Dragon Age™: Origins - Ultimate Edition

I played this game forward and backward in its time, ad nauseam, with three different characters, and I would have sworn I was done with it. Now... I've picked it up cheap on GOG in a sale, with the intention of spending a couple of hours for the sake of nostalgia, and nothing more. But I'm hooked again! The game is still fresh, still vibrant, and aesthetically it has aged much better than me. The game engine serves its purpose with perfection, and I still can't understand why I am never bored with the combats which should feel repetitive, but are always exciting (the balance length/difficulty of fights is very sweet). 🐱

In full discretion, I received this for free from GOG. Thanks GOG! DA:O is a classic Bioware game in the spirit of Baldur's Gate and Knights of the Old Republic. Anybody who played KOTOR will recognize the play style, the character interactions, and gray morality choices. Your player controlled character will be accompanied by three companions that can be automatically controlled based on a behavior set or micromanaged when the game is paused. Overall the story and game mechanics are interesting and enjoyable. The game does suffer from some heavy back tracking and lack of quick movement some areas. There are also some pretty tedious puzzles (though they are mostly side quests that can be ignored). I cannot judge the game too harshly based on this, though since these issues were common in crpgs of the time. I also experienced a number of sudden crashes in graphic intense areas if my settings were too high - namely Deep Roads and end game areas. DA:O is worth the price on GOG and I would have happily paid for it, though I enjoy the free giveaways. The Ultimate Edition includes all DLC and the expansion and should provide many hours of enjoyment. I look forward to EA finally giving up on Origins and the rest of the DA titles coming to GOG.

Game itself is great and I wonder if it's a good idea to buy the Ultimate Edition. A year ago or more I bought the DA Origin and Awakening as an offer on Steam. I've got 2 game as a result. I wonder what's the difference between that version and the Ultimate Edition. I'd like to spend as much time as possible and have an access to all the content on the game. I hope you'll help me.

The Good: A story good enough to play through dozens of times. The main story will end the same, but the journey there can be so different. The combat is engaging and challenging, especially on nightmare where 1 mistake can get your whole party killed. The Bad: Graphics are outdated and don't hold up well. AI that can cheat the game's systems on harder difficulties. Enemies spawning midway through a combat scenario. The Conclusion: One of the best RPG's ever made. :)

I played DAO back in the time and i recently bought the ultimate edition here in GOG. I remember how impressed I was with the immersion and how incredible and unique was the experience i had the fist time i played this game back in 2010. This game was sitting in my wish list and it have been sitting there for long time. Even though i wanted so much to play it again, the graphics you can see in the pictures in the game page were my main hold back. Then I figured out i could mod this game. So i went to take a look to the available ones. There are so many mods available out there not only to improve the graphics but also to tweak the gameplay if you feel you need to adjust something (like the archery rework) but also to fix bugs (there is a huge 4gb patch available out there all you need is to google for it). Long story short, I installed the mods that improve the graphics, bug fixes and couple of tweaks of the gameplay and i am IMMENSLY enjoying this game. The immersion is insane, the dialogs between the characters are so interesting and funny, your choices matter, you have multiple way to approach your enemies and your character builds. One playthrough is not going to be enough to experience all the content this game has to offer. The gameplay is really good. Every battle isstrategic and you can pull off insane combination of spells and attacks. You can leverage the environment at your advantage (not for the interactivity but for example you can funnel large number of enemies into a narrow path and fill the narrow corridor of magical or physicals traps and bombs while your mage channel a fireball to the stunned enemies and your rogue sneaks behind the enemy mage), The story also is very interesting and cool and i am looking forward to play the game again to slaughter every character i can kill and find out how much i can mess up the whole plot. 10/10