Dragon Age Dragon Age: Origins is ten years old today

[Absinthe]

I don't really like the way in which they've integrated the mage class into DA:O's story. Besides not giving you the choice for an apostate origin (or at the very least allowing for a Dalish origin elven mage), the game doesn't even properly acknowledge one's usage of blood magic. DA2, for all its faults, gave a better (role)playing experience for being a mage.

Honestly DA2 is even worse in that regard. The entire setting is Templar vs Mage conflict (apparently DAO didn't do a good enough job of establishing this subplot) and almost no one seems to notice you're a Mage. It gets even more ridiculous if you are a Blood Mage.

Though I am a fan of heavily armored melee fighters and thus don't really care about magic users in general.

DAO honestly underperformed in making melee fighters interesting. They don't have many interesting tricks. It's all variations on hits and minor stuns. It's weird that they shamelessly imitated WoW gameplay but failed to include the things that made WoW Warriors remotely interesting.

Everything for House Aeducan, my low caste friend. The flesh is weak, but the good of the dynasty comes first.

That would've quite possibly been the best part of DAO, if they hadn't completely axed the Dwarf Noble questline for the power struggle. Qwinn's Fixpack at least returns the cutscene where finding evidence of Bhelen's wrongdoing changes the battle he normally gives if he loses. It gets even more ridiculous if it's a female Dwarf Noble, as it's possible to be in a relationship with Gorim then and he will make promises that are completely abandoned.

I don't think anyone would say it's super easy to add mage stuff to the Dalish origin, just that it could have been done relatively easily, in the grand scale of that game's development. I would have prioritized two mage options over 5 warrior/rogue options in a heartbeat, especially with two of them being dwarves.

Tossing in two cutscenes and a few monsters is super easy unless your entire staff is incompetent as shit. Now there are nicer ways to develop all this (add a Fade sequence, go through some minor Dalish Mage apprenticeship shit) which would have taken more effort, but doing Dalish mage didn't need to be hard. Honestly everyone ends up dealing with Mage issues and taking Fade trips anyway, and the rest of the cast doesn't need the Origin primer on what it means to be a Mage in DAO either. At any rate, DAO definitely underdelivered on Mage origins.

If you ask me they should've done extra origins, dwarf noble questline, and other shit like that as DLC content. It would've been about as easy but not nearly as bad as the shit they actually wound up selling as DLC.

 

[Cael]

I don't really like the way in which they've integrated the mage class into DA:O's story. Besides not giving you the choice for an apostate origin (or at the very least allowing for a Dalish origin elven mage), the game doesn't even properly acknowledge one's usage of blood magic. DA2, for all its faults, gave a better (role)playing experience for being a mage.

Honestly DA2 is even worse in that regard. The entire setting is Templar vs Mage conflict (apparently DAO didn't do a good enough job of establishing this subplot) and almost no one seems to notice you're a Mage. It gets even more ridiculous if you are a Blood Mage.

Though I am a fan of heavily armored melee fighters and thus don't really care about magic users in general.

DAO honestly underperformed in making melee fighters interesting. They don't have many interesting tricks. It's all variations on hits and minor stuns. It's weird that they shamelessly imitated WoW gameplay but failed to include the things that made WoW Warriors remotely interesting.

Everything for House Aeducan, my low caste friend. The flesh is weak, but the good of the dynasty comes first.

That would've quite possibly been the best part of DAO, if they hadn't completely axed the Dwarf Noble questline for the power struggle. Qwinn's Fixpack at least returns the cutscene where finding evidence of Bhelen's wrongdoing changes the battle he normally gives if he loses. It gets even more ridiculous if it's a female Dwarf Noble, as it's possible to be in a relationship with Gorim then and he will make promises that are completely abandoned.

I don't think anyone would say it's super easy to add mage stuff to the Dalish origin, just that it could have been done relatively easily, in the grand scale of that game's development. I would have prioritized two mage options over 5 warrior/rogue options in a heartbeat, especially with two of them being dwarves.

Tossing in two cutscenes and a few monsters is super easy unless your entire staff is incompetent as shit. Now there are nicer ways to develop all this (add a Fade sequence, go through some minor Dalish Mage apprenticeship shit) which would have taken more effort, but doing Dalish mage didn't need to be hard. Honestly everyone ends up dealing with Mage issues and taking Fade trips anyway, and the rest of the cast doesn't need the Origin primer on what it means to be a Mage in DAO either. At any rate, DAO definitely underdelivered on Mage origins.

If you ask me they should've done extra origins, dwarf noble questline, and other shit like that as DLC content. It would've been about as easy but not nearly as bad as the shit they actually wound up selling as DLC.

The power bloat in the DLC items was pretty hilarious. Imagine starting with items that were better than endgame items...

 

[Wunderbar]

I don't really like the way in which they've integrated the mage class into DA:O's story. Besides not giving you the choice for an apostate origin (or at the very least allowing for a Dalish origin elven mage), the game doesn't even properly acknowledge one's usage of blood magic. DA2, for all its faults, gave a better (role)playing experience for being a mage.

Honestly DA2 is even worse in that regard. The entire setting is Templar vs Mage conflict (apparently DAO didn't do a good enough job of establishing this subplot) and almost no one seems to notice you're a Mage. It gets even more ridiculous if you are a Blood Mage.

iirc there was even a dialogue option "but I am a MAGE!" during a dialogue with templar.
But, as it usually happens in games with dialogue wheel and voiced protagonist, Hawke just mumbles something irrelevant instead of admitting his magehood.

 

[Nevermore]

I sense a conspiracy here. Brent Knowls, who decided to leave the studio during DA2 production, is it you?????

I'm just a magnificent omen-bringing bird, don't mind me. Didn't even play other DA games.

 

[Falksi]

Long, but a good vid none-the-less.....



Something it talks about which I never really paid that much mind to before, is how dark DA:O is compared to the shit sequels.

As it says, a few of Duncan's action are outright evil and Grey Wardens themselves are far from A-typical white knights.

It's spectacular just how much the franchise lost it's way after such a good, if cliche'd & flawed, start.

 

[alyvain]

As it says, a few of Duncan's action are outright evil and Grey Wardens themselves are far from A-typical white knights.

But that's rarely adressed. I think the only "evil" thing Duncan did was killing the fat knight who refused to go through the Joining. Apart from that, the wardens are treated as heroes in-game. Alistair is kind, the characters (Wynne and Leliana) tell you glorifying stories of the wardens, Riordan is a generally good guy. The fact that the wardens are supposed to be ruthless hardly ever acknowledged in-game.

I don't think they are all that different in the sequels as well. The hints of their aloofness are still there, such as "couldn't care less" attitude to the slaughter when the Qunari tried to take control of Kirkwall, or the warden from Legacy DLC threatening to kill your pregnant mother (because he simply needed to lock Corypheus in prison for some time).

I'm not arguing that the general tone of the series has become softer, even when exploring the same themes. Dwarves society is unrelenting and decadent, and Orlesian society is unrelenting and decadent. But if we can at least see how fucked up Dwarves are in two dwarven origins, it remains an informed flaw with the Orlesians in Inquisition. Did they purge elves? Yes, but we don't see that. Is the nobility constantly plotting for power? Yes, but everything we see in the game is "oh shit, they killed the servants who had nothing to do with intrigues, let's go to the next room to see cutscene". Gaspar is a militarist, and the chevaliers are Sapkowski-type of corrupt, but Orlais seemed grittier in DAO.

In particular the departure from semi-religious overtones of the all-devouring Blight as the ultimate punishment for the human sins made the setting softer, more shallow and tame.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

As it says, a few of Duncan's action are outright evil and Grey Wardens themselves are far from A-typical white knights.

But that's rarely adressed. I think the only "evil" thing Duncan did was killing the fat knight who refused to go through the Joining.

I wouldn't call it necessarily evil. Whether you join the Wardens out of your free will or just because you were conscripted, your life belongs to the order from that point onward. And the way in which Grey Wardens are made has to remain a secret at all costs, otherwise the order itself would become obsolete.

 

[alyvain]

I wouldn't call it necessarily evil. Whether you join the Wardens out of your free will or just because you were conscripted, your life belongs to the order from that point onward. And the way in which Grey Wardens are made has to remain a secret at all costs, otherwise the order itself would become obsolete.

Yeah, but if the player were in Duncan's shoes he'd be offered a choice "Fine, go away, but speak with no one about the Joining!" Statistically speaking, this choice'd be most popular, with no repercussions, and in late-game you'd have seen the fat knight defending Denerim or something.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

I wouldn't call it necessarily evil. Whether you join the Wardens out of your free will or just because you were conscripted, your life belongs to the order from that point onward. And the way in which Grey Wardens are made has to remain a secret at all costs, otherwise the order itself would become obsolete.

Yeah, but if the player were in Duncan's shoes he'd be offered a choice "Fine, go away, but speak with no one about the Joining!" Statistically speaking, this choice'd be most popular, with no repercussions, and in late-game you'd have seen the fat knight defending Denerim or something.

Duncan couldn't really take that chance from an in-universe perspective. You already have enough of a risk of an already-made Grey Warden deserting and spilling the Order's secrets, no point in allowing an even greater security concern (given that a new recruit might not even care about the Grey Wardens or their role in stopping Blights).

 

[Darkman]

The problem with the dwarf origins is that the vast majority of players don't want a midget as the protagonist.

Once I started as a dwarf, made it to the Korkari Wilds and then restarted the game as a human noble.

Mage origin runs fairly similar to the human noble origin in that you run into a cast of likeable, sometimes bumbling characters who obviously has a history with the PC and has warm moments, funny moments and all that. Returning to the mage tower during the main questline was a gut-punch.

I think you remember it wrong. The only interesting character was Irving who decided that the priest girl should go to the jail because politics.

The last time I played I installed some textures, and for some reason Jowan had no head. Really, he became a headless mage. Fitting. Also the first thing you can tell him after the Fade is "die, demon!", "am I still dreaming" or something like that.

Really added a new dimension to his character.

The bumbling senior enchanter with the pocket plane storage area full of spiders that she is too scared to face? Owain's delightfully deadpan variations of "No, go away"? The older senior enchanter in the library who authorises your form because he believed you will use it to pull pranks on the Templars? The deadpan snarker Templar at the door ("No, you may not. I am surprised you even asked." and the one about escaping the tower via the windows and how that never ends well)? If you are female, that Templar who crushes on you has a pretty awkward and funny dialogue?

The tower was full of fun little things like that.

The little stuff like talking and doing sidequests with the quirky npcs were the best parts about this game. The game became garbage when it focused on the huge epic evil arch demon stuff, blood and titties and sex and 5 hour long epic dungeon crawls *cough cough fade, deep roads***.

 

[Harthwain]

But that's rarely adressed. I think the only "evil" thing Duncan did was killing the fat knight who refused to go through the Joining. Apart from that, the wardens are treated as heroes in-game. Alistair is kind, the characters (Wynne and Leliana) tell you glorifying stories of the wardens, Riordan is a generally good guy. The fact that the wardens are supposed to be ruthless hardly ever acknowledged in-game.

Riordan says "We aren't judges. Kinslayers, blood mages, traitors, rebels, carta thugs, common bandits: Anyone with the skill and the mettle to take up the sword against the darkspawn is welcome among us", which shows that while The Wardens have legendary status (for some reason), in practice they are sort of "worst of the worst" who are pressed into fight against Darkspawn mainly because that's their only option. Even most of the player's origin stories support this.

 

[Absinthe]

Duncan couldn't really take that chance from an in-universe perspective. You already have enough of a risk of an already-made Grey Warden deserting and spilling the Order's secrets, no point in allowing an even greater security concern (given that a new recruit might not even care about the Grey Wardens or their role in stopping Blights).

The real issue with that scene wasn't so much what happened but the way it happened. Bioware had to be edgy for a bit to prove it's a "dark" fantasy so Duncan unnecessarily escalates a situation with major coercive overtones, gives neither Jory nor the player a breather to recompose themselves right after witnessing horrifying shit, and immediately pushes the chalice into their faces while they're probably still in shock. It would have made more sense if he just gave them a moment after Daveth died, expressed his pity, and reminded them that this too is a part of the danger a Warden must brave before offering the chalice and reminding them it is too late to back out. He could even execute Jory simply for losing nerve because if you lose your nerve at the Joining ritual you cannot be trusted with the sorts of dangers a Warden must brave regardless. But no, Duncan has to go out of his way to handle that situation poorly and escalate the shit out of it so that Bioware could rub into your face that Grey Wardens are not exactly good guys. Which is pretty much classic Biowarean hamfisted writing.

 

[Sykar]

Game was amazing back in the day. Still very good now. Shame years down the line Bioware chose a different path, and now we have more Andromeda and Anthem, instead of solid games like DAO.

Amazing? At the most generous it was a 7 out of 10 and that is if you were charitable towards Bioware. Objectively it overs somewhere around 6. Decent but just too many flaws which are flat out bland/boring, (Deep Roads), lazy (loot), idiotic (Blood Mage reaction, or lack thereof ) or utterly retarded (companion gifts).

 

[JarlFrank]

The only reason people back then (including myself) liked it is the RPG draught of the late 00s. We didn't get a lot of RPGs back then, except for Vogel's decent but ugly stuff and some lower profile German titles (Risen, Drakensang). 2009 wasn't a great year for the genre so Dragon Age seemed good because there was little else.

 

[commie]

The only reason people back then (including myself) liked it is the RPG draught of the late 00s. We didn't get a lot of RPGs back then, except for Vogel's decent but ugly stuff and some lower profile German titles (Risen, Drakensang). 2009 wasn't a great year for the genre so Dragon Age seemed good because there was little else.

Exactly. It certainly was competent and to be honest it's as close as any AAA studio has come to do something like this(I don't include Obsidian as they are AA at best), even with the missteps and shitty parts, it actually has effort and soul in it. I don't remember all that much of it, but I enjoyed most of the ride which puts it right in mediocre-above average territory.

 

[eilef]

Game was amazing back in the day. Still very good now. Shame years down the line Bioware chose a different path, and now we have more Andromeda and Anthem, instead of solid games like DAO.

Amazing? At the most generous it was a 7 out of 10 and that is if you were charitable towards Bioware. Objectively it overs somewhere around 6. Decent but just too many flaws which are flat out bland/boring, (Deep Roads), lazy (loot), idiotic (Blood Mage reaction, or lack thereof ) or utterly retarded (companion gifts).

Well it was amazing for me. Morrigan and Loghain were best characters, and still are (if you let him live). Story was interesting for me. Pacing was decent (i will admit castle redcliffe was low point for me), but i enjoyed it overall and replayed it over and over at the time. And even when i replayed it in 2015 i was not bored playing it one bit. I still like Jade Empire a bit more, but DAO is in top 5 Bioware games for sure.

 

[DalekFlay]

The only reason people back then (including myself) liked it is the RPG draught of the late 00s. We didn't get a lot of RPGs back then, except for Vogel's decent but ugly stuff and some lower profile German titles (Risen, Drakensang). 2009 wasn't a great year for the genre so Dragon Age seemed good because there was little else.

I agree that's the reason it got Codex game of the year and whatnot. If you dig Bioware's story style though I think you'd give it higher than the 6 Sykar foolishly calls "objective." There's a lot of trash combat but also a lot of good encounters. Mood and tone of the world is good, lore is great IMO, mages feel especially tactical to play, dual camera system was neat.

 

[fantadomat]

The only reason people back then (including myself) liked it is the RPG draught of the late 00s. We didn't get a lot of RPGs back then, except for Vogel's decent but ugly stuff and some lower profile German titles (Risen, Drakensang). 2009 wasn't a great year for the genre so Dragon Age seemed good because there was little else.

I disagree,the game still hold up as a decent one. It have its problem sure,but it is not a bad game. Also speaking about draught while citing two of the best rpgs...ok,then 2020 must be a desert scale then. We haven't seen a single RPG in around a year now,plenty of AE or soon to be vapourware tho.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

The only reason people back then (including myself) liked it is the RPG draught of the late 00s. We didn't get a lot of RPGs back then, except for Vogel's decent but ugly stuff and some lower profile German titles (Risen, Drakensang). 2009 wasn't a great year for the genre so Dragon Age seemed good because there was little else.

I disagree,the game still hold up as a decent one. It have its problem sure,but it is not a bad game.

It's certainly not a bad game, but I simply can't endure going through the areas full of trash mobs again as to get to the quality bits of content.

 

[fantadomat]

The only reason people back then (including myself) liked it is the RPG draught of the late 00s. We didn't get a lot of RPGs back then, except for Vogel's decent but ugly stuff and some lower profile German titles (Risen, Drakensang). 2009 wasn't a great year for the genre so Dragon Age seemed good because there was little else.

I disagree,the game still hold up as a decent one. It have its problem sure,but it is not a bad game.

It's certainly not a bad game, but I simply can't endure going through the areas full of trash mobs again as to get to the quality bits of content.

I have no such problem since i never understood the meaning of that term. It is not like RPGs have amazing and unique combat,you had played one you had played pretty much all. What make it different from other games? It is all the same garbage you clean from your sword in the end.

 

[luj1]

Seriously who gives a FOOK about DA... its a bum franchise that will always be the hallmark of the Age of Decline along with Mass Effect and Witcher

 

[Heroic Liberator]

The only reason people back then (including myself) liked it is the RPG draught of the late 00s. We didn't get a lot of RPGs back then, except for Vogel's decent but ugly stuff and some lower profile German titles (Risen, Drakensang). 2009 wasn't a great year for the genre so Dragon Age seemed good because there was little else.

I disagree,the game still hold up as a decent one. It have its problem sure,but it is not a bad game.

It's certainly not a bad game, but I simply can't endure going through the areas full of trash mobs again as to get to the quality bits of content.

I have no such problem since i never understood the meaning of that term. It is not like RPGs have amazing and unique combat,you had played one you had played pretty much all. What make it different from other games? It is all the same garbage you clean from your sword in the end.

Eh, I prefer 4X and GrandStrat titles over RPGs if the latter can't satisfy my storyfag needs.

 

[The Dopamine Cleric]

Dragon Age Origins was great on Xbox360. Quite revolutionary infact.

However rating it against the mouse and keyboard interface is hard. I am disappointed in the way the series turned out.

 

[Mastermind]

The only reason people back then (including myself) liked it is the RPG draught of the late 00s. We didn't get a lot of RPGs back then, except for Vogel's decent but ugly stuff and some lower profile German titles (Risen, Drakensang). 2009 wasn't a great year for the genre so Dragon Age seemed good because there was little else.

I disagree,the game still hold up as a decent one. It have its problem sure,but it is not a bad game.

It's certainly not a bad game, but I simply can't endure going through the areas full of trash mobs again as to get to the quality bits of content.

I have no such problem since i never understood the meaning of that term. It is not like RPGs have amazing and unique combat,you had played one you had played pretty much all. What make it different from other games? It is all the same garbage you clean from your sword in the end.

Disgusting storyfag detected, initiating extermination protocols.

 

[fantadomat]

The only reason people back then (including myself) liked it is the RPG draught of the late 00s. We didn't get a lot of RPGs back then, except for Vogel's decent but ugly stuff and some lower profile German titles (Risen, Drakensang). 2009 wasn't a great year for the genre so Dragon Age seemed good because there was little else.

I disagree,the game still hold up as a decent one. It have its problem sure,but it is not a bad game.

It's certainly not a bad game, but I simply can't endure going through the areas full of trash mobs again as to get to the quality bits of content.

I have no such problem since i never understood the meaning of that term. It is not like RPGs have amazing and unique combat,you had played one you had played pretty much all. What make it different from other games? It is all the same garbage you clean from your sword in the end.

Disgusting storyfag detected, initiating extermination protocols.

Aghhhh disgusting combatfag,stay away from me you degenerate,don't want to catch your sickness......or smudge my tuxedo!