A great story and fun gameplay certainly outweigh the issues in Dragon Age: Origins.
We start off choosing between one of three races which consists of Humans, Elves or Dwarves. Then, you get to choose one of six distinct origins. Humans can only choose a noble origin if they're a warrior or rogue. Elves may choose either Dalish or City elves. Dalish Elves are those who sought to keep record of their ancient history before being enslaved by Humans where as City Elves live along side Humans as second class citizens. Dwarves may choose from a noble or a commoner origin. Humans and Elves can be mages but they're restricted to only going through the Magi origin. Once you play through that origin which will last about an hour to serve as your tutorial, players are brought to Ostagar where the real story begins.
Your character is forced(in a sense) to join the Grey Wardens, a force of great warriors that vow to protect the world from the forces of great evil, and put through a dangerous ritual. After the ritual and a rather disastrous battle against the blight, players alongside their trusted K-9 companion, the only other surviving Warden in Ferelden and an Apostate mage must gather the Warden's allies to combat the Blight. One of the best things about the story in Dragon Age is that you'll spend a long time gathering your forces to stand against the blight. BioWare isn't cramming a free-roam aspect into the world of Ferelden to distract players from short quests and stories. Each of the warden's allies has some kind of issue for you to solve. Be it possessed mages or werewolves attacking the innocent, you'll spend a considerable and enjoyable amount of time playing through each quest and defeating the evil forces or demons, monsters and darkspawn with a colorful cast of allies by your side. Each ally has two perspectives. Which ever side you choose to help will effect the final battle of the game and certainly encourages players to do multiple playthroughs and experience the last battle in different ways.
Outside of the main quest, there's a plethora of side quests you can do. They don't usually differ from killing enemies or finding an item but they still manage to suck you into the game. You'll find yourself navigating the simple world map to get to places and do these quests. Unlike some of the other western RPGs, BioWare stuck with it's usual formula of getting around the world. You're brought to a map of Ferelden marked with locations. When you select a location you want to go to, a trail of blood will move along the map and you'll occasionally stop half-way through to take care of a small random encounter. These encounters usually include a vendor, bandits, Darkspawn, quests or story-related events. Locations will appear as you gain quests and the lack of "free-roaming" is a relief since you'll be traveling a lot.
The battle system in Dragon Age: Origins feels like an evolved form of Knights of the Old Republic mixed with Mass Effect. Setting your tactics correctly is the key to success and it's fun to experiment with them to find out who is best suited for what in the field. Your tactics are what characters are set to do when they're not in your control during battle. On the console versions, six skills can be mapped to three buttons. Only three of the skills are accessible at one time however. Holding the shoulder button will switch to the other three without pausing the battle. Players can also bring up a radial to navigate their other skills, items, buffs and give advanced orders like going solo to draw enemies in traps and switch between their second set of weapons. You can select targets with the D-pad, and command your entire party by holding bother triggers.
There are some hiccups with the battle system here and there though. For instance, players will often notice that their characters are occasionally ignore commands and move around to do basic attacks when it's not necessary which is rather frustrating. Combat in tight spaces and against large hordes of foes is equally as frustrating. Your party will occasionally get stuck in doorways or target a multitude of enemies that aren't the ones you want to target while using spells and abilities they're not set to use. Then there are a few glitches. Quest markers may not go away and sometimes take a few minutes to actually update in a certain portion of the game that involves the dream realm known as The Fade. Let's not forget that the console versions aren't as tactical as the PC version.
There are a ton of skills that are bound to suit every players preference. For instance, warriors can specialize in archery, dual wielding, two-handed weaponry and sword and shield. Then, when you include the two specializations you can learn like Berserker and Champion, players can deliver devastating attacks with all kinds of abilities while buffing their team up. There are twelve specializations, four for each class. Rogues can be Bards, Duelists, Rangers or Assassins. Mages can be, Shape Shifters, Arcane Warriors, Blood Mages or Spirit Healers. Warriors can either become Champions, Templars, Reavers or Berserkers. Specializations are unlocked by meeting various requirements and some through manuals purchased at vendors. Getting close to your party members can unlock some for you as well as sacrificing some party members. Once they're unlocked they are permanently unlocked and can be used in any play through which is great for those of you who don't want to sacrifice your favorite team mates for certain specializations during another play through.
The graphics are where Dragon Age stumbles a bit. While there are some scenes in the game that look good and it's cool to see your characters drenched in blood after a battle, there are plenty of issues with the console versions of the game. The Playstation 3 version looks better and comes with better load times yet it has a terrible frame rate issue. The Xbox 360 version has a problem dealing with textures and you'll often see tiny black boxes around the edges of objects and character models. The voice acting however is exceptional. For once, BioWare managed to get in a great male side kick that isn't whiney and irritating. From a sarcastic and charming Grey Warden, a flamboyant assassin to a heartbroken and drunk dwarf that will gladly lend you his axe, each character has a unique personality. You can't help but connect with and care for your party members throughout the course of the game.
Overall, Dragon Age: Origins is well worth a purchase. It's graphics may not be the best for console owners and there might be a few hiccups here and there but, BioWare still manages to deliver a fantastic RPG experience. The tactical gameplay is great and a wonderful story accompanied by a fantastic and colorful cast of characters certainly helps draw you in. If you're looking for a fantastic RPG filled with dragons, swords and plenty of mystique, then Dragon Age: Origins is certainly for you.