First Impression: Dragon Age – Origins (PC/Steam)

| January 2, 2023

This is the 89th instalment of our first impression video series. Today, we are playing Dragon Age – Origins for the first time.

Welcome to the 89th instalment of our first impression video series. Today, we are playing the PC/Steam game, Dragon Age – Origins for the first time. You can check out the video directly on YouTube or in the embed below:

This is, of course, the Ultimate Edition. It also happens to be the Steam version. As I mentioned in the video, it was probably one of the worst experiences I’ve had trying to boot this thing up. At least with most games that require a bit of troubleshooting out there, there is, at least, documentation to help you figure out how to get it running. In this case, there is nothing that even qualifies up to this point. A lot of users trying to play this particular version of the game can attest to how annoying it is to get this booted up. Some have even just gave up in frustration and had to re-buy it elsewhere because the Steam version is so hard to get activated with valid keys.

As you can tell, I was eventually able to get this up and running. I even had the DLC content that comes bundled with it working as well. This came about using pure guesswork in getting this running. So, I have a series of steps that could help you get this up and running after Origin shut down.

1. Download and install the EA App (I know, I didn’t like the idea either)
2. Register a new account if you don’t already have an account.
3. Plus in confirmation code you get sent to your e-mail. Leave the app running after. No additional steps required.
4. Install Dragon Age – Origins Ultimate Edition via Steam.
5. Run Dragon Age – Origins.
6. When the install script prompts you to have your keys ready, just hit OK. As of this writing, Steam no longer displays this for this particular game.
7. When you progress to the next stage, the game will attempt to open a webpage. This URL is dead and will time out as it’s a busted link. Just close the link.
8. In the Non-Steam setup window, it should say that the install is complete. Just hit OK and you’ll make it to the splash screen. (if this doesn’t work, try exiting out and trying to boot the game a second time. You may need to restart Steam because it did freeze Steam on me as well.)
9. Once you get to the load screen, double check to make sure the bundled DLC is also present (it’s built into the game as an option in the first menu screen). It should be. If not, then you probably have to contact Steam support.
10. Enjoy Dragon Age – Origins. You do NOT need to run the EA app to play this game after. It just may be needed to activate the keys.

There are a lot of tutorials out there to get this running on Steam. Most, if not, all of these guides are useless. Steam does not display the keys for this particular game. Additionally, Origin is now defunct (as of October 2022), so there’s no point in trying to activate using Origin as the servers have already closed.

Hopefully, this short tutorial will help someone out there. If you’d like to refine it in the event that you found a better way at handling the activation process, feel free add your two cents. Still, it is possible to get this game running post Origin.

Anyway…

For those of you who have played this game, what did you think of it? Was it a great game or was this title over rated for you?

For those who have played other titles in this series, but not this one, what did you think of this? Does it look all too familiar or does the newer games offer an entirely new experience? Did you think this series started off well with this title or would you recommend later titles?

For those who haven’t played this game or this series at all, does this look like an interesting experience or is there too much dialogue? For any of the above questions, feel free to let us know in the comments below!

This video is part of our first impression video series. Below is a list of 50 of the previously made first impression video’s we’ve made in the past:

Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.


2 Comments

  • Wolf Anthems says:
    February 4, 2023 at 2:22 am

    Dragon Age Origins is one of the greatest gaming experiences I’ve ever had. Bioware, in its prime, never failed to disappoint in its story telling. I watched your review of the game, but I wish you took a deeper dive instead of just touching the surface on the early game tutorials.

    Reply
    • Drew Wilson says:
      February 4, 2023 at 5:36 pm

      More full playthrough clips is something that is of great interest to me, however, at the moment, I don’t really have the capabilities to make them. In fact, the next planned upgrade for the site is supposed to address this, but with the hearings of Bill C-11 and numerous things going on in my personal life, that has been pushed back by quite a bit. At the moment, I’m just struggling to catch up with more basic stuff on the site, even temporarily stopping the developments of a couple of features just to allow myself to catch up. It’s all coming along, but that ability has, sadly, been delayed. I like how you think, though. 🙂

      Reply

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