Totally off topic, but if you like DA:O, why not give the unsung and obscure Jade Empire a go?

Sorry, but your claim that Vegas offers more RPG options over DA:O doesn't hold water, the mere mention you make of this makes it sound as if you have little to no experience with the franchise.. The fact that a faction system exists in Vegas (which was what was going to be in Fallout: Van Buren and was in F2), isn't indicative of being an RPG, role playing is. Joining a faction just is another aspect of Rping. The fact is, DA:O had so many choices that affected so many aspects of the game that it is mind boggling. Don't get me wrong, for RPing, Vegas was much better than Fallout 3, though I preferred 3 more because Vegas was too similar to what Fallout 3 was and havign experienced Fallout 1 and 2, the familiarity was even more so. Firstly, you can only play a human in Vegas, whereas in DA:O you can choose from one of three races with then each having different classes to choose from, each having a total of (IIRC) six origin stories before hitting the main quest line.

In Vegas, you could only have one companion and not much that you did made your companion leave you, outside of assaulting them or part of their faction. In DA:O many facets can set off a companion and romance is very involved, where it doesn't exist in Vegas and has an effect on the story and plots states. KoTOR has more RPing that does Vegas by far and IMO is the better RPG. I don't need to mention Baldur's Gate and NWN as they are rich as well. Honestly, Vegas and Fallout 3 cannot touch Fallout 1 or 2, but that is my opinion.

Forgot about that one. That was a very good game.

Uh, no. NV has far more diverse endings based on your actions throughout the game than Origins. It's not even close. Not to mention it allows for a far more diverse RPing experience in the sense that you can truly play any type of character you want. You're not shoehorned into being the savior of the world. You can change allegiances constantly and betray whoever you will. You can't play an evil murderous bastard in Origins and that right there limits RPing vastly. I love Origins but like all Bioware games the choices are 99% window dressing that have no outcome on the core plot they just have an outcome on who is there at the end. I love that, because party interaction is what Bioware does best, but you also can't truly play the character you want from a RPing perspective. In Origins you have 3 characters: super nice and supportive warden, funny and snide warden, and no nonsense warden. It doesn't matter which race you play, the dialog and lack of being able to do whatever you want whenever you want will force you down these paths. ME is even more restrictive. There's pushover Shepard and [censored] Shepard.

Bethesda puts their effort into creating huge exploable worlds, it's a different style of RPG and really one that Bethesda's the only company willing to make them. DAO, KOTOR, Mass Effect 1&2 and Jade Empire as well as Black Isles games are more focused. Both ways have strengths and weaknesses. But those games are dreadful exploration, they're great when dealing with characters but when you get off the beaten path, there's little content quality or quantity. I prefer Beth games because the since of exploration they give is unique in this day in age, they have a true open world when those games have map screens and hub towns, people [censored] about optional fast travel in Skyrim when those games forced it, no alternative to just clicking on a point of the map. I prefer The Elder Scrolls style because it does something unique, if I want good wrting and characterization, I'll read a book which does those a million times better than anything that Bioware or Obsidian can make and that's from a mediocre author.

There's also the "Why the hell did this happen to me/I don't want to be a Warden" Warden.

You're correct to a point though, but there's still a little more room for motivations and roleplaying besides the Warden thing. Elves, Dwarves, nobles, mages.. all have their own little story. And you can stretch it further and be a chantry loving type of mage, like Wynne. Or a renegade like Morrigan. You can even like the Templars as a mage, and understand the need to kill little demon possessed kids. Or you can be a chantry loving mage, but one that can't bring themselves to that. You can be a renegade mage like Morrigan, but sees that killing the kid saves time for the bigger mission. You can be one that uses the opportunity to learn blood magic. Or you can be like morrigan and not succumb to something so stupid. You can be a bastard thug from the streets type of Dwarf. OR a bastard noble Dwarf. Or a good dwarf. You can be a nature loving elf. OR a ghetto elf. You can be a ghetto elf that wants to kill Loghain. You can be one that understands him a bit.

Ok, I'll stop..

Two completely different games. I liked Dragon Age: Origins more, and is my favorite RPG of all time.

I want games to have an impact on me emotionally, and this is where Skyrim fails horrible, there are no emotion in anything. No memorable characters, and it's really linear and has next to zero replay value (You can do EVERYTHING in one playthrough of Skyrim (except the civil war, but that was a dissappointment in itself), and quests are so linear (except for a few, but the rewards are still the same ugh...)).

Really hope that the Skyrim DLC / Expansion brings in something memorable. Right now I can't remeber anything "epic" or memorable in Skyrim...

LOL! But you can't the warden that creeps around at night slitting the throat of every NCR soldier in Camp McCarren because your a pissed off Khan bitter about... well, Bitter Springs.

That said, you make valid points. I love Origins. I love NV. I just love the freedom of NV a little more. They're both at the top of my favorite RPGs of the last decade.

WUT? DA2 maybe, but you are simply deluding yourself if you think DAO was designed as a cash cow.

Absolutely no comparison! I love Bioware games, played the whole NWN series and waited for Dragon Age for years. DA:O didn't disappoint, loved the whole setting, story, and omg the romances! I love Bioware for always getting the Romances right! Beth has a lot to learn in that department LOL Alistair <3 hahahaha

On the other hand TES games are so open, they do not restrict you in any way, shape or form! You can climb every mountain, you can pick up books and cups and food, you can enter every house! It's a real world, where as NWN and Dragon Age places a lot of restrictions on the game world.

DA2 was just lazy design. I loved the combat, but OMFG, every cave was the SAME... seriously? Wow, lazy devs lol I did like the combat and I really liked the companions. It was a small world. I did like the DLC content though.

So, yea, each game has pro and cons, but I do prefer the open, unrestricted world of TES games! <3

It does something unique by having crappy stories and "exploration"? Exploration that has absolutely no bearing on anything?

I didn't even notice this quote till someone quoted it above. What rubbish. I've probably got 500 hours in Origins over 8 characters. Skyrim bored me to tears after playing through my first character and now will forever collect dust. BTW you can do every quest in Skyrim (aside from the rampant fetch quests) in less time than it takes to do everything in Origins.

I suggest you make a character and play it to a certain level, maybe 5-7, and use it as your "test" toon. Get to know combat, skills, perk points, etc. By level 7 you should have enough knowledge to get serious lol. Delete the test, and go for it.

Some hints, in the short run, it doesn't matter if you're a mage and use every piece of heavy armor you find along the way - staying alive is the main issue till you get out of Helgen. Same for weapons. As soon as the guard untied my hands I went looking for gear and found a 2H sword that served me well. Pick up stuff like weapons, armor, etc., so you can sell it when you get to town. Money, however, is easy to come by, but I like to have enough to buy things if needed. I usually leave Riverwood with about 5000-6000 gold - which is good because that way you can buy your first house in Whiterun for 5000 gold and get that chest to store stuff in. Get your first dungeon quest from the trader in Riverwood - lots of money to be made there. May take 2-3 runs back to town to sell everything.

Stay away from fast travel as much as possible - it makes the game longer and allows for trips off-road to go dungeon crawling. There are 150 dungeons in the game. Some are short, others may take hours to clear up.

If you get bored with your character after a while - which is not uncommon - roll another one - and play them both, switching characters every day. I currently play 4 characters and every day is something different.

Good luck.

Dragon Age was one of my favorite games of all time but to say you have more role playing choices than New Vegas is just wrong on so many levels.
In New Vegas you could pretty much make any type of character you wanted,from an unarmed pacifist scientist to a Rambo run and gunner and everything in between.
Your companions could leave and would leave under certain circumstances just like Origins. Also you could have 2 companions in Vegas, E-DI and or Rex and a humanoid...robots do count.
And lets be real here, the Origins in Dragon Age effect the beginning of the game and the end, thats about it. My elf Grey Warden ran around fereldon with impunity with barely an eyebrow raised. With him being a city elf you would think he would get a few racists remarks here and there...nope,nothing.

I'll say this I play games for the gameplay, and the experience and I read books for story. There are few games that make me feel physically, and emotionally invested in a story like books tend to do.

lol, go read a dragon age book then. they're not bad actually. same writer though, so maybe it's disqualified.

i'd suggest the first one.. the stolen throne. it's about loghain (i.e. best character in DAO).

I have really enjoyed both games but they do offer you very different things.

For me Dragon Age:Origins is a story-driven game. Its like the unfolding story of a novel.

Skyrim, on the other hand, is a vast open world for adventurous exploration. Many of the quests are interesting, but nowhere near as engaging as DA:O. SKyrim is more waht I would call a fantasy-world simulation where you can just head off on your own path rather than following a single fixed story, the game does not center around its main quest which you can even ignore if you so choose.

The two games offer very different things, which is why I enjoyed both for the variety. If you are looking for something resembling DA:O though Skyrim is not really it and vice versa.

I know nothing of kingdoms of amalur, but i get the feeling it's going to be a cross between both bioware and bethesda schools of thought. i mean, on one hand, you get ra salvatore writing, and the other the lead designer of oblivion. not to mention ideas from god of war for the combat. and then, todd mcfarlane doing the art. it better be good.

I love both Skyrim and DA:O, even though they are so different. I love the interactions with your party in Origins, and how much it changes throughout the game. Your choices have consequences. On her other hand, there's not enouh freedom, which is where Skyrim excells. There's nothing like a huge open-world where you are free to go anywhere at anytime and craft your character's story. I love the combat in both games, but Origins has the edge due to the strategic nature of battle. I love Origins (and Awakenings), but I love Skyrim just a bit more.

I do wish Origins had a point, similar to the airship moment in FF games, where you gain the freedom to explore the world without rushing back into main story.

Better than crappy stories and no exploration. I really found the way New Vegas imcorperated stuff to the plot rather dull, You did this so a lazy voice actor can recite the conclusion of an ending that was just marching over some garbage and a damn shooting things. So you like New Vegas better, that's good for you, I prefer Skyrim, it's my style of RPG and honestly a dying breed because Bethesda seems to be the only company that cares about it these days. I remember the good old days of the Gold Box games, Wizardry and might and magic, almost no plot but lots of exploration, and they were good then too. I'm not saying that the Bioware/Obsidian games are bad, just that I prefer Bethesda's style. In reality they're apples and oranges, I prefer apples, I kinda don't care that New Vegas is an orange calling itself an apple but then again I can respect for not being as half assed as the other Obsidian projects but it couldn't do what Skyrim does and vice versa.

I believe Ken was the lead designer on Morrowind as well. As for the game itself it isn't bad, suffers from bad controls (may be a better console game than PC game) also the dialogue options are somewhat forced and uninspired. Granted I've only played maybe an hour of the demo. Also the racial bonuses seem really small and insignificant compared to older Elder Scrolls games.

I wouldn't say one is better than the other, it's like comparing apples to oranges. Deffinatly play Skyrim though it is epic. Don't go into it looking for the same quality in characters and story though, the perks of the Eldar Scrolls games are in the environment and world.

DA2 had the most wicked combat animations and effects. Combat also felt more real somehow. Other than that, Skyrim is way more value for your money even with the bugs. Bugs can be fixed. Crappy design can't.

True. And I mentioned somewhere above, that it could be genuinely difficult with high difficulty (as in, you really needed to use teamwork and be tactical. Much more than DAO, since they had a chain/combo mechanic).

Besides that, both the female and male Hawkes were good "grunters". Heh. That's a small element why the combat felt good..They had a lot of grunts and battlecrys. Kind of god-of-war ish.

The controls are way better on Console. Kingdoms of Amalur's combat takes heavily from mechanics in console action adventure titles like God of War and Devil May Cry. The combat's made for a controller and a mouse/keyboard just doesn't do that game all that great. I believe I heard RA Salvatore is also helping with the writing, he's not really that great of a novelist, mostly good for being safe. You know you can have a fun but shallow adventure reading a Salvatore book.