{"id":189,"date":"2012-10-04T10:00:52","date_gmt":"2012-10-04T17:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.markplays.net\/reviews\/?p=189"},"modified":"2012-09-29T16:08:03","modified_gmt":"2012-09-29T23:08:03","slug":"mark-plays-dragon-age-origins-hour-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.markplays.net\/reviews\/2012\/10\/04\/mark-plays-dragon-age-origins-hour-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Plays ‘Dragon Age: Origins’: Hour 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the second hour of Dragon Age: Origins<\/em>, I avenge people, and then I explore, and then Alastair gets sassy with me. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to play Dragon Age: Origins<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Hour Two<\/strong><\/p>\n

YEAH, THIS IS REALLY GREAT. And it’s not as hard as I thought it would be! Yet<\/em>, that is.<\/p>\n

My only complaint at this point is that my limited battle options are really, really frustrating. I can stun someone, then hope I get enough ahead of their attacks that I kill them first. To my advantage, I’m big on constantly<\/em> checking every chest in every room to get items, so I managed to have enough health potion thingies to survive the attacks on Vaughn’s guards. (I promise I’ll learn the correct names of things, I swear.) I absolutely do not understand how to block anything yet, and I don’t even know if it’s possible. I give ONE OF YOU permission to spoil that for me. Please don’t repeat the answer 40 thousand times in the comments, haha.<\/p>\n

I’ll talk more about the gameplay once I get to the part about Ostagar. The first half hour of my gameplay or so involved my escape from Vaughn’s men. It took me two deaths to figure out a better technique of attacking groups of enemies. I’ve noticed that this isn’t like most fighting games I’ve played. You can’t just run into a group and hack people to pieces. You’ve got to develop a strategy to it and utilize your companion as best as you can. I found that drawing away one or two men from Solis made it easy for the two of us to survive each onslaught, and I generally would stun one of them and focus on that guy immediately. Is there a technique to not<\/em> missing? It seems totally random. Actually, I bet it’s related to one of the skills, and I just need to level up faster.<\/p>\n

I keep finding random shit in this game that makes me laugh. First of all, THERE’S A CONVERSATION HISTORY IN THE SELECT MENU. Why didn’t I know about this? That’s so helpful! Am I destined to discover things by accident all of the time? Then I had to kill a war dog, and that might have been really sad, but he kind of looked like a shrunken polar bear, so I just laughed while I stabbed him with my broadsword. That probably makes me sound like a terrible person. It’s a game NO JUDGING ALLOWED<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I do wish that these enemies would drop more weapons. I need some badass shit, okay? Still, I’m picking up everything I can find. I don’t know what 90% of it does, but I’m working under the assumption that it will all become useful later. So I just set out to murder as many bigots as possible<\/em>, which included brutally slaying Vaughn himself after consistently teasing him about everything he said. I don’t know if choosing to make Roslin sassy as fuck will affect her story, but everyone seems to want to fight her within sixty seconds of meeting her, so I’m going to assume this is a good path. I was a bit disappointed that leveling up to level 3 did not give me any skill points to spend, but maybe it’s only every other level that you get something.<\/p>\n

After rescuing everyone and heading back to the Alienage, it’s clear that what I’ve done has had far-reaching implications for my village, considering that a bunch of human guards come to town immediately. I, of course, admitted to being the one who killed all their faves, and I do not regret it. They’re misogynist rapists, and I’d do it again! And drink their blood! LET ME BE A VAMPIRE. Oh wait, this isn’t Skyrim<\/em>. Oh shit, I can’t wait to actually play that game through for the first time I WANT TO BE A GODDAMN WEREWOLF.<\/p>\n

Anyway, that beautiful hunk of a man Duncan saves me from imminent death by conscripting me into the Grey Wardens. I love that as soon as this happens and I’m supposed to go say goodbye to everyone, the entire Alienage just starts telling me what an awesome thing this is for my life as I pass by them. I like that the random people in this city can talk to me and say shit, and it made me laugh that they universally supported me. You’re damn right this is going to be awesome!<\/p>\n

Also, one of the human guards started to say, “Son of a tied down\u2013” AND THEN NEVER FINISHED. <\/em>What the hell is that phrase???<\/p>\n

OSTAGAR IS PRETTY AWESOME, Y’ALL. This giant stone fortress is where I did some choice exploration after Duncan told me my ultimate goal is to speak with Alastair. I’m glad I chose the Rogue class because that allows me to persuade people really<\/em> easily. I got the king’s guard to talk some major shit on King Cailan, who is overconfident and will be annihilated by the darkspawn in the next hour of the game. That’s my prediction. There’s no way he’s going to survive! But I think my favorite part about exploring Ostagar was engaging in conversations that continued to build this fictional world for me. It’s no surprise that I’m a big<\/em> fan of worldbuilding, and I figured out a lot of stuff about Ostagar from the people around the camp.<\/p>\n