Dragon Age: Origins is a role-playing game played from a third-person perspective. 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.[3] 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,[4] 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, Dwarf Commoner, City Elf, Mage, Human Noble, or Dwarf Noble.[6] 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.[6] However, all classes follow the same plot after the completion of the origin story.[7]
Example of a user-created dwarf character in combat with an Ogre, a powerful Darkspawn creature
During gameplay, the player encounters a variety of enemies, including giant spiders, Darkspawn, ghosts, walking trees, and dragons.[8] They also recruit companions, who accompany them and provide assistance in battle. These companions are normally controlled by artificial intelligence, with behaviour that the player can adjust through the "Tactics" 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.[8][9] The player and any companions in their party 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 the third person view to a top-down view, where friendly and hostile units are labelled with different colours to distinguish them.[10] At the end of a battle the characters' health and stamina, which powers a character's skills, are automatically refilled.[11] When an enemy is defeated, the player collects any items or loot from its corpse.[8] Companions who are not in the player's active party stay in the base camp, a hub where the player can talk to their party members as well as purchase new weapons, armour, and gear.[12] In addition to the main story, the player can learn more about the world of Thedas by collecting the codexes scattered throughout the game.
The player can level up their Warden character by earning experience points through completing quests and defeating enemies. Each time the 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 defence, cunning improves combat tactics, and constitution helps withstand attacks.[13] 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 levelling up.[14]
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.[14][15] 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.[3] The player often must choose between morally ambiguous options, which result in consequences that affect the game's world and progression[16] and can even lead to the death of a potential companion.[17] Companions react to the player's choices through an "approval system".[18] 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.[19] 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.[20] A significant approval rating also makes it possible for the Warden to pursue a romantic relationship with certain companions.[21] The game's "interaction reactivity" system means that the way a player treats one companion affects the approval rating of other companions as well.[22]
