The Adventures of Jane Leno Episode 1

I love her. Thank you.

Ben. Never trust the mages

I've never finished this game so here's hoping Ben finishes this game

Ohhh, PC Dragon Age is best Dragon Age!

Man, I miss the origin stories this game had. Those were really cool. This was one of the few RPGs that got me to "play against type" as it were.

I also miss the time when the mage-templar thing was actually well-written and mostly nuanced, rather than the binary black-white crap it turned into from 2 onward.

Oh sweet! Dragon Age: Origins is one of my all time favorites, so this will be a fun watch!

Playing this because of Dragon Age 4 being in the works makes zero sense.

I will preach to the world that Dragon Age: Origins is one of the best video games of all time. But if you want to know what's going on in DA4 then Dragon Age: Inquisition (which is comparably good, but not great) and then Inquisition's Trepasser DLC is the way to go.

If you go DAO to DA4 you won't know what's going on.

@baconmonk: I agree!

@flstyle: Considering how little we've seen of DA4 and the current state of Bioware/EA, Ben has enough time to play all three games at a leisurely pace before DA4 is even given a rough release date.

I'd argue that playing DA:I without playing the previous two games makes less sense. DA:I builds heavily from DA2 (the game even hints that you were originally supposed to play as Hawke from DA2), and a large number of the main cast are from earlier DA games. On top of that, neither DA2 or DA:I spend a lot of time going over the lore and the politics of Thedas compared to DA1.

@flstyle: I've been trying to do the Trespasser DLC at least twice a year since it came out, but every time I go back to DA:I I'm able to play long enough to get used to the combat again and then...can't do it anymore. There's something about the game that I enjoyed well enough to see the main story through, particularly some of the companions and their party specific banter, but I've basically given up on ever enjoying it again and finishing the DLC.

This is all moot at this point now that I think about it, BioWare is a very different company from 15 years ago and is not only forced to bend to the greedy, multiplayer whims of EA, but the majority of staff that made Dragon Age what it was have left. And despite Ben's good intentions for playing Origins in case of playing future Dragon Age titles, it's like Ryan's Sonic the Hedgehog 4 rant back in the day, Dragon Age will never be what it was. So fuck it, I'm going to try and enjoy Ben's playthrough of Origins on its own merit.

I've left the reply I had originally typed out below.

The only understanding of the world of Thedas you need is from Inquisition and its Trespasser DLC, or did you forget that by the time the credits rolls on Trespasser the entire lore of Dragon Age as told by 1 and 2 is revealed to be utter nonsense, misinformation and lies by Solas?

I doubt this will turn out to be Giant Bomb's Dragon Age version of Mass Alex but if in three years time DA4 is unreleased and Ben has successfully played all the way through Origins, 2 and Inquisition I will gladly admit being wrong.

In that case I recommend typing in Dragon Age Trespasser DLC ending into YouTube and picking the player character that most resembles your Inquisitor, it's a remarkable 25 minutes revealing the truth of the world of Thedas. I'd be happy to explain anything if you have questions.

If you make it to DA 2, know going into it that it's a bad game.

Hearing how disappointing it was beforehand really helped me stick with it in some weird way.

Ohhhh yes, the best Dragon Age. I'm curious if Ben's played KOTOR, or knows this game's heritage from KOTOR.

Don't forget to help the mabari war hound!

I only played this on console when it came out, really want to check this out on PC sometime. Good stuff Ben.

I'm 1 trophy away from the Platinum for this game on PS3. I don't know why I've retained that knowledge.

Can you guys put something in the titles or descriptions of the videos that indicates what game is being played? I know the game is tagged on this page, but it's easy to miss with all the lockdown content on the front page.

AHHH BEN!!! Playing my favourite Bioware game :D

BEN! FUCK YES! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! So happy about this. I think Origins is up your alley. Just give it some time. It starts traditional but kind of becomes it's own thing over time

Yo Ben, if you want some wizard tips, the ice spells and the glyph spells are broken in this game.

Very exciting. Watching now and hoping he picks a certain class (either way though, this rules).

This game rules! Awesome choice Ben. This episode was fun and I hope you can have a good time with your chaotic ways. It is neat to see someone pick a different origin than the one I had in my playthrough.

also I don't really recommend playing the other DA games besides this one. While this one is really cool, the others I found sort of dull and disappointing. Inquisition definitely didn't quite match the grand feel of this, for all of the sort of graphical upgrades it had in its favor.

Just play this with all the DLC and a few nice mods, and you're golden.

You are doing the maker's work, Ben.

@cats_n_tats: origins, for better and worse, is of a time. It's good but it can be hard to play if you don't give it some leeway

@spudnickator: I'm someone who almost exclusively plays the game on nightmare. And I never do that for any game. It's clunky at times but origins has some stupid good highs from a Bioware RPG

Thanks for doing this Ben!

@flstyle: I've been avoiding that option for a long time, but it may honestly be the best way to handle it this long after the fact. Thanks for the reminder, I think I'll actually just go with that and keep my interest for the next installment while hoping they fix the issues from the last one.

Does anyone know what's happening with 2 Fallout 2 Furious? Is it done? I feel like I missed something super obvious.

OH SHIT HOW DID I MISS THIS AIRING, AWESOME

not sure if this series would be my thing or not but lets be real theres 0 chance in hell that ben bothers to finish this series

Ben this is a good game. I love your character. Thank you for this and have fun.

That is a nice comment, thanks!

@mach_go_go_go: If I had to guess, he stopped playing it because of the recent news about the...history...of a one Chris Avellone.

@relkin: Ah, right. Eff that guy.

I know this is going to become my favorite Lockdown series. Thanks Ben for playing this game!

@flstyle: Who cares, Ben wants to play it and thinks it will make him understand the series/4 more. Whether it does or not truly is a moot point when its What he thinks. Don’t have to understand or agree, just know it’s how he feels. It may not help but it’s part of the DA story and glad he’s intrigued. DA hasn’t got much play on site in a while. I do agree with the Sonic 4 example of Ryan but it’s a world where they have more content to put out. I could also see him completing all of them before 4 is even out.

HA, loving Ben go through all the variations building his character! That’s the part I am always worst at and boring with.

Dude hell yes! Switches places with mass effect 2 on any given day but it's easily in contention for both my favorite bioware game and favorite rpg in general

wait so why was fallout 2 discontinued?

So happy to see more Dragon Age stuff on the site. Love these games and look forward to watching this series. Thanks Ben and hope you enjoy!

Yes Ben!!! One of my favourite games. So excited to see you play through this! Magic is an excellent choice too. Definitely the most fun way to play imo.

Have fun!

ehhh You haven't made a whole bunch of sense there, but I don't feel the need to cruelly deconstruct what you've written either, so I'm going to leave you be. Have a nice day.

@flstyle: I was tired but I guess my point didn’t come across... which is basically -Why do you care so much? Trying to understand why people on this site pick apart people and/or the reasons for playing what they want to play.

Feel free using your “cruel deconstruction”, if you need to be cruel that says more about you! Best wishes!

I don't believe Ben gave a explicit reason for stopping the Fallout 2 playthrough, but as the other commenters mentioned, Chris Avellone is a POS sexual predator and doesn't deserve any support in his business endevours.

The only Dragon Age game, as far as I'm concerned. Looking forward to this playthrough! I got all excited but man the mage prologue is pretty lame IMO. Glad he was able to knock it out in one episode, at least. Once he finishes the game Ben should just play DAO again as a different character. The true way of enjoying the Dragon Age series.

be sure to install mods that let you use your dog as a wizard

That dalmation spotted blood splatter will never not look stupid.

Oh shit I’m going to watch every episode of this. Fuck yeah.

@genessee: yeah I modded it out of my game immediately. Speaking of, there are some great highly recommended QOL mods if ben is interested. I like the one that lets you choose all your companions’ skills instead of getting pushed down certain paths.

Excited that Ben is playing this! Looking forward to the next episode.