Critical Reception: EA/bioware's Dragon Age: Origins

Gamasutra -

Nov-04-2009

Critical Reception: EA/bioware's Dragon Age: Origins

(topic overview)
CONTENTS:

As a game developer, BioWare has done much to bring new gamers into the long-established fold of the role-playing genre. (More...)
"Dragon Age: Origins" which is being released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on Nov. 3 has also allowed the Edmonton, Canada-based BioWare to build a world from the ground up, without the constraints of a licensee like Dungeons & Dragons. (More...)
Instead of making the inventory space available within the original game, you need to buy the Wardens Keep to manage it properly. (More...)
Most importantly, however, the amount of choice in the game is superb. (More...)
There is, at times, real emotional connection with the characters. (More...)
I think I may play through my first game on easy that way I can get used to the managing my spells and abilities and I can do better on my second play through. (More...)
Wilson continues: "Unlike some party-based RPGs, where you can play through the campaign without exploring certain characters, I found myself sadly constrained by only having three other characters in my party. (More...)
Now, as a rising evil threatens to destroy all life, it is up to players to unite the shattered lands and slay the corrupted dragon known as the Archdemon. (More...)

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As a game developer, BioWare has done much to bring new gamers into the long-established fold of the role-playing genre. In part, it's done that by mastering combat systems in RPGs, allowing for real-time action that gives players as much control as if they were sitting over a table holding multisided dice and detailed character sheets taking turns on their attacks. Games such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect have shown gamers that RPGs can be just as action packed as any shooter. What BioWare has done to keep them coming back for more, though, is executed a finely honed craft of storytelling. No one making role-playing games does it as well as BioWare, and the advancements it's made in the way stories are told and the plasticity within them to change and morph as they play out, is another hallmark of BioWare's game-design philosophy. That commitment to putting players in the middle of epic tales of adventure is what lies at the heart of its newest title, Dragon Age: Origins. BioWare seems to be returning to its roots with this kind of traditional fantasy setting'though 'traditional' may be an inappropriate word for what it has created here. Ladies, ladies, there's other ways to settle this. [1] November 3, 2009 - The traditional formula of creating a character, becoming a hero and saving the day is nothing new to BioWare. This is the company that introduced classic role-playing game experiences to gamers everywhere with titles including Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect. For Dragon Age: Origins, BioWare fleshed out its customary design by including radically different characters with unique backgrounds for gamers to experience.[2]

You Gotta Have Friends: Expanding on the excellent character work established in titles like Knights of the Old Republic and Baldur's Gate, BioWare once again provides an amazing cast of characters to fight by your side as you travel the twisted paths of Dragon Age: Origins. Each of your NPC companions has a distinct personality, and while they may seem rather cookie-cutter at first glance, exploring their origins and motivations reveals a truly complex collection of individuals. You'll Travel with them on their own personal quests as you progress through the game, establishing bonds and perhaps even falling in love with one of them. You'll grow attached, and should any of them part ways with you, you'll feel it acutely. It isn't just your party members, either.[3] Stepping into the nimble shoes of a city elf for my initial playthrough I was soon introduced to the brutality, poverty and discrimination that my pointy-eared protagonist was forced to endure on a daily basis. Two hours later, I had made close friends, lost loved ones, and vowed revenge against the tyrannical rule of those who would dare treat my kind like second class citizens. It was only when I was approached by Duncan of the Grey Wardens and asked to join the battle against the Darkspawn blight did it dawn on me: the game hadn't even started yet! BioWare has never been known for sparing expenses when it comes to immersing their audience in a unique and engrossing lore, and Dragon Age is no exception. Ferelden is a living, breathing kingdom packed with its own distinct citizens, customs, religions and legends. Even though it may share the same "swords, dragons and dungeons" surface known to so many fantasy adventures, Dragon Age: Origins sets itself apart from the masses at almost every turn as a wholly unique experience with its inimitable characters and defining environments.[4] The country of Ferelden is on the verge of being overwhelmed by the demonic Blight, and only the heroic Grey Wardens can save the land from total destruction. It sounds simple, but the struggle between good and evil is merely the backdrop to a much more twisted tale of intrigue, political manoeuvring, and betrayal. Once you play through one of six unique origin stories based on your character's race and caste you're plunged into the thick of it, gathering a party of heroic and not-so-heroic adventurers as you struggle to ensure that Ferelden is ready to take on the Blight once they rise. BioWare has proven time and time again that it can produce high-caliber fantasy roleplaying games based on existing properties, but can they pull off an original fantasy setting? The Dragon Age is dawning. In A World: As comfortable creating their own worlds as they are dabbling into established fictions, BioWare brings the country of Ferelden to life in Dragon Age: Origins.[3]

Throughout the game you unlock specializations which allow you to tweak your characters even further, focusing on particular aspects of the warrior, mage, and rogue classes. Enchanting weapons, applying poisons, constructing traps; these are the elements of a good RPG that get me all aflutter, and Dragon Age: Origins allows me to indulge myself while still allowing the player who'd rather just wing it to go their own way. Outside Of The Game: BioWare goes above and beyond with the Dragon Age: Origins community site, where players can communicate, share stories, or browse each other's character profiles to see how far along they've gotten in the game.[3] The game offers a unique new feature called Origin Stories that shapes the way the world sees you and the way you will see the world. Each origin determines the player's motivations, shapes his or her experience, and renders a unique prelude, path, and ending to the game. We also chose "Origins" because it symbolizes BioWare's return to its roots. Origin stories are selected in the character creation screen, but the choices regarding these stories are made in "prologue" style adventures that characters take on before jumping into the action of Dragon Age: Origins.[5]

U nlike many modern role-playing games, which tend to shove players into the action head first and throw in a morsel of dialogue here and there, Dragon Age: Origins (360/PS3/PC), the long-gestating fantasy RPG from Edmonton-based Bioware released Tuesday, places enormous value on the story being told, the characters we meet, and the history and culture of the civilization in which we find ourselves. The nation of Ferelden is beset by invaders known as the Darkspawn; orc-like creatures led by demons who seem to get it in their hellish heads every few hundred years that they ought to try to take over the planet.[6] Dragon Age: Origins sees BioWare return to the world of dark fantasy since it disassociated from the critically acclaimed Baldur's Gate games, bringing an entirely new world, characters and story to the genre in the hopes of creating a brand new fantasy RPG series.[7] Dragon Age: Origins has been rated by users as a perfect ten score. It is considered to be very addicting with very real life graphics. With incredible story telling, intense battles, life like characters, rich fantasy world, and a lot of twists and surprises, have this RPG flying off the shelves as we speak. Critics give this game 4.5 stars and everyone can't stop talking about it. It has a few glitches but even with those few glitches it is still a very hot item. This is no ordinary game; it will have you on the edge of your seat.[8] While our erudition may be slow and measured, we can still see everything that lies in store via the game's many menus. It can seem pretty intimidating. This, combined with all of the lengthy narrative and dialogue sequences, means that Dragon Age has all the mainstream crossover appeal of a fan at a Star Trek convention dressed as Kahless the Unforgettable who will only speak to his fellow attendees in Klingon. To be sure, it will be ravenously devoured by a niche group of fantasy RPG gamers (like me and probably many of those who read this blog), but casual players likely won't have the will or tenacity to crack it open. It would be hard to blame them. Depending on which of the game's six titular origin stories you choose (they're based on the race and background you select for your character), you may not even have occasion to pick up a sword within the game's first hour. It's not difficult to imagine someone whose gaming experience has been limited to Halo and Madden NFL giving up long before then.[6] Dragon Age: Origins is a triumph of RPG design for BioWare -- albeit one that takes some work to truly appreciate. What at first glance seems like a standard-issue fantasy universe with a typical save-the-villagers-from-the-horde plotline eventually morphs into an amazingly deep RPG experience that invites the player to explore and re-explore this rich and incredibly well-drawn alternative reality.[9]

EA and Bioware's Dragon Age: Origins launched yesterday, and PC gamers rejoiced at having another tactical Bioware RPG to sink their teeth into. With digital distribution platforms like Steam and Impulse becoming more popular, it's no surprise that many gamers decided to buy their copy of the game online. The problem? EA and Bioware require you to sign into their own websites, with their own accounts and login information, to allow you to access the bonus content from your purchase. That process, it seems, is broken for many users.[10] The "spiritual successor" to Baldur's Gate has been a long time coming, but Dragon Age: Origins is finally here for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. No matter which platform you're checking out BioWare's latest role-playing epic on, our review suggests you'll be in for a good time. I'm still not convinced Dragon Age: Origins is my kind of RPG, but since it's a frickin' BioWare game we're talking about, I'll definitely be booting it up to find out one way or the other.[11]

Seattle-based Umbra Software has announced that BioWare is using its occlusion culling technology in several franchises including Dragon Age and Mass Effect. The PC version of Dragon Age: Origins, which releases this week, is said to use Umbra's GPU-based optimization technology. Occlusion culling determines areas that cannot be seen by the player at a given moment and removes the need for the game engine to render those polygons, potentially improving the engine's efficiency by a considerable amount.[12] "One of the things we presumed correctly," says Zeschuk, "is that if you think you might ultimately do a console version then you always want to have some console work going on. Otherwise you could dead-end yourself in a really scary way." Co-developing Dragon Age on PC and console, as well as the experience Bioware accumulated thanks to the aforementioned Mass Effect, Jade Empire and Knights of the Old Republic, changed the way they develop their games.[13] The long wait for a true successor to the fantasy throne ends today with the arrival of Dragon Age: Origins. The latest title from Mass Effect and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic developer BioWare is a testament to the company's mastery of the art of building the worlds, characters and stories that constitute a "classic" -- and that's exactly what this excellent experience is. I have to admit, I really didn't see this one coming. Not even two hours into Dragon Age, I realized my life was now its to do with what it pleased.[14]

Wilson finds that the game's "origin" sequences present one of the most significant additions to BioWare's RPG formula. "Each origin, which is based on your character race and class (and similar to the Pre-Service History and Psychological Profile aspects from Mass Effect's character creation), effectively introduces the player-character to the realm of Ferelden," he explains. "I played as an Elven mage for this review, and in my origin, I learned how Ferelden keeps its wizards under tight rein, and some of the history behind this draconian treatment." Though Wilson praises Dragon Age's character development, he wishes that parties could be bigger. "As you seek to defeat the Darkspawn, you pick up an assortment of characters determined to help you defeat the threat -- or seeking to accomplish other goals," he writes.[15] I was hooked. From its earliest moments, BioWare managed to have me caring about my character, the NPCs, the world and what was going to happen next. Not even two hours into Dragon Age, I realized my life was now its to do with what it pleased. Though I spent the majority of time playing as a Dalish Elf, I knew I couldn't properly review the game without experiencing the titular origin stories of its other races, classes and backgrounds. As it turned out, they were all just as engaging, and while they all tread the same ground for the main quest, more or less, the subtleties of their origins, racial backgrounds and place in the world led to plenty of new quests and new interactions.[14] Various visual hiccups Some glitches and interface irritations. When was the last time you felt totally lost in a fantasy gameworld? When was the last time you played a game with such a well-crafted and enjoyable story that you knew you'''d remember it for a long, long time? Dragon Age: Origins is that kind of game, so rich and involving that you are powerless to resist its wiles and whims, so touching and triumphant that your mind and heart will be moved. In the fictional land of Ferelden, you meet memorable characters and fight for a cause you believe in, and it's this backdrop that makes developer BioWare's newest role-playing game so extraordinary. Dragon Age is more than a well-crafted story, however: It's a lengthy, intricate, and thoroughly entertaining adventure that's easy to fall in love with.[16] Kevin VanOrd at GameSpot scores Dragon Age at 9.5 out of 10. "When was the last time you felt totally lost in a fantasy gameworld?" he asks. "When was the last time you played a game with such a well-crafted and enjoyable story that you knew you'd remember it for a long, long time? Dragon Age: Origins is that kind of game, so rich and involving that you are powerless to resist its wiles and whims, so touching and triumphant that your mind and heart will be moved." VanOrd finds that Dragon Age's plot succeeds largely because of the strength of its characters. "The shocks, the joys, and the disappointments spring from the repartee among a number of remarkable characters," he asserts. "They lurk within books of lore and stories of martyrs; and they burst forth during spine-tingling moments when you must choose from a selection of difficult choices that affect the tale's direction -- and the way your associates interact with you."[15]

The story of Dragon Age: Origins is hardly just one story, after all. Like most RPGs, the game begins with creating your character by choosing which race they will be: Human, Elf or Dwarf. Each of the races has its own backstory, but there are further levels of designation beyond that.[1] Dragon Age: Origins is a well-crafted role-playing game for the consoles. The storyline is among the best for this generation making Dragon Age: Origins a must-have RPG. Once gamers meet Shale, the 'Stone Prisoner' from the downloadable content, they'll soon realize how addicting it can be to hold conversations with the characters from the world. Many of the playable characters can quit the party at almost anytime, so gamers need to think about how their decisions impact everyone. Dragon Age: Origins is much more than a game ' it's the glorious revisiting of Bioware's past and a look at where they are going in the future. Top Game Moment: When the hero uncovers the truth of Morrigan's past and must act on her behalf for a side-quest.[17] Game Description: BioWare's Dragon Age: Origins takes players on an epic RPG adventure as they battle against an ancient evil known as the Blight. As a member of the Grey Wardens, you must travel the lands and assemble an army capable of defeating the Blight before it's too late.[9] Dragon Age: Origins has a lot of surprises in store for its players when they pick it up in stores today. We won't spoil too much, but we will tell you about one instance we ran into early in the game, so skip this if you don't want to know anything. OK, still here? In one of the game's many storylines, your lead character joins two others in a ritual called The Joining, something that all those who wish to join the Grey Wardens must go through. It involves drinking from a chalice and, if you survive, joining the ranks.[18]

Opening the items, I found a note deeming me a Grey Warden, a vial of Darkspawn Blood, and a copy of Dragon Age: Origins. This made my day, so I proceeded to drink the Darkspawn Blood--a bad choice as it tasted like vomit and filth (with a hint of berry), and I wanted to throw up after drinking it. This all makes sense after playing the game however, but I'm not here to spoil that for you.[19] By the end of the game, your hero will feel like a true legendary Grey Warden with a full complement of abilities to destroy the Darkspawn. Dragon Age provides a ton of customization without a level cap, so it's possible to take two characters with the exact same background and develop them in completely different ways.[2]

There's no mix 'n' match option, but BioWare has put a greater emphasis on the significance of character backstories in Dragon Age. These not only influences how characters interact but the entire playable prelude as well; despite whatever your usual race and class preferences are, the game is set up so players may actually want to try all the different combinations to see how events unravel, especially during the prologue to see how your Grey Warden gets his / her start. Before long, the game also reveals exactly why the Grey Wardens are so special, and we're let in on their dark (and nasty) secret before events get into full swing.[20]

BioWare has released Dragon Age: Origins add-ons 'The Stone Prisoner' and 'Warden's Keep' now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The packs arrive a day before the game's stateside release tomorrow, November 3, allowing players to purchase and pre-load the content if they so choose.[21] Bioware'''s epic RPG Dragon Age: Origins has been transformed into a 2D flash-based browser game called Dragon Age Journeys: The Deep Roads. Developed by the brand new EA-2D studio, Dragon Age Journeys isn'''t just a thinly veiled promotional tool for Origins, but an ongoing game in its own right that allows you to fight battles, gather loot and score achievements.[22] With Dragon Age: Origins Bioware has scored another big hit. PC Games Hardware tests 16 CPUs for their performance in the new RPG.[23] The spirit of classic RPGs comes of age, as Dragon Age: Origins features a dark and mature story and gameplay. Console gamers probably have little idea that Bioware used to be known for its Dungeons and Dragons titles. Long before Bioware released its first console title, it had the excellent Baldur's Gate series, which is still regarded as one of the icons of PC RPGs. Since Knights of the Old Republic, however, they've been avoiding the classic fantasy genre in favor of science-fiction and martial arts, with a side trip into Sonic the Hedgehog. Dragon Age: Origins represents Bioware's attempt to create its own fantasy setting instead of relying on the pre-established Dungeons and Dragons world.[24] The original vision was very much of a PC RPG in the vein of Baldur's Gate. Fast forward over five years since it was first announced at E3 2004 and Dragon Age now subtitled Origins is launching this week on PC and Xbox 360, with the PS3 version following in a fortnight. Bioware's Greg Zeschuk told me his team actually had the game running fairly early on console, even before they had decided to release a console version.[13]

Is Dragon Age a good game? Yes, it most assuredly is, providing an experience that will stick in the mind for a very long time. It is fitting that one of Origins ' main themes is how seemingly good choices can have bad consequences. That message is something the game's design reinforces throughout. You should definitely play this game if you love RPGs, and for BioWare nuts, this is an easy buy. Its status as a classic is questionable, and I wouldn't expect this to replace anybody's favorite RPG anytime soon.[7] At the very least, the first fifteen hours were some of the best RPG gameplay I've enjoyed in the past few years, and that's more than can be said for most games out there. Dragon Age simply lets itself down, however, with its conflicted gameplay, imbalanced, random difficulty and poor A.I. If characters could look after themselves a little more, perhaps everything else would have been fine, but after hours of micromanagement and hair-pulling frustration, I can't say that I was sad to see the game's credits roll. It's a real shame, because Dragon Age: Origins provides an incredibly memorable experience full of wonderful touches and beautiful flourishes.[7] Your character's moral choices create a unique experience with each new game. "It's neat how you can mold your character's attitude and moral stance over the course of Dragon Age: Origins," Workman notes. "You may unexpectedly turn royalty on its head, as they expect someone of noble blood and instead find someone even snobbier than they are (if that's possible).[15] Go and buy it. Its status as a classic is questionable, and I wouldn't expect this to replace anybody's favorite RPG anytime soon. It's not a great leap forward in the evolution of video game RPGs, but it is a compelling, well-crafted experience. Those who are simply looking for a solid, if unexceptional, fantasy-RPG will find a lot to like in Dragon Age: Origins. GameSpot - 9.5/10 - Like the best fiction, Dragon Age will sweep you up in its world, so much so that when you're done, you'll want to experience it all over again.[25] Like me, you might not have Dragon Age: Origins on your list of definite must-buys and potential game of the year candidates, but I'm here to tell you that you should. It's a glowing example of the RPG genre done very right -- and an experience you'll still be finding surprising, memorable moments in for months to come.[14]

Dragon Age: Origins really feels like a PC game ported to consoles, and the controls are awkward.[24] In the same way that Mass Effect tried to be a methodical shooter but put players up against fast-paced melee attackers, Dragon Age desperately wants to be a strategy game, but has made the game look, feel and play like a mindless, crazy hack n' slash. It's worth noting that PC gamers get a more tactical perspective of battle and have access to hotkeys. These additions will surely help and make the PC game the infinitely superior choice.[7] The finer details of each ally and enemy eventually come into finer focus, like most of the plot, but there'''s a significant portion of Dragon Age '''s core that feels like an amalgamated re-run of KOTOR, Mass Effect, Jade Empire and Baldur'''s Gate. This isn'''t a totally bad thing ''' being able to compare any title to any of the above games should be considered A Good Thing ''' but it'''s slightly disappointing.[26]

Bioware has been making multi-format RPGs for a while now: Mass Effect, Jade Empire, KOTOR were all released on PC and console. When Dragon Age began development early this decade, it was first and foremost a PC game.[13] The Warden's Keep adds a new dungeon-to explore and plenty of new loot, including a set of ancient Grey Warden armor, a chance to gain two of six mysterious new abilities, and a new base complete with merchants and a party chest to store loot. Blood Dragon Armor is a set of themed armor that will be available for use in both Dragon Age: Origins on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC and in Mass Effect 2 on the Xbox 360 and PC.[27] Dragon Age: Origins - The Engine For Dragon Age: Origins Bioware uses the newly developed Eclipse engine. This new architecture uses parts of the Aurora engine known from Neverwinter Nights or the dialog system from Mass Effect.[23]

After getting unfairly reamed in the press over Mass Effect's brief flash of nudity, BioWare plays it a bit safer in Dragon Age: Origins, with characters having sex the old-fashioned way in their underwear.[28]

The presentation and drawn out introductions feel a touch tired and you need to sink a significant number of hours into the game before you can find something that isn'''t utterly predictable. Part of the problem ''' a significant part ''' is that, for all its excellence and ability, Bioware is reusing a lot of ideas and materials when it comes to Dragon Age: Origins. Many of the characters feel too-familiar and safe when they are introduced, their personal plights and problems proving fairly run of the mill.[26] Much has been made of the supposed "maturity" in the run-up to the game, but all that Marilyn Manson nonsense can be forgotten as it is abundantly clear from the moment it begins that Bioware is telling a tale head and shoulders above the competition. Dragon Age: Origins is deep, complex, and mighty. The first step to exploring this vast world is the ever-daunting process of creating your character.[29]

Sure, there are drakes, dragonlings, gigantic high dragons and a few other related beasts, but Dragon Age: Origins is a title that Bioware has used to tell a mature and profound story. In a time where the video game industry is attempting to perfect the art and come off as a more adult-themed medium, Bioware has found an excellent balance to capture its audience.[17] Dragon Age's biggest problem is that it doesn't do anything to stand out. It's a very conservative and cautious game, which is something odd to say about a title that mentions "rape" at every possible opportunity. For those expecting something at the same as Bioware's previous titles, this game may be a bit of a disappointment. Those who are simply looking for a solid, if unexceptional, fantasy-RPG will find a lot to like in Dragon Age: Origins.[24] When BioWare's Dragon Age: Origins hits retail shelves tomorrow morning, it will likely set a new benchmark for single-player role-playing games that has been long overdue. Of course, GameZone.com will have a review of the title, but in the meantime, for those hungering for more information about the game, we thought to ease that a little bit with an interview from BioWare's Mark Darrah, the executive producer of the game. For those not in the know, perhaps just a little preamble is needed about the game.[30] While Marilyn Manson may have been the soundtrack for Dragon Age: Origin's early marketing, BioWare looked elsewhere when bringing the rock to the final game. Electronic Arts has announced that 30 Seconds to Mars' title track from its upcoming album, This is War, makes its debut in-full in the game, which just released today. The band's new album is set to hit stores on December 8, so consider this a world premiere. Of course, Jim didn't know this when reviewing the game because he may or may not have ever heard of 30 Seconds to Mars.[31]

Dragon Age: Origins requires you to sign up for Bioware's new social site in order to grab the bonus content or downloadable missions some editions of the game came with, but that process proved to be fatally broken and overly complex for many gamers yesterday.[10] If you would like to get more in-game wallpapers, tell us in the comments. Dragon Age: Origins - Background With Dragon Age: Origins developer Bioware introduces another great role-playing game to the market - possibly one of the best this year.[32] Bioware has finally launched its long-awaited Dragon Age: Origins fantasy game for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC platforms.[33] The result is that not only does Dragon Age: Origins play perfectly well with a PS3 or 360 controller, the PC interface is less fussy and convoluted than in previous titles. Zeschuk believes Dragon Age is their most PC game since the Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights era. "Our games still have PC roots and we sometimes find ourselves retrofitting," he says.[13]

Even if you couldn't care less about RPGs, today's arrival of Dragon Age: Origins, and the high review scores the game is gathering, should have you raising an eyebrow. That's at least how I felt reading over some Dragon Age reviews today, several of which hail the game's morality system as something special. It would seem that as moral choices creep into first-person and third-person action games, the advancements in Dragon Age: Origins could become important for games of all kinds.[34] Your choices will impact almost every interaction you have with NPC throughout the game. According to BioWare, Dragon Age: Origins has the most story and gameplay content in any of their games since Baldur's Gate 2.[5] Dragon Age: Origins tells a complete story, and you won't leave feeling like you're waiting for the inevitable sequel. Dragon Age: Origins forgoes the usual Bioware-style "good or evil" meter found in most of its other games.[24] The origins make you feel connected to the world, even if the opening sequence wasn't very good. Dragon Age: Origins ' biggest problem is that its plot isn't very interesting. The Darkspawn are basically just Sauron's orcs with a slightly different name, and the game actually does a poor job of building them up as any sort of threat. They just seem to be loitering around until the plot decides that you get to kick their butts.[24] Dragon Age: Origins is going to feel extremely similar to Bioware's Knights of the Old Republic games.[24] If you'''ve not played all of Bioware'''s backcatalogue then Dragon Age will feel very fresh and interesting. Even if you have played all the previous games then it'''s still the same high-quality writing that Bioware has always delivered ''' but it'''s a notable caveat for those of you coming to Dragon Age: Origins expecting a hugely compelling epic from the off.[26]

Bioware isn't quite so successful here as it was in previous attempts, but the developers have still created a fun game. Dragon Age: Origins is set in the country of Ferelden, which is recovering from a war against the invading Orlesians and a number of other social changes, such as the integration of formerly enslaved elves into society.[24]

Dragon Age currently earns a score of 91 out of 100 at Metacritic.com. "Championed as the'spiritual successor' to Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn (widely considered one of the best fantasy role-playing games of all time), Dragon Age: Origins carries a great deal of expectations," he notes[15] Dragon Age: Origins is a game that once looked set to be the best RPG of the year. It has a great story, high production values, and one of the most immersive worlds ever created in a videogame.[7] Dragon Age: Origins is a serviceable title for today's standards, but it doesn't raise the standards for RPGs or video games in general.[17] Dragon Age: Origins is a dark heroic fantasy single player RPG created by the heralded developers at BioWare.[5]

GameDaily's Robert Workman rates Dragon Age at 9 out of 10. "Like other works that Bioware has released over the years, Dragon Age: Origins is a compelling RPG that will stir even your strongest emotions, even if it's over the smallest of choices," Workman says.[15] The new Eclipse Engine that Bioware developed for Dragon age: Origins delivers visual gimmicks like Bump Mapping, Ambient Occlusion, Material Shaders and effects like Bloom or heat haze.[35]

"Dragon Age: Origins" is BioWare's best effort since "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic." It's not a great leap forward in the evolution of video game RPGs, but it is a compelling, well-crafted experience. The warts are there to be sure, but they are easily overlooked in light of the insane amount of game on offer. BioWare probably won't win many new fans with this one and they'll probably lose a few who enjoyed the more active entertainment offered by the likes of "Mass Effect," but old school RPG junkies will get a kick out of exploring the rich, if initially difficult to breach, new world that the developer has crafted.[36] Once you have an account at the BioWare Social Network website, you can see everything I've done in Dragon Age. Skills, plot points, talent, equipment; it's all there for the world to see. It makes the game feel like more than a game, if that makes any sense, adding a new layer to the experience that keeps it alive long after you've finished playing.[3]

Newcomers with less experience in RPGs (or MMOs) might find Dragon Age quite daunting, and a quick glance at the various Talents shows why. The class-specific talent trees will later give way to sub-classes - such as warrior to Templar, rogue to Bard - and come with combat skills as well as buffs, elemental and status effects, saving throws, and other such RPG nonsense most gamers have likely forgotten. Players also need to think of their party; all team members are playable and specialize in a specific class, including your beloved war hound. There is can Auto Level option, like always, but who really uses those? Just keep the manual with you and don't ever hesitate to consult it.[20] Swords and Sorcery: Combat in Dragon Age can be as shallow or as deep as the player desires. You can spend the entire game simply controlling your own character and letting your party members go about their business, triggering special moves using the double 3-slot quick bar on the bottom right of the screen, and you'll do just fine.[3] Continued customization choices open up as the character gains levels. Dragon Age: Origins gives players the ability to interact with their party members and guide their development.[5] Picking between the party members is a lovely struggle that occurs before every quest. Dragon Age: Origins has players depending on an approval rating, so it's essential to take party members who will agree with the views of the hero since they'll soon favor the hero and then, before too long, perks are unlocked for their unwavering support. On the plus side, the more a party member approves of the hero, the more likely they'll be a romance candidate. Playing as a male, Morrigan was easily wooed with all the dialogue options and gifts that were provided to gain her support. Leliana was much more difficult since she didn't have much to say at the party's camp and there weren't many gifts that she fell head over heels for.[17]

Includes: (1) Shale, a unique and powerful golem, as a recruitable party member who is fully integrated into the main Dragon Age: Origins campaign. (2) Brand new plots and adventure areas. (3) Fantastic new items. There are no refunds for this item.[21]

Not too long ago we wrote a feature which celebrated the way that PC games have moved forward in the last few years, but playing Dragon Age: Origins the first thing we find we have to do is question that idea.[26] PC Games Hardware has already reported about the technology and the CPU performance of Dragon Age: Origins.[32]

On the last place is Vista with 59 frames per second. This means: Like most DX9 games Dragon Age: Origins runs best under windows XP. In direct comparison Windows 7 is about 3 percent faster than Vista 64.[35] A copy of Dragon Age: Origins was sent to us by EA. This review is based on the Xbox 360 version of the game.[14] With last week's winner announced in the next contest where you can win anything from Points to use on the site or possibly a game. It's that simple. This weeks image is provided by EA/Bioware from the up coming Dragon Age: Origins opnbrktReview HEREclsbrkt.[37] Yesterday IGN AU tossed up a PS3 review of Dragon Age: Origins, giving the game a final score of 8.4/10.[38]

Dragon Age: Origins is not a particularly nice-looking game, and everything about it feels slightly dated.[24] Dragon Age: Origins - Lower Middle Class GPUs are enough Although the graphics are looking quite good, the game doesn't stress the graphics card too much.[35]

What initially seems like a weakness -- having a fairly standard Tolkeinesque fantasy universe -- actually turns out to be a strength because of the realistic way the various societies in the game are portrayed. While never straying outside of one's clichéd expectations -- elves are nature-lovers, Dwarves are avaricious miners, the oversized Qunari are simplistic brutes -- all of them manage to defy expectations by acting from an extremely believable set of motivations. Except for the Darkspawn, no one in Dragon Age is truly good or evil -- they're a great mix of both and much of the storyline boils down to the importance of personal choice in the face of circumstances as the definition of morality.[9] While that alone is a recipe for success, the lack of an established licence has allowed the developers to craft a unique fantasy setting from the ground up, populating it with fascinating characters and instilling upon it a depth that goes far beyond the simple tale of good versus evil the game initially presents. Much like CD Projekt's The Witcher, Dragon Age overlays modern day politics and social issues onto its fantasy world, creating a richer, more mature atmosphere in the process.[3]

Characters are generally complex, defying the unrealistically simplistic labels of "good" and "evil," and the game is the better for it. While PC gamers will presumably have the widest variety of downloadable content options available to them thanks to the Dragon Age Toolset and its Builder Community, two slices of DLC are available on day one for consoles as well.[39] If you're specializing a character as a fragile damage-dealer, it pays to keep an eye on the emotional health of the ally you're using as a meat shield. Most of the joy in combat comes from how well-crafted the battlefield challenges are and how well they scale with your character. Put simply, Dragon Age is not a game for those looking to just power through tons of disposable henchmen on the way to a boss fight.[9] A number of other issues get in the way as well. Dragon Age is stingy on the healing items, with each shop you encounter selling maybe four or five of them and never restocking. In a game like this, where constant healing is necessary, it doesn't make sense. Skills like Herbalism let players make their own items, but of course, this requires finding the right ingredients, which can be a mission in and of itself.[7] Don't get me wrong, I like tinkering with stats and playing with a game's twiddly knobs, but the tinkering is excessive in Dragon Age to the point of getting in the way of the game. It's also frustrating to spend ages trying to second-guess the game's A.I and craft a tactic set that works, only to have the allied characters continue to run around and get themselves killed.[7]

Dragon Age is a fantasy RPG for people who enjoy paper and dice-based games like Dungeons & Dragons. It's actually been described by Bioware as a spiritual successor to the studio's D&D-based Baldur's Gate games--and as anyone who has played Dungeons & Dragons knows, there's loads of learning to be done in order to fully appreciate the game.[6] Dragon Age is a brilliant, if slightly predictable, addition to BioWare's stable of RPG classics. It suffers from a few problems with plotting and world building but ultimately triumphs, offering a classic RPG experience that can hold its head high with any of BioWare's previous games.[9] Dragon Age is a spectacular experience from beginning to end, and with an enormous amount of choices to make, cities to visit, dungeons to crawl, NPCs to interact with, treasure to find, quests to complete and crafts to master, I feel pretty confident in saying that Dragon Age: Origins is, without a doubt, one of the most enjoyable and immersive RPG experiences I've had since my Infinity Engine days.[4] Dragon Age: Origins begins as many typical Western role playing experiences do: with the creation of a unique player avatar. Where this would regularly consist of flipping through a few pre-set character templates, selecting a color palette and rounding it all off with a few attributes and skill points, Dragon Age asks players to take a more personal approach by also selecting an origin for your character.[4]

Perhaps the biggest testament to Dragon Age: Origins is the fact that after more than 60 hours of play time, I found myself contemplating my next character as the credits rolled, working out in my head what I would do differently the next time around.[3] After logging over a hundred hours on Dragon Age: Origins, I still want to continue playing. I want to unearth more of its secrets, to better know its characters, to see how the decisions I make can impact its world, and yes, to see more of its endings.[39]

Gamers who are infatuated with loot and upgrading to new weapons will have a field day with Dragon Age: Origins. It's hard not to stop after every battle to check out the new loot and equip it for the characters.[17] Dragon Age: Origins does not merely move that flag forward a few feet, it scales the mountain of RPGs, raises a new banner, a new high bar, and then challenges the genre to play catch-up. It is a lofty achievement, full of twists in the plot, building on a dynamic rarely seen in gaming at all, and telling a story that is amazing in its scope.[40]

Callous and cold, but in keeping with the theme that you do whatever it takes to get the job done. Dragon Age does a fantastic job of screwing with you on this, too. My elf mage, for instance, had to make some hard decisions in her origin story prior to joining the Grey Wardens and beginning the game proper. While many games might do a bad job of making you realise that these decisions are difficult, or returning to the consequences later, I felt genuinely conflicted about what I had done.[41] In Dragon Age: Origins, players take the role of a Grey Warden, one of the last of an ancient order of guardians.[42]

Having said that, the incorporated radial menus for the consoles was done to a satisfactory level. At times, players will have an itchy trigger finger and screw up their coordinated attacks, but for the most part, Dragon Age: Origins was easy to pick up and play.[17]

The bulk of the game is played from a third-person street view similar to that of Knights of the Old Republic, but players are also given the option to pull back for a more traditional overhead view at any time. Combat, which makes up a rather large part of Dragon Age, is turn-based affair that allows players to jump from each member of their party at will, micro-managing your warriors by assigning specific attacks, spells and buffs to each one.[4] Combat is controlled via the "order-while-paused" system and governed behind the scenes by a dice-rolling system not too dissimilar to classic Dungeons & Dragons. What makes it special this time around, again, is execution. After so many games and so many iterations of this system, Dragon Age is the title where they finally get the whole combat thing right. It's perfectly balanced, interesting throughout the whole process and just a joy to play with. Partial credit for this master stroke goes to the simple but well-designed class system.[9]

Mark: I knew to a certain degree we are always trying to raid the bar ourselves, to do better than we did the last time. In the case of Dragon Age, to a large degree, I do think this is the game that we wanted to make and it pushes the boundaries in a lot of ways because we refused to compromise on quality, and refused to compromise on length and told the story that we wanted to tell. Considering the history of BioWare, how much has everything you have learned in the past fit into the design of this game.[30] There has to be a way to show your outrage with you non-wallet. Because, you know, its busy enjoying Dragon Age. Not that Ive played it; Im skeptical about Biowares ability to make a great game after they blew their wad on Jade Empire.[43]

"Rather than the good/evil systems of most BioWare games, in Dragon Age you're judged by what your companions think of you. This depends upon their own personalities," says PC Gamer's John Walker.[34] Today marks the release of Dragon Age: Origins on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. We're impressed by BioWare's immersive RPG, as can be seen in our hands-on preview and our interviews with the co-founders of BioWare and Executive Producer Mark Darrah.[44] This week's edition of Critical Reception examines online reaction to BioWare's Dragon Age: Origins, which reviews describe as "the best RPG of the year -- and maybe the best of the HD era."[15] I've never fielded this question more often than when I was playing Dragon Age: Origins for this review. "Back in my day," I'd say, as I waved my walking stick like a crotchety old bastard, "RPGs were single-player only, and we played them on PCs."[39] Re-reading what I've written here, I honestly feel like I've barely scratched the surface of what Dragon Age: Origins has to offer, and in a way, I'm glad I'm not able to give too much away.[4] Besides that Dragon Age: Origins offers several interesting graphics features like Ambient Occlusion, Bump Mapping and diverse Post effects like heat haze or Bloom.[32] Blood Dragon Armor - Creates a set of themed armor that offers additional protection in combat. The armor will be available for use in both Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2.[33]

BioWare's own Mass Effect was far more visually impressive, particularly in the dialogue sequences, where Dragon Age's facial animations and character models can seem stiff and wooden.[39] Compared to the butter smooth E3 demo for Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age looked like it would end up being the black sheep of the family. Well, shame on us for doubting the wizards at BioWare: they worked their magic and turned that early demo into another must-have masterpiece. Deep and engaging, it's sure to please any RPG fan looking for a long and satisfying adventure.[4] Bioware has released some controversial trailers in the past few months for the upcoming RPGs, Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2.[45] In theory, developers can directly use that rendering advantage to allow for a higher polygon budget. "BioWare has proven their excellence with a multitude of award-winning projects," said Umbra Software marketing VP Farhad Taherazer. "We are proud to have a studio with their track record recognize our abilities with a broad integration of our tech, it gives us credibility in this market place and puts us closer to becoming an industry standard." In addition to Dragon Age and Mass Effect -- presumably referring to next year's Mass Effect 2 -- Umbra says its technology has been licensed for "other future titles" from BioWare.[12] Mass Effect showed that Bioware was more than capable of turning tropes into an interesting and fully realized world, but that doesn't come across in Dragon Age.[24]

Particularly annoying is that the main character is unvoiced, similar to older Bioware titles instead of the example set forth by Mass Effect. This is a tad frustrating since it makes them feel like much less of a character, despite having some good "lines" in dialogue. The game gives you 12 different voice options, but they're basically identical and mostly involve your character randomly calling out things like, "My warden sense is tingling," during combat. This isn't a tremendous problem, but it feels like a step backward from Mass Effect.[24] While I admit that tactical advantages are a good argument for six-character parties, I honestly wanted more characters in my party in order to experience them, as gamers did in BG2." "The folks at BioWare have shown that they're always looking for ways to make their games better -- each of their RPGs builds upon the previous title," Wilson notes in conclusion[15]

Before achievements and trophies, a role-player's greatest achievement was working the system to build the most broken, overpowered character possible within the constraints of whatever edition of Dungeons & Dragons the game was based on. Origins is a solitary experience; you'll isolate yourself from the outside world, staying up nights and well into the morning because when this game grabs you, it simply won't let go. This is a game that's been in development for what seems like forever, and it shows.[39] The exception would be the rather lame ending credits song, which seems very out of place and fairly pointless. For all its bluster, Dragon Age: Origins comes off as a game that's afraid to take risks.[24] Overall: 9.9 Dragon Age: Origins is a single-player game, with a nice online presence, but it does not offer multiplayer or cooperative gaming.[40] Dragon Age: Origins is an interesting game in that it remains challenging throughout, at least on a first playthrough.[24]

Dragon Age: Origins, the new dark fantasy epic from BioWare is in stores now.[46] Dragon Age: Origins represents BioWare''s return to its roots, delivering a fusion of the best elements of existing fantasy works with stunning visuals, emotionally-driven narrative, heart-pounding combat, powerful magic abilities and credible digital actors.[24] In order to streamline combat, Dragon Age: Origins uses a customizable control system for your AI partners that is very similar to Final Fantasy XII's Gambit system.[24]

Dragon Age: Origins' landscapes and dungeon interiors are rife with detail and a joy to explore. Combat animations in particular are impressive, as your characters will set themselves before enemies and go through complex motions, with rogues jockeying for position to backstab and warriors forcefully slamming their shields into faces.[39] Workman cites unimpressive character models and occasionally sloppy dialogue as being minor detriments to what is otherwise an exceptional RPG. "The bottom line is Dragon Age: Origins is a fulfilling, involving adventure that is worth picking up," Workman concludes.[15] Each NPC is handled with great care and attention to detail even the ones who only have one line of text, spoken over and over again. Many Choices: I've played every major BioWare RPG released so far, and while they all deal with making tough decisions, none have seemed to have nearly as profound an impact as those in Dragon Age: Origins do.[3] From the Bioware's perspective, Dragon Age: Origins has been often said to be inspired by the 'A Song of Fire and Ice' series by George R. R. Martin. This comparison is a daunting one due to how well-liked the novel series has been since its inception. After completing Dragon Age: Origins, it's safe to say that Bioware has almost done the impossible and captured the complexities that a story such as 'A Song of Fire and Ice' contains.[17] This week's major release is Dragon Age: Origins ]] Dragon Age: Origins ]] Dragon Age: Origins ]] Dragon Age: Origins for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. It's the latest and greatest from Bioware and takes gamers to the past rather than the future. Oh, and it's going to let Brad Nicholson ride dragons.[47] On the eve of its highly anticipated release of Dragon Age: Origins, we look back at eight moments from Bioware history that truly rocked our worlds.[18] Question: I think it safe to say that BioWare is taking the bar higher with Dragon Age: Origins.[30] Nov 3, 2009 Dragon Age: Origins is a thrilling example of BioWare doing what it does best.[39]

Dragon Age: Origins is like that really good book that you don't want to put down.[40] After level 14, the Blood Armor is only good for looks. This viewpoint is not found in the console versions. It's daring to say that Dragon Age: Origins arguably has one of the best storylines in the past five years, but this is a stance that should gain a lot of support once gamers get their hands on the title.[17] If you want more Dragon Age: Origins, be sure to stop by tomorrow for our full review of the PlayStation 3 version.[28]

Tangled Webs: The origins in Dragon Age: Origins are more than just little stories created to move your character into the main story arc.[3] The story has a way of dropping situations in your lap where any of a handful of different options seem viable, with no clear-cut option standing out as the right one. This is due in part to Dragon Age: Origins' lack of a clearly defined moral alignment structure.[39] Dragon Age: Origins is an epic story that embraces a world struggling to turn back the tides of a Blight, the wave of demonic evil that threatens to engulf the world.[30]

Choosing how to approach any given fight is another example of the decisions that will keep you playing Dragon Age until the wee hours. Again, it's the decisions that make Dragon Age: Origins such a thought-provoking experience.[39] You have the option to click play on the video below and completely spoil your sexual experience in Dragon Age: Origins, or you can simply turn away and go about your business.[28] Recommended: Core 2 Quad with 2.4 GHz (or comparable AMD CPU), 2048 MB RAM (XP), 4096 MB RAM (Vista), Geforce 8800 GTS or Radeon HD 3850 with 512 MB Dragon Age: Origins - More cores, better performance The processor is the most important component for a lag free Dragon Age: Origins experience.[35]

Health and stamina are replenished quickly once the skirmish ends, allowing you to string encounters together without unwanted breaks in between." "Few games are this ambitious, and even fewer can mold these ambitions into such a complete and entertaining experience," VanOrd praises. "Like the best fiction, Dragon Age will sweep you up in its world, so much so that when you're done, you'll want to experience it all over again."[15] "What we wanted to emphasise is that fantasy games aren't all about, what we like to say, flutes, lutes and men in tights. There's a whole other element to them that people are missing out on if they dismiss them as old-fashioned." I asked Zeschuk if he was willing to stand by Dragon Age being the New Shit. He laughed.[45]

I spent much of my game in the same armor, thanks to the fact that equipment on sale was either worthless, or required insane amounts of leveling up to acquire the strength to use. Much of the joy in RPGs comes from upgrading equipment, but the chances to do that in this game are limited until you've leveled up enough, and since it can take hours to achieve one level in Dragon Age, that's a lot of time spent in the same rusty armor.[7] The World Map does not tell you where quest locations are, and marking your chosen quest as active seems to do absolutely nothing to help. Compounding this is the fact that loading times can be pretty excessive as well. Traveling from city to city is a chore, and while I appreciate the fact that random encounters can sometimes happen during map travel, what I don't appreciate is the fact that such encounters require additional loading. It sounds like I absolutely hated my time with Dragon Age, but that wouldn't be fair to say. It gave me many hours of fun, and I tried my hardest to love it.[7]

My guys defended themselves, and before I knew it had slain the dwarf and his friends. It felt wrong, and I wished I would have tried some other avenue of persuasion, but it was too late. It's scenes like this that might make the world of Dragon Age Bioware's most realistic yet. Party member Leliana shows her surprising prowess with a bow in close quarters combat.[6]

The Darkspawn are led by a voiceless and faceless evil that never feels like an actual threat. He appears only a handful of times, and he's usually shown whining in his castle about how things are not going his way, and his few attempts to halt your progress are laughable. Early in the game, he claims that the Grey Wardens are the outlaws responsible for killing the king, but nobody seems to care. His attempt to send out assassins ended up with me gaining an extra party member. By the time I actually reached him, he seemed like such a nonthreatening individual that I almost felt bad dethroning him.[24] The more expensive adventure, The Stone Prisoner, introduces a charmingly sinister new playable companion and is actually included as a code that comes with a retail purchase, an obvious way to dissuade rentals, used game sales, and piracy. The second piece, Warden's Keep, can be completed in under an hour, but it's quite entertaining and offers you some neat bonuses, like a party inventory stash and useful vendors. It's in combat and in the game's menu interface where the greatest differences between the PC and console versions lie.[39] I have heard, though, that the 360 version is far and away the worst looking of the three, so maybe most of the complaints are from Xbox users. Ive only been playing a couple of hours, but so far this feels like Bioware all the way, and I cant think of a single in-game thing to complain about. Enough gushing. whoever thought up this ridiculous code/redeem/social network crap should be beaten with a cane. Ive yet to be able to register my game or any of my bonus or DLC codes so Im basically just pissing around trying not to get too far into the story without them in my game.[25] As we've said, some people have no problems at all. The main issue is that EA and Bioware used the launch as an excuse to force consumers to create accounts on their sites, and the process of linking Bioware and EA accounts seems either too complicated or completely broken for many users. Why not allow you to download the content directly from the in-game menu? Maybe they want your information. Maybe this is another way they feel they're stopping piracy. In practice, adding an extra layer of complexity and requiring every single user of every single platform to sign up via the Bioware site to get to their add-on content has done little but cause threads about the game to devolve into complaints and curses at both companies. "At this point, getting the to work sounds like an exciting challenge. A meta-game in it's own right," another annoyed customer wrote. He can't run the game, but he does get a nice splash screen with the price of the game when he attempts it.[10]

The game's biggest draw is the "Tactics" system, which offers a ridiculously deep set of commands and allow allied characters to act according to player specifications when not being directly controlled. Unfortunately, however, while the sheer amount of choice on offer is amazing, this bold new system also happens to be the game's biggest downfall. It pains me to say it, but the tactics system doesn't work even half as well as BioWare would like us to think it does.[7] Words like epic and immersive are often tossed about lightly but don't seem to have the weight that one would hope. Mark: It really was. This is a story that has 800,000 words of spoken dialogue, a million words in the game itself. That is supplemented by … well, an uncounted number of words of supporting documentation, so I think when you are trying to tell a story of this magnitude, you can't just tell the story, you have to build the universe that it exists in or you start to see the edges of the box, you realize that 'oh, this is just a painted backdrop and behind it exists nothing.' There needs to be something back there so there is twice as much or more that was created in terms of storytelling, in terms of world creation that isn't even in the game but it just needs to be there to make it a real experience for the player. Choice is such a big facet of this game, it bolsters the dynamic of the game and that feeds into the concept that the AI has to evolve, and react to choices as well.[30]

What good would it do anyway? DA:O is a game where choice matters and while there are some linear events at the beginning, and toward the end of the approximate 120 hours of gameplay (if you do all the quests - main story arch and follow through on all the side quests that dot the game's landscape; and there will be downloadable content/quests available when the game launches), but the elements in between present a sandbox world where you choose what course of action you wish to take. Not only can you determine where you want to go, but there is the chance that characters within your party dynamic may not agree with your decisions and instead of being allies, they may turn on you and force you to a fight to the death. There are plenty of opportunities for character customization and while not as deep as other games, DA:O does have a nice selection of sliders in the character creation menu - with pre-sets and individual facial character sliders - to help players create a central story figure that should suit their tastes. These characters appear in cut scenes as created.[40] Case in point: an early encounter with a young orphan boy. After hearing his story, it's clear that his mother -- who told him to run and seek refuge in a nearby village -- fell to a Darkspawn attack. You can try to cheer him up and give him hope that she'll return, but eventually that course convinces him to go home and check things out. He refuses any offer of help in getting back there, and before you know it the probably-doomed child is off to find his mother. A key component in creating one's character involves choosing where he or she comes from. Anything from human noble to elf outcast, this choice affects not only the available character classes but also the way the start of the game plays out, roughly the first four to six hours. What's more, those early choices shape dialogue and plot revelations through the length of the games in ways both subtle and overt. The aggregate effect of these differences leads to immense replay value for what is already a lengthy -- 30+ hours, easy -- game.[36]

By the end of the game, when you've gone from a raw recruit taking on poorly trained bandits to a seasoned veteran leading armies against disciplined hordes of Darkspawn, you will feel every inch the battle-scarred soldier. Dragon Age isn't an easy game to play, but it's worth it.[9] Personally I was a little surprised by the Subject Zero response, but I think that maybe a function of having experienced that character in the game. We know this character and how her personality is reflected in the game. "Certainly in the case of Dragon Age, I think people were almost sleepwalking through assuming they knew what Dragon Age was. We wanted to jar them into wakefulness by showing them some provocative stuff.[45] You are looking for screenshots of wallpapers that demonstrate the visual quality of Dragon Age: Origins? Then PC Games Hardware has 20 outstanding in-game pictures for you.[32] Greg Zeschuk: One of our goals with "Dragon Age: Origins," in creating a new intellectual property, was to have full control over the world, the rules in it and really tailor it to games for PCs and, later on, consoles.[42] Chugga Chugga Frame Rate: Dragon Age is a pretty game, but when it really starts moving, things get ugly.[3] I finished Demon's Soul last week, and have just picked up Dragon Age. Can't wait to compare this two games and see which one is on top. I expect both are very good game and hoping Demon's Soul is the better one.[4] The problem with BioWare's talent is that it makes Dragon Age the very definition of a "slow burn" title. Bull your way through the 40-50 hour main plot, fail to explore the well-designed settings or re-explore them after major plot points and you're guaranteed to miss much of what makes Dragon Age so good - the incredible depth of characterization in both the people you deal with and the societies you explore.[9] One thing that needs to be stressed about Origins is that magic is nasty no matter who wields it. Compared to the weak Force Adepts or Biotics found in Bioware's other titles, the magicians in Dragon Age pack a serious punch, which is both a blessing and a curse.[24] Don't let the name fool you, Dragon Age: Origins isn't a title that heavily revolves around dragons.[17] Dragon Age: Origins - Conclusion You don't need highest-end hardware to play Dragon Age: Origins smoothly.[35] RPG fans don't necessary need to upgrade their system for Dragon Age: Origins.[35] Dragon Age: Origins boasts a typical RPG interface that shouldn't be hard for fans of the genre to become accustomed to.[4]

Since the streaming works much better with three or four cores we nevertheless recommend a multi-core processor if you intend to buy a new CPU for Dragon Age: Origins.[23] Dragon Age: Origins starts with one of six completely unique stories depending on the race and background the player has chosen.[7] Dragon Age: Origins - Benchmark and Results In our benchmark scene our party walks over the market place in Denerim.[23] Some versions of Dragon Age: Origins contain a redemption code to obtain this content for free.[21] Dragon Age: Origins also provides countless opportunities for challenging, riveting combat sequences where strategy and tactics win out.[39] In matters of system memory you shouldn't be too tight fisted. Even if 2 GiByte are enough for Windows XP you should nevertheless use 4 GiByte for all operating systems since this reduces the necessary hard drive operations. All this makes it clear that Dragon Age: Origins is not a graphics miracle but convinces with the intensive atmosphere.[35] Dragon Age: Origins - Which Windows is running faster? Dragon Age: Origins runs fastest under Windows XP. In the most popular resolution of 1680 x 1050 pixels our test system (Core 2 Quad Q9650, P45, Geforce GTX 285, Geforce 191.07 WQHL, 2x 2048 GiByte DDR2-1066) reached 65 frames per second.[35]

Furthermore Dragon age: Origins seems to be running smoother on a multi-core, too, and especially the streaming system seems to benefit.[23] Dragon Age: Origins features a large amount of cinematic dialog introduced via cut scenes and in-game activities.[5] For that reason, I plan to check out Dragon Age: Origins to see what the future may hold.[34] Most recent contributions for Dragon Age: Origins : Loading contributions.[29] Instead of a simplistic good/evil system, Dragon Age: Origins revolves more around managing personal relationships with adventuring companions.[5] Dragon Age: Origins - Tuning The biggest tuning capabilities are offered by the graphics options.[35] On Nov. 27 and Nov. 28, the Dragon Age: Origins PS3 and Xbox 360 SKU will carry a discount price of $39.99, $20 off the $59.99 MSRP.[48] Sears Corp. will discount EA Inc.' s Dragon Age: Origins to under $40 on Black Friday according to an advanced circular.[48] When the final cutscene played, that was my playtime for Dragon Age: Origins.[41] Moving on, it needs to be said that gamers shouldn't be picking up Dragon Age: Origins based on graphical merits.[17] Let me know your thoughts on Dragon Age: Origins so far. or describe the painful wait.[11] Unless you've been living under the weight of an ogre's buttocks, you've probably heard of Dragon Age: Origins.[44]

Choose a sneaky, disrespected commoner and you will play a story that focuses around subtle skills and careful wordplay. Choose a noble origin and the world will be much more positive and helpful, but those jealous of your status will not be afraid to take what you have, violently if necessary. More will be revealed on these stories soon… In Dragon Age, your choices change the world and affect the people around you.[49] There's too many games for me to go through to even attempt to play Dragon Age.[47] Even KOTOR was more of a hybrid. It's what we've learned from those games that has allowed Dragon Age to be portable at all."[13] The result is that Dragon Age dwarfs other role-playing games in size and scale, and weaves in mature themes amidst a backdrop of chaos and destruction.[2] "The tempo is even quicker than the Dungeons & Dragons games that preceded Dragon Age, thanks to important tweaks that minimize downtime.[15]

From there you are assigned a backstory and move on to fleshing out your character's appearance. If you're a fan of Western RPGs, then you know how hard it is to create a normal -looking character without having to purchase the PC version and download mods (won't point any fingers); on Dragon Age, this won't be a problem.[20] BioWare's Ray Muzyka once said that "Dragon Age is the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate." I'd take that a step further and say that Dragon Age is the evolution of Baldur's Gate, taking the concepts and mechanics established in that classic PC RPG and updating them using today's more powerful technology.[3] Dragon Age has caught my eye, and i know that i'll get it eventually, but my main issue at the moment is whether to get it on PC or 360 when I do. If you have a PC that can handle it, I'd suggest get it on PC. It's AUD$55 on Steam (USD$49), and there's some extra functionality on the PC version such as zooming out the camera to control the scene like Baldur's Gate.[3]

The voice acting in Dragon Age is quite solid. A lot of the voice actors put some significant effort into their roles to provide believable characters with interesting personal voices. A lot of NPCs are pretty bland, and a few sound like they're reading off a piece of paper.[24] As an experience, Dragon Age has few rivals that can stand up in comparison. It's a wonderful feeling to be immersed in the world of Ferelden and engage the numerous allied characters, such as the sarcastic Alistair or the bird-hating, misanthropic golem Shale.[7] In the meantime, feel free to share your questions or early experiences with Dragon Age.[50]

The world's first defense is an ancient sect known as the Grey Wardens; heroes who have a secret connection with the Darkspawn and hold the power to unite humans, elves, and dwarves as a single, massive army to fight off the blight. Clearly, there are plenty of parallels to other fantasy tales--most obviously J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy and John Boorman's classic Arthurian film Excalibur --but Dragon Age churns out enough chronicles and lore to feel its own.[6] The studio'''s latest epic is an original fantasy game called "Dragon Age: Origins." Set in the land of Ferelden,''players in this''mature-rated adventure (think blood, betrayal and murder)''are recruited by the Grey Wardens, fearsome warriors who are trying to fight off the "Blight," and work towards slaying a corrupt dragon known as the Archdemon.[42] The Grey Wardens then spur into action, uniting the land to beat back the intruding evil, which is led by a malevolent force known as the Arch Demon. This is a BioWare role-playing game cut from the cloth of "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic," only with a wholly original orcs & elves fantasy setting that feels at once familiar and entirely different.[36]

After that, you pick your character's background, which will define what origin story you begin the game with. Each of these provides a unique first act, taking place in a different part of the Ferelden world. You might be tempted to play each of them before engaging in the full campaign, and doing so will give you an achievement. While each of these stories is unique, each of them ends with you joining the Grey Wardens, a group of highly trained fighters that are the last line of defense against the Blight. While it's still relatively early in the story, I won't spoil too much of what happens next.[1] Colorful kill animations result in dismemberments and decapitations, rewarding you for critical strikes in a far more memorable manner than just a bigger damage number. Then there's the sheer scale of this undertaking. You can easily log a hundred hours exploring every inch of this world, with plenty of incentive to come back again to approach the tale of the Grey Warden from a new perspective and origin story. Your character's origin story, the first steps in your adventure, plays a significant role in how this tale plays out. The tropes of fantasy fiction lie intact, with Dwarves dwelling underground and elves living in the world's forests on the outskirts of human civilization, but these societies are still fleshed-out and made unique.[39]

A Blight is upon the lands and the Grey Wardens, once the guardians who rode into battle on griffons (the griffons, sadly, are now extinct) are looking for a certain kind of warrior to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the king to battle the evil plague. As the game progresses, you will meet new characters, each with a unique personality, and each with his or her motivations or agendas for joining your cause. These characters for the basis of the pool you draw from when creating a party of four to venture across the lands.[40] The Grey Warden Alistair, the witch of the wilds Morrigan, and the mysterious minstrel Leliana are your primary romantic options and the game's main supporting characters, though other characters like Sten, the taciturn warrior, are nearly as interesting. Even the dog companion is a full-fledged ally worthy of bringing along, complete with his own inventory and unique abilities.[39] The first collapses upon drinking from the cup and dies, without any sympathy from Duncan, the Grey Warden putting you through the test. The second refuses to drink from it, fearing for his life. Duncan informs him there's no turning back, but the man continues to panic. In a moment's notice, Duncan pulls out his sword and runs him through unapologetically. Considering you just went on a quest with these characters, you can't feel a bit of loss for their sudden, untimely deaths. Just a reminder - this is at the very beginning of the game.[18]

The PC version also looks better at higher resolutions than what you'll experience on your big-screen TV. I experienced a few bugs across all versions of the game, like lines of dialogue being spoken by the wrong characters and some quests failing to complete, but a save and reload always cleared things up.[39] On the PC, you have the familiar ability hotbars from which abilities are easily selectable, while console players will make use of a radial menu similar to that employed in Mass Effect. Both methods are functional, but it's in navigating the game's numerous submenus that the PC version stands out. It's far more unwieldy to manage the quest journal and codex with a game pad, in contrast to the slick, incredibly functional PC interface.[39] "Dragon Age is more retrofitted than Mass Effect, which was more of a core console game.[13] Oh, yeah, um, Dragon Age looks okay. It doesn't have the creativity that came with the completely unique world of Mass Effect, but it seems to be very deep in terms of gameplay and story matters.[31]

" Dragon Age displays this refinement, and while the story may not be completely original, it's told in a way that enthralls and enchants the player. It's the best RPG of the year -- and maybe the best of the HD era."[15] Bioware crafts some truly excellent RPGs and Dragon Age is no exception, but we were kind of hoping to have moved past the days of stiffly delivered monologues and sidequests to retrieve family heirlooms.[26] " Dragon Age not only lives up to its pedigree, and it also shows that BioWare remains the preeminent developer of RPGs in the West."[15]

BioWare has clearly spent a long time crafting Ferelden, the realm in which Dragon Age takes place, and the many inhabitants found within. Much work has also gone into the combat and tactical system, and there is no doubt that this is a BioWare production through and through.[7] Just Talkin' Bout Dragon Age: An extremely well-written, deviously witty script is only as good as the actors who voice it, and BioWare has pulled together a winning team for Dragon Age. Claudia Black does a fine job of voicing the sardonic witch Morrigan, and Steve Blue does one of the best dwarves I've ever heard in his portrayal of Oghren.[3] I asked Bioware co-founder Dr Greg Zeschuk to explain himself. First there was the “New Shit” trailer for Dragon Age, wherein the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate finds a musical companion in Marilyn Manson's "This is the New Shit" track.[45] BioWare has crafted a spectacular journey with Dragon Age, and an unforgettable fantasy realm that's sure to resonate with fantasy and adventure fans the world over.[4]

Throughout Dragon Age, the player and his companions will be asked to make difficult, morally ambiguous choices that don't have a clear right or wrong answer. Even better, these choices often have interesting and scary backlashes, such as when a "good" choice invites unintended consequences or a "bad" one turns out to have been be the right one. This multi-layered texture is what makes the world of Dragon Age such a fascinating place to explore.[9] Not so in Dragon Age, which is crucial considering how much time players will spend in conversation.[50] Or just search dragon age cheats, Ive already seen a ton that can disable inventory limit and the like. I noticed they already had some neat DLC, but I dont really want to pay for it, just wait for the mods.[38] I made a stealth based melee fighter and also sucked hard in Oblivion, while my friends made plate wearing mages and destroyed everything. Although, perhaps you got downvoted for correlating that Dragon Age is like Oblivion, when it's a totally different style of gameplay.[14] The system is very versatile and easy to use, although it does bring up another problem: There seems to be very little reason to control anyone but my mage in Dragon Age.[24]

Your kinship with fellow party members also changes over the course of your journey, to the point that romance might even be involved." Workman also praises Dragon Age's control scheme, which he claims is well-suited for consoles.[15] At certain points in the game, you'll earn the ability to pick a specialization class for your starting class. A mage, for example, can become an arcane warrior, which lets the mage use his magic stat instead of strength stat to wield weapons and wear armor. He could also become a blood mage, who uses health instead of magic to cast certain powerful spells. Each of your party members begins with one of these special jobs and can learn another. Your main character, on the other hand, can learn any two of your choice, making him or her a lot more versatile.[24] The relationship between the characters is an overriding factor that plays out as you move through the game. As a choice is made, you will see how that resonates with those within your party. Should you lose a lot of favor with a party member, he or she may leave your party, or may even attack you for a decision made.[40]

The Stone Prisoner adds new environments, items, and hours of side quests and gameplay. It also introduces a new party member: The stone golem Shale, who BioWare says can become one of the most powerful party members in the game. (Sign me up for that one).[27] Then theres the third step. Its called Wardens Keep and itll cost you seven dollars to download. It adds a new party camp that includes storage so you can free up backpack slots when youre adventuring. Bioware claims this was created after early reviews complained about the lack of inventory space. Rather than fixing the game by giving everyone a storage locker, they opted to use the problem as a way to make more money.[43] The way gameplay is set up should look familiar for BioWare fans. The devs appear to have bonded with radial menus, as it's where you'll access spells, items, advanced party commands, and the game's nifty "Quick Heal" action - just about everything you'll ever need in battle. It's fairly easy to navigate, but players can hotkey up to six skills or actions for quicker access during fights. That last option essentially eliminates any need to sift through your inventory for healing items by grabbing the most "suitable" portion when activated.[20] When it comes to the battle itself, the game offers players to view the game from a third-person perspective, or you can go old-school with the top-down perspective that evaporates ceilings and allows you to gain a wider perspective of the battlefield. This is handy for sending a charging tank to the ranged attackers on the peripheral of the battle that are plunking your tanks to death. You can allocate targets for each of the members, and even designate the type of skills you wish them to use. The AI of the game, though, is quite bright and party characters will do some things automatically - such as the healer will watch the central tank's health and use his or her healing spells appropriately.[40]

A bow you find may require 31 dexterity to be able to use. Each time your characters level, they are given three points to spend, and players can really define their characters abilities through how they allocate the points. Once the points are allocated and the game is advanced, there is no way to go back and reset those points.[40] Alot of really good options to be a real asshole to other characters. If you play this game on hard the AI seems to use limited tactics such as having thier archers pull you back so you get peppered trying to chase them down.[25]

The largest issue that I had with the Origin feature is that some of the background elements fade away too easily as the game progresses, becoming little more than an afterthought. Many of Ferelden's citizens are extremely prejudiced against elves, but this bias eventually just disappears. Considering that a portion of the game revolves around uniting Ferelden against the Darkspawn, it would seem like you'd have to address these issues of racism somehow, especially if you happen to be an elven character. Simply tossing these endemic problems aside without any attempted mediation or resolution seems unrealistic and forced, and insults the plot of the game.[2] The storied developer has a history of creating rich characters and tackling interesting sociopolitical topics in recent games like Mass Effect, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Jade Empire.[6] If you play the game expecting a true old school experience you will be dissapointed. Fortunately the games of lore were not much my taste and this game mixes the best of Action, and Tactical RPG with an experience more epic than their other later games (like KOTOR, MAss Effect, Jade Empire).[31] Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, and Jade Empire - all highly successful games produced within a single decade since the company was founded. Few can argue that BioWare develops quality titles, namely RPGs known for their tactical gameplay and powerful stories, major components heavily character-driven. Mass Effect marked their debut on HD console.[20]

There's so many reasons why this game is shit, and so many reason why it's great. Those who never played Buldar's Gate 2 don't know why it sucks. Those who have played Mass Effect probably don't know enough of BioWare to know any difference. At the same time that it has lost some of it's spark that can be found in classics such as BG, SW:TOR it has a high production value, but with anything that has gone hollywood it just loses something.[31]

After the moderately enlightening intro, you're sent to the character creation screen, which is basically the online Character Creator BioWare released earlier. Like in Mass Effect, you select a background for your character that will determine how others react to you; UNLIKE Mass Effect, these character backgrounds are determined by race and class. Players start by choosing from three races and three classes -- human, elf, or dwarf, then Warrior, Mage, or Rogue; it's all very typical fantasy stuff.[20] After Mass Effect, though, Origins feels like a bit of a step backward. Bioware previously took sci-fi conventions and made them their own, but here, they cling so closely to archetypes that you'll wonder when Gandalf will show up.[24]

Credit goes to BioWare for shrugging off the shackles of licensed source material and building a world to call their own. "Mass Effect" and "Jade Empire" were both better experiences for it, even if the game component didn't quite deliver.[36] DA:O is a single-player experience, but BioWare is creating a robust online community experience that allows players to upload character biographies, screenshots, heroic achievements and even stories to embrace the role-playing element of the game.[40] As with all BioWare games, the final level your character will reach will depend on how much of the story you choose to experience.[5]

Your origin story colours the experience of the entire game – and no superlatives here, it really does.[29]

Depending on your race and class combination, you can pick one of six origins for your character: city elf, Dalish elf, dwarf commoner, dwarf noble, human noble or mage. This origin tells the story of how your character is recruited, and it forms the opening area of the game, though it also continues to influence the rest of the game.[24] One can choose to be a human noble, a mage, a Dalish elf, a city elf, a dwarven noble or a dwarven commoner. The "origin" stories themselves take at least an hour apiece to complete, and take the form of self-contained stories that manage to entertain in their own right. These sections are a mere taste of what comes next, as the game opens up into a massive RPG that will take at least forty hours to finish. It has to be said that the world crafted by BioWare is absolutely wonderful.[7] The look is vaguely medieval Europe, but magic and sorcery abounds. Basically, it's your everyday standard group of fantasy clich's. BioWare turns a lot of that on its head and plays with some of the basic things you hold true if you're a fan of the Tolkien-inspired arts. For one, the elves aren't exactly the magical uber-humans we're so accustomed to experiencing them being in other works of fantasy fiction. They are a race of beings at the bottom rung of society's ladder, often relegated to menial jobs and overwhelmingly distrusted by the human majority. There is also some interesting background on the Chantry, which is an allegory for the Church, as well as their contentious relationship with the Circle of Magi. It almost seems as if they're setting up a simile of the science vs. faith debate, made all the more complex by the fact that it's the fault of the Mages that the Darkspawn Blight is now poised to destroy the land. BioWare has never been afraid of injecting some deeper political and cultural issues into its games.[1]

I'm pretty pissed right now, because games like this just beg to be played on the PC and my computer decided to take a dive yesterday shortly after installing the Nvidia 191.07 drivers (not pointing the finger at the driver update, but if you google it, you'll see other peoples' gaming PCs have been rendered useless for gaming because of the update), and I have yet to be able to solve the issue. I've been looking forward to this one for a long time and am glad to hear BioWare delivered like they always do, but it may be awhile before I get to playing it now, espcially once I get sucked into the console titles just around the corner.[9] Ummm yeah. From what I have seen, PC gamers that own consoles always seem to get excited that Bioware releases their games on console.[13] If you haven't bought the game yet on PC and are planning to, staying away from Impulse seems to be a good idea. On Steam the game launches fine, but navigating both EA's and Bioware's sites to get the downloadable content you paid for can be a huge pain.[10]

"You'll be presented with tough scenarios where none of the options at hand seem particularly good, leaving you to choose what may seem like merely the least evil choice. In the weeks after completing the game, I still feel sincere regret about how some of those decisions played out and am already making plans to handle them differently in my next playthrough.[34] There are places in the game where there are 300-400 paths through a single conversation. That's just because everything you do has to have an impact because we want choice to matter. It's not just about having the illusion of choice, it's about the choice actually make a difference, it's about knowing that what you are doing is actually making a difference in the way the universe is playing out, and that does make scripting a huge complicated event. Every character has his or her own unique personality. Mark: Morrigan has her own motivations for coming along with you. Her mom might have told her to come but she has her own goals, so she's always going to be a little bit 'off' and Alistair - he is probably the most dedicated, next to you, to your goals. He is almost this farm-boy character and Morrigan with a much darker past, they interact in a very good way.[30] As you make your way through the game you will engage in large-scale battles, raining down destruction on your enemies with awesome spell combos, making enemies or allies and gaining special abilities as your character grows. Remember, the origin you select or the path you choose to take determines who they are and where your journey leads you. Grab this game and check it out.[8] Played through the main game on standard difficulty, choosing the City Elf origin and rogue as my character class.[3] I still had several origins to go through, plenty of side-quests left uncompleted, and lots of character arcs still dangling. This is a huge game, and that's intended in every sense. It'll take a while to complete, certainly, but more than that it's a game with a massive, deeply involved backstory and a truly gigantic world.[41]

The number of interactions, sub-quests, gear, weapons and the like that the game's world holds is simply staggering. The combat is scalable to allow -- on one end of its spectrum -- the real-time clashes of WoW with a "scripting" system for NPC actions (i.e. "If companion characters are below 50% health, cast heal" for mages) that's very reminiscent of Final Fantasy XII's Gambit setups.[14] The combat mechanics are solid and overall well-designed, and you never feel like enemies have become a joke. It really does feel like a game made for the PC, and getting things done can be awkward.[24] Hmmm Im not an RPG fan, so this game really wants on my Radar. It more less caught some of my interest however. Its not like I couldn't avoid hearing about it. Either way its a shame it could of been better if they made the combat less frustrating.[7]

The conversation choices have allowed me to be benevolent at times, snide at others or not particularly invested in some situations. There's no tracking of character alignments (i.e. "Did that dialog choice just make me more evil?") but I've seen the choices I've made accumulate and affect the plot and world in ways both subtle and significant. The console interface, with its radial menus, seems like a best effort at making a "PC-style" RPG work with a controller.[14] Though I'm playing the Xbox 360 version, for the record, I know enough about the interface differences between the two to know that I'd choose the PC version if given the option. The console interface, with its radial menus, seems like a best effort at making a "PC-style" RPG work with a controller. It's frustrating when something I know should take a mouse click requires diving layers deep into menus I could only navigate at a certain pace, because of all the clumsy bumper and thumb stick movement I had to put up with. It doesn't seriously inhibit the experience, but I just couldn't help but feel there could have been a more elegant (or, at least, faster) solution.[14] Best isometric view in a 3d rpg, as well as a behind the character view that shows NWN2 for the garbage it was control and camera wise. It also runs like butter on a hot day, never a hint of slowdown. The graphics on the PC version dont bother me as much as they seem to bother others, they seem to set the mood nicely and there are some great touches overall.[25]

"Dragon Age: Origins" which is being released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on Nov. 3 has also allowed the Edmonton, Canada-based BioWare to build a world from the ground up, without the constraints of a licensee like Dungeons & Dragons. [42] Dragon Age Journeys, published by Electronic Arts, doesn'''t look like something a big corporation would release.[22] When we first saw Dragon Age at E3, we walked away skeptical, grumbling at the rough graphics and odd focus on character interactions that bordered on high school level drama.[4] Though, in an age where technology has allowed developers to start really exploring the idea of cinematic storytelling, Dragon Age feels a bit out of sync and out of date.[26] The plot of Dragon Age is extremely rich with details that unfold over dozens of hours of play. All of this is documented in your in-game codex, which tracks conversations, plot points and other elements of your journey.[2] I saw a Dragon Age commercial on tv and it only had a 360 and PC logo, I thought for sure it was coming to ps3, I shrug my shoulders. Now I see this, and it IS on PS3. Why would they not advertise it? I might have wanted this for ps3 and not bought it at all.[47]

Spells and certain other abilities in Dragon Age will occasionally have friendly fire effects. On lower difficulty levels, this simply means that you risk freezing an ally when casting an ice spell at a crowd. On higher levels, you'll be able to do half damage, or even full damage, to allies, but fortunately, you have greater control over these attacks.[24] The biggest issue, that arises with the storyline of Dragon Age is that plot elements suffer from repetitiveness. Even though different cities house unique quest events, they all incorporate similar motivating factors – assassination, betrayal or murder.[2] There are no real jaw-dropping images that you can point to. The beauty of Dragon Age 's world lies within its subtlety.[9] The difficulty in Dragon Age is erratic at best and completely unbalanced at worst.[7] Dragon Age is a medieval/fantasy setting. Music that fits with these kinds of settings generally involve acoustic instruments that aren't often found in modern music.[31]

"Dragon Age" makes a welcome return to the tried-and-true RPG mechanics of "KOTOR" but many players will find the land in which the action plays out rather forgettable.[36] Hearing the term "RPG" more than likely brings games such as Tales of Vesperia, Persona or, for some of you, Fallout 3 to mind. Not since the earliest days of this current console generation and a little game called The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion have we seen a fantasy role-playing game of this caliber rooted in swords and sorcery you'd find in The Lord of the Rings, Dungeons & Dragons or even World of Warcraft.[14] There are plenty of turn based RPG's out there for you. I think it's great there are companies that are trying (some successfully) to branch out into other methods of play style for RPG's in the hopes of converting people who don't typically like turn-based RPG's. Though there is also something to be said for the person who can appreciate RPG's in all forms regardless of play style considering it's a good game.[14] In many ways, it feels like it was meant to play like an older-style overhead game, instead of a behind-the-shoulder Knights of the Old Republic game.[24] I'd say you need a party of eight to deal with some of the huge battles in the game. Four doesn't feel like enough when twenty armed soldiers jump you and they have two mages with fireball spells backing them up.[7] Hitting the spacebar pauses the game and you can then issue orders. You can, for example, tell Alistair that if a mage, who is a member of the party, comes under attack, and his or her health hits 75%, that he is to break off from his current target, taunt the enemy attacking the mage, shield bash and then hold that targets attention to allow the mage to step back beyond the edge of the fray. Or you can pause the game and have a healer gulp a mana-regeneration potion and cast a group heal. If the battle is going badly (and remember, this is a war, so there is no shortage of combat opportunities), you may wish to pause the game and readjust the difficulty setting on the fly.[40] The game's combat does play out in real time and should you have a couple of party members fall, leaving only a healer alive, that healer can run, gulp mana potions, wait for the timer of the resurrection spell to reset and then revive fallen companions.[40] VanOrd also notes that the combat system will be a natural fit for players who have experience with previous BioWare titles. "By clicking on your target or pressing the attack button, you don't just swing a sword, but you approach your target and queue up your attack," he explains. "Once your party has gained access to a good number of spells, stances, and skills, battlefields explode with bright colors and raucous sound effects, and it's a lot of fun to switch back and forth between party members, managing your abilities and taking advantage of various spell combos to wreak havoc."[15] A camp site acts as your base by default and can be accessed via the Ferelden map. It's like the Normandy in Mass Effect or Ebon Hawk in KotOR, where your party members stand around in designated spots, waiting for you to walk up and talk about their personal lives, gleaning favor or disdain. A merchant and enchanter pop up early on in your camp, letting you buy and sell, while more characters and NPCs appear later when you've recruited them for your cause. Progress will yield more dialogue options, and your team may eventually offer to teach you their specialties, unlocking attribute bonuses, class specializations and the like.[20] Noble and kind Leliana might appreciate you taking the time to sort out a profiteering trader, while the more focused Morrigan will complain that you're wasting time sorting out petty grievances. When it's minor things like that, in the short term at least it won't make much difference. When you do something completely against their views, then you will get into an argument, which could well result in the party member leaving the group or attacking you. It's possible to miss out on a number of party members simply by being a dick when you first encounter them and being forced to fight and kill them. The flipside of this is that raising your relationship levels - either through actions your party approves of or through gifts, with each character preferring different things - grants bonuses to that character's primary statistic. The more your characters like you, the more useful they are to you.[41]

The characters of the game, from the party members, to the side members you will encounter on your travels, are vibrant and alive.[40] Because of the ability to save often (F5 for quick saves, or ESC to open the main menu interface and create a saved game file), the scenario was immediately replayed, a different path taken and there was not a revolt among the party members - though not all agreed with the new decision. Perhaps, part of the charm of this game - there is no true right or wrong path through the game.[40] Throughout the game, the player will be making decisions. Depending on the personalities of party members, these decisions might anger them, or make them happy.[5]

Upholding justice and righting wrongs may earn you the respect of fellow Grey Warden Alistair, but it'll cause the amoral mage Morrigan to disapprove. By raising your influence with your party members, you'll unlock simple increases to their stats or special weapons, items or abilities. Raise their approval enough, and you can open up special quests or even enter into romance plots with them. While this is a good idea on paper, it's effectively made worthless by the implementation of gifts. You see, every party member has certain items that he or she likes, and if you give those gifts to your party members, their approval of you skyrockets; thus, getting everyone to like you is as easy as browsing shops and buying a few items.[24] Darkspawn, tunnelling deep underground, will occasionally come across a sleeping Old God - a gigantic dragon worshipped by civilisations past. When this happens, they corrupt the Old God into an Archdemon that leads the Darkspawn to the surface on a destructive rampage. If the Archdemon falls, the horde retreats until they find another, but their limitless numbers mean that holding them off until the Archdemon is killed is no easy prospect. The last time a Blight occurred was 400 years ago and, generally, only a truly united front can hope to stop them - a united front supported by the Grey Wardens, an order dedicated to the destruction of the Darkspawn, the members of which have all given up their lives in the name of the cause.[41] Cities look lived in, worn ''' majestic and squalid places that spill with times gone by and a sense of place. The castles look like they have been there for centuries, and truly, there is an uncertain sense that they have been. That Ferelden and its inhabitants were waiting patiently in the wings for all this time, waiting for their chance to shine. Well, like the Grey Wardens, their time has come. Let us unite then, and in the words of an old friend: We shall show those cursed Darkspawn our hearts ''' and then show them theirs.[38]

The darkspawns' origins stem from a tale of hubris, similar to the "Tower of Babel" story. A group of mages had their heads up their own arses and wanted in on the Maker's (God) domain, so they dabbled in some seriously shady magic and somehow screwed up Heaven instead of getting in, ultimately bringing it to ruin. As punishment, they were cast down and cursed by their own follies, thus becoming the first darkspawn. Naturally they're near-unstoppable, owning the dwarves ten different ways until the brave Grey Wardens show up to lay down the unrelenting hand of justice.[20] A race of terrible corrupted creatures, known as the Darkspawn, has risen from underground to destroy everything on the surface. The only ones that can stand against them are the Grey Wardens, a secret sect who use the Darkspawn's powers against them. The Grey Wardens were betrayed and nearly destroyed by the ambitious Teyrn Loghain, but two survivors make their way through the war-torn world of Ferelden to recruit an army to stop Loghain and the Darkspawn.[24]

The Darkspawn's destructive plots would succeed were it not for the Grey Wardens. An ancient order of elves, dwarves and humans, Grey Wardens dedicate their lives to hunting down Darkspawn wherever they go. It's been centuries since the Darkspawn appeared, and the signs of a new Blight are even more troublesome since the numbers of Grey Wardens have dropped precipitously. To make matters worse, Ferelden is bitterly divided by an internal war, making the repulsion of this threat harder than before.[2] The army of foulness swarmed across the lands of elves, dwarves and men. As the victory of the darkspawn seemed at hand, a new force made its presence known - the Grey Wardens. These warriors, selected and trained from the ranks of all of the peoples of Ferelden, turned the tide of the war and defeated the darkspawn.[40]

Players are put in control of a new Grey Warden who was recruited shortly before the betrayal. This is where the "Origins" part of the title comes into play.[24] In Origins, players assume the role of a mysterious Grey Warden who is one of the last remaining guardians of an ancient order.[33] Players take on the role of a Grey Warden, one of the warrior caste that is truly capable of combating the Blight and taking the battle to the arch-demon itself.[30]

Instead of making the inventory space available within the original game, you need to buy the Wardens Keep to manage it properly. EDIT: I just re-read the IGN UK review and didnt see any mention of this flaw amongst all the glowing praise. They did mention load times in this very small paragraph near the end. It seems like a glaring omission to leave something like that out of the review. [38] Some dungeons are a breeze to get through for the first hour, and then suddenly there will be a room full of enemies that seem ludicrously powered up and completely overrun the player's team. These difficulty spikes appear randomly and without warning. The game clearly wants to be treated like some sort of RTS, encouraging players to move allies into prime positions depending on their class.[7] Rather than a simple game setting, Ferelden feels like a real place with a rich history lurking just outside the corner of the player's vision. The look and feel of the world is almost as impressive as the fiction, with several areas particularly those in the underground realm of The Deep Road looking as if they were traditional fantasy artwork come to life.[3] The beauty of a property like, say, "Star Wars" is that the depth of the universe comes out slowly and elegantly, as dictated by the demands of the story. Players are thrust into a world they know very little about. They are then forced to read mountains of text and cycle through simple dialogue trees for information, making the game's early going in particular feel especially slow.[36]

The game's difficulty ramps up very slowly; all you need know at first is how to equip a weapon and attack, and as the hours pass we slowly learn about active and passive abilities, how to flank and cover, how to add magical properties to our equipment, and how to create and use traps and potions, among many other things. Deep and multifaceted is this system that I still feel as though I'm learning its intricacies, and I'm more than 30 hours into the story. The giant Qunari Sten, more comfortable in battle than conversation, gets ready to do what he does best. The best term for this sort of play is old-school.[6] Between a choice of Human, Elf or Dwarf there are six origins to choose from and each represent a couple of hours of absolutely unique play at the start of the game. They teach you the basics – movement, combat, dialogue and inventory management - but the events that happen within couldn't be more dissimilar. We suggest playing them all; each one is practically an entire game by itself.[29]

Fun game - kind of reminds me of W.o.W. in its gameplay. The choice options are better executed then they were in mass effect - you really have a sense that your choices matter and had you said something different, the conversation flows accordingly and feels realistic.[11] The role-playing game from Mass Effect studio BioWare is pretty huge, with plenty of quests to perform and environments to explore. From there, they splinter down into different classes and types, ranging from nobles to warriors and rogues.[50] If there's one thing Mass Effect knows how to do really, really well, it's emotionally driven speeches by characters. Throughout your adventure, you'll hear several characters speak for their causes, whether it's the Sovereign's speech to the Council or Commander Shepard briefing his crew to believe in his cause. We've also included a great Salarian speech below, so you can get an idea what kind of dramatic heft Bioware has given them. We can't wait to hear how much better they get in the sequel.[18] The facial animation and character models don't even seem on par with what Bioware was doing in Mass Effect.[24]

The scene below came after hours of my City Elf rogue wooing and coddling the human rogue Leliana. Considering the amount of crap BioWare caught for Mass Effect's sex scene, one can't blame them for leaving the tops on. Besides, once the PC version hits tomorrow I'm sure some enterprising modder will figure out how to get their tops off, as it's probably easier than removing a real bra. That's why I keep scissors on my bedside table.[28] For the new RPG Bioware developed the Eclipse Engine which utilizes some parts of Neverwinter Nights' Aurora Engine and the dialog system of Mass Effect.[32] The choices cut deep," says Giant Bomb. I'm not a big RPG fan, but I'd like to see complex moral systems replace the black-and-white ones in shooters such as Bioshock, Mass Effect and Fallout 3.[34]

Most importantly, however, the amount of choice in the game is superb. There are moments that really make the player think about the consequences of their actions, and many of the dilemmas give you options that are not clearly defined as "good" or "evil." It's up to the player to determine the morality of their actions, which is a great step forward for RPG gameplay. [7] We can let the player actually make choices and make decisions and decide what happens. It really is the pinnacle of entertainment, and is a large part of why we truly see games as art.[42]

Though a single-player game, DA:O is lengthy, with a compelling cast of characters and storylines that twist and turn with each choice the player makes.[30] For the first fifteen hours or so, players don't have to worry about it, but once the game ramps up the difficulty, allied characters gladly march into death, helped along by the fact that the A.I is pure garbage. Suddenly, players find themselves bogged down in endless and pedantic micromanagement as they blindly experiment with different tactics in a vain bid to keep allies alive.[7] I hope it entertains me more than Oblivion, because I hated that game do to the unfair treatment of players who chose stealthy ranged characters.[14]

I have felt that the interaction between the character and the world is somewhat sparse. Certain items like boxes and dirt (much like world of warcraft) have sparkly auras over them which signifies they are "lootable" but only those items are - which makes me feel somewhat reminded of the fact that im playing a game not fully immersed in a world.[11] Depending on your party, members will often engage in humorous conversations with one another about current events. It's a nice way to have your characters feel like they're actually in a party together, as opposed to random guys who are following your main character.[24] You really feel like youre building your own character due to the sheer amount of directions you can take the story. For me this is the biggest selling point.[25] As the hero of the story, you'll get a chance to create a unique hero that fits into the classic warrior/rogue/wizard archetype with a number of interesting variants and subclasses on offer. You'll gather a collection of ragtag travel companions, each of whom have their own psychological traumas to overcome and character related side-quests to pursue all in the service of eventually gathering an army that can defeat the Darkspawn. It's all been done before and doesn't present a whole lot of surprises for anyone who has played a BioWare RPG in the last ten years.[9] Bioware's skill with facial animation brings the performances to life. Much of the time the people you meet will play important roles in your quest against the Blight, but they remain distant in attachment compared to the wonderful rag-tag group of adventurers that join you in your quest to unite Ferelden against the Darkspawn. These fellow travellers will join your cause automatically, while others you can find and befriend yourself. Your constant companions, they bicker and fight, joke and flirt for the entire time they're with you. You should take the time to get to know them; while at first you'll be granted with some stat bonuses and character-specific missions, soon you'll realise they represent something more than a way to simply increase stats – in this group there exists a bond of friendship and duty that is almost palpable. They are often broken, troubled people with past demons that still torment them – all equal parts confused, brave, frightened, loving, valiant in their own ways, and above all, human.[29] What do you do when you stop making games for one of the biggest roleplaying franchises of all time? If you're BioWare, the answer is easy -- make your own roleplaying franchise and start again from scratch.[7] Dr. Greg Zeschuk, co-founder and co-CEO of BioWare, took some time to talk about the new game and the benefits of having more creative freedom.[42]

In comparison, the console versions cannot handle the kind of battles BioWare have created. This game probably should not have been released on the PS3 or Xbox 360.[7] Accessing the radial menu during battle will still pause everything, and the hotkeys are just there to keep the fights fast-paced by offering easy access to your frequently-used commands. Regardless, the interface is actually fairly simple to grasp, and BioWare manages to condense the game's daunting complexities into this manageable form.[20]

The game looks pretty decent, although it isn't by far the best looking game of the year. A few glitches do pop up again to truly let us know this is a BioWare game, the most common being characters that move their mouths but don't say anything.[7] Bioware's strong character writing is absolutely one of the saving graces of the game.[24]

The graphics look like mud and really REALLY put me off. I know graphics don't make the game, especially a Bioware game but this is just weak.[45] I mean, the PC has been that platform where you could have an incredibly complicated interface and gameplay that would be embraced by a certain segment of the market. "So we would always have this ability to not really refine or distill our systems down to their essence; instead you just do some really, really detailed and crazy stuff. The irony being that in certain places, like central or eastern Europe, they love that; it'd be their ultimate game."[13] Lastly, while the game's graphics probably won't blow anyone away on ANY platform, the PC version has the best combination of quality and smooth framerate, while the 360 version has the ugliest textures but usually holds a steady framerate and the PS3 version looks better than the 360 version but sometimes stutters because of it. In my point of view, unless achievements/trophies are really important to you, this is one to get on PC if you have a rig that'll run it well. it'll save you $10, as well.[9] EDITOR'S NOTE: Will focused on the PC version for the bulk of this review, but after playing through both the 360 and PS3 version, he can safely note that the only real difference is in the basic control scheme and the game's user interface.[4] Today we have IGN UK weighing in on the PC version of the game.[38]

Anyone know how gameplay differs between PC and xbox 360? I've played all Bioware games on PC thus far.[11] There was no "Bioware moment" when I picked my specific ending, and the way it was structured and paced was better than many games with set endings. Certain side-quests and events will trigger special dialogue boxes in the ending that show the fate of those you've helped. After spending 40 hours traveling in this world, actual resolutions are deeply welcome, and it's something that's often missing from games nowadays.[24] As noted above, I've spent over 30 hours with the game so far and according to my in-game statistics I've only seen about 45 per cent of the world. That's to say nothing of the extra $7 quest I've already downloaded and into which I'm just itching to dive. There's still more than a month left in the holiday gaming rush, which means I probably won't be able to find the time to finish this epic RPG until closer to Christmas.[6] Just know that things indeed do happen, and you must assemble an army of the disparate groups that make up the kingdom'humans, elves, dwarves, mages, everybody'to go to war against the corrupting darkspawn. This is the beginning of an incredibly long journey. The game will easily take you 60 hours to finish, and that's without completing every single side quest or talking to every potential NPC. It's epic in scale, and considering how differently it can be played by the varying races and classes, there's easily a couple of hundred hours worth of gameplay to explore. That's before you download the extra content, which is available Day One, some of it for free.[1]

I've managed to amass nearly 200 entries in my codex--sort of a Fereldenian encyclopedia--each loaded with information about the game's creatures, types of magic, cultures, and personalities. That doesn't include many of the stories I've heard during hours of discussions with non-player characters. Put plainly, this is a game with the depth, imagination, and richness of a Neal Stephenson novel.[6] My character primarily used archery (especially once I leveled up enough to use the scope feature) and had a fairly easy time going through most of the game.[14] Gameplay: 9.9 There are load times, so the world is not seamless, but the ability to pause and direct traffic, to adjust tactical strategies on the fly or as the situation evolves, the need to monitor personal relationships and the open-ended elements created by the ability to choose your character's motivations creates a dynamic rarely seen in any game.[40]

Each and every battle in the game has the potential to kill you if you just run in with your characters on autopilot. That makes even minor battles a fascinating strategic challenge and offers a genuine sense of triumph when you overcome the really well-designed (and very difficult) boss fights.[9] Incredible storytelling, great characters, and exciting battles are just a few of the things that make this fantasy role-playing game so extraordinary.[16] The game can be emotionally draining, but it is the type of game that begs you to immerse yourself in the character you create and live the fantasy.[40]

The voice acting for the characters is wonderful and really brings a wonderful flavor to the whole game.[40] Then there's the odd decision to go so over-the-top with the blood. Blood plays an important role in the world's unique fiction, but watching your characters relay meaningful lines of speech while splashed with more blood than the prom scene in "Carrie" borders on the ridiculous, robbing such scenes of any potential sense of gravitas. That isn't to say that this is an ugly game, by any means.[39]

I can't wait to get home and install this game. It's like some kind of torture to be playing Dungeons and Dragons tonight with this game sitting on my desk at home.[9] The world is very well put. If you like strong well built RPGs this is the game you should pick.[25] Electronic Arts-owned developer BioWare is one of the most acclaimed role-playing game (RPG) developers in the world.[42] Kudos to James and the Bioware team. Great game and great to see a Canadian game developer (and their Austin team too) creating such a wonderful RPG.[15]

As the spiritual successor of BioWare's popular Baldur's Gate series of games, it uses a pause-and-play tactical combat system.[5] BioWare expects most players to be between level 15 and 20 at the end of the game.[5] "A comprehensive yet user-friendly control scheme works great here. You'll modify two item wheels using triggers on your control pad, enabling magic spells, healing potions, weapons and other gear, switching to six of them on the fly using both the D-pad and triggers," he says. "It's right in tune with previous BioWare games of this nature, and it works incredibly well on a controller."[15] Speaking of the future, a couple of new Star Wars games are out. Well, actually, they're both re-releases in a way.[47] Get the latest game cheats, game reviews, downloads and previews as well as free hints, game walkthroughs, cheat codes and daily news for games at GameZone.[30] Most of the trailers and marketing only turned me away from the game. It's taken reviews to convince me again that it is not 'the new shit', and is worth playing.[45] There'''s no attempt at deception here, but it'''s interesting to observe how the big publishers are trying to hijack the '''indie vibe'''. Another big publisher trying to cash in on the indie scene is LucasArts. The recently released Lucidity also opts for simplistic 2D artwork and puzzle-centric gameplay that looks like it could have been developed by a talented loner in his or her bedroom. It'''s hard to shake off the feeling that the move by LucasArts to release a brand new game in this form is a somewhat cynical attempt at aligning itself with the indie scene and all that aforementioned goodwill. We can look at this from two different angles. Either it'''s the result of marketing meetings and desperate tactics to get attention from the gaming community solely to shift units, or it'''s a genuine shift in the mindset of these companies to develop and release simpler, cheaper and more innovative products.[22] There are even some surprises to be found in your brand new game! If you're a devout purchaser of EA products - or if you just happen to be an owner of Warhammer Online - you'll find a code that unlocks the "Adventurer's Handbook" (which gives you a 10% XP Bonus when used) and the "Skaven Skin Cloak" (allows your to take on the appearance of the ratty Skaven). That's a pretty sweet deal, especially for folks that own both products.[44]

The story is simply that a demon army has appeared on the border and is invading fast and you are one of the last members of the Grey Wardens; a group charged with defending civilisation from the most dire threats. It'''s up to you to unite the various factions and issue a counterassault and, while it definitely comes into its own once you'''ve got properly stuck in, it'''s slow going to accomplish that. Until then it'''s hard to forget that if you replace '''Blight''' with '''Geth''' and '''Grey Wardens''' with '''Spectre''' then this could be an entirely different game.[26] The kinds of interactions we had with the huge amount of powerfully realised NPCs felt so natural in response to our origin story it felt that the game could not possibly have played out in any other way.[29] While Origins does get there eventually, it does take a long while before the game really gets going.[26] I don't mind 30 seconds to mars, though I've never really been a fan, but that seemed more like teenager music video than anything resembling professional quality. The song itself is pretty boring, and when they're putting more attention on the song than the video footage and game itself, that's just a recipe for disaster.[31] The game auto set graphic settings on my pc to low. it looked like an xbox/ps2 game. I bumped them up to high and it still did not look awesome.[11] I feel like I'm trying to watch a trailer to a game I want, yet someone has the MTV on too loud somewhere else in the room.[31] This game is on preorder for me at Gamestop, but sadly I dont have any free time until like friday.[14] There's a massive difference between the two worlds. Although I'm sure it'll be very much like the old BG games, I'm not expect much more than an aggregate of 8/10 for this game.[45] Navigation in the game is a real bitch. I found that I often didn't want to complete some of the sub-quests, simply because it would have taken too much effort to find them. There is no compass system like in Oblivion, and many of the quests require you to simply guess where they are.[7]

Eurogamer's Oli Welsh says manipulating characters "through conversations, decisions and gift-giving eventually unlocking personal quests, romance and even sex, portrayed with all the sensuous passion of the database spreadsheet that underlies it all is an engrossing game in itself."[34] If you only do the core story, you will be at a lower level than someone else who does the critical path and many of the option side quests in the game.[5] Back in 2006, that's exactly what happened when Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood was announced for Nintendo DS. To even more surprise, when the game came out two years later, it actually wasn't half bad. It captures the essence of Sonic's universe while opening up a fascinating new side story. Plus, it's fun.[18] Does that matter? Maybe to some. For the true RPG gamer, this game is of a level that has never been seen before. It is the new benchmark.[40] As single-player RPG games go, DA:O is a crowning achievement. This is a must-own PC title.[40] The console versions have a different perspective on the battlefield than what was presented in the PC iteration. The combat is more along the lines of a fast-paced dungeon crawler rather than the traditional stop and go computer RPG. Having played both the PC and Xbox 360 versions for extensive amounts of time, the PC iteration is the preferable approach.[17] Lowest score I've seen so far and I've read other reviews for the console versions too. I also find this odd because some reviews I read were by people who didn't like RPGs and they scored this higher.[7] Sounds like the battles are totally unmanageable on the console versions. If this is the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate and its ilk then I'm not surprised you need to micromanage so much; that's what you had to do back then and a good part of what made it fun.[7]

On a black-and-white television, even. Im guessing that the astounding praise is like when they give someone an Oscar for a shit movie, but five years ago, the guy did an awesome job but got passed over, and in this case, everyones all nostalgic about Baldurs Gate because we all bought 4th Edition and didnt bother with it, and now its just another box on the shelf. Minsc wasnt funny then, and he isnt funny now, and space lesbians dont make games good.[43] Stylistic 2D games like World of Goo, Braid and Trine have been reaping praise and critical acclaim; and good word of mouth between fervent gamers over social networking sites like Twitter can now generate a lot of interest ''' and sales.[22]

Damn sounds like they should have stuck to a D&D licensed game, where everything already has stats and modifiers to help balance the game. That way they could have focused on other things such as the AI.[7] Of course, there's more to the game than just non-stop talk (even if at times it doesn't feel that way).[6] Your interactions with people also have a definite and noticeable influence on the outcome of the game. Depending on what you do, the ending flows in different ways, and almost all of them feel natural.[24] No matter what you choose you will feel as if the game could not be any other way.[31]

The sheer variety of weapons, items, talents and other tweak-able areas of customization in combat are simply too vast to describe in detail. You can tell that BioWare worked hard to balance the core gameplay in such a way that a newcomer to the genre won't feel intimidated, but a seasoned veteran can spent hours just piecing together the perfect weapon/gear loadout, crafting items and reading the seemingly endless codex entries written about the incredibly realized world. I can't say that the visuals are particularly amazing; they're just good, with some really nice highlights in the case of armor and enemy design -- they're evil and look it.[14] Everything about it, from the combat to the story line, stays very safely within established bounds. In some ways, this is a good thing because it assures Bioware faithful that they'll probably find something to enjoy here.[24]

As you make your way through Bioware's awesome kung-fu laden adventure, you'll run into a handful of memorable characters. Among them is a creepy little girl, one with a glowing stare and a deep, harrowing voice. That's just the least of her problems, though. During combat, she actually transforms into a tall, harrowing beast, able to scratch away at enemies with her claws.[18] A quick load of another character with a different background shows quickly how masterful Bioware has been in painting a world that reacts sublimely to your choices. These changes can be small, such as in the context of a minor side-quest that can still play out in one of a dozen ways, or it can be huge, impacting shocking twists and changing how events play out across all Ferelden and the varying fates of nigh on all the characters you meet.[29] If you choose to play a dwarf character, you cannot play a mage as dwarves are naturally resistant to magic and cannot cast it. Players will be able to customize the appearance of their character using the most detailed facial customization tool BioWare has created to date. Players can also choose their character's race, gender, and class.[5] Alistair is a great tank, but Shale trumps all. At least Bioware was able to deliver a variety of enemies to fight that all have their unique attributes and AI. Spiders love to shoot their webs from far away and then run in for an attack. Wolves attack in packs and are fearsome when they are able to surround a playable character. The mages (darkspawn alike) will run away in fear of melee attacks and stick to the background as they buff their allies and de-buff the hero's allies.[17]

Watched a video review of this and was pretty amazed how nice the gameplay is and the reviewer was touting the story and characters very highly. I love BioWare universes and stories, and am tempted to pick this up.[15] You choose your origin, and from that starting point, your story begins. You play through your character's early days, defining his or her background and motivation and begin to learn more about the world of Ferelden from your own distinct perspective.[49] Since each background starts in a different location, the origin stories play out in distinctive ways. As you travel on your journey, your character may return to the lands they hailed from, and people you knew will respond differently to you.[2]

Despite generating my character's race, gender and origin from a list, I never felt like the ending was unnatural.[24] The tactics slot system is somewhat dumb. I really dont want to spend my time telling my compainons what to do, just make them smart to begin with. I dont like spending character abilites to give them better AI.[25] Slaying foes causes your characters to be covered with blood for a while, which is actually a neat idea. Unfortunately, this splatter remains in cut scenes. It looks really silly, especially close -up, and it makes your characters look like they walked into a freshly painted wall instead of emerging from a gruesome fight.[24]

There is, at times, real emotional connection with the characters. Mark: It's hard to get the player to feel something. It's relatively easy to get them to feel anger or triumph, but to get them to feel sadness, or happiness, or laugh - those are difficult emotions to get the player to feel. It requires a real strength of writing, as well as a real strength of toolset and storytelling. Mark: In the end the sound engineers spent a lot of time with this. Inon Zur did our score and he is an amazing composer, and the background sounds all just bring a sense of a living existence. [30] The world players will explore feels old -- heavy with the weight of history and legends and littered with the ruins of old empires and past glories. It's a place that feels "real" (or as real as a fantasy universe can) because it treats its architecture and landscaping as characters with their own history and personality and not just as an opportunity for the art department to show off.[9] The funniest difference we have from our good old days is being able to engage the player emotionally. Very specifically, with "Baldur'''s Gate" we had those 16-pixel little tiny rendered character sprites that could walk 16 directions, and that was it; that was the entire vessel through which you would tell the story. Now we have these fully rendered, beautiful, realistic, stunningly well-detailed material characters that look and act real.[42]

The game's combat system will be familiar to players of the Knights of the Old Republic games.[7] The option to pause your battles, rotate the map and better plot out your strategy is a simple but invaluable ability and is even more effective thanks to the game's Tactics options, which allows players to set up various rules of engagement for your party's stellar AI. The camera can get slightly cluttered down during the more hectic battles, and coupled with the game's rewarding, yet occasionally frustrating difficulty spikes, I found it incredibly important to pay as much attention as humanly (elvenly?) possible to every minor factor and occurrence in my countless skirmishes.[4] While the game seems to be very stable, players should prepare for some unreasonably long load times that seemed to get longer the deeper I got into the game.[9] Despite being a goody two-shoes and keeping my party static for most of the game, I had everyone at high friendship by the time the final plot came about.[24] There seems to be a limited number of gifts in the game, but unless you're eating babies in front of the most heroic members of your party, you're unlikely to reach the point where that is a problem.[24] In ways, that'''s not a bad thing. The game has always been pitched as a successor to Baldur'''s Gate after all and there'''s a lot to be said for those classic fantasy tropes of the unstoppable hordes and the semi-secret society predestined to be led by their youngest member. There'''s something in these stories which speaks to us through ageless ambition and a sense of drama.[26] There isn't really any area in the game that stands out or feels unique, and exploring generic fantasy villages or generic woods gets extremely boring after a while. The same goes for the enemies, who are the most unexciting lot of foes you'll ever face.[24] After reading this and Brutal Legend's review I'm wondering if I should be keeping expectations low for all games seeing every game that I been looking forward to this year really haven't panned out the way I would've hoped.[7] Joystiq doesn't actually review games. This is what they always do, just give a few paragraphs saying they either liked or disliked the game. Its a bunch of paragraphs saying "I really liked this game." This review could have been condensed into 5 words.[14]

I appreciate you giving your honest opinion and not giving excuses for a high-profile game, but still, I'm not sure that this review is that useful to the masses of people who know this is a PC game anyways.[7] "It's worth noting that PC gamers get a more tactical perspective of battle, have access to hotkeys, and can pause the game to issue commands."[7] There is trepidation in the journey with each step taken, each choice made the subject of second guessing; there in anguish in the sacrifice of war. There is glory in battle and victories won, a test of mind, of tactics and skill rarely encountered in a game and seamlessly combined in this title.[40] What seems most promising to me is how the game obscures moral choices so that "good" and "evil" aren't clear.[34] You can replay the game and make different choices, altering your path and creating a different experience.[40] The game also experiences slowdowns when there are a lot of enemies onscreen or during particularly spectacular spell effects.[9] My 60 or so hours in the game were plagued with annoying little glitches that, while not breaking the game completely, did hamper the experience.[3] "On loot, I read another reviewer describe it as "infrequent and meaningful." Did your own experiences match that, Jim, or was it a case of "not enough loot and loot not good enough to justify the spacing?"" It was sure as hell infrequent, but meaningful? Not if you like holding onto armor you won't be able to use for another ten hours.[7] "I think it is. In that department it is very much the new shit," he began, before pausing. "It's the old shit and the new shit, that's the way I'd like to put it. It's very evocative of the Baldur's Gate experience, like nothing I've seen since Baldur's Gate.[45]

Just like the humans in Mass Effect. Again, it needs to be stressed that this isn'''t totally bad news.[26] Bioware sticks so closely to the fantasy tropes that, unlike Mass Effect, you know exactly what to expect in almost every situation.[24] After pushing into more action-oriented fare with "Mass Effect" and "Jade Empire," BioWare returns to the fantastic RPG formula laid out in "Knights of the Old Republic."[36]

The list of dialogue options highlighting conversations in "Dragon Age" is definitely a step back from the mood-based radial cues seen in "Mass Effect."[36] "Dragon Age" gets a lot right, but don't expect much in the way of eye candy.[36]

I think I may play through my first game on easy that way I can get used to the managing my spells and abilities and I can do better on my second play through. [9] The reason we take a lot from cinema is because Hollywood has spent over 100 years honing the craft of engaging the audience emotionally.'' I think it'''s a medium of storytelling that'''s very powerful, but we think the greatest power is to take those cinematic elements filming is a another word we sort of use as an interesting way of describing it and adding them to our game.[42] Console versions of the game allow up to six quick use talents/spells/items to be mapped to face buttons (X/Y/B on the 360, Square/Triangle/Circle on the PS3), with the right trigger used to switch between the two sets.[36] Hint: He's fast, blue, and hasn't made a good console game since 1999, if you're generous. If you're that generous, you probably thought this wasn't a bad game.[14] The item categories offered aren't adequate to properly order all the stuff you'll need to organize. There's the baffling decision to bar you from controlling your companion's inventory unless they're in your current party, forcing you to endure endless loading screens just to manage your stuff. None of these things are remotely fatal; they're just particularly noticeable given how good the rest of the game is.[9] One good fireball or debuff spell can render half of your party useless in a split second. This makes planning fights very important, as one wrong move can end you. It can also be frustrating when your party members act a bit stupid and charge a mage or run right into an explosive trap because the effects can be so much worse than usual.[24] On top of leveling up the core (three) party members with the hero, the members who don't join in on the festivities level up too. In the end, gamers should never worry about who was left out in fear of their characters never being ready to join an upcoming battle.[17] The quality of the voice work ensures that you'll rarely skip through the frequent conversations and inter-party banter. You'll spend lots of time wading through interminably long conversations while getting to know the members of your party, in an effort to improve their approval ratings. You'll also ply their favor with small tokens of appreciation, with some gifts being perfectly suited to particular characters. Through all of the friendship, camaraderie, romance and subsequent heartbreak, if there's one moral to this story it's that no matter how mad you get at someone, you can always win them back by showering them with gifts.[39] Each created character that joins the ragtag group of followers for the story's hero has a unique feel and perspective. It was difficult to choose between who stays in the party and who sits out on the upcoming battle as each character has a personality that changes the dynamic of almost every scene.[17] PROS: Wonderfully detailed world; amazing story; memorable characters and party interaction CONS: Difficulty spikes are frustrating at times; slightly annoying inventory management; camera can get bogged down in the heat of battle.[4]

Choose either warrior or rogue and you will be of the noble house of Cousland, and the story is much more defined. Each of these early paths leads you to a character named Duncan, who is recruiting for the Grey Wardens.[40] There is one constant, however. Whichever one you pick leads to a dramatic story about how your unassuming character is thrust into the ranks of the Grey Wardens with the fate of the world inevitably resting on their shoulders.[29]

You may have an assassin join you (Zevran is an interesting character, and apparently bisexual, but more on that element in a moment) at level 8, but you are comfortable with your own character, Wynne (a Circle of Magi character with healing proclivities), Morrigan (the daughter of the famed Witch of the Wilds and a powerful damage dealer) and Alistair (a fellow Grey Warden, former templar and decent tank). The main body of characters moves, during the course of their adventures, from level 8 to 11.[40] The Grey Wardens are, in the end, all about the greater good: dark methods may have to be employed to get the right results and making sure the Blight is stopped is the only result that matters, which makes being stereotypically good a very hard thing to do. Being kind and chivalrous is all well and good, and there's a lot of scope for your personal opinion but, dangerous and "evil" as some aspects of life might be, if they'll help end the Blight, then that's what really matters. It's not all about you. Your companions, a bunch varying from bitchy witches to stoic, eight-foot warriors, have their own opinions on your actions.[41]

In a place ruled by magic and feudal lords, an ancient evil stirs every few hundred years to cast a Blight across the land. The continued survival of these people is ensured by a small group of heroic individuals, warriors of peace charged with uniting the disparate factions into a single force capable of repelling the forces of the underworld. Is it Dungeons & Dragons? The Lord of the Rings? No. The land is called Ferelden, its peacekeepers are the Grey Wardens and the creator of it all is BioWare.[36]

Includes: (1) A fun dungeon-delving adventure; (2) A set of ancient Grey Warden armor, complete with heraldry; (3) A chance to gain two of six mysterious new abilities. (4) A new base complete with merchants and a party chest to store your hard-earned loot. There are no refunds for this item.[21]

Wilson continues: "Unlike some party-based RPGs, where you can play through the campaign without exploring certain characters, I found myself sadly constrained by only having three other characters in my party. [15] You may find yourself drawn to certain characters, leaving others in your base camp, but don't worry - the characters left behind will not cease to level. As the characters in the main party fight and level, those left behind level as well. Should you reset the party - each character has specific traits that define the role he or she would play in the group dynamic - you will be allowed to allocate their points earned while at the camp.[40]

As satisfying as it is to simply plow right through the enemy, constructing elaborate plans and placing your party in just the right positions to completely decimate your opponents is even more satisfying still. Hot Micromanagement: I really enjoy micromanaging my role-playing characters, from fine-tuning their equipment to placing each skill point to maximize combat efficiency.[3] I really do hate that about videogames in general, some games are so awesome but have a frustrating combat system that just ruins it completely.[7] The decision to drop any sort of "morality meter" (comparable to Dungeons & Dragons's alignment or the Knights of the Old Republic Light Side/Dark side measurement) really works to the game's advantage.[9]

Mark: it is very much a game that is heavily inspired by Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights and the games we have done in the past. I think this is a team that has been through a lot of these games before so there is a lot that we have learned from the things we have done in the past. The story structure, in particular, the branching and interconnectivity of the story, making sure the choices matter - this is all stuff that we have worked with and improved upon from previous games.[30] Kingdoms rose and fell and important people lived or died based solely on my whims. This is definitely the kind of game you'll want to play through multiple times, just to see how your actions affect the world.[3] Great review. Well I'm picking this game up today just as soon as my gamestop opens which should be in about another seven minutes.[9] Its all kinds of fun picked it up this morning. Just so you guys know their are achivements on the pc they post online automaticly as well if your signed into your ea/dragon age account.[11] Ultimately I'll make up my own mind on it as I bought it for 360 for various reasons. I'd also like to note to others if he feels AI is bad in the 360 version I wouldn't expect much better in PC version.[7] Im getting the PC version in hopes to change my characters face appearence and get around that crappy creator, lol.[38] @smuckers From everything Bioware has put out I don't think there is a clear better version between the PS3 or 360 version. The only difference for a while was the PS3 version wasn't supposed to ship until later this month but that changed last week to match the release date of the PC and 360 versions.[7]

From the two to four hour origins that begin the title to the extraordinary battle for power within the dwarven politics, Bioware was able to put forth an exceedingly involving world that never holds back any punches.[17] I just finished playing for about an hour or so. the graphics are not anything to write home about but the story and dialogue are pretty much classic Bioware, although I have not run into any quirky "Minsc" like stuff yet.[25] DA:O is a very gritty, often bloody adventure with mature themes. It has elements of traditional fantasy like heroes, villains, and magic, but BioWare is not pulling any punches - players will be in a brutal, dangerous, and sometimes shocking world.[5] "I managed to navigate the treacherous waters of that horrific Bioware social crap and now my extra content is downloading. I thought I was avoiding this crap by buying from Steam. It's not like it isn't already locked to my freaking account," another forum member complained.[10]

With only a couple of characters on the screen things aren't too bad, leaning towards the high 20's frame rate-wise, but when you're in a big battle or a crowd scene, things dip into the middle to high teens. Mind you I am guestimating here it's not like I have some magical PS3 FPS tool, but the dip is definitely noticeable.[3] A meter on the character sheet tracks how one character likes your main character and dialogue choices can lead to intimate moments that are alluded to.[40]

Players created a character from one of six origins, complete with a rich back-story, and begin the task of cleansing the lands once again.[40] For all of the subtle differences wrought in the story by different character origins, there is no subtlety in how you come to learn the world around you.[36] "Some are do-gooders looking to make the world a better place. Others are banishing demons of their own. One harbors their own plans. While none are as memorable as BG2's Minsc or HK-47 from Knights of the Old Republic, each character leaves a stamp on the story -- and some are downright integral to its plot."[15] Every corner you look, there is a sense of age, of something old. Entire mythologies for multiple cultures have been brewed up, entire religions mapped out in their own belief systems, history that stretches back hundreds, if not thousands, of years.[38]

Players will be able to acquire unique party members, from the hot-headed Morrigan to the seductive Zevhran to the fierce Oghren and many more. These party members will have their own motivations for accompanying the player.[5] Be it tank-like enemy warriors that love to gang up on one player and systematically take the team down, archers that hide away and stun players with flights of arrows, or mages that can stun, freeze, drain and explode the allied party, often at once, there is too much to deal with at any given time, and players can easily be overwhelmed by the sheer clusterfuck of battle.[7] Despite using a rogue as my main character, I had to spend most of my time babysitting my mage. It's not a huge problem, as warriors and rogues benefit from the AI customization a lot more than mages, and the mage is the most fun class to directly control, partially due to how area effect attacks work.[24] In Mass Effect, the characters looked sharp.'' They were expressive and exhibited impressive facial details.[50] Animations, particularly character faces, spell effects and combat moves are beautifully implemented.[9] The outcome is controlled by the results of dice thrown off screen. That means the real strategy takes place before the fighting begins as we navigate a complex set of radial and tab-based menus, sorting through scores of equipment pieces and items, creating lists of if/then scenarios for each character when they are in combat (example: if surrounded by three or more enemies, use sweeping slash), and assigning spells, abilities, and items to battle menu shortcuts.[6] Hopefully, the party based combat will help with "thief" style characters and I won't end up getting the sneak button stuck again.[14] Some special combat animations were way off, with my character performing finishing blows in the air next to the boss I had just downed.[3]

There were a number of times when I wished for a mouse and keyboard instead of the awkward radial menu. Positioning your characters and interacting with menus never feels completely natural, and this can be rather frustrating on higher difficulty levels.[24] You are on a desperate quest to save the world, without leaving your country. That country feels like a country, and the desperation, too, is genuine: little touches like a growing dark stain on your map signify the progress of the Blight, certain quests feel like races against time, and you never feel anything but pressured.[41] Turn based or bust. I like turn-based as much as the next guy (unless that guy is an unabashed weeaboo that's stuck in the '90s) but there's a time and a place for that shit and it's not in a western RPG that was made in 2009.[14] Now we want to show you how the new RPG looks like at 2,560 x 1,600 pixels with 4x (Sparse Grid) Supersampling on a Radeon HD 5870.[32]

While there is an ending, you find yourself not truly wishing to get to it, if only to prolong the experience, but hungry nonetheless to succeed and save the lands. BioWare stated that this was a return to its roots in the RPG space and it is a glorious return.[40] So the stage is set for Bioware's latest opus. It's a story of corruption on every level and the fight to regain some sense of balance to stem the tide, which at times seems all but overpowering.[29]

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