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Dragon Age: Origins does not have a release date, and indeed not much is even known about it, yet it is already being heralded as one of the most epic and ambitious single player RPGs of all time. The creators of Dragon Age: Origins is a little company you may remember known as BIOWARE. That's right kiddies, the developers have been doing something other than giving each other piggyback rides since Baldur's Gate and they are back with a title described as BG's "spiritual sucessor."

Dragon Age: Origins is being called time and again "dark fantasy." It would seem they are going the gritty realism route taken by Age of Conan, promising to deliver a story told in "mature themes." I am hoping those mature themes are merely gore, violence, and language... as opposed to "oh my gosh my female character has boobies!" As we players learned from Age of Conan... people can and will abuse the ability to run around with their tits hanging out. Ray Muzyka, CEO of BioWare, had this to say about DA: O's darker roots:

We're thrilled to be returning to BioWare's fantasy roots, with Dragon Age: Origins representing the culmination of over a decade of experience, said Ray Muzyka, co-General Manager and CEO, BioWare and Vice President, Electronic Arts. Dragon Age: Origins is a dark heroic fantasy that doesn't pull any punches. Our fans are in for the most emotionally intense gaming experience we've ever created, and we hope to surprise them with just how dark and gritty it gets!

The Escapist Magazine got a hands off preview of the title at E3 2008, showing off both the game trailer and ingame dialog. Dialog is reported to have a major role in the game with a Fable-like twist to it, molding your character into a hero, martyr, or tyrant depending on your actions and choices:

As is the usual with BioWare games, dialog plays a huge part in developing both the story and your character, choosing responses that make you a Hero, Martyr or Tyrant. One example we saw dealt with a prisoner being kept in a cage who asked for food and water. In exchange for your kindness, he would trade you the key to a chest full of valuable loot - the very key he was locked up for stealing. Options included giving him some water in exchange for the key, or simply stabbing him and taking it, which is the option the BioWare rep chose.- Escapist Magazine

Lets side step a second: Morality in a Video Game has always struck me as somewhat funny, because when you give almost anyone the choice of either being the martyr, burdening themselves down with the tasks and problems of the many faceless entities of a game, or the tool who can go around kicking over sand castles and killing the innocent... almost anyone goes with being the tool, at least the first time through the game. Admit it, when you fired up The Elder Scrolls Morrowind or Oblivion, you didn't get right to rescuing the the world... of course not! You went on a bum killing spree, looting a few gold and all the skooma you could handle. You outran the guards, and broke into people's houses. Give any otherwise moral citizen the consequence free environment of a game and you get someone who uses the character to reign terror over a bunch of 1s and 0s.

But back to the game : BioWare has also released a few of the features to be included in the upcoming title:

• - Epic Party-Based Combat - Dragon Age: Origins will introduce an innovative, scalable combat system, as players face large-scale battles and use their party's special abilities to destroy hoardes of enemies and massive creatures.
• -Powerful Magic - Raining down awesome destruction on enemies is even more compelling as players apply spell combos, a way of combining together different spells to create emergent unique effects.
• -Deep Customization - Players will develop their characters and gain powerful special abilities (spells, talents and skills) and discover ever-increasing weapons of destruction.
• -Your Story, Your Way - With its emotionally compelling story, players choose with whom they wish to forge alliances or crush under their mighty fist, redefining the world with the choices they make and how they wield their power.
• -Origin Stories - Players will select and play a unique prelude that provides the lens through which the player sees the world and how the world sees the player. The player's choice of Origin will determine who they are and where they begin the adventure, as they play through a customized story opening that profoundly impacts the course of every adventure.

Overall, the preview material I've viewed doesn't stike me as being particularly epic, but perhaps I am wrong, or perhaps I've played way too many good fantasy RPGs. I do like the idea of the moral choice system, which seems to be becoming more and more popular among game designers. The official trailer isn't very cinematic or awe inspiring, which I think BioWare would be smart to fix. The thing that will set this game apart from other fantasy RPGs will be the massive scale combat system: if they manage to pull off a really well designed, one man ran epic seige battle system the game will be, hands down, solid gold.

Lastly, the trailers... courtesy The Escapist Magazine:

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