I remember when DAO came out, the multiple different prologues according to your race and class choices was so cool at the time and to this day remains my favorite aspect of the DA series as a whole. Old school BioWare was out here breaking the mold man
Crazy because I don’t think another game has really upped it since the 15 years it has come out. Cyberpunk’s life paths for example only changes like 30 mins of intro gameplay.
The best thing about the first Dragon Age is actually right in the title - The Origins. Not only do you have different Origin quests depending on your class and race, but you can actually see how origins intertwine during the main quest line. For example if you're a dwarf commoner you have to escape from a prison cell. However if you play any other origin when you reach that cell during the main quest you see a dwarf corpse. Meaning the other origins DO exist but they only become a Grey Warden if you pick them.
Paragon7 reviewing DAO. What a great day to be alive. Both Mass Effect and DAO proved to the world that Bioware was by far the very best RPG developer. Meeting characters for the 1st time in these games was always a joy. Great review. Thankyou so much. Sadly DAO crashes on my PC. But man I'd love to play my 5th playthrough. Cheers
DAO is one of my favorite games, right next to mass effect and halo combat evolved. It is my favorite rpg game, and I’m happy to see that veilguard is coming this year. There’s at least 6 playthroughs for experiencing everything (6 different origin stories) with even dialogue variations on gender/race of character.
Funny thing about looting system, when you pause and stop your team from folowing controled character you can order each team mate to loot separate enemy/chest, once all 4 loot their targets pause and repeat (works also without pause in tactical view when you detatch camera from charactr) It drasticly shortens time it takes to loot battlefield
DAO came out when I was 12, and I had no idea what it was about. I saw the red on white coverart with a dragon and immediately begged my mom to get it for my ps3. Best purchase she ever made.
Dragon Age Origins is literally my second favorite game of all time right behind Mass Effect 2. I'm so glad even nearly 15 years later we're still talking about how great this game is
Great review and I agree with everything. I first played DA:O on PS3 and in addition to all the criticisms you mention the load times would have given you the biggest mental breakdown. Just knowing that you'd forgot something in an area of the game and having to go back to that area for that one thing actually caused stress because of the time it would take to load the area transitions. It was a significant disincentive to do fetch quests unless you needed to go to the area in question to advance the main plot of the game.
So glad you liked it! I loved the darkness of DAO. DAI pushed the companion friendships/romances up another level. I hope they make them even better in Veilguard. I wasn't a huge fan of DA2 but if you want more Enchantment!, Sandel and his father are there.
How many playthroughs to see everything? My best guess would be based on the endings, and I think each Origin has a special ending request that the main character can make, plus all the standard ones. So that's maybe 8 or 10 times to see everything. I think. It's at least 6, but I think there's some generic options. There's also being king, being queen, selecting a solitary queen, selecting a solitary king, or marrying off the king and queen options to each other. So that's 5 stories right there.
DAO is one of the greatest CRPGs of all time. It has an incredible branching story with many choices, character builds, combat tactics. It hits pretty much everything perfectly. The only real marks against are that there are some glaring balance issues, it's pretty buggy, and it's quite dated looking (even when it released).
I'm sure it's already been said but there are plenty of mods and fan patches that fix all those pc crashes. Eseentially the game was designed to work with a pittence of ram and if u exceed that amount... it crashes. You can download a program if u don't want to mod it called Large Address Aware and it'll fix that problem. There are 6 seperate Origin stories so to see everything you'll need six playthroughs.
Origins is the best DA game, and a great CRPG in it's own right. What's sad is that every title since then is more and more of a departure from what makes DAO a good title. DAO - CRPG DA2 - Action-RPG DAI - Action game with RPG elements DAV - Action game
I played it when it was released, and I have a different feel for many things, but you are right. I also must complain. You made me think this: ENCHANTMENT! There, it has left my system.
Oh, so you've only played it once? You haven't found the "hidden" companion? You haven't done all of the origins to see if that changes your feelings on things? Because some of them give you a very different outlook from others.
@@majorgear1021 That's why I don't consider Veilguard to be a Dragon Age Game. Dragon Age. They made their own game took some characters and story elements and pretend it's Dragon age.
worth more then vailgaurd but seeing how the franchise was destroyed. it's not worth the pain of disappointment of modern dragon age after playing origins. better just keep it for a time the franchised will truly be dead
I got mad at the combat system because the enemy is always taunting and drawing my squad. chasing them into more enemies doesn’t matter what settings I put it on, kept doing it😂😡🤣🤣😡🤬🤣🤣
I remember when DAO came out, the multiple different prologues according to your race and class choices was so cool at the time and to this day remains my favorite aspect of the DA series as a whole. Old school BioWare was out here breaking the mold man
I loved the personalized epilogues too. Really hammered home the importance of what you chose.
Crazy because I don’t think another game has really upped it since the 15 years it has come out. Cyberpunk’s life paths for example only changes like 30 mins of intro gameplay.
The best thing about the first Dragon Age is actually right in the title - The Origins. Not only do you have different Origin quests depending on your class and race, but you can actually see how origins intertwine during the main quest line. For example if you're a dwarf commoner you have to escape from a prison cell. However if you play any other origin when you reach that cell during the main quest you see a dwarf corpse. Meaning the other origins DO exist but they only become a Grey Warden if you pick them.
Paragon7 reviewing DAO. What a great day to be alive. Both Mass Effect and DAO proved to the world that Bioware was by far the very best RPG developer. Meeting characters for the 1st time in these games was always a joy. Great review. Thankyou so much. Sadly DAO crashes on my PC. But man I'd love to play my 5th playthrough. Cheers
Abnsolutely 100%, Origins is one of my favourite games ever made and I still play it once a year. Morrigan is still my favourite DA character,
DA2, despite it's shortcomings, is also worth playing, and Merrill is adorable.
glad you loved it. its my favorite dragon age game and one of my all time favorites.
DAO is one of my favorite games, right next to mass effect and halo combat evolved. It is my favorite rpg game, and I’m happy to see that veilguard is coming this year. There’s at least 6 playthroughs for experiencing everything (6 different origin stories) with even dialogue variations on gender/race of character.
You make me feel old describing Awakening as a DLC rather than an expansion 😆
Funny thing about looting system,
when you pause and stop your team from folowing controled character you can order each team mate to loot separate enemy/chest, once all 4 loot their targets pause and repeat (works also without pause in tactical view when you detatch camera from charactr)
It drasticly shortens time it takes to loot battlefield
DAO came out when I was 12, and I had no idea what it was about. I saw the red on white coverart with a dragon and immediately begged my mom to get it for my ps3. Best purchase she ever made.
Dragon Age Origins is literally my second favorite game of all time right behind Mass Effect 2. I'm so glad even nearly 15 years later we're still talking about how great this game is
so when is the longform spoiler review coming out?
I'd love to do one eventually, but I'm back to sleuthing on another unhinged Mass Effect theory for now 👀
Absolutely. Just finished a fresh playthrough and STILL discovered new things I hadnt before on the previous playthroughs.
I'm looking forward to playing this one next!
Great review and I agree with everything. I first played DA:O on PS3 and in addition to all the criticisms you mention the load times would have given you the biggest mental breakdown. Just knowing that you'd forgot something in an area of the game and having to go back to that area for that one thing actually caused stress because of the time it would take to load the area transitions. It was a significant disincentive to do fetch quests unless you needed to go to the area in question to advance the main plot of the game.
Brood-mothers… TRAUMATIZING
So glad you liked it! I loved the darkness of DAO. DAI pushed the companion friendships/romances up another level. I hope they make them even better in Veilguard. I wasn't a huge fan of DA2 but if you want more Enchantment!, Sandel and his father are there.
Nice to see fresh eyes on an old favorite
One of my all time favourite games. Actually...very probably my number one... 😃
I bought the game around Christmas 2023, and am only just starting to play it now.
After watching this review, I'm VERY excited. Thanks so much!
How many playthroughs to see everything? My best guess would be based on the endings, and I think each Origin has a special ending request that the main character can make, plus all the standard ones. So that's maybe 8 or 10 times to see everything. I think. It's at least 6, but I think there's some generic options. There's also being king, being queen, selecting a solitary queen, selecting a solitary king, or marrying off the king and queen options to each other. So that's 5 stories right there.
Do you have a list of the mods you used? I really like the look of the characters and armor.
DAO is one of the greatest CRPGs of all time. It has an incredible branching story with many choices, character builds, combat tactics. It hits pretty much everything perfectly. The only real marks against are that there are some glaring balance issues, it's pretty buggy, and it's quite dated looking (even when it released).
Quality review!
I'm sure it's already been said but there are plenty of mods and fan patches that fix all those pc crashes. Eseentially the game was designed to work with a pittence of ram and if u exceed that amount... it crashes. You can download a program if u don't want to mod it called Large Address Aware and it'll fix that problem. There are 6 seperate Origin stories so to see everything you'll need six playthroughs.
It's great. The combat can be a bit ...😅 and some parts of the story drag on a bit. But yes, its great, dark, bloody and lewd
definitely worth playing ❤
its amazing. currently playing it as I type this.
This game desperately needs a remaster. But the story and characters are fantastic
@@martinjrgensen8234 Not in present times. They would ruin it.
Origins is the best DA game, and a great CRPG in it's own right.
What's sad is that every title since then is more and more of a departure from what makes DAO a good title.
DAO - CRPG
DA2 - Action-RPG
DAI - Action game with RPG elements
DAV - Action game
The best RPG I have played outside The Table tradicional ones
Yes. If anything its the most worthwhile entry of this series to play.
I played it when it was released, and I have a different feel for many things, but you are right. I also must complain. You made me think this: ENCHANTMENT! There, it has left my system.
Yes
Can I play this on the PS5? I really want to :(
Oh, so you've only played it once? You haven't found the "hidden" companion? You haven't done all of the origins to see if that changes your feelings on things? Because some of them give you a very different outlook from others.
dao has at least 12 endings, 2 for every origin
Yes, yes, yes. omg yes.
It is my favourite game apart from mass effect which is 3 games so better
Best game of all time. Comes equal to Skyrim in my book.
The glory days of Bioware storytelling! Thanks for the vid. Let's hope some of this awesomeness shows up in Veilguard 😊
It won’t. Veilguard is very different from the rest of the series.
@@majorgear1021 That's why I don't consider Veilguard to be a Dragon Age Game. Dragon Age. They made their own game took some characters and story elements and pretend it's Dragon age.
worth more then vailgaurd but seeing how the franchise was destroyed. it's not worth the pain of disappointment of modern dragon age after playing origins. better just keep it for a time the franchised will truly be dead
No fast travel and subpar gameplay are turning me off from it… still going to give it a try since it’s on game pass
If you loved ME and DAO the natural go to would be Baldur's Gate 3 cuz it is basically DAO with a turn based combat.
I got mad at the combat system because the enemy is always taunting and drawing my squad. chasing them into more enemies doesn’t matter what settings I put it on, kept doing it😂😡🤣🤣😡🤬🤣🤣
The game is excellent but the Ultimate version is unplayable. It's at the point where it's crashing loading previously perfectly fine saves.