Dragon Age: Origins

I've been playing some Dragon Age. I've quite enjoyed it so far, but I can't put my finger on exactly what is fun about it.

General impressions:
I've not used many adventurer-party combat systems, but this one is accessible at least.
It mostly does what I feel it should be doing, and the action looks pleasing.

The levelling up doesn't mean much to me and hasn't given me any 'Wow! Now I can do THIS!' moments. Maybe they'll come.

The conversations offer some decent choice - I haven't felt like there is no option my character would choose. It feels a little disconcerting that my character is mute. Totally understandable from a practical point of view, but still disconcerting.

Main reason for post:
I met an encounter I couldn't win, no matter what I tried. It was a pivotal story moment, defeating a monster at the top of a tower. I made many attempts, with various combinations of party tactics, but just couldn't do it. Was the encounter actually too hard for my party to win? That would suck.

When it got to the point that I had to win or quit playing the game, I turned the difficulty down from 'normal' to 'casual'. I then tried again and defeated the monster in seconds. It wasn't even a close battle - the beast didn't stand a chance.

Firstly, it hurt my ego to be called a 'casual' gamer. I had actually tried all sorts of things to get past this encounter - surely it can't be 'casual' if I'm putting real effort in? It made me feel like I wasn't gamer enough to succeed at this game. I honestly suspect it was simply too difficult for my party to win. There didn't seem to be any alternative options to the obvious combat, so this encounter poses serious questions about how free my choice of character and skills actually is.

Secondly, the ease with which I beat the monster shows the vast gulf between 'normal' and 'casual'. It felt like I had simply hit the 'win' button to get past the monster.

I suspect it boils down to an RPG skin on a linear story. It fits the narrative for me to kill the monster in the tower, even if it doesn't fit my character's skill set. A story which could cope with me failing the battle could have solved the problem. Queue cut scene with me escaping, or falling heroically to be rescued from near death?

I like the story so far, and the characters within it. I like the way the characters interact with each other. It's an enjoyable, polished game, and I am nit-picking.

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