Thomas Nieminen

UWRT 1101-003
Gabrielle Turgeon
Personal Narrative and Reflection
8 February 2017

Adventures with the Great Athena

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 I found out in my college writing class I had to purchase a video game to play for a grade.

It was very surprising that a professor would assign something like this because its a cool idea to

play a video game for an assignment which I have never had before. I found the game relatively

cheap online. I have been playing video games for a while so this assignment was not a hard

task. This was not my first role playing game as I am very familiar with these types of games.

Dragon Age: Origins is a quest and combat role playing game and I have played many of

these types of games before including the famous Elder Scrolls Series: Morrowind, Oblivion,

and Skyrim which I truly loved and enjoyed.

Starting off the game I expected the game to have fairly low level quality graphics since

it was an older game and the PC I was using wasnt a very high powered gaming laptop. The

start menu pops up and I select new game. The new experience begins! I watch the beginning cut

scene which kind of introduces the story and who the enemies are. It wasnt all crystal clear but I

understood what kind of gaming mindset to be in. Saving the world from evil was my destiny.

When it came time to customize my character, I selected a female elf and decided to focus on

archery. The reason for me choosing this type of character is simply the fact that the typical thing

is always to choose a very masculine character which I have done most of the time with all my

other characters. I wanted to use a distant way of attacking and be a sneaky character. The face

that I chose seemed to perfectly fit my elf character. I decided to give her brown hair that

matched her complexion. I named my elf Athena because that seemed the best suitable for the

type of character she was going to be and it was badass. I try to balance my points evenly so I

have the ability to be a more diverse character. I put points into pickpocketing, stealing, and

pinning shot. The point was to make my elf an archer since elves are known for specializing in

archery and magic. Archery and stealth go together very well and I have always found shooting a

bow from the shadows is very fun and vital in getting a head start in combat. Normal difficulty

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seemed acceptable since I didnt want to struggle too much. I know what its like to play a game

that is just so hard; you lose all interest in playing at all. The game starts out with an interaction

with three men who are apparently bandits. I am traveling along with another elf name Tamlen.

The three men spoke of some cave with carvings they came across when they were traveling. I

was given the option to let the men go freely, question them, or simply kill them but I let them

off safely. You never know who might be of assistance to you later in the game so killing

everyone in the beginning is not the best idea. After this altercation, Tamlen and I head up the

mountains to search for the cave the bandits spoke of.

Along the way through the rough looking mountains, we encountered some wolves who

did not receive mercy from my bow and Tamlens broad sword. After following a path, we

eventually came to the cave. Entering this cave, I suspected to see a bear or some kind of boss

enemy. As Tamlen and I traveled through the cave, the structure of the place really caught my

eyes. It seemed that there was once civilization inside from seeing the purple fortress banners

along the walls and ceilings. After just a moment from entering in, a pair of giant spiders

appeared to devour us. The spiders probably thought I was Wilber when the heard my footsteps

approach but the only thing that was radiant was the crimson stained arrow that was inside the

abdomen of the their bodies. Moving along through the cave it seemed endless until we got a big

room with a boss enemy. The only way to move through was to kill it and I needed to plan a

good sneak attack. After the silent arrows went into the bear, it was furious and charged us. It

wasnt easy to kill the boss but the challenge was taken. I took major damage but came out

breathing. After seeing him lying dead, we headed off towards the back of the giant cave area

and discover a mirror. Some interactions happen and it goes into a cut scene where Tamlen and I

disappeared.

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 I reappeared in some kind of a city without Tamlen and spoke to some people who

introduce themselves and ask a lot of questions of Tamlen and my cave adventure. The people of

the city gave me a background of information of the town and told me what my next mission

was. I needed to go find out what happened to Tamlen and where he went. After I spoke with a

man and purchased a new bow, I traveled with this mage to go find the poor soul and entered the

cave once again. I traveled on through killing some enemies from earlier and accompany a man

by the name of Duncan once I reach the mirror again. He spoke to me about how the mirror was

magic and it is a dark secret how Tamlen vanished. I then traveled back the camp and found out

there were still no signs of Tamlen anywhere. I didnt feel like playing hide and seek with

Tamlen so I went out to explore the world for a little longer. I ended my play through after a little

while longer of exploring.

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 Review

After my first play through, I actually really enjoyed the game because I love role playing

games that let you customize your own character and chose certain questlines to go through

instead of just having one game with the same storyline. Being able to change aspects of the

game to your own liking and preferences, adds so much more enjoyment into the adventure. Role

playing games make the games more personal and all the choices you make are significant and

are based on who you are as a person or what you would do in the situation. Even though I had

my own negative opinions before playing the game I was actually able to enjoy the game. The

graphics dont necessarily decide the fate of the games enjoyment but is merely a quality

booster. As I played Dragon Age: Origins, you are given the choice to roam freely and do

pretty much anything you want. I made a lot of choices that reflected me as a person. My first

choice was the character customization part. I chose a female elf that was skilled in archery. I

chose this because it was something different than what I would normally play through and I

have always been fascinated by elves as movies and TV shows portray them as really intelligent

beings. The choice of archery came from my past experiences of playing with archer characters

and it was a lot of fun for me. I tried to make my character look like a real elf is portrayed. I

customized her with brown hair and a fair face. I wanted to be a sneaky character because I enjoy

coming from the shadows in situations and be a surprise to enemies. The rush always keeps me

going and moving which makes me feel like I am in the game even more. All the choices I made

during the questline were made for the future so I wouldnt have to go back and regret anything.

For instance letting the bandits go was a choice I made because might have encountered them

later in the game and they could have rewarded me for not killing them or somehow been of use

to me. You never know so I always play it safe. That is how I am in real life also with all my

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decisions I try to be precise and think for the future and not the present. Another choice I made

was to free roam the world instead of just paying the questline. I like the freedom I have and I

use it to my advantage. I love exploring new things and being able to go wherever I want instead

of being to where to go or what to do. I feel the same way in my personal life and that what

makes me do the choices I do in these games. I talked with Josh who was my interview partner

and he played the game before so it has been a while since he has experienced something new

and he really enjoyed it. Josh learned that he can really appreciate a good story and that it is the

reason he plays quest games like this one. He played through the game also and thought the

game was easy because he has played it before. He stated that the choices he made through the

game were significant to his personal life. The discourse community that we both learned from

and found more about is college students who play video games for fun or for learning. Overall I

really liked the fact that I got a chance to play a game and reflect on it rather than anything else

less personal.