Dragon Age: Origins - Gameplay

Gameplay

The game incorporates 6 "origins", the choice depending on the race and class chosen. For example, a dwarf noble begins the game as part of the dwarven royal family, whereas in the dwarf commoner origin, the player starts as a "lowborn" living in poverty. In the human noble origin, the player begins as a Cousland, one of the human noble families in Ferelden. Elven and human mages start their story off in the Ferelden's circle of magi. Origin stories determine the background of the player's character prior to the main events of the game's story, forming an introduction to the world (and a gameplay tutorial) while also comprising hours of play. Events of an individual origin are reflected in the game story and characters. Characters that the player meets during the origin story may reappear throughout the game, some as adversaries.

There is no tracking of moral alignment, just party favor. You can give party members gifts and your speech choices can gain you favor or disfavor with your group but the moral choices of the player will still affect the story throughout the game. The player will accomplish different goals depending on if they choose to be good or evil, but the decisions that the player makes in the process will change the game world accordingly – deciding who will become king, for example, and affecting nations, races and their places in the world. These decisions will also influence the companion NPCs, possibly causing an NPC to leave the party or even attack the player if they disagree strongly with his or her actions.

The game has been described as the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate by BioWare co-CEO Ray Muzyka, as players are able to issue orders to NPCs in real time, but pause the game to queue up actions such as spells and special attacks, a game mechanic from the Baldur's Gate series. There are three base classes to choose from: warrior, mage, and rogue. These classes can be upgraded into a specialized class such as the berserker or templar for the warrior class, shapeshifter or spirit healer for the mage class, and assassin or ranger for the rogue. The game uses a party system similar to that of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, another BioWare roleplaying game, featuring the main character with up to three active party members chosen from a pool of NPCs.

The game features a degree of interactivity between spells, such as a fire spell igniting a grease slick before being put out by a blizzard. The game contains many combinations which can be discovered by the player either by accident, or by finding clues as to which combinations are valid.