I was kind of into it at release, but looking back I don't think it's that great now. Or at least I think there are better options like the Drakensang series which has a bit more depth in their gameplay/mechanics.

Also I just can't support giving money to EA at this point.

If you are going to play a dragon age game though, origins would be the one to go for, as the second one was apparently really bad.

If you've played Neverwinter Nights(another awesome game)

Then chances are you will like Origins,they are similar,though Origins has modern graphics/technology..

Origins was Biowares last gem...imo

Originally posted by tank017

If you've played Neverwinter Nights(another awesome game)

 

Then chances are you will like Origins,they are similar,though Origins has modern graphics/technology..

 

 

Origins was Biowares last gem...imo

To each their own, but to me its the 1st EAware turd.

Originally posted by Swiftrevoir
You can be either the stalwart selfless hero, a dastardly rotten villian, or someone who looks after only their own means.

Good, I hate games that make you out to be the shining hero in aurmor. So boring.

Originally posted by StormwindX

Meh. I disliked it. It's just your generic Bioware "the chosen one against an ancient evil that wants to destroy the world" sucky  storyline. And I found the combat to be clunky and kind of awkward.

But that's just me. I'm a bit overly critical. A lot of people actually happened to like the game... but I don't think it's worth more than $10.

Less than $10? I'm trying to think of the plethora of games that had thousands of less hours put into development that cost more than that. You can buy a game with no voice acting, lesser graphics, near zero story, piss poor combat animations, poor combat mechanics, and still have it cost more than $30.

Also, Bioware's "generic", is generic for bioware, but generic for bioware is unique to the rest of the industry.

Even if I personally didn't like the game, it's worth more than $10, no amount of my subjective opinion would change that.

Originally posted by denshing

Originally posted by StormwindX

Meh. I disliked it. It's just your generic Bioware "the chosen one against an ancient evil that wants to destroy the world" sucky  storyline. And I found the combat to be clunky and kind of awkward.

But that's just me. I'm a bit overly critical. A lot of people actually happened to like the game... but I don't think it's worth more than $10.

Less than $10? I'm trying to think of the plethora of games that had thousands of less hours put into development that cost more than that. You can buy a game with no voice acting, lesser graphics, near zero story, piss poor combat animations, poor combat mechanics, and still have it cost more than $30.

Also, Bioware's "generic", is generic for bioware, but generic for bioware is unique to the rest of the industry.

Even if I personally didn't like the game, it's worth more than $10, no amount of my subjective opinion would change that.

Yeah, it's reported to have 80 hours worth of gameplay so I'm fine with paying what I did :)

I thought it was an OK game but not more than that. If you can get it on a discount and like RPGs, it may be worth a playthrough.

I think the tactical combat was handled terribly. IMO they should have gone with a turn-based system. The pause/unpause system is very frustrating because often your party will never carry out your orders exactly to the letter or they'll get out of position naturally as the battlefield changes. This means you have to constantly pause and make microadjustments, which gets tedious. Double up on this if you have a backstabbing character in your party.

They've created a cool setting for the game, I think. Unfortunately it's not an open world like Skyrim, but is segmented into small bits, which is a shame. Still, the individual bits are usually well done, and some of the areas have great atmosphere. I especially liked the dwarven highways and the towns.

There's a lot of talking. I think the conversations aren't as good as in Mass Effect. For one, they are less "to the point" and feel less natural because of it. The protagonist also has no voice of his own during conversations, so it looks pretty odd when an NPC stands there having a conversation with himself while your character just stands there like a doofus.

I think the story and plot is pretty good, and I think the pacing of the story is well done. You start out small but end up with having a very central role in the realm. There's a great variety of characters you'll meet, and chances are you'll like some of them and hate others. You're given much freedom in which ones to pick and which ones not to pick, and listening in on the conversations your followers have between each other is very interesting.

The DLC is very overpriced for the content offered, so unless you get a major discount I'd skip those.

One of the most overhyped games out there.

Story is the typical Tolkien copy paste -- let's unite all races against the army of evil that looks like a band of orcs led by nazghuls.

FILLER COMBAT

Character building is too mechanical and systematical. All abilities are the same, just differ in some keywords (like damage type). 

FILLER COMBAT

The choices are a joke. Whatever choices you have, the only difference is the cut-scene in the end of the quest.

FILLER COMBAT

It's the typical Bioware template. You get your ship (ehm camp) where your companions stand around the fireplace and let you talk to them about their super dramatical stories that has nothing to do with the main quest. If you like soap operas, good for you, otherwise you'll skip it. 

And I'm not sure, if I mentioned FILLER COMBAT. The locations and the overall game is small. You could run through it under half an hour. The dungeons are usually made of a couple of rooms, but there is so much FILLER COMBAT that each quest and each dungeon takes a couple of hours. Moreover, the combat DOES NOT change, it doesn't matter if you fight spiders, orcs (uhm I mean spawns), or nazghuls (uhm archspawns), you will still use the same abilities, ALL the F***** TIME. No special resistances, no special strategy required whatsoever.

Origins was very good, to me.  Varied starting story, each with pretty engaging plots initially.  Solid gameplay, decent customization, and interesting dialouge, even while running around.  I loved DA:O.  Its pretty standard fantasy fare, but its done very well.  Da:2 was terrible.  The combat wasn't bad, but the story was just...dragging.  I felt like I had to force myself into it.  Slow, and uninteresting.  Origins really hooked me with the early game plot points.  Granted they all fold into the same overall story, those little moments early on tend to matter later on.  I won't spoil anything, but you can bet my dwarf made some choices that my elf did not because of how he interacted with his kin early on and how that changed my view of certain people.  In some ways, its a magnificent game.

 But its also not terribly groundbreaking.  I also find that, the older I get, the less groundbreaking I find anything.  I suppose that is natural, though.  Skyrim isn't exactly groundbreaking either, but I would totally recommend that game.  Hell, if anything, its a digression from its roots.  Still fun, still worth playing.  I suspect that many people simply haven't gotten old enough to realize how jaded they really are, and learned to appreciate things in spite of it.  Its okay to rehash concepts that exist already.  Just make me give a crap about even one character, and I'm okay with it.  DA:O made me care about several characters, and thats pretty good considering. 

Pros for me?
Immersive.
Memorable characters.
Moddable.
Great RPG if you're like me and take your time and just live in the world.

Cons? Linear.
Many uninteresting spells.
Some boring as fudge zones. I wouldn't be looking forward to doing that one area that turned me into a mouse (?). It dragged on and on and on...ugh.

Edit: I forgot about the heavily compartmentalized world. That was a real downer. Dragon Age: Loading Screens.

This is all off the top of my head. I put in almost 200 hours. Money well spent, I thought.

It is a good game and is well made with a well written story but I have tried and tried to get into it as Bioware used to be my favourite games developer (until the SWTOR fiasco and EA dragging Bioware downhill) but I just cannot.

I too loved Jade Empire and the Mass Effect series are my favourite games on my PS3 but DA:O just doesn't engage me like those do. I have yet to complete DA:O and haven't even opened DA2 but with MMO's being so boring nowadays it will be on my to do list this year.

Originally posted by Razeekster
I throughly enjoyed Jade Empire which was made by Bioware too and am wondering if Dragon Age: Origins is worth the buy. Pros and cons of the game would be appreciated.

Dragon Age 1, and Dragon Age Awakening (YES)

Dragon Age 2, Not so much it wasn't as good as the first.

Kingdoms of Alamur, the game that went down the drain by 38th studios pretty fun too.

Yes you can buy DragonAge 1 off ebay most likely for like $5 or get it on a steam sell cheap.

There are also Free ways to obtain these games online like survey sites or paying for a digital download.

I purchased DragonAge 1, I have both discs here, and I like them both, DragonAge 2 however was a failure it was a waste of my $30 to even buy the game I really didn't enjoy DA2 much at all, Part 1 was a good game and had some sad endings too.

Just like Dead Space.

I Enjoyed Dead Space 1, but didn't enjoy Dead Space 2 because of the lack of story to the game it just didn't make any sense to me at all if I wanted to play a shooter I would just go play Quake Live or something, Dead Space 1 actually had a main plot setting and ending somewhat, Dead Space 2 made no sense really to me it left me with a big ? above my head waiting for dead space 3 now which will cost $50 and do what add to the story cut off in the middle of the story not finish or have any sense at all and wait for Dead Space 4?

I have no problems with recommending Dragon Age Origins, just as long as you stop at that and not bother looking at the travesty that was Dragon Age 2.

Talk about killing an up and coming franchise... Nice move BioWare!

Origins was a masterpiece of it's time for those who enjoyed Neverwinter/Knights of the Old Republic like combat systems in another Fantasy Based world.

The thing that really stuck out for me was how each beginning choice affected the first 10-15 hours of your new playthrough.  Even your gender affected choices and what happened; if you're a male city elf you go one route, female you get captured and have to break out of a bad guy's lair intent to take you and your friends as his... entourage?

The same goes with humans and dwarves, forest elves, etc... Also your class may change things as mages always start in teh tower regardless of race.

The combat takes some patience to get the most out of it (what a great deal people lack) and the game could last hundreds of hours depending on your playstyle.

As people have said already, just avoid the second one entirely.  They tried to make it about action combat, reused map after map (and assets) and overall just made a large amount of bad decisions that did not go over well for those who enjoyed the first one.  It also got depressing after a while.