Dragon Age Origins vs The Witcher Enhanced Edition

It seems fair to compare these two RPGs. Both came out this gen, both are set in a dark fantasy world (with medieval style settings), both deal with dark themes, and both have similiar plot elements such as discrimination and burning capital cities. Who its better, the Grey Wardens or the Witchers.

Gameplay

Combat: Both games are entirely different. Dragon Age focuses on party combat and the Witcher focuses on single character combat. But Dragon Age offers a deeper and more tactical experience with its combat system. The Witchers is pretty great though, but sometimes bogs down, especially when combos don't land. Winner - Dragon Age

Role Playing: A plus regarding preference for Dragon Age, a fully customizable PC. Geralt on the other hand, is a set PC, but he is customizable skill wise. The decisions you make in the Witcher plot wise are far more engrossing than Dragon Age, with its consquences having effect on the plot long after the decisions were made. Some decisions have effects long afterwards in DA too, but doesn't have nearly much of an effect as The Witcher's choices. Winner - The Witcher

Story

Plot: This is easy, one game is a cliche storm that screams Lord of the Rings, the other is more original in its execution. Both games deal with dark thematic material, but the Witcher is far more effective at using its themes (its main theme that humans can be the biggest monsters) more. Dragon Age does have its moments though. Winner - The Witcher by far

Characters: Both games have excellent characters. For Dragon Age, its about your party members. Every member of the party is excellent, especially Leliana, who brings the humanity to the game. There is excellent comic relief, especially with Shale. For the Witcher, Geralt is an excellent character (despite the amnesia cliche) who has to try to make sense of everything and find his humanity. Dandelion, Shani, and Triss are also excellent and many quest characters such as Vincent, Carmen, and Alvin are excellent too. The villians are definitely better in the Witcher. Winner - The Witcher close, due to the antagonists.

Presentation

Graphics and Art: Why does a game that came out two years ago look better than a game that came out two months ago? The Witcher has a much better and more inspired art direction and environment than Dragon Age's sterile environment. Winner - The Witcher by a mile

Voice Acting: Due to the localization, even in the Enchanced version, The Witcher's voice acting can be a little akward. Its far from terrible (its good), but Dragon Age's star voice cast blows it away. Winner - easily Dragon Age

Soundtrack: The Witcher has an incredible soundtrack, almost up there with JRPG soundtrack masterpieces. Its music captures the environment well and some pieces are absolutely beautiful. Dragon Age is just "Leliana's Song". Winner - easily The Witcher

Dragon Age is an excellent game, no doubt....but The Witcher is above it in almost every aspect. Not only does The Witcher have one of the best stories in gaming, but it is one of the most important RPGs of the decade. WRPG developers are taking notice, doing away with black and white morality systems and no impact decisions. Due to this game, RPGs will be better next decade due to its influential design decisions.....decisions will be much more meaningful and more morally ambigious.

I like Dragon Age Origins alot more.

I enjoy both games but I prefer the Witcher.

I like both games.

The Witcher 2 is going to be problematic, however. If it is a continuation, then what excuse will they use for Geralt not having any abilities once again? The uber-armor you worked so hard to get?

Plus Leuvarrden still owes Geralt two huge payments from the first game.:P:lol:

I agree with your breakdown for the most part except the characters. Dragon Age has far more character depth and they're much more compelling than anything The Witcher offers.

I think Dragon Age is the better game, but The Witcher was an extremely important game for the genre which arrived at a crucial time. You only need to look at Dragon Age to realize The Witcher's influence. The morality system and how your decisions impact the story (not obvious right away) is brilliant. It truly made you think about your choice and consider the possible consequences. However, The Witcher's combat was serviceable at best while Dragon Age's was truly engaging and tactical. Also, The Witcher features barely any loot and no customization whatsoever.

dragon age

Why

bring a party

Better love scenes

Available for consoles

I agree with your breakdown for the most part except the characters. Dragon Age has far more character depth and they're much more compelling than anything The Witcher offers.

I think Dragon Age is the better game, but The Witcher was an extremely important game for the genre which arrived at a crucial time. You only need to look at Dragon Age to realize The Witcher's influence. The morality system and how your decisions impact the story (not obvious right away) is brilliant. It truly made you think about your choice and consider the possible consequences. However, The Witcher's combat was serviceable at best while Dragon Age's was truly engaging and tactical. Also, The Witcher features barely any loot and no customization whatsoever.

I agree with your breakdown for the most part except the characters. Dragon Age has far more character depth and they're much more compelling than anything The Witcher offers.

I think Dragon Age is the better game, but The Witcher was an extremely important game for the genre which arrived at a crucial time. You only need to look at Dragon Age to realize The Witcher's influence. The morality system and how your decisions impact the story (not obvious right away) is brilliant. It truly made you think about your choice and consider the possible consequences. However, The Witcher's combat was serviceable at best while Dragon Age's was truly engaging and tactical. Also, The Witcher features barely any loot and no customization whatsoever.

Actually, the characters in the Witcher are far deeper than Dragon Age........because the game is a sequel to the book series. Shani, Triss, Dandelion, Zoltan, Tourivel, were all in the books and Triss taking care of Alvin bears very many similarities to Triss taking care of Ciri in the books. Even Ciri is mentioned in the game. But the story of The Witcher is far better than that of Dragon Age.texasgoldrush

Apart from Geralt and Triss, none of the characters in The Witcher were particularly well developed or memorable. The books are of no relevance.

[QUOTE="texasgoldrush"]Actually, the characters in the Witcher are far deeper than Dragon Age........because the game is a sequel to the book series. Shani, Triss, Dandelion, Zoltan, Tourivel, were all in the books and Triss taking care of Alvin bears very many similarities to Triss taking care of Ciri in the books. Even Ciri is mentioned in the game. But the story of The Witcher is far better than that of Dragon Age.UpInFlames

Apart from Geralt and Triss, none of the characters in The Witcher were particularly well developed or memorable. The books are of no relevance.

The books are a nice supplement to the game but they shouldn't be required reading to get further insight into the characters. As they exist in the game, most of The Witcher's characters are shallow and uninteresting. The rewritten dialogue in the updated version helped a lot, but didn't fix it entirely. There's so much backstory on the Dragon Age characters that a comparison isn't really fair, though.DJ_Lae