Dragon Age: Origins PC
User Score
8.4 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2119 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,836 out of 2119
  2. Mixed: 92 out of 2119
  3. Negative: 191 out of 2119

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  1. LeahR
    Dec 26, 2009
    3
    Most overrated RPG of the year. The AI is terrible. Left alone, it will either sit around doing nothing, which means you go nowhere if you've chosen to play a ranged or back-line support class--or else it will rush blindly into enemies, leaving you to perform damage control and clean up behind as it continues to charge forward without pause. If you play on anything above casual difficulty, you'll fight the AI every step of the way and end up having to constantly micromanage your party. The game offers "tactics" slots which you can use to assign conditional behavior patterns to NPC teammates, e.g. "Heal yourself if your health gets below X%," yet for some insane reason, you have to spend skill points to unlock these tactics slots. Essentially, you must spend skill points to make the AI slightly less stupid. The tactics also need far more flexibility and generality, e.g. "Use any debuff skill not on cooldown" instead of "Use specific skill X." Because of this, the tactics end up being mostly useless on harder difficulty levels and require you to micromanage the team anyway. On top of these gameplay issues, DAO has a ridiculous amount of dialogue, even by Bioware's verbose standards. It's well-written dialogue, for the most part--but it's still redundant jawing. Too much of the narrative is talked about rather than shown in action. This tendency to tell rather than show has been creeping deeper into each successive Bioware game for years, but it feels like DAO finally crossed the line into self-indulgent writing. Ultimately, the game is simply formulaic: it's the same linear, on-rails RPG with the same linear, on-rails dialogue "choices" which are supposed to give us the illusion of making moral decisions in tense, finely-shaded conflicts. Bioware has been making this same well- (if over-) written, painstakingly-realized, yet ultimately stultifying and narratively-funneled game for years. While playing, I kept thinking how cinematic the game felt, and how much more I would have enjoyed it as an animated film, or a novel. Dragon Age: Origins is a throwback RPG addled by last-gen gameplay and self-indulgent, tedious writing.… Expand
  2. RichardS
    Jan 2, 2010
    0
    I want to like this game, there is so much to this game and it could be great but sadly bioware released an unfinished product and left it up to YOU to script the AI. In order to play anything above easy you have to babysit your entire team because if you don't they'll run backwards into walls, blast you in the back with their spells, or the rogue will constantly try to tank and the tank try to sit off in a corner somewhere and play with his thumbs. Bioware placed a tactics page in the game, which is script sets with sugar-coated labels on them so it doesn't look like script sets. The Preset script sets make the AI about as retarded as the AI on Halo, leaving it to you to do bioware's job scripting the game's AI. I am sorry, but no matter how good a game is the company has no right to release a product unfinished and leave it to the consumers to complete their job.… Expand
  3. DonnieB.R.
    Dec 7, 2009
    0
    Insanely claustrophobic. Mindnumbingly boring conversations. Horribly boring, cliche' story. Terribly boring items. Did I say boring? Almost no customizations. No advancement, generic skills. NO freedom at all (Is this some kind of joke, years after games like Gothic 3 or Oblivion? Playing on 15 x 20m areasy? Loading screens every minute? You gotta be kidding me. There is absolutely nothing in this game that warrants a good score. No, not even the graphic. A true shame on Bioware, and its reviews are marking the death of independent gaming journalism.… Expand
  4. FrancisC.
    Jan 29, 2010
    3
    Dragon Age has the most annoying control and combat system of any RPG I have played. Also It's almost hard to call it a game with all the stupid conversations with NPC's that are far far far to longwinded. The game world is also far to rigid as to where you can and can't go, it's so terribly scripted. A major disappointment. You are much better off with an open free flowing game like Oblivion.… Expand
  5. DanS.
    Dec 24, 2009
    0
    Overrated. Conversation options are merely cosmetic; almost all of them are inconsequential and lead towards the same path. Mindless dungeon crawl with a weak combat system. The antagonists lack depth.
  6. arkangel
    Nov 5, 2010
    1
    I bought this game because of the rave reviews and because I loved Oblivion - I naively imagined that the role-playing fantasy genre would have developed a good deal further in five years. Instead, I felt I'd gone back in time, not forward - Dragon Age felt more like my old Amiga games than a state-of-the-art PC game. I gave up after a few hours - never to return.
  7. Tubie
    Oct 2, 2010
    1
    I could not get into this game, no matter how hard I tried to like it. The game graphics are horrible to look at even on max settings, the battle is slow and boring, the story might be good but i just could not deal with the other issues to get into it.
  8. moocow
    Jan 14, 2011
    4
    Very big let down. I should let you know I have never played any othe RPG other than Chrono Trigger (SNES) and Final Fantasy VII (PS1). PROS: The voice acting was incredible for a few characters, and I loved how characters within the party interacted with each other. The conversations were witty and modernized, the humor was not stale at all. The variety of the quests was predictable, but still entertaining. I enjoyed the storylines much more than I expected I would due to some of the criticisms here. CONS: Coming from first person shooters, I like to play games in real time and even on normal difficulty some of the combat was impossible to perform in real time in order to survive. The fact that most crowd damage spells are friendly fire capable means that you have to position your party well...something that is impossible in real time. "Tanking" does not work, your party will still head straight for the enemies and your "meat shield" pretty much whacks away with useless damage done. Chain-chugging potions to stay alive or restore mana is extremely boring and demotivating. "Tactics" scripting does not work at all; it is a result of very poor AI in the programming. You may enjoy this game it you are familiar with the genre, but expect frustration and displeasure if you like to play games in real time.… Expand
  9. FirstRait
    Feb 20, 2011
    1
    What a completly horrible interface. Worst possible combat ui ever! If your a fan of being attacked by things you can't see because of the terrain overlapping the enemy and the ui unable to rotate it then this is the game for you! Anything remotely close to the Baldur's Gate combat ui would have been preferable. I bought this game due to the high rating and am stunned that so many find this not only an acceptable game, but a good one.… Expand
  10. blacksmith
    Mar 9, 2011
    3
    I've been a big fan of Bioware ever since the first Baldur's Gate game out. It truly saddens me to see them release this pile of crap. There is nothing I like about this game. The graphics look like the game could've been on the PS2. The combat and whole gameplay has a derpy feeling in it. The story is aimed for babbies. Deleting negative reviews, really now Bioware?
  11. GordonF
    Feb 8, 2010
    4
    Dragon Age: Origins was a very disappointing game for me. I played most of the good RPGs and I played this because the fan community recommended me to do so. I had high expectations since Bioware made the best RPGs this far. This game is just dull. First of all, conversations are boring and you can even curse someone's mother without any serious consequence. Of course some party members may disagree with you, but you can always give them a ring or pendant to make them feel better after you forced them to slaughter innocent puppies. Party AI is ridiculous. Forst I started a warrior but my team hardly survived without healing. Okay then I started a healing (wtf?) mage. I ended up being a healbot of my fellow NPCs. If I dared to shoot a fireball or something like that, all mobs started to attack me and if I unfortunately went down, only the limited amount of healing potions could save my little lemmings. Turning AI on/off didn't help much. So you might call me gay but I died a lot. I didn't know first that this game has a console version, then after 3 hours of gameplay I became suspicious... "hey... this game is dumb and primitive... it must have a console version." And yes, I was right. Nowadays PC games become more and more dull, they lack original ideas. Of course they give us spectacular graphics (in case of DA:O I could argue) but on the cost of story, excitement. If this is the future of PC gaming I think I'd rather buy a dog, or hang myself.… Expand
  12. Methesda
    Dec 13, 2009
    1
    I can't get what has impressed everyone... there is a story here, but it's not in anyway interesting or original. Voice acting is good, but the animation and graphics are either wooden or horribly glitchy ('antialiasing' of hair, head rotation at a constant speed making actors seem robotic). The comabt system is the same combat system that has been in use for decades; to my limited experience it is basically a FF generic RPG system. in itself is not bad But combined with the constant interuptions for cut scenes compounded by the seriously limiting gameplay areas, i found it impossible to get into any kind of flow with the game. The crafting and loots systems are inferior to many other games. I've enjoyed most Elder Scrolls games, Final Fantasy games, and a handful of other games, including MMO's. Most tellingly, i've enjoyed MMO's story and combat systems better than this game, which simply shouldn't be the case. I'm not sure why I'm even giving this game one point.… Expand
  13. MattG
    Dec 23, 2009
    4
    good storyline, voice acting, graphics? ok, but the gameplay is what killed the game. Oh look an enemy. "click".. 5 seconds later oh look another enemy. "click" and then theres the boss, lets use tactics and our skills to kill it! oh wait, we only have stun abilities which dont work on bosses... Overall the gameplay was depressing, but i thought it had an epic storyline, i loved having people at my knees begging for mercy, that was the best part of the game.… Expand
  14. KingWormy
    Feb 19, 2011
    3
    I wanted to go this far and write a review to let people know to stay away from this game, like most of you I read the reviews and gave this game a chance, I must say this game will make you pull your hair out, got pretty far in the game and it was not even fun, you spend most of your time dying, trying different strategies to defeat your opponents, what makes it so hard is AI is so horrible, people here aren't lying its really bad, midway through the game and Im still wondering when Ill get some armor to compensate on some battles where I fight 20 enemies at once or an overblown boss. I suggest you buy this game when its 10 dollars and spend the rest of the money on beer just so you'll manage to ignore all the flaws in this game. Buyer Beware.… Expand
  15. DantheMan
    Mar 18, 2011
    3
    I'm a Bioware fan-boy so it's difficult for me to admit just how bad this game is. But when I'm honest with myself I have to admit it's a bad game. It just is. It's difficult to point out where it all went wrong. Maybe they just tried too hard. Maybe they thought the name alone would sell it. I don't know.

    The story is totally non-compelling. The combat system is horrible and there i    s just way too much combat that doesn't advance the story. The personalities of the NPCs are mostly uninspiring. The only reason I don't give it a zero is because I think it retains Bioware's solid production values. Very few bugs.… Expand
  16. Ywrik
    Mar 25, 2011
    3
    According to most reviews, this game should be something like the gamer's paradise, well actually its purgatory or worse. I really cant understand why should I prefer it in comparison with such titles as The Witcher, Dragon Knight Saga (that was really fun to play !) or even good old Dungeon Master. I can compare it to watching a movie, separated by short sequences of "tactical" combat in which Im supposed to metaprogram my companions behavior according to conditions of my or enemy's or ally's parameters. Seems good idea, but sadly, In practice I found this concept really boring. I have to all the time rearrange my "tactical" companion script with every new spell or skill and troubleshooting it through combat. I found this so very uncool, that I really just pray for end of it wave after wave of hurlocks genlocks nad other locks, so i would be able to see another cut scene of the plot. I tried to play this game twice, around 20 hours or so, but in the end I fell asleep somewhere around or after Loithering village. I cant give this movie more than 3 points, just for the work of programmers, sorry.… Expand
  17. LeonRes-Evil2
    May 6, 2011
    4
    At the core, it's a movie. You get to create a character from some limited options, play a 'beginning' that has a scripted result every time, and which has no effect on what happens later. Most dialog is like that, hinting that it has an effect but in reality the same things occur no matter what you say. After you learn this, the invasive dialog prompts become a waste of time. I put in probably 20 hours, always getting to the same point and dieing because my AI is so poor. And I wasn't even that far into the game, since with all the dialog and prompts, the game moves at a snail's pace. The dialog is good, and characters developed, but BioWare just needs to give up and make movies, because these games are just time consumers and disgraces to their genres. No open world, no real choices, 3 classes, long loading screens at every room, and a game world that is made up of a bunch of rooms... this is a joke of an RPG, and shows that BioWare is truly overrated.… Expand
  18. AngusC
    Nov 27, 2009
    1
    The good part of this game is that it runs when you click the icon. Past that it is a relic. The interface was cutting edge at the turn of the century filled in with almost as many cutscenes as final fantasy series about a world which you will have to force yourself to care about. If you play the Dwarf Noble story arch, expect a no win situation after a few hours of play to remove your items, especially the DLC items you paid for, and there is no way to get them back. Did I say a few hours of play? No I meant 10 to 20 minutes of running around learning the interface and an hour and a half plus of dialogue that rambles on and that your choices in the dialogue have no bearing on affecting the story or your inevitable exile. This game could have been a dvd and the UI ran by a simple TV remote. It should be 20 bucks to watch as a movie. The archaic baldurs gate/and MMO out there UI is junk for todays gamer. I have forced myself to play through the first 15 levels of a few of the story archs and they are all the same after the 2 hours of initial dialogue and the DLC is nothing to write home about, providing an extra character which should render the Dwarf Story Line of the game useless and a keep which gets you slightly better than beginning armor and 2 merchants who have sets of armor for each of the tiers and some crafting mats. The game can be played on Auto pilot and should be for that fact, any deviations from your parties default tactics and you will be forced to manually control them which would be a good thing if there was any control on the characters, but no its a simple auto attack game that you can program each character to fight specifically. Every few minutes expect 10 minutes of dialogue all repeating dialogue either read or spoken in the Codex or cutscene. Perfect game for people who do not like to control many aspects of the game. Less control than your average mmorg ui. If you are looking for an epic fantasy game, wait for Elder Scrolls 5. If you are looking to play a game that uses a 10+ year old ui with an upgrade to the textures file then this is your game. On my last note customizing your character's class is annoying until you play through the whole game and get it right a second complete play through. If you want to play a specific set of Class Specializations like an Arcane Warrior/Blood Mage you need to know how to find these specs or like my mage you will find them too late and not even use your Specialization before the end of the game. Bioware had a good reputation for games, I have always been happy with them, but this game shows that like all companies, when you get successful you becomes lazy and trying to revive a 10 year old UI by covering it up with new graphics, too much blood that almost never goes away and a tedious ammount of dialogue is just plain lazy. Even if they had tried an action base ui where clicking a mouse button meant something other than activating an icon it would have been 100 times better. This game is no where near the quality that Bioshock or Mass Effect were and I am worried that they will be lazy on the sequels to those great titles and personally I hope there is no Dragon Age: Origins 2 as it will further my belief that Bioware is going the route of so many companies before it and just getting all mighty dollar by any short cut possible.… Expand
  19. MichaelN
    Jan 8, 2010
    4
    I'm not sure whether people are still bursting with love from Bioware's previous efforts, but this game is nowhere near a 9, much less above a 7. Fans of slow dungeon crawling, where reading endless amounts of text and stiff, turned base combat is everyday fare might enjoy SOME of this game, but the rest of us will rip our hair out in frustration. AI is nonexistent, the graphics aren't worthy of a $50 game, and the controls are terrible. The camera is forced to follow you around, which in turn forces you to use W, A, S, and D to move, since clicking the landscape to move is impossible with a frantic camera moving every time you turn an inch. Lastly, the story has been done a million times, the "mature" themes come off as a joke, and the dialogue takes forever. The cutscenes are almost as bad, but at least you can skip them. If you are looking for a game that plays or feels anything like the trailer for this, look elsewhere. If you are looking for a boring, sluggish game with graphics from three years ago, this is for you.… Expand
  20. mikeF
    Feb 11, 2010
    3
    I am not sure who are the professionals that rated this game but they were paid off if they rated it any higher than 3. The game is just a choose your own adventure of dialogue. The combat was an after thought in the worst way possible. On the first playthrough i set it to hard and 20 minutes into the game i had to put it on nightmare to see if it was any more challenging. Sadly it wasn't as the AI is appears to be programmed from games 20 years ago. Compound that with the ability to chain chug potions and you have a game that's not even remotely as tactical as they say it is. Reminded me a lot of Diablo 2 just with a bunch of dialogue. How much does it say for a game when you can setup the IN GAME AI and watch it beat itself on the hardest setting???… Expand
  21. antoniod
    Dec 24, 2009
    3
    It's only good when compared to games in the crpg category released in recent years. Now, if I were to compare it to Vamp: Bloodlines, Planescape: Torment, Arcanum or Fallout 2 then it was a major disappointment. Especially considering how even Baldur's Gate was done better, a game that's pretty much its predecessor.
  22. ManuelA
    Dec 24, 2009
    0
    It's decent for the kind of games the industry's been feeding us. The dumbing down is certainly out of hand. This is pretty much a simplified, in all its features, version of Baldur's Gate. And even BG wasn't all that good to begin with if you were to compare it to Arcanum or PS:T.
  23. JamesB
    Apr 3, 2011
    3
    I really want to like this game, i really do but there is one critical flaw that bioware made. THE GAME IS TO DAM DIFFICULT! There so much good in the game, but the difficulty just makes me hate it so much. Even on easy your gonna have a nightmare trying to win large fights,and by large fights i mean more than 5 enemies at one time. You enter these large fights, your party lasts about 1 minute, your left alone and eventually get piled. You die and you are knocked back about 30 minutes worth of playing. You lose all the xp and items you gained and you have to do it all again.Cant enjoy it, at all. Mass effect was done much better, this just feels half ass compared to the effort put in mass effect.… Expand
  24. level250geek
    Feb 2, 2011
    3
    I wanted to like this game, I really did. However, I had the same experience with this game as I did with Mass Effect. After about 10 hours, I felt like I was just playing Knights of the Old Republic all over again. However, this game's major saving grace was that the storyline was much more interesting and involved; it's typical dark fantasy stuff, but it had an interesting spin by including a nod to real-world Middle Ages politics in the form of an all-powerful church and the existence of slave labor; that bit of mythology was interesting. However, after over 30 hours of play, I stopped caring. Novel ideas were quickly abandoned and there were no new narrative developments or interesting new characters after a while; in fact, there was one character who was so incredibly boring I just kicked him out of my party. Add this to the fact that, despite some new narrative spins, DA:O still managed to implement every single fantasy RPG cliche (not to mention well rehashed BioWare plot devices) into the first two-thirds of the game. As for the game play, I grew tired of a camera that never seemed to be where I needed it to be and AI partners that either never did exactly what I wanted them to do. BioWare threw in a clunky tactics system that was supposed to allow for fine-tuned combat strategy, but it was too complicated to be useful and never really translate into any useful AI actions for me. Not to mention that the endless dialogue trees never felt like they had any actual impact on the game, nor did I ever feel as if my character had any true personality. I really don't understand why this game got the incredible reviews it did and why people love it so much; it's a tired, recycled template with some new modifiers and prettier graphics slapped on it. Time would be better spent reading George R. R. Martin.â… Expand
  25. wiijobo
    Aug 20, 2011
    0
    Absolutely terrible combat I am properly disgusted that developers would think this would be a good combat system in this day and age! Just stand there and watch your character and an enemy stand there and take turns hitting each other, what is this Runescape? If you want to play a half decent RPG play Mass Effect or The Witcher 2, at least you will be able to actually take control of combat and actually do something rather than sit back and helplessly watch your characters die.… Expand
  26. Blaze997
    Sep 22, 2011
    1
    Is that really a 2009 game ? Limited area of play, bad AI, no way to get out of dialog when you want to (have to click, click and click), so so graphic . I tried to like it ! When you get some action, it's only to get bored . I wont buy another game from Bioware . If you like watching a movie go ahead . If not, stay away .
  27. Hardcard
    Sep 20, 2012
    4
    I'm disappointed. I guess I was expecting too much from this game. I can't help but notice that "Dragon Age" is nothing more than "Neverwinter Nights" with a new graphic engine. I've been playing "Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" for a while and I can say that it humiliates "Dragon Age" in every aspect.
    This game is so tatty that I can't understand its fame. As far as I've seen, it has a weak/ch    ildish story, poor character depth (if any), it still uses the "Neverwinter Nights" command/navigation systems,and its graphic engine, however improved, is already obsolete.

    In one word: Disappointing.    … Expand
  28. KannedFarU
    Jan 14, 2010
    4
    I think this game was overrated. It feels like I'm playing KOTR all over again, and to be honest I never really liked those games. I don't get any thrill out of pushing a button and watching my characters do all the work. That's what separates this game from Mass Effect really. The character progression and story telling is interesting but none of the endings are really good enough for me to waste my time saying the right things. I'd almost rather have the storyboard pre-written. As far as gameplay goes I found the camera to be very frustrating at times. When you're in RTS mode the camera is stationary but can be difficult to select certain characters without pausing the game and moving it ever so slowly into position. So I find that selecting while in 3rd person was easier. This was not the case as selecting a character in 3rd person mode even when clicking and dragging caused the camera to fly over to the newly selected character. It seems to have failed at being an RTS and failed at being a 3rd person RPG. There are times where the game becomes entirely too frustrating. I believe that for an enjoyable experience the average user should be able to survive every encounter on their first try, where as in this game you tend to get ambushed a lot and die, only to have to try 3 different strategies while the game nags you to turn down the difficulty setting. Money in the game is scarce, so if you want the best equipment you usually have to substitute it for junk you pick up from monster drops just so you can spend all of your hard earned cash purchasing elfroots so you can create enough health potions to make it through the next dungeon. I know the solution to health potions should be get a healer, but the healer abilities in this game suck. They don't heal for many points. Towards the end of the game my warrior had a 37 constitution and the healer couldn't even fill 1/4th his health with the best healing spell. The health potions were really the only way I could drag myself to the horrible ending. Mass Effect had similar moments but I think the healing system was much better balanced and moving and shooting made survival more skill dependent rather than dice roll. Other than the healing issue, the spells were another big issue. Everyone who loves to play as a mage will find that only the beginner spells are useful as most of the higher level magic has lots of splash damage that will hurt your own teammates. Since health is a very limited resource to begin with, unlocking the higher level attack spells was pointless because every encounter where you would want to use splash damage was against warriors that were guess what, standing right next to your teammates, sometimes even right next to the spell caster >:O. The story here isn't anything to get excited about. The game literally copied the style of the LOTR movies even down to Dwarven architecture. The same old type cast (The Dwarves dug too deep and got bum rushed by demons) stories are told. Also I didn't see a NewGame+ which is always a big deal for me when I play RPGs. I always loved playing Crono Trigger from the beginning but with the characters I left off with. This allows me to really explore the characters abilities without having to look for something to kill at the end of the game with nothing to do to kill time. What can I take from this game that's good? Well the game has a lot of movie references which at times are fun to keep an eye out for. I haven't found a lvl cap in the game @ 21 though I'm sure it's there (Should never be a lvl cap on single player games :P). Though I felt the environments were kinda copied stylistically they were very beautiful and fun to explore. The quests required you to read the dialogue rather than get a quest pointer and off you go without any real clue as to what you're doing. This made the game more immersive. Building relationships with your party members was actually challenging at times. You really had to pay attention to how the characters acted so you would know how to talk in front of them and to them. I take Morrigan for example, she's kind of cynical and tries to do lots of things to her own benefit. When I tried to be nice to her, she would tend to dislike me more because I'm concentrating more on her than myself. This was a good feature as it made the characters seem more like real people than shoddy cardboard characters with one purpose in the whole game. I really felt like this game should have been balanced a little better, and that every single spell/ability had a specific use for some point in the game. Another EA title feels entirely too rushed to me, and I was ready to give them a second chance hearing that they changed management and fixed all their problems. EA needs to stop accumulating companies and cutting their budgets, let the developers make the game not the publishers.… Expand
  29. JasonW
    Jan 22, 2010
    4
    I am so sorry I didn't like this game. Perhaps it's bc I got the xbox 360 version, perhaps it was bc it has been so long since I've played a good fantasy rpg that my sights had been set too high. Either way I stopped playing this game after the third time I feel asleep. Twice I nodded off during dialog, but the last time I was in combat and it was so boring I found myself unable to keep my head up. I never fall asleep playing a game, and it was the middle of the day, not like I had been up playing till the wee hours of the morning. As a matter of fact I dozed off after having only played the game for 30 minutes! I love rpgs, they are my favorite genre, and until this game I've loved every Bioware rpg they have produced. I spent hours searching every nook and barrel in Baulder's Gate, Icewind Dale, and Torment. Played through the xbox version of Baulder's Gate 1 and 2 single, then multiplayer. I even played through Mass Effect 5 times!! I'm sorry I don't like this game. I really wanted to.… Expand
  30. GaryR
    Jan 9, 2010
    4
    Too many bugs, I have had to restart more than once, or use other means to get around shoddy programming.
  31. GregS
    Jan 10, 2010
    0
    It has most of what makes a great RPG. The story is interesting, the voice acting is good, and I loved manipulating everyone to my own ends in the beginning as a mage. However, this game is completely and utterly broken for one reason - the combat. It plays similar to a WoW clone sans actual people controlling your allies, and it works about as well as it sounds. To attempt to fix the problem of having all these abilities at your allies' disposal and no humans to give them orders (unless you pause the game and micromanage every single action of your allies), Bioware has essentially copied the gambit system from FFXII, and that works about as well as it did in that game. Which is not at all. While there is an obvious advantage to scripting your allies' AI to suit your own purposes, even with scripts that should have had my allies fighting the sames things as I was, they acted retarded. Apparently, it makes more sense to spread to the four corners of the world where you can be picked off easily than to fight in one group. What could have been a great game has had all its potential destroyed by the absolute worst AI I have ever seen; AI even worse than that of Call of Duty 4 and Medieval II: Total War.… Expand
  32. NathanA
    Jan 4, 2010
    4
    This game is absolutely terrible. The companion AI is so bad as to make the game practically unplayable without pausing the game between EVERY action. I literally had warriors sitting there doing nothing while my mage character took a beating from all the monsters. The so-called morally ambiguous dilemmas are absolutely terrible. In real life, many situations have a clear "right" decision, which usually conflicts with what you want to do. Hence, the dilemma. In Dragon Age, there are no right answers. No matter what you do, you end up feeling like a jerk because you screwed over virtual people. The cutscenes are waaaay too boring and numerous. Thankfully they are skippable. If they weren't, this game would have a negative score. I have to admit that I am more of an action RPG fan. I was hoping this would be playable as a decent action RPG to tide me until Diablo 3 comes out, but apparently I was wrong. The AI is simply too terrible. From the screenshots it looked as if it would play rather like an RTS, but it's too hard to click on your units in the middle of battle. I guess you could click on the pictures to select them but that requires moving your mouse outside of the battle zone. This seems like it would be a pretty fun game if it didn't have so many issues. Honestly I can't believe the reviewers rated it so high. I think the user reviews much better reflect the quality of the game, since it has a VERY VERY VERY limited appeal. I played this game for 2 hours and can't stand it anymore, I'm uninstalling it from my computer. I was going to rate it a 0, but I CAN see how it would be appealing to some people, so I decided to go with a 4.… Expand
  33. Megatanis
    Sep 20, 2010
    1
    I just played more than 40 hours and i must say i can't understand how this game could get such a high score. Graphics are okay, soundtrack too, and the first two or three hours (origins) are interesting. From there on the game becomes linear, boring and repetitive. The biggest disappointment, in my opinion, is the extremely limited freedom of action: exploration is non existing, party members are few and "hardcoded", the biggest city in the game contains two merchants or something like that, new locations "appear" on the map only after you pick the quest, invisible walls everywhere...Claustrophobic to say the least. Oh, and sidequests: probably the worst aspect of the whole game. Dull, linear, irrelevant. Whole areas appear out of nowhere just to let you fight useless battles for yet more useless rewards (expecially in late game). The game is pretty much all about the main story line, which although mildly interesting (up to the battle in Ostagar i was liking it), is quite generic as well (a great evil descends upon the land, a mighty hero is here to save the day). The total absence of "true" exploration, limited interaction with the outside world (whole rooms full of stuff you can't interact with) and boring and repetitive combat really kills the fun for me. And the world is SO small! i found myself travelling from the urn of ashes ruins to brecillian forest just to buy ingredients and then going back! Add to this very few npc's, a party of 4 members which you cannot evolve as you like, since if you don't follow their starting skills you basically water them down (something you simply can't afford when party is only 4 people) and basically next to no "true" secondary quests (the npc quests are really just a couple of boring dialogues to get and one or two locations you must visit to complete the whole thing), and I really wonder how it is possible that so many people are giving 90+ to this game. Considering the size (15GB!) and the year it was released i would have expected sooooo much more. There are many games that are much better, for less than half the size and without all this hype about "choices that really matter", which is plainly false. Whatever you do or say at the end of these never ending cutscenes, has very little impact in the long term, other than "good" or "evil" ending with a couple of variants. In my opinion, DaO is a huge step back in terms of rpg gaming. I just hope this is not what we will get in the years to come, although i'm afraid it is.… Expand
  34. supertle
    Mar 16, 2011
    2
    This game has NO HEART in it. The world is boring. No NPC to talk to. Full of one liners. All you do is stare at the mini map and follow in one direction towards the marker. There is no exploration. There is no good loot. In fact they made it easy by letting you find a bunch of junk items and a "SELL ALL JUNK" when visiting a merchant. What's the point of picking up junks simply for selling? Normally junk is considered items you end up not using but could be used if you had plans or skills for it. They really took the "role playing" out of RPG. All that left really is just a vanilla game. You cannot customize your party equipment. You are forced into using certain roles for your companion if you want to maximize their potential. The actions of this game also go so fast that it feels like you're in a freaking shooter game with the ability to pause. Don't get me started on the DLC money making scheme either ... ... and be careful with these reviews. Google "dragon age Chris Hoban" and see for yourself. This game should rank somewhere in the low 7s as average score due to the graphics.… Expand
  35. dragon42301
    Mar 21, 2011
    2
    I am a big fan of Dragon Age Origins and was very disappointed in Dragon Age 2. In Dragon Age 2 there is very limited ability to personalize your character. You can only play human and if you choose a warrior you do not have the option of utilizing two sword as you did in Dragon Age Origins. One of my largest concerns with this game is the lack of being able to read your complete dialog prior to choosing a path. They provide two to three words to choose from and at times your dialog does not go in the direction you would like. This alone somewhat ruins the game for me. you cannot choose armor for your companions and instead can only upgrade. Different is not always better. Bioware should have stuck with what they do well, bring a great story to life allowing the player to choose their path. Dragon Age Origins is so much better than Dragon Age 2 on so many levels. Many individuals , including me, are also having difficulty getting the game to play correctly (Check out the Dragon Age 2 forum on their home page). My set up is above and beyond the recommended yet my game will slow down and lock up, especially during dialog. Check out the forums on Dragon Age 2 before purchasing, Maybe they will have a patch out shortly. If there is a Dragon Age three, they lost me at two. I will no longer preorder Bioware games until after I read reviews.… Expand
  36. buzer
    Feb 9, 2013
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. this game didn't aged well. after finishing skyrim and witcher 2 i just can't get myself into it. fighting system is pathetic, plot is meh at best. bunch of rednecks betraying each others. just few hours into game i already lost my entire family, home city, king and my order. it's just doesn't make any sense considering there're monsters invading my land. For example imagine 1942 Europe. Hitler is biggest threat in centuries but all of sudden uk decide to betray usa even that without them uk chances to survive.are much smaller Its just silly and unrealistic. Not to mention that my character, some unexperienced kid is leading team with senior member of my order, and gods only know how old witch.… Expand
  37. EastonReviews
    Jul 7, 2011
    3
    It's actually frustrating to see so many positive reviews, since when did you like unnesisary gore, guys? In this game you slice up random unnesisary creatures in the most disturbing ways known possible, be it sliced muscles, or just gore in general. The graphics are a problem to this, while the storyline is just wrong. It's unreliable, but I did find some interest in the length. The originality is fine. But still won't save what the game has turned out to be.… Expand
  38. rpgMasterFan
    Mar 8, 2012
    0
    I was terribly disappointed in this psuedo rpg game. What is it at all. The tragic mission. No plot. Again, pseudo-dialogues for children and the content does not make sense. World very limited and corridor.
  39. PCgamerONLY
    Apr 25, 2013
    0
    This game sucks. I must have played a completely different game that the rest of the people who enjoyed this game. Everything in this game was a grind. I found none of the characters (Sten kinda grew on me) enjoyable. What's with the 10,000,000 gallons of blood on everything all the time? Dialogs were drawn out long winded whining. Did I miss the part in Superman where he had to deliver groceries to little old ladies to gain valuable experience?
    My character is a Grey Warden... not Fedex. Have someone else deliver the message!

    What's with the endless quantity of ho-hum quests?
    Seriously, you want me to go the forest and shoot a flaming arrow? You mean the forest where I just slaughtered everything but the squirrels? You are too scared to go in there now? but you are willing to talk to the blood drenched group that just emerged from the woods?    … Expand
  40. jayk
    Dec 1, 2009
    0
    40 % of the game is watching cut scenes. 20% is answering multiple choice questions on what to say and how to reply. 40% is running and combat. this is a very slow paced game with invisible walls everywhere. not an open world.
  41. SandorV
    Dec 10, 2009
    0
    cite: "Donnie B. R. gave it a0: Insanely claustrophobic. Mindnumbingly boring conversations. Horribly boring, cliche' story. Terribly boring items. Did I say boring? Almost no customizations. No advancement, generic skills. NO freedom at all (Is this some kind of joke, years after games like Gothic 3 or Oblivion? Playing on 15 x 20m areasy? Loading screens every minute? You gotta be kidding me. There is absolutely nothing in this game that warrants a good score. No, not even the graphic. A true shame on Bioware, and its reviews are marking the death of independent gaming journalism." i agree at all… Expand
  42. CharlieA
    Dec 21, 2009
    2
    I was really excited when I got this game, but it soon faded as the harsh reality of a boring combat system emerged, I tried to play on but to no avail. I really struggle to see why everyone loves this game, sure the graphics are nice, yeah it has quite rich content, but that doesn't redeem the RTS/RPG reject offspring of a combat system, I've mass effect and i thought it was brilliant, but this was a complete let down tbh.… Expand
  43. ChrisM
    Dec 28, 2009
    4
    After having played the game for a sum total of 5 hours, I was surprised it had not gripped me as I thought it would. RPG's from BioWare are always amazing games but after having recently finished Mass Effect (twice, one after another) I can honestly say BioWare lost the plot here. The graphics were lacklustre, dialogue was completely appauling and contributed almost nothing of real value and the combat system gets boring after a few hours after which it becomes to feel grind-like. Add this to the extremely linear world (fast-travel map system), common load screens, inability to form an emotional connection with party members (within the first 5 hours I lost atleast 4 through the story, which gave little time to connect or feel for these NPCs). I am bewildered like many other users' as to how this game got rated so highly. It is completely unoriginal and definitely not an all-time great "RPG" by any means. The only redeeming quality of the title has to be voice acting and the origin stories which I found quite interesting, but nevertheless hardly original. If you're expected to soak up to and exceeding 50+ hours in this game it has to be amazing from start to finish and this game wasn't even amazing from the start. Do yourself a favour; if you don't have lots of spare time, aren't a hardcore RPG fan or enjoy having a compelling storyline in your games, stay away from this title! Play another RPG such as Fallout 3 or another BioWare offering of Mass Effect. It will be a much better use of your time.… Expand
  44. GabeT
    Jan 23, 2010
    1
    The only appeal of this game is the extensive story line, but I found that after about 6 hours of game time I'd gotten in maybe 10 combat encounters. The only reason to play this game is to see the storyline to it's conclusion, but sadly interest in that goal is lost long before that. Unless you are a fiend for boring NPC cutscreens, stay the hell away from this game.
  45. Gyrolin
    Jan 27, 2010
    2
    After completing Dragon Age: Origins, I was sorely disappointed. The high reviews made the game seem like it would be something innovative or new, when it was really just a cheap Neverwinter knockoff with no multiplayer or campaign editor. Below is my breakdown: Pros: Party members have diverse personalities Good voice acting Challenging Mildly interesting story Decent NPC interaction(Though way too much of it) Cons: Unoriginal concept Controls not intuitive Poor gear system(lack of decent upgrading system) Repetitive questing Inventory system makes selling a pain Very linear after the 'origin' quests Not enough options for party tactics Leveling up was unrewarding Crafting system is poor Way too much talking to NPCs Limited skills planned for Fighters/Rogues Prestige classing was pointless Shameless DLC plugs everywhere throughout the game Graphics sub-par for what was advertised Boring all the way through The cons list can go on and on, but I have to stop at some point. As hard as I've tried I really cannot come up with any more pros than are listed. The reason that I gave this game a 2 is that at the end of the 25 hours it took me to beat the game, I felt that all the time had been wasted. This is the first time I've played a fantasy RPG and not enjoyed myself in the 15+ years I've been PC gaming. My personal opinion is that DAO is a no buy/no play. If you respect what little free time you have to play games, just stay away from this one.… Expand
  46. RobertW
    Nov 28, 2009
    4
    Slow moving throwback to about 2004. Too much replay required and slow loads make gameplay unfullfilling. I guess I have been spoiled by Fallout 3 and Bioshock.
  47. DennisW.
    Nov 3, 2009
    1
    The DLC redemption process so completely extracts whatever fun there is in the game and beats with a spiked club until it disappears in to the ground. There are multiple ids, emails, passwords, screen names, account names, etc. to create to get even ONE piece of DLC that you get for FREE with purchase that I am no so angry I have no desire to play the game. And wobetide the person who enters something WRONG - there are no error messages - just start over and guess.… Expand
  48. NabiguzojeK
    Dec 16, 2009
    4
    I have played for 5 hours only, but nevertheless i'm already getting bored by the game. And rating is failing with time that i have spend on this game, so probably in couple of gameplay hours i will rate the game even worse. In my eyes RPG is not so about weapons or magic that i'm wielding but about my impact to imaginary world and in this game my impact is 0 since everything is preset and you will follow the main qest straight forwardly. Blood and gore are too boring, and i have switched it off immediately since i dont want to be covered with blood constantly. Dog is nice, but it cannot be compared with beloved Dogmeat (Fallout one) On good side, i like wielding the sword, but since this is pure hack and slash (with load of cinematic and stupid dialogs that are useless since story is obvious) Diablo (or any clone) is much better option for gaming 50 euros for this is waaaaay to much… Expand
  49. MarkH.
    Dec 2, 2009
    4
    Yes, it's pretty. Yes, the soundtrack is excellent. Beyond this, it's nothing you haven't already seen or played a thousand times, it's excruciatingly tedious, and I've more often than not found all but one character in the party dead, with the lone survivor running laps around a tree while being chased by an adversary, waiting for my mana or stamina to recharge so I can actually fight. All in all, it's tedious, long, and I'm giving it another hour before I delete it.… Collapse
  50. [ANONYMOUS]
    Nov 21, 2009
    3
    By the time I started this game I was already certain that I'd played it before. Why is that? That's because it's practically identical to any other RPG in the genre. The only redeeming quality is that it's decently pretty to look at. The spells however aren't really anything to be excited about. The incredibly linear character development progression is a shame. It seems the developers of this game had never heard of a "Skill Tree" Yes, there are options, but they're all in a line. Nothing branches off. This game just took an old concept and tried to beautify it. Mission Accomplished. But it did nothing to improve it on any meaningful basis. If you like games like this, I'd have to recommend Dungeon Siege. It's older, but it's a step up. WAY UP.… Expand
  51. WonderWorm
    Nov 22, 2009
    2
    Compared to Elder Scrolls, Dragon age is very disappointing with its linear closed world. It puts up this facade that makes it seem you have some options and a non-linear game, but the game world is tiny and all paths lead to the same conclusion. The Battle system is really lacking as well, as if they could not decide if they wanted to make an RPG or an RTS/RTT. Although consequently as the critics point out you could spend more time in the pause screen than actually doing anything. Basically this game has nothing new or interesting to offer the RPG genre and that alone would be 5/10. The insanely numerous load screens that fairly often crash and the very dated design polished with fancy graphics 2/10 seems generous.… Expand
  52. CallanR
    Dec 13, 2009
    2
    I am truly mystified by the universal acclaim this game has gotten. The first few hours of the game ARE good, very good even. However the novelty quickly fades as you progress further into the game. The game is totally linear with little to do other than the main 'quest' that furthers the storyline; all but one or two of the side quests are brief, uninteresting and completely unrewarding. Furthermore the emphasis the game places on the overarching purpose of the main character is bizarre: you are warned of a big bad archdemon and a giant army of evil darkspawn, but these are quickly forgotten as you trudge through boring, uninteresting dungeons/quests for 50 hours in order to 'get ready' to fight the darkspawn army. While playing on hard, the combat is rewarding in the sense that the game is difficult and you will be forced to tweak your tactics for each particular battle, which is a good thing. The problem is that there are really only a handful of skills that are worthwhile, I couldn't imagine playing this game without Cone of Cold. Some skills/spell trees border on unuseable, and with such a slim selection of skills this narrows down your selection quite a bit. The absence of a concrete storyline in the twilight portions of the game is particularly frustrating. While having a direct influence on the outcome on the main storyline/other characters is obviously a must for an RPG, Bioware literally leaves almost everything up to the player in the latter portions of the game. Having a choice is good: giving the player too much choice leaves the experience empty and kind of hollow as you no longer feel like you are immersed in a storyline, rather you are just finishing the ending yourself for the writers. In the end, the game is long, grindy, boring and unrewarding. The items, skills and sidequests are all incredibly bland, and the world has little charm. Some of the characters ARE interesting (Zevran, Sten) while others are cookie cutter characitures and feel completely dead and predictable (Alistair and Leliana, and Morrigan is one of the most awful annoying characters to ever grace video games). The world is filled with red tape, and 90% of the gameplay is in effect waiting as all you are doing for dozens of hours is getting ready gathering an army for one battle sequence that lasts no more than an hour or two. I really wanted to like this game but was sorely disappointed in it.… Expand
  53. Higher_Standard
    Aug 17, 2010
    0
    I don't know what the deal with this game is. I can't play it at all on the easiest difficulty. Even when I do the ai is so retarded that you have to sit and hold their hand while spamming pause constantly. This should not have been labeled rpg, but small scale rts. I also don't understand how they make this game so reliant on tactics and such then throw in so many solo moments.
  54. xFireize
    Aug 17, 2010
    0
    Wow! This is like the most overrated game of all time. The game looks unfinished and yet the publisher has released some DLCs and even an expansion! There is still so much space for improvement! The bugs haven't even fixed! When the game released, I was like.. "Man, this game looks awesome.. Gotta buy it someday!". I waited for the game to have some discount on steam because $50 was too much for a student to buy a game. A couple of months later, I got the game for 33% off, and I believe it is still not worth the money. It is a huge disappointment.

    The tactics system is Final Fantasy XII's gambit system rip-off, but it's not even better. FFXII was released like 4 years ago, but the system is still better.

    Storyline is pretty linear with boring small branches (boring side quests and stupid conversations and stupid sex scenes). I did not feel any freedom of exploring in this game. I played for like 80 hours and was always waiting for the good part, but it never came. It's not worth restarting.

    You can't even play the ranger class because of the freaking pet bugs. That is so annoying!

    This game is just a wow! I do not understand why this game has 91 metascore.    … Expand
  55. iburnaga
    Aug 24, 2010
    0
    Generic is generic. If you're into RPGs and just want something fluffy go for this. If you want something new with an interesting and not at all cluster%&$# battle system go someplace else. If you've played a Bioware RPG just go somewhere else, you've played this game you can know the story within the first two seconds and you even know how it's going to end. I give this game a 0 out of 10 for being cliche and generic to the point of madness, having a battle system with both fake difficulty and being totally lacking in tactics for a tactical rpg and minus further points for character options that literally have no effect at all on game play.… Expand
  56. Maplesyrupgl
    Mar 16, 2011
    3
    Extremely disappointing game. Combat is fun, but there is no where near enough. There is far too much story, which isn't even too good. The plot is confused and disjointed and the characters have no logic. The story is long, but I was too bored to get past 10 or so hours. It may have gotten more interesting after that, but I had better things to do than wait and see.
  57. krushak
    Dec 30, 2012
    3
    overhyped game, i have buyed it from the steam winter sales but the combat system of this game sucks hard, the only reason why i played this game more than 1 hour is the nice story and the nice music.

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
91 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 67 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 66 out of 67
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 67
  3. Negative: 0 out of 67
  1. Gameplayer Sweden
    100
    If you're into rpgs, or rather if you love roleplaying in general, there's really no need to waste time reading any reviews of this game. The same goes if you regard games like Planescape: Torment, Fallout 2 and the Baldurs Gate-series among the best computer games ever made. Because this game is everything a person like you look for in a game, and so much more. Be aware though, Dragon Age: Origins is not a revolution of the genre, rather it is an evolution, where Bioware has refined everything that made them into a formula as close to perfection as possible. Without a doubt one of the strongest Game of the year-candidates so far this year and a game we will remember with warm feelings many years to come.
    Read full review
  2. PC Gamer
    92
    An outstanding story-driven RPG with fantastic writing, RPG depth and tough tactical combat. It's BioWare's best RPG since Baldur's Gate 2. [Holiday 2009, p.38]
  3. GamingXP
    92
    Dragon Age Origins will keep you in front of your computer for hours! Graphics, sounds and the controls couldn’t be much better!
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »