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Dragon Age Origins?

    • 229 posts
    January 9, 2014 5:35 PM EST

    I'm a HUGE fan of Mass Effect and I recently have been looking at Dragon Age Origins. I was wondering if those of you who have played it think it's good, because I've been considering buying the Ultimate Edition for 35$.

    • 1483 posts
    January 9, 2014 5:40 PM EST

    Totally worth it! The game is just amazing, it is different from Mass Effect in terms of gameplay and dialogue (non-voiced protagonist) but it is a ton of fun, a lot of freedom for character creation, a huge number of possible builds, absolutely engaging storyline and characters

  • Jen
    • 88 posts
    January 9, 2014 6:21 PM EST

    I love Dragon Age, next to the Mass Effect trilogy, it's my favorite game. The characters are so well done, and the story is really a lot of fun. My Wardens really feel like they are MY characters, and are each distinctive in how they see things and who they connect with. And it was the first game that emotionally impacted me. 

    • 51 posts
    January 9, 2014 6:58 PM EST

    Awesome game, and totally worth it, but wait for it to go on sale.  It goes under $10 a few times a year.

  • January 9, 2014 7:15 PM EST

    Jo, where the hell are you?

    • 111 posts
    January 9, 2014 7:26 PM EST

    A first rate game! Loved it to bits. The mods (if you play on a pc you can access these)are a bonus but even without them DAO is great! Characters and their builds, voice acting, plot, storyline the whole shebang is reminiscent and in some cases an improvement over the famous BG series which was Bioware's big deal for RPG fantasy. Sadly the same cannot be said of DA2 which unlike BG2 is not a step up from the first one.

    I'm waiting on Dragon Age 3 which may be out at the end of this year (hopefully)


    • 229 posts
    January 9, 2014 8:46 PM EST

    I haven't seen it much, I was trying to get a new Ultimate edition, and there wasn't any in my area, and a lot of online stores are out of them. I'd be buying one on Ebay from the UK.

    • 229 posts
    January 9, 2014 8:47 PM EST

    My thing is, If I get DA:O Ultimate Edition, I'll want to buy DA: Inquisition, and I would want to have progress to move from DA:O and DA:2. How bad Is DA:2?

    • 15 posts
    January 9, 2014 9:32 PM EST
    Dragon Age is by far my favorite series. DA2 is still a great game, it just has some flaws and didn't live up to DAO. Still a great game though, great story, great companions, challenging combat. I just recommend PC over console. DA2 major flaws for you to be aware of are that you don't get to select/ change companion armor and that you will spend the whole 80+ hours in the same 4 environments. Not a lot of map variety.
    • 111 posts
    January 10, 2014 5:06 AM EST

    It's not bad but it's width of scope and focus is limited. Gameplay is pretty much confined to a smaller, but more intensely political world with most of the action taking place within the boundary of one city. However, I did have a lot of fun with the new skill trees for the PC and party members, really liked the combat moves, and  the PC/NPC/plot interaction. Mage combat and spell abilities are much improved and more versatile as are the graphic effects. Combat can be really challenging if you don't have the right combo of team members with a complimentary set of skills. Having said that, Bioware in a knee jerk reaction to what it perceived as negative media coverage of ME 1's so called sex scenes (it even got a mention in the US Senate) panicked and made the romance scenes ridiculous while leaving the banter mostly untouched, but in some cases a bit lame

    Notwithstanding that if I give quite freely a 9.5 out of 10 to DAO then DA2 easily rates somewhere between an 8.5 and a 9 in my view with Bioware doing their usual great stuff on the RPG side as well. I guess that's the difference between a good game and a great one!!

    • 773 posts
    January 10, 2014 6:20 AM EST

    Oddly enough I've been thinking about picking up the Ultimate edition myself

    I played it through quickly when it first came out, and sold it on. But I find myself with a hankering to play it through again (I've never played any of the DLC)  before the third game comes out.

    • 28 posts
    January 10, 2014 9:22 AM EST

    Just looked it up because of this thread and now I need to buy this. Fortunately I still have some money left over from my 21st so I shall get this tomorrow. :D

    • 1913 posts
    January 10, 2014 9:30 AM EST
    The only DLC that are fully worth it are Awakening and Witch Hunt (even though I don't like Morrigan)... Darkspawn chronicles exists only to grant you the ability to kill characters you desperately wanted to kill (goldanna, Alistair (if you ever found him annoying at points like me), sten, etc.). Leliana's Song while I enjoyed it, it doesn't really add much we didn't know about... In fact, the only thing it adds is that there were others that helped her in fighting... That's it, we knew everything else... And the last DLC that shall go without mentioning only is good when you fight the final boss cause he is a challenge... Everything else about that DLC is terrible.
    • 1913 posts
    January 10, 2014 9:33 AM EST
    Don't worry, since DA:I will be on the new consoles, they are using a new thing called "the keep" to change save data and choices. That way you can go in not having played any of them or all of them, and you would still be on equal footing.
    • 1913 posts
    January 10, 2014 9:34 AM EST
    I liked the combat for Xbox :( though it is t much fun to try and make a tank or warrior in general unless you make them OP at combat.
    • 13 posts
    January 10, 2014 10:26 AM EST

    Awesome story, awesome characters, cool evironments and a lot of choices. That's what Dragon Age Origins is. Totally worth it!

    • 1 posts
    January 10, 2014 11:05 AM EST
    This game is great. I've played it multiple times. In fact, I only own Skyrim and the Dragon Age games for my xbox because every time I buy a new game I always end up playing one of these two games anyway. Buying anything else is a waste of time for me.
    • 15 posts
    January 10, 2014 11:09 AM EST
    I have to say I found all of the DLC, especially Leliana's Song, to be very entertaining.

    If you are only interested in story, then I would say yes, Awakening and Witch Hunt as most important, but also would definitely recommend the Shale DLC (reappears in the 3rd novel) and even Return to Ostagar.
    • 1913 posts
    January 10, 2014 11:12 AM EST
    I didn't count those as DLC since they were original ingame content that was cut from the game to be sold later...
    • 51 posts
    January 10, 2014 11:37 AM EST
    Agreed on Awakening and Return To Ostagar. I'd add Warden's Keep as well.
  • Jen
    • 88 posts
    January 10, 2014 12:39 PM EST

    The combat in DA 2 is dumbed down, enemies dropping from nowhere, no real strategy needed, but it's fun and flows nicely (especially as a mage). So it doesn't feel as clunky. And the reused enviroments are ridiculous. But it is still a good game with some fantastic character interaction. Varric is one of my favorite characters ever, very charming, funny and useful as well. So glad he will be back. It was disappointing, but definitely a lot of fun, in my opinion.

    • 1913 posts
    January 10, 2014 12:42 PM EST
    Dumbed down? In DA:O it was literally fighting people with the touch of one button...
    • 111 posts
    January 10, 2014 12:58 PM EST

    Oddly enough I checked all the DLCs out. Witch Hunt was the only one I downloaded, and The Awakening expansion I bought and enjoyed playing 

  • Jen
    • 88 posts
    January 10, 2014 1:17 PM EST

    Not for me it wasn't, I always had to set up tactics, and view the field, then position my character correctly. I had to think about what approach my warrior or rogue would take because it didn't react as quickly. Still haven't been able to play on nightmare. With DA2 I could just jump in, tactics be damned, and button smash.....even with a mage, I only ever went down once in DA2, and that is saying something, because I am terrible at combat. 

    • 1913 posts
    January 10, 2014 1:26 PM EST
    Not when I played it... I played on hard and all I had to do was press the a button once and occasionally pop a potion...