Touted as EA/Bioware's new "Dark Epic Fantasy" I decided to pick up Dragon Age: Origins on its release date two weeks ago. I honestly hadn't seen too much in the way of commercials for the game, mostly what sold it for me was the fact that it was made by the same company that produced Mass Effect (which I still haven't played) and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (which was one of my favorite Xbox games).
When you start the game you get to choose what race and class your character is, choosing from human, elf and dwarf; and warrior, rogue and mage respectively. Now, depending on the class and race you choose you start off in one of 6 different "Origin" stories. These stories lead up to your personal reason for joining the Grey Wardens - an organization sworn to defend the land from Darkspawn (you know the bad guys). After having played the complete game you will find out that each origin story is a short prequel to events in the game and even if you chose one origin story you will see the effects of the other origin stories happening in your game, the only difference is that no Grey Wardens were recruited besides you.
The first thing that hit me about this game after I started playing was the graphics - and quite frankly they were not up to par for 2009 (note I am only talking about the 360 version not the PC or PS3). I had later seen some commercials for the game and marveled at the beautiful CGI characters that were in the commercial, and then I wondered where the heck those characters were in my game! Now admittedly the graphics weren't that bad, but I expected a bit better from what I had seen around.
Other than the graphics however, I found the game to be a very good game. There were some frustrating parts in the combat, sometimes the controls were a bit clunky in targeting the enemy you wanted to target, and even when you did do an attack, sometimes the game would move you unnecessarily to melee an opponent even if they were right in front of you.
The story was top notch and kept me involved from start to finish, not to mention there were numerous ways to complete each task in the game, with the main tasks having separate achievements depending on which way you went. The story was only linear at a few points and even in the middle of important missions you could decide to leave and go to another area and work on your progress there. You could also recruit up to 9 different characters in the game (not including DLC), giving you a bit of depth in your 4 person party. Many actions you chose affected each party member, some actions so extreme could even cause the party members to leave, or on the opposite end some of the characters could begin to like you so much you could "romance" them (Viva Pinata anyone?) and basically have an intimate hugging scene with both characters in their undies.
I did find for an RPG it was a little short, with my first playthrough taking about 40 hours, and I did about 90% of the sub-quests that weren't required to complete the story. DLC did add a bit to the amount of time played, but probably only in the neighborhood of about 2 hours per DLC. To quickly discuss DLC so I don't go off on a side rant, the game from day 1 had two different DLCs. If you purchase the game new (and the code is only good until April 21, 2010) you get "The Stone Prisoner" which includes a new set of subquests and a new character Shale, IMO the best fighter in the game!! This DLC costs 1200 MS points if you don't purchase the game new, so if you are interested pick up the game sooner rather than later. The other DLC "The Warden's Keep" costs 560 MS Points, adds a new location and subquests, but the main thing adds a place for you to store your loot once you complete the quests. These two DLCs each add 50 GS to the mix making the total for the game at launch 1100 MS points. However DLC is supposed to be continuously rolling out for this game making completionists like me cry because they will never have it completed for too long. Just announced today is another DLC "Return to Ostagar" supposed to be out sometime this holiday season (darn you EA you money-grubbing bastards!).....ok rant over.
Long and short is this game is a good RPG with a great story. If you aren't interested in a LOT of talking by all the characters and want non-stop action, run the other way. However if you enjoy a good western RPG, this one will not disappoint. Overall 8.5/10.
Feel free to discuss the game here or to see some other member's opinions, check out this thread.
When you start the game you get to choose what race and class your character is, choosing from human, elf and dwarf; and warrior, rogue and mage respectively. Now, depending on the class and race you choose you start off in one of 6 different "Origin" stories. These stories lead up to your personal reason for joining the Grey Wardens - an organization sworn to defend the land from Darkspawn (you know the bad guys). After having played the complete game you will find out that each origin story is a short prequel to events in the game and even if you chose one origin story you will see the effects of the other origin stories happening in your game, the only difference is that no Grey Wardens were recruited besides you.
The first thing that hit me about this game after I started playing was the graphics - and quite frankly they were not up to par for 2009 (note I am only talking about the 360 version not the PC or PS3). I had later seen some commercials for the game and marveled at the beautiful CGI characters that were in the commercial, and then I wondered where the heck those characters were in my game! Now admittedly the graphics weren't that bad, but I expected a bit better from what I had seen around.
Other than the graphics however, I found the game to be a very good game. There were some frustrating parts in the combat, sometimes the controls were a bit clunky in targeting the enemy you wanted to target, and even when you did do an attack, sometimes the game would move you unnecessarily to melee an opponent even if they were right in front of you.
The story was top notch and kept me involved from start to finish, not to mention there were numerous ways to complete each task in the game, with the main tasks having separate achievements depending on which way you went. The story was only linear at a few points and even in the middle of important missions you could decide to leave and go to another area and work on your progress there. You could also recruit up to 9 different characters in the game (not including DLC), giving you a bit of depth in your 4 person party. Many actions you chose affected each party member, some actions so extreme could even cause the party members to leave, or on the opposite end some of the characters could begin to like you so much you could "romance" them (Viva Pinata anyone?) and basically have an intimate hugging scene with both characters in their undies.
I did find for an RPG it was a little short, with my first playthrough taking about 40 hours, and I did about 90% of the sub-quests that weren't required to complete the story. DLC did add a bit to the amount of time played, but probably only in the neighborhood of about 2 hours per DLC. To quickly discuss DLC so I don't go off on a side rant, the game from day 1 had two different DLCs. If you purchase the game new (and the code is only good until April 21, 2010) you get "The Stone Prisoner" which includes a new set of subquests and a new character Shale, IMO the best fighter in the game!! This DLC costs 1200 MS points if you don't purchase the game new, so if you are interested pick up the game sooner rather than later. The other DLC "The Warden's Keep" costs 560 MS Points, adds a new location and subquests, but the main thing adds a place for you to store your loot once you complete the quests. These two DLCs each add 50 GS to the mix making the total for the game at launch 1100 MS points. However DLC is supposed to be continuously rolling out for this game making completionists like me cry because they will never have it completed for too long. Just announced today is another DLC "Return to Ostagar" supposed to be out sometime this holiday season (darn you EA you money-grubbing bastards!).....ok rant over.
Long and short is this game is a good RPG with a great story. If you aren't interested in a LOT of talking by all the characters and want non-stop action, run the other way. However if you enjoy a good western RPG, this one will not disappoint. Overall 8.5/10.
Feel free to discuss the game here or to see some other member's opinions, check out this thread.
