I have played Dragon Age Origins all the way through twice. First time, as a human male rogue, second time as a female mage, and now I am playing a female warrior dwarf. Just for fun, my regular party is all female ... Morrigan, Wynne and Leliana. With my dwarf warrior, that is a pretty unstoppable group.

But my main point is how wonderfully different each game has been. The story changes dramatically. Of course, the third time, I know all the ins and outs, so I can breeze through. So I notice all the subtle stuff. When Wynne starts talking to Leliana, I stop everything and listen. This stuff is amazingly entertaining.

Third time in, I am getting an idea of how to deal with my NPCs, and that is oddly the most important aspect of Dragon Age. Keep your party, keep them happy. And yet I play it in RPG fashion, keeping true to the morals I have set for my character, who (this time) is good and generous. It's fun to balance the conflicts of my little group.

On my greatest value premise, I probably bought this game used off eBay for $30, and now I have played it 2 1/2 times through, probably five total months of daily gameplay. Truly fascinating stuff. I waited many months to play this third time, and played several other games in the meantime, but Dragon Age again reminds me of how fun and engrossing an RPG can be.