After 59 hours, I finished Dragon Age: Origins with my Elf Blood Mage/Spirit Healer. I would have probably played a lot longer if I wasn’t in a rush in the later part to see how things would all play out. One of the best features of this game is how effortlessly the plot is able to suck you in and really immerse you in the epic story. I’m already considering playing it again but I’ll probably take the “evil” route and play either a rogue assassin/duelist or a warrior berserker/reaver.

Anyway, I just wanted to share some insights and a few comments on the over-all gameplay experience for Dragon Age: Origins now that I’ve finished it.

1. You’re not just playing one character
I think this is something that I learned early in the game. I invested time and effort in researching the skills and abilities of every new character that I get, especially my main 3 companions (in my case it was Wynne, Morrigan, and Alistair). Not knowing how to play your main tank is going to be troublesome especially if you don’t know how to draw threat for the mobs that are ganging up on your mages and healers.

Other than the tank, you also have to learn how to properly use your Spirit Healer, Wynne. There are a lot of buffs that she can cast pre-fight that can really make life a whole lot easier for the team. You also need to know when you will heal and which spell you’ll use at that time – regeneration, heal, or group heal?

There are also parts that you will be forced to used certain characters in lieu of your favorites, so try to at least understand the basic skills of the three primary classes: Warrior, Rogue, and Mage.

2. Mages make things go BOOM
I think this is mostly true for all RPGs but I just loved how powerful the mages are in Dragon Age: Origins. The spell combos alone are so amazing that all the other things you can do with your mage is just extra. I’d love it when there would be armies of opponents in front of me and I can stun all of them with Blood Wound. Then I’d follow it up with Infero, Grease, and then Fireball. Raw awesome coolness right there gents!

3. Don’t forget the side quests
This is also something that you’ll have to do. Side Quests give a whole lot of EXP as well as items which you can either use or sell for gold. I’m currently working on a side quest guide. Hopefully that will help you plan out your stay in each city so that you can maximize all the content there before moving on to the next destination. One of my biggest regrets is that I missed so many side quests in the Dwarf city. I’ll try to make sure I do everything the next time I play.

And that’s it. I’ll be posting more guides in the coming days so watch out for ‘em. Cheers!

Here are other guides that you might find useful:
Dragon Age: Origins Arcane Warrior Guide
Dragon Age: Origins on PS3
Dragon Age: Origins Gift Guide
Dragon Age Origins: Flemeth
Dragon Age Origins: High Dragon
Dragon Age Origins: Class Specialization Guide
Dragon Age Origins: Blood Mage Guide
Dragon Age: Origins Mage Spell Combos Guide
Dragon Age: Origins Spirit Healer Guide
Dragon Age: Origins Side Quests Guide (Orzammar)
Dragon Age: Origins Paralysis Runes
Dragon Age: Origins – Shale the Golem
Dragon Age: Origins Best Equipment Guide