Dragon Age™: Origins - Ultimate Edition

i had to replace my hardcopy after my disc got snapped. i managed to pick it up on special here a few months back and it was well worth it. i got everything i already had with the addition of a little short campaign called a tale of orzammar. it playes well and i don't regret getting this at all. that being said be very careful what you buy on gog. some of the games on here are a lot cheaper than on steam and all games here are DRM free as far as i know ( which is always a plus ) but other games are twice as- or even three time more expensive than their steam counterparts. Like in the title hunting around is very much required when deciding where to get a game but gog is an excellent place to get great games at the best price but it isn't always the best. furthermore i've found that this digital copy actually runs a bit better than my hardcopy did, i have no idea how or why there was any difference between the two but i'm not complaining : )

I rarely get "sucked in" to a game these days to the point that I cannot put it down, but this was certainly the case with Origins. I put in well over 50 hours in a short time period and rarely had a single dull moment. Even at $20 this is an absolute steal for any RPG fan. One disclaimer is the combat can be a bit clunky with pausing to manage your party members' skills and overall combat tactics. I simply set the difficulty to easy so I was able to do most all of the fighting in real time--if you're looking for a huge amount of combat depth that is absolutely there for you, but know you can bypass a lot of those mechanics if they don't appeal to you.

This is a top-class modern RPG from Bioware. Deep story, memorable companions, one of the best tactics system and combat mechanics. Moreover, there il a large community on Nexus restoring content, fixing bug, and refreshing this title with high-res textures. If you did not play it, do it!

Played this for the first time in 2024 and absolutely loved it. So many interesting locations, characters, dillemas, quests, companions,... While the main premise is basic, the way it tells it is excellent. There are no strictly evil or good characters, everyone has their own logical reasoning for their choices. Good intentions used as justification for immoral actions, picking the lesser of two evils... Every choice I made, I wondered what would happen if I picked the other options! And the companions are so good, each with their own ideas, motivations and goals. I had trouble picking which ones I would take along with me every time. It isn't perfect though: graphics can look a bit dated and some elements repeat a little too often, but the strong art direction still made it worthwile for me. Combat is probably the weakest point for this game, which can get repetitive and while the combat tactics system works for normal fights, it can become too limiting in hard fights and issuing individual commands can be janky. Still, it was good enough for me to not detract from my enjoyment! So if you want to play this game, just play as a mage, which has the most interesting combat options, and play on normal difficulty to avoid some of the frustrations with the combat system.

This game is like a great man of old, one that manages to build an empire from nothing, through sheer will and ability. This is what this game does. It was a brand new IP with a never before seen lore, setting and characters. But, alas, as with most great empires built by such great men, this one was undone by it's unworthy predecessors. You guys know of whom i speak and most of you have likely seen the way in which this beautiful legacy was ruined. What it does good: + interesting characters with depth (i love my tsundere witch) + fun combat + fun gameplay (pickpocketing fools in mid combat is such a silly and awesome thing to do) + great replayability (different origins and choices throughout the game) What it does bad: - Some technical issues and bugs that haven't been solved. I recommend saving before and after you finish each zone. I would also recommend you reduce graphical settings in Denerim, as it's prone to crash in that zone (no AA, reduce textures etc) Other suggestions and opinions: - I would highly recommend using Qwinn's Fixpack Mod (it's the only mod i used and it only fixes bugs or restores some dialogue. Read more about it on it's page) - I finished the game(+expansion + dlcs) on Nightmare with a Rogue character and it was fun. Great utility and boss killer. A will try a new run with a mage, as it seems to be a little more engaging. - Don't skip and rush over dialogue, as it's one of the best and you'll find some very funny gems sometimes - I would suggest skipping over Golems of Angarrak as it's a not very fun and more like a slug fest (i beat it on Nightmare, but it was not very fun)