Dragon Age: Origins

aka: Dragon Age: Początek, Dragon Age: Vérvonalak
Moby ID: 43297
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

Four hundred years have passed since the last Blight was successfully prevented by the Grey Wardens. Now once again the fearsome Darkspawn under the rule of the Arch Demon gather and are about to invade the land of Ferelden. The first battleground: the destroyed city at Ostagar, where the Grey Wardens meet the army of Cailan, king of Ferelden, to try and stop the Darkspawn, preventing death and destruction before it has even begun.

However, during the battle, the forces of general Loghain inexplicably abandon the battlefield. As a result, the Grey Wardens, the king, and most of the human warriors are killed. Among the few survivors is the hero, who had joined the Grey Wardens just before the battle, and must now find a way to unite the races of Ferelden in a struggle against the common enemy.

Dragon Age: Origins is a party-based third-person perspective role-playing game. Similarly to Baldur's Gate, combat is in real time, with the ability to pause at any moment. Tactical options include an editor which allows the player to give the AI detailed instructions on how to behave in every possible situation. Nonetheless the player can also control the party (with up to four active combatants) one by one, switching between the characters, using their special talents and abilities to overcome the many different enemies. During the course of the game, the player will have the opportunity to invite up to nine players to his party. While only four can leave the party camp at any given time, the experience points earned by killing enemies, fulfilling quests or simply opening a chest are granted to each member of the group.

At each level-up a character earns three attribute points and one talent point. The talent point is used to unlock new spells and abilities in the extensive talent tree differing greatly between the three available classes: warrior, rogue and mage. Every three levels the character also earns a skill point allowing him/her to learn or get better at herbalism or increasing survival skills. In addition, at level 7 and 14 characters earn a specialisation point which allows them to learn two of four class specializations, such as for example shapeshifter and spirit healer for the mage class. These specializations give instant bonuses to certain attributes and unlock five exclusive talents. However, in order to learn such a specialization, it needs to be unlocked first. This is either done by buying the corresponding book from traders, or by learning it from another character, may it be a non-playable character or a party member.

Not everyone is willing from the start to teach the protagonist. In particular the player's party members have to have a certain level of trust and satisfaction. Satisfaction can range from -100 to +100 and is influenced heavily by the decisions the player makes during the game. Talking and giving gifts to the party members also increases their satisfaction. A high level of satisfaction then grants the party member a bonus to specific attributes and unlocks additional quests as they open up and tell their past. In addition, it is possible to have a romance with up to two of the party members if the player character is of the right gender and makes the right dialogue choices.

Although the main part of the game is the same for every character created and will only differ in what the player decides to do first or what choices he or she makes, the game features six unique prologues (called "origin stories" in the game) - two for each race, except the humans who share the magi origin story with the elves. They all tell the story how the player's character met the Grey Warden Duncan and ended up at the battle at Ostagar.

The console versions lack the tactical overhead view available in the PC version. The controls are designed in such a way that it is easier to control one character and let the AI handle the rest of the party, as opposed to the PC version, where the entire party can be handled with more ease. Also, the default difficulty level on the consoles is lower than on the PC.

Spellings

  • Dragon Age: Начало - Russian spelling
  • 闇龍紀元 (序章) - Traditional Chinese spelling
  • 龙腾世纪:起源 - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

1,052 People (1,031 developers, 21 thanks) · View all

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Reviews

Critics

Average score: 89% (based on 79 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 160 ratings with 5 reviews)

Enchantment? Enchantment!

The Good
Recent BioWare products such as Jade Empire and Mass Effect made some RPG pundits frown. Simplification and streamlining seemed to have infiltrated the camp of the creators of Baldur's Gate. As a minor character from Brothers Karamazov eloquently put it - "Pfeh! A pfeh!". I can relate to those sentiments: even though I enjoyed playing Mass Effect, a big part of me missed wearing Leather Gloves of Arcane Horror +3 with increased damage to half-hobgoblins or whatever.

Dragon Age can be considered a return to the roots to a certain extent. In terms of depth and complexity it is somewhere halfway between the company's first master series and Knights of the Old Republic, and generally comparable with Neverwinter Nights 2 in the way it approaches the genre.

Dragon Age builds upon the real-time-with-pause battle system popularized by its creators' earlier games. The game makes full use of it, and on harder difficulty levels it is a real tactical challenge. Smart enemies force you to plan and experiment. Sending a thief to backstab, putting archers far away, luring enemies one-by-one with your tank, ordering mages to cast delightfully treacherous spells that would render enemies helpless while you hit them with melee weapons - everything is back with a vengeance.

The game introduces its own character-building system, which works very well and provides a nice breath of fresh air after the omnipresent D&D. Lack of variety in initial character customization is compensated by extensive ability trees, which are particularly interesting for spellcasters. Items, equipment, spells, abilities are plentiful, and naturally your companions can be customized the same way as the protagonist.

A new fictional fantasy world was created specifically for this game and its future sequels. This world is believable, and a lot of optional background information makes it truly come to life. It has a developed religion, racial conflicts, political relationships, various cults and factions, etc. The schemes of human nobility, the stubborn secrecy of the elves, the brutal caste system of the dwarves - everything is stored in the Codex, which is a pleasure to read.

The writing, like in most BioWare games, is excellent. Some of the dialogues in this game surpass even the highest achievements of their earlier works. Your sharp-tongued companions provide too much witty banter to mention, but sometimes you'd bump into such thought-provoking conversation that you'll forget about the rest of the game and immerse yourself in a discourse about God and the world.

What would a BioWare RPG be without party members? Actually, we have an answer to that question. Luckily, companions make a triumphant return, having much more important gameplay-related roles than in the company's recent titles. Each and every one of your party members is a fully developed, interesting character, and much attention was paid to their relationships with the protagonist. Romances are for the most part convincing, and you must study your potential partner's psychology thoroughly to have success.

Quests in the game often come with tough moral choices. Does a man whose family was brutally killed still have the right to exact revenge on the culpable nation after generations have passed? Should we keep a powerful invention to protect an entire nation if it requires to turn people into mindless slaves? There are several "to kill or to forgive" situations where I honestly didn't know what to do - the "pro" and "contra" were both too heavy.

The formulaic story is made more appealing by convincingly portrayed characters and interesting sub-stories. The process of getting to know the different races and organizations in the game is more exciting than the schematic fight against the Darkspawn. Dramatic, well-directed cutscenes help to enhance the story as well.

The Bad
While I was playing the game (and enjoying it), a tiny voice inside me kept saying: "been there, done that". Even though Dragon Age honestly avoids the alarming over-simplification characterizing BioWare's recent work, it is still very careful and doesn't like taking chances. I can't help comparing it to Baldur's Gate II, that went on to expand and enhance; Dragon Age, on the other hand, is comparatively low-key. I'm thankful that it preserves crucial elements of the genre, but in my opinion it could have preserved more and be more generous with them.

Yes, there is exploration and there are choices, but they are done in a somewhat convenient fashion. One thing I didn't like in Baldur's Gate II was the elimination of seamless traveling; Dragon Age follows the same route, but reduces the amount of side quests that would take you to optional areas. The locations themselves tend to be a bit too small and straightforward. I haven't encountered a city I could be lost in for days, running around and hunting for quests.

Dragon Age is also too "hands off" for my taste. There are no physical activities in the game, and you can interact only with those highlighted objects that serve a clear gameplay-related purpose. I don't think this is the right direction of RPG development. In particular, 3D games naturally call for more realistic interaction, serving to immerse the player into the world.

The Bottom Line
Dragon Age is an attractive game, and its sincere desire not to cater to casual players too much is commendable - at least from the point of view of those who want a serious RPG. It recreates much of what we value in the genre, and even when it doesn't do it flawlessly we can feel that its heart is in the right place.

Windows · by Unicorn Lynx (181780) · 2014

Replayed it way too much.

The Good
The story is very interesting to follow and you meet many creative characters along the way.The story is full of great moments and plot twists and the sidequests are worth doing as well. Also be sure chat with your party every now and then.

The combat is very tactical and sometimes you need to make decisions very quickly. I loved how opening the menu pauses the game, so you can plan out a strategy without dying at the same time.

Ferelden is a very nice place with much variety. It reminds me a bit of World of Warcraft; you have a lot of different areas, each with it's own theme (elven woods, icy mountains, dwarven mines etc.). It's simple, but functional at least.

I like it how you travel between places by picking a location on your map and then warp there, rather then walking all the way. Normally this would make the world feel small, but they fix that by characters constantly mentioning countries and cities you can't visit. It's hard to explain, but it works.

There is a lot of RPG here and that is just a barrel of fun. You get to decide what armor your party has to wear, you can also upgrade that armor and you can also level up all your party members (you have like a dozen of them) and decide what skills they learn. There is a lot of RPG element in here. For newcomers to the genre this might be a little overwhelming though.

The Bad
Sometimes the game was way too unpredictable and tiny conversation options could lead to party-members turning on me or losing a ton of friendship with a character.

The game is unreasonably hard and I can imagine a lot of people will be turned off by that.

The game is not really fun to replay because a lot of parts are very repetitive and you have to go through all the conversations with characters again. This is a bit of a problem because the achievements demand that you play this game almost all the way through a minimum of three times.

The Bottom Line
Despite some massive problems I replayed this game a lot. I really like this game, but at the same time I know that this is more for the hardcore-RPG-fan. Newcomers might want to stay far away from this game or store it away for later because this game is amazingly complex.

Xbox 360 · by Asinine (957) · 2011

One of the best RPG games to come out in years

The Good
One of the best things about the game are the character personalities. The characters in your party chat back and forth every so often with interesting things to say, similar to Planescape's characters. They each have their own personality and the interactions between them really draws you in. Few games really make use of that interaction, but it is one of the most successful ways to make a RPG game great. You can also improve your relationship with each character in your party by making dialog choices they like and giving them gifts. Eventually, you can even get some romantic dialogs with them. That's been seen in a variety of games, but it's still a great addition to the game.

Another nice quality in the game are the NPC characters. They all have really good voiceovers and I haven't yet seen the same face among the named NPCs, which helps to make them all unique. The variety in the voices was really done well and helps to make it feel realistic.

The graphics are very well done and there are many "cutscenes" where the graphics take on an almost movie quality while still using the characters from your party, including what they are currently wearing (minus any helmets). The cutscenes, if you want to call them that, are usually not too long yet they help to fill out the story really well.

The story is perhaps the best part of the game, though so much comes together to make it great that it's hard to really choose one quality. So far, I have only played as one character (a dwarf noble warrior). As that character, I went through a very interesting and somewhat unique introduction storyline that got me out into the world. Each of the characters you choose from have their own unique introduction and I'm looking forward to trying them all even if I may not play through them all once I get past the introduction story. What makes the story so good is how well it is put together. Everything including the side quests seems to fit together seamlessly without gaps and holes that you often see in large worlds like this one. Even when you decide to go to another location before finishing one you're working on, it all still seems to go together nicely.

The game uses a codex system for storing information about the game that you can then look up again later. This helps so you don't have to keep notes or remember everything that you see. It shows information about every creature or enemy you come across, notes and books that fill in story background or quest background, and even information about any special spell combinations that you find in the game.

There is a tactics section for your party that helps you to create a way for each of your party members to react on their own so they do what you want them to without your guidance. It is set up really well and lets you create a limited number of tactics for each character, such as change between ranged or melee weapons based on what weapons are being used against them, automatically healing a character when their health gets so low, or shapeshifting when surrounded by a certain number of enemies. There are a lot of different kinds of tactics you can set up based on your play style or what you're currently fighting against. You get a certain number of tactics slots automatically and gain more by spending skill points and leveling up. I recommend not increasing tactics slots too much on your main character that you always control as you won't generally need them. I made that mistake without realizing what I was doing until later on. It helps to read the manual before playing, I suppose. Heh.

The character classes each offer some useful additions to your party and a nice variety in how you play them. It might be difficult finding the "right" main character to round out your party the way you want, but you also can't really choose a "wrong" character class either. One thing to note when choosing your classes is that the Mage is also your healer and the Rogue can really be useful for locked chests and doors. You will get both a rogue and mage not too far into the game, but won't have them to begin with.

The Bad
There really isn't anything that I'd consider bad about the game. That said, be careful about leaving the starting areas of the game. I was unable to complete some things within the Wilds because I didn't finish it before the large battle happened and it won't let me return there now. I'm sure the same is true for the other characters you can play. Most other places do let you return later, but the starting areas seem to be locked after you leave them. Whether or not that changes later in the game, I'm not sure.

Some encounters do become very difficult even at Normal difficulty and make you either use "boring" strategies (such as running in circles while the rest of your party uses ranged attacks) or else leave to another area and then come back later after leveling up some more. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does sometimes get frustrating. Of course, some of those difficult situations are made much easier by taking direct control of all characters in your party and using certain combinations of spells and skills.

One thing to keep in mind about the party AI is that it won't do everything for you unless you really work on the tactics for each character. Default tactics are okay for most easy fights, but for the harder fights, you'll have to either handle each character manually or else take time to set up the tactics really well. It won't just do the best attacks for you like some games. I'm not sure that is really a bad thing about the game, but if you expect it to do it for you, you're going to consider the AI to be bad.

The Bottom Line
Overall, if you like games like Planescape, Baldur's Gate, and Neverwinter Nights while having more control of the camera similar to a game like Morrowind or Oblivion, you will probably really enjoy this game. It is a huge game offering hours and hours of enjoyment even before considering playing as another character. I definitely recommend the game to all RPG fans as a must-have game. I rarely make such a recommendation for games, but this is one of the best as far as I'm concerned. It seems to take the best qualities of the different RPG games out there and include them all into one great game. And beyond the main game, you can also download additional content for the game that adds new areas as well as new items. Keep in mind that some of those downloadable items won't be available in the game until you get further into it. And if you haven't downloaded them yet, you will see it in the conversation dialog when you come across a quest that is for those new areas.

Windows · by Riamus (8480) · 2009

[ View all 5 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Free on Origin chirinea (47504) Oct 10, 2014
Question (warning spoiler!) Indra was here (20756) Mar 18, 2010
Just got this game ... Jeanne (75956) Feb 27, 2010
SP3 Spec Indra was here (20756) Feb 21, 2010
Sex questions VIII sexy edition mobygamer (92) Dec 23, 2009

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Dragon Age: Origins appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

DLC

The standard edition includes one-time use codes for The Stone Prisoner downloadable content (adding a quest for a new party member), as well as a code for Blood Dragon armor - which unlocks for both Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2 (as a futuristic version).

References

  • One of the loading screens in the game features the following sentence: "If all else fails, go for the eyes". This is a wink to the fans of Bioware's own Baldur's Gate 2. A character from that game, Minsk, urged his hamster companion Boo into battle with the same utterance.
  • During the game the player can stumble across hints which lead him to an optional and powerful foe: Gaxkang. This is a reference to Bioware's Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn in which the player could fight the Demi-Lich Kangaxx who brought headaches to a multitude of players because of his sheer difficulty.
  • During the random encounter "The Crater", the party of adventurers meets an old couple standing at the edge of a crater, freshly carved by a meteorite. The man says: "How could a boy survive that? The crater is still smoking. It's a boy--five fingers, five toes, that's all that matters to me. The Maker has answered our prayers. Let's go home, Martha, and raise the tyke as our own." This is a reference to Superman.

References to the Game

Dragon Age: Origins was parodied in an episode of "Die Redaktion" (The Editorial Team), a monthly comedy video produced by the German gaming magazine GameStar. It was published on the DVD of issue 04/2010.

Sales

On February 8, 2010, EA announced the game has sold over 3.2 million units worldwide.

Awards

  • 1UP
    • 2009 - Best PC Game (Readers' Choice
    • 2009 - Best RPG (Editors' Choice)
    • 2009 - Best RPG (Readers' Choice)
    • 2009 - "Great Start" Award for Best New Series
  • 4Players
    • 2009 – #2 Best Game of the Year
    • 2009 – #2 Best Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
    • 2009 – Best PC Game of the Year
    • 2009 – Best Role-Playing Game of the Year
    • 2009 – Best Story of the Year
    • 2009 – #2 Best Localisation of the Year
    • 2009 – #4 Best Trailer of the Year
  • AceGamez
    • 2009 - PC Game of the Year
    • 2009 - Best RPG
  • Cheat Code Central
    • 2009 - PC Game of the Year
    • 2009 - Best RPG
  • Game Informer
    • 2009 - Best PC Game (Editors' Choice)
    • 2009 - Best PC Game (Readers' Choice)
    • 2009 - Best Role-Playing (Editors' Choice)
    • 2009 - Best Role-Playing (Readers' Choice)
  • GamePro (Germany)
    • February 5, 2010 - Best Console Game in 2009 (Readers' Choice)
  • GameShark
    • 2009 - Game of the Year
    • 2009 - PC Game of the Year
    • 2009 - Worst Use of Blood
  • Gamespot
    • 2009 - Best PC Game (Editors' Choice)
    • 2009 - Best PC Game (Readers' Choice)
    • 2009 - Best Role-Playing Game (Readers' Choice)
    • 2009 - Best Story (Readers' Choice)
    • 2009 - Best Original IP (Intellectual Propery) (Readers' Choice)
    • 2009 - Best Writing & Dialogue (Readers' Choice)
  • GameSpy
    • 2009 - Multiplatform Gamers' Choice Award
    • 2009 - The So Much Blood Award
    • 2009 - The Unlock Your Creativity Award
    • 2012 – #4 Top PC Gaming Intro
  • GameStar (Germany)
    • February 5, 2009 - Best PC Game in 2009
    • February 5, 2009 - Best PC RPG in 2009
  • GameZone
    • 2009 - Game of the Year
    • 2009 - PC Game of the Year
  • IGN
    • 2009 - PC Game of the Year (Editors' Choice)
    • 2009 - PC Game of the Year (Readers' Choice)
    • 2009 - Overall Best Role-Playing Game (Editors' Choice)
    • 2009 - Overall Best Role-Playing Game (Readers' Choice)
    • 2009 - Best Xbox 360 Role-Playing Game (Editors' Choice)
    • 2009 - Best Xbox 360 Role-Playing Game (Readers' Choice)
    • 2009 - Best PC Role-Playing Game (Editors' Choice)
    • 2009 - Best PC Role-Playing Game (Readers' Choice)
    • 2009 - Best PC Story (Editors' Choice)
    • 2009 - Best PC Story (Readers' Choice)
  • Spike TV
    • 2009 - Best PC Game
    • 2009 - Best RPG
  • Yahoo
    • 2009 - Best Role-Playing Game of the Year

Information also contributed by Big John WV, sgtcook and St. Martyne

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Sicarius.

Macintosh added by Zeppin.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Jeanne, JRK, BurningStickMan, Zeppin, Spenot, Paulus18950, CalaisianMindthief, Patrick Bregger, katarn_88, Starbuck the Third, FatherJack.

Game added November 12, 2009. Last modified March 15, 2024.