[note, this contains a few more plot spoilers than other previews]

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The Origins bit of Dragon Age refers to the first two or three hours of play, during which the choices you make have a real impact on how the world reacts to you. The bulk of our time with the game is centred on showing how this will work in action.

As a Human Noble Warrior we begin in the Ruins of Ostagar. Here the armies of Fereldan have gathered together to make their final stand against the Blight. As a young Grey Order recruit, we’re sworn to protect the people of Fereldan against the Blight, so we’re here to lend a helping hand.

In a cut scene we’re introduced via our mentor Duncan to the young King Cailan, who’s delighted to have us fight by his side. During dialogue we get a nice cinematic view, ala Mass Effect, but without the radial conversation wheel. You’ll instead be picking from lines of dialogue displayed at the bottom of the screen. These lines don’t trigger voice over, like in Mass Effect, either. Your character remains silent throughout all the chatting.

With the pleasantries over we’re left alone with Duncan to chat about the upcoming battle. Every recruit, we’re told, must go through a secret ritual called the Joining in order to become a fully fledged Grey Warden. But there’s no need to rush, we have until nightfall to perform it. Until then, we’re free to explore the camp, but we’re not allowed to leave it.

We approach the local quartermaster. Turns out he doesn’t have a lot of respect for elves. But then most don’t. In the Dragon Age universe elves are often mistreated and are considered second class citizens. We approach a caged prisoner, banged up because he stole a wizard’s key he’s since swallowed to hide from his captors. He desperately wants food and water, he says, and is willing to trade the key (recently crapped out) for some grub. Since we’re role-playing as a warrior though, we decide to kill the unlucky wretch and just take our prize. Unsurprisingly he’s not happy about this and screams bloody murder as he meets his doom. A nearby guard gives us a ticking off. We basically tell him to sod off and mind his own business.

"The moral choices you make within Dragon Age: Origins will actually have ramifications down the road," explains Tudge. "I think a stunt like killing this prisoner just might catch up with us later on."

We have a chat with an Ash Warrior - an elite band of warriors who use devastating war dogs called Mobari Hounds on the battlefield. Turns out he doesn’t like elves either. What a racist lot.

In order to demonstrate how the Dragon Age world perceives you differently depending on your class, Tudge loads up another character from another origin - a Female Elven Mage. Again we talk to the quartermaster, who, seeing that you’re an elf, gives you some grief, demanding his armour and questioning your attire. But, when he discovers that you’re a Grey Warden he pathetically backtracks and apologies profusely.
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We speak to the prisoner. This time we decide not to stick our sword in his gut and help him out. The prisoner suggests we ask the guard for the remains of his dinner. Using our high persuade skill we convince him to part with his food and pass it on. He thanks you, but there’s no mention of the wizard’s key we took as a Human Noble Warrior.

"The moral choices you make within Dragon Age not only change the way the story plays out for you but also the items you can or cannot receive," Tudge says. "In this particular case we felt good about helping the prisoner but we never actually got the item that we wanted. So sometimes being nice doesn’t necessarily get you what you want."
It’s the story and how you can shape your own origin which has us most excitedIt’s the story and how you can shape your own origin which has us most excited

We speak to Wynn, a woman who recognises you as a Mage that has passed the Harrowing, a sacred right of passage that all Mages must complete. During the Mage origins story we would have played through the Harrowing ourselves. If we had been talking to Wynn as a Human Noble, however, we would have had an entirely different conversation. And, as you might expect, the Ash Warrior still doesn’t like elves, and, since we’re an elf this time, is particularly rude to us. "He couldn’t see past the ears," says Tudge.

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After a quick scrap with some darkspawn (warriors of the Blight) a mysterious female character called Morrigan, who’s been causing quite a stir on Bioware’s forum as a result of sporadic appearances in artwork, appears. In a sultry voice she wonders who, and what, we are, and our intentions in the forest. Tudge offers little: "While we’re not really talking a lot about Morrigan we can tell you that she’s a very interesting character and will play a very important role in the Dragon Age story."

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In the first room the party gets caught up in speed reducing grease and a darkspawn emissary launches a fireball that lights the grease on fire. Here we see that Dragon Age’s spells can interact with each other - we cast Blizzard and put the fire out, all the while the AI is controlling our party and sending them off to deal with darkspawn warriors. We cast Tempest, an intense electrical storm that drains life and mana. We loot the poor emissary, heal up and buff everyone with Flaming Weapons, which adds fire damage to all our weapons.

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There are finishing moves, called death blows in the game, for every type of attack, including ranged and sword. A critical hit will result in a death blow, so you’ll want to concentrate on increasing the chance to crit with certain characters in your group. Expect them all to be gory - we saw decapitations not only with swords but with shields too.

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