Dragon Age: Origins: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides) (Paperback)

~ Mike Searle (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

•
Essentials: Over 300 pages packed with every quest, NPC, monster, and item across the world of Ferelden!
• Classes: Complete ascension guides with level-by-level tips on how to maximize a warrior, mage, or rogue class!
• Maps: Over 100 jam-packed maps displaying every critical piece of information!
• Walkthrough: Detailed walkthroughs to master all quests, puzzles, and pivotal story choices!
• Equipment: Full equipment lists to gear out your PCs!
• Bestiary: Comprehensive bestiary with everything from arcane horrors to werewolves!
• Combat: Expert tactics to conquer the intricacies of combat!

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Prima Games (November 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761561420
• ISBN-13: 978-0761561422
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 7.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,121 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

87 of 96 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Save your money., November 10, 2009

By	DryQuiet - See all my reviews

The last Prima guide I purchased was for Fallout 3. THAT guide was excellent. Great maps, full, multi page guides for every quest, excellent pictures. It made it possible to find every quest and item in a huge world.

THIS guide is nothing of the sort. The maps are very small, (3 or 4" on a single page small) and monochromatic, with difficult to follow legends. The quest guides and walkthrough are short, bullet point summaries. They contain virtually no information you wouldn't otherwise know if you're doing the quest.

The sidequest guides are literally a paragraph long, and are basically summaries of the in game quest text. No map, maybe a single screenshot. They are useful only in finding quests you didn't know about. However, in exploring areas, you easily stumble upon all the sidequests. The guide is packed full of spoilers with no warnings. It's easy to flip through looking for something else, and spoil a story point for yourself as you glance over the text.

The "full equipment section" is utterly useless. It contains a full list of unique weapons and armor in the game, but absolutely no location information, so it gets you nowhere. You may see something you'd like to use, but with no location listed, you are left hoping you find it, or looking online for where to get it.

On the plus side, the character creation and class guides are useful, helping you identify the best abilities and where to put your ability and talent points as you start out. The companion guides are also handy, helping you figure out who likes what gifts, how to pursue a romance with a particular character, and how to build them. However, this information is largely available for free on the Dragon Age website and official forums.

In summary, the things you look for in a guide, such as the campaign walkthrough, maps, and item database, are severely lacking. The information that IS in this guide is mostly available for free on the Dragon Age website, forums, or other online FAQ and guide sites. The decent character creation and companion sections do not make up for this guides failure to, well, guide. Save your money for the sure to be upcoming Dragon Age DLC.

29 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful! Not sure what all the fuss is about, December 3, 2009

By	GameMaker (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE)

Amazon Verified Purchase

Yes I've read the other reviews. I almost didn't buy this because of them. But in the end I figured "something is better than nothing". I'm glad I did!

What's useful to me? How about:

a) A discussion of all the races and classes. Statistics, theories, backstories, descriptions and discussion of different ability choices and so for.

b) Information about setting up a party. A list and discussion of all the NPC's that you can recruit. What's good about them, what's bad, how to influence each one. Information about stuff like possible romances and how that effects the game, and how to pull it off. Suggested settings for the tactical window. Suggested builds (tank, ranged dps, etc) both at a class level and at a party level.

c) Lists of spells and equipment, along with relevent statistics about each one. Others said this is not useful, I disagree. Just having this to read "offline" lets you strategise about how you want to try to equip your characters, and gives you an idea what to buy from merchants and what to "hold out for".

d) The walkthroughs. Ok, so the walkthroughs are high level. I kinda like that. Not useful? Pfft, hardly. For example, I was just in this fight that I had no idea how to win. I walk into a courtyard and seemed to be immediately set upon by an insurmountable force. I had pretty much given up. But the book gives you just enough that now I'm ready to give it another try, with much more of an idea of how I can win it.

e) information about all the quests. One thing that I frequently wonder while playing a game like this was "what did I miss?" when I leave a region. Now I can know that!

In short, I find this guide to be just what I need, and definitely enhances my enjoyment of playing DAO. After reading it myself I really can't fathom why others dislike this book so strongly.

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good reference but not much new info, November 13, 2009

By	J. Tindle (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

The character sections and walkthrough are pretty good. But if you are looking for more information about spell damage and duration, combat mechanics, etc, you'll find that a large chunk of the guide is simply ripped straight from the in-game tooltips.