A Dragon awakens, spreads its wings and casts its eternal shadow over the kingdom of Ferelden.
The graphics may a bit disappointing with sometimes low resolution textures and less polygons here and there and less detail. And the frame- rate is a bit inconsistent, but this game is great to look at. Some great art went into the game to further enrich the experience and the characters when they talk look good enough when the camera comes close.
The sound is what drives Dragon Age Origins. The voice acting is spectacular, easily among the best like Uncharted 2 and brings the characters alive. A great dynamic soundtrack accompanies you where ever your travels may take you, although the transition between music to mute is not that seamless as it could have been, but its a small complaint. However my biggest gripe is the main character having no voice in the conversations whatsoever. You are allowed to choose among 4 or 5 preset voices but they only throw some words during battle but your character doesn't have a voice so to speak. Which is kind of disappointing as Mass Effect had done it well. Still this game will give the best experience through audio alone.
Combat is not realtime, but you need to queue up various attacks and switch from one party member from the other to maximize their potential, even though the game does well on Casual setting. However hardcore RPG fans and tough battles require you to take more part in the battle then just pressing the attack button.
You will love Dragon Age because it is something special, the way everyone responds to you and how your fellow company talk as you make your way across the kingdom.
The story of Dragon Age just like Oblivion is huge, its impossible to grasp at everything. Like the Mages have their own story, the Elves have their own stories, there are like volumes of these kind of things and thankfully a handy Codex page keep tracks of things you learned in case you want to delve back to know the history of Orzammar, the great Dwarvan city. However unlike Elder Scrolls Oblivion, the story is much better and way better told and characters are so realistic and very unique personalities that doesn't feel like videogame at all sometimes.
Perhaps my favorite reason I love Dragon Age is because of my companions. I love it when Aliaster and Morrigan talk while we make way across the kingdom, how they throw harmless insults to each other, and how grand-ma like Wynn steps in and acts as a voice of reason. My favorite past-time is in the camp and getting to know them, talk to them as if they were my real friends, it doesn't feel weird at all as they are incredibly realistic with no defined attributes unlike most videogames.
Take for insistence, Morrigan (the love interest) is so similar to my late gf Krissy. She is cunning, clever, and very curious and sees the world so differently than most of us do and many cases very less girly but not manly if you know what i mean.
Aliaster is like the best friend you had not while ago, but feels forever. He is very mellow, down-to-earth vailiant, charismatic former Templar Knight. I love it how he makes his face when my character and Morrigan make out, lol. And he whines to Wynn to knit his shirt as she is " grandma who cares " in his words.
Wynn really feels like a grand ma to me. She is a mage and she perhaps gave the most beautiful meaning of death I've ever heard among many other things.
Incredible voice acting and writing from Bioware as expected. Perhaps I truly realized how much I care for my company is when selecting before going to the battle. Here is the thing, I am so connected to these 3 characters that I cant leave them behind, no matter how powerful some of the other allies are.