BioWare has talked a good game about Dragon Age: Origins so far, extolling the virtues of the story and setting, but I had yet to be truly sold on how a standard sword & sorcery fantasy setting was supposed to exciting and engaging. In short, I wasn’t feeling gripped by the proverbial nads, as it were.

Today they released this trailer, entitled “Sacred Ashes”.

Now true, this is a CG cinematic and not actually in-game footage, but sweet lord on a cracker! What a cinematic! You’ve got battle on a LotR-style snowy mountain path, a saucy, nimble, redheaded ranger-type stabbing and flipping and shooting, and the other female turning into a GIANT FREAKING SPIDER! Not to mention the fact that we actually have a dragon making an appearance! For a game called Dragon Age, there’s been a distinct lack of dragon presence outside of one batch of screenshots. I’m glad to see this being rectified.

So yeah, if this is generic fantasy, then I’ll take a few more generic fantasy games, thanks. Hell, this makes me wanna break out the D20s and start up a Dungeons & Dragons campaign – is there really any higher geek praise than that?

Dragon Age: Origins is out next month.