11-3-2009		1-27-2011	PC
	11-6-2009		11-19-2009

There is talk throughout Ferelden...a shadow is coming from the south. A shadow of a threat that has plagued the lands before...a Blight. Though there is no physical sign, the Grey Wardens have felt it coming. The Arch Demon has been stirring. She now has her Darkspawn hordes ready to march across the lands. They will begin at the ruins of Ostagar. Here the King and his army lay waiting for them. They speak of it being a mild threat, and are certain of their victory.
With deception and betrayal, friendships and rivalries, the entire world of Ferelden is about to become gripped with a war that they might not be able to survive. The time to act is now, and it will be up to you to find a way to unite everyone in the coming war against the Arch Demon.

what has not been said about Dragon Age Origins? Released in 2009, it certainly speaks for itself with the overwhelming positive reviews and many different awards it has won. But that does not explain why it is such a fantastic title and now series.
Ok, now we have (mostly) all been playing RPG games for some time. And of course this is nothing of a new thing to Bioware who brought us Knights of the Old Republic and Baulder's Gate. But this time around, they certainly got it right on the money with about everything.
The biggest, biggest, BIGGEST draw into the game is the plot and characters. This story seems more like a fashioned movie rather than a game. In Dragon Age, you begin by selecting a race and features...not uncommon for those who play Elder Scrolls. But this is where it begins. Everything you do in that little "Origins Story" effects how people relate to you, talk to you, and certain events and other minor things. You will also notice, once you have played all the Origin Storylines, that each of them is in fact integrated into the plotline of the main story as well. You will come across people that will be affected by the other origin stories, when you are from a different one. This adds to the massive realism of everything in it being intertwined.
As the game progresses and you make choices of what to do and where to go, everything gets affected by it. Basically you are finally getting to create your own story inside of the game. Nothing is really the same twice, when you have the ability to choose something different.

Game play is fair enough as well. Certainly it is not difficult to get the hang of. Controlling four party members has actually never been easier. Aside from the one button hit to switch characters, you have a command setting, which allows you to choose what it is you want that character to do. This allowed for even more customization of your party than I had seen before. It was kind of like playing Final Fantasy XII with the Gambit system. You set up what you want your characters to do from top to bottom. They will then perform each of these commands when needed, before just going in and fighting. There is a spiral wheel that is easy to access that has all of your ability/spells inside to access. You can also set up 6 hotkeys of these for quicker execution. This was a very solid, well done system in the game play that just made it fantastic.
As said before, the audio for the characters is beyond superb. The music though seems to bother a great many people. Why? Well there is no truly unforgettable tune found in DAO. This is true to a point. Even while typing this, I cannot recall any of the scores found within the game. But there is a good reason in my opinion. I was so immersed in the characters, story, and everything else, that I did not really pay attention to the music itself. Also it was not brought to such a loud level as in most other games. The scoring was very well done, and done so it was more of a backdrop to what was going on. This made the game feel more like a film rather than a game. And this game could easily become one....(hint, hint) So the scoring was actually better than I have seen in a long time because it was blended into the game so well that it did its job without having to distract from the game itself.
Graphically, it was not the best of the games out there. I would put it on par with Final Fantasy XII. Now that is not bad to say the least, as XII was a fantastic title in terms of graphics...for the time. Remember it came out a full three years earlier and on the PS2. With games such as Mass Effect, Demon Souls, Final Fantasy XIII, and Oblivion taking graphics higher, it seemed this was a little out. There are even points in the story where so much is going on, that the game lags a bit. In reality, this is a mute problem though. You get so immersed in the story and the game that you would not even hardly notice. And that is the mark of a fantastic game. If you can drop graphics and still have a totally engrossing epic game, you win. And win they did.
Overall, Dragon Age Origins is perhaps the best RPG to come out in a long time. I actually liked this game far more than I did Final Fantasy XIII (Sorry Square-Enix). If you have been wondering about this title, don't wonder...BUY! You will surely not be disappointed in it!