Dragon Age:Origins (previously known as Dragon Age) is a third-person role-playing game developed by BioWare. The game was released on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on November 3, 2009 in North America, November 5, 2009 in Australia, and November 6, 2009 in Europe. The PS3 version was planned to be released later in November, but BioWare has said they have been able to get the PS3 version to "our high standard of quality". A digital download version for the Mac was also released on December 21, 2009.
Dragon Age: Origins is a single-player only game that BioWare co-CEO Ray Muzyka describes as a "spiritual successor" to the Baldur's Gate series, though it is not based on Dungeons & Dragons rules or the Forgotten Realms setting. It utilizes a new BioWare-developed game engine named Eclipse. There is also a toolset for creation of fan-made content available for free download.
An expansion pack called Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening was released in March 2010 for all platforms. A full sequel, presently only known as Dragon Age 2, is expected to be released in March 2011.
Gameplay:
The designers incorporated origin stories for each race and some classes in the game. For example, a dwarf who is a member of the noble caste will begin the game as part of the royal family in one of the dwarven cities, while a dwarf commoner will begin on the streets of the city. Origin stories provide an introduction to the game world and hours of gameplay. People that the Warden meets during the origin story may reappear throughout the game, some of whom may be adversaries.
There is no tracking of alignment as in previous BioWare games, but the moral choices of the main character throughout the game will still affect the story. You may save the world whether you are good or evil, but the decisions that you make in the process will change the world around you, deciding who will become king, for example, and affecting nations and races and their places in the world. These decisions will also influence your companions, and could ultimately lead to a companion deciding to leave your party if they do not agree with your approach.
As with the Baldur's Gate series, players will be able to issue orders to NPCs in real time or while the game is paused, and queue up actions such as spells and special attacks.
Windows XP Minimum Specifications
OS: Windows XP with SP3
CPU: Intel Core 2 (or equivalent) running at 1.4Ghz or greater
AMD X2 (or equivalent) running at 1.8Ghz or greater
RAM: 1GB or more
Video: ATI Radeon X850 128MB or greater
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT 128MB or greater
DVD ROM (Physical copy)
20 GB HD space
Windows Vista Minimum Specifications
OS: Windows Vista with SP1
CPU: Intel Core 2 (or equivalent) running at 1.6Ghz or greater
AMD X2 (or equivalent) running at 2.2GHZ or greater
RAM: 1.5 GB or more
Video: ATI Radeon X1550 256MB or greater
NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT 256MB or greater
DVD ROM (Physical copy)
20 GB HD space
Recommended Specifications
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz Processor or equivalent
RAM: 4 GB (Vista) or 2 GB (XP)
Video: ATI 3850 512 MB or greater
NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater
DVD ROM (Physical copy)
20 GB HD space
Mac OS X Minimum Specifications
OS: Mac OS X 10.6.2 Snow Leopard or higher
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
RAM: 2 GB
Video: ATI X1600 or NVIDIA 7300 or higher. This game will NOT run on the Intel GMA (950 or X3100) class of integrated video cards.
Digial Download only
17 GB HD space
Dragon Age: Origins is a single-player only game that BioWare co-CEO Ray Muzyka describes as a "spiritual successor" to the Baldur's Gate series, though it is not based on Dungeons & Dragons rules or the Forgotten Realms setting. It utilizes a new BioWare-developed game engine named Eclipse. There is also a toolset for creation of fan-made content available for free download.
An expansion pack called Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening was released in March 2010 for all platforms. A full sequel, presently only known as Dragon Age 2, is expected to be released in March 2011.
Gameplay:
The designers incorporated origin stories for each race and some classes in the game. For example, a dwarf who is a member of the noble caste will begin the game as part of the royal family in one of the dwarven cities, while a dwarf commoner will begin on the streets of the city. Origin stories provide an introduction to the game world and hours of gameplay. People that the Warden meets during the origin story may reappear throughout the game, some of whom may be adversaries.
There is no tracking of alignment as in previous BioWare games, but the moral choices of the main character throughout the game will still affect the story. You may save the world whether you are good or evil, but the decisions that you make in the process will change the world around you, deciding who will become king, for example, and affecting nations and races and their places in the world. These decisions will also influence your companions, and could ultimately lead to a companion deciding to leave your party if they do not agree with your approach.
As with the Baldur's Gate series, players will be able to issue orders to NPCs in real time or while the game is paused, and queue up actions such as spells and special attacks.
Windows XP Minimum Specifications
OS: Windows XP with SP3
CPU: Intel Core 2 (or equivalent) running at 1.4Ghz or greater
AMD X2 (or equivalent) running at 1.8Ghz or greater
RAM: 1GB or more
Video: ATI Radeon X850 128MB or greater
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT 128MB or greater
DVD ROM (Physical copy)
20 GB HD space
Windows Vista Minimum Specifications
OS: Windows Vista with SP1
CPU: Intel Core 2 (or equivalent) running at 1.6Ghz or greater
AMD X2 (or equivalent) running at 2.2GHZ or greater
RAM: 1.5 GB or more
Video: ATI Radeon X1550 256MB or greater
NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT 256MB or greater
DVD ROM (Physical copy)
20 GB HD space
Recommended Specifications
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz Processor or equivalent
RAM: 4 GB (Vista) or 2 GB (XP)
Video: ATI 3850 512 MB or greater
NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater
DVD ROM (Physical copy)
20 GB HD space
Mac OS X Minimum Specifications
OS: Mac OS X 10.6.2 Snow Leopard or higher
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
RAM: 2 GB
Video: ATI X1600 or NVIDIA 7300 or higher. This game will NOT run on the Intel GMA (950 or X3100) class of integrated video cards.
Digial Download only
17 GB HD space
