Dragon Age: Origins (all DLC) review | In-depth look

This is a review of the full Dragon Age: Origins expirience, that means: Dragon Age: Origins, Return to Ostagar, The Stone Prisoner, Warden's Keep,The Darkspawn Chronicles, Leliana's Song and The Golems of Amgarrak. I will try and take apart all aspects of this series.
Table of contents:
6:21 - Origins
10:42 - Ostagar
19:05 - Lothering
26:45 - Companions
59:52 - Mage tower
1:06:32 - Dalish Elfs and Brecilian Forest
1:16:14 - Dwarves and Orzamar
1:25:59 - Redclif and Andraste's Ashes
1:34:48 - Soldier's Peak
1:38:14 - Return to Ostagar
1:41:10 - Golems of Amgarrak
1:44:01 - Leliana's song
1:47:18 - Darkspawn Chronicles
1:49:40 - Landsmeet
1:56:10 - Battle of Denerim

[@Jack-bv6eu]

Been waiting for a new vid for a while

[@ltgchris693]

A longer while i wager. This took me way too long to put together. But it's finally finished :)

[@Massinissathefirst]

Good stuff!

[@ltgchris693]

I'm glad you liked it.

[@jinma42]

Hi, just gotta say you have a fantastic way of speaking, presentingl, and a great enthusiasm for what you're talking about. I normally don't comment on retrospectives because I dont have much to add or to say on what I'm watching, but this time I do. So I'm about 50 minutes in and I have never stopped watching a gaming video essay about a game I haven't played, unless it was something my little ego disagreed with thoroughly. I think it's important to hear these opinions, unless my precious little feelings get hurt 😂 This video? I'm stopping because you've inspired me to go and play Dragon Age Origins and I don't want to spoil the experience. I am so torn on that decision because I want to hear you tell me your perspective on this really cool game I had heard of but knew nothing about, but I also want to have surprises within Dragon Age Origins and develop my own thoughts! I'll definitely be giving this many more listens as a night time video to fall asleep to, so I'm not consciously learning and therefore spoiling. I share this because I wouldn't ever have found this game on my own and because I've never been inspired so thoroughly to go and play a gem from an earlier time. Thank you for this, this is a very good thing. Well done good sir, well done! I'm thoroughly impressed and will be awaiting more of your content to come, perhaps I'll be further inspired!

[@jinma42]

Ah! I should also say that this video is fantastic from the 50 minutes I saw and that I deeply appreciate your effort in making this. Again, thank you 😁

[@ltgchris693]

That's quite the compliment, thank you. I'm glad you enjoy my work, as well as Dragon Age: Origins, it really is a great game. If you haven't played it, and are just going thru, it would be best to pause my video for a bit, till you catch up.Because i spoil every major story beat :) The night time listening to video essays or podcast, is the same thing i do from time to time, it feels like someone is reading me a story. But i am curious,if you haven't played Dragon Age before and were not looking for it, how did you stumble on my video?

[@benjaminsente7430]

I remember becoming addicted to the first two games, years back. Although DA2 has obvious and heavy flaws, Characterwriting and Storytelling of are still masterfull for the most part. I don´t expect EA/Bioware to return to this quality. Most likely, they will ride the hipster-style-aesthetics- and feminist-content-train. BaldursGate 3 is a example of that.

[@ltgchris693]

BG3 is a Larian game though?

[@benjaminsente7430]

Yes @@ltgchris693 . Still...

[@benjaminsente7430]

Yes it is @@ltgchris693 . And it´s a good Example of the mentioned Qualities.

[@benjaminsente7430]

@@ltgchris693 Yes.

[@erarzemieslnikow3196]

I hate this game. I know controversial opinion. For you see there is a great line which decides if Dragon age Origins if for you. If you like the companions, the game is for you. If you don't avoid it because the companions the main reason people would return to game over and over. They are best written characters in Bioware's history with dialogues lines which is beyond any other character in this series. They are complex, have opinions and character development. And I cannot stand the bastards. If it was a pen and paper campaign I would be banned from playing by Dungeon Master. My conversation with my companions end up the same way my conversations with fans of this game go. I just mention my opinions and whole table wants to murder me. That's why the Dark Spawn expansion is the best part for me. Killing those bastards feels great. But you mentioned you hate how little content is in those additional adventures. I agree. Origins is just awful for modding community while Neverwinter Nights succeeded. I don't wanna be "this guy" but in NWN I actually did a better adventure gameplay wise than this small Ogrimmar module. And you know what is the worst part? I feel sorry for the fans of this series. Origins was a good prelude for dark questionable fantasy series which got interested when it avoided typical fantasy tropes. But sadly the series went downhill. I do not think DA2 is that bad. It is most interesting Bioware game from story perspective because it sets up close to earth downright depressing chapters of life of one person in this world. It speaks much louder than another go save the world which even Origins tried to skip and focus on more interesting elements. I have no faith in EA and new Bioware so if anything good comes out, I'll stay for few years before trying.

[@ltgchris693]

I don't intend to murder you :) even though i like Origins. I feel your comment has a lot of validity to it.I myself go back to Origin on the count of the world and the overall feel of it rather than the companions. I don't like playing with a whole party,unless they fend for themselves most of the time like in Dragon Age or in Mass Effect (which actually has the best companions in all of BioWares catalog, at least for me). In Dragon Age i like the gritty nature of the world, and that it is actually complicated but not as depressing as in Game of Thrones. The world building is top notch and for the most part makes sense. As for NWN i must admit that i am not a fan of the first game, but it's addons are superb, especially Hordes of the Underdark, i still play it from time to time. DA 2's problem wasn't actually in its story, but rather in it's technical execution, way to much repetition and samy dungeons. That was its ultimate weakness. The fact that most maps were the same just with different sections gated behind a pile of rubble or a door. But the way you talk about Origins, it sounds that you don't hate it as much as far more it disappointed you, or was lacking in the departments you find meaningful (wich is valid). Because you seem to see some redeeming qualities in it.

[@erarzemieslnikow3196]

@@ltgchris693 First things first. Codex and the world are far better written than any quest in the game. Which is so painful to read books full of fascinating ideas just to jump to "kill 5 wolves" quests. By the Inquisition all of that just became "fight Templars... *But evil Templars*" and all the nuance is gone. One other thing. I feel so sorry for random NPC. There are so many (like 90% of the game) encounters where we "defend ourselves" and by that I mean normal people, simple peasants see criminals responsible for the death of their king (us) and always it ends up in the fight where all of them get killed. And most side quest focus on that. So put it streight: Dragon Age Origins is about main character being forced to join organisation whom main philosophy is to do the right thing no matter the cost. But any question of their authority and their rituals is met with violence. So the Campaign is about murdering everyone who stands in our way ESPECIALLY guards who are not even potencial allies but obvious allies. We kill our allies so our corrupted guild would remain at power. And our companions are manipulative homicidal monsters which get pissed if you even question any of that. We are Villains of this story and game refuses to recognise it! With DA 2 you see faction wars where there is no obvious evil so it makes a player question everything. This is what I thought the series was about. Sadly in eyes of fans the series is about fighting evil monsters. And the main reason why people hate Dragon Age 2 story is because they hate what happend to their beloved companions. I do no feel DA2 had problem with copy/paste areas because in DAO it was already a problem with Denerim and Ogrimmar. For me Dragon Age is a tragedy for it never became a mature series it wanted to be. And this is sad. I hate the game for what it is because it is also painful for what it could be... Also Quinari without horns look dumb. About NWN I meant modding community and tools. DA had some ambitious mods but it died quite quickly. And sidenote... Majority of mods are focused on romance and looks of your companions. NWN is still strong in this area.

[@ltgchris693]

I give you the MMO styled quests, that was also one of my problems with gothic 3, but Origins has a lot of interesting adventures too, albeit these are mainly main quest related, the adventure for Andraste's Ashes chiefly comes to mind. I also feel like the Grey are opportunistic to the extreme most of the time, but they do fight for the greater good so to speak. And how they don't mesh with political power is also nicely explored. About the potential allies part. While i doo agree that there should be more possibilities to talk things thru, like with the knight in Denerim. You still have to acknowledge that, they attacked the grey of their own accord, even if they didn't grasp the whole picture. Defence on the part of the attacked is to be expected. Although once again, i would like to have the ability to at least try to convince them to my side of things. I liked the dynamics in DA2, the gray nature of it all, but most of my enjoyment of the game was shaped precisely by the reused locations and enemies spawning out of thin air. Origins might have had similar looking locations like in the Deep Roads and Denerim, but they were distinctly different locations. Not so much in DA2, where they were explicitly the same with different entry points.

[@erarzemieslnikow3196]

@@ltgchris693 "they attacked the grey of their own accord" - you mean, city guards... attacked the criminals in city they swear to protect? It is not like black magic. It is their job to protect citizens from assassins of the king. It would be argued this is a tragedy of situation but heck... we have mages who can use invisibility spell and rogues can sneak in. There is obvious way out to avoid this stupid combat. Except... the game is programmed so you cannot. I test it. If you try to avoid farmers in Lothering after the scene in tavern (and by the way, that was idiotic scene. Someone warns us it might end up in a combat so of course the only logic is to ENTER it and kill people we suppose to protect) if you try walk up the ramp near the exit it also starts a cutscene where I remind you... you cannot give people the money they need to move their families from this place. You just doomed them and your companions do not even care. Oh but they will murder me if I try to do main quest and safe Arl's life or get pissed I gave a sword to a kid in this world where everyone is hostile so he could protect himself. God, it still boils my blood. This world really deserves to be destroyed by dark spawn if our party is meant to be the "good guys".