Hello, I am Uncle Milkshake, a Dtoider at PAX for the first time.

I had a chance to try the Dragon Age: Origins demo for the 360 after a two hour wait in line. After ten minutes of a lecture flavored with text, I got a chance to play a small combat portion from the full game as a Mage. Combat was very similar to WOW in that commands have a delay after you use them; an ice spell might take a few seconds to recharge.

Although I completed the demo without manually controlling my party members, a developer on the game pointed out you can either issue commands directly or "program" AI not unlike Final Fantasy XII's Gambit system. During certain cut-scenes, you can choose options from a dialogue tree--your avatar won't literally say the dialogue, but do something along those lines. Other party members may protest your actions, causing you to lose "favor points."

Overall, the demo leaves me very excited for the game in a way Mass Effect let me down--but that's for another cblog post.