Today, I watched Bioware’s presentation and demonstration about their upcoming title “Dragon Age: Origins.”  Dragon Age is a medieval role-playing game similar to Baldur’s Gate and other RPGs. It’s a single-player title which tells the story of a land being overrun by an enemy known as The Blight.  The player takes on the role of “one of the three classic archetypes” with a wide range of variations in skills and equipment.

During the 30-minute demo, we were treated to images from the game, which were incredibly detailed and interesting.  It’s clear that Bioware’s artists worked hard to produce the visuals.

The game allows for some interesting tactics I’ve not seen in a lot of PC games.  For example, you can cast an oil spell to slow down your enemies, then hit them with a fireball to set the oil on fire.

Players’ choices, both in speech and action, affect the narrative of the story.  This isn’t a “good or evil” kind of path.  You may find that in some circumstances a choice that seems immoral or rude pays off in terms of loot, while the “good” choice earns you only a proverbial pat on the back.

The title is expected to be released in 2009, likely near the end of the first quarter.  Hardware requirements weren’t available, but the Bioware spokespeople said it was expected to run on the majority of PCs in use at the time of release.