PS3 Review – Dragon Age: Origins
One thing is certain: there is absolutely no shortage of content in Dragon Age: Origins. The six different beginnings are only the start; each backstory is a good couple of hours of gameplay alone. Along the way, the player will encounter various people who will join the quest, and each party member will have an approval rating. Approval ratings can go up or down within conversations. Sometimes other party members will mention items they are looking for which can be found and given as gifts. Finding the right gift will grant higher approval ratings which can lead to more intimate relationships. While traveling the great land, party members will talk amongst themselves and sometimes have some humorous exchanges.
Other characters will have different plights, problems, and issues that require the skill of a seasoned adventurer. Side missions can open up new aspects of the story and provide rare items, armor and weaponry. Books, notes, and scrolls will litter the path, and each serves to fill in more of the mythology of Ferelden. Often they contain clues to special or lost items that reap rewards when given back to their owners. Some of the side missions are so interwoven into the game that it is often easy to complete a side mission wihout realizing it.
Exploration and plot lines aside, Ferelden can be a dangerous place with many opportunities for combat. Combat can move quickly or slowly depending on individual tastes. It’s possible to pause the action and set up strategies for each party member, but real-time combat is possible because of the useful friendly AI. Party members will act aggressively, defensively, or a few notches in between depending on how their tactics are set up. Dragon Age: Origins tactics are very much like the Final Fantasy gambits, which amounts to a rudimentary scripting language to automate party management. For example: If Self Health = 25% or Less, then Drink Potion.
Dragon Age: Origins features good graphics overall, although some of the areas in the game look spectacular while others lack polish. There is also a noticeable graphic stutter that happens less than often but more than occasionally. This never interrupts the gameplay, so at worst it is a minor annoyance. Most of the character models are rendered well and interact in a lifelike matter within dialog sequences. Dungeons span far and wide and offer forks in the road that will keep the veteran RPG player busy exploring.
The game is not without flaws, but it provides an experience that far outweighs them. There is no way to share the full depth of experience in Dragon Age: Origins within the scope of this review. When the quest comes to a close, players will wonder how things could have turned out differently, as there are plenty of other decisions that will provide entertainment value far past the first playthrough.
PlayStation LifeStyle’s Final Score
Easy to use combat that can be more involved for veteran RPG players Truly epic quest that provides a deep and unique gameplay experience |
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17 Responses to “PS3 Review – Dragon Age: Origins”
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November 5th, 2009 at 9:49 PM
awesome review dude, awesome!!!! I know im having a blast playing this game.
November 5th, 2009 at 10:09 PM
Awesome review. Reading about this game reminded me of my great World of Warcraft days. Gosh I miss that game…
November 5th, 2009 at 10:22 PM
My only complaint is with the Collectors Edition of Dragon Age Origins. The soundtrack is on the Bonus Disc which is a blu-ray disc. The problem with that is, when you select the soundtrack from the menu you get a message saying to insert the disc into a PC to access it. Which in turn means you need a PC with a blu-ray drive. There is no way to access it from the XMB. I don’t have a PC with a blu-ray drive and I doubt many PS3 owners do. I can’t figure out how they let that slip.
November 5th, 2009 at 11:08 PM
I passed this game off as a 1/5 just because the name was so wack. Are you sure it’s legit?!
11/05/2009 at 11:27 PM
There are some graphical hiccups, but what this game accomplishes beyond graphics in gameplay is something that needs to be experienced first hand.
Classic AD&D style RPG.
November 5th, 2009 at 11:32 PM
I can’t wait to get it! I preordered it on Amazon two months ago, but it’s back-ordered, so it’ll be a month or so. I guess that gives me the chance for more quality time with Uncharted 2 and my PSP.
November 6th, 2009 at 10:18 AM
This will be my next purchase for sure.
November 6th, 2009 at 1:13 PM
Bioware pretty much nailed this one
November 6th, 2009 at 4:58 PM
love this game…
only real complaint(if i could call it that) is that I can’t see what the skill branch trees actually open up ie blood mage…I would like to see it in advance so that i might plan my char. other than that really, and again I can’t even really consider that a complaint more so me frakin up developing my main char. I really don’t want to auto level him up.
also moorigan took the route i was going to take…so now i have to choose to be something different. but one of the coolest things for me is when i tried playing as the rogue and moorigan. the rogue going stealth is amazing…just looks like a puff of smoke running around. curious to see if i can actually sneak around in front of enemies like that.
the other moorigan transforming into animals…aww now that is classic.
also one of the early convos with the sloth monster in the fade…had me hooked on the first riddle…
again…love this game.
November 9th, 2009 at 7:22 AM
I haven’t played this or Oblivion, but they seem alike- am i on the right track with that?
I’ll have to think about this, i might consider picking it up.
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:37 PM
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November 26th, 2009 at 10:44 AM
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November 26th, 2009 at 1:26 PM
[...] has been one of the best years I can remember for games, especially PlayStation. I am thankful for Dragon Age: Origins reinvigorating the RPG, God of War in 720p (with the demo for God of War III) and Resistance [...]
November 29th, 2009 at 7:00 PM
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December 30th, 2009 at 10:01 PM
[...] Age: Origins has released to rave reviews from both gamers and industry experts, including a 5 out of 5 from us. Along with all this positive talk Bioware has been pretty good about supporting their [...]
January 3rd, 2010 at 3:23 PM
[...] Age: Origins has released to rave reviews from both gamers and industry experts, including a 5 out of 5 from playstationlifestyle.net. Along with all this positive talk Bioware has been pretty good [...]
January 11th, 2010 at 10:46 AM
[...] in the game, yet the mode was left out to be sold as DLC. A more recent culprit was Bioware with Dragon Age: Origins. In this game, you can actually accept quests from NPC’s that can only be completed if you [...]