Dragon Age: Origins GamesCom Demo Previews

A couple more previews of BioWare's GamesCom demonstration for Dragon Age: Origins are now available on the 'net.

First in line is The Escapist:
The trek to reach the Urn is tough enough; it's become the centerpiece for a cult that is, shall we say, passionate about protecting it. But hacking your way through zealots is the easy part - the real challenge comes once you finally reach the Urn. You can simply take a pinch of ashes, leave the Urn in place, and return to heal the king, but consider for a moment: The ashes can heal anything. With them in your possession, you're all but immortal. An army that had the Urn would be practically unstoppable. A particularly sobering thought, given the proximity of the Darkspawn. Can you really afford to let that happen? Destroying so precious an artifact as the Urn would be tragic, of course, but it would make sure its immense power never fell under the control of the forces of evil.

And then we have Ten Ton Hammer:
The scenario that the developers dropped us into is about 10-15 hours into the game according to Laidlaw and Silverman, depending upon how the gamers push through the content. The audience found itself facing the hero's party, which included Morrigan, Wynne, and Leliana. The hero was obviously a warrior of some sort, draped as he was with a thick suit of plate mail and wielding a massive sword. Again, the developers explained that the group was inside of an important religious temple and was about to discover an incredibly important religious artifact known as the Urn of Sacred Ashes, an item thought to have been lost by the religious order known as the Chantry of Andraste. The party had been sent to this location in order to heal an important ally, Arl Eamon, and thus use his armies in the fight against the Blight.