I had intended to play Dragon Age on a PC for a couple of reasons. Partly because I'd like to be able to take my own screenshots to post for this series of game diaries. Partly because the PC version looks better. Partly because you can zoom out farther during battles, playing them like a strategy game rather than a close-in pausable action game. But mostly because I tried to play Mass Effect, Bioware's last RPG, on a console system and eventually got fed up with the interface. I didn't want that to happen in Dragon Age. So when the Xbox 360 version showed up, I had a tough choice to make.

Read about it after the jump.

Actually, who am I kidding? It wasn't a tough choice at all. Do I play a copy of Dragon Age I was actually holding in my hands or do I not play it? Duh.

Sorry I won't be able to post specific screenshots. That is a pretty nifty picture up there of a dragon breathing fire, although it's got nothing to do with anything you're going to read today. And based on the screenshots I've seen, the PC version definitely looks better. But I'm no graphics whore*. In fact, after a while, I simply stop noticing graphics unless they're terrible or awesome. Dragon Age is neither.

The lack of zoom during combat could be a problem later. At this point, battles have been trivially easy. They pretty much play themselves. And if you've played Mass Effect on a console system, you know how well the radial command wheel works in battle.

The interface is fine so far. There aren't a lot of fiddly bits. The inventory breaks down easily enough into discrete lists, and the lists cross reference easily enough with each other and with various characters.

But mostly I'm happy to be playing on the 360 because this is a long game with a lot of down time where I really don't need a mouse and keyboard. Time spent in dialogue trees. Time spent poring over character sheets. Time spent considering the detailed descriptions of skills and equipment. Time spent checking the map. Time spent watching cutscenes. For every minute I might have wished I had a mouse, there have been ten minutes I'm glad I can sprawl out on the couch.

Of course, it's entirely possible this is all a rationalization for the decision I made to open the game and start playing instead of waiting for the PC version to arrive. And I'm not sure it matters that much anyway, because I'm not really into Dragon Age at this point. I'm not going to be into it for a while. In fact, it's not going to hook me until I've clocked 10 hours, 22 minutes, and 15 seconds.

Tomorrow: What happens at 10 hours, 22 minutes, and 15 seconds.

* Offer not valid for shooters, platformers, driving games, and the latest Ratchet & Clank.