Entering Bioware's Dragon Age: Origins demo room, I figured it would be another sit down and watch the developer's play the game type demo. And it began in just that fashion, in which they went over the basic premise of how the Arch Demon has risen and brought along a horde of demons to help wipe out everything in the world.

The developers started us off at one of the party camps, and these are mobile locations the player can set up and interact with the various characters within the party. You can give gifts or items to other characters to build your relationship. This can help inspire characters, which is essentially a party member's faith in you as a leader.

They also allow romantic relationships with characters as well. They previewed how intimate the characters can evolve their romance, and stopped short a love scene between two characters. After the scene takes place, they gave an example of how certain interactions with a character, such as intimacy. After the hero became intimate with a more dark magic female character, the interaction between another female became very strained. And with the choices in conversation they made, she even turned away and lost faith in the hero.

They finally showcased their big surprise in the game which was being saved just for E3. During a quest, you take on a shape shifter and she becomes a dragon. Yes, Bioware has now confirmed that there will be dragons in the game, which also included the main part of their demo.

Afterward, I was allowed to get my hands on the XBox 360 version of the game, which had never been allowed prior to E3 outside of developer testing. I thought the button layout was done very well. Attacking was simple with the A button, but you could easily cycle through other attacks mapped between X, Y, and B. Switching between party members was as easy as clicking the left bumper on the controller.

The conversation decisions happen in real time, and help create the interactive scenes that Bioware continues to perfect in their games. The character animations also looks fluid and I saw no hiccups during my time with the game.

Dragon Age: Origins will be out this October 20th.