Dragon Age: Origins

[MizzouRah]

Never did get this game for Chirstmas a couple of years ago and still want to play.. it's $20 on steam.

Sounds like most everyone seemed to like the game and I'm looking for something other than a sports game at the moment. (as I have Madden, NCAA and soon NHL and FIFA to put into my rotation)

Easy to download and jump right in?

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Never did get this game for Chirstmas a couple of years ago and still want to play.. it's $20 on steam.

Sounds like most everyone seemed to like the game and I'm looking for something other than a sports game at the moment. (as I have Madden, NCAA and soon NHL and FIFA to put into my rotation)

Easy to download and jump right in?

It's really easy to jump right into, though you may need to register your code with the bioware servers and download the DLC in game, I'm not sure how it works with the Ultimate Edition). The only mod I'd recommend starting with is the camp storage chest mod (it's by one of the developers and probably should have been included in the game). You might want to consider a respec mod too. According to Steam I've played 240 hours of Dragon Age so I'd definitely recommend it (I'd also recommend skipping Dragon Age 2, unlike my several playthroughs or Origins I played through that once even though I lost most of my interest about half way through and haven't touched it since).

EDIT: Just noticed you were talking about regular edition that's $20, it's probably work getting the Ultimate Edition for $10 more. It includes the expansion Awakening and other DLC. Buying just the expansion on it's own would cost $20 and the DLC would run another $35 or so.

[Drake]

There's also a great "pocket plane" mod for DA:O that's worth picking up. Good place to sell off and store junk.

Innodils Pocket Plane - Dragon Age Origins Mods

[CrimsonFox]

Which one is which? Origins is the Grey Warden thing? Where there are these zombie guys around and your friend learned blood magic and was going to be turned into a zombieguy? And you joined the war as a grey warden?

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by CrimsonFox

Which one is which? Origins is the Grey Warden thing? Where there are these zombie guys around and your friend learned blood magic and was going to be turned into a zombieguy? And you joined the war as a grey warden?

Yes, in Origins you are the Grey Warden, in 2 you are Hawke, the Hero of Kirkwall.

[MizzouRah]

Thank you mckerney and Drake!

[Crapshoot]

Originally Posted by mckerney

It's really easy to jump right into, though you may need to register your code with the bioware servers and download the DLC in game, I'm not sure how it works with the Ultimate Edition). The only mod I'd recommend starting with is the camp storage chest mod (it's by one of the developers and probably should have been included in the game). You might want to consider a respec mod too. According to Steam I've played 240 hours of Dragon Age so I'd definitely recommend it (I'd also recommend skipping Dragon Age 2, unlike my several playthroughs or Origins I played through that once even though I lost most of my interest about half way through and haven't touched it since).

EDIT: Just noticed you were talking about regular edition that's $20, it's probably work getting the Ultimate Edition for $10 more. It includes the expansion Awakening and other DLC. Buying just the expansion on it's own would cost $20 and the DLC would run another $35 or so.

Yup - I've been replaying DA:Origins right now, and really enjoying the game, as opposed to DA:II, which was a bunch of recylced dungeons. Its not that in one game, you're saving the world and in another, you're running around a city that is the issue - its just that 1, despite following a tried and tested Bioware formula (go to 3 places to get X that you need to get to final location + companion side quests), is actually just fun. I have it on the Xbox though - I would imagine the PC experience is better, with the mods.

[Drake]

I actually played DA:II about a month ago for the first time (got it from D2D for like $20, so figured it was worth a shot). I didn't mind the gameplay changes as much as many seemed to, but agree completely with Crapshoot that it just wasn't as fun. It didn't have nearly the same level of compelling storyline as the original, and most of the quests felt like unrelated vignettes rather than cohesive parts of a whole.

Not to mention, I like my fantasy RPG's to give me the sense that the future of the world as we know it is at stake. DA:II just didn't have that same sense of urgency and desperation. The Grey Warden motif is really what made DA:O. I felt it's absence deeply in DA:II. It felt more like I was running around making cash while the important people were running around saving the world. I was just a bit player in a backwater community mucking about with local politics.

That said, it had its moments, and it was interesting to get better insight into the Templar/Mage dynamic (though I didn't feel like the game did a sufficient job of making the Templar decision points sufficiently attractive or ethical conundrum-y.)

In short, it's a fine $20 game. At $60, I would have been disappointed.

To some extent, I'm comparing this retroactively to the storytelling in The Witcher 2 (which, as I mentioned above, I just finished a week or so ago). TW2 has its own issues -- most notably, a third act that's entirely too short and doesn't sufficiently capitalize on the momentum of the second act, at least not with the decision tree I followed. But the second act, which was the defense of Vergen for me, was just really, really satisfying. It's the first time I can remember in years where I felt like I was part of a story that actually hung on my actions, and my choices were changing the future of the world in significant ways that I couldn't foresee.

I like games that tell me stories -- that make me feel like I'm writing the story by the choices I make, and where every choice has consequences for people I've come to care about. TW2 succeeds at that in spades. DA:O had the same sort of feel to it -- where the "wrong" choices would actually hurt my companions or change the trajectory of their lives, even if they did move the global action along in the way I preferred. That's a tough choice: weighing your vision for the future of the world against the happiness of your friends and battle companions. It's tough, and yet immensely satisfying, having to decide where you're going to put your loyalties and who you're going to make pay for your decisions. (At the end of TW2's first act, your decision literally determines whether there's a celebration of your victory or a pogrom against the non-human races in the city you've been in. That's a tough decision there.)

DA:II's biggest decision seems to be whether you're going to shag to moon-eyed bloodmage elf or the slutty pirate chick.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Drake

I actually played DA:II about a month ago for the first time (got it from D2D for like $20, so figured it was worth a shot). I didn't mind the gameplay changes as much as many seemed to, but agree completely with Crapshoot that it just wasn't as fun. It didn't have nearly the same level of compelling storyline as the original, and most of the quests felt like unrelated vignettes rather than cohesive parts of a whole.

I stopped having fun about half way through but kept going in hopes it would get better. Then end up until the final battle was getting better, but not enough to redeem it. I also agree on it not being cohesive, after going through the opening act and then arriving in Kirkwall I was excited to perform tasks for the person who paid my way in while getting to know people and the city and such, but nope. All of a sudden it's two years later, my character knows people and I don't have any idea what's going on yet except I need to make a bunch of money for some reason. That's one of the reasons that even though Bioware went with a voiced lead in 2 in an attempt to define the lead better I didn't find Hawke interesting or feel any connection with the character like I did The Warden.

There were also other things I really didn't like, lack of inventory options and crafting of any sort (or more accurately, crafting being replaced with and item store where you have to find things to unlock new items) that lead to most inventory items being labeled junk when you picked them up. Plus most of the characters seem like nothing more than boring caricatures. And then the waves, oh my goodness the waves. It ruined any tactical combat that existed in the first. I manage to set up at the start of an encounter, moved my warrior forward and got space for my healer to stand behind us safely (not worrying about moving my dual wielding rouge behind the enemy to deal more damage with back stabs, back stab is now a button that I hit for something awesome to happen), I kill the first few enemies and then all of a sudden an assassin spawns right behind my mage and drops him in one hit. Well fuck.

Also the combat didn't seem like it was balanced well for the hardest setting, but rather they just tacked it on by upping the damage dealt by enemies. I made it a bit better by reducing the cool down on the heal spell. On difficult battles I didn't feel like there was much tactically I could have done better while combat often felt like it wasn't anything more than a button masher.

That said, it had its moments, and it was interesting to get better insight into the Templar/Mage dynamic (though I didn't feel like the game did a sufficient job of making the Templar decision points sufficiently attractive or ethical conundrum-y.)

I agree with this, I felt like Templar were clearly portrayed as the 'bad guys' in the game and it would have felt like the wrong choice for me to side with them. They could have done something interesting and made it seem like the Templar were actually trying to do something legitimate placing restrictions of mages. This is what Deus Ex: Human Revolution did when presented with the sides of debate on human augmentation. There was a side I felt I agreed with, but I could also see where there was some legitimacy to the other side. I really didn't feel this way with Dragon Age 2.

Spoiler

Plus the ending with the Circle of Magi leader was just stupid. "You think we're nothing more than a bunch of blood mages? Well you couldn't be more wrong and we'll show you. By becoming blood mages!" Uh, what?

In short, it's a fine $20 game. At $60, I would have been disappointed.

I can see this, if it wasn't the follow up to to one of my favorite and most played games of all time I may not have hated Dragon Age 2 as much as I do. Still, there was a lot that was wrong it, it suffered from poor direction and design decisions and was also a horrible rush job.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Actually just bought this for $5 from the XBox summer sale.

Pretty sure just the cut scenes & the Origin backstories are worth $5.