. Chart a middle course and nobody will really be that happy with you, but on the other hand, their expectations will be low. No matter what path you choose, your overall goal remains the same — defeat the archdemon and prevent the Blight — but your reasons may change.

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I have about 27 hours into Bioware’s Dragon Age: Origins, and have explored about a third of the world. Having enlisted the aid of Arl Eoman, the Circle of Magi and the Dalish Elves to my cause, I am now exploring the depths of Ozrammar, hoping the dwarfs will honor their ancient treaty.
My party is in the vicinity of levels 13-15; it’s really nice that characters you don’t include in your party still level up along with the main character, always a level behind. My main character, Tipa the City Elf Rogue, has both of her subclasses now — bard and duellist. I haven’t trained any of the bard powers, but I am well down the track for duellist, a really excellent choice for how I play.
Morrigan has left behind her shapeshifter roots and taken on the role of the arcane warrior, a melee mage. She is responsible for crowd control and nukage. She was the healer before we acquired Wynne, and has so many things to do that in fights, normally I control Morrigan’s every move. Arcane Warrior is amazing; if I play through again, I’ll likely make it my main.
Having toyed with Alistair and DLC golem Shale as tanks, I’ve largely settled in with Sten. Leilana was a mainstay of the party until we got Wynne; we needed a dedicated healer more than another bard, and the party stats exposed her for the poor dps she was. Since I’m handling all the roguish duties, Zevran has never had a party slot, though he did finally teach me the assassin ways. Barkspawn helps out now and again.
After the jump, some pictures from my journeys. May (or may not) contain spoilers.

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