Was Dragon Age: Origins as good as I remember? - An analysis of one of BioWare's best games 

Jesus fuck man, almost 4 hours. Of course I'll watch the whole thing but come on its 2am.

Looking forward to listen to your thoughts on this! Appreciate your humor and insight, man!

I NEED MORE, tbh your voice is so awesome , maybe less video editing , and just thoughts + raw video, or at least less editing , so more content for us!

@@ibramgaunt8575 Brother, we gotta talk about time zones at some stage. I promise I won't remove the video while you sleep lmao

I just woke up, but I can't wait to put this on while I work.

Bae, badass bitch and queen of shade. She had the trifecta

This games characters have the MOST personality in my opinion then any other Bioware game

Morrigan is still best girl

Fuck'er

Morrigan is savage. Perky boobs, too.

Lol

Adorable profile ❤️

lol

Have you seen Daniel Floyd's video on the history of Sonic animation? That's a good one as well.

Ok, wouldn't have thought to see any GamingClerk in the comment section lol. Much love

Trying to go back through the series is an exercise in pain and endurance. Especially because there’s that definitive “everyone hates this bit” section of each game (the fade in origins, for example) that’s just a miserable and slightly overlong experience. That being said? It’s still my favorite video game series

That sounds so badass. I always play the dalish female elf playthrough. Now I wanna play this version.

also interesting that other origins can find a dude in a jail, listen to his sob story, and then choose to release him or not, but it's not until you play the city elf that you learn he is the kidnapper.

@@BeBopScraBoo fr, if you were a human warden for example isn’t actually in your best interests to free him since his family will testify against howe and support you in the landsmeet? it’s such a simple interaction with him in the jail cell but it gives city elf origin a lot of depth

City elf and Dwarven noble were the best origins for sure.

EXCEPT the player might not want to get married. It is worth mentioning that the groom thing was something that was forced on your character just 10 minutes before you get kidnapped. You had never even known of that elf groom 10 minutes earlier. You wake up and it is "you are now going to be forced to be married to a guy you have never met before."

It doesn't hit the same the 30th play through... Still a great game

I literally just re-downloaded all of them lol. I never got past 4 hours in inquisition, hoping that this time I'll be able to enjoy it!!

@@PeachShortcake_ I started with Inquisition, that was a big mistake lmao

@@ramenbomberdeluxe4958 i liked inquisition. The lore got expanded on. Graphics wise much better. Only downfall is the lack of skills n classes. But has lots of re playability. But mostly the lore really opens up the universe. Much like skyrim era elder scrolls lore became massively expanded on. Khajiit might be elves, orcs were an elf race that became orcs when trinimac was turned into malacath. In oblivion tes4, orcs were not linked to elves. And no one picked up on the fact that pelinial whitestrake wiped out khajiit who he couldn't tell apart from elves. So there is a theory that not all khajiit look like cats. Well inquisition does that with the elves and eleven pantheon...and u get to have a small amount of interaction with ur DA2 protagonist. They also created a system where u can share all ur collected blueprints etc for crafting. Some play throughs the loot is random..so u dont always get everything in one playthrough, plus when u start a new playthrough, u can start with all the stuff u collected previously, so u can make a legendary playthrough with better scematics to craft early game instead of late game.

@@OceanBloke I hated inquisition's graphics. These stylized characters had these... realistic textures all over them and it made them super fugly to me.

That's when I went: "My lore lover instinct is telling me that this motherfucker is a traitor"

It really adds depth to his character.

The game is terrifically written and acted. Still one of the best games ever made, flaws and all.

IIRC you can find the Dwarf Commoner's corpse in a cell when you rescue Leske.

@@rebellyanmagic6409 Oh. My. God.

@@rebellyanmagic6409 same with all of them, hell the dwarven prince you play as is said to die in the deep roads like he would have if you didn’t pick that backstory

@@ouchiegiverjr And if female....Well, we know where the Broodmother came from now....

@@rebellyanmagic6409 well thanks for that mentle image.

And the way he speaks, man I have never heard someone so matter-of-fact about everything He's the type of guy to be late and just say "Yes I am and I have no excuses, I know I did wrong" Then go about his job and do something extra to make up for it but not care whether you or anyone notices it

i'm pretty sure he is just setting the stage for the qunari race in this world. he's not an anti-trope, that's just how they are

Sten is my favorite companion because of his dialogue. I know mechanically he's objectively worse than the other warriors due to only getting one specialization, but I like how you and him can challenge and respond with certain cultural differences.

@@getthegoonsSten is objectively better than Oghren and Dog due to his DPS output. Only the player character can out DPS him. Alistair is really the only one who’s better, but he’s really only good for being a tank so there’s still a void that is open.

@@kman9884 yeah but alistar is enough too tank, mages are enough to... well, basically handle any fighting. so in case you arent a rogue, you take a rogue for lockpicking and stuff and sten has no place to be.

Always had a love hate Relationship with the games, Origin back in the day blew me away but I always felt the sequels failed to live up to it. DA 2 was bad on most fronts and Inquisition while improved still doesn't do it for me, especially story and character wise if it hadn't been for the Trespasser DLC I'd say its story was worst of them all as for the characters just ugh.

@@hurhursjarf4527 for all the faults DA2 had, almost all the companions were well made and written, inquisition felt like a slap in the face, only really liked Dorian and varric the rest were ehhh or just bad

@@jam8539 i am completely on board with that, for all the improvements Inquisition made in terms of gameplay it really felt like they put Companions and Story on the backburner. The companions were frankly just bad overall, it went from somewhat decent like Varric to Horrific like Sera with most others falling somewhere between that. As for the story, it was sooooo predictable and uninspired, it really feels like it was carried entirelly by the Trespasser DLC which frankly should have been the main story ending. DA:2 had a unimpressive story but I do think it it was largely better as for its Companions most of them were decent to good still nothing compared to Origins though. Bur DA:2's gameplay and world was just plain bad.

@@hurhursjarf4527 ''Trespasser DLC which frankly should have been the main story ending'' People who hate Inquisition and act like their personal distaste is the same as something being objectively worthless always say this and it makes absolutely no sense, Trespasser is an epilogue, the main story wraps up on basically the same note and in the same format Origins did there is no reason to suggest it should have immediately jumped 2 years into the future and started a new narrative. Regardless many, many people disagree with you and dont dislike any of the companions and a story doesnt need to be particularly unique to be engaging, case in point Origins having one of the most generic fantasy stories ever told and still being excellent.

@@fionn2220 I always struggle with a reply like this, a debate or a talk doesn't work like that, you can't just pretend I said something else entirelly and respond to that, either respond to what I said or don't bother, as an example where did I say you or everyone else agreed with me? I was merely sharing my personal opinion on the Dragon Age Series. Where did I say I hate Inquisition? I was merely saying for all it's improvements on Dragon age 2 I was very dissapointed with the Companions and thought the story was saved by the trespasser DLC, criticism and hatred are not the same thing and I am getting sick of people like you pretending it is it makes any conversation impossible. You know there is a whole lot of space between Fanboyism and Hatred huh? The only people that fail to see that are either Fanboys or haters, you being the first. As for wishing the Trespasser DLC had been the ending, it was a great twist on an otherwise largely uninspired and predictable story which is why I think it saved the story and should have been the ending, not sure why that is controversial I am far from the only person with that opinion, but you can disagree. As for the Companions, I have not met a single person, even those that absolutely adored the game that dont have an issue with at least some of the companions, but again, you are free to think they are great, I'd disagree though in my eyes the Companions were Inquisitions worst part. You are right about the last part though, Origins made a well treaded storyline fun and engaging and added various twists, I do not feel Inquisition managed to do that, not sure how that is strong finishing point as it just illustrates to me that Origin succeeded where Inquisition failed Lol. See this is what I mean about pretending people said something they didn't, I never argued in my comment that Origins had some out of the box story, I simply said it was a good storyand certainly the best in the series in my opinion. If you need to know though out of 10 I'd give Origin a 9, Da2 a 4 and Inquisition a 7 as you may notice for all that Hatred you claim I got against Inquisition I somehow managed to grade DA2 as the only one below average, funny how that goes.

Everything of your character can matter: race, gender and if you’re a mage. Though if you’re an elven mage it’s pretty rough. :x

@@ichigokage female elven mage is worse still

@@spacejesus6581 Female Elven Mage was my first playthrough and what the Warden will always be for me. I went Blood Mage as soon as possible because, I mean, it's not like NPCs could treat me any WORSE. I knifed the owner of the tavern in Redcliffe and assumed that my Warden just retired there, living a peaceful life, knowing that she'd become too powerful for the Templars to deal with.

Origins' ability to make your character creation choices actually matter in interactions made the game a delight to replay too since expected dialogue would be replaced with new and somewhat differently toned dialogue depending on many aspects. God, I love this game.

So true. Then when I played Inquisition my female dwarven castless was told by a human noble that there is nothing wrong with two women dancing together and while Origins taught me Qunari women may never become soldiers it is totally fine if they're trans.

what a sickening yet great observation

I imagine for any women who played the game imagining this being done to them it probably hit home twice as hard

​@@thedoomslayer5863 "horrible tentacle birth monster exists. Women most affected."

@@getthegoons They were referencing the creation lore of the Broodmothers. Broodmothers start off as normal women of any race, but are made into Broodmothers by being tainted, raped and tortured by Darkspawn and force fed humanoid flesh. Human women will produce hurlocks, dwarven women produce genlocks, elven women produce shrieks, and qunari women produce ogres.

@@getthegoons women most affected by fictional regular women turned into horrible birth monster by getting fed corpses and raped repeatedly , random youtube commenter shocked at revelation.

Yeah. I love how your Mage’s options can potentially include getting a boon from the demon(including SEX) and then you can still intimidate her into backing off and leaving Connor alone.

Plus in order to get the Blood Mage specialization you need to go yourself (as a mage) in order to get it. If you send someone else you can't get it.

@@orarinnsnorrason4614 I've never understood why specializations are unlocked across all playthroughs, all you have to do is load up Awakening, use infinite money for a bit then buy any book and you have the spec for all playthroughs forever

@@spacejesus6581 Or you just unlock them and reload.

@@robcampion9917 This is what I did.

Best moment has to be in the Dalish camp. Where you can cuck this innocent guy who pines after a girl. Tell him you're gonna help him, sleep with the girl and afterwards, tell him you had sex with the girl instead of helping. I seem to remember he runs off into the woods and dies after that. Though I could be wrong about that. Been a while since I played Origins. Ofc, it's not the act itself, but rather the fact that the option exist, that makes it the best moment. And makes the game so great.

@@kopicat2429 . I don't remember him running to his death, that doesn't happen, he is even there if you decide to kill the elves in favor of the werewolves.

@@SeventhheavenDK Ok. Then I did remember that part wrong.

@@kopicat2429 I remember doing that choice not long ago lol and he definitely runs to the forest and disappears from the camp. Although I can't seem to remember if he finally dies in the forest, becames a werewolf or you find him and can return him back to the camp.

My favourite moment of Dragon Age: Origins was when Zevran started humming Fallout 4 title screen music.

Back when they had actual writer's rooms and not one or two employees that don't have the time, training, or freedom to make truly deep stories.

Eh I get why they're normally made to be very long living and either very in tune with nature or very intune with magic Us human aren't anything special in the real world so us not being special in a fantasy genre is just easy to believe But other races typically seen in fantasy are well, fantastical Dwarves being usually half a normal man's height or less but incredibly strong and hardy and very good smiths is another trope but one I don't mind The human choice is usually the one u pick because "well I'm a human myself" anyway. The other races are there for you to be if you did say a human playthrough and went "damn that lizard race in Skyrim looked pretty cool, next run I'll be one" Is how I see it.

That’s pretty much what the Dalish are though. So what you’re really saying is that you prefer the domesticated elves because they’re subjugated by humans.

@@thedoomslayer5863 the thing is. Humans are incredibly special both in the real world and in fantasy. In the real world it's pretty goddamned obvious why, i'm surprised you think we aren't when we literally bend the world around us to our whims. As for fantasy, humans are a race with no weakness, that breeds a lot, with a massive amount of diversity and the highest possible level of adaptation, all of this while also being easily the most war like "good" race in any fantasy setting, humans can literally do anything and in fantasy we have every advantage possible, if elves existed in real life even if they were Tolkien's elves, humanity would steamroll them really really badly even back in medieval Europe.

Yeah, I love elves in fiction but there was/ is a problem of elves being portrayed as übermenches in bad fantasy. Tolkien elves work because there is an incredible amount of nuance and tragedy to them beyond just what you see physically. Bad fantasy writers forget all that and just make them a race of Mary Sues.

@@niallreid7664 aren't elves at least the women supposed to be more feminine, graceful, beautiful, and eloquent than battle hardened? At least from what I know of elves that seems to be the case. And if they did have to fight they'd prefer to use magics. And there would usually be that offshoot of elves that lives in the woods and are some of the best archers in fantasy

It's technically possible for a couple of the origin characters to survive, Human Noble and the Mage in particular.

@@FalenDragmire Yeah, I'm pretty sure the Mage origin would've at worst had your character made Tranquil.

@@FalenDragmire Actually I think the only origin where you could technically get off scott free without being recruited would be the mage origin IF you choose to be a narc and betray Jowan and Lily. Then when Gregoir does his spiel of 'they helped a blood mage escape!" Irving points out you were working for him.

@@benl2140 Well if you genuinely were trying to help Jowan escape instead of ratting him out and working for Irving instead (which I never do...my mage considers him her childhood best friend), Gregoir could've easily had you killed, imprisoned for that in the same mage prison they send Lily too...or made tranquil...which depending on perspective could be considered worse than death.

@@margisama . But then Uldred's attack to the Tower comes and the Mage Origin character could have perished there.

Sorry what?

this can be added on to if your Warden is an elf, dwarf, or most noticeably imo an elven mage, my first play through of the game was as a female Rogue city elf

Pc

Yeah, that last point on Daveth and Jory was a neat surprise for me that the thief was the one willing to put his life on the line for this when the noble knight got cold feet. After going back it turns out Jory even has a low Willpower stat which was also a neat touch

Yeah... but is also worth mentioning that if half the people would join if they know that the Joining could kill them, even less would join if they know that they have 15 to 20 years to live before the Blight consumes their brains, and even if they are ok with that, they would not survive at all if they face and kill an Archdemon. So... go team!

There's also another way to do it, but it requires you to complete the Crows' assassination questline (that's if you don't want to support Anora) so you don't need the rapist. 1. "The Blight is the threat here, not Orlais." - gets the Arl whose lands were ravaged by the Blight to agree. 2. Mention How torturing people. If you freed the noble's son, he corroborates this as well and you get his vote. 3. Accuse him of poisoning Arl Eamon using Jowan. Loghain will say that it was the doing of a rogue Mage. If you freed the tortured templar from Howe's dungeon (he was hunting Jowan near Redcliffe before he was captured), the templar's sister disproves Loghain's lies and you get her vote. 4. IMMEDIATELY after this, a Chantry Mother Superior condemns Loghain for 'interfering in a Templar's sacred duty' in apprehending apostate Mages. This gives you the Chantry's approval, which IIRC is 2 approval points (Anora's is 3). 5. If you agreed to support Anora, she shows up regardless of which dialogue you pick and throws in her lot with you. Landsmeet is almost unanimously in your favour (one NPC always sides with Loghain no matter what). But even if you didn't, you can still win the Landsmeet if you complete the Crow sidequests, because a noble whose son you helped rescue gives you his support. Basically the strategy to win the Landsmeet is to not mention Ostagar or Alistair. Hell you don't even need to mention the slavers in the Alienage. Focus on the Blight being the real threat and Loghain's crimes that can actually be proven. Do the Crows' quests for that extra vote, and you won't need the rapist OR Anora at all.

The Landsmeet would be less ridiculous if it wasn't based on the hidden arbitrary background score and instead was based on the public votes, because otherwise it makes it seem like everyone doesn't know how to count. It's been a while since I tested the various outcomes but I think you can even fail a 6-2 or 7-1 vote, which obviously makes less sense than a 3-2 loss. If Anora and/or the Chantry are against the player, then that should simply affect the voters rather than act as if the votes don't exist. On a side note: how silly is it that even if you win the vote and thus the Landsmeet, that Loghain simply calls for a duel for whom the winner will be backed by the Landsmeet, thus rendering the votes meaningless anyway. Loghain lost, so how could he have any authority on dictating those terms?

The fact that this guy will spend all that time making the video, but can't be bothered to do thirty seconds worth of Google to check his rants is astounding.

Yeah, it’s such a cool sequence with so many outcomes and choices affected by earlier sequences and your choices in them.

Pretty sure in the mage origins you are trying to get rowan's phylactery, not yours but you're right, in all the games a mage playthrough gives a much better view of the mage/templar feud

@@areebjunaid1505 ah yes, you're right, I meant Jowan.

also as a lady mage you can be *Thirsty AF* for Cullen, he makes really cute responses

It's also really clear that the political tension is complicated within the Circle, and that the Chantry really beats everyone over the heads with its dogma. Each origin really gives insight to all the dynamics within Thedas to (e.g. racism with the elves), which made this game so great.

Yeah, I always thought that the whole Mage vs. Chantry and the NEED to keep mages in the circle was a pretty well-written and complicated thing. Loose mages are a truly scary and possibly devastating problem. The annoying mom just doesn't want to lose her son Connor so she has him trained at home, and the son only wants to save his dying father, and BAM taken over by demon and like hundreds and hundreds of people die. There isn't some easy solution. Just because Morrigan is a wild mage and turned out OK, doesn't mean that is what always happens (plus special circumstances!) This game is complicated! The mage starting path really does make a difference if you've seen it.

The broodmother kicked. My. Ass. The fist time I played through this game. Orzammar was the first of the big storylines I decided to do and we were so not ready. I ended up having to reload a save from like 3 hours before and run around the world for a while

Broodmother is the hardest fight in the game for me. I'll take on a dragon at level 7, but broodmother is on a whole other level.

When this first came out, I'd agree with you. Now I lean more into the "first of all I'm suckin on those honkers" territory.

"That's a lot of nipples."

I still remember that haunting moment. The dialogue in the background... mother of darkspawn... then seeing that? I was HORRIFIED. I was a male dalish elf seeing that for the first time, but as a female noble my second i was like "that could happen to me" and that hit hard

I remember when I first equipped her with crystals. Her reaction made me go: "This golem is acting way too fabulous for a construct. I bet Shale was a living being at some point in time". Imagine my joy when I found the Anvil Of The Void.

She also, obviously, sides with Caridin. Violently if need be.

I didn't even know it's a she lol

There's plenty of good reasons to keep the joining a secret it's just a shame Duncan doesn't even use any one of them and instead his justification is "yo bro that. Dude totally drew his sword out"

Human noble is definitely best origin and it makes the most sense

Human noble also connects well to a certain character in the Awakening DLC, who wants to get back at the wardens for the destruction of the Howe family. Having Howe butcher the Warden-Commander's entire family adds a layer to that.

​@@thedoomslayer5863 >guy pulls a weapon >is turned into a self defense Statistic I'm with Duncan on this one once he pulled a sword he forced the situation.

Absolutely right on Cailan. He reacts pretty much the same to everyone except human noble, even human mage.

The Guardian also doesn't have anything to say about Dog. Because he's a certified Good Boy.

It is timeless but at the same time really hasnt aged well.

tbh the characters feel more alive in da2 my personal fave lol.

@@lillemonlover6667 Shame on you

@@lillemonlover6667 The world collectively disagrees. I do like DA2, i just wish it was longer. DAI is just a snore fest.

@Wall Paint you probably haven't played DA: O properly

I personally like to invest a bit into dex before pouring everything into magic. Dex still helps with attack even for AW, also helps with defense which is overall great. Not a perfect solution for Nightmare, but in Nightmare the only reason why you should let anything even come near you as an unspecialized mage is whenever you need to Cone of Cold into Stone Fist.

Plus there's a certain combination of magic Regen items that lets you keep your invincibility shield on at all times, which ACTUALLY makes you nigh unkillable. In the Xbox version, where Regen rates are doubled, you can get enough to keep Shimmering Shield plus Cleansing Aura up at all times, which means you become an unkillable healing fountain that just pumps out constant aoe heals for your party, causing threat to stay on you indefinitely. Insane.

blood mage is even stronger

thats why till this day, we havent see AW anymore. that spec was goddamn OP 😂

I remember playing as a dual wielding dex character and remember that being basically unkillable on nightmare aswell because of the amount of dex I stacked, was a stronger build than my arcane warrior

Seriously! I mean I know just how many hours I've spent in these games, so he definitely puts in the hours. But more than that, I never had to prepare basically an entire presentation, a professional-quality one really. I love this channel. I almost always want to replay the game in question whenever I'm halfway through the video.

Right? Like he played a roughly 25-30 hour game, minimum I'd say, while taking notes and writing a script. He does it all the time too, and gets these out pretty frequently. It's actually really impressive.

Could not agree more, Love this!

Every 5 mins I’m thinkin man jt must’ve taken so much time to get all this shit in order to throw it together in a vid

Dude... Spoilers QwQ

I mean at that point you can just play the game yourself xD so I find the video rather bad, its supposed to make you wanna play it and not play it for you

@@Santiago-sh3cq Not like they're that different though, the main thing stays the same

Um it's kinda his thing.he plays old games & let's u know if they're still worth playing or if it's too outdated. perhaps it's a bit long but so is the game.& U can always skip to the end.or just not watch it if it's not ur thing! Personally I like it.

@@lovelydovy660 It's a joke. I think he's great

I hated it the first time I played the game, same the with the Fade, nowadays after countless of playthroughs I enjoy them a lot.

Denerim and going back 20 times is what I hated my first few games. Now I know how to do it all in 3 trips.

The Deep roads were a real journey for me. Every corner was a fight, and if taken poorly, it was a party wipe. It was a litteral crawl to get through it. I've never felt happier seeing that deathsqaud of Dwarfs at that one bridge. However, by then end of it I was a season veteran. Like that last section of tunnel with wave after wave of Darkspawn was a slaughter, but not for me. They all fell, one by one. I was panicking through it all, but I won. Best dungeon crawl ever.

Easily the best part of *being* a Grey Warden. You really feel like this is something only you and your party could dare to even attempt. I actually wished for some missions you don’t just skip the way back to the beginning, and actually had to trek your way back. I’m sure it could be made interesting without being too tedious.

@@SeventhheavenDK Love the dark roads hate the fade. Constantly switching forms then immediately porting to another location, again and again is such a slog. It just FEELS long, u can feel yourself aging. And u have to reactivate sustained all the time as well on top of it all. It's so repetitious

hAhAhAhAaaaa 🥴 DORK

It actually sounds like the Tristram music is playing when he is saying that too.

@@ridesq It *is*.

What part was this at?!

Yeah, Salt got basically everything wrong about the Landsmeet. It's definitely possible to win even if Anora betrays you, but you actually have to think about what the lords want to hear. Picking the "it's all your fault, arsehole" lines you expect from a self-righteous Hollywood hero don't win you any support (just like in real life). And, as you said, the nobles don't care about the elves, but they *do* care about torturing nobles' sons and releasing blood mages from Chantry custody.

That's not exactly right. It does have sway but you have to do it exactly right, and even then it's low influence. But ya the nobles only really care about the slave aspect and working with a foreign power.

@@2010topdog exactly if you mention they are ORLAIS slavers he’s helping rather than the slaves he’s hurting would make more sense to the nobility who sent soldiers to fight the orlais in the past conflicts I suppose would sway them more than the servants all nobility use being ‘abused’ when that’s what they are there for sadly but realistically

I mean why would they care about the elves? Think about it honestly. We all like to think we would be better. However if I was born into the Human Noble background I would probably be real racists towards elves. What’s happening to the elves is wrong but it’s only because I have modern values and I wasn’t born into a society where slavery was deemed necessary from paternalistic racist or the economic output.

To be fair the elves are preachy and annoying...and responsible for a lot of their own problems

'Men always want to believe one of two things about women. Either that she is in love with them or needs them to protect her.' Or something like that. I always remember that quote from Morrigan because it is devastatingly true.

I hate it when people start gushing over characters because its the lowest form of writing. Anyone can write a quirky or funny character. Not everyone can write a coherent and well plotted narrative that last for hours. Example: People adore Mass Effect 2 because of its one-note quirky characters while its entire story is completely pointless, low-brow and undermines the previous game's setup. Its an embarrassment once you put any thought into it beyond 'funny robot does funny robot dance'.

@@Trakesh I haven't played Mass Effect yet so I can't really get the comparison. That being said, I think that while most of Dragon Age's characters are quite obvious about what their role in the party is (e.g. comedic relief, mom of the group, bro etc), they don't force it down your throat. I like the writing of the companions in all three games, except Anders. Fuck Anders.

@@alexandrospapadopoulos4297 ew

@@Trakeshmass effect 2 has a glorious ending though. the big suicide mission is awesome and basically the whole game is building up to that. that is a classic ending to an rpg. it can be different depending on how you play or when you launch the last mission. and it's a great boss fight at the end that just reminds you of a treasure game on megadrive or something. if you play on the hardest difficulty lol

the mime isnt city elf's father, he is the elder of the alienage. the city elfs father has brown hair and is called cyrion

@@oni2988 huh, well he sure looks just as ugly as the father, there's not a whole lot of visual difference there lol

Enchantment!

Sandals easter egg in DAI, was hilarious.

Yes same what wonderful game. The second time playing it after years I took the time to go through each of the beginning origins it just blew my mind how each of characters still exists and is referenced in each other’s universe. It’s just that the one that survives is whichever one Duncan decided to visit. Such amazing writing.

Some balancing later on gets bad, though. Good god do you get stunned like fucking crazy if you're a melee boy. Good if you're the tank, terrible if you're a dps

Facts

same , recent return

...SO THERE!

I got it for Christmas but never asked for it. Didn't even know what it was about, never heard of it. My mom just thought I'd like it because it has dragons 😂 she was right.

I wouldn't say it's age appropriate for an 8 year old, but when you liked it, understood it and had fun, then it was a great outcome. Probably the first person who started straight with dark fantasy.

I came home from school and my dad put this game on my bed. He said nothing about it. I was probably 9 or 10 at the time. I’m convinced my dad has given me favorite games of all time. I watched him play oblivion and he got me the ps3 version. He then got me dragon age origins and future expansions without me ever knowing the game until I saw it in a game informer. Then he got me fallout 3, another game he didn’t play but knew I was into shooters, and since fallout was the “shooter version of elder scrolls” he didn’t care much for the gore in it. Needless to say these games laid down a precedent that couldn’t be touched by future releases. Idk if it’s nostalgia or just developers switching to more generally accepted designs, but no games hit like these did. I had an awesome childhood but maybe he saw something different about giving me these games during the recession as a “cheaper longer term distraction” than most hobbies. Regardless my imagination and understanding of plots these games provided gave me a lot of empathy. Especially DAO, I got literally upset when a dialogue went the wrong way or if I misread a situation. If only he knew the impact these games actually had on me as down the line he complained I played games too much even though he rocket launched my interest by letting me watch him play and giving me games that I never really knew were as awesome as they were until I watched reviews like this one. Most kids my age played CoD, Halo, etc. i was into SOCOM, rpgs, and rainbow six games.

Like that video of where Grandpa gets the grandson a copy of Mein Kampf when the grandson's Dad asks for Minecraft

@@ReaperCH90 My introduction was Stephen King's series, "The Dark Tower", which I feel had a big impact on my overall lifestyle growing up. I'd have been happy to have played Dragon Age at eight, I think. Though there were some grammar mistakes in the game, the story and world-building hooked me. So much dialog, too.

Yeah i actually love Wynne, i never had a grandparent in my life, and my own mother is older and stuck in her ways, so for me it was nice to see and older character kind of lovingly nag you, and then when they realized they over stepped admit and own up to it.

@@mayaan773 Right?! And the part about her not being keen on the Warden being in a relationship during the blight and Morigan not being a good idea isn't her being a bitch. She had her own love life blow up in her face in a particularly horrible way and she's just sitting there going, "I get it. More than you'll ever know but... Trust me, this shit is not gonna end well..." And when she sees, "Huh, they can work. Not everything is going to go as badly as my own experiences have gone. Good for you kids!"

@@ivoryinkwell7864 then morigan leaves the warden.

@@legiohysterius4624 There's a dlc about that. When you catch up to where she is at the time, if you make the right choices you can tag along. But yeah. To be fair to Morrigan, she was raised in a swamp by the crankiest person alive. A lot of her cynicism and such strikes me as an odd form of naivete more than anything.

I know she died off-screen in the book later, but I really miss Wynnee

That's a lie. Sten realises what's up from the get go.

@@sanitykeeper_2395 what does sten say?

@@thedoomslayer5863 He finds himself sitting with two qunari whom he knew and have been slain in combat. Yet he wants to stay because he misses their company.

@@sanitykeeper_2395 Sten is such a good boi, aside from the whole slaughtering farmers thing

@@jedaye47He was possessed by a demon. Wasn't feeling himself when that happened.

I also stumled in the first ogre fight. I even ditched my first character (human noble) and created a new one (elf mage) when I couldn't figure out how to defeat the ogre.

Did the exact same thing. And i have the exact same opinion.

I got inquisition first and it was one of my favorite games...then I found Origins. Needless to say origins is my favorite now

I tried to play Inquisition, but it's just so goddamn boring, it's a walking simulator where the walking is fucking boring and slow. And i've played DEATH STRANDING and absolutely loved that one, but it's because the mobility and problem solving is actually interesting, in Inquisition you can run almost as fast as a horse and you have to run back and forth, point a to point b, do a boring combat segment, run to another point, do a boring combat segment, listen some inane bs that i hardly gave a fuck about, and i played it for 100 hours before finally giving up, i just got fed up with it, i wasn't even 1/3 through of the main story when i stopped (i like to play as a completionist so i tend to do and collect everything), there's really not many games that have defeated me like that.

played inquisition and origins loved both games and go with multiple playthroughs.. but i cant for the love of me finish DA2 i found it boring and you're stuck at this guy hawke instead of making your own character. Not to mention there's no grand adventure you just explore kirkwall on day and night cycle lmao

I didn't play too much of Inquisition, but I felt that the combat was sooooo boring. But it's beautiful and the characters as well as the story telling is super! Too bad the combat drags it down so much. I did compare my early game combat to my friends end-game combat, and it was practically the same. So it didn't seem to progress at all, which made me not play any more unfortunately

Yeah. Unfortunately, fighters and rogues don't have the same level of customizability.

@@benl2140 That's true but there is surprising amounts of variety when it comes to rogues. You could go on a tank route, pump strength and dex, use duelist/ranger combo or you could go full dex with duelist/assassin and just never be hit by anything. You could also go full cunning with bard/assassin and go for those big BOI backstabs while also buffing your party. But archery in base DAO sucks dick so that removes some possibilities.

mystic knight and blood mage clique

Pure (blood) mage for my playthrough, was pretty awesome

Most games that are not based on DnD or Pathfinder, I guess.

Indeed. And there was a steep decline immediately afterwards. Such a shame. Modern BioWare is easily one of the worst companies in the industry now, when its name used to be synonymous with greatness

I could not stand the combat.

@@heathbaker1138 See I used to wish it was more action based but now its grown on me and I actually quite like the combat, it is a little clunky but I feel like that's more down to its age. But I find the tactical aspect quite fun.

I just finished a replay this weekend, I must agree, top tier.

True

I played through it again a few months ago and the gameplay is perfect. If they do a remaster it only needs to be a graphical one.

New vegas and Dragon Age: Origins are my favourite games ever)

Now I tend to play it with tons of mods! Still one of my favorite Bioware game along with the original Neverwinter Nights.

People who can perform CPR: _"Are we a joke to you?"_ But seriously, that's a nice metaphor. People can share their findings, as a form of intellect, but cannot directly share their experiences.

@@SkyNinja759 its like the saying "You can take a horse to the river, but you cannot make it drink."

Really good quote. Stem was a real one 💯

@@SkyNinja759 knowledge is not wisdom

@@Lastofthefreenames Yeah, the horse phrase goes better. The horse can know about the river because you take it there, but it has to drink from it to get the "benefits".

You worked at BioWare? What was it like working there?

@@gabrielcaro It was my first experience in the games industry so I was very grateful for the opportunity to work there. I only left to try something new (BioWare games tend to be formulaic). In my time there, the executive and team leads were among the best in the industry.

Awesome!

@@kayak2hell I'm late on this but I have to know your thoughts on the " downfall " of Bioware over the last 6 or 7 years? If you'd kindly provide them. Did you see it coming? Did the success end up being the " downfall " ? I quite enjoyed Andromeda and thought they shouldn't have closed the project, no story could have possibly lived up to the Shepard trilogy but I thought they did the best they could and everything aside from story was better than the original trilogy. I'd love to know your thoughts if you ever see this or have time to reply. And if you do thanks so much in advance 😁

Press X to doubt

Minus 'The Mage' because that person literally changes into either an Elf or a Human depending on which you choose.

@@Aaron-qe9ms tru

@@Aaron-qe9ms the human mage is the cannon person as they are the cousin of Hawk mother in dragon age 2.

if you don't choose the castless dwarf warden you can actually see their corpse when you enter jarvia's hideout.

IT's basically the same as the Trial in Neverwinter Nights 2. It doesn't matter what you do, it always in a fight, but there is still some fun in seeing it play out.

I'm a little confused. If the Warden won all of the possible votes but lost the duel to Loghain, would Loghain have taken control again or would he still have been deposed? Realizing not all Warden's would be honorable or even want to fight Loghain, why couldn't the Warden have simply refused to fight Loghain?

stay mad

@@uuuuuuuuuui6534 what?

@@Deathlordalmighty . Good question.

Damn, I completely forgot Oghren existed. Probably because I never picked him for any of my parties.

@@porkcutlet3920 iirc, you had to deal with the deep roads to get him

Funny part though is that dwarves can’t dream

@@colonel1003 I unlocked him for my playthroughs but never used him, even when playing as a dwarf.

Oghren's life is falling apart because of the dumb decisions he himself made.

Aw man that’s like beautifully tragic! I really need to try out the other origin combinations lol I just keep becoming queen because like anything else is either sad or not the same

Divinity isn't nearly as centered on choice though. You basically get the well-to-do hero option, or the asshole option, and there's no actual advantage or change for selecting the latter.

@@alexanderjakubowski5673 That's the impression I got from when I playded Divinity too, it's like people don't appreciate choice-centered gameplay as much as they think.

@Dirt Soup I love those games (DOS was my first ever rpg), but I have to disagree. DOS2 especially, for all the praise it gets, has a near nonsensical main story, and the "best" (canon) ending basically tells you that you should have never played the game to begin with and just stayed in Fort Joy to accept your fate. The multiplayer/origin system really hurts the writing, too, imo.

We have almost identical names and it’s unnerving

Hear hear.

That's sorta similar to what happened to me lol. Blockbuster rental and we just...didnt give it back. I cant believe how easy it was to do that. That was worth it. Best game to ever do that for.

My mom got me a fantasy book once as a stocking stuffer. It was a nice effort on her part but it was pretty clear that she just saw a book that was fantasy oriented, knew I liked similar stuff and bought it. It's the, "we have Dragon Age at home" mentality. Mom doesn't understand or care about the importance of your fantasy worlds. Any decision she makes for the toys you can or cannot have are arbitrary relative to artistic merit or quality. While usually, lying to your mother is unacceptable, I think in this case it might have been a white lie.

I did this back when blockbuster existed.....difference is they actually did their job if you were late........good news is....they never checked the cases for the correct cd. I on a few different occasions put another cd in with the silver sheen part sticking out and when they checked. Saw a cd and moved on. It's how I got to play ff10 dragon age origins and elder scrolls oblivion lol. I was a little shit when I was young

Yo wtf 😂 you could get away with not returning blockbuster games?

Shut up

@@WetBoy no ♥

@@k8rip whats your onlyfans?

Nice frog. Has he turned into a prince already?

Zevran may not be a good man, but he's a good character for sure. Someone worth giving a hug... if a dagger wasn't poised for that exposed back lol

I was just about to write this, the landsmeet is great! I simply hated how without anora's support you only had ONE dialogue choice that works in each argument phase, I feel like there should have been a bit more leniency to the points system of winning the landsmeet but other than that the landsmeet is great. Salt is just salty he loses, typical Dwarf 🤣

@@Reljadin101 I actually liked how hard it was to win without Anora's support. It may be frustrating to the player, but it fits perfectly with the political system the story is portraying.

@@joaoassumpcao3347 Don’t get me wrong, it should be difficult. I just think that they made it difficult in the wrong way. There was literally only 1 exact combination of dialogue choices that would win it for you - which would be fine, but I’d say that it wasn’t the combination with the most powerful arguments. Then again I might just be biased on some topics during the Landsmeet. In any case I completely agree with you. I just wanted a less cheap difficulty.

You don’t need to save Vaughn AND do the assassin tree, in fact I’m pretty sure siding with Anora means you don’t need either of them, it all depends on your dialogue

@@spacejesus6581 That's the exact thing that he said. He said that it was still possible without Anora and pointed our how to do it.

Yeah this is peak salt factory. I wish his new videos were in this style, the Witcher ones are really good as well

Same here. One of the best.

can't forget a game like this :D

I never noticed that your channel banner has Hawke in it.

Nerbit in the hizzouse!

Hey Nerbit! dragon age origins challenge run?

.....................how? Its literally the easiest game EVER CREATED. The story is pretty fun I'll grant, but the new skill trees are so completely overpowered you literally don't have to do anything and you win. Its ALMOST a walking simulator.

I like the story concept of Awakening, but it felt...a little too fast-paced for me. As soon as I collected all the team members and completed the respective area's storyline, it automatically continued to the main plot of facing the boss. I don't have time to flesh out some companions, learn their history, get their respective quest, etc. It just feels...rushed. I like how it mentions or taps into if you completed Witch Hunt or The Goldems of Amgarrak if you played it before it but still...I wish it would give me more time to get to know my companions as soon as I collected them all and give me the option of continuing to face the main antagonist.

Shit I just bought the Ultimate edition on Xbox for 20.00 for them DLCs Idgaf.

If he can get them installed.... rather than the bullshit setup that STILL EXISTS. Ya know, rather than compile it and whatever non-standard fixes have been made into a fully functional complete edition.

@@LinoTirado i literally bought the same edition yesterday for the same price, hell yeah

well yeah, thats what happens when you let your EA overlords decide what is good in your games, and subsequently loose all the talent that made your company great

The first time i played through the game i played as a warrior, cause at the time that just made sense to me. the second time though i went for the mage. I have been picking up mages in RPGs ever since, fell in love with the class. though yeah few of them gave me the feeling of power that DAO gave me.

Did you ever get the spell combinations?

Agreed. I fondly remember someone describing the magic in Inquisition as “choose what color of sparkles you want or Spirit Fade stuff.”

Or, you could do what I did, and be a mage in name only, by going full Battle Mage. My elf in heavy armor, wielding a sword and shield "me? Oh, yeah, I'm totally a mage, totally..."

But ultimately it doesn't matter. Flemeth is back right at the beginning of DA2 like nothing ever happened (I know, I know, bullshit resurrection via amulet bullshit that your dumbass doens't know you are doing bullshit. Did I mention this is bullshit?) Then to add insult to injury, Flemeth claims Morrigan was overreacting and that she was never in any danger. Sure, the body stealing thing happens, but she was never going to force that on Morrigan, and thus, there was never a reason to fight Flemeth in the first place. So yeah, it was an AMAZING fight that BW ruined in retrospect. Just like with the purified archdemon baby Morrigan and Flemeth planned for. A dragon god like from Tevinter in it's prime? A possible cure for the Blight, once and for all? Nah, that's nerd shit. Let's yeet that whole plotline out the window with more dumb bullshit! GOD DAMNIT!

Annnnd Dragon Age 2 completely ruins it, and makes Flemeth not just a dragon witch, but apparently a fucking God the Dalish worship. What a joke.

@@duncanlutz3698 she also appears in dragon age inquisition no matter what if i remember correctly

@@duncanlutz3698 . Just before you continue exaggerating with your rant... It appears some of you didn't pay attention to the dialogue.🤦‍♂️ DA2 didn't ruin anything with resurrections or anything, from the start Morrigan tells you that you weren't truly killing Flemeth and that she was going to come back one way or another, and that she wanted Flemeth's grimoire to prepare herself when that time comes. So, I don't understand why it surprises you that Flemeth came back in DA2 when since Origins it was already said.

@@bbluva20 . Again, opinions, it ruined it for you, not for everyone.

He definitely plays the best games. These are all my old favorites. The OG fallouts, fallout new Vegas, red dead one, dragon age origins. He knows how to pick ‘em.

Awakening is also one of the rare bioware games where the "you're the commander but you also do everything" is justified. You're one of the only grey warden left in the middle of a Darkspawn invasion and you get enough choices along the way to feel like a real commander instead of a dignified errand boy.

Even on my first playthrough, I hated doing the open world collect-a-thon bullshit. It felt like unnecessary busywork. It's a large part of the reason why I have yet to finish the game, because despite all of Inquisition's positives, the collect-a-thon tasks are just chores to fill out check boxes.

Idk…Awakening was one of the first signs of Bioware lazily copy/pasting locations. Granted they at least put a slight bit more effort into it by dressing up said locations differently but still. Going back to that dock/cove area near the ocean like 3 freaking times was kind of a bummer.

i havent fully played awakening. all i remember the dwarf taking the ritual to become a grey warden and just burping as if it was nothing dangerous

Not to mention that transferring all choices to inquisition is hard. I forgot my login information for my old keep account and EA can't do anything to help me.

Got it on a steam sale a while back. Haven't finished a game that long within a week for ages.

This game ruined gaming for me. Every other game has been disappointing and empty in comparison. After playing DA:O I haven't been satisfied with any other rpg I have played tbh.

@@Skumtomten1 I love Dragon Age Origins, There are a few games I recommend giving a try Kingdom Come Deliverance it's a great game. Ghost Of Tsushima and Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt.

Try Divinity 2. Speaking from a similar position, it filled the void.

@@Skumtomten1 honestly, same. The only RPG that ever came close to Origins for me is Divinity 2, but i sadly have an aversion to isometric view (which speaks volumes about how good the game is, tbh). Baldur 3 apparently is cool, but it is an early access, so i am waiting for an actual release to try it out.

Because they've never seen a blight. It's the same in our world. Those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it.

That's what happens when your overly secretive organization refuses to let anyone know anything about you or why you are important.

Its because there are often hundreds of years between true blights. This over time dilutes the Grey Warden's reputation and makes the tales of old seem more like myth, legend or greatly exaggerated. After enough time, its easy to see how society would begin to see them as nothing more than fear mongers who do so for their own benefit.

There is a reason you can give her so much trinkets to boost affection. She was raised by her mother with somewhat darwinist ideas, so I get why she behaves like she does, but given enough time, she actually develops and despite everybody warning the Warden about her, she actually softens (compared to how everybody else "hardens") and can form a normal, functional family with him. So yeah, a darwinistic ice queen tsundere with barbed tongue. :P

@@masterexploder9668 Damn that last sentence was a perfect summary lol. 100% my type :P

She seems to have overreacted but if you listen to what she's saying it's in line with her views, "they allow themselves to be corralled by cattle, and now their masters are calling for their deaths...I say, let 'em have it!" She thinks that if you want to live in the tower and follow the Chantry's will, you aren't allowed to say no when you disagree, because it's your own fault that you're following it in the first place Immoral as hell, but it makes sense to her character, just because death is involved doesn't make it an overreaction, just shows how loyal she is to her own morals

And imperfect character with firm opinions? In a video game? Unfathomable

@@vangoghsseveredear the last great character bioware ever created, anyone after fell pretty short, although there are a few gems here and there, they never reach Morrigans complexity.