Dragon Age Origins Game Review

[Zagubadu? 0]

Hello, I'm sure you've all heard of the game Dragon Age Origins. I gotta say this is one of those games that you can really see yourself playing for a while. It reminds me of Final Fantasy except while I'm playing it I'm actually having fun. Yea Im not a FF fan ( FFF? ). But I am a fan of this game. Its fun, has an interesting story line, oh and above all has something most games now a days don't have, its hard as hell. Maybe its just hard for me but I figure if I'm getting owned at the normal difficulty even more experienced players must be having trouble with the higher difficulties. Anyways it has a unique playing style where you can ( Now don't think litterally ) play it turn-based. Now if you don't know what that is well its where you take turns attacking eachother ( Pokemon style ) but its not that. What I mean by this is that you can sort of pause the game go over your party and make each player do a certain thing. I don't do this a lot I give them orders as we fight and I think thats what my problem is with this game. So the story goes after a period of time these creatures called the Dark Spawn attack this city. They've defeated the Dark Spawn seven times before, but this time something went wrong ( Not going to spoil it for those wanting to play ) so basically *BLEEP* hits the fan. You start off the game very similair to oblivion where you pick a race and make a character. Then later in the game you start to pick up party members and its just really fun. I Was suprised when I could play this game because my computer isn't all that good. My current specs if you guys are interested in this and want to get a rough idea of what you need to run it at LOW settings. ( Its one of those games where even the low settings look really nice and after a while of playing you don't even notice the graphics because the game is so BA! )Windows XP Professional 64 bit ( Service Pack 2 )Intel Celeron CPU 3.33GHz ( I know its bad thinking about getting a new one soon this is the only weak point in running this game on higher settings I beleive )2GB of RAMOverall I would rate this game a 9.5 because it plays nice is a really fun game, has a crazy and interesting story line, and above all doesn't require a really good computer to play BUT still somehow looks really nice on my piece of crap PC.

[shadowx 0]

I have been looking at DAO for some time but i cant work out what type of game it is!Is it a third person RTS type game whereby you select your character, or party members, then click an area and they move there, or click an action and they carry it out (sort of like age of empires, C&C etc...) or is it more of a third person action-RPG more like world of warcraft whereby you control your main character and click action bars and buttons and then issue commands to the party through another interface?If it is like an RTS then I will give it a miss, but if it is more like a traditional RPG then id be interested.

[Zagubadu? 0]

I have been looking at DAO for some time but i cant work out what type of game it is!
Is it a third person RTS type game whereby you select your character, or party members, then click an area and they move there, or click an action and they carry it out (sort of like age of empires, C&C etc...) or is it more of a third person action-RPG more like world of warcraft whereby you control your main character and click action bars and buttons and then issue commands to the party through another interface?

If it is like an RTS then I will give it a miss, but if it is more like a traditional RPG then id be interested.

That's the thing its both of those. Sure you can do the over head view with the boring clicking as you watch your guy move. Or you can use WASD movement to move your party member you've selected as your other members follow. Yes you can do both views I believe they are trying to appeal to both RTS fans and RPG fans. So in a way yes its a traditional RPG if you choose for it to be so. Which is why I love it so much. When things get a bit clustered and you have enemies far away so sometimes you have to pick that view if only for a moment to make your party attack different people. So basically the guy you have selected it does play like WoW its kind of hard to explain. Imagine playing World of Warcraft having a part of four, but you can control all the members of the team. Or you can choose to just play your character and set up tactics for the others. Tactics are like lets say you have a Mage class you can make it so when someone falls below 75% health you cast Heal on them. Sort of like FF Gambits because I don't remember which FF but one of them that was on the Ps2. This game is insanely fun I just wish I had a better computer. Lets say if you buy this game I highly doubt you'll be disappointed. Hope this kind of clears things up its a very rare playing style game so its harder to explain and I can't really compare it to anything else because its one of a kind in my book.

[shadowx 0]

That clears it up a little, i may have to see if there is a demo around somewhere....Ill also look at some gameplay footage tomorrow methinks.Cheers.

[kira423 1]

I played this game on the 360, and I am so happy it was a rental, because I would have been uber mad if I had actually bought it. I really didn't like this game at all. I don't really know why, I didn't like the fighting style I guess, either that or they could have used a game engine other than Eclipse. Sorry for those of you who like this game, but in my opinion it sort of sucked, but there are defiantly some worse games out there.

[Zagubadu? 0]

Yea did you think it was to easy? Lets just say the in the PC version its normal is the Xbox's versions hardest difficulty. So the Xbox version is extremely easy. It plays ( More or less ) like every other RTS in the world. So you just don't like RTS games I'm guessing? Yea sure it has a lot of differences from traditional RTS's but I think it changes a few things for the better.

[kira423 1]

I can't say why I didn't like it, but I was under the impression that it was an RPG, I mean I like Command and Conquer so I don't have a problem with RTS's, this game was just to...... different.

[Zagubadu? 0]

Yea I can see why some people like the good old fashion stuff and don't really want change. Are you saying you don't consider it an RPG? Leveling, gaining new skills, and getting new armor kind of defines RPG for me. Plus its a RPG with a RTS twist in it which I really enjoy. How much did you play the game? I was a bit skeptical at first because it seemed boring but after a while of playing it really picked up.

[Profaris 0]

RPG whit a RTS twhist :| wtf man? did you play other rpg/rts in your life ? Its an RPG based on D&D rules [i think they made their self saome rules to be more original] . The view from the sky [like i like to call it] its a old thing from old RPG [Diablo , Neverwinter night , etc etc] and the game designers think to make the game great for old gamers and new gamers , that why it has that perspectiv .

The game itself its great , but EA ready did it when it started puting shiti stuff like DLC . Ok i understand to put 2-3 DLC and pay money on them but NOT 20 DLC IT'S NOT SIMS , and mass effect its going on the same road.

What chars did you have ? i had a male Elf healer/bloodmage

[Zagubadu? 0]

I actually have played other RTS games. That's just what I thought about it. What I haven't played is whatever game your referring to with D&D rules in it. That sounds kind of nerdy to me. When I think RTS I think like Warcraft RoC controlling multiple units to attack stuff, having to micro, etc. That's why I consider this a RTS as well. Not fully like building but sort of. I haven't played many RPGs where you have to micro. If you played this on the PC oh believe me you have too. If your a console player. Well the difficulty changed drastically when you play on the PC.

[rob86 2]

I finished this game (first play through) recently. Here's my opinion of it.I was impressed by the cinematic quality of the game from the first few minutes, it was neat having movie-like scenes involving my characters. It really got me in to the story. Your dialogue choices with other characters are significant, and can change the game. Other times the dialog choices are irrelevant (Main Quest stuff) while other times, they don't make a lot of sense and the choice isn't much of a choice. For example, why kill a potential party member when their presence can only be beneficial? In general though, it feels like your dialogue choices usually have some importance. The negative side of all the cinematics, is that sometimes they can get a little boring depending on what genre of game you're into. Sometimes it can take quite a few minutes to listen to all the dialogue, and you'll want to, because the voice acting is well done and i t's a shame to just skip it. However, if you have problems paying attention and not being able to walk around Half-Life style to someone talking it can slow things down. This isn`t really a problem with the game, because I think most in the RPG genre are like this. Combat in the game is kind of different. I wouldn`t personally describe it as RTS style, more like minimal Real Based Tactical with Pause. You have a party of 4 characters, and in a general battle, you pause the game, maneuver your units, unpause, repeat. You can also set up automated programmable tactics such as ``IF HEALTH BELOW 25%, USE HEALTH POTION` or `-IF SURROUNDED..USE SPECIAL ATTACK`` It`s not a bad system and is quite fun to use. It`s not really so tactical like a war game, basically all you can do is flank (attack the enemy`s back side) which later in the game, I didn?t even bother. So mostly my game consisted of making my party stand still, casting some spells, make my party attack (no tactics) and finish the battle. I wouldn't call combat a main draw of the game for sure, but it does fit well in the game if you don't expect a tactical war game. The problem with combat in the game, is that it can be either extremely easy, or frustratingly difficult. I suppose your choice in party members can determine your enjoyment of the game, which is why if you google some people say -TOO HARD- and others say -TOO EASY-. I first concentrated on using warriors, which was very hard and I spent a lot of time pausing and flanking. I couldn?t understand why the game was so darn hard. As soon as I leveled up my mage, I had some seriously overpowered spells which literally let me complete the rest of the game with ease, hardly even using my three other party members including My character, not counting a few overly difficult parts. So I think the more mages you have, the easier the game will be, while not using mages at all will be very challenging, if not impossible for the average person on their first play.One thing that was nice about the game, is that it wasnt overwhelming. I never felt that the game was too much for a person who isn?t really into RPGs. There wasnt a whole lot of exploring random areas. You basically travel automatically from one area to another with random encounters. This might not be as vast as ES: Oblivion, but its a lot less intimidating to someone. I know I found the traveling in ES series not really my thing, and preferred to get straight to the point. The graphics in the game are good, nothing to complain about for sure. You can go Diablo-RTS style where you can see the whole area to control things, or FPS style to explore. Its cool seeing the same stuff in two different perspectives, but you?ll find yourself using the -RTS- mode most of the time, because it'd be near impossible to do any combat zoomed in. They might not be as fancy as modern FPS graphics, but who cares. Minor bugs with the graphics sometimes made controlling the characters hard, but they arent frequent and you can live with them. Specifically when an enemy is on another level (up stairs), no zoom mode can even see them to cast a spell on them.The game is definitely worth buying, it's a good story with an engrossing atmosphere. You don't have to be an RPG fan to enjoy it, it's quite playable for everyone who likes a nice relaxing game. I enjoyed it.

[Rigaudon 0]

I've heard that this game and its expansion total up to more than 100 hours of gameplay, which is stunning.I'd totally buy it if it weren't so expensive, though. I rather enjoyed Diablo 2, RTS's, and FPS's.

[Mcsweeting 0]

LOVE THIS GAME.On my (unknown number) playthrough and i love the different choice and plot changes you can do with make the game more desirable to playthrough(though i usually play the good guy and am doing somewhat the same thing hahaha) Its not overly hard just at a few parts when i didn't have enough poultices or wasnt lvled up enough.The opening race stories are nice and enjoyable. Like playing the city elf and dwarf noble.I prefer the sword and shield and berserker/champion setup. like to tank and deal some damage.i like to build allister weird lol he is suppose to be a tank but i make him duel wield.on of my fav things is the party banters when you walking around like morrigan making fun of allister and what not.the thing is about this game i bout the expansion like 5 days ago beat the game and started over havnt even touch the expansion yet lmao well ill get to it eventually.first game ive been addicted to in a awhile

[rpgsearcherz 5]

I played Dragon Age for a few hours but found the controls to be a little hard to work with. The graphics and the style of game were great but the controls pretty much killed it for me. I went through the first dungeon (where you kill all the skeletons and go into a mirror or something) and then quit.

[Saint_Michael 3]

I was somewhat of a fan of the game, it had a great story with some interesting customization to it. Of course, the second playthrough is where you tend to get bored with the game, due to the fact that once you completed the origin stories the overall story barely changed. Granted things changed depended on the race you choose for your run through, but once you got the gold glitch working and last I knew it still works, you got the best equipment and made the game a whole lot easier.Of course, the DLC that came out later with the game does add more to it, but because of how short that DLC was it wasn't worth the money. Well, at least for me it wasn't worth the money. Still it is a fun RPG with great dynamics and with DA 2 coming out soon it should be interesting what the sequel will be like.