Dragon Age Origins

Blog Post: The journey is fun, but you might feel disappointed once you beat it.

SupaKoopaTroopa — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 02:41:00 GMT

After spending 30-50 hours on this game, you might feel disappointed once you beat it.

Story, Graphics and Gameplay:

This is what was most fun about the game. Every interaction you made with NPC's were recorded dialog. No reading text on the screen. There are many different character paths you could take and experience, all with slightly different stories and dialog. You will notice that it steals from every RPG you can think of. LotR, Oblivion, WoW, everything. There is even a part where an NPC talks about "the gates of Oblivion" or something.

The visuals where sort of bland in the beginning, but after a while it really picks up. I thought the graphics where great. Some parts of the game world were so amazing looking I wanted to save a picture of it. My only complaint is that sometimes the framerate would get choppy, sometimes too often. Come on! The PS3 can handle Killzone 2 but not this game??

The Gameplay is what you would expect, a good Action RPG. The world is not as big as WoW or Guild wars at all, but you are always exploring new caves underground and temples in the side of mountains. So many side quests, you'll never finish them all. If it ever gets too hard, there is an "casual" difficulty that will make it easier to play.

Starting Off:

In the beginning, you actually have the option to enter in a DLC code and acquire the best armor and weapon in the game. I'd almost recommend doing it because there is so little other good armor and weapons to put on your other characters.

Party, Skills and Talents:

I found that Auto Leveling your characters only chooses skills you don't want later on.

On your first play through, it's kind of impossible to build a good party, because you don't know who's going to join later on. You could be a Warrior Champion, and end up having 3 more Warrior Champions join you by the end of the game. Or you want to make your Mage a Healer, only to have another Healer Mages join your party down the line. And you can't respec. What you choose is what you stay with, even if you don't know what you're doing in the beginning of the game.

You have to be careful what you choose for your Specialization, you might want to save your 2 points and use them later on in the game when you unlock new Specializations. But of course you don't know that.

My characters often got screwed up on their skills and talents. I was always regretting using a skill point and then realizing I didn't want that skill later on.

Buying Gear:

You will come across vendors who sell expensive weapons that cost up to 150g. The problem is that it will take you a very long time to get that kind of money. By the end of the game, I had maybe 400g that I spent on 1 weapon and a special ring. I had 140g left and I was planning on buying my other characters each some expensive gear, but I beat the game before I could ever spend it!

That's right, there are about 3 different epic weapons each character could get, axes, hammers, bows, but you beat the game before you can ever save enough money to buy them! And if you ever spend you money on regular gear, good luck on ever having money for a good weapon. It's very unbalanced.

Quests:

The quests are good and not like WoW, where it's "kill 10 of these". These quests actually have impact on characters and story, and you never do any grinding.

The only thing that got a little nerve racking is that the quests start to pile up. To complete this quest you must complete that quest and on and on. It's like the side quests have side quests of their own. If you ever took a break from the game for a few days, I doubt you'd remember where you left off.

End Game:

By the end of the game, I was almost upset that it was going to be over. I still wanted to go buy all the weapons I was saving for, but couldn't. The final boss was a challenging fight, but by the end I was just saying to myself, "Wow, that's it... I worked that hard through the game just for this to happen...?"

But I guess that's the difference between Single Player RPG's that end and Multiplayer RPG's that don't.

Still, it was an adventure the whole way through, I was hooked, playing up to 14 hours a day.

Blog Post: They Call It Origins For A Reason

Jonathan Gipson — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 01:13:00 GMT

It seems that the plot of a party of diverse members of different origins and talents joining together to face insurmountable odds in the form of a huge demonic army will never get old. Yes, Dragon Age: Origins follows a similar story as Lord of The Rings and The Wheel of Time, but will this incredibly unoriginal idea take away from the rest of the game? Read on.

Starting off, you naturally have to create your character. The character creator is surprisingly deep, and you have a lot of different, intriguing choices for your origin story. Every character has a different origin story (unless you make 2 of the exact same character) that shapes a back story for them before they enter the main story that every character follows. You can take your pick from Human, Elf, and Dwarf races, and you pick what type of fighter they will be. The up close and personal Warrior, the quick and tricky Rogue, or the powerful Mage. With Dwarves being the exception (they can't channel magic) you can combine any of these you like. Depending on what combination of race and class you pick, you can pick a unique origin story. For instance, a Dwarf warrior can pick either the Dwarven Noble, or the Dwarven Commoner origin stories. After picking your origin story, you can customize your character's look. In all, you'll spend about 30 minutes in this pleasantly deep character creator, unless you rush through this phase to get to gameplay, of course.

In whatever origin story you pick, in the end you join the Grey Wardens. This elite group of warriors specialize in the eradication of Dark Spawn. These demonesque creatures whose origin is shrouded in legend and mystery, now march upon (and unfortunately under) the land, and it's up to the Grey Wardens to gather the armies of all the races to face the threat and save the land. Within this large Lord of The Rings-like plot are plenty of side-quests. You can accept jobs from different factions that send you around on errands, or investigations, and there are even quests you can complete for members in your party if they like you enough. You come across a diverse group of characters that can enter your party depending on the dialogue options you choose. The characters that are active in your party will be affected by the choices you make. If they start to like you enough, you can talk to them about their background, or even learn class specializations from them. When you level a character, you get to disperse 3 points to your stats, pick a skill, and then an ability, or spell. As for the battle system, anyone who has played Final Fantasy XII will feel right at home. You use "tactic slots" to tell each character what to do in battle. This can range from having your warrior defend your mage, to having your rogue steal from as many enemies as possible. How you use this "tactics system" determines if you're going to dominate in each battle, or if the enemy is going to slaughter you. You can also assign abilities or spells to a small quick-select menu for easy use in battle.

Now that we've gone over the plot and gameplay, lets talk about looks. As beautiful as the trailers were, this game is pretty disappointing. Textures and characters are dull (especially facial animations) for a Bioware game, and it makes you wonder what went wrong. The environments, for the most part, were decent. They showed diversity, but they didn't draw you in, or dazzle you with looks.

Sound effects and the soundtrack are both strong points. Blood splatters are heard as you cut through enemies with your sword, and you hear a satisfying crunch when you smash an enemy's torso with a hammer. Voices and dialogue are top-notch for every character, and even the demon's blood curdling screams are scary. Finally, the epic soundtrack tops it all off. I wouldn't say it's amazing, but it definitely gets the job done.

A long story and pretty solid battle system (though I hear that the PC version is better) kept me immersed in the adventure of the Grey Wardens for hours upon hours. The origin stories led me to make several characters just to see them all, and to see what different quests I could unlock with different party members. To see every variation of origins, quests, and endings is an addicting affair. Though it has some shortcomings in graphics and the occasional sketchy glitch, Dragon Age: Origins is definitely an experience that should be had by anyone who appreciates an action RPG.

Blog Post: Dragon Age Origins hits my RPG sweet spot

ConnorTheDestroyer — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 18:21:00 GMT

Before I bought Dragon Age Origins I had little knowledge about the series and even smaller interest in the game. Because I thought it looked like another one of the same old D&D style RPG"s but, boy was I wrong. This game actually has the credit of getting me interested in the genre. The fighting sequences and overall gameplay are solid, the graphics could stand to be better seeing how mass effect 2 with its smooth graphics only came out a few months later, the voice acting and dialogue system were excellent, but the best part of this game is the story which is top notch.

The story is excellent. You can choose from six different origin stories all coralating with what species and class you choose,and I would highly advise going through all of them before continuing the game. They all meet at one central point so don't be worried that some of the story will be lost just because you choose an elven rogue and not a human mage. I found the story progression felt smooth and even so you feel like you are progressing through out the game. I also felt the back stories of all the companions were compelling so I was constantly going back to the camp to see if any new dialogue options appeared. By the end of the game I felt satisfied with how it turned out and I especially liked the twist towards the end right before the final battle.

The gameplay is good but it is nothing special among the genre. The combat was a little bit weak on the 360 and PS3 and Bioware could have tried a little harder when they ported it to consoles. It often felt like you were just clicking a button and watching youre team fight the enemy instead of making you feel like you were actually involved in the fight, and with boss battles I found myself only spamming the health poultice hot key. Though they did a good job with the leveling system and and making it seem that you are getting stronger as you level up weather you are a mage, warrior, or rogue.

The voice acting in this game fealt very real and made me think I was actually talking to a person and not to some monotonous NPC like in some other RPG's. The dialogue system is preety smooth but, I often wished my person could have an actual voice to make it feel more involved. It also gives you plenty of choices in what you can say.

Dragon Age Origins is an amazing RPG with a good story, good voice acting, decent gameplay, and a good number of DLC to explore and if you are looking for a good RPG that will keep you entertained for several hours I would highly advise picking this up at your nearest gamestop.

Blog Post: Dragon Age: Origins: Good, but not Great

Azure Moon — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 16:37:00 GMT

This game was good, not great, but good.

Pros: Great story, in depth-history, fantastic interaction with NPCs, ability to create your own character, and extremely high replay value.

Cons: Horrible battle system, terrible inventory management, WAY to much in the way of codexes causing information overload, and easy to get burnt out with all the side-quests going on.

Overall, the story is great, no matter which origin you do (my favorites are the Dwarven Noble and Dalish Elf origins), and it was very original. However, the battle system is awful and everything gets bogged down with the amount of information you're constantly getting. One other little thing that I personally didn't like was the fact that this is considered a "dark fantasy", which means ugly, depressing geography, even more depressing story lines and back stories, and tons of blood. If that's your thing, then you would enjoy this game, but if not, then you will find yourself a bit disappointed.

There are two crowning achievements for this game: the fantastic replay value and the NPC interaction. The story is not too long, so if you wish to play a different character after you save Ferelden from the Blight, you can. The interaction with your companions and other NPCs allows you to be any type of personality you want to be. So, if you want to be a saint, you can be nice to everybody, and if you want to be a complete jerk, you can be mean to everyone. You can also be a profiteering, greedy person that charges everyone for everything.

This game was good, but I was left a little disappointed and wanting more.

Blog Post: ALL around

James Benford — Sun, 08 May 2011 12:58:00 GMT

this game is good

Blog Post: A spiritual successor to Kotor

Wookachuk — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 03:27:00 GMT

Dragon Age Origins is a really good game overall with the graphics only being my one real complaint. They were decent not great. Am a latecomer to this game and I bought the ultimate edition with all the DLC. As I played the game I was strongly reminded of the original Kotor from the compelling story to having to pick text responses in conversation. The combat system is good allowing easy pause and play or just play without pause. Without a doubt this is one of the best stories in a video game to date. The origin stories are great allowing six different beginning stories for your hero. They will affect the story in quite a few ways too. Through various twists and decisions made in the game you really do have the ability to create a story where the effects of your decisions on the world are clear. The ending ties everything together well. The writing is great. This is definitely a must have game.

Blog Post: Dragon Age: Origins Game Review

Nick — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 20:54:00 GMT

Dragon Age: Origins was one of my favorite games when it came out. The game presented a huge, detailed world with plenty of lore and branching story line based on choices your character made. There was a good deal of replay value to it and it was one of the more entertaining titles to come out in a long time. There were several pieces of downloadable content you could purchase for Dragon Age: Origins that helped add a bit more to the game. One of the more interesting offerings however was Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening.

It's more of the same - so if you enjoy an action rpg with weighty decisions and an interesting storyline, you're in luck with this game. What made this game a bit different than most of the other DLC is how it was completely standalone (though some of your actions from the original game could be seen here and there). Is it worth picking up?

Graphics - 7:

Similar in almost every way to Origins, the graphics get the job done in Awakening, but they are hardly going to blow anyone away. It's basically the same engine with a bit less stuttering. There were not quite as many areas to visit, so the landscapes are not quite as varied as in Origins either.

Sound & Music - 8:

Again, comparable to the original. The voice work is generally good, the same basic sound effects were put to use and the music still helps to set the tone for this game.

Gameplay - 8:

They were working with the same engine as Origins when they made this game. As such it controls just like the original. I would give it a slight nod to the fact that I found fewer bugs in Awakenings as opposed to those I found in Origins.

Intangibles - 7:

It probably felt like I was doing an Origins re-review up until this point, huh? Well, that's because the framework was the same, but this is where the primary differences are at. The same basic rules apply - you make choices and they can have a serious impact on how things play out. The storyline is still an epic one - but the overall game is much shorter. There are also nowhere near as many side quests. Like Origins, there's a desire to replay again just to see how some decisions might have played out differently, yet I never felt quite as compelled to play over and over again. There's some tie-in to the first game, but this feels more like Origins - B. It's not really a sequel and it never tries to be, but it's disappointing that for those of us who played Origins, there were not more direct tie-ins to what you do in Awakenings.

Overall - 7.5:

Not quite as good as Origins. There is not as much overall content, and to me the storyline was not quite as engaging either. When it came out, Awakening was at a lower price point. Now it can be had as part of the newly released Origins that contains all of the extra content (I believe) and in that sense it would be a good deal. It was a nice extension to the original game for fans like myself who enjoyed it, but set your expectations just a bit lower than you might have for the original game.

Blog Post: I SAW THE POTENTIAL, BUT IT JUST WASNT MY BAG.

Chris Larios — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 05:07:00 GMT

when i picked up mass effect 2 i was totally blown away. it was by far one of the best games i have ever played. and the first mass effect didnt dissapoint either. so that was 2 for 2. i was totally impressed with bioware games that i had played up to that point. i was so impressed by their games i had to give dragon age a chance. i was thinking oblivion mixed in with mass effect... thats a hell of a blend. but sadly i just could not get into it.

first off i have to admit the story was interesting. like an alternative version of lord of the rings. but sadly that was about it form me. the graphics for the time period were not great... but still good. my real problem with the game is that it was not what i expected it to be like. its more of a computer game than a console game. i havent played many computer games but i know that most computer RPGs have many different keys for one functionl. and that was the problem with the 360. the 360 doesnt have 50 different buttons. so there are just way to many things to do just to preform one funtion. mass effect is kinda the same in that department but mass effects gun play was jluid enough for me to over looke the constant pressing LB or RB to pull up a menu. but with dragon age i just didnt feel the fluidness that masseffect had.

it was just to many things to do at one time with a control that has only has 16 buttons on it. i mean the computer has what, 100 +(combined key presses included) buttons. so dragon age would work wounders on a keyboard. but it just didnt run well on the control for me.

plus i really wasnt a fan of the no holding block button in the game like there is in oblivion. you know just hold LT and the shield or weapon come up to block an attack. that wasnt in dragon age. may not be a problem for some but it was a BIG problem for me.

so i wouldnt recomend the game if you are use to oblivion or fallout on the consoles. but if you really liked mass effect and really love computer RPGs then i would suggest picking this up befor picking up drangon age 2.

Blog Post: Dragon Age: Origins is solid RPG

Elfstrum — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

This is a good game. This is a Bioware game. Anyone who has played the Mass Effect series will attest to the awesomeness that is Bioware. Now don’t that excited cause it is not Mass Effect.

So… Dragon Age is a good, cool game, but if you think it is going to be Oblivion or Mass Effect you getting your hopes up too high.

The plot is your character being part of the last of the Grey Wardens. They’re the ghost busters of middle earth monsters. They are specifically powered to fight and kill Darkspawn (they are like ogres and orcs). Your character forms a team and recruits characters like other RPGs. The plot then takes four separate paths to recruit allies for the final battle with the Darkspawn. Some people complain that this story is boring or too much standard fare. I completed disagree.

I feel that the story is main draw for me. The game has enough lore to write a book (David Gaider, the lead writer has written 3 books on Dragon Age). Bioware has created a giant world to explore. They developed a detailed account of their entire continent. They have a good half dozen countries with different styles of governments and societies. This is a cool idea. Other RPGs have cities which mostly seem to change only with the environment (desert cites). Sure Dragon Age: Origins doesn’t leave Ferelden (their form of a England-type country), but they do bring characters from outside the country.

A huge part of the Dragon Age: Origins is the character interactions. There is a great feel to the party of DAO. As you journey there is a huge amount of spoken dialogue within the party. These conversations really develop the characters into full 3 dimensional characters with their own strengths and weaknesses.

The graphics certainly haven’t held up too well, but I don’t play RPGs for their graphics. The graphics are not bad to the point of distraction, but there is certainly room for improvement. There are as well the occasional bug too.

This game may not fit every taste but it is worth a look.

Blog Post: Fun Game Few Flaws

Lisa — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 19:22:00 GMT

I didn't really know what to expect when I started playing this game. I had seen a few commercials for it on TV so when my brother asked what I wanted for Christmas I just asked for this game.

I hadn't played any of the developers other games so I went in with a pretty open mind. Two play throughs later this is now on my list of favorite games. The story isn't to incredibly deep but it's interesting enough to keep you interested throughout the game.

For me this game is pretty close to a perfect game but before I list the reasons why here are the reasons it isn't a 10.

I played the PS3 version so they may be console specific.

1.) During battles you when they first start up I could see a definite drop in framerate. I'm not talking it's going pretty slow it would actually momentarily freeze and be jumpy for the first couple seconds of the battle. It never stayed like that but it did happen pretty often.

2.) This only happened in one play through but there would be a few times where I knew another character was talking to me but I wouldn't hear any thing. The screen would stay stuck for a few seconds and then choices to continue the conversation would pull up. I didn't miss a full conversation but it was like they forgot to record something there or link up the voice with that part of the conversation.

3.) This Codex. I had a love hate relationship with this thing. When you open this up it is broken into subjects like characters and history. The ones you haven't read are highlighted. Later in the game when you have collected information on quite a few things if you open it up and read one they only move down one line at a time. So say you are on the last line that is show and there is one under that one that you haven't read. When you scroll down your selection bar highlights it so you can't tell if anything has been added under that subject or not. Some of these entries are pretty long and so if you missed reading a couple and go back to catch up it's pretty tough to find the ones you haven't read yet.

Those were the only real problems I had with this game. For me what I love about it made up for those flaws but I do know a few people who got annoyed with 1 + 2 enough that finishing the game for them was kind of hard.

Here are the reasons I loved this game.

1.) The characters. I'm not a huge WRPG fan. Most of the ones I have tried are pretty open world. I like that but I always kind of feel like I'm missing out on character interaction. In this game you characters have distinct personalities. They have likes and dislikes and they have conversation points they prefer. While going through the game you can hear them talking/joking/bickering with each other as you travel and in specific places they'll comment on the area you just entered. As the story progresses you can talk to them and get to know each one of them better and as you do you can see the depth that was written into each one. The aren't all just one sided characters. Each of them has a reason for helping *or not helping* you.

2.) The Codex. I mentioned earlier why I hated this. But on the other hand I really did like it to. There was just so much information you could access there. It had info on the enemies you had fought, on your fellow characters histories, the history of the country, everything was there. I'm not one to be super strict on the lore of a world *with a few exceptions on certain games of course* but it was nice to have all the history on people, cultures and the area in general there for me to read.

3. The execution. During my playthrough there were times when I would just stop and appreciate the area and part of the story I was playing in. There is one part that really stood out to me in the Orzammar part of the story. It's toward the end of the part and I won't put any spoilers here but the area, the sounds and the overall creepiness of it was great. There were plenty of times like that in the game where you could see all the hard work put into it.

4.) The writing/story/conversations *I don't know how to categorize this lol*. I have always loved RPGs but I will be the first to admit sometimes the characters reactions just don't seem right. An example is think of a game where your character gets upset about something and your fellow party members just kind of stand there while the main guy takes care of it. In this game if they don't like something they'll speak up. The story and conversations just feel way more natural in this game.

By the end of this game I really did care what happened to my character and my party members and when it was over I was already ready for more.

With Dragon Age II coming out just around the corner I'm encouraging everyone to at least try this game. With all the different choices you have in it every play through will feel different but they will be your own. There are a few glitches as I mentioned earlier but I feel the game as the whole is still enjoyable enough for most people to have fun during a play through

Blog Post: hard to stay awake

ai3di — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 20:49:00 GMT

I really like rpg games and this one had a lot of promise. The way you level your characters and can switch between members of your team while also not having to because there is a great system to make your characters automatically act on their own is perfect. The graphics are really good and the story is very deep with many choices all the way from the start to the finish.

Saying this I still gave it a low score because the music was so mellow and the story dialog lasted so long that I had a hard time staying awake while playing it. The dialog parts just took to long but if you don't mind that and sub in your own music, it is worth playing. It just wasn't my cup of tea.

Blog Post: Save the world and kill Darkspawn in the best RPG I've played.

King Sir Mister Captain Lord Pope Doctor PHD — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 22:06:00 GMT

Story

The minute you start Dragon Age: Origins story, you will be plunged into the start of an unique origin that depends on your character’s race. Each of the 6 origin stories will have an impact on the rest of the story, like your Human Noble can become king/queen, or your Dwarf can become a Paragon of his people.

Each of the major decisions can end completely different from each other, depending on the ending, some people may die, and maybe no one will. Depending on who you put on the throne will alter the ending. Not all of the choices will have as much impact as the next, but even some of the side quests have a result in the end.

The story is about you, one of only two Grey Wardens - a group of skilled warriors that are the only ones that can stop the Blight - must gather and army starting from nothing except a few ancient treaties to different races, with the only other Warden, named Alistair who like you, just joined. Each of the major quests are almost like individual mini stories, but you never loose track of the full story and what you doing. As you go along in the story, different companions join your quest. Although a couple of them are obvious, some are not. If you have no idea who they are, you may accidentally kill one, or not give a second thought to another. Also, this is the only RPG where I actually like the whole party.

Gameplay

This is a pause-and-play RPG on a console. That said, the combat is well done. X is your basic attack, while [], /\, and O, along with R2+those buttons serve as 6 special ability short-cuts. This works very well for Warriors and Rouges, but it doesn’t work quite as well for mages. Mages will have dozens of spells before the end, and only having 6 of them for quick use is a little annoying. But, you can still pause the gameplay and select which spell/talent you want to use.

Unfortunately, DA:O gets really easy after about halfway though. Even on nightmare, a well-built Warden will mow though the enemies. That’s about the only compliant I have about the gameplay.

Upgrading is just as fun as you would expect, getting new talents and feeling your Warden become more powerful is thrilling. You’ll get 3 attribute points, 1 talent, and every 3 levels(2 for Rouges) you will get a skill point. Skill points are used for things like making potions, poisons, traps, etc. The gameplay section of DA:O, like the story, is fantastic.

Graphics

As great as the other parts of DA:O are, the console versions have very lackluster graphics. The PC has great graphics, but I’m not reviewing that version.

Some of the character models look good, mostly your Warden and party, but some of the NPCs look bad. Like the character models, the environments go from good to bad. The citys, especially Orzammar, look good. However, the caves, like the Deep roads are especially lacking.

Sound

The voice acting in Dragon Age sits with the best of it. All of the party sounds believable and the NPCs sound good too. The battles and sword clanging have an epic sound to them.

Overall

Dragon Age: Origins is an incredible RPG, and my favorite RPG ever. With a great story, addicting gameplay, and believable voice acting, its easy to look past some of the uglier graphical moments.

Single-player: 10/10

The exciting combat and dialogue system speak for themselves. Among the best out there.

Graphics: 6.0/10

There are some good sights here, but don’t expect anything special.

Sound: 10/10

The voice acting is great, and the combat sounds epic.

Story: 10/10

It has a basic path, but how everything ends is up to you. And its all told brilliantly.

Immersion: 10/10

You will be entrenched in the gameplay for hours.

Replay Value: 10/10

I’ve spent 230 hours on this and I don’t feel any time was wasted.

Overall: 10/10

Minus the graphics, this is as good as it gets.

Blog Post: Old School Goodness

Teyrn Loghain — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 04:10:00 GMT

There was a period in my life, too long ago for me to want to think about, that I would get off the bus from school and make a bee line directly to my parent's computer. There was only one thing on my mind, playing Baldur's Gate. The game's fascinating characters, intriguing story, and revolutionary battle system created a whole new subset of the RPG genre. However, due in part to the technological limitations of the time, the game had several significant flaws. It had fixed camera angles, the occasional permanent death of an ally, and the ability to get yourself saved in places where you would be so stuck that you would need to start the entire game from the start. Dragon Age: Origins is a modern version of Baldur's Gate with all the upgraded graphics and voice-overs you would expect but without any of the flaws of Baldur's Gate that it takes so much from.

The characters are still fascinating, the plot is still intriguing, and the combat system is still a lot of fun. BioWare shrunk the battle system of Baldur's Gate down to its core so that it would be the most enjoyable experience possible. There are only three races, Human, Elf, and Dwarf. There are only three classes, Warrior, Rogue, and Mage. Depending upon which class is chosen, the player will be able to choose up to two specializations over the course of their adventure. The number of members allowed in your party has also been reduced from six to four, which reduces micromanagement and makes the battles more fun. Depending on your race and class, the player can choose an origin for their character that will effect the first hour or so of the game. These origin stories are a lot of fun and help flush out the world the game takes place in, Ferelden.

Dragon Age: Origins is one of those rare games that absolutely cannot be missed.

File: Dragon Age: Origins 'Witch Hunt' Trailer

Jeff Cork — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:55:00 GMT

Morrigan is back, and she may or may not be happy.

Wiki: Dragon Age Origins Guides

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:05:00 GMT

Guides for Dragon Age Origins

Wiki Page: Dragon Age Origins

MASTER CHIEF PETTY OFFICER JOHN SPARTAN -117 — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 04:05:00 GMT

Leliana's Song Achievements

Provocateur (50): Collected and assembled the Battledress of the Provocateur.
Turning Point (25): Heard Leliana's version of her betrayal.
Vendetta (25): Destroyed the career of Guard Captain Eams.

Sacrilegious Achievement Without Killing A Party Member

The Gauntlet in the Urn Of Sacred Ashes Quest

Just before placing your equipment in the altar to step up to the Urn Of Sacred Ashes save the game and continue as normal. Take a pinch from the urn when asked to do so, then poor the dragons blood if done right and you have a party member like Alistir, Wynne or Liliana you will engage in combat wait a moment and you should get the achievement Sacrilegious once you get the achievement pause the game and load the save just before the altar and play through again without destroying the urn this way avoid losing your best healer or archer.

Achievements

A Dark Promise (50) - Defeated the archdemon and, through a dark ritual with Morrigan, spared your own life
Annulment Invoker (20) - Sided with the templars in "Broken Circle"
Archmage (25) - Main character achieved level 20 as a mage
Bhelen's Ally (20) - Sided with Bhelen in "A Paragon of Her Kind"
Blight-Queller (25) - Killed 1000 darkspawn
Bloodied (10) - Completed an origin story without the main character ever falling in battle
Bully (10) - Succeeded at five difficult Intimidate attempts
Casteless (10) - Completed the Dwarf Commoner origin story
Ceremonialist (20) - Defied the Cult of Andraste in "The Urn of Sacred Ashes"
Conscripted (10) - Completed the City Elf origin story
Corrupted (10) - Completed the Dalish Elf origin story
Defender (20) - Preserved the lives of half the troops at Denerim's Gates in "The Final Battle"
Dragonslayer (30) - Defeated the dragon guarding the Urn of Sacred Ashes
Easy Lover (10) - Experienced the thrill of romance with Zevran
Educated (15) - Used a tome to improve the main character's attributes, talents, spells, or skills
Elite (30) - Main character learned two specializations
First Knight (10) - Experienced the thrill of romance with Alistair
Grey Warden (20) - Killed 100 darkspawn
Harrowed (10) - Completed the Magi origin story
Harrowmont's Ally (20) - Sided with Harrowmont in "A Paragon of Her Kind"
Heavy Hitter (10) - Main character inflicted 250 damage with a single hit
Hero of Redcliffe (20) - Completed "The Arl of Redcliffe"
Hopelessly Romantic (25) - Across all playthroughs, experienced all possible romances
Kinslayer (10) - Completed the Dwarf Noble origin story
Last of the Wardens (20) - Completed Ostagar
Last of Your Line (10) - Completed the Human Noble origin story
Liberator (20) - Destroyed the Anvil of the Void
Magic Sympathizer (20) - Sided with the mages in "Broken Circle"
Master of Arms (25) - Main character achieved level 20 as a warrior
Master Warden (25) - Killed 500 darkspawn
Menacing (20) - Succeeded at 10 difficult Intimidate attempts
Mercenary (20) - Complete 15 job-board quests
Perfectionist (50) - Across all playthroughs, discovered all possible endings
Persuasive (10) - Succeeded at five difficult Persuasion attempts
Pilgrim (10) - Completed a Chanter's Board quest
Poacher (20) - Sided with the elves in "Nature of the Beast"
Pragmatist (20) - Preserved the Anvil of the Void
Rabble-Rouser (20) - Completed "The Landsmeet"
Recruiter (25) - Across all playthroughs, recruited all party members
Sacrilegious (20) - Sided with the Cult of Andraste in "The Urn Of Sacred Ashes"
Shadow (25) - Main character achieved level 20 as a rogue
Silver Tongued (20) - Succeeded at 25 difficult Persuasion attempts
Slayer (20) - Sided with the werewolves in "Nature of the Beast"
Standard-Bearer (20) - Used the Grey Warden treaties to recruit all possible allies
The Ultimate Sacrifice (50) - Made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of Ferelden
Tinkerer (10) - Crafted an item
Traveler (35) - Set foot in every area in the game
Veteran (25) - Main character learned a specialization
Wine, Woman, and Song (10) - Experienced the thrill of romance with Leliana
Witch Gone Wild (10) - Experienced the thrill of romance with Morrigan

Blog Post: amazing game in every way

Sierra — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:19:00 GMT

I walked into this game expecting your typical rpg and found an addicting, detailed story that i couldnt walk away from. The graphics are flowing, facial expressions are realistic, and the landscapes are gorgeous. I loved how you could choose what you wanted to say and how you wanted to develope your character and your relationships with the npcs.

Sadly i didnt get to finish the game. I only got 8 hours in before my uncle took his ps3 back to the store, but i enjoyed every minute of this game.

Blog Post: SWEET!

Taten — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 18:43:00 GMT

This game was amazing.... kind of hard in some spots but still really good! The pause fighting or continuous was really cool. I always got so excited when i leveled up because it is so much fun. I hope the second one is even better though!

Blog Post: A Dragonless Age

Victor Martin — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 17:29:00 GMT

Given that Bioware developed this game, I was very excited when I popped the CD in my 360. After about three days, I realize that this is a largely broken game in terms of gameplay: cumbersome and frustrating controls and a lack of typical RPG conventions (level grinding, a plethora of side quests, a vast variety of weapons and armor). WHERE ARE THE ^&*%@# DRAGONS?! How can you have a game named Dragon Age: Origins and have so few dragons?!

The graphics are very lackluster and not very impressive. However, the facial animations for the characters are excellent.

The character interactions and stories are the saving grace of this game. The complexity of decisions and how characters are "aware" of your dealings with other characters are impressive and captivating. I played the game just to hear the characters bickers and cajole each other.

I played this game after Mass Effect 2, and Dragon Age: Origins does not measure to that high standard. Mass Effect 2, as well as Mass Effect, set the standard for RPGs. Dragon Age: Origins competes with Mas Effect 2 in terms of character interaction but fails to measure up otherwise.

Blog Post: Dragon Age: Origins - a great fantasy RPG experience

Hist — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 16:45:00 GMT

I've been a fan of Bioware's role-playing video games for a long time now, ever sinceBaldur's Gate came out on the PC many years ago. Any Star Wars fans who didn't enjoy the two Knights of the Old Republic games probably don't like video games at all. Of course, their signature creation is Mass Effect and this year's Mass Effect 2.

So when I saw that they had another RPG out even before Mass Effect 2, I knew I had to give it a try.

This review has been a *long* time coming, because this game is *huge*. This is not a game that you play for 10-15 hours and then take the disc out and never try again. No, for me it was 65 hours later, and I even started it again a couple of times (for achievement purposes mostly). I was immersed in this world for a couple of hours a night most of the week, and even longer on weekends. That being said, while Dragon Age: Origins has all the same rich detail and juicy RPG goodness of most Bioware games, I was not as impressed this time around. It became a slog to get through in the middle part of the game, and the final confrontation is just incredibly hard.

Dragon Age: Origins is kind of unique among video game RPGs, in the sense that you have some choice in how your character starts. Most games, you choose your characters race, class, stats, and skills, and then you begin the same origin story no matter what you chose. In this game, you have six different choices, depending on what you choose for a class and race. The three races are Human, Dwarf, and Elf. If you choose a Dwarf, you cannot become a mage, as Dwarves cannot do magic. The three classes are Warrior, Mage, and Rogue. Each class has a base set of statistics (the statistics are Strength, Dexterity, Magic, Willpower, Cunning, and Constitution) and then your race will adjust that. You then get a number of points to add to these stats to get your starting ones.

You have an amazing number of customization options for your character as well, as you can adjust hair, face, eyes, eyebrows, skin tone, even the height of your eyes (are they in the center of your face or higher up?). If you don't want to customize your character that much, there are a number of presets for each race and gender that will do fine.

Once you're done with all that, you get thrown into your origin story. If you're a Mage, you start out at the Circle of Mages Tower, going through your initiation. If you chose a Dwarven Lower Caste, then you are among the dregs of Dwarven society and you have to follow that origin story. Thus, you can start the game six different times and the first hour or two of gameplay will be totally different (though some origin stories are more beefed up than others).

All origin stories lead to the same point, however, when you are recruited by Duncan, head of the Grey Wardens of Ferelden. The Wardens are tasked with safeguarding Ferelden from what's called "The Blight," where demonic Darkspawn roam the world and try to destroy everything. The dwarves are always fighting them underground but when they come to the surface, that's when you know things are bad. You join Duncan and Ferelden's king at the ruined city of Ostagar to stop the Darkspawn in their tracks. But things don't turn out quite the way you had planned, and eventually it's up to you to save Ferelden. Isn't that always the way?

Over the course of the game, you can be joined by a number of companions, all with different goals and motivations. You are the leader of this ragtag bunch, though, and what you say goes. However, they may not always agree with you, and it's even possible that one of them might attack you if they think you're wasting their time! You have to balance their needs and desires with what you think is the right thing to do.

As with most Bioware RPGs, you can either be a *** or a saint, or completely Chaotic Neutral (a term for you D&D fans!) and do whatever you want on a whim! That being said, it is possible to make it so certain quests don't become available to you if you piss off the wrong person, so be careful. As always, I chose to be a good guy (though a couple of times when the dialogue option of "Yes, your blathering is getting quite annoying, I agree" came up, it was tempting to take it). I find that often makes the easiest path through the game, though it can be fun to go back and play it over, being an *** the entire time.

Another common factor in Bioware RPGs is the possibility of romancing some of your companions, and sexuality be damned on a couple of them! I love how the achievement for bedding Zoran is called "Easy Lover," because he's such a lech. You can improve your standing with any of your companions by going along with them when they think you should do something a certain way (Morrigan hates it when you're too much of a goody-two-shoes), but you can also improve it by giving them gifts that you can find or buy all around Ferelden. Certain gifts have bigger increases with certain people, so it's good to get an idea of what they like. It's not all about getting into their pants, either, as improving their opinion of you can give them skill and stats bonuses because of your "leadership" (if that's what you want to call it). It's an interesting facet of these RPGs, and Bioware generally treats the whole thing with maturity. Eventually, you can bed one or more of the companions, which leads to a short romantic cut scene that eventually fades to black.

Combat is done in real time, though you can always pause it to give other characters orders. This can be a bit cumbersome on the Xbox, however, and I've heard this control system is a lot easier on the PC. Each character has a number of "tactics slots" where you can tell them how to behave in certain situations, which makes things a lot easier because you can let them go and do their thing without you having to worry about them.

For example, you can have one of your warriors protect your mage, breaking off with whoever he/she is fighting to go attack the evil minion that's attacking your mage. Or you can have your character who's using a bow & arrow change to a melee weapon if somebody engages him/her in melee. That being said, I would suggest always controlling your mage yourself, because you know when the best time to cast which spell is, and it's very hard to do area effect spells (like a giant lightning storm) using the Tactics slots. Sometimes you have to precisely place area effect spells for maximum effectiveness (as well as to avoid damaging members of your party if you're playing with "friendly fire" on), and that's impossible with the AI. Overall, though, I did enjoy the combat.

There are definitely some tough battles in Dragon Age: Origins, though, so thankfully you can adjust the difficulty level in the middle of the game, finish this fight, and then adjust back to the level you were playing at. For example, there's one instance where you face a mirror image of your party. I had run out of Injury Kits and all of my characters had at least one major wound, and some had three or four (if a character "dies" in combat but you end up winning the battle, the "dead" characters revive and are just "wounded," and these wounds can affect skills, stats, and other abilities until they are healed, which you do with Injury Kits). Thus, I was totally outmatched until I bumped the difficulty level down.

Another major problem with this game, in fact the worst thing about it, is that it becomes a major slog to get through the middle part of the game. I found myself wearing down at times just wanting the story to move forward. As in most RPGs, there are lots of side quests to do in addition to the main quests, but unlike most RPGs, you don't always get experience points for completing them (other than the XP for facing whatever monsters you end up fighting). I hate "fetch" quests at the best of times (where some character wants you to go retrieve something for them, and it's usually all the way across town, or sometimes in another city!). However, I hate them even more when you don't get any reward for them! Oh, sure, you might get some money (though usually not much), but no XPs? That's incredible. There were a couple of times I had to force myself to get through the middle part of the game, occasionally taking a day or two off because the thought of doing more of the same just did not thrill me at all.

However, what kept me going was the strength of most Bioware games: the story and the characters. First, I wanted to see where my romance(s) would go, but I also wanted to see where the story would go. Each major area you have go to has a dilemma of some sorts going on, and sometimes you have to make a choice of which side in a conflict to support. Sometimes you can mediate and sometimes you can't. The story writing, as is usual for Bioware, is top notch and well worth finishing the game to see how everything turns out. Another cool thing is that the race and origin you chose way back at the beginning of the game will change some of the things later on. If you're a Dwarf, for example, then when you return to your home caves to recruit the Dwarves for the fight against the Blight, you will be treated a lot differently than if you were an Elf or a Human. I liked that aspect of the game too.

I have to say something about the graphics. For some reason, I just wasn't that impressed with them, though they're certainly not "bad." The characters are a bit blocky and the settings just don't have that awesome thrill that Mass Effect gave me. However, nothing is more satisfying than seeing the coup de grace in a battle where your warrior takes the head off of a Darkspawn and a fountain of blood comes spurting out. I do have to hand it to Bioware for attention to detail, too. If a cutscene happens right after a battle, your characters have a lot of blood spatter on their images. They're not instantly cleaned up like they would be in many other games.

The sound is very good, though. If you're fully armored and running around the screen, you hear the "clank clank clank" of the sword that's strapped to your back banging against your armor. The voice acting is pretty good, with Kate Mulgrew (Star Trek: Voyager) providing a couple of the voices. I loved Morrigan's voice as well as Alistair's (though I thought Alistair was an annoying, whiny wimp overall) especially.

Overall, I really enjoyed Dragon Age: Origins, though it's probably the least of the many Bioware games I've played so far. That's not a strike against this game, however; it's more of a compliment to all of their other games. I greatly enjoyed this game, with just the faults I mentioned above marring what was otherwise an enjoyable experience.