Dragon Age: Origins (Xbox 360, 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.

Why this game had some good characteristics it was more like playing a novel. Every person had this incredibly long elaborate story to tell you. Even a person working in the kitchen you got to feel you knew there life story. At first it was okay, after a while you are left to think: "Do I ever get to do anything besides listen to people talk for 5 minutes at each segment?". Yes is the answer and the fighting system is very good. Why I did not play the game long enough to really write a complete review on all elements I felt I logged enough time to get a feel for it. It reminded me of KOTOR mixed with Baldur's Gate two. You had many options to choose from to level up your character's skills. The fighting was fun and it was based in real time with the ability to pause and choose a better analysis of what you want yourself and your party to do when you unpause.

However my biggest complaint is I felt like the action was a temporary break from the endless talking. It generally never lasted that long and I was left to complete a mission and then hear someone tell me the history of how they came to be known as .... (whatever). It really annoyed me after a while as the majority of this game seemed to me I could just read a novel of it instead of playing it. With games with a lot of dialogue like KOTOR, Mass Effect and Oblivion it was nice that you could hurry up the talking and then your mission gave you a summary. While this game did a lot of that the basic problem I had was I felt my missions were to talk to people to end up talking to more people. Maybe as I got farther this would change but I think for the graphic levels and the appeal of the story I just was not hooked enough to care.

This game is very gory, even unnecessary so. You get blood spattered everywhere and after a while it is just comical. Your fighting also feels a little rigid as it has that delay before you do your action and that also drove me away a little. With modern games ability this should not happen I feel and it along with barrage of unending dialog drove me to dislike this game ultimately.

All in all I feel if you really want a detailed RPG you are better with the games I mentioned above as this one seems like a lot of others put together with worse graphics, worse speed and a ton more dialog. I would give it a C+, it's not bad and if you enjoy games you want to sit and just listen for hours of people talking rather than do anything. Me I can only take so much of it and the action was not that rewarding to me. But it was fun and expansive, I did like that.

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 for sale in my eBay store at a good price:
http://mariio128.com

I'm not very easily impressed by video games. I love to play them, but choosing one I will like has always been difficult, despite being part of the "gaming generation". Dragon Age: Origins however turned out to be an amazing game. You get to choose which hero you are, will you be a human noble, city or Dailish elf, a dwarf, or perhaps a mage? I chose to start with the human noble. One nice feature is that you can adjust the character to how you would like him or her to look, and even pick their voice. I was very impressed with how detailed the characters are as well, both visually and with personality. You can also choose to romance a few characters, depending on your gender and sexual orientation (two straight npcs and two bisexual.) This is a M rated game, there is sex, but you don't see genitals (they keep female's bras on and only show upper body.) The voice acting is wonderful, my favorite being Alistair, voiced by Steve Valentine, he was able to make Alistair sound cute, funny, sexy, and serious when need be. I won't give away the plot, but I would definitely consider it an epic story you get to experience. One thing to remember though, your actions DO affect other parts of the story, so this can be a role player's treat or a nightmare for people who don't keep track of how their character has been acting, especially if you forget if you are good or evil, greedy or generous.

Here is a review I wrote for the PS3 version:

Dragon Age is probably the best RPG made for a console system. I may be a bit spoiled since most of my RPG time has been on the PC spending hours playing games such as Diablo/D1/LOD and similar, but I have not seen one decent Role Playing Game for the console - until Dragon Age.

The Awakening expansion adds countless hours to game play and even at full retail, playing on the easiest mode (casual), you will still get your money's worth with game time.

An outstanding story line, great character customization, and the ability to really "choose your own adventure", making many moral decisions that effect game play instead of the typical, do this - do that don't forget this - style of game play.

The rating of Good (4 stars) is simply because I think there is room for improvement. Overall, a very good buy for anyone looking for more of a true RPG on the console.