If you expect an easy game, even on an easy difficulty, don’t come knocking here. This game is hard. Even when played on the Easy difficult level it can be a real challenge. This is truer of the PC version than the console, but neither game version can be played with your eyes closed and one hand tied behind your back. I’ve been playing these games for the better part of two decades and there were still a couple of times where I had to drop down to Easy in order to survive a particularly difficult encounter. On the bright side, the game does make it easy to change difficulty levels on the fly and it doesn’t penalize you for doing so.

There’s also not a lot of exploring you can do in this game. This, to me, was probably the most disappointing aspect of Dragon Age. If you prefer the Bethesda school of game design (Oblivion, Fallout 3) where you can wander for hours and hours and not even encounter the main plotline, you’re going to feel restricted in Dragon Age. There are a metric ton of places to go and things to see, and they’re almost universally beautiful places, but once you’re there, there’s very little room to wander. Many areas, particularly those located indoors, are very confined, often with just a single path to follow until you reach the end. As much as I loved playing around in this game world, I would have liked it better if it had allowed me to just explore it, rather than constantly have to follow a path.

In the lead-up to its release, much has been made of the game’s depiction of sex and violence. As per usual, it’s mostly a bunch of sound and fury signifying nothing. The only off-putting aspect of the game’s more violent elements is the persistent blood splatter. Kill some rats, get covered in blood. There are times it fits and at times it’s just silly, but if it bothers you, you can turn the persistent blood splatter off. The combats are still graphically violent, for sure, but we are talking about guys hacking each other to bits with sharp metal here. Of course it’s going to be bloody.

The controversial sexual content in the game is even less noteworthy. Can it be immature? You betcha. It can also be compelling and even, at times, touching. So much depends on how you play it. You can act like an undersexed introvert and giggle at the 60 seconds of cut scenes showing two adults kissing in their underwear, but on whom does that really reflect? There’s an old parental adage, I’ll stop treating you like a child when you stop acting like one. The bottom line is that you get out of the “romantic” aspects of this game what you put into them. Love is as much a part of any epic story as sacrifice, loyalty, and heroism, and it would’ve been folly for Bioware to ignore that most fundamental of human emotions in a story specifically crafted to get you emotionally involved.

Ultimately, Dragon Age: Origins is quite possibly the best game ever to come out of Bioware. That alone puts it on the short list for best role playing game ever made. It’s not everything it could or even should have been. There are moments where the graphics, dialog, and general gameplay get in the way of the experience; an AI party member who refuses to stay in a flanking position, a crucial plot twist that is too obviously forced, a seemingly important choice that didn’t seem to have the necessary consequences, or a beautiful, intricate world that is far too restrictive. These faults all pale in comparison to everything that Bioware has gotten right with this game. This is a pure gem that is among the few AAA releases to not only match its hype, but exceed it. The first thing I wanted to do after putting more than 70 hours into finishing it was to start over again with a new character, which is as good a testament as any to how wonderfully addicting it is. On the About Bioware web page, Bioware tells us that its vision is to, “deliver the best story-driven games in the world.” With Dragon Age -- mission accomplished.