BioWare’s “Dragon Age” is your standard computer RPG in the style of the genre that they helped define with games like Baldur’s Gate 1&2 and Neverwinter Nights. The quality is what one expects from a BioWare game: insanely high, and after logging a couple nights (5 hours) of play since Tuesday’s launch I’m thoroughly hooked both to the game play and the world. I’m not going to talk about the excellently developed game world and lore, or the smooth, action-oriented-yet-still-typically-RPG combat. No, you can go to any number of gushing reviews to hear about that. What I want to talk about briefly is something that I’m seeing for the first time in this game that should have been done a decade ago in this genre and that other developers need to pay attention to.
In full fantasy tradition (re: Lord of the Rings, Dragon Lance, anything by R.A. Salvatore) the lone hero is never alone for very long and sooner or later he is bound to become surrounded by companions, followers, and well-wishers (in that they don’t mean him any specific harm.) In a video game context these are often fully (or partially) controllable characters who may aid the player in his quest. In most cases the player will have full access to these character’s inventories, being able to swap out old items for new and ensure that one’s adventuring companions are at least as well armed as the hero himself. This is all well and good and from a game play standpoint makes perfect sense … until your companion is taken out of the story and beyond your control by often unforeseen circumstances. Maybe you reach a new town and your hero and his companion part ways or perhaps it is something more sinister involving a dragon and the muffled screams of your companion as he is devoured whole. Whatever the case, story often necessitates the removal of companions and in an abrupt manner as to be more visceral. If only you had known it was coming so you could have removed that Ogre Slaying Knife with a +9 against Ogres from your companion character beforehand and put it to better use than residing in the bowels of some flying lizard.
I’ve been in this situation in countless games and it results in one of two types of behavior:
- You never give your companions anything of value, that way you won’t miss it should they be gone
- You save your game often and after you experience a companion’s departure, reload and strip them of all your possessions before continuing again.
Dragon Age makes this a thing of the past. I’ll admit, I’ve grown accustomed to losing items off of lost companion characters in RPG’s, so imagine my surprise when after my first cameo companion character left my employ my personal inventory became filled with all of the items he was carrying, including that nice sword I gave him. The same happened later on with two other companions who met their untimely demise in a cut scene during a crucial plot point and I had just equipped them with new stuff too. Now I know this seems like a little thing, but a decade of playing games where this wasn’t the case and then all of a sudden the optimal solution presents itself? Well you think someone would have thought of it by now.
At any rate, it’s a feature I hope to see again in the future in what so far appears to be an excellent game worthy of the BioWare pedigree. I’m just happy I can finally equip my companions with decent weapons and armor and should I decide to feed them to a dragon to allow myself a hasty retreat, it’s nice to know that my investment will return to me, to be sold or given to my next hapless comrade.
