Dragon Age Origins Pc

[Melissa Russian]

DragonAge: Origins is a 2009 role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. It is the first game in the Dragon Age franchise. Set in the fictional kingdom of Ferelden during a period of civil strife, the game puts the player in the role of a warrior, mage, or rogue coming from an elven, human, or dwarven background. The player character is recruited into the Grey Wardens, an ancient order that stands against monstrous forces known as "Darkspawn", and is tasked with defeating the Archdemon that commands them and ending their invasion. The game is played from a third-person perspective that can be shifted to a top-down perspective. Throughout the game, players encounter various companions, who play major roles in the game's plot and gameplay.

BioWare described Dragon Age: Origins as a "dark heroic fantasy" set in a unique world, and a spiritual successor to their previous Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights franchises. Its setting was inspired by The Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice & Fire, and was described by BioWare as a mix between high fantasy and low fantasy. Development of the game began in 2002 and BioWare employed more than 144 voice-actors, and hired Inon Zur to compose the game's music. The development of the game's console versions was outsourced to Edge of Reality. Origins was released for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 in November 2009, and for Mac OS X in December 2009.

Origins received critical acclaim upon release, with praise mostly directed at its story, setting, characters, music and combat system. It sold more than 3.2 million copies and 1 million pieces of downloadable content. It won multiple year-end accolades including Game of the Year and Best Role-playing awards from several gaming publications, and has widely been considered to be one of the greatest video games ever made.[1][2] BioWare released several instances of downloadable content after the game's initial launch, an expansion pack for the game titled Awakening in March 2010, and two sequels, Dragon Age II and Dragon Age: Inquisition, were released in 2011 and 2014 respectively.

Dragon Age: Origins is a role-playing game played from a third-person perspective. The player is a Grey Warden, part of an order of elite fighters, whose task is to defeat the Archdemon and save the world from a disastrous event called the Blight. Players create their own Grey Warden character, customizing gender and appearance as well as choosing a race and class.[3] The available classes are warriors, who perform strong physical attacks and protect their allies; rogues, who carry out stealth attacks and steal items from other characters; and mages, who cast spells on enemies, create combo spells,[4] and support other party members.[5] The three choices of race are human, elf, and dwarf. The combination of class and race determines which of six different origin stories the player experiences: Dalish Elf, Dwarf Commoner, City Elf, Mage, Human Noble, or Dwarf Noble.[6] This affects the way other in-game characters perceive the player's character; for instance, a Dwarven Commoner would receive hatred and discrimination from other dwarves.[6] However, all classes follow the same plot after the completion of the origin story.[7]

During gameplay, the player encounters a variety of enemies, including giant spiders, Darkspawn, ghosts, walking trees, and dragons.[8] They also recruit companions, who accompany them and provide assistance in battle. These companions are normally controlled by artificial intelligence, with behaviour that the player can adjust through the "Tactics" menu, but the player also has the option to switch between characters and is able to issue orders to them in real-time or pause the game to queue up actions.[8][9] The player and any companions in their party engage in combat with the weapons they have equipped when the player targets or is noticed by a hostile enemy. Players can swap weapons and perform special attacks during combat, but most of these attacks have a recharge time.[5] The point of view can be shifted from the third-person view to a top-down view, where friendly and hostile units are labelled with different colours to distinguish them.[10] At the end of a battle the characters' health and stamina, which powers a character's skills, are automatically refilled.[11] When an enemy is defeated, the player collects any items or loot from its corpse.[8] Companions who are not in the player's active party stay in the base camp, a hub where the player can talk to their party members as well as purchase new weapons, armour, and gear.[12] In addition to the main story, the player can learn more about the world of Thedas by collecting the codices scattered throughout the game.

The player can level up their Warden character by earning experience points through exploring new areas, completing quests, and defeating enemies. Each time the player levels up, they receive three points to spend on the character's six attributes. Strength inflicts more damage, Dexterity helps evade attacks more often, Willpower increases stamina (or mana for Mages), Magic increases spell damage and magic defence, Cunning improves combat tactics, and Constitution increases the character's health.[13] Special skills, which are divided into four different aspects for each class, and specialization options, which offer class-specific skills, can also be unlocked by levelling up.[14]

The player can talk and interact with both party members and other non-playable characters. A dialogue tree offers several dialogue options for the player to select.[14][15] Through conversation, the player can unlock unique quests and dialogue revealing the lore of Dragon Age. It can also be used to persuade or intimidate other characters.[3] The player often must choose between morally ambiguous options, which result in consequences that affect the game's world and progression[16] and can even lead to the death of a potential companion.[17] Companions react to the player's choices through an "approval system".[18] When they dislike or object to the player's decisions, their approval drops, which can result in a companion leaving the party or even attacking the Warden.[19] Approval points can also be influenced by gifts, which will improve any companion's approval but are each intended for a specific companion. Some gifts, if given to the right character, start a cutscene and can even unlock a quest. A high approval rating improves a companion's morale and gives bonuses to their combat abilities.[20] A significant approval rating also makes it possible for the Warden to pursue a romantic relationship with certain companions.[21] The game's "interaction reactivity" system means that the way a player treats one companion affects the approval rating of other companions as well.[22]

The game is set in Ferelden, one of several countries in the fictional world of Thedas. Savage creatures called the Darkspawn dwell within the Deep Roads, an underground highway system created by the dwarves long ago, deep beneath the surface of Thedas. Every few hundred years, the Darkspawn swarm the surface world in a movement known as a Blight. Ever since the first Blight, Thedas has relied on the legendary order of warriors known as the Grey Wardens to drive the Darkspawn back. Dragon Age: Origins begins on the eve of Thedas's fifth Blight.

Thedas is a world in which race and class combine to determine social class and political dynamics. Elves are often viewed as second-class citizens by humans, while human nobles are treated with respect. Mages, on the other hand, are cloistered by the Chantry: they have access to the Fade, the unconscious realm that is the home of spirits, and a single lapse in vigilance could cause them to be possessed by demons. Apostate mages, who live outside the Chantry's control, are considered extremely dangerous, and the Chantry has a military wing, the Templars, to seek out and subdue them by any means necessary. Dwarves live in the Deep Roads; their kingdom a shadow of what it once was before the first Blight, and their society is rooted in tradition and a rigid caste system. Dalish Elves live a nomadic lifestyle away from most cities, proudly attempting to preserve and reclaim the ancient Elven heritage that was mostly wiped out long ago when the Elven empire that ruled most of the lands mysteriously collapsed.

Two prequel novels released in 2009, Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne and its direct sequel Dragon Age: The Calling, provide context for the game's lore as well as the backstories of several characters and their relevant conflicts in Origins.

The chief protagonist of Dragon Age: Origins is the player-controlled character, whose biography and combat specialization are determined by the race and class chosen at the start of the game. While the player can choose his or her avatar's first name, the character is usually referred to as "The Warden" by other characters and the game's narration.

Many of the game's non-player characters (NPCs) are companion characters, who appear throughout the game and may volunteer their services. Companions include Alistair, a reluctantly heroic Grey Warden with a sarcastic wit; Morrigan, a spiteful apostate mage who has little regard for authority or social mores; Leliana, a lay sister of the Ferelden Chantry whose optimistic and virtuous demeanor belies an aptitude for espionage and combat; Sten, a proud but stoic warrior of the deeply regimented Qunari people who often questions the ways of other races; Oghren, an unkempt dwarven warrior whose love of alcohol is only matched by his penchant for physical violence and loyalty to his friends; Wynne, a senior member of the Ferelden Circle of Magi, a maternal figure to the party and a powerful healer; Zevran, a rakish elven assassin who is fond of treasures, sex and innuendo; and a loyal Mabari War Hound, which the player can name and use for scouting and combat. With the DLC The Stone Prisoner installed, Shale, a sarcastic Golem with a mild ornithophobia who was a female dwarf in her prior life, is also available as an optional companion.

3a8082e126