Dragon Age™: Origins - Ultimate Edition

One of the truly great RPG experiences. You can really feel that the original game & story designers hand-crafted this new universe with loving hands. This game has been brought to life in a way that not only truly immerses you, but makes you care about the characters, the factions, and the events. You are not only a part of the story, but you feel like your choices make an impact (and they do!). The combat, magic, and skill systems were also tended to, taking full advantage of the PC and its peripherals. This is right up there with Baldur's Gate II and Witcher 3. It is truly unfortunate that the sequels slowly destroyed all of the things that made this original a classic for the ages. If you have stayed away from this game because of how atrocious the sequels are (especially the contemptible DA2), don't fear, this first entry in the series will not let you down. You can tell that the game designers had not yet become embittered and hateful. There is no criminal copying of levels here, oh no, every single area, dungeon, tower, town, and glade has been carefully designed and built. You can tell that the devs actually cared when they began this series. Unfortunately you can tell things started to go south immediately with the Awakening expansion (unlike the colossal achievement of the Baldur's Gate II expansion, Throne of Baal). Of course, its not really fair to compare any RPG to BGII nor its expansion. We haven't seen their like again except for the Witcher 3. If you do get to enjoy this game, you can play the expansion, but stay FAR FAR away from the sequels, especially DA2, the game designers worked on it like they wanted to punish gamers. In DAI, they just didn't care about the IP any longer. Please don't let those terrible titles affect your decision to get or play this game.

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)

I've owned this game a long time. I even had the original when it came out on DVD back in '09. My review will be solely about the GOG version of the game, not the original nor the versions for sale elsewhere. Thankfully, GOG's stance on DRM means you no longer need to sign in to EA/Bioware's servers to play this game fully. That's a major plus. The game is fully functional and needs no such online activation- something the original game often flubbed. This in itself is a UX improvement worth a couple of dollars, IMO. The game play is the same flawed experience as it ever was. By flawed, I mean the combat system and crafting system was never the best - and this is no exception as it's exactly the same game otherwise. The same annoyances exist in the GOG version as the Steam, DVD, or EA online versions. What saves this game is that it's an immersive story to be told with slight differences depending on the player's race and class. It's more of an issue in the beginning rather than the main story, but it will crop up from time to time later on as well. That said, the story does run on rails just like any other Bioware title new and old. Ultimately, you've got a choice, but the choices are going to be the same each time you play the game. If this bothers you, don't buy it, but keep in mind that nearly every single game from this era has the same kind of linear story. Some are just a little better of covering it up. Any computer made in the past few years most likely has the resources to play this game. If there are issues, it's probably hardware reliability related and not the game that's at fault (insufficient power/bad PSU, bad RAM, and failing storage devices are most common hardware failures people mistake for game bugs but in reality are hardware failures).

Origins has the best story and most tactical combat in the series as well as in my opinion better facial animations than any of the games that have come since. I've played through Origins and 2 many times over and Inquisition twice so I say this as a fan of the series.