Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t the first successful attempt to marry cinematic aspirations with the traditional branching narratives and simulationist world-building of CRPGs. 2009’s Dragon Age: Origins had a very similar mission statement, offering a spiritual successor to BioWare’s earlier Baldur’s Gate titles long before Larian took us back to the titular city (and its surrounding areas).
Oh man, I loved playing Dragon’s Age: Origins. I had a sort of “unexpected companion” when I played through it in college.
I was a computer geek; I had a gaming PC. My roommate was in a frat and had an Xbox 360. The only games he ever played were Call of Duty and Madden.
One day he came home with a copy of Dragon Age for the 360. He said, “This seems like a game you would know about. One of my fraternity brothers lent it to me. Have you played it?” I had just bought it a few days earlier but hadn’t played it yet. Of course I’m expecting Call-of-Duty-Madden-360 roommate to hate it.
Later that week I was going to party and he was staying home – a reversal of how things usually went. I got home very late, very drunk, expecting 360 roommate to be asleep. But no, there he is, playing Dragon Age. As soon as I walk in he says, “BRO I’M IN THE DWARVEN CITY HOW FAR DID YOU GET CHECK OUT THIS SKILL I UNLOCKED FOR ALISTAIR AND DUDE THERE IS A DOG.”
We played through the campaign on our respective machines over the next week, sharing tips and strategies along the way. It was great.
That is an absolutely adorable story. I love that he got so into it.