Civil War makes Dragon Age Hands Unclean
I’m currently obsessed with Dragon Age:Origins*. The game play is old school, and story is deep. I’m about 17 hours in and I feel like I’m just beginning to get a handle on the shape of the story. When they say this is an 80 hour game, that’s not just marketing…
In this game, there is a type of magic which requires the use of human blood for energy. In the society as presented in the game Blood magic is evil, and when (in the past) it it had been left unchecked, slavery and tyranny were it’s inevitable outcomes. So, Blood Magic= Evil. Indeed, many of your companions like you more if you kill those who practice it.
Also, well, this game is dark. The first time I was forced to murder a demonically-possessed child, I (the player, me) was haunted. Was there anything I could have said or done differently so as to prevent that outcome? I congratulated the game makers on producing an actual emotional response in me. The second time, though, the game asked me to kill a possessed child I was livid. There has to be another way. There was.
Blood magic, of course.** The game asked me to make a moral choice: was I willing to sacrifice the child’s mother (who bears part-blame for the child’s possession), use forbidden magic, to save the life of this child? Or was I to let the child die? For me, the choice was simple. There was no way in hell I was going to murder another child. None. The pure visceral reaction I had surprised me, but again– the game had succeeded.
And I succeeded also. The child was saved. Sadly, mom did die. And yes, that blood will forever stain my virtual hands…
*Note to Cristian Game makers: I would totally buy a game called Church fathers: Origen. The selling your library, and visiting the sick chapters could be an awesome examination of early church life. I admit that the self castration mini-game wold make this an M rated game, however.
**I wouldn’t have set that up in the beginning without the payoff, would I?
Discussion Area - Leave a Comment