Get used to pausing and changing battle tactics a lot if you want to make it out of Dragon Age in one piece.

I was this close to leaving my female elven cousin in the hands of brutish noblemen. You know, the kind who waste away their money taking advantage of people weaker than them and killing off whoever gives them lip. Seeing as it’s pretty tough to live with myself if I were to do so, I proceeded to bring the pain instead. A few minutes later, my other elven cousin (playing a temporary role as a tank) and I were soaked in blood. Glorious, tactical-combat-style blood.

Yes, readers, I just started a new game in hopes of seeing the wonders of Bioware as they do an old-fashioned CRPG ala Baldur’s Gate. My first choice: a female rogue by the name of Godiva. It turns out that the elves in this universe aren’t the high noble uppity people like in Baldur’s Gate or in any other Dungeons & Dragons template I’ve seen so far. Rather, they’re an outcast race residing in the slums of the big cities in Ferelden. The last remaining elves live in the Dalish encampment near the elven ruins. That’s a pretty nice twist to an old fantasy trope.

Pity about the dwarves though; they’re rich, and they live underground while forging lots of metal s*** and are proud. Haven’t seen that one before.

The game didn’t put in Origins on its title because it sounded very fancy: every new character race and class will have a different starting story. You pick the mage, you’ll start at the mage academy and hell breaks loose. You pick a human fighter, you’ll have your rich palace stormed by rival soldiers of your noble house. All roads lead to you getting picked up by a stout Grey Warden warrior named Duncan, and with your involuntary recruitment as a Grey Warden. As with all tales, the supposed “final battle” between the humans and the Darkspawn ended with the entire human army residing in Ostogar and the Grey Wardens wiped out thanks to some backstabbery by Loghain Mac Tir, the uncle of the now-deceased King Cailan who is now next in line to rule the majority of Ferelden. Well, every Grey Warden except you and your snarky companion who-might-as-well-have-obvious-links-to-nobility Alistair, who makes a really great tank.

Well, next to Sten and Shale, but that’s a tale for another journal.

To the game's credit, the wolves here don't carry sacks of gold in their innards.

Awakening at Flemeth’s hut, I was told that we were branded as outlaws thanks to Loghain who now tries to usurp the royal throne. After much conviction, we set off, but not without gaining an extra new party member: the sarcastic Morrigan who dressed up like she was raised from a barn. Technically, she IS raised in a place resembling a barn, but damn if her wit isn’t as sharp as the dual blades I’m holding. I always make it a point to put Morrigan and Alistair in my party as they’ll be exchanging banter at each other’s expense.

Like with every fantasy RPG where I play the thief, I resort to just having my rogue dual-wield a sword and a knife. It’s probably my mentality that rogues have, and always been, doing it from behind. Plus, there’s a system that I enjoyily exploit: the flanking system. You see, every enemy you face will have a red circle just beneath their feet. Along the circle there would be a black line which signifies a weak spot where anyone of any class can backstab and flank them for double the damage. With one of the Rogue’s skills gained via levelling up, that black part of the circle extends to the left and right side of an enemy, meaning my rogue has three options to flank and backstab anyone in her way.

My basic combat tactics is basically getting two fighter class characters (Sten and Alistair in this case) getting up close and using any skill to make them the focus point of attacking, while Godiva just sneaks behind and just keeps slashing from the back. Of course, enemies do wise up and would automatically start chasing me, but that’s where Morrigan and her horror/stun spells come into play. Works (almost) every time when I’m fighting anything that’s not reminiscent of the Ogre battle at Ostagar. That’s a good thing too: relying too much on the same tactic and not changing them on the fly will get boring. There’s only so much entertainment to be had than just letting your A.I-controlled party loose.

I was impressed at the work Bioware put out in their successor to the Baldur’s Gate series; enough to just pursue on ahead rather than just shelve it for other console and PC fares. Stick around next as I figure out which of the four main quests I will pursue first to banding a coalition of races to fight off the DarkSpawn. Plus, an old lady in the group turns out to complement my playstyle better than I thought.