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A roleplaying game released on November 3, 2009.
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Rating:
There is something about Dragon Age: Origin[DA:O] that is indescribable for me. Whenever I think about the universe, I get a little extra pep in my step. Whenever I think about the characters, I get an un-erasable smile across my face. It's one of those few games where I can overlook it's flaws and see straight to the heart of it all: it hearkens back to a time in my youth when I used to read a crap-ton of Forgotten Realms novels, and poured (what I thought at the time) my whole life into Dungeons & Dragons. Oh, and you can fight dragons. Which is really awesome.
+4
In the beginning, you create a character using one of six different origin stories: a human noble, a human/elf mage, a city elf, a dalish elf, a dwarf noble, and a dwarf commoner. Each origin story set's up the world and how it reacts to you (which is very apparent at first and then, rightfully I believe, dwindles as the story progresses.) I've played through the video game three times: a male dwarven noble, who was a rogue, named Bahorel. He was amazing, fought dragons, loved Lilianna, and then fought the boss. My second character was a bitchy elf-mage named Aniximander, who was pure evil, hated everyone, and died often. My third, and final character, was a female noble warrior named Derketo. I became queen of Ferelden, beat the Archdemon, and became best buds with Morrigan. All three playthroughs were unique (especially when you go BACK to the areas in which you originated from) but, because the game has a series of main-plot driven quests, it can become a little stale... but that's a bit understandable, no?
The major draw DA:O has over other fantasy games is that it's the casua-core gamers version of The Elder Scroll series. While I love *that* juggernaut of a title, the immersion is a bit too intense for me. DA:O has the right amount of world building mixed with a strong storyline and mythology that keeps me interested in where the series, and its characters, are going.
The game suffers from a few flaws, of course. On both and 360 and the ps3 version, the gameplay is very "oh, I need a computer mouse" for this. There's also some texture popping here and there and due to the default auto-save function, the game gets a bit jerky so I would recommend turning that function off upon starting a new game. There's also a lot of load times going from one area to the next, which would be a deal-breaker for me if the story, mythology, and characters weren't so good. Oh, or the game being so much fun.
In the end, I recommend Dragon Age: Origins and it's expansion, Awakening. While not a five-star game or an A+, it's a solid title that belongs in your library.
SCORE=-
Gameplay: B+
Story: A+
Graphics: B
Music: A+
OVERALL: A-
THE FUN STUFF=-
Default Difficulty: Requires some strategy
Interaction With The World: Yes, you have the ability to control certain elements of the world
Gayness: Yes, romance options with Liliana and Zhevron, also, the brothel offers up both genders if a hook-up is what your character is looking for.
IF YOU LIKED=-
GAMES: Two Worlds, Fable, the Elder Scrolls, Jade Empire, Neverwinter Nights, Baldurs Gate, Mass Effect, Dungeons & Dragons
MOVIES: Lord of the Rings, Pans Labyrinth, The Fountain, The Fall, Legend, Spartacus: Of Blood and Sand
BOOKS: The Trilogy of Fire & Ice, Forgotten Realms novels
GENRE: Dark Fantasy
MUSIC: Metal
Hope this helps :p
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More Dragon Age: Origins reviews
A heavily dialogue driven game, much like Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect, in which the player gets to choose how conversations flow and it directly affects the game. The team based combat allows you to switch between the characters in your party on the fly, so when a particular character isn't set up to handle an unexpected battle you can take control. The graphics are exceptional, the story is decent, and the combat can be fun. The reason why this game doesn't get a 4+ from me was … more
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Picked this up for hubby for X-mas as he really wanted this game. The graphics are great and there is a lot to this game. He says it's very challenging (which is a huge compliment coming from him, he's the biggest gamer I know!), and he's really enjoying it. It seems pretty long so far too, he hasn't beat it yet and it usually doesn't take him long at all, another plus!
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Ther version I'm playing is the PC version, and I have a big bad Vista 64-I7 machine, so it's fast and handles the graphics with no sweat -- even allows me quickly to swap in and out of the game. It's been many years since I tried a RPG that was enough fun to justify the effort, but congratulations to these designers for a wonderful game. I am playing in the "easy" mode now, because I haven't played any RPGs to speak of for a long time. I bought a couple but quickly got bored … more
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About the reviewer
Cody Rishell (Cocijo)
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Jan 25, 2011
Last Login: Jan 31, 2011 07:57 AM UTC
Last Login: Jan 31, 2011 07:57 AM UTC
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About this video game
Dragon Age: Origins, (also known as Dragon Age), is a computer role-playing game by BioWare's Edmonton studio. T
Dragon Age: Origins utilizes a new game engine named Eclipse. The game is single-player only and does not provide LAN support.
BioWare co-CEO Ray Muzyka describes Dragon Age: Origins as a 'spiritual successor' to the Baldur's Gate series, though it is not based on Dungeons & Dragons.
Publisher:
Bioware
Console:
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows
Release Date:
November 3, 2009
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