Who’s up for some Darkspawn murdering? I know I am, as my yearly itch to replay a Bioware game starts to surface. Whereas in previous years I’ve gone through the Mass Effect trilogy, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and the oft-forgotten Jade Empire, this time around I’ve decided to wade into the seemingly infinite ocean that is Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition. This is my first time playing the game on PC (previous playthroughs being on the Xbox 360) and it will also be the first time that I’ve experienced most of the DLC, of which there are a lot. Before it was put out to pasture, Origins had 8 separate major content packs released for it. The sizes of these packs vary, with some taking only an hour or two to complete and the largest being a 20+ hour long campaign. Add that to the already sizable main game and I’ve realized too late that I’ve bitten off far too much. To justify my endless hours playing the game, I’ve decided to do mini-reviews of each piece of content. This will be the first of two entries, where I will look at the base game and DLC related to that campaign. The standalone campaigns will be discussed in the next write-up. So with a deep breath, here I go.

Dragon Age: Origins

The base campaign for Dragon Age: Origins is a successful modern take on the CRPG campaigns of old. Per the “Origins” in the title, a good portion of the early game is spent establishing the main character and their place in Ferelden, the nation that the game takes place in. Of the six possible origin stories, I chose to play as a female human noble, mainly because I was aiming for the regency of Ferelden by the game’s end. Unfortunately this precluded me from picking my favorite class, the mage, and I settled on being a warrior. Unlike the other origins, the human noble one becomes intertwined with the main quest right from the outset. As a scion of house Cousland living in Ferelden’s capital, I was inundated with references to Ferelden’s King, the supposed threat of a new Darkspawn uprising, and the treachery of Arl Howe, who betrayed and murdered my family. This left me with no choice but to join the visiting Duncan, a Grey Warden, who conscripted me into his order. Not to get too much into the lore of Dragon Age, but Grey Wardens are basically special warriors that fight Darkspawn, which are corrupted beings that threaten to overwhelm the world through campaigns known as “Blights”. Duncan believed that a new Blight was forthcoming and he, along with King Cailan, set out to the keep at Ostagar to head off this threat before it becomes too great. It was there that I officially became a Grey Warden, but then suffered something of a setback. During the battle Teryn Loghain, Cailan’s second, betrayed the King by withdrawing his forces at a crucial moment. The remaining force was obliterated and I along with another Warden, Alistair, were forced to marshal another army to end the blight and bring Loghain the justice. From there begins a long and well written quest.

The gameplay is an intriguing mix of old and new. While Bioware was blazing a new trail with Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origins was designed to be a modern throwback to the 90’s CRPG paradigm. Combat is akin to Baldur’s Gate, with the party essentially fighting autonomously in pseudo-real time unless given commands by the player. Hitting the space bar at any time pauses combat, which allows for sober strategic thought as I considered which spell or ability would be the most appropriate for a given situation. There are a few features here that make the experience player friendly, including refreshed health and mana/stamina outside of combat and checkpoint saves. Dialog is similar to Knights of the Old Republic, with fully voiced lines from NPCs that the player will wordlessly respond to. While this decision makes sense given that the main character can be from a variety of origins, it still comes off as awkward and has not aged all that well. Still, the quality of writing and the fully realized characters you interact with more than makes up for this small shortcoming.

The world of Dragon Age is incredibly well realized and it’s clear a lot of thought went into its creation. While there are clear parallels with European history (i.e. the Tevinter Imperium being an ersatz Rome/Byzantium, Andraste being a Christ-like figure, etc.), the developers have also included some interesting twists from the typical fantasy canon. Elves here are essentially slaves and lower class due to their ancient kingdom being conquered by humans, and dwarves are isolationists due to their underground empire being overrun by Darkspawn many centuries ago. While Dragon Age is overall not all that distinct from the Tolkien inspired fantasy canon there are still plenty of interesting things within its setting to set it apart from other entries in the genre. Admittedly the more interesting aspect of this world are really brought to the fore in Dragon Age II and Inquisition, but the foundation is laid here for bigger and better things.

The bulk of the game involved me shlepping my party all around Ferelden and completing quests to curry the favor of the human, elven, mage, and dwarven factions in order to defend against the Darkspawn. There are smaller side quests not directly tied to these goals, but for the most part my time was focused on the various branches related to the main quest line. These quests are very well paced, with such high points as entering the magical Fade realm to exorcise a demon and brokering a complex political situation to restore the throne of Ferelden. However, there are times that the campaign drags, including an interminably long stretch in the dwarven Deep Roads where I was forced to fight Darkspawn in a drab and repetitive setting. Still, the story as a whole holds together throughout its nearly 40 hour runtime with little filler added. Even when the main campaign lulled, the writing of the NPCs and the banter between party members managed to keep my interest.

The endgame is one of the strongest that Bioware has ever put out. The amount of possible choices available is liberating and there is no prodding by the game to go down a specific path. Will I support Alistair's claim for the throne, keep Loghain in charge, or seize the throne myself? Will I have Morrigan carry a child that will absorb the Blight leader’s soul? The amount of world shaping truly made me feel like the story was my own, although the cursory lip service paid to my choices in the sequels shows the downside to this approach. However, as a standalone game the story is excellent and shows Bioware at its peak as an RPG maker.

Dragon Age: Origins’ base game still holds up six years after release. The game certainly can look and play a bit dated at times, especially when comparing it to modern CRPGs like Divinity: Original Sin, but the solid writing and excellent world building make the experience compelling throughout. One can make the argument that Origins focuses too much on homage and not enough on pushing the genre forward, but sometimes it’s a good thing for a game to double down on what it does best. Even without the additional content that make up the Ultimate Edition, I would still recommend the game to those looking for a well-crafted, substantive RPG adventure.

The Stone Prisoner

In what has now become a trend in Bioware games, certain characters are only offered as DLC. What began as a day one freebie in Mass Effect 2 has evolved into a frankly sleazy tactic to get players to pay more to fully experience the game (see Javik in Mass Effect 3). So it is with The Stone Prisoner, which introduces the free-willed golem Shale to the party. After coming across a merchant who gifts the Warden with a golem control rod, I journeyed to the village of Honnleath where my soon-to-be party member stood frozen in the town’s center. Jumping through a few hoops I eventually reanimated Shale, but soon realized that such a bruiser would not fit all that well with my active party. So outside of speaking to Shale at the party camp, I sadly saw little of the plucky rock monster. Shale’s personality seems to be one of indifference to the party’s goals and she has a bloodlust not unlike the unforgettable HK-47. Overall she’s not a bad character, but in the pantheon of premium DLC party members she’s about as memorable as Zaeed Messani, who most people can’t even remember all that well.

Her character specific quest involved an expedition down into the Deep Roads to uncover her dwarven past. Unfortunately there isn’t much to the quest aside from finding a few trinkets and monotonously killing Darkspawn, something I got my fill of during the main quest. Despite this I think Shale is a decent addition and her DLC is worth looking into, especially if your main character is a mage or rogue.

Warden’s Keep

In this relatively brief quest I was tasked with reclaiming the old Grey Warden fortress tucked away in snowy Soldier’s Peak. The story presented is surprisingly compelling given its length. The Warden is able to see ghostly visions of the previous tenants in a desperate last stand against an invading army and follows their final moments in the keep. There isn’t much player agency involved, as I simply needed to clear the fortress of demons and then determined the fate of the mage that doomed his fellow Grey Wardens to die. Still, the end of the quest provided a fantastic armor set, a new merchant, and above all, a chest to store excess items. For the chest alone I recommend that all players do this quest as early as possible, but the story and gear makes this DLC worth a playthrough regardless.

Return to Ostagar

This quest is the definition of filler and I can’t believe Bioware had the nerve to charge for it. Return to Ostagar, as the name would suggest, had me venturing back to the site of the disastrous battle that kicked off the events of the main game. The Warden is tasked with searching the battlefield for anything of value and also to recover some of the slain King Cailan’s secret correspondence. Though there are bits and pieces of lore scattered about and the reveal of Cailan’s defiled body is pretty neat, it’s outweighed by the repurposed old content that just felt like padding. The end of the quest has some good gear, including Cailan’s armor set and Duncan’s weapons, but it can’t save this DLC. Recommend a hard skip on this phoned-in content.