10 points
Ranked by: Nateeasy, Skooch, Ormie, PorkChopCunt and NippleAppleCrap
Highest Rating: #3 by Nateeasy and Ormie
Metacritic Rating: 360: 86 PS3: 87
Written By Nibbles

A spectacular experience from beginning to end, and with an enormous amount of choices to make, cities to visit, dungeons to crawl, NPCs to interact with, treasure to find, quests to complete and crafts to master, I feel pretty confident in saying that Dragon Age: Origins is, without a doubt, one of the most enjoyable and immersive RPG experiences I’ve had since my Infinity Engine days. – GamePro

Dragon Age: Origins is a fulfilling, involving adventure that is worth picking up. The choices you make for your character, along with the twists and turns that follow, will keep you engaged. Furthermore, the controls are well done, even without the standard PC and mouse combination. This is one adventure you’ll keep coming back to for months to come. – GameDaily

After logging over a hundred hours on Dragon Age: Origins, I still want to continue playing. I want to unearth more of its secrets, to better know its characters, to see how the decisions I make can impact its world, and yes, to see more of its endings. I can’t think of a better recommendation than that. – GameSpy

Released 3rd November 2009 from respected developer BioWare comes NPP’s 8th game of the year, the highly anticipated RPG; Dragon Age: Origins.

 Announced as the ‘spiritual successor’ to Baldur’s Gate2: Shadows of Amn (considered by many as one of the best fantasy RPG’s of all time) Origins carried a lot of expectation, especially due to big budget RPG’s becoming rarer in today’s world of gaming.
 The most significant refinement to BioWare’s RPG formula is the addition of origins. Origins serve as the introduction to the realm of Ferelden. These aren’t glorified tutorials however, each origin is based on your characters race and class, determines how NPC’s will react to you, and, presents to you, the player, the world of Ferelden from that characters perspective. Choosing between Human Noble, Human/Elf Mage, Dalish Elf, City Elf, Dwarf Commoner and Dwarf Noble, these origins pull you into the story and have repercussions that carry through to the end of the game.

 After completion of their character’s respective origin story, you encounter Duncan, the leader of an elite group known as the Grey Wardens. The Wardens are a group who dedicate their lives to the destruction of the Darkspawn, demonic creatures that live underground and have, at various points in history, swarmed the surface of Thedas in movements called Blights. Duncan guides the player to their destiny of becoming one of the Grey Wardens.
 The player journeys with Duncan to a fortress called Ostagar in the south of Ferelden to join Cailan, the King of Ferelden, and Loghain, a legendary general and friend to the king’s father. They plan to make a stand against the Darkspawn who, Duncan believes, are gathering together for the first true Blight in 400 years.

   As you seek to defeat the Darkspawn you’ll pick up an assortment of characters who are determined to help you defeat this threat, or seeking to accomplish other goals. Some are white-knights, looking to make the world a better place. Others are seeking to banish demons of their own, and one harbours their own plans.
 Each character you come across leaves a stamp on the story, and some are downright integral to its plot. Unlike some party-based RPG’s where you can play through a story without exploring certain characters, in Origins you’ll probably find yourself wishing you could have more characters in your party purely to be able to explore their stories.

Origins excels because its story is driven more by the needs of your party  rather than the broader plot line you are a part of and it’s quite easy for you and your primary character to become completely overshadowed by the deeds of a fellow party member.
 There is no tracking of moral alignment as in previous BioWare offerings or seen in other games, but the moral choices of the player will still affect the story through the game.  The larger story remains the same, on completion you will save the world regardless of your moral choices made throughout the game, however the decisions you make will change the world of Ferelden, affecting the nations and races and their place in the world. Decisions will also influence the companion NPC’s, possibly causing them to leave the party or even outright attacking the player if they disagree strongly enough with your actions.
 Playthrough isn’t as simple as just picking the applicable action or dialogue choices for ‘good’ or ‘bad’, you’ll be presented with tough scenarios where none of the options may match the moral choice you wish to make, and if you’re attempting to playthrough in an  admirable manner, you may find yourself having to choose the least evil choice. This is a game that will have you thinking about your decisions long after you make them, the choices will cut deep.

  Combat in Origins will feel familiar to those accustomed with RPG’s and comes with all the micromanagement that have been conventional in older pause-and-command types of combat in RPGs.  Spells and abilities are on a skill tree with the player buying increased skills until you max out any particular branch. While combat has been simplified a bit from other games, it has been offset with significantly longer fights. Boss fights can become extremely tough and require mana management, some well timed healing and a keen eye to watch out for scripted events.
 To help give you a little edge in battle, Origins lets you combine some spells and abilities that can have devastating effects. Enemies frozen by spells can be shattered by the brunt force of hammers or shields and it’s easier to give a foe nightmares if you’ve already put him to sleep. You’ll need this edge as well because the combat gets tougher to keep up with as you progress into the second half of the story, although if you’re not up for too much of a challenge you can mitigate things by turning the difficulty down to an easier level.

 
Dragon Age: Origins has won a slew of gaming awards and has been welcomed by legions of nostalgic RPG players.  Origins is a complete package. It offers a true RPG experience, a diverse and engaging story, a plethora of customisation options, deep gameplay and plenty of variety. This is a game that will have you thinking about your decisions long after you make them and planning your next playthrough to explore the options you didn’t take, earning it the number 8 spot in NPP’s game of the year.