Damage Per Second, Tanks and Ranged. These MMO class staples have come to the
single player RPG and it's brilliant.
Dragon Age may be the spiritual successor to Balders Gate, and the epic
storyline reflects this, but their paths diverge wildly when it comes to
character development and gameplay. Baldurs Gate was based on the older
AD&D2 ruleset, way before the word “Trait” was coined. This led to
fairly simple character builds, where the core class was what it was, with very
little leeway. Then came Neverwinter Nights and things got complicated. One
wrong choice in a skill tree and a restart would have been in order.
Now, you longer have to plan your character builds to the Nth degree so that
you don't nerf your character by choosing the wrong trait. With a new skill or
talent every level, your style will develop more naturally until you find out
which way you want to play, and whether you are a Rogue, Warrior or Mage, you
can stand back and ping Darkspawn, or wade in and have at the little buggers up
close and personal.
This flexibility has let me focus more on the game and the story, rather than
replaying the first 5 hours to get that “perfect” build under way. And what
a story it is. Sure the story is one long cliche, but the way it evolves through
backstory and conversation is head and shoulders above the rest.
And thats what is so great about DA. You can hack and slash it, level
yourself stupid and get your character build “just right”. Or…you can go
through the (wide) dialog trees and get to know your party members. Go with them
on their personal quests and there's not only some great locations and set
pieces, but also some great loot waiting for you. You can even get VERY personal
with them if you want to.
Get it, play it, love it, then play it again and kill everything in
sight!!