Seeing all the hype and excitement about BioWare’s latest endeavor made me curious. I found myself pitted in an intense inner-nerd battle of whether to go with the Xbox 360 or PC version. Ultimately, I decided to op for the potential use of mods, and went with the PC version (also $10 cheaper). After staring at an installation progress bar for awhile, I was killing monsters and exploring an immerse world that is pretty stunning and full of bloody hellish mayhem… Just my style.
The first thing I noticed was the incredible amount of blood. Here I am chopping up some wolves and suddenly my character is getting sprayed with blood. Fantastic! It really gives you a more unique feel of hacking your way through hordes of enemies and how dirty a job it really would be. Especially when it cuts to a semi-serious cut scene, and your character’s face is completely sprayed with blood. But,with gore on the mind, I skipped the character creation process. It’s quick and effective and really gets you through. You can instantly tell the depth for multiple character play-through as each character race has different origin stories that pan out creatively. There’s nothing too surprising in terms of customizable options but there’s enough options to keep it interesting.
I tried a few other different character race and class combos trying to get a feel for the battle system. While the battle system is nothing completely new, it
Elves don't screw around
definitely has a unique feel and a lot of depth to be explored. Each character can be setup to act on its own through tactics, or you can pause the game and take direct control of characters during battle. Regardless of how much you decide to micro-manage your characters in large battles, the option is there. However, the AI and tactic system is effective enough to not have you stress out too much on easy battles. You can be a whip-cracking headmaster screaming commands, or be a more smooth Fonz talkin’ boss that lets the kids play on their own with some orders. It’s your choice, but it screams diversity like an office job seminar.
Another first impression I thought I’d note on was the difficulty. Just starting out the game, I kept it on normal. As it progressed, the minor battles were all pretty easy without much focus on my buddies to keep things cleaned up. However, once I got to the, I assume, first Ogre, the first real ‘boss’ of the game, it made it apparent that tactics are necessary for survival or you will be beat into a cute blood-stain on the floor. The ogre had no qualms about crushing my face under his boot, but it was fun!
Trust me, He deserved it.
All in all, after a couple days filled with playing, the thing that stands out most about DAO is the depth (of course it’s smooth graphics don’t hurt). It’s exploding with possibilities in both it’s plot and character, crafting, and battle systems. It boasts hundreds of hours of game-play, and they aren’t kidding. I can’t wait to see what the community pushes out for this baby, as the possibilities are truly endless. Now, if you’ll excuse me, my character needs a new coat of Deathspawn blood.
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