Finding time to play games has been tough over the last couple of months.  With all of the press trips for Red Faction: Armageddon and moving to a new place, I've not had much time in the evenings. But, I finally finished Dragon Age: Origins last night and had a really good time with it.

Bioware games are notorious for not only giving the player choices during the game, but having each one have a significant impact on the world and characters.  I even had to weigh each conversation choice carefully because it was possible to piss off someone in my party and have them literally leave for good.

I ended up with about 10 party members over the course of play, but decided on Wynne, Alastair and Shale as the 3 that would be with me as often as possible.  Along with myself as a (female) Rogue, this gave me a Healer and two damage dealers with high HP.  Shale might have been a bit over powered, but he was nice to have around and made the going easier.

I chose to pursue a relationship with Alastair, which in the end may have clouded a few of my decisions because it seemed clear that he needed to take out the Archdemon in the end.  I fought against the decision to have him marry Anora (former wife of the king) because I didn't want her to get the throne...but it appears she was destined for it anyway.  So, this may be a time where my choices didn't have as much bearing on the world as I hoped...BUT I'm not sure how much of this is just my impression of what needed to happen.
It is a bit painful to think i could have easily completed 4-5 other games in the 50 hours that I spend playing Origins, but it had been a while since I sunk into an RPG and I was really missing that experience.  I have Dragon Age 2 sitting on my desk, but I need a break and want to finish a hand full of other games before putting so much time into one again.