Dragon Age: Origins is a CRPG developed by Bioware and released in 2009 to critical acclaim. Even to this day, it is considered one of the best games to emerge from Bioware and by some to be the best in the Dragon Age series. So far as I can recall they attempted to make a modern CRPG along the lines of the old Infinity Engine games like Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale (I might also do reviews for those too!)
It's one of my favourite RPGs, the setting is a slightly different take on the standard fantasy tropes, elves, dwarves, religion, magic and naturally, dragons! It's not as dark as it was originally made out to be I'd liken it to being a bit grittier than the original Baldur's Gate but not approaching grim dark levels.
So, without further ado and before I start rambling too much let's dive into this review for Dragon Age: Origins! I will do my best to keep it as spoiler-free as possible. Sure, it's an old game but some people may not have played it.
Character Creation & Customisation
As with a lot of RPGs you start by creating your character, there are three races to choose from humans, elves and dwarves each with their origins and quirks. For example, the dwarf's resistance to magic means they can't be mages and each Origin determines your first few steps in the game.
Origin, race and gender have notable effects throughout the game and determine how many characters and the world might react to them. I played all six origins and they all have their plus points but honestly pick the one you like the most. The classes are a bit more straightforward though some limit your choice of origin.
The stats and skills system is something they came up with rather than something established and while it works it has its quirks though it mostly works as you expect so long as you aren't trying to do anything too crazy. Though if you do, there's probably a build guide somewhere these days, this is a fairly old game now.
When it comes to appearance there's a wide range of options though compared to more modern character creators it can feel a bit dated and restrictive. I don't find it that big a deal and I imagine you could mod it these days if you were so inclined.
The mage is likely my favourite class in Dragon Age: Origins because who doesn't love throwing fireballs or lightning everywhere? While it starts off squishy and slow, the sheer variety of spells you can learn means there are so many ways to play it. Straight-up elemental damage dealer? Definitely a favourite of mine, fire, ice and lightning just beware of that friendly fire. A debuff/crowd-control sort? Another favourite, not quite as flashy as chain lightning or firestorms but it can trivialise some of the more difficult encounters if played tactically.
Gameplay
Regarding gameplay, it's a variable camera view, either 3rd person back out to a top-down tactical mode. You have an ability bar across the bottom which you can tweak and change to suit you better otherwise it is primarily mouse and hot-key driven. It played largely as you'd expect, you select your targets, choose which abilities to use and spells to cast and position your heroes carefully. You can even swap between your party members at will and control them all manually using the pause feature if you wish which is good for people who don't like things to be too fast-paced.
It is, however, not a fast-paced game combat feels quite slow and deliberate compared to later games in the series. Some kinds of characters are distinctly more so such as warriors focusing on two-handed weapons. Though personally, I don't find that a huge issue once you get used to it and being able to pause and issue orders as well means you won't need fast reflexes. However, there is something else you can do to help you out something I genuinely wish were present in more games customisable party AI.
If like me you want to focus on playing just your character you can set up your companion's AI to do things when certain conditions are met, like healing people who drop below a certain amount of health and the like. It's not perfect though it is helpful.
When it comes to interacting with characters it follows a more old-school dialogue tree approach which I wish more games would still use. I do get that a lot of the time it's a trade-off either having an extensive dialogue tree or a smaller one and having a voice actor for the main character.
Overall, I'd describe the gameplay as solid when it comes to combat especially as you start getting more abilities and options. It can feel a bit sluggish at times though that too improves as you get further in.
Story & World
The story is a good one, in my opinion, I'll try to avoid any spoilers as best I can though if there are any I'll make sure they are as minor as possible. It's a little tricky given it's an RPG though I'll do my best!
Not to spoil the origins too much, you will find yourself in the company of the Grey Wardens, an ancient order whose sole task is to fight the hordes of monstrous dark spawn who seek to destroy the world. What sets it apart is the main antagonist, the dark spawn, is not your typical fantasy undead/orcs/demons enemy though they do have aspects of all of those things thrown in and given a good mixing up.
I think it helps in part that their reasons and motivations are never really explained in great detail, even in the universe it is only speculated. Along the lines of it not mattering, they'll still destroy everything even if we aren't sure why. Keeping them somewhat mysterious was always a good thing in my book.
The world itself is the true stand out, it feels like an actual place with thousands of years of history, wars, politics and religion. It genuinely feels like they made a setting that could feature many games and stories and I hope it does... Even if things with Dragon Age: Dreadwolf are looking concerning right now. Though that is me going off-topic just a smidge and a topic for a blog post in the future perhaps.
The story is branching to a degree, characters can die or leave and your actions in major quests all can even shape the world around you which shouldn't be a surprise for a Bioware game. The world seems to react to everything, not simply what you do but also what you are. A dwarven noble will have a very different experience from a city elf, which is always amazing to me.
Characters
I will not spoil any of the characters as they are all pretty darned awesome and have good voice-acting. They all have interesting stories, quirks, personalities and even interactions with one another. The banter as you are questing and exploring is awesome, especially between certain characters such as Allistair and Morrigan.
I know this isn't a particularly in-depth segment of the review but that is merely a product of attempting to avoid spoilers. Needless to say, you'll quickly find your favourite party to take out into battle against the dark spawn and as every class is represented in some way you can easily build a balanced party.
Graphics
The graphics are by today's standards best described as functional, they aren't terrible but they are starting to show their age. Mostly in textures though if you are on PC like me, there are mods that can polish it up quite nicely. The pre-rendered cut-scenes look a bit fuzzy these days too, probably rendered at a lower resolution. They aren't bad though, I'm not a graphics-focused person so take that as you will. I mean at this point it's probably classed as an old game if I am being completely honest.
Animations-wise the positives are the spell effects, nothing quite so satisfying as lobbing a fireball into a crowded room and watching the enemies within get blasted off their feet. Conjuring a blizzard, throwing chain lightning around and launching a giant rocky fist at your foes is likely a big reason people love going for mages. Melee is okay, a lot of the animations sometimes feel a bit too slow and archery is... Well, plink plink with the pokey sticks.
The areas you explore are usually fairly small though often have multiple parts, just a product of its time and it does at least mean it's hard to get lost. There are some impressive set-piece locations too.
Sound
I've already touched on voice acting and on the whole it's pretty darned good, there's a lot of good characters and lines and I can't actually point to any characters being bad. Maybe a few of the minor NPCs are a bit flat though that isn't a dealbreaker for me.
The soundtrack I like a lot, some very memorable tracks such as the title screen though it's maybe slightly less iconic to me than Mass Effect though that is just a personal thing. It fits the fantasy setting. I will freely admit I am the world's furthest thing from an expert on music, if it sounds good and fits that is enough for me.
UI & Controls
The game is played from either a third-person or a top-down tactical mode camera angle though I prefer the third-person approach for the most part. It uses the mouse and keyboard on the PC (it doesn't have controller support as that requires a mod as I understand it.) It's relatively easy to control and play.
The UI is relatively customisable with the action bar along the bottom, you can pause and issue orders too which is something of a requirement if you are playing on normal difficulty or higher. Then there's the customisable AI I mentioned earlier which is honestly a huge help and I wish more games had something similar.
Overall
This is still held up as a classic and among Bioware's best games with good reason. I wish they'd kept later entries closer to this in style and gameplay, though I am biased. I grew up playing the Infinity Engine games and when this came up it felt like a return to a similar style. I do like the later entries on their own merits, the shift to a more action-oriented approach held a wider appeal too I think.
All in all, if you love RPGs with an amazing setting and story you can't go wrong with the first entry in the Dragon Age series. It has its quirks but for an older game it is one of the more playable, only needing a few critical mods to make it more stable on modern systems (the Large Address awareness mod being one of them.)
Some classes and builds don't feel good at the start, namely archery which suffers a bit from not being as interesting to watch compared to the bombastic fireballs and lightning bolts of mages. Melee combat can feel a bit sluggish at times too though that improves as you get more abilities and level up... I feel that's more of an issue with a lot of RPGs though, early-game woes.
I can highly recommend it if you love RPGs and the ultimate edition is often discounted on Steam too. Sorry, not sorry if it makes you want to get into the franchise and play all the games.
That concludes my review of Dragon Age: Origins, please remember to support me via donations on Ko-fi or subscriptions on Patreon to keep me doing this and to ensure I can keep it as ad-free as possible. Also, if you have any feedback then by all means do share it, always happy to hear how I can improve these reviews!
Thanks for reading!
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