Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition

Developer: BioWare
Release: Oct 26th 2010
Platforms:
RPG
Immersive
Classic
Story-rich
Buggy
Unstable
Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition Poster

Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition Review

Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition remains a beloved classic RPG with a rich storyline, deep character development, and strategic combat. Players praise its immersive world-building, meaningful choices, and extensive customization, which contribute to a memorable role-playing experience. The game’s multiple origin stories and companion interactions add to its replayability and narrative depth.

However, the Steam version suffers significant technical issues on modern systems, including frequent crashes, memory leaks, and DLC loading problems. Many players report needing to apply unofficial patches and mods to achieve stable gameplay, which can be daunting for less tech-savvy users. Despite these frustrations, the game’s core content and design continue to resonate strongly with fans, who consider it a must-play for RPG enthusiasts. The community has created helpful fixes and guides to mitigate the technical shortcomings, but an official update or remaster is highly desired.

Highlights

Players consistently praise Dragon Age: Origins for its compelling storyline and well-written, memorable characters. The game’s tactical combat system, which blends real-time and pause mechanics, offers satisfying strategic depth. The rich lore and multiple origin stories provide strong role-playing elements and replay value.

The art style, while dated, still holds charm, and the voice acting and sound design receive positive remarks. The DLC, especially Awakening, is regarded as a valuable expansion that enriches the main story. Overall, the game is celebrated as a spiritual successor to classic RPGs like Baldur's Gate.

Criticisms

The primary criticism centers on severe technical issues with the Steam release, including frequent crashes, memory limitations, and bugs that disrupt gameplay. Players often must manually install patches like the 4GB Large Address Aware fix and community bug fixes to run the game smoothly.

UI scaling problems on modern high resolutions and some repetitive dungeon designs are also noted. Combat mechanics, while generally praised, can feel clunky or outdated to some. Additionally, some quests have bugs that require workarounds. The lack of official support for these issues and the need for extensive troubleshooting diminish the experience for many.

Pros

  • Deep, immersive storyline with meaningful player choices affecting outcomes.
  • Tactical combat system blending real-time action with pause functionality.
  • Rich character development and memorable companion interactions.
  • Multiple origin stories enhancing replayability and narrative depth.
  • Strong voice acting and atmospheric sound design.
  • Well-crafted dark fantasy world with mature themes and lore.
  • Extensive character customization and class combinations.

Cons

  • Severe technical issues causing frequent crashes on modern PCs.
  • Requires manual patching and modding for stable gameplay.
  • UI scaling problems on high-resolution displays.
  • Some quests contain bugs needing workaround solutions.
  • Repetitive dungeon layouts can become tedious over time.
  • Combat mechanics may feel clunky or outdated to some players.
  • Official support for technical problems is lacking.

Rating Criteria

Story
Difficulty
Graphics
Duration
Stability
Worth the Price
Capsule image

Explore a stunning world, make complex moral choices, and engage in bone-crushing combat against massive and terrifying creatures. The Ultimate Edition includes Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening and all nine content packs.

Release Date Oct 26th 2010
Publisher Electronic Arts
Developer BioWare
Required Age 17+
Platforms

User Reviews

Very Positive (19,311)
87% Positive 13% Negative

Online Reviews

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Metacritic
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