Dragon Age: Origins

 Xbox 360
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 863 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 666 out of 863
  2. Mixed: 100 out of 863
  3. Negative: 97 out of 863
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  1. peterD
    Jan 12, 2010
    8
    this game is one of the better. the storyline is definately its best quality, managing to keep you drawn into the universe of origins at all times. You get a great feel for the Characters, and you start to learn their ways, ideal and principles quickly, andd you learn to predict what their choices would be in the situation. impressive and rarely seen if you ask me. gameplaywise, it doesnt this game is one of the better. the storyline is definately its best quality, managing to keep you drawn into the universe of origins at all times. You get a great feel for the Characters, and you start to learn their ways, ideal and principles quickly, andd you learn to predict what their choices would be in the situation. impressive and rarely seen if you ask me. gameplaywise, it doesnt manage to do anything specificly new, other than the tactical element. but i get the general feeling, that the difficulty curve is very deform. some things appear very easy, but some things, like random encounters, are absolutely punishing. there were a lot of thing s that were absurdly difficult, and that drew the game away from me. and, before you start pointing fingers, i did spend a lot of time in pause… Expand
  2. jianoman
    Nov 20, 2013
    7
    Alright, let's start with the good. The story is great and very interesting in all of the choices and different characters you can meet along the way. I liked how much detail they put into all of the lore of the entire world of Dragon Age. The graphics were alright, I mean they didn't look amazing, but still good. The music, to be honest I can't really think of any particular track thatAlright, let's start with the good. The story is great and very interesting in all of the choices and different characters you can meet along the way. I liked how much detail they put into all of the lore of the entire world of Dragon Age. The graphics were alright, I mean they didn't look amazing, but still good. The music, to be honest I can't really think of any particular track that stood out to me. Now for the bad. Combat which takes up a lot of the game is horrible, I mean on PC it looks totally different and actually good! The console version got the short end of the stick when it comes to it. My character at times will just stop what he's doing and sprint in a random directions, this got very annoying. The quest markers on the mini map were pretty bad. They would be on the map... some of the time, but most of the time it's just looking for yourself and that kind of felt like I was just wasting my time. In the end I do recommend this game it can be enjoyable and look for about 20-30 hours of game play, since this game is pretty old you could probably get it for about 15-20 dollars, which is well worth the price.… Expand
  3. roachtbp
    Nov 29, 2010
    10
    This game is amazing. The graphics are not great for a 360 game, but everything else is way above average. Great story, great characters, great voice acting, great music, and very challenging gameplay (at least if you play it on Nightmare). The gameplay is very strategic, and it is very rewarding to finally win a difficult battle after many tries. Also, the characters are so wellThis game is amazing. The graphics are not great for a 360 game, but everything else is way above average. Great story, great characters, great voice acting, great music, and very challenging gameplay (at least if you play it on Nightmare). The gameplay is very strategic, and it is very rewarding to finally win a difficult battle after many tries. Also, the characters are so well developed that they truly come to life on screen. This is my favorite RPG for the Xbox 360.… Expand
  4. CarsonRGB
    Oct 8, 2011
    9
    Story: 10
    Characters: 10
    Graphics: 9
    Setting: 10
    Multiplayer: N/A
    Technical: 5
    Audio: 10
    Gameplay: 6
    Re-Playability Value: 10
    Fun Factor: 9

    Score: 8.7/10 = A
  5. Griffen
    Nov 3, 2009
    9
    I can't believe all the companies saying that DA:O is out dated gameplay wise. It even says in the description that the game is returning to its roots. Mass Effect was a fun game, but why are all these guys comparing the two. One's a straight up RPG and the other is a Shooter-RPG. It's like comparing Baldaur's Gate and Borderlands.
  6. JoshC.
    Nov 4, 2009
    9
    I own the 360 version, and even with its presentational shortcomings (several other RPG's one-up it graphically - Specifically Oblivion and Bioware's own 2007 game Mass Effect just to name a couple), you'll love the story, design, and gameplay excellence for what it is: The true successor to the Baldur's Gate series.
  7. VincentM
    Nov 7, 2009
    10
    Fantastic game. No one can make RPG like Bioware. The dialogues are... just amazing. My vote for game of the year.
  8. DeVr33z
    Mar 11, 2011
    9
    It's much more linear than a game like Oblivion, but that's okay because all of paths you are able to go on are awesome. Dragon Age Origins feels like an old-school RPG in the best way possible. The combat is paced so that you can strategize effectively and still feel the excitement of battle, and the story and characters are excellent. My highest recommendations for any RPG fan.
  9. hun09081209
    Feb 18, 2011
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is what you call an rpg. the story like is really good and keeps you drawn to the game. you find your self needing to complete with all the races and classes that are available to play . the game play can be a bit similar to other stuff on the market but you dont really notice it while you are playing. Dragon Age: origins i do recommend to rpg players.… Expand
  10. Diogenes4evr
    Mar 14, 2011
    9
    I have completed this game 14 times so far and still want to play it. The characters are genuinely funny and charming. The story is epic and the choices I made seem to really affect the world. Gameplay is a tad on the slow side but allows for some tactical manouvering. Graphics are not great but the immersion more than makes up for that. Amazing experience from BioWare a must get game.
  11. Trucidar
    Apr 6, 2011
    10
    Great game, great story, great RPG. In my opinion this is one of the greatest games I've ever played and including DLC was an amazingly fun 80 hours. Wish it didn't have to end, and thanks to the re-playability, it really doesn't!
  12. CursedKnight187
    Jul 22, 2012
    10
    Bioware pride themselves on being able to create amazing storylines that make you feel as if you are actually in the world of the game. Origins is no exception. This game has a challenging yet interesting combat engine, accompanied by very personal and well designed characters, a huge amount of gameplay time and a brilliantly written plot. My one complaint would be graphics, but theyBioware pride themselves on being able to create amazing storylines that make you feel as if you are actually in the world of the game. Origins is no exception. This game has a challenging yet interesting combat engine, accompanied by very personal and well designed characters, a huge amount of gameplay time and a brilliantly written plot. My one complaint would be graphics, but they aren't particularly bad, just not amazingly good. Besides that, this game is almost perfect.… Expand
  13. drlowdon
    Oct 30, 2013
    8
    Anyone that has played any of BioWare's other RPG titles, and Knights of the Old Republic in particular, will be instantly familiar with the way Dragon Age: Origins works. Having completed one of four unique origin stories the player sets about putting together a team and convincing different tribes to join them in the battle against an army of demons, known as The Blight, that areAnyone that has played any of BioWare's other RPG titles, and Knights of the Old Republic in particular, will be instantly familiar with the way Dragon Age: Origins works. Having completed one of four unique origin stories the player sets about putting together a team and convincing different tribes to join them in the battle against an army of demons, known as The Blight, that are hell-bent on destroying the world. Along with the fantasy setting this plot could of course be considered a little clichéd but the detailed world, expansive history and interesting dialogue choices more than makes up for this.

    The gameplay itself is well paced with battles being played out in real time, although they can be paused at any time to allow for tactical decisions to be made. With so many spells and techniques available there is plenty of scope to customise your team just how you want meaning there is a great deal of depth to proceedings.

    All in all I found Origins to be a deep and thoroughly enjoyable experience from start to finish, and that’s saying something in a game that lasted over 50 hours.    … Expand
  14. twizbuck
    May 9, 2011
    10
    One of my absolute favorite games of all time. The story and interaction elements are fantastic. Yes the graphics aren't the greatest and the combat can get frustrating, but it was nothing that kept me from logging many, many hours on several playthroughs. You have to give this game a try if you enjoy an incredible, deep story that will keep you entertained for more time than you'reOne of my absolute favorite games of all time. The story and interaction elements are fantastic. Yes the graphics aren't the greatest and the combat can get frustrating, but it was nothing that kept me from logging many, many hours on several playthroughs. You have to give this game a try if you enjoy an incredible, deep story that will keep you entertained for more time than you're willing to wager.… Expand
  15. Aldrich
    Dec 19, 2011
    10
    Upon getting this game and putting it in my Xbox, I didn't know what to think.
    This was like no other RPG I've ever played, at first I had doubts but I just said "What the hell, why not enjoy something different from Final Fantasy", even to this day, I'm glad I trusted my gut because this was one of the best RPGs I've ever play.
    With 100s of different character creation combinations,    Upon getting this game and putting it in my Xbox, I didn't know what to think.
    This was like no other RPG I've ever played, at first I had doubts but I just said "What the hell, why not enjoy something different from Final Fantasy", even to this day, I'm glad I trusted my gut because this was one of the best RPGs I've ever play.

    With 100s of different character creation combinations, races, classes, and origin stories, add to such interactive gameplay, with a cast a great characters I could relate.

    For me, a game that allows me to have my personality in the game will always be a 10/10    … Expand
  16. AFuzzyWuzzyBear
    Dec 30, 2011
    10
    This game is great. At times it may be slow but the story absolutely blows you away. Each new area that you visit is fun and entertaining and is full of different types of quests. The character progression allows you to mold your character to fit your playing style. The graphics may be sub-par but it makes up for it with a lush environment. I was so excited to see the next place i wasThis game is great. At times it may be slow but the story absolutely blows you away. Each new area that you visit is fun and entertaining and is full of different types of quests. The character progression allows you to mold your character to fit your playing style. The graphics may be sub-par but it makes up for it with a lush environment. I was so excited to see the next place i was going i never even cared about leveling my character up. There was never any need to grind to be able to continue the story. (Besides on nightmare mode) While i loved RPGs like mass effect, oblivion, and KOTOR, i think this was my favorite. The replayability of this game is extremely high because of the multiple origin stories you start off with. (Mage was my favorite) Overall this game is great and i never got tired of being a Grey Warden.… Expand
  17. OnAnarchy
    Mar 14, 2012
    8
    One of the few true RPG's to appear in the last 5 years. That being said, it has many flaws that take away from the overall feel of the game. In characteristic Bioware fashion, texture loading decreases in quality as save file size increases. Voice is acting is average at best, with a few notable exceptions. NPC's are generally mediocre and not very notable. Finally, the combatOne of the few true RPG's to appear in the last 5 years. That being said, it has many flaws that take away from the overall feel of the game. In characteristic Bioware fashion, texture loading decreases in quality as save file size increases. Voice is acting is average at best, with a few notable exceptions. NPC's are generally mediocre and not very notable. Finally, the combat mechanics are sluggish and clumsy and battles take far too long on even the easiest difficulty. This is still a very enjoyable game and provides many hours of entertainment.… Expand
  18. ZacOfTheZombies
    Apr 13, 2012
    10
    Dragon Age: Origins presents fast paced RPG battles with wide cast of lovable, and loathable, companions. Gameplay is built on automated attacks while you the player stratagizes and make use of you and your companions many unique abilities. DA:O offers a nice selection of races and upbringing for your character, combined with the possible skill trees makes each character special. TheDragon Age: Origins presents fast paced RPG battles with wide cast of lovable, and loathable, companions. Gameplay is built on automated attacks while you the player stratagizes and make use of you and your companions many unique abilities. DA:O offers a nice selection of races and upbringing for your character, combined with the possible skill trees makes each character special. The gameplay can be tedious and sometimes even difficult to pick up. People who play for a long time will find a solid battle engine that rewards strategy and quick thinking. Other than that, the story is gripping and presents a wonderful fantasy story that is filled to the brim with fantasy worthy of any epic.… Expand
  19. Kgreen
    Jan 11, 2013
    10
    Dragon Age: Origins is an action packed RPG where the protagonist of your design is joined by a party of no more then four people fight to save the world. The protagonist can be male or female. The protagonist can be a human, elf, or dwarf. The character creator allows you to make your character completely original. Depending on the character you create you will experience one out of theDragon Age: Origins is an action packed RPG where the protagonist of your design is joined by a party of no more then four people fight to save the world. The protagonist can be male or female. The protagonist can be a human, elf, or dwarf. The character creator allows you to make your character completely original. Depending on the character you create you will experience one out of the six opening scenes which allow you to have an original gaming experience. Dragon Age: Origins has a very engaging story line that never bores you. You can be exploring the lands of Ferelden killing dark spawn, gathering allies, or pursuing possible romances. I would recommend this game for any gamer! This game is perfect for gamers who want to get into RPGs and for pro RPG players who want a test of their skills and an interesting story line.… Expand
  20. EmbberSH
    Mar 18, 2013
    10
    Hands down my favorite game of all time. It had everything I look for in a good RPG; The plotline, which may seem overused at first, was detailed and engaging. The characters were unique and memorable, with distinct personalities and deep back stories, on top of which they have a wide range of skills to match a party to any style of play. Not to mention all the choices; Every major plotHands down my favorite game of all time. It had everything I look for in a good RPG; The plotline, which may seem overused at first, was detailed and engaging. The characters were unique and memorable, with distinct personalities and deep back stories, on top of which they have a wide range of skills to match a party to any style of play. Not to mention all the choices; Every major plot point has at least one major decision that affects the end of the game, and most have many smaller choices too. To go back to your companions; rather than being passive place holders they actually respond to the situation around you; Approving or disapproving of your choices, and giving their own input when they feel strongly about something. (Plus there are few things as amusing as listening to the conversations your party occasionally starts up while you're exploring.)

    No, the graphics aren't up to the standard of Bethesda's 'Skyrim', and the loading screens can be a bit of a drag, but beyond that it's very hard to find fault with the game. (And let's face it; The graphics in Skyrim were exceptional, very few games can even come close.
    The graphics are still good enough to make the game engaging, with a few truly beautiful scenes if you take a look around. (Try looking off the cliff by Redcliffe.) And the music is incredible. And for those interested in such things there's a wealth of history and culture in the codex, an unbelievable amount really, without reading even a quarter of it you can fully immerse yourself in the world's politics and racial relations. Nothing is left unexplained to those who want to know.

    All in all a simply amazing gaming experience, rife with adventure and humour. A must-have for any gamer.    … Expand
  21. Bloodlustrous
    May 11, 2013
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. To put it simply, Dragon Age: Origins is a great game that you will likely be pleased with if you are a fan of RPGs.

    Pros:
    - Combat (if you're a fan of auto-attack with a slight strategic bent.)
    - Characters, voice acting
    - Choices effect outcome of game
    - Storyline (it's predictable but original and satisfying.)

    Cons
    - Combat (if you are more interested in the action-RPG style.)
    - Graphics (the graphics are definitely tolerable, they are just sub-par compared to other games released at the same time.)
    - Difficulty spikes (some difficult battles are random, unexpected and the game will not autosave beforehand [desire demon in the Circle of Magi, anyone?!] and some battles will be disappointingly easy.)    … Expand
  22. Steyraus
    Feb 8, 2021
    10
    This game sit at the top, along side the greats like Baldurs gate, Kotor, Mass Effect and Fallout. Its a shame the series list its way, but we wilk always have origons.
  23. cheeseberger11
    Oct 6, 2013
    7
    A very story-driven game where it succeeded in delivering a good one. Although you could definitely tell it was made for the PC, the combat wasn't too bad. A little buggy. I was getting sick of my character running in random directions when I chose to attack something. When it came to looting, eventually your equipment just didn't get better. Also, the quest tracking in the game was simplyA very story-driven game where it succeeded in delivering a good one. Although you could definitely tell it was made for the PC, the combat wasn't too bad. A little buggy. I was getting sick of my character running in random directions when I chose to attack something. When it came to looting, eventually your equipment just didn't get better. Also, the quest tracking in the game was simply awful. The constant waves of enemies got very repetitive soon. The game delivers when it comes to giving the player an abundance of choices that significantly impact the game and story.… Expand
  24. Nosidda89
    Feb 28, 2011
    10
    I was never a big fan of Bioware at all. In fact, when I first put this game in my 360, I was already having doubts on if this game will be good, because I tried Mass Effect, which is considered to be Biowares best game, and didn't like it. I admit that the game looked good when I first saw it. A friend of mine decided to let me borrow his copy of Dragon Age, which he later said I couldI was never a big fan of Bioware at all. In fact, when I first put this game in my 360, I was already having doubts on if this game will be good, because I tried Mass Effect, which is considered to be Biowares best game, and didn't like it. I admit that the game looked good when I first saw it. A friend of mine decided to let me borrow his copy of Dragon Age, which he later said I could keep with no charge. Thanks Josh. So, why am I thanking my friend for a game by Bioware, a company I never liked? I'll tell you why. Because this game IS AMAZING!!!!! I'll be perfectly honest, Oblivion is one of my favorite RPG's ever, but I think Dragon Age actually beats it. I'm already looking forward to Dragon Age II, it has become one of my most anticipated games on 2011. So since I only have 5000 characters per review, let's get to the game. The most important aspect in any game is, of course, the gameplay. So, how is the gameplay in Dragon Age? Outstanding! It's like a very fast paced version of the Final Fantasy XI battle system, except much more active. You're not hacking and slashing, but it's still a very active system. Don't you worry Turn-Based Haters, this game is not turn based at all. They basically took the turn-based battle system from FFXI, and removed the turn-based part of it. Absolute genius! You can also set techniques to your quick cast buttons, much like setting your items to the C-buttons in Zelda. This makes it easier, because anything that's not set to your quick cast buttons, you can only cast by opening up the ability menu, and selecting it. However, this is quick, and is a great way to pause the game if you need to observe the battle and decide a change in strategy. Of course like any other advanced RPG, you can create your character to your liking. You can choose between 3 races. Human, Elf, and Dwarf. I decided to be an elf. After that, you choose your job. You can choose one of 3 jobs. Warrior, Rogue, and Mage. I decided to be a rogue, because I like sneaking around and being quick. Each job has 4 specializations that you choose from after unlocking them through quests in the game. The rogue specialization I chose first was Duelist, which is a person who can deal very good damage, and is very good at dodging attacks, and is best with dual wielding daggers. I later made Archer as my 2nd specialization, that one should be obvious. But in case you don't get it, it means you use a bow and arrow. Each time you level up, you get points to spend on character attributes to make him stronger. You do the same with your party members. By the way, you don't travel alone, you have a party with you. So obviously, this means you have to keep a well organized party. As far as the story goes, the story starts off differently for every race, but it all leads down to the same story. You become a Grey Warden, a special warrior meant to protect the people from the darkspawn. Of course that's up to you. The game has the same choice system as Mass Effect, so the choices you make will affect you later on, and you can choose to be a good guy or a bad guy. Not only will your decisions affect you later in this game, but they will also affect you in Dragon Age II, so choose your path wisely. In either case though, you have to gather allies from around the world by either helping them solve their problems so they can aid you, or by forcing them to aid you. The only problem with this game is it's difficulty. Casual mode is too easy, but Normal mode is way too freakin hard. It's like the game completely skipped Normal mode and decided to make Normal mode hard mode. Even the hardcore RPG players are usually playing the game on casual mode, because Normal mode is way too hard, it's nearly impossible. One can only imagine how difficult Hard and Nightmare modes are. I have yet to hear of anyone who can play the game all the way through on Nightmare mode. All and all, fantastic game, and it deserves every penny you pay for it. It has to be one of the best RPG's of all time, so if you love RPG's, pick this game up. Mass Effect ain't got **** on Dragon Age! 10/10.… Expand
  25. Redfordsto
    Jul 26, 2011
    10
    I played through this game in its entirety 11 times. So many times, I had to remove characters to a flashdrive because you're only allowed to create 8 characters. It's that good.
  26. GommbawaJ
    Jan 3, 2010
    10
    The most compelling, engaging and emotional storyline of any RPG to date. Make that any game, actually. This was a near perfect game imo, the only improvements I'd make is in the loot and tactics system. But that can be improved in the next release. Really, really want to congratulate the team. Amazing game.
  27. JoseM
    Nov 8, 2009
    10
    A brilliant RPG with combat which is a mixture of Mass Effect and KOTOR. As such, combined with an engaging story and interesting characters, all the elements of this game bond together to make arguably the best RPG on this generation of consoles.
  28. Killacure
    Dec 2, 2009
    10
    This game is so rich in story and the pay off for time spent in its lavish world is untouchable.
  29. TRoberts
    Jan 21, 2010
    10
    This is the best RPG-game i played i hope mass effect2 will be better but this game is also great
  30. BenjiH
    Nov 19, 2009
    6
    I have no desire to pick up the controller and continue with thousands of pointless and too-long conversations with NPCs that contain all the excitement of a touch-tone menu. The graphics are quite bland, but not as bad as Mass Effect's random planets. Most outdoor areas are devoid of details, just an ugly sloping ground plane with too-few plants dropped in. Sweeping views from high I have no desire to pick up the controller and continue with thousands of pointless and too-long conversations with NPCs that contain all the excitement of a touch-tone menu. The graphics are quite bland, but not as bad as Mass Effect's random planets. Most outdoor areas are devoid of details, just an ugly sloping ground plane with too-few plants dropped in. Sweeping views from high vantage points render comically. They could have taken some hints from Assassin's Creed or Fallout for how to make terrain beautiful. I LOVED BG and NWN. But with me, ME, JE, and KotR fell totally flat. Maybe these things just don't grab me on console... I'm about 12 hours into the game and it still hasn't really grabbed me. I'm waiting to be floored like most reviews say I should be, and after this long it still hasn't happened.… Expand
  31. PatJ
    Nov 3, 2009
    10
    Got it yesterday and haven't been able to put it down. The sun came up before I realized how many hours had gone by and all I can think about at work is getting home to play it some more.
  32. Watermelon789
    Nov 29, 2011
    7
    I'm really not sure what to say for the first time , Dragon Age is more like a mixed bland boring combat game. But in the same way, the compelling story-line drags my attention completely and push me to play it. The game has lacking bad animations , they don't seem to show an emotion, they just talk and everything start progressing. While It is a very deep game in terms of story andI'm really not sure what to say for the first time , Dragon Age is more like a mixed bland boring combat game. But in the same way, the compelling story-line drags my attention completely and push me to play it. The game has lacking bad animations , they don't seem to show an emotion, they just talk and everything start progressing. While It is a very deep game in terms of story and decisions that by far that's how Bio Ware rule the RPG ( they are flawless in creating story ) I see more Dragon Age as a lacking Mass Effect ,is more like the other side of Mass Effect . But don't get me wrong Dragon Age is an interesting story teller with no problem.… Expand
  33. gqmasters3
    May 11, 2019
    10
    It is the finest RPG of its generation. The gameplay is fun and challenging. The plot is captivating and it is one of the few RPGs that actually successfully climaxes at the final battle or sequence of events.
  34. Deusex
    Mar 3, 2014
    3
    Pros:
    Good choices.
    Good back story for each race.
    Good story, not great.
    Good voice acting.

    Cons:
    Worst gameplay ever.
    Horrible graphics.
    Bad facial animations.
  35. Vanimal
    Feb 5, 2010
    5
    Where to start... BORING! Let's start with the good, though. The world created is well done and the choices they force on you are great. The bad now...The combat is the worst ever thought of. Same f'in' thing over and over. And over. Setting up your guys to do stuff is cool, but that is where it ends. The story is boring and the graphics are terrible. Look at a tree in that Where to start... BORING! Let's start with the good, though. The world created is well done and the choices they force on you are great. The bad now...The combat is the worst ever thought of. Same f'in' thing over and over. And over. Setting up your guys to do stuff is cool, but that is where it ends. The story is boring and the graphics are terrible. Look at a tree in that game and you will understand. The conversation choices could be brought down to 2 choices, because you will only need to answer yes or no, basically. The rest they tell you whether you want to hear it or not. It is essentially KOTOR 7 years later with zero improvements and way worse combat. Bioware is way overrated. Mass Effect sucked, too.… Expand
  36. TAS
    Nov 11, 2009
    6
    A difficult to navigate interface, bugs, sub-par graphics engine that just looks bad, bugs, difficulty level that jumps around like a bipolar flea at a dog show, and more bugs make this game a rental at best. I simply do NOT believe that Bioware actually developed this, more like the Bioware farm league. There are too many actual game bugs, inconsistencies, and just general bad design A difficult to navigate interface, bugs, sub-par graphics engine that just looks bad, bugs, difficulty level that jumps around like a bipolar flea at a dog show, and more bugs make this game a rental at best. I simply do NOT believe that Bioware actually developed this, more like the Bioware farm league. There are too many actual game bugs, inconsistencies, and just general bad design decisions to really call it a Bioware release. Don't be fooled for a second to think that this is the 3D version of Baldur's Gate. It isn't. The story is actually very good and the branches that you are FORCED to take are, for the most part, interesting, but the piss-poor interface and just bad gameplay, combined with the crushing difficulty level (even on Normal level, expect to restart. A LOT) applied to situations that you are forced into or cannot play around bring it down. And it doesn't really look like a 3rd generation graphics engine either. There are too many small, pixellated textures stretched over very large objects and a very washed out look to everything. Highly disappointing.… Expand
  37. Delta_Assault
    Sep 28, 2011
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. So, I finished the campaign last night and uh, it was nice. Very satisfying ending. Overall, I like the game a lot. That should be obvious, I've posted quite a bit about it. That's cause it's very good. Not a perfect game though. Not a game I can consider as a candidate for GOTY 2009, let's just say. The BioWare signature is definitely all over it, you can feel that same sort of relationship with characters that you got in KOTOR and ME and all that. It's just a very cozy and enjoyable experience, I'd say.

    But ya know, there's a few wrong turns as well and I figured I'd just write up my thoughts on that. Quick summary here and uh, maybe there'll be improvements for Dragon Age 2, which I eagerly look forward to.

    The graphics in DA aren't so hot. I can't believe I'm living in a world where people are posting that they can't believe they live in a world where the graphics in Dragon Age are considered bad. Like, really? Honestly, this is the year 2009. Dragon Age's graphics are considered bad, because they are bad. You look at video games, and it's clear we've come pretty far. Uncharted 2, Batman Arkham Asylum, Crysis, Gears of War 2, Dead Space, Infamous, Call of Duty 6: Modern Warfare 2, lots of games with great graphics. But ohohoho, you raise your hand and object... those are all action games, not RPGs! Well, alright... that's true. Let's look at RPGs... we've got games like Oblivion, Fallout 3, Mass Effect, all which look much better then Dragon Age. And some of em came out over two years ago. And I'm not certain, but I'm pretty sure Final Fantasy 13 is going to look much better then DA when it comes out sometime next year. I've never played an FF game in my life, and don't intend to pick up FF13, but it's clear to even a dude like me that it looks so much better then what BioWare delivered to us here. So no, it's not crazy to say that DA has some pretty bad visuals.

    It's all fine and dandy if you say you're a hardcore RPG player and story-telling and dialogue come first and you don't care about graphics. That's fine, those are your own preferences. But to simply ignore that they are not that great is deluding yourself. It's like buying a used car with some scratches on the paint. You might value great gas mileage and the roomy interior and so the scratches on the paint don't really bother you at all. That's not why you bought the car, it doesn't affect your enjoyment of it. But don't act as if the paintjob is beautiful and flawless while conversing with your next door neighbor. Don't tell him the paint is great. That's escaping into some sort of bizarro world.

    The world is changing, I feel. We no longer have to put up with FPSs with nonexistent stories, or RPGs with horrible visuals. What's Fallout 3? It's a first person shooter, but also an RPG. What's Mass Effect? It's a third person shooter, but also an RPG. It's not an either or proposition. Oblivion was an RPG that actually had decent combat for a change. This is a good thing, new games are taking the best elements of each genre and coming up with a really nice hybrid design. So don't give me the old chestnut that because it's an RPG, you shouldn't expect anything in terms of graphics. That doesn't fly anymore. Well, unless it's an indie game, which I don't think DA is. It's a BioWare game, so you're damn right my expectations are gonna be high. They've set a high standard for consistently great RPGs. KOTOR looked great when it came out in 2003. Mass Effect looked great when it came out in 2007. So to me, expecting BioWare stuff to look good isn't exactly going off and battling windmills.

    As far as Morrigan goes... I'm kinda amused by all the discussion about her. It's really interesting how some people hate her a lot. I dunno, she was fine for my tastes. It's uh, it's okay if BioWare didn't just give us a retread of Bastila Shan or Liara. I might actually have found that really boring and lame. Morrigan's just different but still kinda alluring and provides a little discord in the party dynamic. Kinda reminds me of Joanna from the BattleTech novels. Ya know, mostly from Robert Thurston's body of work. Some people don't like Joanna cause she's basically a **** but a lot of people, including me, really really like her. Not like as in, I'd really like to be her BFF in real life, but we enjoy her as an intriguing literary character. Some people are just not that happy go lucky and they do have to occupy that realm of anti-hero. So yea, Morrigan's kinda... the best at what she does, but what she does isn't very nice? Heh...    … Expand
  38. doggystyle
    Aug 15, 2013
    9
    A very good RPG. I don't like how Bioware makes its games for teen boys when it comes to women, sex and the dialogue in general. In DAO that stuff is sufficiently out of the way so that it doesn't get in the way of gaming. I'd rather have a world like that in Witcher instead of Bioware's classic good vs evil with large breasted women and huge spiky armors. Nevertheless, DAO was good.A very good RPG. I don't like how Bioware makes its games for teen boys when it comes to women, sex and the dialogue in general. In DAO that stuff is sufficiently out of the way so that it doesn't get in the way of gaming. I'd rather have a world like that in Witcher instead of Bioware's classic good vs evil with large breasted women and huge spiky armors. Nevertheless, DAO was good. Definitely the best game Bioware has ever produced and looking at the horror that was Dragon's Age 2 and how they "developed" Mass Effect downhill through the series it is safe to say that DAO will be their best game ever.… Expand
  39. sceptic
    Nov 5, 2009
    3
    Incredibly poor graphics,combat,spells etc.I was expecting a better version of an Oblivion type game but instead forced myself to sit through this generic rubbish.I thought they had stopped making this type of crap years ago.It makes sacred:fallen angel look good;and it was rubbish too.Points for the awesome trailers.
  40. BrandonW
    Dec 6, 2009
    1
    The first eight hours of play where fun. After that mark the game went from fun and easy to retarded and not fun. They monsters advance way to fast for you to keep up with. The massive amount of npc talk gets very boring very quick. I was disappointed in the game.
  41. Boltfrowah
    Jul 4, 2011
    1
    Just terrible. In my years of playing RPG's, this game was delightfully devoid of most control concepts, most notably the battle system. Once you engage an enemy, the game pretty much takes over for you and has the characters doing their own thing, for better or for worse. And no, I don't care to know every AI character's backstory which ends up reading about 10000 lines of informationJust terrible. In my years of playing RPG's, this game was delightfully devoid of most control concepts, most notably the battle system. Once you engage an enemy, the game pretty much takes over for you and has the characters doing their own thing, for better or for worse. And no, I don't care to know every AI character's backstory which ends up reading about 10000 lines of information that has nothing to do with game play. I stopped playing this after 10 hours, and it's the reason I opened a Goozex account. BLECH.… Expand
  42. MKing
    Feb 18, 2010
    4
    I have to say the game started off well but quickly lost it's appeal. It was insanely boring and tedious as another review stated. Also, in my opinion, having additional party members is required to survive the sheer number of enemies at time but when you're playing different classes and need time to position yourself, you quickly find yourself missing out on the action by the I have to say the game started off well but quickly lost it's appeal. It was insanely boring and tedious as another review stated. Also, in my opinion, having additional party members is required to survive the sheer number of enemies at time but when you're playing different classes and need time to position yourself, you quickly find yourself missing out on the action by the time you get there.… Expand
  43. MaxGayLord
    May 16, 2013
    0
    Just about everything about this damn game is terrible. The story and narrative are one giant cliche, the setting is uninspiring, the music is entirely bland, the characters are quite one dimensional, combat is sluggish, the interface is clunky, the visuals are a mess, level design is utter garbage, but the voice acting is pretty good.
  44. brisbanesimon
    May 17, 2011
    0
    this is such a bad game,absolutely pathetic attempt at creating an rpg,shame on you bioware,i will be never ever ever again purchasing any of your products after this abomination of a game
  45. Mesk
    Jun 21, 2011
    0
    After playing about three hours of Dragon Age I stoped. Just don´t understand what all you guys have with this Bioware. Mainly I did not like the graphics-realy bad.
  46. TerryG
    Feb 6, 2010
    7
    Bioware definitely disappointed me here. Don't get me wrong the game is solid, but when held up to the past achievements I was definitely disappointed. The graphics were on par with ME1 and the story felt tedious at times. With a blockbuster like ME2 right on the heels of Dragon Age you'd think that Bioware would have polished the graphics a little more. Definitely don't Bioware definitely disappointed me here. Don't get me wrong the game is solid, but when held up to the past achievements I was definitely disappointed. The graphics were on par with ME1 and the story felt tedious at times. With a blockbuster like ME2 right on the heels of Dragon Age you'd think that Bioware would have polished the graphics a little more. Definitely don't miss this game because it is enjoyable, just don't set your standards to high.… Expand
  47. rogerr.
    Nov 4, 2009
    1
    Not the fast action game advertised. Turn based chess like game with wildy varying level confrontations, even with similar enemies throughout. Great story though. Buy lord of the rings dvds and reset DVD player randomly as you watch to replicate experience
  48. pimpdown
    Jan 18, 2010
    5
    BORING! TEDIOUS! MIND NUMBING! The fighting is the fun but it is so hard to get to. 1. First the world map sucks. There are 7 or 8 major areas and each major area has multiple subareas. You cannot acces the sub areas from the world map. You have to go to the main area and then walkthrough that entire level to get to the sublevel you need to get to. A sheer waste of time. You have to do BORING! TEDIOUS! MIND NUMBING! The fighting is the fun but it is so hard to get to. 1. First the world map sucks. There are 7 or 8 major areas and each major area has multiple subareas. You cannot acces the sub areas from the world map. You have to go to the main area and then walkthrough that entire level to get to the sublevel you need to get to. A sheer waste of time. You have to do this a lot because of the limited inventory. You will be in the middle of a dungeon and have to walk all the way out and then, walk out of the sublevel(s) to get to one of the main areas where the stores are. So much walking, walking is not gameplay but you will spend more time walking then anything else. Fast travel was invented so people who wanted to actually play the game could do that. 2. Looting is made boring as hell because of this. You have to buy extra backpack slots but to do that you need money so you have to sell everything to afford the overpriced crap. Why is a damn backpack so expensive? Nothing you do will make you money. The economy is hell bent on destroying you. Crafting loses you money. You cannot get ahead financially. 3. Interface on console is a jumbled mess, this game is so cluttered with unmanageable crap that it easy to tell the console version(s) were an afterthought. There is a lot of info and very little space to manage it in. 4. The color palette is bland as hell and the textures are trash. Lots of clipping to, should be called clipfest 09. 5. Talking=suck! So you have to have long drawn out conversations. You get various conversation options but you have no idea where these will lead. You will undoubtedly be mean to someone when you were trying to be nice or cut off a conversation tree when you are trying to get extra information for making a pertinent decision. You will loses quests because you picked the wrong phrase. That is trash! 6. Beatdowns! You will get beatdown by random creatures that are not bosses. Anything from the fade will own you until you acquire certain items. Random fights where your party faces one creature will suck because you will get pounded out. The combat and story are great but they are blocked by some much extemporaneous dreck that you will undoubtedly be made miserable trying to get to it.… Expand
  49. zach
    Nov 8, 2009
    8
    This is a good game. Although this game is decent the company was just tricking themselves into thinking this would be a ground-breaking game. I like the RPG elements but they actually are uminspired. Baulders Gate was much better and this is a lot better than Mass Effect. Overall I would say SAVE YOUR MONEY FOR MODERN WARFARE 2!!
  50. 6xdandangp
    Dec 29, 2012
    5
    Decent story, gameplay, and characters. Some major problems on consoles include many glitches, extremely weak graphics, and a slow battle system. Would receive a much higher score if it weren't for technical issues.
  51. JON_RYO
    Apr 28, 2011
    8
    Ok, so being a fan of bioware and their previous games such as baldurs gate, KOTOR, mass effect etc I knew what to expect from an RPG from them, this game being very similar to Knights of the old republic in many respects I was at home with the way the mechanics of the game worked such as interactive dialogue etc. They storyline is very consuming and characters very believable, i even feltOk, so being a fan of bioware and their previous games such as baldurs gate, KOTOR, mass effect etc I knew what to expect from an RPG from them, this game being very similar to Knights of the old republic in many respects I was at home with the way the mechanics of the game worked such as interactive dialogue etc. They storyline is very consuming and characters very believable, i even felt myself feeling for them at some points of the game. The combat is not real time and when leveling up your characters and others you have to constantly change their 'quick' set of moves from the menu to the more powerful moves etc so they dont keep the old less powerful ones, the menus are full of statistics and the codex contains interesting info about each important character in the quest, which helps to build an understanding of their relationship to you and the game world. Each main character is voice acted superbly and the story is absolutely convincing and draws you in in a way only bioware RPGs do. This is the best part of the game and will keep you playing as the gameplay gets a bit repetive after a while. Now the main problem with the game is the difficulty, I started out on the highest difficulty (nightmare) which of course was extremely difficult but to the point where i found myself stuck in the wilds at the beginning of the game unable to progress because i could not defeat the enemies, after many failed attempts I changed the difficulty and after a little more put it down to casual, the problem was sorted out for the most part. However the difficulty level still seemed to jump in places from being very easy to being very tough, which was frustrating. Other than that I'd say the lack of the 'light' and 'dark' side meter took away from the experience as there was no consequence to being evil and your character leaning toward a darker more sinister person. Or doing good deeds becoming a 'lighter' type of character who helps those in need. I also would have preferred the game touse real time combat like in mass effect, except of course with swords etc. Overall I'd recommend this game to any RPG fan but not over mass effect 1 or 2, which I believe along with KOTOR are the best bioware have to offer.… Expand
  52. TheQuietGamer
    Jun 30, 2011
    9
    This has to be one of if not the best games I have ever played, the story is fantastic and that alone will have you glued to your controller for many hours, it's emotional, intense, and epic, and the characters are the best of any Bioware game so far, only a few characters from the Mass Effect series are this enjoyable, but you still do have some lame followers like Sten and Zevran, butThis has to be one of if not the best games I have ever played, the story is fantastic and that alone will have you glued to your controller for many hours, it's emotional, intense, and epic, and the characters are the best of any Bioware game so far, only a few characters from the Mass Effect series are this enjoyable, but you still do have some lame followers like Sten and Zevran, but for the most part they are awesome, and they are genuinely hilarious, I found myself often laughing until I couldn't breath at some of the conversations between the characters (Alistair and Morrigans bickering is a laugh riot!) and the combat system works well for the game, and feels every bit like a classic RPG which is a good thing, and it has HIGH replayability do to do to multiple character creation options and different choices to make, that and it's just so much fun, and for all these good things I was originally going to give this a perfect 10/10, but there is one flaw, during the end of the game there is a HUGE difficulty spike, don't get me wrong the game was always challenging, but it was the rewarding kind of challenging, but at the end it's just frustrating, before that combat is nicely paced and you have just enough enemies to feel challenged, but in the final moments your constantly swarmed with enemies at all sides, and this also happens during the final boss battle, I mean the boss itself is tough, but just tough enough to be fun, what makes this encounter so frustrating is that when you get its health to 50% he sends in swarms of enemies, which once again overwhelm you, I eventually made it past this boss battle, but only after a lot of cheap deaths, I mean nothing i the game prepares you for that, no warning or anything to how frustrating it will be in its final moments, but even with those flaws I still loved this game and it has earned itself a special place in my heart, and it's an experience I will never forget, it's just a shame that the final moments are so frustrating, but this is a near perfect game, and I highly recommend it to any and all gamers, this is definitely one of the greatest games of all time.… Expand
  53. Devil_Man_X
    Jul 5, 2011
    9
    Just as good as Origins except where it counts, the end. The ending and even the later parts of the game just serve to ruin the story from Origins. I would love to erase this from my memory and from the canon of Dragon Age as a whole.
  54. Saeta
    Mar 13, 2011
    8
    ¡Por los Guardas grises!

    Bastante tarde, aunque ya saben el dicho... Llega el analisis de uno de los mejores videojuegos que nos ha deparado la generación con caracteristicas bastante peculiares y con el respaldo de un estudio ya acostumbrado a crear obras maestras, como lo es BioWare.

    â
  55. canardmou
    Mar 19, 2011
    3
    Dragon Age II is a failed attempt to build a story set into the world developed in Dragon Age Origins. I will briefly describe and rate different aspects of the game.

    Graphics: The graphics aren't bad but they by no mean redefine the industry's standards like some critics claimed. 7 / 10 Gameplay: The combats are interesting and compelling but the game's mechanics are tarnished by a few    Dragon Age II is a failed attempt to build a story set into the world developed in Dragon Age Origins. I will briefly describe and rate different aspects of the game.

    Graphics: The graphics aren't bad but they by no mean redefine the industry's standards like some critics claimed. 7 / 10

    Gameplay: The combats are interesting and compelling but the game's mechanics are tarnished by a few problems that really hurt the fun factor. Mostly, you just walk around in town and endless waves of weak humans attack without real reason (they are some civilians walking around with no reaction). The fights are too fast for the player to really set in strategies. Also, the difficulty of the fights isn't fluid. Most of the fights are way too easy on normal difficulty you will want to set the game to hard until your champion meets a real challenge that kills him in a few hits. Many people also criticized the threat system (how enemies pick their target) not without reason. Aside from a short expedition into the deep roads, where you actually kill real enemies and bosses, the fights offer no surprise. Finally, the player will also spend a great amount of time moving from places to places on the city map to talk to characters that has uninteresting things to say and tiring quests to give.
    6/10

    Interface: The big improvement compared to Origins is there. Cycling through the menu is less of a pain and everything is set and explained fine except for a few details. The crafting is now done at specific shops (or Hawke's house for convenience) and doesn't require learned skills. I thought it was a big improvement over Origins, where I felt many character and inventory tweaking were unnecessarily complicated. The skill tree is also vastly improved and many useless skills were removed or combined to reduce possible skills to a compelling amount. 8 / 10

    Story: The player embarks into the quest of Hawke, a refugee from the dark spawn invasion triggering the events of Origins. Unlike all games, there is no real quest here but the underlying veil of social ascension punctuated by an infinite pile of uninteresting and mostly incoherent side-quests. The story, which spans over ten years played through four acts, is boring, dull, and shows nothing to hide the fact that the game is just about button smashing your way through side-quests. The champion eventually attempts to bring down the Chantry (mostly a dubious sketch of medieval Christianity) but it wasn't the mission or the intend of the game from until very late into the story and it still feels as artificial and a pretense to kill easy targets as the rest of the quests. This makes the whole game deprived from the very single touch of epicness, a big strength of Origins. An RPG, with no story, come on. 0 / 10

    Role-playing: Upon playing an RPG, you are usually expecting two things: playing a role and building a character. Since there is no story, the role playing can only be provided throughout the dialogues where you to get to select an answer between three dialogue patterns: Kneeling **** idiot clown and jackass. Note that the considerable margin between the written tab and the ensuing vocal dialogue made many people consider themselves as Hawke's schizophrenic soul. Furthermore, the three options always lead to the actions after a line or two of stereotypical **** Character customization has been simplified, following the trend of Mass effect and american boys' brain. The warrior can no longer wield two swords and dual wielding rogues can only use daggers, thus forcing the damage scale on dexterity. Inventory items require two set of attributes now. Warrior weapons and armors need strength and hp , rogues need dexterity and critical damage and mages magic and mp. There is, therefore, no way of customizing your character aside from the skills selection. 2 / 10.

    Level design: Except from the short expedition in deep roads, where the game designers even dare to send you back for side-quests, all you get (and by that i mean ALL you get) is a mountain, a mine, a town, a foundry, a backstreet a little keep and an Island. Every area has to be visited about an hundred times to complete the mostly mandatory side-quests and all of the what the game designers thought to make is seem different is to block some paths with gray walls. The rest of the level even shows on the minimap! Sometimes, the game will pretend it's a different place which makes it all very confusing and downright insulting the mine accessible is the same as the tunnels accessible from town. 1 / 10

    It's like the game was made by two teams: one designing the interface and the gameplay, which didn't fail even it if wasn't perfect, while the other one dedicated itself into producing the worst story ever ported to a screen. Final score: 3 / 10    … Expand
  56. oscart624
    Dec 13, 2011
    6
    I enjoyed the characters and the setting but I disliked the combat and the graphics. The combat was boring and I felt like you didn't have to you all the skills you got,
  57. Valiko
    Dec 11, 2012
    6
    The story is good and it has good rpg elements, but the fighting mechanics just make me wants to stop the game and play Dragon Age II, even though it's worse in every aspect, since the fighting mechanics are actually good. If they updated the fighting mechanics. then this game could have been so much better.
  58. Vanpire73
    May 9, 2014
    8
    Despite the awful graphics, weird "open world" and a character on par with Jar Jar Binks, this RPG is still one of my favorites. Man, I STILL want to c*ckpunch Allister...
  59. SuperFloorMat
    Apr 28, 2013
    9
    One of the best RPGs I've ever played. Amazing Combat with its stop and pause combat systems, It feels powerful when you pull off risky moves with your team of very awesome characters. The story is one of the best and they pulled it off. Even though some side quest are plain they feel rushed just to keep hours going with barely any story but the minor of them are very good side quest. ThisOne of the best RPGs I've ever played. Amazing Combat with its stop and pause combat systems, It feels powerful when you pull off risky moves with your team of very awesome characters. The story is one of the best and they pulled it off. Even though some side quest are plain they feel rushed just to keep hours going with barely any story but the minor of them are very good side quest. This Game is amazing, I played it for hours and it was very well developed. This game will forever be in my arsenal of video games. Unlike Dragon age 2 and 3. .hehe.… Expand
  60. birdmannavy
    Jun 11, 2013
    4
    Yeah, so 4 apparently doesn't put this game in the red. Well, shucks. I gave Dragon Age 2 an 8, but since that review was basically just bashing this game, I figured I'd flesh out my bashing a little more. First of all, what did I like? The city elf origin story (I am told I would like the casteless dwarf story too), king Cailan, the dog--whom I named Yarlan--and, um, nothing else. Oh,Yeah, so 4 apparently doesn't put this game in the red. Well, shucks. I gave Dragon Age 2 an 8, but since that review was basically just bashing this game, I figured I'd flesh out my bashing a little more. First of all, what did I like? The city elf origin story (I am told I would like the casteless dwarf story too), king Cailan, the dog--whom I named Yarlan--and, um, nothing else. Oh, I guess the conflict of interests at the landsmeet was pretty cool too. Oh, hell, I also liked queen Anora. There. Wait, one more, the drama of Isolde killing her own son was pretty gripping and, well, awesome. Everything else--Boring! Stupid! Ugly! A pain to listen to! I mean really--"My warden sense is tingling"? "It's either you or me and it isn't going to be me"? C'mon! People bought this?! A generic the-world's-gonna-end plot involving ogres? I mean darkspawn--could've call them the Flood for all I care. That's what there is to offer? Did y'all really think the story was epic? Have you seen the map? There are only a handful of places to go to and the game can be beaten in 20 hours including the side quests. If it takes longer than that it is because hacking through every enemy--which you have to do to build experience since they don't respawn (places look like desolate wastelands when you revisit them)--is so damn tedious. Have you played an epic RPG lately? Diablo? Dragon Quest? Final Fantasy? Hmm? Does the game really give you that many options? I'm talking about good ones. I mean, how many ways can you tell Wynn she's an old hag with big boobs? That ought to be exciting. Does anything I do change the fate of the city elves? Nope! And would I really care since all the choices in the game basically add up to cue cards at the end? And Ogren. Awful. Maybe not the worst, most annoying NPC ever, but up there.… Expand
  61. OpaSamuel
    Nov 11, 2013
    2
    Dragon Age:Origins is the worst game of all time. People seem to confuse dirt for diamonds in today's face paced world where information is gushing at your brain like a sewage pipe full of knowledge just burst. But honestly how can anyone find any sort of depth here? The dialogue that is so praised by critics is at best standard fair and nothing to the point it could convince me alone toDragon Age:Origins is the worst game of all time. People seem to confuse dirt for diamonds in today's face paced world where information is gushing at your brain like a sewage pipe full of knowledge just burst. But honestly how can anyone find any sort of depth here? The dialogue that is so praised by critics is at best standard fair and nothing to the point it could convince me alone to buy the game, worst yet all bit of dialogue is spoken by weird alien looking people that look like they could past for CGI mannequins from a 90's film. The combat mechanics are pretty much like every other Bioware game and somehow seem even worse then what they were in KOTOR times, The characters are half assed archetypes I had no interest in knowing much less keeping alive, in fact half the time I wished I could feed Alistair to my dog, the Dog was more memorable then your companions. I can't even remember one line of dialogue from them and I just finished the damn game. The story is at best a slightly worse knock off Tolkein, it feels drab and uninspired. Any grand and memorable vistas? Any interesting areas? NOPE! The game generally keeps it's same, dark, depressing grimdark look through out the game making almost every environment feel the same. Also why is it the game even called Dragon Age? Why not Dark Spawn:Origins. The only damn dragon I saw in the game was slightly bigger then my character and easy as hell to kill. Wait a minute, why did I even play this worthless game? I might as well have gone and read Tolkeins books, I'd still get the same story minus the ****ty uninspired enviroments, the ripped off story elements, the horrid combat, the linear and pointless adventure that makes you feel like you really accomplished nothing but unite a bunch of fantasy stereotypes. In short the game is awful don't buy it.… Expand
  62. SuperkenGaming
    Jan 22, 2016
    8
    Dragon Age Origins
    More like Goose Age Origins
    This game is deep, and that’s the greatest thing about it. The depth though is also the worst thing about it This game starts out with letting you customize your character and choosing your class. All of your choices here will determine the origins story you are given. There’s potentially 6 different stories to be told in this game… I    Dragon Age Origins
    More like Goose Age Origins
    This game is deep, and that’s the greatest thing about it.
    The depth though is also the worst thing about it
    This game starts out with letting you customize your character and choosing your class.
    All of your choices here will determine the origins story you are given.
    There’s potentially 6 different stories to be told in this game…
    I played the console version of this game, so it’s much more action oriented than strategy based.
    You can journey with 4 allies at a time to help you fight enemies and you can gain new allies along your journey,
    How you treat your allies and the people in the world around you will determine if they turn their back on you or help you with your cause.
    Your allies do a fairly decent job at holding their own... they only got stuck one time in my entire playthrough.
    You can equip gear you find on them much like a JRPG, there is tons of micro managing your ally’s skills as well as yours,
    Dragon Age Origins is lengthy, but not lengthy because there is so much great content to experience...
    The game is long just for the sake of being long... it accomplishes nothing in dragging the story on forever and makes you do more than you should really have to…
    The entire game feels like one giant goose chase.
    After your origins story the map opens up and you can freely clear it in any order you choose,
    The incentive to doing so is there is a blight... demons… an army... you need allies, so you set out into the vast sections to gain those allies...
    Each section of the map could literally be their own game… and not necessarily in a good way.
    They all have their own self-contained stories that link to the overarching story, but every single one of them follow the formula of the main story, which is you think you’re done but you’re not
    you get to whoever you’re looking for but they need you to do this before they’ll help you but when you get there to do what they need there’s someone there that needs you to help them before they can help you help the person that you need to help before they’ll help you..
    Its overwhelming and ultimately makes the game feel like it drags on forever
    and quite frankly it does... you never feel like you are making any true progress…
    It took me 10 hours of playing before the game got even a little bit interesting to me.
    There are some really cool sections to this game, again they all feel like they could be their own game...
    It’s crazy to look back when you’re near the end and think of the journey you’ve been on and how it was indeed part of this game and not some game you played years ago even though it feels like it.
    There’s mages, demons, going through the fade and shape shifting, hunting werewolves down in the forest, going underground to search for a mighty anvil
    There is so much to experience.
    While Dragon Age’s game world is vast and deep, I found the gameplay and journey to be shallow and tedious.
    Due to the delivery of the story, and the constant webbing of story lines I found Dragon Age Origins to eventually feel more like a chore than a game,
    After about 30 hours in I was begging for the game to be over, to get to the point, but instead it drug me down another 20 hours of rabbit holes.
    If the rabbit holes don’t make the game feel tedious enough, it also does a horrible job at quest progression in general...
    You rarely know where you’re supposed to go,
    The marker for the quest you’re on only appears when you’re close to the desired location…
    and by close, I mean practically on top of it…
    Which will lead you right to google to figure out where this person lives since who’s going to really memorize the locations of these people by name?
    I’m not
    There’s a Lot to do in Dragon Age Origins, so I can definitely see why people love this game so much…
    Even I appreciate the game for what it has going on...
    There was just ultimately nothing here to hook me in...
    If I didn’t feel obligated to make it to the credits, I definitely wouldn’t have
    I give Dragon Age Origins a 7.5/10    … Expand
  63. Mediawatcher
    Jan 26, 2015
    8
    It's a good game, nothing spectacular but still good and it's story is very well told, along with a good cast, amazing gameplay and really good character development. However the game itself is also lacking in some features such as a variety of extremely useless spells and talents, as well as some pointless side missions which really killed of the mood for me. I personally romancedIt's a good game, nothing spectacular but still good and it's story is very well told, along with a good cast, amazing gameplay and really good character development. However the game itself is also lacking in some features such as a variety of extremely useless spells and talents, as well as some pointless side missions which really killed of the mood for me. I personally romanced morrigan as human Mage and romanced alistair as a dalish elf, they're both really well acted characters.… Expand
  64. Dared2Sin
    Aug 30, 2015
    10
    From the Simple but, satisfying combat to the intriguing story, this one will keep you going for hours.
    The only trouble in this game is trying to please everyone.
  65. BigEvilSquirrel
    Aug 12, 2018
    10
    5 out of 5.
    Dragon Age: Origins is an excellent RPG from Bioware. The character you design decides your opening chapter (or “origin”), once complete will lead to the normal story. There are six origins to play through, my favorite was the Human Noble (as a Rogue). There is a lot of replay if you want to see everything, as you must pick a side for each quest. Combat is typical for a    5 out of 5.
    Dragon Age: Origins is an excellent RPG from Bioware. The character you design decides your opening chapter (or “origin”), once complete will lead to the normal story. There are six origins to play through, my favorite was the Human Noble (as a Rogue). There is a lot of replay if you want to see everything, as you must pick a side for each quest. Combat is typical for a Bioware game, which is not a bad thing. A recommend if you liked Knight of the Old Republic.    … Expand
  66. keiski72
    Feb 12, 2017
    10
    Another amazing game from Bioware. Great RPG experience, very deep gameplay, great writing, fun and challenging hybrid combat, and mostly impressive graphics for its time. All of these plus more makes this one of the best RPGs i've played IMO.
  67. WeenyDrake
    Nov 17, 2017
    10
    This is one of the best games I've ever played. The characters and story are unforgettable. The playable origin stories really connect you to your character, which makes the story feel that much more important. The only areas where I felt like the game was lacking was in its outdated graphics (for the time it was released) and the lackluster combat. I know that some will argue that theThis is one of the best games I've ever played. The characters and story are unforgettable. The playable origin stories really connect you to your character, which makes the story feel that much more important. The only areas where I felt like the game was lacking was in its outdated graphics (for the time it was released) and the lackluster combat. I know that some will argue that the combat was more tactical and is fitting of an RPG, but I really wasn't impressed with the auto-attack. All in all, I recommend this game 100%… Expand
  68. Dsims37
    Jun 16, 2019
    10
    This is easily the best RPG on the 360. The game play, graphics, and story are all amazing. Even tweaking the programming of your team mates is a whole tactical mini game in itself. The sequels never measured up. It seems they had to listen to all the butt hurt crybabies who didn’t like that it wasn’t an action game.
  69. TazzTheron
    Feb 1, 2020
    10
    Love to see a remake of the game with all the new tech we have available with current gen or even next gen :)
  70. DexterP.
    Nov 9, 2009
    9
    An Excellent adventure, If you're a fan of the Knights of the Old Republic series then you will feel right at home with BioWare's latest RPG. The Story line is magnificent, the character development and the combat can only be described as old school. The only reason it misses a 10 is because of some hit and miss voice acting and Graphics that can at times feel a little dated, An Excellent adventure, If you're a fan of the Knights of the Old Republic series then you will feel right at home with BioWare's latest RPG. The Story line is magnificent, the character development and the combat can only be described as old school. The only reason it misses a 10 is because of some hit and miss voice acting and Graphics that can at times feel a little dated, never the less, this is a game that BioWare fans, simply have to own.… Expand
  71. HollyC
    Jan 4, 2010
    8
    This is the first time I've gone for a Bioware RPG on Xbox, rather than my PC-- and I'm kinda wishing I had gotten DragonAge for the PC. A couple reasons-- the graphics I've seen for the PC version are remarkably better also the pause factor standard with all Bioware stuff is still much better on a PC--along with combat control/micromanaging. However, even with the This is the first time I've gone for a Bioware RPG on Xbox, rather than my PC-- and I'm kinda wishing I had gotten DragonAge for the PC. A couple reasons-- the graphics I've seen for the PC version are remarkably better also the pause factor standard with all Bioware stuff is still much better on a PC--along with combat control/micromanaging. However, even with the lackluster porting from PC to Xbox, DragonAge Origins is one stellar RPG--more akin to Baldur's Gate than Oblivion (yay for NPC party). The characters, relationships and story arc you create are completely immersive and soon you forget all about the console issues--which is a massive compliment to the story of the game. My few gameplay issues: Vast amount of quests--and sometimes they aren't real clear (or mapped) --making it a chore to rifle through them--much easier to do on PC, not so much on the XBox. A couple environments were difficult to figure out b/c of this--and sometimes the payoff was so little that the whole quest felt kind of like a job rather than fun. Same with some dialog choices--decisions--subtle responses can change your entire game if you're not careful, and unless you want to replay the game a bajillion times to get different outcomes, you find yourself reloading to get the outcome that feels best instead--which I don't think was the intention. However, the main story arc was so solid and epic that it's worth it all. As others said, the story is pretty much ripped wholesale from others (LotR especially)--but it doesn't matter--it's still epic and totally fun.… Expand
  72. JohanA
    Jan 4, 2010
    8
    Good story, interesting world and characters with lots of fun action. The graphics are not great and the GUI for reading codex entries is horrible.
  73. RockyB
    Jan 5, 2010
    8
    phics suck for a modern game but the story is awesome. I also like how the origins thing worked.. Game is fun but controls in some of the battles having to pause to direct your teammates was a litte tricky. Once again the story made up for everything
  74. Vikings#1
    Nov 22, 2009
    9
    Beside the character models, this game's graphics are xbox or ps2 type. Still, the story is good and very long. I like the fact that the combat can either be hack-and-slash type or very tactical-strategy type. The only reasons this game is not a 10 are because of graphics and that it's not an true open-world rpg like Oblivion.
  75. JoshK
    Nov 7, 2009
    7
    After spending a little bit of time with this massive RPG, I must say that I am enjoying my experience. It's graphically inferior to the other 2 versions of the game and well below what should be expected from the game market of today however, the story will suck you in. Bioware always knows how to write great stories and create massive games that give you your money's worth. After spending a little bit of time with this massive RPG, I must say that I am enjoying my experience. It's graphically inferior to the other 2 versions of the game and well below what should be expected from the game market of today however, the story will suck you in. Bioware always knows how to write great stories and create massive games that give you your money's worth. All in all this is a very well polished and time consuming game and well worth the purchase if you are a Baldur's Gate fan. If you are looking for an experience more akin to Oblivion, I do not recommend this game.… Expand
  76. nKayu
    Nov 9, 2009
    9
    Ok, this is not a graphic killer game, ok, the PC version is (maybe) superior than the consoles version... but it's an amazing game who locks me in front of my TV for hours... And for that I give it a 9 !
  77. SysyphusT
    Nov 9, 2009
    8
    1up's score is not a 100. Their maximum score is A+ and they gave Dragon Age an A. So their score should be a 90 or so.
  78. MatthewH
    Nov 11, 2009
    9
    I would have preferred spoken dialog from the protagonist, and the graphics suffer from the occasional hiccup now and again. If we had been given a USB keyboard / mouse option, I'd be completely in love, but having spent time with Mass Effect, the controller commands were not particularly difficult to migrate to. Make no mistake, the content here is enormous and the execution with I would have preferred spoken dialog from the protagonist, and the graphics suffer from the occasional hiccup now and again. If we had been given a USB keyboard / mouse option, I'd be completely in love, but having spent time with Mass Effect, the controller commands were not particularly difficult to migrate to. Make no mistake, the content here is enormous and the execution with which it was made is nigh flawless. This is a game that oozes with the love and care of it's remarkably talented creators.… Expand
  79. MatteoK
    Nov 13, 2009
    7
    Definitly a good RPG and a good game, but i think it misses something. I yet don't know what since i've played it only 4 or 5 hours, but something is missing... that's why I give it "only" 7 instead of 8. Anyway, graphics look pretty good considering that this kind of games keep many and many hours of gameplay on a single disc. RPG have never been famous for graphics due to Definitly a good RPG and a good game, but i think it misses something. I yet don't know what since i've played it only 4 or 5 hours, but something is missing... that's why I give it "only" 7 instead of 8. Anyway, graphics look pretty good considering that this kind of games keep many and many hours of gameplay on a single disc. RPG have never been famous for graphics due to this. Compared to oblivion has some good points but also some lacks. Good: BIG enemies! Oblivion (apart from gamepacks) missed big monsters, here you find them. this is good. Party-based action, this is also good (for me). Lacks: fighting sometimes is a little bit chaotic. Less freedom of movement, you can't go everywhere, i.e. when the character reaches an edge i just stops, you can't fall... not that good...at least not that realistic, that's for sure. After all a good game, there aren't many RPG on modern consoles, so this one can cut itself a little piece of space to be played along with the others.… Expand
  80. JonathanW
    Nov 17, 2009
    9
    I can't give it a ten because of the graphics, yet a 9.4 to 9.7 seems fair enough to me. Some elements of the storyline are predictable, but the maturity level ,presentation, and quality of the story telling makes up for it. Political and social issuses in the game draw out real emotions from within making the game experience more personal. Futhermore, I enjoy the fact that you I can't give it a ten because of the graphics, yet a 9.4 to 9.7 seems fair enough to me. Some elements of the storyline are predictable, but the maturity level ,presentation, and quality of the story telling makes up for it. Political and social issuses in the game draw out real emotions from within making the game experience more personal. Futhermore, I enjoy the fact that you actually have to set your AI character tatics in some parts of the game in order to pprevent your party from wipping.… Expand
  81. SamC.
    Nov 24, 2009
    9
    Graphics are decent, story and world are incredible, combat is, in my opinion, extremely fun. Sometimes, and this isn't always the case, it seems like the dialogues can drag on (when you're in the mood to kick some ass, I mean) and it would've been cool to give the main character a voice. Also, Roger R and Zac whatever, are idiots.
  82. BarryD.Great
    Nov 27, 2009
    9
    Playing this game as a Mage characters seems to be the way to go. I initially started out with a warrior and the combat seems a little wonky-kind of just alot going on and somewhat difficult to determine how much impact your character is contributing to the fight. I think the mage combat is really good generally because you can stand back away from the action and allow your player to do Playing this game as a Mage characters seems to be the way to go. I initially started out with a warrior and the combat seems a little wonky-kind of just alot going on and somewhat difficult to determine how much impact your character is contributing to the fight. I think the mage combat is really good generally because you can stand back away from the action and allow your player to do damage and heal. Its much easier to grasp your impact on the game. I find the graphics to be fine with no real issues and the story line is as good as I seen in any game this year. You have to be a fan of this genre in order to fully enjoy this game. I can easily see people either love it or hate it.… Expand
  83. PhilC
    Nov 29, 2009
    9
    This game is easily one of the best RPGs ever produced. While the system is a bit difficult to get used to because one is not able to micromanage like the old school games, I still think it was awesome. After three playthroughs I'm still digging through my options and I can play the game through differently every time. The choices here are not black and white... very shades of gray, This game is easily one of the best RPGs ever produced. While the system is a bit difficult to get used to because one is not able to micromanage like the old school games, I still think it was awesome. After three playthroughs I'm still digging through my options and I can play the game through differently every time. The choices here are not black and white... very shades of gray, which is exactly how it should be. I don't get the complaints about the graphics. My only complaint is that I wish it were more seamless like Oblivion.. but that's not what Bioware does.… Expand
  84. JimsumB
    Nov 29, 2009
    9
    Best game from them since KOTOR - this game is KOTOR but with swords and shields instead of lightsabres. When i was originally waiting for Mass Effect i was hoping for more of a Jade Empire/KOTOR experience but was let down but overjoyed that a different direction still hooked me,now im overjoyed as i have a game that reminds me of KOTOR and Jade Empire,and love a new direction with Mass Best game from them since KOTOR - this game is KOTOR but with swords and shields instead of lightsabres. When i was originally waiting for Mass Effect i was hoping for more of a Jade Empire/KOTOR experience but was let down but overjoyed that a different direction still hooked me,now im overjoyed as i have a game that reminds me of KOTOR and Jade Empire,and love a new direction with Mass Effect that has a sequel on the way and being a big fan of all of Bioware games i can only hope they continue the good work.Who knows where their emotional engine they use within their games will be in many years time.The only game where the the dialogue and choices you make actually makie a difference and shaping the world around you its a win win situation for me. 9 out of 10 although it would have got a 9.5 if they had ironed out all the bugs and made the graphics just a tad better.… Expand
  85. PanchoV.
    Nov 3, 2009
    10
    Even though it's visuals might not be state of the art - the story is totally engrossing and the world ha sucked me in. For the record, I actually prefer playing on the console to the PC, but that's probably just my taste in games these days.
  86. EdwardM.
    Nov 5, 2009
    7
    Uninspired. Combat is Neverwinter Nights with less options (like no action queuing) and the gambit system from Final Fantasy 12 (except with much shoddier AI). The world is well fleshed out, but there's so much useless fluff it actually detracts from the game experience: I don't need 5 minutes of dialogue trees from every pointless NPC just to know I'm in a "living world". Uninspired. Combat is Neverwinter Nights with less options (like no action queuing) and the gambit system from Final Fantasy 12 (except with much shoddier AI). The world is well fleshed out, but there's so much useless fluff it actually detracts from the game experience: I don't need 5 minutes of dialogue trees from every pointless NPC just to know I'm in a "living world". Like all Bioware games, you are set on a completely linear path with the illusion of choice, but only when it doesn't really matter, as the game just puts you back on path regardless. An extremely massive and well polished game, but ultimately, it's not actually very fun once the novelty of the world building and well developed generic story wears off.… Expand
  87. ChrisP.
    Nov 8, 2009
    10
    K first off roger r. could not be more wrong in his analysis of the game. It's not turn based, so please play the game before you start giving it horrible reviews. Second this game is not for twelve year olds. If you are twelve years old i would stick with Halo 3 where you'll fit in with all the other mic screamers. Lastly this game is actually very good, if you like the RPG K first off roger r. could not be more wrong in his analysis of the game. It's not turn based, so please play the game before you start giving it horrible reviews. Second this game is not for twelve year olds. If you are twelve years old i would stick with Halo 3 where you'll fit in with all the other mic screamers. Lastly this game is actually very good, if you like the RPG elements of Oblivion you WILL like this game. Nothing is wrong with The Lord of the Rings references they were great movies. So please rent this game if you like RPG's or Bioware I promise you won't be disappointed.… Expand
  88. mh
    Nov 8, 2009
    9
    Almost positive the guy that gave the score of 1 on the first page hasn't even played this game since he described this game as "turn-based" when it is definitely not a turn-based rpg. But anyways, the graphics are average. Fabulous story, very entertaining world and characters, and one of the most addicting games I've played all year. Thought that the rogues were nerfed in the Almost positive the guy that gave the score of 1 on the first page hasn't even played this game since he described this game as "turn-based" when it is definitely not a turn-based rpg. But anyways, the graphics are average. Fabulous story, very entertaining world and characters, and one of the most addicting games I've played all year. Thought that the rogues were nerfed in the early character levels, but they get much better as they lvl up fortunately.… Expand
  89. BrentE
    Nov 8, 2009
    9
    I personally love the return to party based rpg. I loved Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and NWN. Many people who never played those prefer their rpg's light - like Mass Effect - too short, too basic. I am enjoying DA:O and am still hoping for BG3 to come out one day. I don't see the big deal with the graphics myself. I prefer gameplay and story over them in my rpg's anyway.
  90. MikeK
    Dec 13, 2009
    9
    This has to be one of the best RPGs i have played in a very long time, if you like Knights of the old republic, baldurs gate, never winter knights, you will love this game its one of my personal favorites don't let other people tell you other wise!
  91. JasonG
    Dec 15, 2009
    7
    I finished playing Assassin's Creed 2 right before starting Dragon Age on 360. Dear god this game is ugly in comparison. I could barely force myself keep playing it, but now that I'm a few hours into it its getting pretty fun. I still don't understand how the same people who released a pretty RPG like ME could release something that looks like this, but the gameplay is I finished playing Assassin's Creed 2 right before starting Dragon Age on 360. Dear god this game is ugly in comparison. I could barely force myself keep playing it, but now that I'm a few hours into it its getting pretty fun. I still don't understand how the same people who released a pretty RPG like ME could release something that looks like this, but the gameplay is pretty intriguing.… Expand
  92. D.E.
    Nov 25, 2009
    9
    + Addicting. Hours can be spent outfitting your party. Visuals, you grow accustomed to them. Feel like a major BA while laying waste to large groups of enemies. After playing for several quests it gets much easier to switch between party members and use all their amazing abilities. Must buy. - Poor looting system
  93. PoiterA
    Dec 12, 2009
    8
    Awesome game initial graphics are a let down but u soon become acustomed to that. Mad story even if it feels like its been taken from movies and other games. Combat system is fun. It is hard sometimes in pause combat to direct everyone. Quests can be mapped poorly or confusing. The origin idea is fantastic and all in all a solid game...
  94. JeremyM
    Dec 13, 2009
    9
    The story of this game is extremely well written. I love the fact that you have so many different starting options. The control scheme takes about 10 minutes to get used to, but once you start playing,,, hours pass before you realize that you've been engrossed for so long!
  95. MikelH
    Dec 25, 2009
    8
    Dragon Age: Origins... what a game, really! In all the reviews I read before purchasing my own copy, the main complaint about this game was most definitely the graphics. Myself, I still found them really nice, but that's because I am accustomed to Wii and last generation consoles. I just got my 360 recently. Still, as I became acquainted with the 360 graphics, I did find myself Dragon Age: Origins... what a game, really! In all the reviews I read before purchasing my own copy, the main complaint about this game was most definitely the graphics. Myself, I still found them really nice, but that's because I am accustomed to Wii and last generation consoles. I just got my 360 recently. Still, as I became acquainted with the 360 graphics, I did find myself grimacing at the horrid lack of sharpness. Some things are downright ugly, which is strange because the exact same areas, like facial hair for example, are so well done in Mass Effect. Strange... graphics are my only real complaint though. The story is incredible. Most fantasy novels, and there are countless ones out there, could not hope to compete with the storyline of DA. DA is like an incredibly epic 6 novel series, beloved and classic, adored for generations for its detail, imagination, and majesty. If you ever wanted to play a game that felt as epic as watching or reading Lord of the Rings, but still felt totally original and not as a Tolkien rip off. You've got it here. Granted, there are huge homages to Tolkein, but the approach to generally stereotyped species like elves, dwarves, even orcs (who are renamed "darkspawn" in this game). These species are reimagined in ways I had never thought of before and was incredibly drawn in and fascinated to see. The world is so real, so immersive (The codex is so huge, so well thought out, that you'll fancy yourself a Ferelden scholar by the time it's over). The darkspawn are generally much more evil and chilling than even Peter Jackson's orcs, and I found them an incredibly chilling foe to face, but abominations are pretty horrifying too. Character development: top notch. You'll love these characters, and some you'll be irritated by, not because of their voice or looks, but because of their actual character. There are multiple gut-wrenching moral decisions that are genuinely difficult to make, that you must think deeply about. Very few companies can make you care about the characters in a game like Bioware do. Great game. Incredible story, characters, imagination, and atmosphere. Absolutely nauseating graphics. I'd say it's worth it.… Expand
  96. TheFloydster
    Aug 14, 2010
    9
    An epic immersive storyline, some fantastically humorous and emotionally engaging characters (Oghren and Alistair for myself). A somewhat clunky and combat system to begin with, but definitely one of the better ones for its genre. A huge campaign quest line and side quests that can take from 40 -100 hours depending on your own speed and interest. Each of my play throughs has taken ~60An epic immersive storyline, some fantastically humorous and emotionally engaging characters (Oghren and Alistair for myself). A somewhat clunky and combat system to begin with, but definitely one of the better ones for its genre. A huge campaign quest line and side quests that can take from 40 -100 hours depending on your own speed and interest. Each of my play throughs has taken ~60 hours, considering few games last longer than 10 hours of gameplay this is a great investment.… Expand
  97. Altarian
    Aug 24, 2010
    7
    I really should have liked this game more than I did. Here's how it lost points: game play and storyline was very derivative (this is D&D Neverwinter Nights re-packaged, folks), the game is so restricted to such a small part of this fantasy world, I felt claustrophobic and finally parts (not too much) of the game was tedious and boring, boring, boring. With a little work, this could haveI really should have liked this game more than I did. Here's how it lost points: game play and storyline was very derivative (this is D&D Neverwinter Nights re-packaged, folks), the game is so restricted to such a small part of this fantasy world, I felt claustrophobic and finally parts (not too much) of the game was tedious and boring, boring, boring. With a little work, this could have been a legendary RPG.… Expand
  98. Shockwave
    Sep 9, 2010
    8
    Dragon Age for the XBOX lives under the shadow of its PC counterpart. Many of the criticisms that can be tossed at the console version such as its graphic, GUI and companion control issues are non issues on the PC. But if you don't have a PC that can play DA don't let that persuade you to pass on this game though. After losing its license for Dungeons and Dragons, Bioware did a fine jobDragon Age for the XBOX lives under the shadow of its PC counterpart. Many of the criticisms that can be tossed at the console version such as its graphic, GUI and companion control issues are non issues on the PC. But if you don't have a PC that can play DA don't let that persuade you to pass on this game though. After losing its license for Dungeons and Dragons, Bioware did a fine job of constructing their own in depth world although admittedly not nearly as vast as Forgotten Realms. Those that enjoy reading about the world via codex entry will be in heaven here. I personally missed quite a bit of information because I didn't follow-up and read all the entries (and there are LOTS of them) as I came across them. Sometimes I would complete missions I didn't even know I was on. I think that the tsunami wave of back story you find in the world is an attempt to quickly build the history and mythology of Ferelden to be as immersive as the world of Baldur's Gate. As overwhelming a task as it may seem, they've done an awesome job (let us give a toast). I also appreciate the mature content in this game. I find that game studios are becoming more prudish when it comes to sexual content and gender roles but more liberal with graphic violence and death. Not that this game overly objectifies a particular gender but at the same time I didn't feel like I was in an after school special. My fear is that this game is among a dying bread of adult games and that game studios in the future will create nothing but PG and PG 13 like games. Support Mature games and buy Dragon Age!… Expand
  99. Ravenous
    Aug 1, 2011
    7
    Dragon Age: Origins is a good game with a few major flaws. While the characters, voice-acting, and dialogue are all excellent, the main problem is the length of time it takes to get things done in this game. The excessive micro-management of the inventory is an absolute nightmare (collecting billions of items is most definitely NOT role-playing, for those who may think otherwise), and youDragon Age: Origins is a good game with a few major flaws. While the characters, voice-acting, and dialogue are all excellent, the main problem is the length of time it takes to get things done in this game. The excessive micro-management of the inventory is an absolute nightmare (collecting billions of items is most definitely NOT role-playing, for those who may think otherwise), and you start to get bored with cavern-after-cavern-after-cavern of the same basic combat. Given the excessive length of this game, these kinds of things really hurt the replay value. Still, it's a great story, and this game is a decent start to what could have been a worthwhile franchise for years to come. Unfortunately, the sequel was an absolute disaster.… Expand
  100. samtheham56
    Oct 27, 2010
    8
    The main story is very good and has a lot of great quests. Unfortunately it is not helped by the poor graphics and the fact the main quest is very very hard.
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Awards & Rankings

18
#18 Best Xbox 360 Game of 2009
7
#7 Most Discussed Xbox 360 Game of 2009
6
#6 Most Shared Xbox 360 Game of 2009

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
86

Generally favorable reviews - based on 68 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 65 out of 68
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 68
  3. Negative: 0 out of 68
  1. IGN AU
    84
    It's a delight to give into a fantasy setting with such a dense back story, even if the gameplay still rarely breaks away from conventions established a decade ago.
    Read full review
  2. 3DJuegos
    87
    Despite its lack of innovation Dragon Age: Origins is the best RPG in 2009. Its great value and addictive gameplay are among its main highlights.
    Read full review
  3. GameSpot
    85
    Incredible storytelling, great characters, and exciting battles are just a few of the things that make this fantasy role-playing game so great.
    Read full review
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