Dragon Age: Origins (Sony Playstation 3, 2009)

The Good
Intricate, involving storytelling Amazing dialogue and voice acting bring characters to life Rich fantasy world filled with interesting lore Enjoyable questing with plenty of twists and surprises Lots of spells and abilities make combat fun.

The Bad:
A few glitches.

When was the last time you felt totally lost in a fantasy gameworld? When was the last time you played a game with such a well-crafted and enjoyable story that you knew you’d remember it for a long, long time? Dragon Age: Origins is that kind of game, so rich and involving that you are powerless to resist its wiles and whims, so touching and triumphant that your mind and heart will be moved. In the fictional land of Ferelden, you meet memorable characters and fight for a cause you believe in, and it's this backdrop that makes developer BioWare's newest role-playing game so extraordinary. Dragon Age is more than a well-crafted story, however: It's a lengthy, intricate, and thoroughly entertaining adventure that's easy to fall in love with.


Showing arachnids who's really the boss.
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Dragon Age's plot, which deals with the impending invasion of a horde of demonic creatures called the darkspawn, isn't where the story's biggest surprises lie. The shocks, the joys, and the disappointments spring from the repartee among a number of remarkable characters; they lurk within books of lore and stories of martyrs; and they burst forth during spine-tingling moments when you must choose from a selection of difficult choices that affect the tale's direction--and the way your associates interact with you. Ferelden is a colorful and fascinating kingdom that takes enough cues from well-known fantasy tropes to be familiar, but bends enough conventions to feel original. Dragon Age features dwarves, but their caste-based society and the social paragons that rise above it twist the norms enough to keep you intrigued. Mages remain under the constant watch of templars, a restriction that doesn't sit well with those who view such policing as virtual slavery. The role of religion in human circles is of particular note. Chantries provide refuge to those worshiping the all-powerful Maker, and chanters recite the holy word near their houses of prayer. But lest this world sound too serious, don't despair: One such disciple slides food references into her chant, and a few dwarves warn you not to fall into the sky. Small, humorous touches like this are plentiful. Even if you aren't the literary sort, Dragon Age may inspire you to read every note, every character bio, and every creature description, thanks to the richness of the world and the consistency with which it's presented.

You'll learn even more from the companions who join you, and you'll grow to care about them on your quest for glory. There's Morrigan, the cynical apostate mage bound to your cause for reasons that become clear only late in the journey; Sten, the strong, silent type who isn't so quick to reveal his innermost thoughts; and Zevran, a darkly mischievous would-be assassin with a wild streak and a playful disregard for the law. There are others too, including Alistair, a wisecracking, vaguely insecure member of the Grey Wardens, an elite group of champions that recruits you early on. Great dialogue and fantastic voice acting make these characters leap off the screen as if they were real friends, and the way they interact with one another feels authentic.

This game was really quite amazing, by my opinion.

Gameplay:
The fighting isn't that much beyond standard Rpg. Warriors and Rogues slash with their swords or knives, mages use their spells.
However once in awhile you'll get a special type of kill like slash their head off, or do a fancy stab move while having your back turned to them.

The blood and gore is just crazy, just 1 hit will send blood spattering everywhere, and until you visit camp or some other story kicks in, your characters will all walk around with blood speckles on them. Your abilities are all pretty standard, stuff aside from a few creative spells and abilities.

You have 1 main character, and up to 3 party members. You can control any one of them at a time, and the rest follow a set of "tactics" you can outline through the menu.

Often enough you are fighting lame battles. A lame battle consists of, simple fights. Maybe you, fighitng off a couple of assassins, or fighting through some evil people, or mages, but for the most part its pretty boring stuff to kill. You do however kill your fair share of darkspawn/Beasts/Demons, so its not all lost.

Talking is a huge part of the game. Different story outcomes can happen simply by picking a different thing to say.
Tons of things can be affected by how you choose to interact with others. Recruiting, Sexual Relationships with party members, how your party members view you as a leader, and so on, can all be affected by your, "silver tongue".
Aside from in game social aspects, some elements of the plot can be changed simply by what you do. There is enough choice here for you to play through the game several times, and never play the same way twice.

Story:
The story is quite awesome. This large mass corrupted men, referred to as "darkspawn" are on the rise due to an appearance by the "Arch-Demon". As long as the arch demon lives the darkspawn will ravage the land until there is nothing left, and for the most part your story revolves around preparing to stop it. While the main story consists of gathering armies to prepare, there are tons of side quests involved.
And throughout the world there are often enough little things to earn you treasure or bring doom upon you that you should probably avoid. [Though its usually not just an instant doom, just something that gives you hard odds to defeat, super powered monsters, Etc.]

The whole thing should run at least 30 hours, though i didnt finish until about 55 hours [i did a fair share of side quests and micromanagement of gear, however ^_^ }
So if you consider yourself a completionist, you will certainly get your mileage out of the game.

Misc.:
The musics good, the feeling is good, the explorations great, its open, so you can complete much anything at your own pace.
Lots of hours of fun, and moreso if you care to complete the game more than 1 time. Also note that there are 6 different beginning stories, that differ based on where you choose your main character to be from.

Hope i helped anyone decide about getting the game who may have been on the fence, or encourage anyone who wasn't really thinking about it, to get it.
Non combat gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v​=Z0ydjdqDTPc
Early on Combat Gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v​=nWdvexL1NsU [this is within the first hour or two of the game]
Very early battle in the game that sets the story up nicely: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v​=r53zxaidBs8

If you like a game primarily for it's story and game play then you will love this game. However if you like to button mash your way through hordes of enemies and expect to see a fluid responsive combat system in real time i would look at a different game.

The gameplay is very strategic and challenging, it truly is the spirit successor of Boulder's Gate. If you choose to just slash your way through the darkspawn on a level above casual you will die within a few seconds. This is due to the level scaling in the game. Your enemies level always correlate to yours, that is if you are level 12 your enemies will either be the same level or one level higher. It can get very difficult even on normal difficulty.

The only game that is comparable in difficulty to the amount of death you will encounter is demon's souls. I would not recommend this game to someone who does not like to use the tactics option or devise strategies. The combat is somewhat in real time as in not turn based, but it is not like god of war or any other action game in that one button say X will not slash and triangle will not block. You only have one attack button and when you press it your guy will start swinging for the fences. Think WoW(world of war craft). Like mass effect you will have a wheel of skills or talent that you will do in battle. They act as special moves you can do/ abilities.

On to the story, the game has a very immersive and captivating story with ALOT of DIALOGUE. If you don't like to read or listen to people converse for long periods of time this might not be the game for you. That was the big thing i had to get over because i was not use to so much dialogue. I have played fallout 3 and new vegas and it even has more dialogue then those two games. There are moments where characters converse for 10 minutes straight. You choose what you say and depending on what you say and your characters stats in persuasion, etc you will have more dialogue options to further the story or even coerce an npc in doing something or giving something to you.

To sum it up you will love this game if you love rpgs with great story and immersion. You will not like this if you have the push everything button and hope stuff dies syndrome.

This game is great for those into both Action and RPG titles. It's kind of like a mix graphically between Oblivion and Two Worlds, but not similar in a "everything looks the same, but re-skinned" type of boring way. It's a fresh new world and theme.

The plot is very well developed, and the characters and their voices are portrayed excellently, enough to keep you interested sometimes in just watching the game while someone else is playing.. but of course, it's much more fun to play!

Also, since the story changes based on the race you select in the beginning (like dwarf, elf, human) there is much higher replay value to it then most games, and even games like Oblivion, where you had plenty of different options, but most of the time they all basically joined up to the same ending, if that makes sense.

The only negative I can think of so far about this game, is that unlike Oblivion it isn't a *truly* open-map. i.e.- you can't go in water, and you can't JUMP. That's the biggest turn off to the game, but don't let it scare you off from the title- it's really not as bad as it sounds. This game is good enough to keep your attention despite the initial disappointment of not being able to jump... After the first few minutes or so you'll be so involved in the game you won't even notice.

I don't buy many games, but when I do I look them up for good ratings first on Gamespot.com and try to go for ones that seem like they would have either a good, LONG gameplay... or decent replay value. This game, for the price, has definitely exceeded my expectations.

Hopefully this review is helpful! Peace

Incredibly deep and expansive, Dragon Age: Origins is one of those titles that can easily swallow up dozens of hours of play and keep you coming back for more. The fact that BioWare chose to include downloadable content, including a new character and side quest, on launch day proves that they have an extensive plan for supporting the game. Couple that with the fact that each character can be developed in radically different ways, and you have an adventure that earns its own place among BioWare's expansive RPG collection. While the visuals are a bit underwhelming and the difficulty is a bit easier on the consoles, this is still a great title. This is the kind of adventure that fantasy RPG fans have been hoping that BioWare would deliver – a game with a ton of re-playability and an incredibly vivid world that is the start of an impressive franchise.

9.0 Presentation
A rich and vivid world, loads of mature themes and story expand the tale of Ferelden in front of your eyes. Inconsistent Origin elements and the gift feature weakens believability though.
7.5 Graphics
Muddier textures and framerate hitches wind up making the visuals on the console a rough experience. Animations are fine, if a little stiff at times.
8.5 Sound
Voice acting can be hit or miss, and some effects can go on for too long, but the music and the majority of sound effects are excellent.
8.5 Gameplay
Gameplay is definitely action focused, and the radial wheels do a decent job, but the difficulty level is scaled down.
9.5 Lasting Appeal
Set aside a large amount of time for this one – beating the game will frequently make you want to pick up and play again to see just how a decision or a conversation would be different.
8.7
Great OVERALL

This game is available in my eBay Store at a good price:
http://stores.shop.ebay.c​om.au/Mariio128-Gamemate