Dragon Age™: Origins - Ultimate Edition

I didn`t wait. On release it was expensive and even there EA was beginning to try and microtransaction players AS THEY PLAYED. I remember accepting a quest and then a pop-up told me I`d have to purchase it! People forget that. I refused and it really soured the enjoyment of my game. Now, with GOG`s release, you get everything in and not DRMed either! If only I`d waited... even if it took 5 years or more... The game itself is very good, perhaps because it follows very much in the mold of the excellent original Baldur`s Gate I & II. You start off as one of 3 races, human, dwarf or elf, each are quite different as they are either privileged or disadvantaged, for instance, as Human you start off as Noble`s son, but as an Elf you basically start off as a servant/slave. You can be a mage, warrior or thief type - Black, white, man or woman. The adventures is the typical "save the world" fare, but you have many, many optional quests you can take (and I advise you do for the games full enjoyment). Not only can you fight, but you have many speaking options and decisions to make which do have real consequences. It follows the lovely Baldur`s Gate tradition of the "Good, Neutral or evil" responses, I love this mechanic. I tend not to take the mean or evil options, but I love reading them, for example your Dad won`t let you go to fight an important battle. Your evil optional response is, "Let me go or I`ll kill You!" Or if you come across a lost little child with a sob story needing help you can say, "Yes, well, good luck with that!" They make me laugh. These days you just don`t get those kinds of options any more (due to sjw bs) which is real sad. Criticisms: Your character skills creation is woefully simple. If you`re black in the game you`re the son of a white family and nobody ever mentions this as unusual (I`m black). There`s a fair bit of politically correct crap, but it`s nothing like as bad as what we get in games today. Highly recommended.

While the story is somehow very simple (the struggle of Good against the Evil, a dead king and a possible civil war arising), this game is intriguing. The story is not always linear and sometimes to achieve a plot objective you have to choose which side to support (or kill) and so it can be also fun to start over and play the whole story with a different character. For your main character you can choose between man, dwarf or elf, various classes, backgrounds and physical appearance; during the game you have the opportunity to specialize the character giving him (or her) unique and lethal abilities; as the story goes on you have the chance to recruit other characters and it's better to establish at least neutral relations with them (actually you can also make some of them fall in love with you), otherwise they will leave or even attack the party! Sometimes it was not always so easy to understand the right way to raise up a character using talents and spells since the rules are not from the "usual" DnD manuals and a party of only four elements can be challenging especially when facing enemies like dragons giants golems and revenants. But in conclusion, a great game certainly worth buying.

I consider this title the best of the whole franchise. It is definitely most RPG-like. Latter titles are more action packed and console-like. Origins has isometric view and great feeling of team combat, just like old classics - Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale. A bit more simplistic mechanics than old RPGs, but still the game can be challenging. The whole package is a lot of hours of gameplay. I'd say 150+ (for completionists like me it's probably 200-250h). It has a nice story and interesting characters. Not to mention epic battles with very well depicted dragons. It may be a few years old now, but I believe it's still fresh enough. I strongly recommend this to any RPG fan (especially to old-school players). That much content for this price is a hell of a bargain!

It is still enjoyable, still beautiful and still plays really well. The story is well writen and everything is on it's place. cRPG's tend to maintain the same feeling until today (2019) regarding gameplay and how the game feels in general. It's no different with DA Origins. That said, I can't help but to say yes to this game and to give it a huge thumbs up on my review! The cons are related to the game pace that is somethings too much long and a bit boring on some dungeons that never ends. I wish that could be more dynamic and diverse. But the pros are just everything else. Huge story, amazing role playing regarding choices and consequences, really nice side quests and a cRPG system thar works really well. It's really a masterpiece! A = Wonderful (9/10)

Combined. PERIOD. Great story and great expansions.