Dragon Age going with "Origins" in character selection

Queasy

Moderator<br>Console Gaming
Aug 24, 2001
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Choose wisely for while the true Grail will bring you life, the false Grail will take it from you. ahem..sorry.

Instead of going with a massive character selection like an Oblivion or a distinct class selection like some traditional RPGs, Bioware just announced it is going with "Origin Selection" for Dragon Age.

And the origins are:

Dalish Elf - Proud of your role as one of the last "true elves", you have always assumed you would spend your life wandering with your clan... until a chance encounter with a relic of your people's past threatens to tear you away from everything you've known.

Mage - Gifted with a power considered a dangerous curse by most, you have spent most of your life secluded in the remote tower of the Circle of Magi to be trained and watched closely by the dreaded templars. Now your final test is upon you -- succeed and prove your strength or be slain.

Dwarf Noble - The favored child of the dwarven king, you proudly take up your first military command... only to learn that the deadly intrigues of dwarven politics can pose a greater danger than even that faced on the battlefield.

Dwarf Commoner - Born casteless in a land where rank is everything, bound as the lackey and thug of a local crime lord, you have spent your life invisible... until chance thrusts you into the spotlight, where you can finally prove whether you will be defined by your actions or your birth.

City Elf - You have always lived under the heavy thumb of your human overlords, but when a local lord claiming his privilege with the bride shatters your wedding day, the simmering racial tensions explode in a rain of vengeance.

Human Noble - Born to wealth and power second only to royalty, you find your training in both diplomacy and war put to the test when your father's castle is betrayed from within on the very night your elder brother leads the family's forcers to war.

There's more in the link. This is interesting though. I can only think they are doing this to generate a richer/deeper, more varied storyline for the game than using traditional generic classes would allow.
 

erwos

Diamond Member
Apr 7, 2005
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I thought the Mass Effect system worked pretty well - you get a couple choices, and those affect skills plus give you a couple extra sidequests.
 

RaiderJ

Diamond Member
Apr 29, 2001
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Eh, I generally don't care the process for generating a character to start with. As long as it fits in the game and allows for some replayability I'm happy. FWIW, Final Fantasy I on the NES had a great system. Lots of choices, lots of replayability.