They should have just remastered this instead of making Veilguard.

DAO is an excellent game and holds up quite well for its age. It's main strengths are unsurprisingly it's characters and plot. The characters are compelling and interesting and their reactions to your choices make what you do feel more impactful. The plot is a classic good vs evil fight but manages to stand out as quite unique due to very intriguing worldbuilding. It also features a fair amount of in-universe politics which is enjoyable to navigate. DAO's main drawbacks are its combat slogs and sexuality. There are a few large sections of gameplay (namely the Deep Roads) which are an absolute grind and take forever to get through but other than that, combat features an enjoyable mix of tactics including the ability to pause and switch between characters. As usual for Bioware, there is entirely too much sex in this game, even when avoiding romances. It falls into classic video game stereotypes of most characters being "interested" in the player and a lot of scantily clad women/female-like creatures (the Brood Mother is probable the most egregious example). All in all, despite it's drawbacks -notable though they may be-, DAO is an excellent RPG and it's easy to see why it has been so successful. Barkspawn is a good boy and i will not hear otherwise.

I would have never discovered this incredible series if not through reccomendation, and I can say with complete certainty that I would have missed out on an incredible adventure. The Dragon Age series is wonderful dark fantasy adventure full of heart, danger, and tense comraderies, and Origins kicks it all off with an amazing premise.

The Fifth Blight has fallen upon Thedas. An incursion of darkspawn monsters, led by a powerful archdemon, is on the horizon. It is up to the Grey Wardens, sworn defenders against the Blights, to save the realm. It is up to You, Warden, to save your country alongside questionable companions, performing poilitical favours, and exploring the world from outside your sheltered origin. All of this, whilst grappling with the question; Is Ferelden even worth saving?

As the name of the game suggest; this a tale of origins. Most specifically; yours, as you have 6 different origin stories to choose from (Noble, Clansperson, Urchin, Commoner, Scholar, Outlander), each intrinsically based on your chosen race and class. The Dragon Age world is one fall of cruel stygmatisation, with no exceptions; not even you, player, are immune to discriminations and priveleges of this world, and that adds wonderfully dreadful realism. As you explore the world, and discover the rules of this unfair world, you feel it because you placed into it, in an incredibly real way.

And that's just the character creation, and the origin stories that you can play through. Once you've experienced the first two chapters of this fantastical tragedy, you develop a clear picture of what this world is like, and how hard it is going to be to help it into the light, all whilst darkness creeps in from the Kocari Wilds, and the Blighted monsters march to consume your home.

You will meet incredible companions, each from their own walks of life. With customs, attitudes and struggles that are all so unique you will grow to love them all, but only agree with a few. The approval system, an iconic staple of Bioware's adventure games, makes every choice of words and action, alter the perception your troops have of you individually. Some decision can even cause a drastic split in your group dynamic that shakes up your experience. What's more the dialogue that takes place behind the Warden's back is always a lovely treat.

In terms of character, story, world, and the "choices matter" genre, Dragon Age: Origins is an absolutely masterclass of writing. However, for me the biggest flaw of the game is the combat. The bones of it are absolutely brilliant; the tactical camera, the tactic loadout system, and the pause-to-command features are innovative and wonderfully executed. But what makes it all fall flat for me is how sluggish the combat itself is. The game grounds every aspect, apart from the fantasy, in realism. Drawing and loosing arrows takes time, swinging around swords and hammers takes time, accurate and forcefully stabbing someone in the back takes time, and that time feels so drawn out, and tiresome due to this realism. Even the speed of characters in combat is realistically, and painfully, slowed down, meaning it takes my warriors and rogues far too long to make it from one opponent to the next. What's more, because of this realism, being limited to 4 characters per combat (one of which HAS to be your character), the opponent will almost always have the action economy advantage.

Whilst this is my one major gripe about the game, and it is a hefty part of a GAME to complain about. It does not ruin the experience for me. I love building my team up to face this tough (tiringly slow) battles. I love clearing the numerous dungeons for loot, secrets, and the mysteries each quest presents. I love battling, or talking, or bartering my way to these climatic moments, at least two of which in each region, that will shape the fate of not only, the country but the entire world.

After all, this is Dragon Age: Origins. It is only the beginning of an entire history that you, the player - over the course of FOUR amazing games - will shape.