While the production values are fine, the acting solid, and the writing passable, the first episode of Felicia Day's Dragon Age: Redemption web series still feels like a bunch of friends spending the weekend in the woods role-playing.
Felicia can't help it. It's part of her charm that she comes across as the sort of geeky girl-next-door that you might find donning the cloak of convenient hood dropping for a weekend in the woods, ten miles north of the nearest Denny's. When I see her in elf ears I'm thinking, "Oh look, it's Felicia in fake elf ears." I'm sure if I were to purchase and play Dragon Age II's Mark of the Assassin downloadable content, also making its debut today, my reaction would be, "Oh look, it's virtual Felicia Day in fake elf ears."
It's a problem any actor faces when doing the fantasy thing, only worse due to Felicia associating herself so closely with geek and gamer culture.
And how about Mr. Doug Jones as Saarebas? He's a little skinny for a Qunari, but he's got the horns and the ridiculous fingernails down pat. I can't wait for episode two. Maybe he'll randomly kill another loyal friend to prove to us how evil he is again.
You can contact Michael Fahey, the author of this post, at fahey@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.