Dragon Age: Origins free on Origin

[greenhawk]

There are a couple glaring issues with design though (a blatant, and always present ! in some places that looks like a quest, but is really a "Hey! Buy this DLC and then you get a quest."

why do you think EA can afford to offer the main game for free?

They will still get some money from people down the track as they buy DLC, probably at full price.

 

[Raduque]

Obviously it does.

If it were so obvious, you wouldn't need to ask.

There's nothing wrong with Origin, except that it's part of EA, which some people seem to think is the absolute worst entity on the planet.

 

[norseamd]

If it were so obvious, you wouldn't need to ask. There's nothing wrong with Origin, except that it's part of EA, which some people seem to think is the absolute worst entity on the planet.

No that is not true.

The major issue with Origin even over it being produced by EA was the user agreements and the invasion of privacy from the running of the program. This was clearly pointed out by many around the world as soon as Origin was launched.

 

[Bateluer]

The graphics are pretty awful and the main thing that kept me buying on Steam sales but for free I'll take it.

There's texture mods for DAO. Pretty sure they'll work fine under the Origin version too.

I added the Origin version, but I already have the Ultimate version on Steam.

 

[Laurel tree]

Dragon Age: Origins. Name have anything to do with EA program Origin?

 

[Bateluer]

Dragon Age: Origins. Name have anything to do with EA program Origin?

Nope.

Origins refers to how the game starts; each race has its own unique starting chapter before they all merge into the main story line.

 

[Dunkman04]

why do you think EA can afford to offer the main game for free?

They will still get some money from people down the track as they buy DLC, probably at full price.

I'm pretty sure they are trying to drum up more interest for Inquisition next month. Awakening is pretty good value for a DLC, but if you are at all interested in that you should just get the Ultimate edition on Steam. With a new game coming out I'm sure it will go on sale soon.

 

[Oyeve]

This was the first game that I utilized 3 22" monitors for. It was/is fully immersible in that regard.

 

[sweenish]

Hard to tell who's talking about DA:O and who's talking about DA2 in here.

In any case, thanks for the heads up.

 

[darkewaffle]

I actually thought DAO was a pretty good looking game, the graphics never bothered me in the slightest.

No that is not true.

The major issue with Origin even over it being produced by EA was the user agreements and the invasion of privacy from the running of the program. This was clearly pointed out by many around the world as soon as Origin was launched.

There was no invasion, there was just some wording in the EULA that people got all pissy over which was then subsequently updated to your standard vague boilerplate that pretty much every software company on earth uses.

 

[Tweak155]

Picked it up since it is free. Thanks.

 

[Raduque]

There was no invasion, there was just some wording in the EULA that people got all pissy over which was then subsequently updated to your standard vague boilerplate that pretty much every software company on earth uses.

:thumbsup:

It collects no more information than does Steam.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Reasonably modern critically acclaimed game from 2009 with 60 hours content is free, people bitch because some of the DLC aren't.

Gee they can't win.

 

[Anteaus]

I actually thought DAO was a pretty good looking game, the graphics never bothered me in the slightest.



There was no invasion, there was just some wording in the EULA that people got all pissy over which was then subsequently updated to your standard vague boilerplate that pretty much every software company on earth uses.

Exactly. Their EULA is virtually identical to Steam's today. There was legitimate concern in the beginning over things like game activation and excessive account banning but those were dealt with pretty quickly. Today, Origin is pretty solid. Steam is still my primary source for games, but Origin isn't bad for what it does.

I applauded the gaming community for forcing EA's hand away from their attempt to control the universe, but on the flipside I think the gaming community should give Origin another look now since EA has adjusted to industry norms (set by Valve, naturally). I still don't trust EA all that much, but it won't be Origin that keeps me from their games. They have plenty of other ways to annoy me into avoiding them though.

 

[norseamd]

Well the reason I asked is because it is known that Origin actually does do something but what exactly is the real question.

http://wccftech.com/ea-spying-file-snooping-origin-client-investigation/

 

[Zenoth]

Origin (the platform) in and of itself is good, the problem for "them" (EA, Origin) is how it just doesn't actually compete with Steam. The only way for Origin to shine is only momentarily when something exclusive that probably cost a dev studio 50+ million to produce is being released once in a while, such as when Mass Effect 3's "surprise" exclusivity to Origin (it was a surprise, most people expected it to end up on Steam like the first and the sequel did) put Origin "on the map" big time (people didn't liked it, but didn't have a choice if they wanted to play it on PC).

Now it relies on Battlefield releases and the upcoming Inquisition. There's just not the massive library of games on Origin that there is on Steam (of course, Steam is also much older than Origin, Steam pioneered if not simply invented online gaming digital distribution). My only current "complaint" about Origin is their lack of regular sales in the veins of Steam's midweek madness, free week-ends, summer sales, and absolutely massive holidays sales.

But Origin has improved recently, especially with that "On the House" program (and their recent "Game Time" play for free for a couple of days one too), they lack regular sales but they're starting to give some free games here and there, it helps. I don't know how many games they've given away like that for free so far but DAO is the first one I hear of that's actually worth downloading especially if it's given for free. I do remember seeing Plants Vs. Zombies for free too recently enough. So... anyway, yeah Origin has improved, it works well.

 

[StinkyPinky]

They gave away Dead Space for free recently.

 

[Raduque]

Well the reason I asked is because it is known that Origin actually does do something but what exactly is the real question.

http://wccftech.com/ea-spying-file-snooping-origin-client-investigation/

One guy posted somewhere, with no corroborating evidence from others. Maybe it's an infected origin.exe on his PC?

 

[DominionSeraph]

Cool, been looking to pick this up. Free is a rather nice price.

e: Sigh, got some physx DLL error. After reinstalling Nvidia drivers got, "failed to detect a supported video card." I haven't yet rebooted, though. 50 minutes to go on this encode.
e2: Ok, the reboot did it.

 

[BSim500]

I actually thought DAO was a pretty good looking game, the graphics never bothered me in the slightest.

Same here. There are texture packs for those who find it "unbearable" (meanwhile people are still playing and enjoying Baldur's Gate). Personally, I think it's aged pretty well especially compared to some 5 year newer 2014 games textures which genuinely are downright shocking...

 

[sweenish]

The only thing I can think of that Origin should have simply said, "Hey we'll do this one time thing for you" was scanning your PC for games like DA2 and ME that were EA published and adding them to your Origin library without you having to hunt down keys.

If they had just had a pop-up saying as much, people wouldn't have cared.

 

[Mem]

:thumbsup:

It collects no more information than does Steam.

I don't know why some users are so paranoid,I use Steam,Origin,UPlay,ARC,Glyph with no issues,you probably get spied on more when you leave your house.

 

[sweenish]

While Bioware is trying to get DA Keep up and running, it appears that you couldn't buy DLC for this game if you wanted to. At least not from in the game itself. When trying to look at DLC, it only shows me installed (which is empty), and I can't move to the other tabs for available or anything like that.

I'll give it a quick spin, but I own all the content already on 360. And those purchases don't appear to transfer. If I feel like playing it again, it'll be there.

 

[Sword-of-Kings]

Free games is the only reason I ever use Origin.

 

[DeadFred]

Ok I was bored late last night so I downloaded this, set up my character, listened to all the blah blah blah clicking answers to questions to begin the game, and then I see that I have to play from 3rd person angles and tell folks what to do. So Im like UGH, this seems like a lot of work and quit the game.

My question is this, do you ever get to play and fight in first person? If not Im not even gonna bother starting it up again. LOL