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A Love Letter to Dragon Age Origins

Craftian

18,642 views

There will never be a game like Dragon Age Origins. Let's talk about it. At length.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00:00 Overture
0:01:02 Intro
0:04:53 The Brilliance of Origins
0:09:35 Warden Calling
0:14:17 The BioWare Formula
0:18:49 Child of Redcliffe
0:21:33 Circle Unbroken
0:29:56 Ashes to Ashes
0:35:30 Memory and Stone
0:39:35 Into The Deep
0:44:14 Companions
1:02:38 Old Wounds Run Deep
1:06:31 City of Corruption
1:11:08 The Landsmeet
1:15:40 In Death, Sacrifice
1:22:05 Conclusion

This took a lot out of me, so it'd be nice if it got a bit of attention for a change. Other than (maybe) Mass Effect 2 at some point, I won't be doing one of these big longform critique retrospective review or whatever you want to call it things again.

LAA/4GB patch for helping the game run better. Origins was a bad PC port even at the time.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...

If the game is crashing every time you start it through the launcher when the Config screen comes up, go to \Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age\ and make a blank txt file inside the folder and then rename it (INCLUDING the file extension) to systeminformation.xml to fix this.

Search up the companion escape/rescue if you want to have a good laugh. See, even dark fantasy can still have fun sometimes.

20 Comments

@t-shirtedhistorian 11 months ago

DAO was really a singular experience that was never replicated in any of the sequels. Veilguard was literally some kind of corpse puppet trotted out to dance for people.

@graycard668 11 months ago (edited)

Boot up origins. Play a dwarf nobal
Betrayed by brother
Return as warden
Put brother on throne
Defeat blight
Get annointed paragon
Lord it over brother

@shawnadams1965 10 months ago

"Just don't give Morrigan Cone of Cold" lmao yeah.

@IHCross 11 months ago (edited)

It was absolutely insane growing up with these games. Playing (though not necessarily at release) Fallout 1, Baldur's Gate 1&2, Planescape: Torment, Mass Effect 1&2, the KotORs, DA:O, and New Vegas all before turning 20. And now to be returning to the glory days with Rogue Trader and Wrath of the Righteous, it's been an absolute joy to be a cRPG fan.

@slavaukraini1943 11 months ago

Origin sections were realised so much better than in cyberpunk

@pxnxd68 11 months ago

"don't give Morrigan Cone of Cold like I did"
coward, if my dog dies I want her to nuke this random dungeon from orbit

@Peanutcat 7 months ago

I always thought the Darkspawn attack on the camp was very unsettling. Suddenly the place that was home and felt safe now always has an air of looming danger. And add on the Tamlen scene... Terrifying.

@Ruatamaha 9 months ago

I remember putting the dog out of its misery at the start and slitting the elf companions throat because I he tried to kill me.

@wollyram6248 1 year ago

While I enjoyed many of the cRPG revival titles, and adore Owlcat's Wrath of the righteous, Origins was, and still is one of a kind.

@Thesavagesouls 1 year ago

That game was so close to perfection. And it nailed so good the global crysis. Still one of my top 5 rpg of all time.

@Bass4Days 8 months ago

I replay this every year around christmas and it gives me fucking chills every time man.......... What a game.... this is such a fantasy classic up there with LOTR if you ask me.

@grayearly3116 11 months ago

Still replay this game on PS3 every 6-8 months or so. Every bit of the story is so deep and immersive, not to mention the extremely vast amount of choices that can complete alter the experience. Being a super powerful mage who can melt Cauthrien or being a sneaky rogue that can just skip out of fort dragon unnoticed completely blew my mind the first time I found those options.

@aubrey6859 6 months ago

I played this game 13 times in my early 20s and it changed the way I consume video games and media in general. I love this game and I love this video.

@pepe3254-m1l 7 months ago

A story so masterfully told that it inspires me to write but it is also so frightening because of how high the bar is set, no matter the graphics or gameplay a good story will always be what everyone remembers ❤

@WrenchWitch 9 months ago

So I played DA:O a ton on my PS3 in college, and talked about it a lot to my friends. Pretty much all of them fell off in the Deep Roads. But my first run was as a Dwarf Noble. I put off going to Orzammar until the end due to the exile, and once I got there I felt SOOOOO engaged. The way I roleplayed it was that even though Bhelen killed his brother and exiled him, that the standing of the family was too important, and I went all in on supporting Bhelen anyway. I was riveted to it. My friend by contrast all found the Dwarven politics tedious, and them with the Deep Roads in combination ended their playthroughs. It was always disappointing to me that nobody else in my immediate sphere clicked with it like I did. And I kind of wonder how much of that came down to my choice of origin and willingness to roleplay.

@ArturVader 11 months ago

I'd love to hear your take on DA2 and Inquisition.

@Misopogon1 10 months ago

I think Awakening needs a look as well, I'd loved its story and main villain.

@MyHazey 2 months ago

FINALLY! The Sten gets his flowers. He was my favorite companion.

@major_havok7854 1 year ago

You keep adding to my list of must play games, I was sold by the origin system alone. There's so little that comes close to a TTRPG when it comes to backstories and their implementation, but it sounds like this does it flawlessly, which really makes me interested.

@johnlindsay7301 4 months ago

Just started replaying last week for the first time since the games release in 2009. I’m shocked at how great the game even today. Such a fun and engaging experience. Thanks for putting this amazing video together. It’s a good time.