List Price: $49.99Amazon.com's Price: $39.99 You Save: $10.00 (20%)as of 11/20/2009 23:45 EST
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Amazon Minimum Age: 204 months
Binding: DVD-ROM
Brand: Electronic Arts
EAN: 0014633190946
Edition: Standard
ESRB Age Rating: Mature
Format: CD-ROM
Item Dimensions: 30
Label: Electronic Arts
Manufacturer: Electronic Arts
Model: DragonOrigin-pc
MPN: 197183
Platform: Windows Vista, Windows XP
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release Date: November 03, 2009
Studio: Electronic Arts
Features:- Scalable combat options that let you decide the level of control you have over your party, including NPCs. Issue orders, set your own tactical AI, or take control of any party member to lead the charge.
- 6 possible playable preludes known as `Origin Stories¿ which along with your play, define how your hero character will see the world, how it sees you and sets the tone for the entire story.
- Travel across the vast and varied lands of Ferelden; from the conspiratorial halls of the last great dwarven city, Orzammar, to the untamed snarls of the Korcari Wilds.
- Dragon Age: Origins will give you deep character customization options including: class, race, appearance, abilities, and equipment.
- At the heart of the storm sweeping across Ferelden. Decide the fate of nations, people and, ultimately, yourself. Just remember: for every choice, there is a consequence.
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Dragon Age: Origins PC...Dragon Age: Origins represents BioWare's return to its roots in the form of a dark heroic fantasy game that combines deep and immersive storytelling with classic role-playing. As the spiritual successor to BioWare's popular Baldur's Gate series Dragon Age: Origins lets players acquire party members and interact with them while featuring a stunning amount of high quality cinematic dialogue. The pause-and-play combat system lets players make tactical decisions from an overhead view. Players that prefer a more "in-your-face" style of play can also take control of each party member to fight and explore in an over-the-shoulder view. Origin Stories are a major feature of the Dragon Age: Origins experience. Players choose their origin and from that starting point they will play through a unique prelude that lays the foundation for their adventure. The player's choice of origin defines how they will perceive the world and how the world will perceive them. Certain situations storylines and conversation options will change dramatically depending on the player's choice of origin and personal motivation. In Dragon Age: Origins the choices players make will change the world and affect the people around them making every journey through Ferelden unique.
Amazon.com Product Description:
From BioWare, the makers of Mass Effect, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Baldur's Gate comes Dragon Age: Origins. An epic tale of violence, lust, and betrayal, Dragon Age: Origins is a single player role-playing game (RPG) set in a fantasy game environment, and featuring three playable character classes, accessible in the form of three races. In addition, the game features extreme character customization, a new game engine, party-based gameplay utilizing non-player characters and a built-in personal history system for each hero character rooted in a variety of possible origin stories.
6 possible hero Origin Stories.
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3 classes and 3 races to play as.
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Gritty, brutal action.
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Frightening enemies and bosses.
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Party-based combat using NPCs.
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Stunning 3D environments.
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In Dragon Age: Origins the survival of humanity rests in the hands of those chosen by fate. You are a Grey Warden, one of the last of an ancient order of guardians who have defended the lands on the continent of Thedas throughout the centuries. Betrayed by a trusted general in a critical battle, you must hunt down the traitor and bring him to justice. As you fight your way towards the final confrontation with an evil nemesis, you will face monstrous foes and engage in epic quests to unite the disparate peoples of a world at war. A romance with a seductive shapeshifter may hold the key to victory, or she may be a dangerous diversion from the heart of your mission. To be a leader, you must make ruthless decisions and be willing to sacrifice your friends and loved ones for the greater good.
Gameplay
Dragon Age: Origins is a 3D oriented RPG based in a dark, heroic, fantasy realm where moral choices have a lasting impression on the people you meet, the members of your own party and the world around you. The inclusion of subtitle "Origins" in the game's title refers to the six unique origin stories available to new heroes as a new game begins. Each of these has an impact on the player's motivations and his or her experience, and renders a unique prelude, path, and possible ending(s) to the game. There are many different endings to the game based on the origin story of the character and the choices you make as you play through the game. The game features three character classes--warrior, mage, and rogue--and three races of being--Human, Elf or Dwarf--that can assume these classes. Although most game elements, such as weapons, magic, etc., are available to any character, each class and race has different strengths, abilities and affinities which lend themselves to better utilizing different elements.
Dragon Age: Origins is a single player game based on party-based gameplay and combat where the player can join, control and quest with up to three non-player characters (NPCs). Players can also quest alone if they so choose, but with the chance of survival are slim. Convincing NPCs to join you, and treating them well may be necessary depending on the varying sentiments between the player and the NPC, or between the NPC's in the party based on the chosen history written into the origin story accepted at the beginning of the game. This uncertainty allows for a variety of possible dynamics within the party ranging from open hostility, all the way to romance. The game progresses in real-time via a pause-and-play tactical combat system that allows the player to check inventory levels, equip a character, etc. in a slight vacuum. Additional features found in the game include: a combination of a standard loot system and a currency system based on gold silver and copper; advanced character customization functionality; the use of poison, traps and herbalism; dual-wielding skills; and "spell combos," which allow players to chain together different spells to create a unique effects.
Key Game Features
- BioWare’s deepest universe to date with over 80 hours of gameplay and more than double the size and scope of Mass Effect.
- Travel throughout dozens of environments and fully immerse yourself in a shattered world that is on the brink of utter annihilation.
- An epic story that is completely shaped and reactive to your play style.
- Complex moral dilemmas offering no easy choices.
- Tailor your Dragon Age: Origins experience from the very beginning by choose from six different origin stories.
- Decide how to handle complex issues like murder, genocide, betrayal, and the possession/sacrificing of children without the security of a good/bad slider to tell you what to do.
- Full character customization allowing the player to sculpt a hero in your own image or fantasy.
- Elaborate character creator allows you to create your own hero unique from anyone else.
- Shape your character’s personality and morality based on the choices you make throughout the game.
- Engage in bone-crushing, visceral combat engaging in battle against massive and terrifying creatures.
- Unleash legendary powers and choose from over 100 different magical spells and skills.
- Experience the adrenaline rush of brutal combat, beheading your foes or casting spells that make enemies explode from within.
System Requirements: | Minimum | Recommended | | OS: | Windows XP with SP3 / Vista with SP1 | | CPU: | XP: Intel Core 2(or equivalent) running at 1.4Ghz or greater AMD X2(or equivalent) running at 1.8Ghz or greater / Vista: Intel Core 2 (or equivalent) running at 1.6Ghz or greater | Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz Processor or equivalent | | RAM: | XP: 1GB or more / 1.5GB or more | 2 GB (XP) / 4 GB (Vista) | | HDD: | 20GB | | Video: | XP: ATI Radeon X850 128MB or greater, NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT 128MB or greater / Vista: ATI Radeon X1550 256MB or greater, NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT 256MB or greater | ATI 3850 512 MB or greater, NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater, AMD Phenom II X3 Triple-Core 2.8 GHz or greater | | Other: | DVD-ROM drive for physical disc play; Mouse/keyboard/gamepad for gameplay | |
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
For those of you who loved Baldur's Gate, you will certainly enjoy Dragon Age: Origins (DAO). This is a rather formulaic, but very well done, fantasy role playing game. People who enjoy this type of game generally have no problems putting in 50 hours or more into a game and exploring every area in it. It is meant for the a gamer who perfers slower paced games. This genre of game is what got me into gaming many years ago, and Dragon Age is one of the best by far, taking its place along side the Baldur's Gate franchise and Planescape. To make this review more concise, I will break it down into sections.
Controls: This is a multiplatform game, it is also available on the XBOX 360 and the PlayStation 3, However, it seems as though it was made originally for the PC then ported over to the consoles. The PC version has an entirely different control scheme than the console versions. If you have played Neverwinter Nights 2 or any other RPG on the PC, then the controls will be very familiar to you. You simply point at an object and click on it. In a battle, you do the same, but you can select various skills and spells from a toolbar at the bottom of the screen or press the corresponding key to activate them.
Graphics: Once again, this is a multiplatform game. With the PC, higher resolutions, anti-aliasing, and better textures are available. This game looks fine, it would have been very nice a few years ago, but the graphics just look old. I believe this might have something to do with the amount of time game has spent in development. Once the developers got so far along in the development cycle, it may have been too costly or difficult to redo the graphics in their entirety. As an example, the character models are well done, not Mass Effect well done, but still pleasant to look at, but when the characters are placed against a wall or other gameplay object, the character looks sharp but the background appears muddy and dull. The character animations are functional, but largely wooden. Also, the game is quite bloody, so it is not meant for children. The gore is much like that in Kill Bill, very over done. Large enemies spurt blood like a fountain and you get covered in it all the time. I had to rid a pantry of mice and when I was done, I looked like Carrie.
Audio: The audio is by and large, top-notch. The musical score is well thought out and sets the mood when it is needed. The music is unintrusive and the voice acting is of a high calibur. For you science fiction fans, you may recognize one of the voices...
Gameplay: Dragon Age shines best in how it presents the story. Sure it is mostly standard fantasy with elves, dwarves, and magic, but the developers polished it and made it a truly deep and engrossing tale. I found myself playing for hours and hours, oblivious to the time, and when I wasn't playing, I thought about the game. Few titles capture me like that. One of the hallmarks of the game is how the characters are realized. Every character in the game has a story that you can explore. Even while you are in town adventuring they will banter amongst themselves and when you speak to a townsperson they will offer their opinion based on their background. I was always eager to talk with my companions just to see what they had to say, it adds a depth to the game that few titles have. When you start the game you get to choose your race and origin story. Both will alter how certain characters respond to you and what you can do. For instance, a human noble (Noble is a origin story) is treated positively by most of the townspeople and the noble origin makes vengence against one character more satisfying. It also allows for the player to become royalty very late in the game, if conditions are perfect. As the game progresses, your choices have real effects on the game's universe. Unlike some RPG's where you play as a good or evil character and get various bonuses as a result, in Dragon Age, there is no morality meter and the only way to guage the effects of your choices within the party is to see the various members' feelings towards you. If it dips too low, the character will run off or attack the player. When I finished the game, I found myself caring about what happens to the characters and various people we met along our travels.
Other Considerations: Dragon Age will play on many PC's, it is suggested that you play with the recommended system specs. I have an Intel Core 2 Quad 9450, 8GB of RAM, two NVidia 9800GTX's in SLI, and Windows 7 64-bit and didn't have any slowdowns while running at max settings with the anti-aliasing turned off. Anti-aliasing is very hardware intensive and at a high resolution, 1920 x 1200, I didn't see the need to turn it on. Over time the game did slow down while loading some areas, but when it did, I had played the game for over three hours in one sitting before it started to take longer ... Read More
Rating: -
This is a remarkable game. RPG fans this is a Must-Buy. And everyone else should consider giving this one a shot. If you liked the Witcher you'll love this.
Rating: -
What makes this game so great is that its very detailed story line, all of it in video cut scenes. The voice acting, of which there is a lot, is all professionally done and movie quality similar to a Disney movie. Its almost like participating in a movie. Combat is good, crafting is just ok. I have played almost every PC game to date and this one is now placed at the top of the list. The campaign took me about 40 hours to complete. I wished it would have lasted a lot longer.
Rating:  -
This game is beautiful, enjoyable, and the story is excellent but I could NOT believe they ask for you to buy points online to buy extra content. Not only that but quests will come up and when you are asked by an NPC (nonplayer character) to go on a quest for them, one of the choices will be (download extra content) and if you click on it, you have to log in and BUY the extra quest. This is a terrible practice. We pay $45 to purchase this game to have to pay more for certain quests. Suddenly downloading a torrent of a game doesn't sound so bad... at least you can get the free updates.
Very disappointed in the makers.
Further, as I purchased this early and bought the collectors edition I received codes for special items. They forget to mention that you have to have an account and log in to use them. There seems to be an error that I have to load the game, log in and then out, exit the game, come back and then I can use the content.
Rating: -
First off no I don't work for Bioware, and I rarely write reviews on games or anything else actually so forgive me if I am a bit shallow on content. Dragon Age: Origins however simply rocks! Folks I do not exaggerate when I say that this game has it all. There are elves, dwarves, humans, dragons, witches, mages, hot chicks, beautiful landscapes, fearsome foes, excellent NPCs with real personality and no two are the same. Some of the things that stand out in the game are the small things. You can be in a tavern and simply overhear a conversation that tells you about the political, or spiritual climate in the area or could give you clues about a direction to go in or something to explore. The visuals are awesome, and the writing dialog and voice acting are as good as any high budget major motion picture, better in some cases, even the NPCs that you might consider non-important like shop-keepers, merchants and the like have loads of personality. You simply have to experience this game to understand it go out and buy it already!
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