Dragon Age: Origins

[ziggeh]

Dragon Age: Origins got great reviews throughout for RPG category.

Gamespot DA:O Page

Im :buying: the game right now, Ill post back with my review. From what I read it'll be a good time-killer. 60+ Hours, with 6 different storylines depending on your character choice and story interaction. I also like their skill system... Ill let ya guys know if its worth the downl.. err buy.

[ziggeh]

Well I just got done with the first 30-45 minutes of the game. I adjusted my settings, chose my character, watched the intro and killed a couple wolves.

The game itself is 16gigs after installation, it takes up quite a bit of RAM and requires a decent video card if you wanna run it in anything above low/mid settings with acceptable frames per second. The graphics are crisp and sharp, everything is very well put together, the menus and the game interface is simple and also the hotbar and combat interface will be familiar.

The intro movie graphically was awesome and I managed to watch the whole thing without thinking :damn hurry this shit up already: so it wasnt bad. :P I have the tutorial on, but even so the game is very easy to learn and man its just fun so far, the story is intriguing. I chose to be a Dalish Elf, basically one of the six specific characters you end up being. Theres only 3 classes and 3 sub-classes so the character creation is refreshingly simple. Out of the 6 variations, they each have their own intro video and the first 10% of the game will be unique, as well as the interaction between the characters for the entire game. After the first 10% or so i read that I will eventually meet up with some group of people.. and thats where the six characters converge.

I havent had a chance to try the combat out too much past fighting two wolves but it all seems familiar, but in a slightly different way.

Overall 8.5/10 IMO.

[Epsilon]

I just bought the game a few hours ago. It was 60 dollars and I have some downloadable content packaged with mine.

I enjoyed Mass Effect so much that I would try this game. I personally did not like Oblivion much or Fallout 3. My friends have told me this game is better than Mass Effect but my first impression is mixed. The graphics seem below average. And your character doesn't voice his responses. After playing Mass Effect completely through with both a male and female character I found the voice acting to be fantastic and can't imagine the game being as good without hearing Shepard speaking with subtle tones in his voice that say so much about your responses.

Anyways, they put a lot of work into the types of responses you can make with Dragon Age. It's too early to say how I feel about this game yet, but I am impressed so far.

I have not been so impatient trying to rip off the cellophane packaging in years. I had a friend hide this game for me as it was the last copy and I get to spend an entire day off lazing about in my chair and enjoy DA.

[Epsilon]

Something I like about this game is that you can control yourparty members fighting styles.

You can even set in presets for them to follow such as:

When enemy health >= 75% Use such abiity.

It's nice to control how they play and you can have them try to avoid melee and use ranged attacks and even to run when taking damage instead of defend. They can be aggressors and attack as soon as enemies approcah as well. Controlling party members AI characteristics is a smart move.

BTW, I am playing Xbox360 version.

[ziggeh]

Originally Posted by Epsilon

Something I like about this game is that you can control yourparty members fighting styles.

You can even set in presets for them to follow such as:

When enemy health >= 75% Use such abiity.

It's nice to control how they play and you can have them try to avoid melee and use ranged attacks and even to run when taking damage instead of defend. They can be aggressors and attack as soon as enemies approcah as well. Controlling party members AI characteristics is a smart move.

BTW, I am playing Xbox360 version.

the only thing that isnt as good about the xbox360 version is that you cant zoom out, you only have a behind-the-back view... and the graphics are slightly scaled down. Customizing the battle options, If you ever played Final Fantasy 12, those were called "gambits" and now that I think about it the game plays similar in battles.. with the option to pause and issue commands. Yeah I am also bummed that the game doesnt voice responses, but it doesnt bother me much. Fallout 1&2 didnt voice responses either but i still enjoyed the dialogue just the same so no big deal.

edit: what character did you end up picking out of the six? I ended up being a Dalish Elf.

[TheShoe]

I was a dorf commoner rogue. I'm working through the game now... saved redcliff, saved the dalish elves, saved the circle of mages.. in deep roads now trying to save branka.

How far into the game have you fellows made it?

Voice work would have been hard.. they would have had to voice EVERY dialogue option six times for the hero. What a pain in the ass.

[Epsilon]

Originally Posted by ziggeh

edit: what character did you end up picking out of the six? I ended up being a Dalish Elf.

I have started the Male Elf Dalish Rogue. But I might also start a human male mage. (wish I went city elf because I prefer the outcast side slightly more)

I am only half an hour into the game.

[EnV]

I'm happy with this game. It is almost exactly like Mass Effect and Knights of the Old Republic. Too bad being a gray warden isn't as special as being a Jedi though. Although very similar, I wouldn't be surprised if the second dragon age game was called Rise of the Gray Wardens ... Anyway

I started as a human warrior (i'm boring) plus I like to wear plate. Except I went dual wield berserker and i just rip shit up. I like that I don't have to go out of my way for a lot of the side quests either.

Its fun. I give it an 8/10 still some bugs in the content that can be annoying sometimes.