Review: Dragon Age: Origins

Could Dragon Age: Origins possibly be as good as everyone hoped it would be? Yep.

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This will be my first proper Bioware game (my bro raves over mass effect) so I am really looking forward to it. My local Walmart had no Ps3 copy, so must wait til Gamestop opens to purchase. And word on the street is PS3 finally got a above average port.

Loved Mass Effect and I'm looking forward to sinking my teeth into Dragon Age. Excellent review, you've convinced me to sink money into it!

Mass effect with dragons! Im looking forward to playing this! I need a game that would keep me indoors for a good month, its getting cold outside!

Just waiting for the clock to tick down so I can play it on Steam!

I loved the video supplement.

And I am extremely pleased that this game has turned out to be as good as I hoped.

Now all that remains is to buy it.

I'll get my hands on it when either my PC goes to super saiyan 3 or more seriously when the PS3 version's out. The 6th of this month I think?

I pre-ordered this from GameStop but, alas, I can't afford to pick it up today. Too many outstanding bills. Perhaps when I get paid in the middle of the week.

Graphics, for me, are not as important as gameplay or story. So the 360 version should take care of me just fine.

I'd been in doubt wether or not to get it for weeks but this review has made me pre-order the game just now, making it the first full price game I bought in over a year.

pre purchased from steam awhile ago, and i bought the collectors edition for 5 euro extra because it offered an extra map, considering that im an insane person who will do every side quest this game will probably keep me busy for the rest of this year.

heres hoping it got an in game difficulty changer, playing on easy until i get a hold of the mechanics, though bad for my ego will probably make the game more enjoyable.

So it's finally here, I've been following this game for years now. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on it tonight, maybe even try to pick it up during lunch - although I still won't be able to play until later.

swaki:

heres hoping it got an in game difficulty changer, playing on easy until i get a hold of the mechanics, though bad for my ego will probably make the game more enjoyable.

From what I saw during the video capture - when your party gets wiped out you are given the option to change difficulty, among reload last save and other options. So I assume that means you can change it on the fly.

Game looks great, just wish I had the extra cash to pick it up.

As an added note, there's a typo on page 2: "suffer defeat do to laggy target selection."

"do" should be "due"

Preloading this on Steam as we speak, gonna leave it while I get to bed. Been a long time since I've played a good Fantasy RPG that wasn't an MMO.

Russ Pitts:
For the most part the game is a washed-out mess, and the items and character models are uninspiring. If sub-standard graphics are a severe impediment to your enjoyment of a game, then you'd be wise to play the PC version if you have the option. >

Can you or someone else explain to me why developers would take the risk to use different graphics engines? Wouldn't focusing on one be better?

While I found Mass Effect to be shiny enough on the console, the developers said they couldn't tap into it because the Unreal Engine 3 was new to them...

Now they say they have everything peachy with Mass Effect 2...but then I hear this about Dragon Age??

Why? Because they are once again using a new engine called Eclipse?

This game looks amazing. With so many LOTR-style RPGs, it's hard to stand out from the crowd, but BioWare took the right path by focusing on story and gameplay over graphics and glitz.

I've already preordered the deluxe edition on Steam and I'm taking the day off of work on Wednesday. I can't wait!

eating dinner while playing a good rpg is a must do >.> definitely when some can top out at 90 hours of gameplay and your willpower is to low to stop playing it >.> kotor was my first "way to good to stop playing" rpg to the point that i would be playing it for 24 hours thinking im hallucinating when i meet the guy who looks exactly like my team mate to my side who turns into a monkey which you then go about chasing and randomly killing poor innocent monkeys >.> i can honestly say that i thought at that point that i was on some lack of sleep high or having one freaky ass dream >.>

I've pretty muched dropped MW2, and this makes me happier I did. If I can scrounge up the money I'll be buying this today.

This will be the first game that I purchase for my new gaming PC. It'll be totally worth the month long wait to play it with a mouse and keyboard.

hansari:

Russ Pitts:
For the most part the game is a washed-out mess, and the items and character models are uninspiring. If sub-standard graphics are a severe impediment to your enjoyment of a game, then you'd be wise to play the PC version if you have the option. >

Can you or someone else explain to me why developers would take the risk to use different graphics engines? Wouldn't focusing on one be better?

While I found Mass Effect to be shiny enough on the console, the developers said they couldn't tap into it because the Unreal Engine 3 was new to them...

Now they say they have everything peachy with Mass Effect 2...but then I hear this about Dragon Age??

Why? Because they are once again using a new engine called Eclipse?

A combination of different teams, development times and needs most likely. Eclipse is an in-house engine likely built out of their previous Odyssey and Aurora Engines, so they have a lot more freedom to do with it what they want. Mass Effect went into development after Dragon Age. It's also not free to use the Unreal engine and a successful engine can in turn be marketed out to other companies.

Also, how scalable are the graphics, and how big is the base difference between platforms? I have a dual core 3GHz processor and a 9800GT, which as I understand is fairly low tier for this game.

As for the save game thing, don't you overwrite existing saves? I know I do, else I end up with hundreds of the damn things clogging up my system. BUT ANYWAY...

So, its as good as I hoped?! Sweet, it'll be here by the end of the week :) Looking forward too it.

EDIT:

Slycne:

hansari:

Russ Pitts:
For the most part the game is a washed-out mess, and the items and character models are uninspiring. If sub-standard graphics are a severe impediment to your enjoyment of a game, then you'd be wise to play the PC version if you have the option. >

Can you or someone else explain to me why developers would take the risk to use different graphics engines? Wouldn't focusing on one be better?

While I found Mass Effect to be shiny enough on the console, the developers said they couldn't tap into it because the Unreal Engine 3 was new to them...

Now they say they have everything peachy with Mass Effect 2...but then I hear this about Dragon Age??

Why? Because they are once again using a new engine called Eclipse?

A combination of different teams, development times and needs most likely. Eclipse is an in-house engine likely built out of their previous Odyssey and Aurora Engines, so they have a lot more freedom to do with it what they want. Mass Effect went into development after Dragon Age. It's also not free to use the Unreal engine and a successful engine can in turn be marketed out to other companies.

Come to think of it, why didn't they use a version of the Mass Effect engine? That worked good on both PC and XBox (yeah, I know, I'm an idiot for having both).

Slycne:

hansari:

Russ Pitts:
For the most part the game is a washed-out mess, and the items and character models are uninspiring. If sub-standard graphics are a severe impediment to your enjoyment of a game, then you'd be wise to play the PC version if you have the option. >

Can you or someone else explain to me why developers would take the risk to use different graphics engines? Wouldn't focusing on one be better?

While I found Mass Effect to be shiny enough on the console, the developers said they couldn't tap into it because the Unreal Engine 3 was new to them...

Now they say they have everything peachy with Mass Effect 2...but then I hear this about Dragon Age??

Why? Because they are once again using a new engine called Eclipse?

A combination of different teams, development times and needs most likely. Eclipse is an in-house engine likely built out of their previous Odyssey and Aurora Engines, so they have a lot more freedom to do with it what they want. Mass Effect went into development after Dragon Age. It's also not free to use the Unreal engine and a successful engine can in turn be marketed out to other companies.

I glanced through the comments on this, but didn't see anything pertaining to the PS3...How well does it run on the PS3? Or does it have the same hiccups as the Xbox360?

dandahammer:
This will be my first proper Bioware game (my bro raves over mass effect) so I am really looking forward to it. My local Walmart had no Ps3 copy, so must wait til Gamestop opens to purchase. And word on the street is PS3 finally got a above average port.

Welcome to the world of RPGs! Though I should point out it'll be different from Mass Effect as, firstly, its a Third Person 'directing' RPG, not a Third/First Person shooter RPG. Just letting you know it'll likely be abit of jump from whatever you've played before if you've not RPGed before. That said, Bioware are, pretty much, the Valve (in terms of quality) of the RPG world.

"Buy it for PC if you have a choice"...
I have PC, but I want trophies. So, in fact, I have no choice. Anyway, I've seen comparison - PS3 and PC versions look and run absolutely same (well, PC version can handle higher resolutions and AA, but fuck em).

i want it but im getting mw2 next week and l4d2 the week after. however i have run out of things to play now....

Bought it and in the process of installing it at this very moment. Hope it lives up to the hype!

If the pc version is so superior, I can't understand why you would review it on the 360. Dragon age seems like a very pc game to me and from what I have read from other reviews, graphics look alot better and the issue you mentioned about the codec is resolved on pc.

Oh, damn. I wanted to get this when I bot an Xbox 360, but I think I'll get it for the PC instead.

Also, werewolves? Fuck yes.

Graphics over gameplay, and yet I need a dual core to run this? My computer isn't brand new, but it can already run Mass Effect, the Witcher, and Gothic 3.

Didn't read the review, only watched the video FYI. Anyways, a comment on the last bit. 'twas funny =P. Don't know what tha fuck your were imitating (if anything) but it sounded awesome xP!

This put me over the edge on getting at launch, which I did...I can confirm, a difficulty slider.

Also, great review! Russ, play some PC versions of the game for some reviews? Please?

This is the game I have anticipated the most this year. Blood, violence, blood, and murder.

Also, FUCK YEAH! for a game that's more than willing to step up and kill you over and over! Too many games these days just want to hold your hand all the way to the "finish" line.

Allow me to qualify that: If you enjoy fantasy role-playing games and prefer gameplay over graphics and story over style, then Dragon Age: Origins is the game you've been waiting for all your life.

These words... you might as well just pour honey over it and dangle the game a foot from my face.

Milkman Dan:
Graphics over gameplay, and yet I need a dual core to run this? My computer isn't brand new, but it can already run Mass Effect, the Witcher, and Gothic 3.

Generally speaking processors don't have as much to do with graphics processing as much as runnning A.I., tracking stats, and running the game engine.

The graphics don't look bad at all, and i've seen a lot of 360 vids. I don't care that much about graphics though anyway, i mean look at the 360 version of Prototype and Fallout 3, i still enjoyed them.