Leaving Dragon Age.

I'm heading back to Madison after work tomorrow. I'm doing the Thanksgiving thing down there, but I'll be driving back Thursday night.

Right now I wish I could bring my 360. I've been super into Dragon Age: Origins and I just want to keep diving further into the game. I probably wouldn't actually have any time to play it, but I'd like the option.

I've pretty much fallen head over heels for that game. I'm actually surprised, because it was only half-heartedly on my radar before it came out and I bought it on a whim, so I didn't have a lot invested in the game to start.

And for the first couple hours, I didn't really know if I liked it. It seemed rough, confusing and maybe undercooked. The story was pretty standard, the graphics somewhat sub-par, and the combat just seemed... foreign and detached. It's got an MMO-esque style of fighting, and at first it just seemed too simple. I felt like I was missing something.

But as you go the story picks up considerably. It's still pretty standard fantasy tropes, but there's some interesting people and quests here and there. And I don't know if more time was spent on the later environments, and people just look cooler in bigger, better armor, but I swear the game looks nicer. I just might be more used to it now, though.

And once you start building your party and unlocking more skills and talents, the combat becomes the best part. It's deep, strategic and brutally difficult at times. I'm having a blast approaching the same situations with different strategies, buffs, weapons and characters and always being able to find a combination that results in a win. Sometimes I can find an approach where I dominate, but often I barely eek by, and both ways is super satisfying...

So yeah. I wish I could bring that along for the ride.