I was looking through my Steam library last night and saw that the last time I had played Dragon Age: Origins was back in March.  "Wow," I thought.  "That is way too long to go without playing that!" (understand that I have yet to beat that game, or even get halfway done).  So I jumped into the game and quickly remembered why it had been so long.  That game is hard.  Really hard.   
 
Now before you go calling me a wimp (which would be justified, I admit), understand that I have never been good at these games.  I've tried playing both Baldur's Gate games.  I've tried Icewind Dale.  I failed miserably at those.  I can do OK with Neverwinter Nights, but still have never pushed myself to finish the first chapter.  Same with Neverwinter Nights 2.  The only Bioware properties I've ever found sucess with are Knights of the Old Republic and the Mass Effect series.  And those are geared to go easy on wimps like me.  Still, I've been feeling pretty good about my work in Dragon Age up until now.  Now that I'm running around in the castle at Redcliffe, I feel WAY over my head.  It takes me at least five tries to push past more than three enemies at a time.  Now I have to beat some Revenant thing with five guys around him, and that feels like it's going to be really painful.   
 
Yet I keep trying.  Maybe it's because the game is amazing to look at.  Maybe it's because I still feel more at ease with the mechanics than I ever did with Baldur's Gate.  Maybe it's because I want to get it on with Leliana.  Whatever the reason, I keep loading up my last Quick Save and jumping back into the fray.  It took me a long time to get past a pack of warhounds.  Then I somehow won the battle, and I'm still not sure what went differently.  It seems that if I keep controlling the rogue and letting the other characters handle their own affairs, some battles go smoother, but I'm still getting slaughtered buy zombies more often than I care for.  I guess that's the sign of a good game.  Even when I'm frustrated and baffled by a battle, I want to keep playing.  At this rate, I just might finish the game in 2012.  But don't hold me to that.