This game gave me that Avatar-like, omfg-this-is-epic feeling after playing it. Best game I've ever played, ever!
Well, to put it bluntly, I've been missing the entire point of this game. It's not about the pretty graphics, it's about getting immersed in a world that has epic battles, lovable and extremely memorable characters, being and choosing who you want to be, and last but not least... making decisions that change the outcome of the game.
Yes, this game is all that and a bag of chips. It is seriously awesome beyond words. I know I mentioned Avatar in my summary, but the best way to describe this game is... remember playing your first MMO and not knowing what you're getting yourself into? You know that, holy-crap-I-can't-wait-to-get-home-to-play feeling? Yeah, you know what I'm talking about.
The game that broke me in was Asheron's Call, it had terrible graphics by today's standards, but it was epic. It was the first time I felt engulfed in a sea of deep lore, wizardry, armor, dragons and the like. That, I'm-no-longer-a-virgin feeling. I've been chasing that feeling for a long time and have bought every damn MMO and RPG that has come into the market to drain my time from life. I've never really gotten that feeling I got from Asheron's Call again. Well, not until I played Dragon Age.
The ability to have nearly unlimited options as to who your character was to become, what path you want to choose, who you make friends with and decided to take with you into battle; it is all up to you in this game. Top the seemingly endless ability to alter the story with moral choices and sometimes hard decisions, a cast of memorable characters, extremely fun game-play and you've got yourself a game that should win Oscar-esque quality awards for the game's developers.
This game raises the bar to a whole new playing field. whether it be the actual game's programming, voice actors, writing/story-telling, world design, animation... I mean I could go on. It is that good! With the bar set so high, every game I've played since Dragon Age has been an utter disappointment.
What really hooked me was just the game's ability to make you feel like you're really in it's world. Frankly, I think it may be the voice actors in this game that really made this world come to life. It was like being in a movie and just playing as one of the actors that would eventually rid the world of evil. I can't praise them enough for how well they did with the acting. You actually begin to have an emotional bond with the characters that you choose to battle with, it's crazy!
I could go on and on about how cool I think this game is, but don't take my word for it.. buy it and enjoy it. It's the best $50 I have ever spent! Though sadly, once you play this game, every game you play after this one will seem sub-par in comparison and you'll find yourself critiquing other games in a lop sided fashion.