Dragon Age: Origins Review

BioWare has once again proven themselves with the release of Dragon Age: Origins.  When you start the game you can choose from one of six different unique origin stories (hence the title).  You can be one of three classes and they are Warrior, Rogue, and Mage.  The six different origin stories are Human Noble, Magi, Dalish Elf, City Elf, Dwarf Noble, and Dwarf Commoner.  Over the course of the origin story you will encounter Duncan, commander of the Grey Wardens of Ferelden.  Also Dwarves can’t be mages, only Elves or Human characters can.  During the remainder of the origin story some event will happen and you get the join the famous Grey Wardens.  After that you and Duncan journey to Ostagar, in the middle of the Konchori Wilds which is dangerous territory.  Let me tell you a little bit about the Grey Wardens.  They are an order of warriors recruit from everywhere to combat the dreaded Darkspawn.  In order to join the Grey Wardens you’ll have to drink their tainted blood which is considered life threatening.  If you drink and survive, you’ll be a Grey Warden.  When you arrive at Ostagar you will meet King Cailan and Duncan tells you to find A Grey Warden known as Alistair.  Once you meet up with him, you and two recruits known as Daveth and Jory must travel to the wilds to find a Grey Warden Cache for some old Grey Warden treaties and three vials of Darkspawn blood.  When you find the cache, you’ll notice the scrolls are gone.  Once you notice they are gone, you will meet Morrigan, one of the witch of the wilds.  She will take you to Flemeth, her mother and she will give you the scrolls.  Once you give the scrolls back to Duncan and finish the Joining, King Cailan once you and Alistair to light the beacon at the tower of ishal.  Then the Darkspawn invade.  Once you light the beacon and alert Teryn Loghain, he leaves the battles and lets Cailan, Duncan, and others to die.  You are knocked unconscious but lives.  You wake up at Flemeth’s and she tells you and Alistair to locate allies to combat the darkspawn and also expose Loghain.  However though Loghain has declared the Grey Wardens traitors to the king.  You, Alistair and Morrigan must travel to Redcliffe, Orzammar, The Circle of Magi, and to the Bercellian Forest to find your allies and prove The Grey Warden’s innocence.

COMBAT AND CONTROLS:

The Combat system is basically the same for all console.  You have these talents which are your character’s abilities that you can use while in combat.  Each classes have their own special abilities that can be unique to them.  Mages mixes magic spells, warriors combine sword power. rogues use either their daggers and  bows.  You can activate the abilities on this circle menu you can prop up any time.  The combat however gets slow after a while.

Crafting:

Crafting is a part of the game.  You find certain items like roots or mushroom and you can craft potions, poisons, and other cool things through out the game.  Crafting however you don’t have to use for part of the game.

Armor:

Dragon Age has some very unique armor types available.  There are light armor (mainly for rogues), medium type armor (which are heavy chain mail), heavy/massive armor (which are the heavy plate armor).  One of the rarest and best piece of armor in the game is the Juggernaut armor.  It’s one of the best resistance armor and is a high level armor.  Also there are cool robes available for mage players.

Weapons:

Dragon Age also has a large variety of weapon types.  Longsword, greatswords, maces, axes, battlaxes, daggers, staves, and bows and the main source of weapons in the game.  There are also ones that are rare like with armor.  One rare sword is called Topsider’s Honor, a rare staff is the Staff of the Magister’s Lord (a must have for every mage player), and the Yusaris greatsword.  There are many more to get but I won’t spoil how to get them.

Opinion:

Dragon Age to me is a great game. One of the best RPG’s ever and should be played by any RPG fan. I really like the story and gameplay. The combat gets boring after a couple of playthroughs but so glad that they are fixing that in the Dragon Age 2. The graphics are good for a game that was in development since 2004. The many choices in the game make it so you want to play it again and again so many times. Dragon Age is a worthy game for newbe gamers and hardcore ones as well. The game itself is legendary.

Scores:

Graphic: 3.5 out of 5: The graphics are good for a game that has been in development since 2004

Gameplay: 5 out of 5: Gameplay was good and controls were easier than most RPG’s.

Story: 5 out of 5: BioWare has out done themselves with the story of your Grey Warden.

Total: 4 out of

I admit the game is not a perfect game. It has a few flaws and glitches in it but it is really good from BioWare. Choices throughout the game are important and makes you want to start over again to try out different ones.

One little thing though, the sequel to Dragon Age: Origins has been announced. It is currently called Dragon Age 2 and the protagonist is named Hawke and it will follow his/her story to be the single most important person in the world of dragon age. Game expected to come out for same platforms on March 8, 2011.

Other Great Stuff: