Dragon Age: Origins Review
Now that i have finished my third playthrough of Dragon Age: Origins I think i have gathered some opinions that will convince you, if you haven't already, play this game.
I'm going to start off with the things i enjoyed with the game.
The storytelling in this game is fantastic hell sometimes i believe it rivals the original BG. With some amazingly memorably characters to join you on your quest, and even more side characters there is just so much to become immersed and attached to.
Secondly, the origins system is great making playthroughs as different races actually feel different.
Thirdly, the amount of choices that will intensely affect the story is more than most rpgs i have played, but since i dont want to spoil anything i sadly cant tell you these choices.
Finally, the romances in this game are some of the best i've experienced, though sadly there are only four options.
Sadly we must now come to the cons of this game.
First off, there are numerous glitches, even 8 years later i run into glitches quite often, now i know on pc there're probably unofficial patches but i played on ps3 since my computer would probably have a hard time running paint.
Secondly, The combat is static and boring to watch, at the beginning before you get all the cool flashy moves combat boils down to click a button and wait. now i know baldur's gate, hence why i have a harder time playing the first one over again, but from what i hear the second game does fix this.
Third off, the romance scenes are often very odd to watch, to be honest Alistair and Zevran's romance scenes are the best looking in the game but otherwise its your character with a blank expression making no emotion.
Finally, this mostly goes for console players but the complete lack of the ability to pause in battle really makes strategic thinking far harder making you lose fights you could've otherwise one because you couldn't give your fighter a health potion.
All in all i would give Dragon Age Origins a solid 8/10 for me. with excellent storytelling and great characters all around i havent been able to put this game down since i got it last December. I would recommend this game to all fans of Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. Now i cant wait to get Dragon age 2 this month!
I'm going to start off with the things i enjoyed with the game.
The storytelling in this game is fantastic hell sometimes i believe it rivals the original BG. With some amazingly memorably characters to join you on your quest, and even more side characters there is just so much to become immersed and attached to.
Secondly, the origins system is great making playthroughs as different races actually feel different.
Thirdly, the amount of choices that will intensely affect the story is more than most rpgs i have played, but since i dont want to spoil anything i sadly cant tell you these choices.
Finally, the romances in this game are some of the best i've experienced, though sadly there are only four options.
Sadly we must now come to the cons of this game.
First off, there are numerous glitches, even 8 years later i run into glitches quite often, now i know on pc there're probably unofficial patches but i played on ps3 since my computer would probably have a hard time running paint.
Secondly, The combat is static and boring to watch, at the beginning before you get all the cool flashy moves combat boils down to click a button and wait. now i know baldur's gate, hence why i have a harder time playing the first one over again, but from what i hear the second game does fix this.
Third off, the romance scenes are often very odd to watch, to be honest Alistair and Zevran's romance scenes are the best looking in the game but otherwise its your character with a blank expression making no emotion.
Finally, this mostly goes for console players but the complete lack of the ability to pause in battle really makes strategic thinking far harder making you lose fights you could've otherwise one because you couldn't give your fighter a health potion.
All in all i would give Dragon Age Origins a solid 8/10 for me. with excellent storytelling and great characters all around i havent been able to put this game down since i got it last December. I would recommend this game to all fans of Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. Now i cant wait to get Dragon age 2 this month!
5
Comments
As of bugs, flat emotions and so on - if you have the possibility to play DAO on PC, do it! But this time with mods. A lot of things were fixed\improved by talented enthusiasts.
You could find more creative strategies in the first one opposed to the last two.
I dunno about about anyone else, but I thought it was more amusing and awkward to watch those mature rated romance scenes^^
*runs away and hides*
I know other people like you. Though I also do know those who played DA2, thought, nothing can be better, but after practically being forced to go through DAO, admitted, that DA2 to them now feels like a simplified mod compare to Origins.
Still, DA2 was a very interesting experiment, innovative and creative in many aspects.
I played DA:O for the very first time over the summer of last year, and I gave my thoughts on it here: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/61014/the-villains-what-still-separates-bg1-from-other-rpgs-after-all-these-years/p1 - and received quite a backlash for doing so.
In a nutshell, I found the characters, story, and interactions to be VERY compelling, but I had a number of other issues with the mechanics and gameplay that began to add up over time, and eventually discouraged me from continuing my playthrough.
-The restriction to only four party members was too small for my liking.
-The limited number of base classes to choose from at the start of the game.
-The relatively small number of joinable NPCs.
-The need for a thief to open locked chests (instead of using brute force or a spell).
-The tedious and repetitive feel of combat - this was the biggest killer for me. Endless waves of anonymous and forgettable mages, foot-soldiers, and monsters, with little variety to the pattern of battles, and significant restrictions on the tactics you can employ (i.e.: you can't attack anyone until after they turn hostile on you, as if the game were basically forcing you to walk head-on into an ambush).
On the surface, the game looked like it should've been a significant step-up from its RPG predecessors, but although it did take some big steps forward, in many other ways it felt like a step or two back.
I'll just say that I still think DA:O is an objectively better game in general. But I'm weird that I can enjoy some games more than others even if I consider them worse overall. DA2 was lacking in many aspects but it had a charm that I didn't find in its predecessor.
Awakening is an unholy abomination that begs for apocalypse though.
*EDIT* I am a gigantic derp and actually mean Inquisition.
I am truly just curious since this is the first time I see someone calling Awakening (or any BW game aside DAI) an "open world game".
for one, you have a lot less control over who the main protagonist is at his/her core. Like with ME, you end up more playing the writer's character than playing your own. there are a lot more scripted events as well, and ones that you can not alter. What I mean by that is, there are distinct chapters which happen more on the rails than in DA:O.
Finally, the combat was "Jazzed up", being more frenetic, but with fewer actual choices on the part of the player. If you want strategic combat, you will get less of that in DA2 than you got in DA:O. A lot less.
The original design was to make a game that would work on consoles and so a lot fewer resources were available to the game. There were LOADS of maps that were re-used again and again and AGAIN. Caves would be the same layout but with different entry points and a path blocked off or opened up, and different monsters in it. But you get bored of the maps pretty quickly. Same with the control scheme. it was reduced considerably so that you could control the game with just a few buttons.
If you like all of those changes, you might enjoy DA2. Just be aware that if you were expected an expansion of what you got in DA:O, a LOT of things were changed and quite a few were "simplified" rather than expanded.