Facebook – Top 100 FAVORITE Video Games: 58

58: Dragon Age: Origins (360/PC/PS3)
Developer: Bioware
Year: 2009

Another relatively new game, Bioware’s “Other RPG” is less space and lasers and more castles and swords. Dragon Age places, you, the gamer, in a world completely different than the (insanely superior) Mass Effect series. And while the fact that I played this game in the past 365 means it earns a high spot on the list, here, something about the game makes it higher than other games I’ve played in recent history. Let’s examine that, shall we?

Origins starts you off by providing you with its namesake: an origin. One of the things I love most about this game is the fact that you create your character entirely. This means that you spend a ton of time developing the character you’ve created. Mage characters have their own story, as do different humans, dwarfs, and elves. These stories lead into the main narrative and can help create greater understanding of the world over multiple, different playthroughs. The main story, though, is just as impressive. In a deep, immersive world like this, its easy to get lost in backstory, lore, myth, and folklore. Luckily, the major stuff – about evil Darkspawn and an Archdemon trying to take over the world – is ripped from classic Tolkien, its true. But it doesn’t matter; the characters and the world around you evolve as you play, so even though the storyline is simple as can be, the interactions you’ll experience and the way the world changes around you will drive you forward. Plus, there is enough political intrigue and betrayal to make the narrative flow well.

The gameplay is less like Mass Effect and more like (the insanely superior) Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. You control a party and can switch from member-to-member, all the while flinging spells and hacking away with swords and axes. Its “turn based” in a sense, in that you don’t control the swing of your sword – the speed of your character and weight of the sword drives how often and hard you swing it an your enemies torso. In this, it borrows from MMO’s in recent history, both in equipment and stat raising. The different classes and their branching abilities are also borrowed from WoW and the like, allowing for full customization of characters as you play through. Dungeon crawling, shopping in towns, and quests for holy relics keep the game firmly within the realm of standard RPG fare and never gets boring.

While the graphics were a bit dated and the Mass Effect engine had started to show its age, the music keeps the presentation aspect from being dull or lame. A soundtrack that would find itself right at home within one of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films, DA:O’s musical moments are breathtaking and, in moments of intense action, provide an exciting pace-builder for your slaughtering needs. Heading down into the huge, majestic, and totally-stolen-from-the-Dwarf-city-in-WoW lair of the dwarves, for example, provides for a triumphant and loud blaring of horns that signals the pride of the denizens under the surface of the world. Likewise, time spent in the woods creates far more airy numbers and cues, complimenting the surroundings that much better.

All in all, Dragon Age: Origins, while not the greatest RPG in the world, offers enough creative license on the part of the player, while also providing enough of a high fun factor to keep the game interesting. And with a full expansion and tons of DLC available for download already, the game isn’t slowing down at all. And a sequel is on the way, too, meaning the world of Ferelden is due to be visited at least a few more times in the coming years. I feel its a worthwhile time to take a visit at your earliest convenience; should you do so, you’ll find a world of adventure and excitement waiting for you to save it from total destruction.

Classic Moment:
You have to make a decision; enlist the help of your greatest enemy to this point, or slay him. Oh, the prince of the entire kingdom will only stay if you kill the man before you. What do you do? Well, if you’re a huge dick, you make the bastard a Grey Warden, like yourself, and say bye-bye to that waif Alistair. Why keep that guy around? He falls over all the time because he sucks so much. Seriously. I hated that guy more than I can even say. What a pansy.

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Added February 13, 2017
Here is a series that has only progressively gotten better and better as the franchise has rolled on. I am at once both hopeful for a sequel and afraid of it, going off it its possible quality.
Also, eff that waif, Alistair.