Dragon Age Origins opened up a lot of doors for the huge world of RPG/action/adventure titles. For the first time, players are introduced to a vast world, in which their actions influence EVERYTHING around them, including their party members and relationships they convey with them. But even this isn't what makes DA: Origins an absolute success.
To start your adventure, you are tasked with choosing what kind of player you want. Elf, human, mage, warrior, dwarf and then you choose what fighting style you want them to have. For my first playthrough, I chose the human warrior. Not only does this choice affect which of the many various openings you get for the game, but it also affects many events that will come later in the game. I only realized this late in my first initial play through, and Bioware out do theirselves in several respects to this. You are thrust out in the beautiful world of Thedas, a fantasy world where all the scary stories people use to scare their kids into bed are in fact true. Thedas has seen better times, as there is an impending threat making its presence known and threatening the lives of every living thing on the world. Darkspawn, evil foul creatures who dwell in the darkest corners of the world, have risen up from the depths of the ground and are threatening a Blight, which is a venture of the Darkspawn and their leader Archdemon to take over Thedas and annihilate any and all. Bioware does an excellent job of explaining the peril the world is in and introducing all these new elements to the gamer. Whoever you choose as your player, you will be accompanied by Morrigan, a mage who can cast powerful magic and who goes out of her way to make known that she cares not for the subtleties of others, Alistair a knight Templar who has just joined the Grey Wardens, a faction of heroes who unite to take down the Darkspawn and rumored to be the ONLY ones who can kill the dreaded Archdemon, and others. It is important to have several of the characters you meet in your journey join your party and to swap them around where you can exploit each of their qualities to better advantages, i.e.- the rogues who specialize in picking locks and stealth, mages who obviously have a very advantageous use of magic, warriors who have brute strength and the willpower to battle on even when all hope is lost. Doing this will make your journey much easier. The Grey Wardens have resurfaced in a sense to take down the Blight, and it seems you are their next interest. You must join the Wardens and gain the power of theirs to take down the Archdemon but first you must gain allies. So before your battle with the Darkspawn can begin, you must travel the world of Thedas and gain the trust and support of the different factions and ethnicities of the people. Sounds easy enough right? Wrong, each ally has certain "problems" of their own and to each you must first solve their issues before they will even begin to think of joining the Wardens.
DA: Origins story is heartfelt and great. It may sound redundant and outdated, but Bioware does an excellent job of introducing fresh new elements into the mix and offering ways of keeping it exciting. Even the simplest tasks can instead turn out to be a much bigger problem indeed in DA Origins. Not only does the storytelling do numbers in terms of adventure, but the lore introduced are amazing. You acquire Codex entries which all provide their own story to tell, stories filled with sadness, triumph and despair, all so greatly told that you will soon find yourself wanting to acquire all the many Codex entries scattered about. EXCELLENT story and even better job of progressing the story. The graphics can be a bit glitch, and may not be the greatest seen yet, but the bugs are minor and easily overlooked by the excellent combat.
The combat is fun and exciting and is a great factor. It is the Dungeons And Dragons-esque type, you control your character but can switch between others in your group, and position them as wanted and get the utmost out of their abilities. The tactics screen allows the player to conduct strategies that can best even the most expertly laid out strategies. You want your healer mage to heal allies when their health drops below a certain amount? Set it up in the Tactics screen and continue on. The battles are fierce and can require some thought, especially the later fought battles. If you are one of those that just prefers to power your way through dungeons, you may want to adapt to a new style as DA: Origins will punish you for this. There are many abilities and character traits at your disposal and you will need to use these to survive the many challenging foes awaiting you. Bombs, traps, acid-coating to apply to weapons and more are at your disposal (assuming you have leveled up enough) and are strongly advised. The battles can be clunky at times and a few minor glitches may occur but for the most part, combat is one of the best elements of the game.
You influence your party members as well as the story by the choices you make. You will have to choose certain things to say in dialogue concerning your party members, and what you choose will affect their "approval" rating. Obviously, a positive approval rating by a party member will produce a member who has a devout trust in you will offer new dialogue to be found and will open up quests you can partake in. A happy party member will show you more loyalty and can even offer their abilities to others and depending on if you choose, can also engage in romantic relationships, regardless of the sex. Negative rating members will box themselves up more and will be a mere shell of what they could be. Sten, a huge Qunari warrior who you have the option of saving from imprisonment early on, is a tough cookie to read and will be a challenging read for all players to get his undying trust. Gifts can be found and you can use to influence their approval. It is wise to get to know each member and find out what they like to do, and continue talking with them in your journey. After all you will need all the help you can get with the Blight.
DA Origins is an epic adventure RPG that really sets the bar for RPG/action/adventure fantasies that I believe a lot of others would be wise to follow! A brand new world that is one of the most interesting among the titles released today and is waiting for you to venture in. Terrifying Giant Spiders, Ogres, Demons and much much more are awaiting you to dare enter their realms. Expertly told story, thought-provoking strategic battles that offer a lot of fun and rewards, and characters who leave a spot in your heart make this a must grab for any who even slightly enjoy RPGs, or action/adventure RPGs. Bioware has created a classic and I believe Origins will stand the test of time!!