Dragon Age™: Origins - Ultimate Edition

It is true. :) And this GoG version doesn't even crash <3

Works well enough, but the latest update caused it to only run on 2 cpu cores, which makes the game super choppy for a lot of players. You basically have to enable 2 extra cores every time you play, and I have no idea if this is going to get fixed or not, since most of the complaints you'll see online are about crashing, which actually *has* been fixed. Game technically works without other issues, but will be choppy without enabling extra cores every time you play. Just putting this here as a PSA of sorts.

This game definitely has its problems, but that doesn't stop me from being in my top three ever since I first laid my eyes upon that bloody dragon on the cover.

First thing to mention: the screenshots above are to a large extend taken from cut-scenes. Long stretches of the actual game thus "feel" very different. Most of the actual game is played in a much less impressive isometric perspective, that shows your party and the enemy in a more tactical way. The fights are real-time but can be paused to issue commands. However, your commands are limited to "move," "attack" and using certain abilities. Unfortunately the AI of your party members is not too clever and the fights are repetitive. So you basically safe a lot, die a lot, reload a lot, and continue to issue the same number of commands in the same order until luck is on your side. Apart from the fights, there are dialog-heavy passages that advance the plot (or some sub-plot). In addition there are "books" around that explain the lore. You need to read at least a couple of those since without them (or alternatively some decent knowledge of previous installments), the world may not make too much sense to you. The main storyline is where the game ultimately falls flat. If you can't overlook major plot-holes, and are easily bothered by unlikable one-dimensional characters, this game might not be for you. Its story is also rather linear. The choices offered to you may look like they matter at first, but ultimately, there are little to no meaningful long-term consequences. Also, while you can choose a backstory in the beginning of the game, all that does is give you a different tutorial. Your choice has no impact beyond the conclusion of the introduction. This ultimate edition comes with tons of content that will keep you occupied for weeks. Personally, however, I never finished the game due to the grind and repetitive battles, the lack-luster storyline, the lack of depth to some major characters, the "twists" you basically see coming from a mile away, and lack of meaningful choices and consequences. If those things matter to you, this may not be your cup of tea.

Five years in the making, Dragon Age: Origins came out with graphics that were noticeably dated and have since aged about as well as a Ibizian menopausal party girl that doesn't use sunscreen, but pretty much every other of its components added up to a fantastic gaming experience. Its story is frequently labelled as cliché, which is true to a great extent, but its telling is what makes it greater than the sum of its cardboard cutout parts, many of which speak with accents that go from good-natured-head-shaking-worthy to downright aggravating. In true Bioware tradition, one must gather a party of excellently voiced NPCs whose backgrounds, banter and personalities often take centre stage amidst the battle against the Darkspawn, a struggle which takes the player on an epic (80 hours here) journey through a big, serviceable fantasy world on the core game alone. I say 'serviceable' because many real-world parallelisms are as subtle as a brick to the face, but the lore does have a lot of very unique takes on genre tropes, and it's deep enough for one to spend several hours just reading the codex entries sprinkled throughout the game. Combat is tactically sound, and while its slow pace might conceivably be a deterrent for nowadays' button-mashing crowd, it was just what this particular player was looking for in a party-based RPG. Tweaking the group into a well-oiled fighting machine and seeing it perform as the game went on was deeply satisfying, but I can understand that this type of micromanagement might not be for everybody. As for the music, Inon Zur definitely delivered in this game. While far from a masterpiece, the soundtrack hits all the right notes at all the right times. If you're an RPGer and missed this one, you owe it to yourself to at least try it, especially with all the bells and whistles present in the Ultimate Edition. For all the faults it does have, Dragon Age: Origins is a modern day classic and deserves all the praise it got.