Traitor to the Cause

In a new editorial titled “Traitor to the Cause”, The Escapist’s Susan Arendt explains why she’ll be seeking out a way to play Dragon Age: Origins on a PC – even thought she’s a devoted console gamer.

And let me state plainly that Dragon Age is a great game on the 360. Yes, the graphics take a hit when compared to their computer cousins, but unless you’re playing the versions side by side you’re not likely to care. The story is the same, the voice acting is all there, the moral decisions, combat, and dragons are all there in the console, waiting to be enjoyed. But having played both versions, it is clear to me that although Dragon Age can be played on a console, it should be played on a PC. It’s just better that way.

Which shouldn’t be all that surprising, really, given the game’s roots. The Origins of the title don’t just refer to the backstories of the playable characters, but also BioWare’s very conscious channeling of RPG mainstays Baldur’s Gate and NeverWinter Nights – classic PC titles. (There were some Baldur’s Gate games for the PS2, but they had little in common with the PC game and therefore aren’t really relevant to the conversation. I still played the crap out of them, though.) Origins looks and feels like a natural successor to those games, which means it was designed with a mouse and keyboard and mind. BioWare has done an admirable job of shoehorning the plethora of control options into a 360 controller (using TARDIS technology to do it, I feel sure), but it just can’t match the simplicity and intuitiveness of the PC. I played the 360 version for an hour or two, and was struggling with the controls the entire time, but had mastered the PC control scheme in mere moments. A perfect inversion of my actual skill set.