Outside the door to EA's backroom booth for Dragon Age: Origins sits a resin statue of the arch villain of the game. The dragon is massive, easily dwarfing mere men. Inside the private booth, EA and Bioware presented a game that was even more impressive.

They immediately showed the trailer from the EA press conference the night before; if you haven't seen it, check it out. The blood soaked and Marilyn Manson scored video is one of the best from the whole show.
Afterward, the presenter talked a bit about the criticism that has been laid on Dragon Age thus far. He discussed that it was a fair assumption that the game was all combat and gory ultra-violence. He said that we were about to see a live demo that showed off the potential of the character interactions within the game.



The demo started in an encampment where the party was resting. Our presenter said that this was deep within the game and the characters already had deep and meaningful relationships. One lady has even already fallen in love with the main character. Playing off of this relationship, the player gave a gift to another woman in the party and had sex with her. Post coitus the player returned to the other woman and she presented him with the ultimatum of choosing between the two women.

The presenter told us that relationships between characters have a profound impact on gameplay, which is rather impressive. It can lead to a more or less effective party member in combat, and if a character is dissatisfied enough with your leadership they will leave the party entirely. In extreme cases, disgruntled party members will make an attempt on your life.

We skipped to a combat scene and witnessed a boss fight with a shape-shifting woman who morphs into an imposingly large red dragon. Combat looked extremely similar to other Bioware games with the exception of two things. Your spell casters also have the ability to shape shift, and one morphed into a giant spider and used poison-based abilities to help bring down the dragon. The battle concluded with the main character leaping onto the dragon's neck and finishing the fight by carving a swath of blood from the dragon's head and down its neck.



Our presenter concluded the eye-on demo by saying he had illustrated the game's three core themes of lust, violence, and betrayal. You can get your hands on Bioware's next epic October 20th on 360, PS3 and PC. I also went hands-on with Dragon Age, and you can look for that article later today.