Dragon Age: Origins

Depending on the player's chosen race and class, they will begin the game with one of six predetermined origin stories. In each origin story, the player is introduced to Duncan, the commander of Ferelden's Grey Wardens, who is trying to find recruits to join the order. At the end of the origin story, the player's character is selected as a potential Grey Warden, and leaves with Duncan.

The player and Duncan journey to a fortress in southern Ferelden called Ostagar. There, they join Cailan, the King of Ferelden, and his father-in-law Loghain, a legendary general. The three leaders plan to make a stand against the encroaching Darkspawn before a new Blight overwhelms Ferelden. Duncan senses the influence of an Archdemon, a god-like being hosted in the body of a powerful Dragon that commands the Darkspawn, which makes this the first true Blight in over 400 years. Duncan emphasizes the importance of defeating the Blight before it can gain enough momentum to threaten the rest of Thedas.

Duncan initiates the player into the Grey Wardens through a dangerous ritual called the Joining. The Joining involves imbibing Darkspawn blood, which will either kill a person or imbue them with the powerful darkspawn essence known as the Taint, granting them the ability to sense Darkspawn and a rudimentary connection into their hive mind. After surviving the Joining, the player and another Grey Warden, Alistair, are given the task of lighting a beacon at the top of the fortress which will signal Loghain's men to charge the horde's flank. However, upon seeing the signal, Loghain abandons the battlefield with his army. Without Loghain's reinforcements, King Cailan and Duncan are overwhelmed and slain by the Darkspawn, who massacre Cailan's army, seize control of Ostagar and begin advancing into southern Ferelden.

The player's Warden and Alistair are saved by Flemeth, a powerful witch who lives in a secluded hermitage with her daughter and apprentice, Morrigan. The player, Alistair, and Morrigan decide that in order to stop the Blight from destroying Ferelden, and possibly all of Thedas, they will need to gather a new army and slay the Archdemon. Using ancient Grey Warden treaties, the player's Warden must travel across Ferelden to enlist the aid of the Dalish Elves, the Dwarves of Orzammar, the Circle of Magi, and the soldiers of Redcliffe, loyal to Arl Eamon. In addition, Alistair reveals that he is a bastard son of King Maric Theirin, Cailin's father, putting him in contention for the recently vacated throne.

Meanwhile, Loghain returns to Ferelden's capital city, Denerim, to inform his daughter Queen Anora of King Cailan's death. Loghain scapegoats the Grey Wardens for the defeat at Ostagar; accusing them of betraying Ferelden, Loghain outlaws the order and demands the deaths of any surviving Wardens. While Anora inherits her husband's authority, Loghain quickly declares himself her regent and effectively seizes control of the kingdom. Loghain swiftly becomes a brutal and tyrannical ruler willing to do anything to retain power, igniting a civil war between himself and Ferelden's nobility, who refuse to acknowledge his authority. Both sides battle to an inconclusive stalemate, and the darkspawn take advantage of the chaos to advance further into Ferelden unopposed.

After the player successfully obtains the assistance of each of the primary factions, a Landsmeet is called among the nobles of Ferelden. There, the player confronts Loghain, ultimately either executing him or making him a Grey Warden (in which case he joins the party, replacing Alistair). The player also settles who will lead Ferelden against the Blight (Alistair, Anora, or both) and rallies support from the rest of the kingdom to face the Darkspawn. At this point, the player learns that only a Grey Warden can slay the Archdemon because of the Taint present in a Grey Warden's body. Killing the Archdemon releases the demonic essence within it, which is drawn to the Taint in the Grey Warden and effectively kills them as well; if anyone other than a Warden slays it, the Archdemon's essence survives and finds a new host in the nearest Darkspawn, making the monster effectively immortal.

On the night before the final battle, Morrigan offers the player's Warden a way to slay the Archdemon without sacrificing anyone: Morrigan believes that if the player succeeds in conceiving a child with her, the child would also carry the Taint. Once the Archdemon dies, its demonic essence would be drawn away from any Grey Warden to safely merge with the unborn child instead. The resulting child would be born a demigod, which she plans to raise on her own. The player can accept Morrigan's offer, convince Alistair or Loghain to take part instead, or refuse the witch's proposal, which will cause her to leave the party.

Spoiler: Ending

The next day, the player and the newly assembled army of Ferelden fight their way through the city of Denerim, which has been overrun by the Darkspawn. After fighting their way through the Darkspawn horde, and a final battle against the Archdemon atop Denerim's highest tower, the player is given the chance to deliver the killing blow or to let Alistair or Loghain do it. With each choice, the Archdemon is killed and the leaderless Darkspawn army retreats from Denerim, marking the end of the Fifth Blight. Unless the ritual with Morrigan was performed, whoever slew the Archdemon also perishes. The story ends with a ceremony attended by the people of Ferelden during which the player and their companions are honored for saving the kingdom. The game then presents an epilogue in text and pictures which details the ramifications of the player's in-game choices on the future of Ferelden and the lives of his or her companions.

Dragon Age: Origins is an action role-playing game. The player is a Grey Warden, part of an order of elite fighters, whose task is to defeat the Archdemon and save the world from a disastrous event called the Blight. Players create their own Grey Warden character, customizing gender and appearance as well as choosing a race and class. The available classes are warriors, who perform strong physical attacks; rogues, who carry out stealth attacks and steal items from other characters; and mages, who cast spells on enemies, create combo spells, and support other party members.[5] The three choices of race are human, elf, and dwarf. The combination of class and race determines which of six different origin stories the player experiences: Dalish Elf, City Elf, Dwarven Noble, Dwarven Commoner, Mage, or Human Noble. This affects the way other in-game characters perceive the player's character; for instance, a Dwarven Commoner would receive hatred and discrimination from other dwarves. However, all classes follow the same plot after the completion of the origin story.

During gameplay the player encounters a variety of enemies, including giant spiders, darkspawn, ghosts, walking trees, and dragons. They also recruit companions, who accompany them and provide assistance in battle. These companions are normally controlled by artificial intelligence, with behavior that the player can adjust through the "Tactic" menu, but the player also has the option to switch between characters, and is able to issue orders to them in real-time or pause the game to queue up actions.

Utilizing a third-person perspective, the combat in Origins is largely similar to BioWare's previous Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The player and any companions engage in combat with the weapons they have equipped when the player targets or is noticed by a hostile enemy. Players can swap weapons and perform special attacks during combat, but most of these attacks have a recharge time.[5] The point of view can be shifted from third person to a top-down view, where friendly and hostile units are labelled with different colors to distinguish them. At the end of a battle the characters' health and stamina, which powers a character's skills, are automatically refilled. When an enemy is defeated, the player collects any items or loot from its corpse.

The player can level up their Warden character by earning experience points through completing quests and defeating enemies. Each time player levels up, they receive three points to spend on the character's six attributes. Strength inflicts more damage, dexterity helps evade attacks more often, willpower increases stamina, magic increases spell damage or magic defense, cunning improves combat tactics, and constitution helps withstand attacks. Special skills, which are divided into four different aspects for each class, and specialization options, which offer class-specific skills, can also be unlocked by leveling up.

Players can be accompanied by a maximum of three companions. Companions who are not in the player's active party stay in base camp, a hub where the player can talk to their party members as well as purchase new weapons, armor, and gear. In addition to the main story, the player can learn more about the world of Thedas by collecting the Indexes scattered throughout the game.

The game's dialogue engine is the same as that of Mass Effect. The player can talk and interact with both party members and other non-playable characters. A dialogue tree offers several dialogue options for the player to select. Through conversation, the player can unlock unique quests and dialogue revealing the lore of Dragon Age. It can also be used to persuade or intimidate other characters. The player often must choose between morally ambiguous options, which result in consequences that affect the game's world and progression, and can even lead to the death of a potential companion. Companions react to the player's choices through an "approval system". When they dislike or object to the player's decisions, their approval drops, which can result in a companion leaving the party or even attacking the Warden. Approval points can also be influenced by gifts, which will improve any companion's approval but are each intended for a specific companion. Some gifts, if given to the right character, start a cutscene and can even unlock a quest. A high approval rating improves a companion's morale and gives bonuses to their combat abilities. A significant approval rating also makes it possible for the Warden to pursue a romantic relationship with certain companions. The game's "interaction reactivity" system means that the way a player treats one companion affects the approval rating of other companions as well.