Dragon Age: Origins - Reviews

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1.12.2009

The basics of the game are that you control a party of 4 using a point and click interface in the aim of completing a single huge quest.You start off in one of a number of starter stories based on you character type which have an affect on the way people speak to you throughout the entire game. These are possibly some of the most interesting areas as the world. The script is very tight and you are introduced to the world in an interesting and not overwhelming manner.You are introduced to the three character types:A rogue who does increased damage from back stabs, can open locks and does not like being attacked by large numbers of enemies. The rogue has three choices of play. To be an effective dual wielder,to be an effective archer, or to be mildly effective at both. Later they have the option to specialise becoming a ranger style with a pet or to increase their damage output.A mage who does a large amount of damage to single or multiple enemies or indeed anyone in the area and does not like being attacked by large numbers of enemies. The mage gets the healing spells, the buff spells and the mass damage spells. Later they have the option of becoming a shape changer, a better healer, a mage/warrior, or being able to manage their mana pool more effectively.A warrior who can be attacked by larger numbers of enemies and does some moderate damage. The warrior can become be an effective tank, slow but hard hitting two hander or a dual wielder. Later they have the option for a few more spell like abilities.All the characters do a combination of damage, slow, stun and knockdown attacks. With a few hinder/helper skills thrown in.After the introduction story the player can choose the order in which they tackle a handful of areas on the map. A wood, a town, a mountain top, inside a mountain. The story isn't as tight here as the areas are very self contained. This choice has one plus that I can see. It aids integrating new areas of content.Finally there is some final stuff that I won't go into.The game took me around 65 hours. Which involved completing most quests but not obsessively so. I read enough of the law to get a good grasp of every aspect of the world, but I was selective in my reading. Looking back I would say most of my game time was spent watching spoken dialogue scenes, micro (pause) managing fights, watching loading screens and managing the inventory.The game took five years to complete and was started on a modified Neverwinter Nights Engine. The graphics range from very flat areas with low resolution textures, am I playing Neverwinter Night style, to a more Mass Effect style. It is all quite generic.Now that I have described the game I will give you my thoughts.Firstly this game is not Baldur's Gate. Not even close. This game is a LOTR, WOW, NWN, KOTR, Mass Effect hybrid. The influence from those games is heavy. From large battles in the woods vs orcs (spawn my behind, they are orcs) with a heavy orchestral score. To watching cool downs after selecting a potion. Dragon age has mixed these influences incredibly well but you will be hard pressed to find any originality.The lore of the game is huge but not particularly complex or thought provoking. Downtrodden elves check, cast system dwarves check, mages are mistrusted check, humans are a very general race check. How many different ways can we word these ideas in conversations and law? Quite allot it seems. The effect of this lore on you is nothing more than wording. The story is your bog standard save the world. You are 'picked' and singled out by a jedi knight..I mean warden for no particular reason and that is a problem with the entire game. The world revolves around you. Party and enemy levelling and world development is set by your character.The world is a very static place it seems. Very static. Going back into the woods after a year to see your elf kin and they are all stood in the same spot and facing the same direction as when you first arrived. The world is very linear. Choosing the order in which you visit the main areas and choosing one or three paths at a junction is as free as it gets. The NPC's are even thrown at you. In fights the mages do loads of damage and disabling and healing. The party choices really boil down to whether you have lots of mages or not, whether you have a tank or not, whether you have a rogue for locks or not. These changes are all rather obvious.The levelling is very straightforward. Be a specific type or mix two types. If you mix say archery and dual wielding the ai does not switch with your weapon switch. Watching your archer use dual wielding ai is a pain. Apart from that with a little thought, time and experience of playing the ai can be set up to work very effectively. You can micro manage fights more effectively but that depends on whether you want to micro manage every little fight. I tended to only micro manage large fights and mainly paused to put the odd character on a preferred course of action. The Large monster battles are very satisfying and the game makes good use of them. The large numbers battles are just fiddly with dodgy walking paths, obstructions breaking your commands and your tank occasionally running 100 yards away to attack a pathetic archer...Or blitz the place with mages.The character depth is poor. A mad person will dribble and rock, a nasty person will be blunt and uncaring. You get the usual grim determination, jocularity as a cover-up. Don't worry if you don't notice each character type. Their types will be commented enough on during the game to make doubly sure you get it. Some conversations did make me laugh or halt my mission to listen. It isn't all average.For a large story driven game there are no insights into humanity here. No interest in psychology, sociology, philosophy. There is no character development or intriguing situations. If you annoy a member of your team or want to get laid give them a bottle of wine (several times). There is no black or white, good or bad. What there is allot of is personal gain or not, and this person did 3 bad things and 1 very good thing and that person did 2 bad things and 2 minor good things, so who shall I side with? Is that an improvement over a scale of good and evil? I'm not so sure. Shame the writers didn't take a short course on writing fiction. It would have improved the game immensely.The models could be swapped in and out of other games and you couldn't pick them out of a line up. No lovingly hand created 2D artwork here. Just the usual factory line 3D package models.Compared to a good book or a classic like Fallout, Planescape Torment and Baldur's Gate this game is a massive let down. Compared to the usual non Japanese rpg of the past decade such as Drakensang, Two Worlds or Gothic this game has easily leaped to the top of the pile. There is nothing specifically wrong with the game but your overall opinion will be affected heavily by your expectations. I can't help but feel this the Phantom Menace of games (without binks). There is nothing in the game that isn't above average for an rpg. So it is a must buy for any rpg fan. However once the hype has died down, the game will be remembered as an enjoyable well made rpg, rather than fondly remembered as a storytelling and roleplaying classic.Mathematically your enjoyment will be inversely proportional to how fondly you remember "Go for the eyes Boo! Go for the eyes!"

19.6.2013

Dragon Age: Origins is BioWare's reflective look at their own origin (so to speak). It's a big, broad, swords and sorcery epic meant to evoke memories of the Baldur's Gate series, where BioWare got started in RPGs. It's also in 3D, with streamlined controls, inventory management and in-engine cut-scenes. It's BioWare's attempt to blend their original, more hardcore RPGs with their later, stripped-back and more cinematic games like the Mass Effect series. It's a game that tries to balance the old with the new and does not quite succeed.Which is not to say it doesn't have a go. The game is huge, taking upwards of 50 hours to complete. Cleverly,the game reorganises its opening two hour prologue based on your race and class: a dwaven noble starts in a separate location to a human mage, with a totally different cast of supporting characters, enemies and opening quests. The fact that you can replay the game several times and get a different opening, with the various versions not aligning until you reach Ostagar, is quite clever and rewards replaying the game. Indeed, the choices in these sections reverberate throughout the whole game, with your eventual return to your starting location allowing you to address unfinished business. It's the game's main selling point and is something that is handled very well, making it all the more bemusing that the concept was completely chucked out the window for the two sequels.As is traditional with BioWare games, your main character is fully customisable but the supporting cast are set in stone. You can accumulate up to ten companion characters throughout the course of the game and take three of them with you on missions. Your inactive party members hang out at a campsite you can periodically visit to exchange information, form friendships (and even romantic relationships) and improve everyone's equipment. The game has a reputation system for each character, and winning their trust will give you bonuses in combat and open up additional questlines. It's a nice idea but also one that's easy to neglect. The game also treats morally ambiguous sorceress Morrigan and sarcastic warrior Alistair as almost the secondary main characters, each with huge roles to play in the endgame, which is rather bizarre if you've just gone through 95% of the game favouring other characters instead. All of the companion characters are nicely-developed, though it's far from the strongest cast BioWare have produced for a game and some self-derivation can be detected: Shale is awesome, for example, but feels a little too reminiscent of Knights of the Old Republic's HK-47.You spend the game doing what you usually do in a BioWare games: a broad variety of quests, varying from the mundane to the epic, and getting into lots of conversations and fights. A lot of fights: you seem to spend the overwhelming majority of the game in combat, and violence seems to be the solution to almost every problem in the game. There's a few quests based on diplomacy and dialogue, and a few fights can be avoided through intimidating or persuading the enemy, but otherwise be prepared to do a ton of fighting. Fortunately, the old 'hit space to pause' option is still present and correct, allowing you to assign orders to characters and take stock of the battle as it develops. A quickbar allows easy access to abilities, spells and weapons. Combat is generally satisfying, although health spells feel a little weak (at high level they restore so few hit-points it's almost not worth bothering with them). The biggest weakness is positioning: enemy units can clip or shove past your units with ease, making it impossible to create bottlenecks in corridors and engage the enemy with warriors whilst wizards and ranged fighters engage from afar. This seriously limits tactical options and can make fighting large numbers of tough enemies particularly difficult. Some abilities also feel overpowered: the enemy's ability to encase your characters in null-magic zones where healing magic simply does not work can result in total party wipe-outs all too easily.In technical terms, the game is okay. Graphically it looks solid on PC (but a bit washed-out on consoles) and mods are available to improve textures further. The game is a bit flaky on multi-core PCs but runs fine if you assign it to run on just one core. Camera control is a bit of an issue: the PC version allows you to play the game from an overhead viewpoint (reminiscent of Neverwinter Nights except, bizarrely for a seven years-newer game, far less customisable) but you can't zoom out very far, and enemies often engage you from outside this viewing range. Switching to the over-the-shoulder view (which the consoles are limited to) is great for spotting distant enemies and engaging them at range, but is useless for melee. You can switch between them easily enough, but it feels a bit annoying you can't stay in the viewpoint you favour throughout the game. The overhead view also sometimes seems to get confused on whether it should be 'locked onto' your selected character or allowing you to free-roam.The writing is a mixed bag. A lot of dialogue in the game is obvious, expositionary and risible, not helped by severely variable voice acting (Claudia Black is the standout as Morrigan). There are attempts at nuanced characterisation - key villain Loghain has his reasons for doing what he's doing, though he's such an unrepentant martinet that most players will feel zero sympathy for him - but they mostly fall flat. The game also makes a nod towards gritty realism through its political infighting and bloody combat, though the game goes completely over-the-top with your characters walking out of fights covered head-to-foot in gore. The political angle also doesn't work very well due to the politics being rather boring and it's difficult to care about Ferelden when you spend most of the game hearing about how isolationist and racist it is, riven by internal conflicts with few genuinely good people in positions of authority.Despite the clunky writing, poor camera controls and focus on violence as the solution to just about everything, the game just about manages to keep its head above water. It's satisfyingly huge and the worldbuilding is derivative (a mash-up of standard fantasy tropes with more than a bit of inspiration from George R.R. Martin) but somewhat interesting. The differing opening sections of the game give some good replay value. Combat is solid if unspectacular. There's a germ of a really good game here, but there's also an overwhelming feeling of blandness and predictability that rears its head all too often.Dragon Age: Origins (***½) is a very solid game from BioWare, although it's self-reflection on BioWare's past is rather pointless: the Baldur's Gate series is still extremely playable and frankly on almost every front bar the technical one are better games than Dragon Age. For those simply after a big, enjoyable fantasy RPG, Dragon Age certainly fits the bill. Its ambition is impressive and even in failing to fully achieve it, it's still very playable and worth a look.

14.11.2009

It's been a long time since I've played a computer game that I've enjoyed so much (though, to be fair, I'm not a hXc gamer). My favourite games tend to be the ones with strong storylines and characters. There haven't been too many of those in recent times. I love to immerse myself in an interactive world in the same way I might read a book. Modern games tend to be more filmic: short and explosive. Take what is destined to be Game of the Year for most people, Modern Warfare 2, for example. It guarantees around 5 hours of frenetic entertainment. That's fine, but I prefer games that are long enough for characters to mature; for plots to catalyse, develop, and resolve; and for settings to be realised.This is a huge game,potentially over 60hrs, though I finished in around 55hrs in my first playthrough. I'm sure that I could've eked more content by exploring more and taking quests and dialogue options that I missed before. The nature of the origin stories - that your character's origin affects their course throughout the game (not really, but I'll get to that later) - means that Dragon Age has an immense replayability that most games lack.I'll pick just one of the Origins divergences: elves are seen as a lower class and discriminated against accordingly. Thus, as a human, you're privileged, and as an elf, you have more disadvantages. It's an interesting take, as usually elves in fantasy are seen as mystical, other-worldly entities, like demi-gods. I started a new game as an elven rogue and it was truly surprising to see my character at the butt end of racist remarks and discrimination during the start of the game. It made me realise how often games shy away from this kind of challenge and interaction. Unfortunately, well, maybe fortunately for my main character, the prejudice drops off the further into the game I get. it isn't like I want to play a racism simulator or anything, but I felt that it was a rich seam of conflict and drama that Bioware could have exploited more consistently throughout the game.I should note that my estimate for gametime includes the Stone Prisoner DLC which adds a new character and some extra content to the main game. The DLC is free if you buy a new retail copy. Shale - the character you get with the DLC - is one of my favourite characters in the game and you should definitely complete the quest that activates him as soon as possible so you can have him in your party for longer. He's a big, camp golem. What's not to like?The combat is almost exactly the same as Knights of the Old Republic, though it is a bit deeper, owing to the extensive tactics system. I'm not too good at it, though, so I played through the game on easy, which isn't exactly easy. The PC version is probably best for combat since you can zoom out and arrange your party to protect magic users and allow rogues to sneak up and backstab suckers. At least one of my party members gets knocked out (they don't die) after boss battles for instance. So I expect that Normal and Hard difficulties would present a challenge even to Baldur's Gate veterans.The quality of voice acting and presentation throughout the game is fairly consistent, though, naturally, many of the NPCs you encounter will begin to look and sound the same. It isn't as bad as Oblivion, though, and there are enough unique quest giving NPCs to keep things interesting.A disappointment is how generic the sub quests can be. Dragon Age is very much an old school RPG in this respect. The vast majority of quests you receive will be either find-and-fetch or find-and-kill quests. The main story arc, as well as the quests received from party members, is a lot better. There are some great setpieces in the main arc and, though they obviously borrow heavily from Peter Jackson, they are quite impressive.Longevity would be a drag if one has to spend a 50hr game in the presence of annoying characters. Fortunately, the characters in DA are all interesting in their own way, though some stand out more than others. They will flirt, joke, and taunt each other as the party travels through the game, and some of the exchanges are funny or intriguing enough to merit stopping play to listen. The main character's dialogue is not voiced, and it allowed me to imagine myself speaking the words. I remember disliking both the male and female voices in Mass Effect, so this is a big bonus for me. There are still good/evil/neutral dialogue choices, but there is no meter measuring how benevolent or malignant you are being. Instead, each of your party members has her/his own scale that will shift depending on your decisions. Morrigan's scale might go down -2 points if you help villagers, while Alistair's might go up. This makes it interesting, since you have to weigh up the effect of choices bearing in mind the whole party. I tended to like Morrigan best as a character, but disagreed with her attitude a lot of the time, so it made for some painstaking decisions.The graphics are detailed, but lacklustre. I have a feeling that this is more to do with Bioware's design decisions rather than the capabilities of the engine itself. The textures are rough and often jagged. I wonder if this is a conscious design decision. They are trying to make a dark and gritty world. That said, certain things like bad lip synching, glitches (like Alistair's sword poking through one of Morrigan's big boobs*), and the stylistic familiarity of many of the locations (dungeons and inns are ubiquitous - maybe someone should make a spin-off parody called Advanced Dungeons and Inns) can break the immersion somewhat. Oh yes, and the sex scenes are so bad that I think Bioware probably decided to make them like that lest any Mary Whitehouse characters accuse them of titillating an audience like they did with Mass Effect. I can't think of anyone getting off on those. You'd be served better by bashing a couple of action figures together if you want to view fake coitus.The best thing about the graphics is that the spell effects are particularly whiz-bang. The fire effect is one of the best I've seen in my limited experience, and I found myself casting the "cone of fire" spell more than once just to see it. The gore, while not really my thing, is rather visceral (probably obvious, since it's "gore") with the finishing moves being especially violent.All in all, I loved playing this game and I'm still enjoying my replay of it. I can't think of a better value-for-money game at the moment and it is bound to please fans of Bioware's previous work.*I must say, I am so tired of giant boobs in video games. This is the middle ages, people. Where are all of these women getting breast implants, collagen implants for their lips, and makeup worthy of Sephora? I'd like to see women with more realistic proportions.

22.5.2011

To plaigirize slightly from another review - when was the last time you played a fantasy RPG that really made you care about the world it is set in ? When I read this in another review I immediately went and bought a copy of Dragon Age Origins and having played it I entirely agree. Dragon Age is a completely original game world and system, and one that anyone who plays in it will remember as fondly as Middle Earth or any other classic.Many people remember the last great computer RPG's as Baldurs Gate and Neverwinter Nights but instead of copying these games ( and the Dungeons and Dragons system ) Dragon Age uses something completely original and is all the better for it.There are only three classes to choose from in Dragon Age - the warrior, the rogue and the mage. However you may also choose to be either a human, an elf or a dwarf and whichever combination of class and race you choose gives you a completely different background story in the game. Each class may also be further developed by learning class specialisations such as the assassin ( for a rogue ) or the beserker ( for a warrior ).The game is set in the world of Ferelden which is facing an incursion of evil known as a Blight. This involves a horde of evil creatures laying waste to the land, led by a demon in the form of a dragon. Whichever role you choose you will soon find yourself fighting against this Blight and eventually leading an army to defeat it. How you go about this is up to you, and although there are no character alignments as such the choices you make clearly define you as either good or evil ( or somewhere in between ).The game setting describes itself as dark fantasy and it does this very well in its very adult approach to the genre. There are a lot of dark plots, hideous monsters and demons, and graphic violence that set the mood of the game. From the start there are moral decisions to be made and it is these decisions that in many ways form the heart of the game. Do you sacrifice one person in order to save another, or do you ally with someone evil for the greater good ? Often there is no clear cut right and wrong and your decisions clearly affect the plot.Your choice of allies is one decision you will have to make very early on. While adventuring you can only have three companions with you at any one time, but you can have several more resting in camp which you can swap over in between combat. Each character has his or her own agenda and backstory, which often affects the plot of your own tale. These NPC's are a pleasure to get to know, even when they are initally hostile and rude towards your own character. The voice acting is excellent and when travelling its enjoyable just to listen to them talk amongst themselves, as some get on better than others. When in combat you get to program each NPC in your group with a chosen set of commands, in an order you specify. They will then attempt to follow these commands each fight, although they have their own AI and will not always follow them 100%. This system takes a little getting used to at first but it is extremely clever, allowing you to plan your party tactics while concentrating on your own character during the action.Combat itself involves the use of special abilities or magic to attack and the action can be paused at any time to review the situation. Depending on what difficulty setting you play the game on you may need to do this a lot, or never at all. When you want ( or when your own character is unconscious ) you can take direct control of an NPC. Combat can be very strategic on high difficulty settings, or more arcade style on the lower settings. It plays out beautifully though with your characters fighting until they are knocked unconscious, when healing kits are needed to revive them. If you all go down the game resets to the last save point.As you adventure you will gain experience to earn levels, the same as in most RPG's. New levels will allow you to improve statistics, learn new skills and spells and gain access to class specialisations. As you level up so do the NPC's, even if you are not using them and they are in camp most of the time, the next time you activate them their level will increase so its nearer your own.As you explore you will learn more about Ferelden and its history and you will realise exactly how detailed this game world is. There are hundreds of books and other documents to be found which explain more about the world, and NPC's to talk to with stories and backgrounds that expand it even more. Most magic items you find have their own history and story behind them, and many are unique and varied. Everything about this world has been detailed to such a level that you can truely lose yourself in the story. There is nothing that says you have to read every book you pick up, but after you have played for a while you will find that you want to.The graphics also help to bring Ferelden to life as each NPC uses the same facial design methods as your character. Everyone you meet is distinct in their appearance and manners. Each town or city is fully detailed in a way that is cartoon like in style similar to a graphic novel. Its a style that is not ultra realistic but it blends perfectly together so there are never any gaps or glitches showing. Every dungeon you visit looks and feels unique, and there is a huge amount of freedom to go where you want and explore what you want. Each part of the world is as detailed and involving as the next.As you may expect with a game like this there is no online gaming option. You can compare your character to others but its simply not realistic to expect a game with so much diversity of plot to be able to mix together with others. There is however a lot of online support in the form of additional NPC's and adventures that you can download using the Playstation Network. I would however add the caveat that these are not cheap and for what you get I'd only reccomend them to those who really want something more to play with the same character. At the point of me writing this DragonAge II is available but you have to play a different character, so these downloads are the only way to extend your adventure.That said Dragon Age Origins has enormous replayability as what character you play and what decisions you make does effect the plot. Obviously you can't totally diverge from the storyline but I have played this game three times now and had three completely different experiences. Whats more, the game is so good I have actually wanted to play this game three times !Even with Dragon Age II now available I still think this is the best RPG available for the PS3. It provides a completely original and involving RPG experience which will live on in your memory long after you finish playing.

29.10.2010

Dragon Age: Origins is a traditional RPG. The leveling up is very original, you have strength, agility, wisdom, constitution and so on. Then you have the skills and abilities that you can learn. The best part is how you even get distribute the skills and points party members earn when leveling up for them (or you can do auto level up), so there is a lot here for RPG fans. You also get to chose what party members have equipped, so you aren't just focusing on your character. For those of you who love hardcore RPG elements, it's all here. For those of you that only like small RPG elements, you can chose to auto level up your characters.Gameplay:Dragon Age: Origins has you running around,exploring areas, solving quests and killing. The exploration system works with you choosing which area to go to on the world map. Once you chose an area, you see a trail of blood move towards there from your current location, sometimes you may encounter other parties or creatures, while most times, you'll get to your destination straight away. Areas that you can directly explore contain many people to talk to and many side quests, although for me, the exploration in the game is nothing impressive and it doesn't try to be. Dragon Age is more of a story telling game with much combat. The combat is handled differently depending on what difficulty you play on, play on Casual difficulty and you only ever have to play as your character, play on other difficulties and you'll find you'll need to manage your character's party's tactics and even sometimes take direct control of them in battle. Tactics are things ranging from having a party member automatically drink a healing potion when low on health, to attacking the most powerful enemy. Using your character's or party member's abilities are fun and make a change from just clicking on an enemy and watching your character attack them and while they still does happen, abilities make sure that you control your character or party members even more while in combat. Abilities range from adopting to a defensive stance, to hacking and slashing at an enemy (rogue, warrior), casting a spell (mage), to shield bashing (warrior), using the abilities for multiple party members on a boss to take him down is a must do and boss fights are very fun. In my opinion, the combat in this game is very fun.Story:Typical and same old story. The world against an ancient threat. As a grey warden, you must form an army to battle the darkspawn (orcs), to gather this army, you must appeal to the races and groups on Thedas using ancient treaties that these races and people signed long ago (seems similar to the pact made between men, elves and dwarfs in LOTR), then you must battle the archdemon. Of course there is more to it than that and one quests involves you trying to a find an holy artefact with healing energy called: the Urn of Sacred Ashes (The Holy Grail). Dragon Age: Origins is inspired by many different things and what makes it good, is how it executes everything so well. I'd say the story is more about your character whose personality gets shaped throughout the game based on the dialogue choices you decide to chose for him/her. Characters you meet in Dragon Age are memorable and come out with some memorable dialogue.I have many characters that I have made and I became attached to them, each have their own background (you play through it), personality and morals. My first character was a holy knight who sacrificed himself to save the world, one of my other characters was a ruthless sinner who murdered, cheated, lied and betrayed. While another character I had made was greedy and didn't mind doing a good or evil deed, as long as he got gold. While another learned blood magic (demonic magic) so he could destroy all evil in the world. He would do anything to destroy evil. Dragon Age really does allow you to create almost any character you can dream of. Your decisions throughout the game also have an affect on the world and these affects are told to you at the end of the game and imported into the upcoming Dragon Age 2.Expansion:Awakenings is the expansion to Origins. You become the commander of a fort, awakenings adds more skills and spells and items and all the things that have been added are very good, the spells are magnificent as well. However, the main storyline is rather short but on the positive side, the side quests are more interesting than the side quests in Origins and the places you get to explore are more memorable, at least to me. Being like Origins and offering you multiple choices of how to finish a quest, the expansion is replayable and will give you at least 30 hours of gameplay.DLC:Some are good, some are not. All DLC is bound to take up 10 - 15 hours to finish and maybe more if you want to go through all dialogue possible and read everything you find. I'm not sure if I would recommend buying the Ultimate Edition just for the DLC though, since some seem rushed to be honest. If you must get it just for the DLC, wait till the price drops even more.Overall:The Ultimate Edition contains two discs, Origins and the expansion and DLC disc. The expansion and DLC disc contain the expansion and DLC obviously, you then download them onto your computer and unlike that scam Bethesda did with the shivering isles disc version which needed you to connect to Xbox Live (but did not say on the box), the DLC and expansion disc for Dragon Age does not require you to connect to Xbox Live to download anything.If you haven't purchased Dragon Age, purchase it now and get the full experience! It offers over a hundred hours of gameplay and even hundreds depending on how you play.10/10P.SI don't view replies.

9.11.2009

I love Baldur's Gate 2 and still play it through quite regularly so I was somewhat dubious at the announcement that they were making a new contender. However, so far, my fears have been unfounded. The game is innately playable, and so addictive that I sit here at work twitching, waiting to get home so I can score another hit of DA:O.I was always of the belief that it was the NPC (computer controlled) character interaction, both with you and with each other that made BG2 what it was, so I'm glad to see that they kept that part of it alive. The characters no longer stop to chat in text boxes as before, but instead you can hear them bickering with each other as you roam the villages and cities of the world.You can swap over which characters travel with you each time you go to a new quest area and in-between times a base `Camp' can be set up (by clicking the Camp icon on the world map screen). Your own relationship with each character is determined by your responses to them during quests but also around the campfire. Additional friendly points can be gained by giving characters items labelled `gifts' found throughout the game. Obviously your relationship stats with a character is going to change how they react to you in various situations. I'm a little disappointed that you can only max out your party to 4 rather than 6, which gives it more of a Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic feel than a Baldur's Gate 2 feel, but you can't have everything!For the most part though the fights are challenging and the methodology for killing bosses constantly fluctuates. You do need to pick which party members will be travelling with you quite soon though as it seems that failure to do so will result in you being a much higher level than your helpers, and some of those boss fights are hard!Your party shares a joint inventory which also decreases the original's dragging and dropping as you pick up items with your main character (or rogue) and then move them over to the `mule' (strength maxed character) to carry around until you reach a shop. Buying backpacks increases your inventory space by 10 slots at a time too so there should be more than enough room to go around.The humour of the original has translated well especially in the list of responses during conversations and the bickering between characters, and it made me laugh aloud when my faithful hound brought me dirty pantaloons! I'm glad to see that the pantaloon obsession is still kicking around.The overhead camera view also translated well; I was very worried this game would turn out to be another generic first person game (Oblivion style) or chasing overhead camera (Sacred style) but it hasn't. A few people reviewing here have mentioned that they can't get the camera view to work in their favour, but using the scroll wheel (for zoom) and the Right Mouse Button (to spin the camera) I haven't had any problems at all - and somehow the general soft `feel' of BG2 permeates the graphics.The only bad experience I've had so far was with The Attack at Nightfall quest. The quest involves defending the village from undead but you stand and wait, attack one mob, stand and wait, attack one mob, rinse and repeat until you get called away to defend another front; then attack, attack, attack, wait and wait and wait.... Finally I went for a wander (which you're obviously not meant to do) and found that one little undead had got stuck all by himself down at the docks - the moment he was killed the quest advanced. So perhaps the AI isn't so great on the mobs after all - but as with any new game I'm sure patches will be released swiftly to deal with the outstanding issues; so I'm not too bothered by an occasional glitch.The spells now interact; ie. grease will catch fire leaving a flaming mass behind - but to be honest I've not really experimented too much with this. There are new skill sets like trap making, poison making and alchemy - for which you gather materials, usually from outside areas, and can then craft. Disarming traps seems to use your lockpick skill and in DA:O you actually get to see what the trap is (rather than a glowing purple mass), ie. a red tripwire (which your rogue will cut) or a red bear-trap which your rogue will trigger to disarm. You do still get XP for disarming traps too which was a good thing to keep - so many other games neglect this.Like BG2 there is no linear play line; you have a mass of areas to pick from with more opening from subsequent play. In each area there are also places you can specifically go to (ie. the Chantry board) to collect short missions for extra cash. You have a quest log to help you remember which quest you were in the middle of and which ones you have as yet to hand in - and also markers on the map which show you where you should be heading to complete the missions or hand them in, which can be incredibly helpful, especially in the larger maps. Also, like in BG2, there are often multiple ways to complete missions - even more so than before giving the game the possibility of playing the game through multiple times and never doing it quite the same.In all: I think this game is going to have the replayability of the original. It is an addictive, immersive, fun and sometimes frustrating game which will keep your interest for hours at a time. I would very much recommend this game to anyone who enjoyed any of the games I mentioned in this review; especially BG2 and SW:KOTOR.I hope you enjoy the game as much as I do.

18.2.2010

After the endless months of hype about DA:O I was pretty sure EA was behind it all. So I did some research and inpected the case. After three months of dedicated research, it was only a matter of time before I could embrace the game package with my greasy hands. All I can say now: Time well spent!I'm a big fan of Bioware, their ideas and creations strike at me through every game that they make. I've played and finished NWN2 and its expansions. It had some great stories and plots but failed to deliver a true gaming experience. However, DA:O turned over a new leaf. I'll summarise the main points:GAMEPLAY:DA:O has brought forth a whole new RPG style, where upgrades aren't a list of numbers representing your stats but new moves,spells, tactics and other abilities. The PC version is ideal for party tactics with an overhead camera or if you prefer- first person action. When you defeat an enemy they can leave behind a number of items, from enchanted weapons to ingredients for potions and the like. Unlike other RPGs, DA:O is great for wandering as enemies, landscapes and people differ and quests are not pointless or dull. Set in a gritty world where people, monsters and odds are less forgiving than in other stories. Prepare to be faced with difficult desicions and losing major battles. You'll find yourself playing this for hours on end just to find out the different outcomes this game has.GRAPHICS:Personally, I prefer the graphics on the PC version but they look pretty similar on all platforms. Perhaps not the most graphically impressive game, but DA:O promises some diverse lanscapes and varying buildings. You can see where the designers haven't bothered, such as distant trees and hills which look similar to Rome:Total War's lanscapes. However, the closer up you get, buildings look almost real with crumbling brickwork and torn flags. probably the most detailed aspect of the game's graphics are the charcters in your party. Armour is shown glinting in the light or casting down shadows on dirt roads. Overall, the graphics are not incredible but provide an interesting look and feel, most importantly though is that you can see the ceiling unlike NWN2.COMBAT:Combat is probably the most exiting part of the game. Bioware has stopped its habit of one slash hits now providing you with special moves and abilities including explosive spells for mages. This is the closest I've seen an RPG come to an FPS without ruining the whole feel of the game. There are a vast number of different weapons to wrap your hands around from cumbersome greatswords to piercing daggers requiring dexterity and nimble fingers. You can choose from three types of fightwers: Mages who wield magic, Warriors who wield strong heavy armour and large swords and Rogues who carry light but agile armour and wield daggers which can be equiped in both hands. These are only the main three classes though, they can eventually be upgraded to berserkers, duelists and arcane warrioes and beyond that. So don't worry, there's a lot of customisation involved.STORY:Another one of the game's strong points, you can choose from six different Grey Wrden stories depnding on your fighter class and rank(Commoner or Noble). These stories differ greatly though and each have a different insight to the game. In each story the Grey Warden leader recruits you into his order and you save ferelden from an uprising of darkspawn. Throughout the story you come across various characters who can join your party. These characters differ in personality and not many of them have morals. The speech is a strong point in DA:O. There isn't always a good or bad side to it. Characters will be affected more by a conversation if it requires important choices and generally, they are not as predictable as they are in other RPGs. Each of the six stories finishes with a climatic ending. But there's always much, much more to do.AI:In most games AI enemies are pretty dumb. They attack you only from the front with one weapon and one type of move. In DA:O this is not to be. Even playing as an agile rogue, when positioning to backstab you find yourself surrounded by darkspawn. The AI make you think logically- Showering the darkspawn with fire arrows to soften them up, then send in a mighty warrior to cleave the more elite, finally backstab with a rogue whilst stunning enemies with a mage to save him time. In combat, time is crucial! AI have minds of their own and won't hesitate to strike at the heart. When in cities, the AI people will discuss in private pray to the Maker(their god) or cheering on a musician and his lute.So don't wait for months like me, researching this game like a soulless nerd. get this sooner rather than later because you'll be missing out. This game comes to life. The desicions and gameplay involved give it a unique experience- the most unique I have ever played on the PC. DA:O's expansion 'Awakening' will soon be out and there is already a lot of downloadable content on offer. In two words,"BUY IT!!!"

26.11.2009

I will try to cover things in my review that haven't had much mention in previous ones and try to minimise content well covered previously. Firstly there have been alot of negative comments about the combat system and that its very stop-start. This is purely down to a lack of knowedge of the 'tac tics' you set to determine the actions of your party members not under your direct control. I've been playing this game for about a week now, and as I've got to know the combat system better with more efficient use of tac tics I'm able to micro manage each battle alot less than previously.Some have complained that the 2 diffrent views you have available hamper play, I've only found that to be the case in one battle,where my party kited groups of enemy up a hill to friendly npcs to assist in the fight. The view only made things marginally more difficult and didn't detract from my enjoyment of the battle.This has been billed as the next Baldurs Gate and I can see where those people are coming from. There are many diffrences though to this and the more D&D orientated Baldurs Gate. Firstly you get incredible flexibility with your party. The npcs who can join your party can all be picked up within the first 20% or so of the game. I've encountered 8 so far, and they fulfill a wide range of roles, and have diffrent points of view. You can pretty much make whatever class you want as your main character and be content that the pool of npcs available to make your party up can get the job done.One thing I really liked about the npcs, is for example in previous games if you decline someone a spot in your party you are forced into killing them, or they leave the area and either dissapear, or force you to travel long distances to try to convince them to join you if you choose to do so.In this game you can accept them, your then taken to a screen which gives you the oppertunity to swap out existing party members for new ones. You dont have to take someone into your party immediately, and stick with what you have. However when you next camp, those npcs will be avaiable to you for the next leg of your adventure if you choose to take them. If you for example meet a warrior early in the game who is level 7. You accept his offer to join you, but you dont move him into the party your using at the moment. This npc will be available to you though every time you camp. If you take him for whatever reason later in the game when say your party is level 12, he will have moved up to level 11. You will also be able to choose all the skills and stats that npc takes for the levels hes gained while essentially just keeping the camp fire warm.This is really useful and allows you to tailor your party to each part of the game your doing. You may not wish to travel with a rogue usually, but you need to get through a dungeon or castle full of traps. You can goto your camp screen, take a rogue,ditch one from your party who will take up the rogues spot at the camp fire and go do your dungeon. You can swap npcs in and out of your party at fairly frequent intervals. This is also useful if you want to do something 'bad' that may offend one of your more pious party members. You can drop that player from your party while you do your bad deed, then get them back once you have done it.The interection between the npcs in the party is intricate and very well done. Your actions influence the opinions of the other members towards you and you can also boost this by chatting to them at camp, and offering gifts. Conversations can have positive or negative effects on npc attitude dependant on your choice of words. The game also has a romance angle. If your playing a male main character, its possible that Female characters can go from being neutral, to interested, caring, adoring and eventually loving. Npcs gain a bonus to skills based on their 'loyalty'. If a female character invites you to her tent, be careful before accepting! It will effect the whole party and can cause jelously, rebukes or good humored leg pulling.When I play this game its like being the star of a fatasy epic film. The story lines are excellent and the interaction with the npcs is like nothing I've seen before. Normally I click through conversations or quest dialoge as fast as I can in a game, read the summary and get on with my task. In Dragonage I sit there and take it all in. I've played the first 15%-20% of the game 2-3 times now but keep going back to try diffrent things. The game is not only excellent but there is real scope to repeat the game over again, using diffrent classes as main npc to access the diffrent starting areas. I've played 4 of the 6 starting areas so far and they are all very good the human noble one in particular. If you have ever liked the rpg genere or even fantasy based mmo's this game is a must buy. I'd say most of the negative reviews have come from players with limited attention span, or just as likely fps players who wanted to try something new.

4.12.2009

God where do I start, since the reviews on here are all great I should probably comment on the few bad ones.First of all, the game was made by Bioware... and we all know their games, humans, dwarfs, elfs and yes orcsI will jump straight and say why you get picked to be a warden, well because you show exceptional attitude and determination in certain situations and because if Duncan wouldn't help you, you would probably die. So you become a warden because of your skills and because you don't really have much choice.Point and click, yeah sure, but I use WASD keys to move round.The companions will not do anything silly if you setup their tactics correctly and that's about it, they are all very good,Alistair is main tank and he does a great job, so no wondering off dying unless you set them up to do that.I have to agree that you do seem underpowered, after all what powers does a Grey Warden have? Apparently not much... you don't really have any extra spells or skills than any other character of same class. This is a shame since it does make you feel a little cheated by becoming a Grey Warden in the first place (talking from an RP point of view there is no advantage to be a GW but quite a few disadvantages). Tho, to some extent, you get your explanation on why the Grey Wardens are so important for when a Blight is threatening the lands near the end of the game and it may make-up for the lack of a special grey Warden skill/spell.Yeah the game is quite linear but what game driven by storyline isn't? You want an open world play a mmo because an open world in a single player can get rather boring fast. DAO lets you take different paths to that end goal so you do get some variation. I do wish that there was an option not to fast travel and walk the roads.I also have to agree with some of the bloody comments, I actually turned the blood persistence off as I didn't really like it, felt more like someone was throwing a bucket of blood on you after killing anything, be it a mouse or a dragon.Camera wise I never had any problems yet. Video... great, and you can get HD texture patches for it to increase the pleasure of your viewing. I didn't bother as I lost a few fps and I wasn't really looking at the floor and around me that much. Loading times? slower than an OS... wow didn't know some people load their OS in about 2 3 seconds...So my summary:I like and am still enjoying the game and one reason is that you get immersed in it, like watching a movie. No point adding what the others have said but remember, it might be worth doing every origin before adventuring into the game, it will help tie things together and even help you with certain choices later on.**UPDATED**I am not really sure what the people that gave it under 3 stars really want... but I will hit these also:One fact I dislike about reviews is when reviews are total rubbish. All right, let's say I do agree on SOME pointers that Acis said but to full heartedly digest everything is a huge mistake. 1.Yes, the HOLD position aspect is rather annoying, 2.yes you only have 4 characters, 3.yes there is repetitive dialogue, 4.yes there is only a fast travel mode...but let me put it this way - 1. there is no game out there that is completely flawless, and I'm quite sure I won't live to see one either. 2. Is this really necessary? To compare past experiences/game mechanics with something brand new? Why not compare it to any other RPG which allows maybe just 1 companion or a maximum of 2? Your complaint falls short of a well-grounded argument. 3. So, I take it when you go to a store around the corner and buy some chips, you simply go in, put the money on the counter, point at the bag of chips and then the vendor simply takes it and hands it over, right? You do know that by hitting the SPACE bar once you automatically get your choices available so it takes about 2 seconds to see his/her wares. 4. This is not an open world RPG, and I'm pretty sure no one claimed that - it is a story driven RPG, and whenever you travel you get to fight on the way with those that ambush you. This is not Fallout 3 with unknown locations, having you to travel by foot to uncover the map. That is an open-world RPG.Hit pause, hit pause, hit pause - unless you cannot manage even the weakest enemies, I'm not sure why you "scare" people off by telling how DAO has very little to offer other than strong lore. It's sad to see how people have no idea how to write a proper review, because almost every argument of yours has another side attached to it - a good side. So, please, try not to be so narrow minded when writing a review.

15.11.2009

It's rather telling when the negative reviews of this game can only muster complaints about it lacking some AD&D items (it's entirely divorced from AD&D, so this should not be a surprise), or that the graphics aren't photorealistic.As a Bioware fan, I had high expectations of this game - after all, it's hard to top some of their existing classics. Nonetheless, DAO has gone far beyond my expectations. It draws you in and makes you want to keep playing; it combines the compelling story-telling & branching decisions that Bioware is famous for (KOTOR, Mass Effect etc) with a subtle and fairly diverse combat system that enables many different approaches to be taken. The different origin stories alone offer enormous replay value,as revisiting the game offers a different experience depending on who you are playing.There is always room for complaint and any game will always have something lacking or that doesn't quite meet one's own personal tastes. The balance of combat is sometimes a little awkward, and I would argue it is one's second playthrough that will be most rewarding, after you've learnt what works well together and what doesn't, what skills need heavy investment to be effective, and so on. It certainly forces you to think - no mere mindless hack'n'slash, this game. The branching decisions are impressive and occasionally far-reaching, but sometimes degenerate into 'pick good or bad' rather than the shades of grey one might get from say, The Witcher. If anything, some aspects of the game are too subtle, which might explain why some people have called the game short - it's fairly easy to miss some opportunities. Equally however one could argue that this is a key aspect of the RPG genre - the ability to replay the game and discover new things.In terms of graphics and sound, the feel sometimes is a little generic - I swear there is a single identical set of wolf sounds that every RPG and MMORPG has used since time immemorial, and you can only see the same door & wall textures so many times before thinking that there's more money to be made in setting up a decorating company than all this hero business - yet you'd be forgiven for thinking you'd stumbled onto the set of Baldur's Gate after a major rewrite - despite the genericity of some aspects, it really is done well; it oozes that sense of old-style RPG where men are men, dwarves are dwarves, and elves seem to always get a raw deal.Nothing seems out of place and the graphics are beautiful to behold, along with being quite messy - blood is most definitely a part of the game and I actually found the approach quite refreshing - it seems far more honest to acknowledge that when you hit someone with a sword, it's fairly likely blood goes everywhere... The background sounds, the combat, the clash and thud of sword on shield, the yells of victory and cries of the dying - it all feels right. It all stems from what Bioware call stylised realism. It's not realistic, but it's close enough and styled in a way that actually feels more real than reality, and that to me is far superior as entertainment goes. Given the rating, I was mildly surprised more adult topics were not touched on in the way that, say, The Witcher goes about it, which demonstrated that such things can be broached without seeming gratuitous or out of place, but what's there works well.The story, immersion & dialogue is where the game really shines. There is some really great humour in the game, including some subtle lampoons which manage to be funny without ruining immersion (such as other RPGs that included Monty Python references etc.). Characters are well-developed and come across uniquely - the star-studded voice casting helps enormously with this. Despite a few shortcomings in the actual decisions you get to make, you really feel like you're talking to a living breathing person, who can be hurt or pleased by the things you say. It's one of the few RPGs (and pretty much all the others were also Bioware creations) where I stand a chance of getting emotionally involved in the game, rather than playing as a detached entity.In summary, if you enjoy RPG games, if you find yourself occasionally toying with taking Baldur's Gate off the shelf again, get this game. Even if you don't, you might find this converts you to the genre. Bioware at its best.

22.11.2009

It seems the bar for RPG's has been raised yet again! This game is worthy of a 10 out of 10 even with it's few small issues which I will cover soon. The amount of work gone into this is quite staggering when you consider it. It has one of the strongest story lines of any I have seen and I have seen them all. At the end of this game I felt like I was losing friends when I said goodbye, Not since I played Betrayal at Krondor in 1983 did I experience this. While Betrayal at Krondor can not be compared to this game in any technical sense it is up there with the story.I certainty hope that the next additions will allow us to bring forward the characters we grew to love in this edition?Now onto thegame itself; I will start with the negatives as there are so few of them and it will be nice to get them out of the way.Negatives:1: They re-used a lot of area's for quests without changing them, which seemed a little strange? You would be in an ally in the city and then travel to a new location and when it loaded you were in the same spot with new enemies. A little disappointing when you consider the overall quality of the product itself. The same was in all parts of the game, however, the strength of the plot outweighed this (for me anyway).2: As with all great games there is always a great end scene, this is no exception, however, what let it down was after the great cinematic where you get to interact with each character and find out their future plans you are taken outside and instead of more great graphics you get a few still art works with text to read? For me I felt this had been rushed. I am sure they would have had enough animation stock to put together and scene with a story teller sitting by a fire filling you in on the events? But again I was so impressed with the overall program I did not mind so much, but maybe it is something they can consider in the future?Now the Positives: (I will need to put only a few here as there is so many)1: The graphics and interface, outstanding!2: I loved the fact you can re-use the rune stones, you can mix and match over and over again. This is fantastic as it allows you to build and rebuild your favorite weapons when you find new runes (or buy them)3: The camp, perfect, I recommend you spend time and interact as much as you can here, I will not give it away for you.4: The battle features, they work brilliantly, however, on a technical note, keep an eye on your group sometimes they stop and need to be given the orders again.5: Combination spells, mix and match, look into it!I will stop here and move onto other things..:)SEX:Yes you can have sex in this game, the scenes are excellent, but to short and to limited, I can understand why they did it but you see more on TV! I think it is time we catered more for the adult or at least have a different version.TECHNICAL:There were a few technical issues, but I am sure they will get sorted and it did not take from the experience. For example I played for 100 hours over 9 days and only after about 10 hours straight did the system crash (and only twice) this is quite outstanding. Also I was running the game at maximum everything as I have 4 gig RAM and 1 gig graphics card, so it was beautiful to behold on when wound up to max and full screen res.There were a few small glitches with scenes from time to time but again nothing to effect the game play.ADD ON'sWith the add on content there is one issue you need to be aware of or you will be very unhappy, when you play Wardens Keep, DO NOT leave the keep until you complete the quest as you can not get back in. Very disappointing if your like me and want to complete every quest. So make sure you take in a rouge and check everything carefully!The other add on with the golum is perfect, would not leave home without "Shale" make sure you get this sorted first up, it is brilliant and well balanced for the game as well.So for me I have to say get it, you will not be disappointed, there is a lot more I could say here but feel this should be enough for you to understand that if this is your kind of game then you must get it.Enjoy!

22.11.2009

First of all,this is a great game which provides excellent story and RPG experience. It is even more enjoyable if one is to read "The Stolen Throne" before approching the game,thus getting a really good image of the world of Ferelden. The music in the game itself does add to the nice ambience and definitelly does not disappoint. However, this is where my astonishment with the game stops!Dont get me wrong,Im not saying that the game underperforms badly in the other aspects(e.g.combat system,freedom to explore,graphics etc) but unfortunately other games have already set the bar higher and this one does not get to surpass it.This is disappointing amid all the talk of people naming this game one of the greatest RPG of all times(or of the decade?!?),people to be totally hypnotized of the game and playing it all the time, game review sites giving it very high scores and so on,all things that turned this game into a marketing monster.My first disappointment was straight away with the movement and camera. The former took some time getting used to and still doesnt feel natural to control by the player. For instance,ill have to pause in battles in order to make sure that I get to choose the enemy and not just the ground nearby, making me run like a headless chicken. My problem with the camera is more to do with its inability to see things from first or nearly first person view. Sure this isnt always practical but it has often been great with other games in order to see things closer or simply enjoy the world around you.Next problem - graphics!They arent bad and would have probably been seen as revolutionary if the game came out about 5 years ago but nowadays we have had Oblivion for ages and the graphics there were considerably better.Furthermore,unlike Oblivion, one cannot interact with most objects in the game.For instance, a sword left on a table may just be seen as part of the background picture and hence cannot be picked up by the player.This applies for most objects.Even worse,the missions are merely linear where the player and his/her group goes through designated locations,fights designated enemies and everything in the background is merely a picture where it couldnt be gone to.This is annoying because it actually restricts freedom and may easily kill off my ambition to play that game again, knowing exactky when and what challenges need to be faced.Combat - While the system applied in the game has its fans,I personally see it as a bit of a cheap fun.The reason for this is because this is exactly the same system that was used in KOTOR 1 and 2 and, as somebody gone through those games,I simply knew what to do from scratch,not having any problem dealing with my enemies.My "secret" is simply always making sure that all of my party members are assigned to do something during combat and not just scratch their nose. Once this is done,one cannot lose and it puzzles me to see people that say how difficult this game is and how one should save before any major combat.The player has no say in the way a character would try to hit the enemy or parry with the shield etc, all thats needed it to press/click on a button.Arrows hit at random places of the body and they often magically fly through a friendly unit and hit the enemy behind it.The game is also not free of bugs at present and its 1.01 patch caused the game not to load,forcing me to re-install it.Ok,maybe thats an issue that would happen to only some of us but I thought it would be worth mentioning. It is also not helping how Bioware includes additional game material to have to be purchased additionally from their website.I couldnt help it but think of this as rather cheeky.There are some other aspects that I have doubt about in this game but my review is over-stretching as it is.Perhaps Im asking for too much but my ideal for this game would have been a hybride of its storyline and unique characters with the combat and graphics(including the world vastness) of Oblivion. It otherwise falls into the zone of enjoyable games that would be left to collect dust after one or maybe two campaigns.

1.4.2010

First of all let me say what I don't like about the game and how future Bioware games could be vastly improved.The game world is small and all outdoor areas are effectively small dungeons/maps. Think about Oblivion, where the world is massive, where there are loads of towns, villages, temples, lairs. Where you can walk the entire realm, look at the sky, climb up slopes/down slopes etc. Where you can jump up or off things. You can't do any of that in Dragon Age, the world is unreal and your characters have very limited movement abilities. Variation is slim and there is no varience in treasure found that I can detect. So Bioware, please....a massive game world with loads of maps and quests,where one can wander for hours before coming to the end of the world map! In Dragon age there is no option to wander anywhere. Then you could add spawned encounters (randomised) In my view most treasure should be randomised either as the game world is generated at the game start or on the spur as you go to collect.Characters are drawn pretty well and the combat scenes and animation vids are very good. Engaging and entertaining. However a fighter is a fighter is a fighter, a rogue is a rogue is a rogue etc. Yes you can create some minor variation in the characters but because one cannot fail to learn a skill or gain a stat point (training should influence this) and because the skill points and stat points awarded are always the same (again no randomisation) all the characters end up much the same. Most game designers fall into the trap of going for "game balance". NO, that makes games less interesting and less diverse. As much freedom and randomisation as possible should be used. The non player characters are better in some respects with clearly defined persona's, history and agenda and with minor quests attached. These are a lot of fun but again, whilst "Sten" a big lug in the game talks a big fight, he is actually no stronger or better or really any different than any other NPC fighter.The voices are great, the game is engaging and Lilianna has a voice I could listen to all day. I fell totally in love with this Character (just like I did with Aerie in Baldurs gate 2). It was disappointing that she was not carried over to "Awakenings". Corinne Kempa certainly won a fan with me and I look forward to listening to her again in the next DA epic. Unfortunately though all the personalities could be better with greater and more extensive interaction between each other and the player. (Though in my experience DA is top of the list in this regard). Also getting them to "love" you simply requires the constant giving of gifts. It was also disappointing in Awakenings to go into battle with a sword, shield and in my underpants. Yep all the good stuff I had played for in DA was gone!If you buy this game, I doubt it will disappoint. The emotional content, game play and story more than make up for it's rigidity. The big thing I really hate though is the DRM. This is a sod. Example. I bought 2 copies of DA. One for my son and one for me. I did not install mine right off because I knew I would be getting a new comp soon. My son installed his version. On getting my new comp I installed mine. My son got my old comp and his old dell was put out to pasture. Problem right off, yes his version would install and play but his "free" downloads were gone and he can't download any of the Premium Content for some reason, even though I just bought it him. I also have a problem. My new comp is playing up, failing to start and I suspect that I will have to format my drive and re-install windows. Normally this shouldn't be a problem. Take off my saved games, and reinstall the game. I have no confidence in being able to do this without getting the problems my son has.

14.5.2011

Okay so I just got this game and haven't gotten that far, but so far so good!Anyway there are so many reviews of the game story and even some reviews which are just asking questions instead.I thought that I would give my opinions on the value of the game, and a little about the package.I bought it here from Amazon at £18.14 with tax.Now that is incredible value for money in fact if it had of been full retail price it still would be.With all the DLC on the second disc, the DLC alone will set you back 6800ms pointsDragon Age: Origins - Awakening Expansion Pack...........2400The Stone Prisoner...........................................................1200Warden'sKeep...................................................................560Return to Ostagar...............................................................400The Darkspawn Chronicles..................................................400Leliana's Song.....................................................................560The Golems of Amgarrak.....................................................400Witch Hunt..........................................................................560Feast day gifts....................................................................160Feast day pranks................................................................160Total -...............................................................................6800ms pointsThis is where it gets a little confusing ms points don't follow proper currency conversion ratesso I'll lay it out in three major currencies £uk, $us and EeuNow to get the 6800 you need to buy 7000So... for 7000ms points it costsE84.......converts to $119.91 or £73.71$87.50..converts to E61.30 or £53.79£59.50..converts to $96.79 or E67.81And that's not including the main game that's just the expansions and add-ons.Now If I didn't buy the Ultimate Pack I'd be feeling very screwed right about now.The DLC, the second disc is an installation disc so you're going to need just over 4GB free HDD space before you install it.And it takes quite some time too, but it's better than downloading 4GB from Xbox Live (eating away at your download limit).I'm a little disappointed with the packaging, In the picture it kinda looks like its two game cases in a cardboard sleeve but it's not you get one game case that holds two discs one in a plastic sleeve inside, kinda cheap looking to tell the truth.I would have rather had the two covers pictured from Dragon age: Origins and DA:O - Awakenings in a boxset with the extras on a third disc or on the awakenings disc but it's not a perfect world it's pretty near it though.In conclusion Screw Xbox Live Get this Game Hard Copy! for Way Less.it's a good game very good value and I've already recommended it to a good friend who has bought it and is currently further than me in it.Well worth the money.okay so this is the first time I reviewed anything on amazon, amazon is always sending me emails asking me to review things and I usually ignore them. amazons editing software is completely useless it took me ages to get it to looke like this I go from edit to preview and i looks nothing like the way I've layed it out (I layed it out for ease of reading), it also doesn't reconise a euro symbol so I had to subtitute it with a "E" instead. and to line up the Numbers for the price calculation and comparison, I had to insert a load of Fullstops and when they lined up in Edit they didn't in Preview. I may not return to review this site is frustrating. or am I missing some thing?I used this site to help with the ms points' conversion[...]I used yahoo! Currency converter[...]

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