I would say that skyrim rivals KOTOR and dragon age is below them.

Dragon Age is in an incredible story-driven game. The dialogue, cinematics, storylines, voice acting and enviroments are superb. I totally loved the game.

Skyrim is a sandbox game, you don't what you want when you want. The dialogue is nowhere DA but still good, no real cinematics except the beginning, the enviroments and dungeons are AMAZING and the looting and exploring is very fun.

They are different games and you can love them both. If the OP likes DA so much he should try Mass Effect 1 & 2, they are made by Bioware as well and in my opinion have the best story lines in gaming I have ever seen.

Two very different games. Dragon Age is a tactical RPG, with wonderful character writing, a well enough written story, and party based combat. Skyrim is an open-world sandbox game with shallow characters (Mostly, obviously the few exceptions will prove the rule.) and a "Do whatever you want" playstyle.

I won't say either is better than the other- They're two completely different games. As to preference, I've enjoyed Dragon Age moreso.

Whatever you do: DON'T GET DRAGON AGE 2!
You'll lose all the good impressions you got from the first game.
I mean, you see this AWESOME trailer with a duel between your mage protagonist and a chapter boss, the Arishok: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlACgYHtWCI
And this is the exact same battle in game. No exaggeration ... my mage fought exactly like that, too:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLPSV0fb9vQ

And to your original question: Dragon Age and Skyrim don't have much in common apart from typical fantasy staple ... dragons, elves, monsters, dungeons, etc.
Dragon Age is relatively linear in it's story and it mostly guides you through the game. In Skyrim you have the opportunity to explore the world ... literally. Follow the quests or don't. You see a mountain with a tower far away in the distance? If you want, you can go there (all the way on foot, if you so whish) and explore it. And don't get distracted by some ancient ruins half submerged in the water.

I loved Dragon Age Origins, hated Dragon Age 2, and Skyrim is simply epic. Best RPG ever.... until Elder Scrolls 6, maybe.

Yes, you can.

To those saying characters in Skyrim are "shallow," that is true in comparison of followers. NPCs in the world have much more depth and life in Skyrim, however. Saying that followers have no personality is just plain false. Marcurio is cocky, Belrand is a traditional old Nord, Vorstag is a bit of milk drinker and adorkably wimpy, Farkas is a straight shooter who takes things as they come... I could go on. If you never saw this, you have no imagination and I feel sorry for you.

+1 to all

Other than combat, graphics, playing field, playstyle, creation, weapon management, inventory and just one or two other things....They are identical.

True in general, but they do have an individual morality setting, and some of them should "break up" and/or report you for certain behavior, though I haven't seen this happen. Mjoll was actually given some extra dialog, too, but you end up regretting that by the tenth time she loops.

For role playing DA:O blows away Skyrim. TES games have never really dealt much with character interactions and depth of story like games made by Bioware (though I feel they screwed the pooch royally with DA2). If you are into heavy RPing, Skyrim may not be your cup of tea.

Differences:

DA:O

- Linear maps with some fairly open. Storyline is linear, like most RPGs. But, you can choose what storyline path to choose to take at the point in the game where they become available.
- Choosing a certain class means you stick with it. Example, if you choose bneing a mage, you only get mage type talents to choose from when you level up. You can still use a sword, bow etc though.
- Companions of a different class can teach you one of their specializations (or you discover one).
- Decent combat system with awesome finishing moves.
- Nice character models, especially the faces and their animations.
- Incredible and very extensive dialogue system.
- Companions that actually react and talk to you in depth and tonality changes according to your relationship status with them.
- NPCs that actually relate to you and how you act.
- Romance/friendships have real impacts and meaning among all of your companions.
- Choices you make can make your companions love, or really dislike you, even to a point (without attacking them), they will turn on you.
- Player agency, choices you make in the plot states and in the storyline have diversified effects, as well as having effects on your companions and how the game has different endings for your characters and your companions.

Skyrim:

- Storyline is linear, and you cannot venture into choosing a different path of the storyline to play.
- No real interaction or meaningful conversations among your companions, they are pretty generic.
- Relationships have really no meaning, feeling like they are tacked on (marriage is just really bland and meaningless)
- Beautiful open end sandbox world where you can go anywhere (like all TES games and maybe the best looking game I have ever seen of this type).
- Combat system is OK, still clunky looking. Cannot aim sword when engaged in a power attacks causing many misses.
- Magic effects look nice.
- Easy leveling with all skills. IOWs, choosing a class really has no meaning since you can choose to level any skill you so please, even though you may intend to play a certain class. This differs greatly from previous TES games.
- Choosing a race has little meaning for anyone who wants to play a certain class, because there are no restrictions on how you want to play the game.
- Near zero player agency, very little of what you choose to do have effects on the story, plot states or how people view you.

In summary and for my taste anyway, games like DA:O are far more to my liking that Skyrim type games, though I do like Skyrim. If you want to play a game where fantasy and action are big aspects along with a beautifully realized open world where you can go anywhere, Skyrim is awesome. After that, the quests, side quests (especially these) are really boring, IMO, because, what I choose to do has little effect on the storyline, with NPCs or with the world.

that pretty much applies to SKyrim too doesn't it? I mean DA:O I think had more branching then anything skyrim offered didn't it.

LOL XD

My previous post was more of a failed attempt at humor. I can agree with most of what you said. those are some very good points.

If one could take the storytelling of DAO (nothing about DA2) , graphics and world of Skyrim along with the combat of AC and FONV, you would have a masterpiece.

It's all very Tolkeinish.

Key differences for you as they are your first RPG's.

Just know that Dragon Age Origins was a great game. I loved it but it is an entirely different beast than The Elder Scrolls series and specifically Skyrim.

Dragon Age Origins, which is made by Bioware, is a game with the focus being on story, impactful choices and character development.

Skyrim is about graphics, exploration, gameplay, simulation and being what you want to be. Gameplay restrictions aside it lets you be what you want to be, for the most part.

Skyrim is very lacking in meaningful choices, story, and memorable characters in comparison to Dragon Age Origins.

Thats just the tip of the iceberg though and I have left out a lot.

I really cannot think of any real branching aspects in Skyrim. Other than getting the choice of joining the SCs or the Imperials at a certain point in the game where that has an impact, nothing else comes to mind really. Maybe choosing what to do near the beginning of the DB quest line has a branch.

To a certain extent that may be true, although at least you can pick between Stormcloaks and Imperials. The big difference is that in DA:O, if you didn't like where the story was going and wanted to do something completely different, you couldn't. In DA:O, you either follow the story or you don't play. Even if you try to do something different, you cannot because you can either follow the story or just not play (which was what I did).

In Skyrim, you can choose which quests to do or you can choose not to do any quests at all and just go out and adventure. You can explore a huge land, countless forts, camps, caves and ruins. My favorite thing to do in Skyrim is just to wander the land and experience the randomn encounters while I explore the countryside. DA:O has nothing like this. It is a completely different experience from Skyrim.

they two Very different games they both good in they own right but Skyrim alot more fun to me anyways.

But, I still laughed at it .

I like your hybrid idea too, but with gaming today being the ability to pump out games for bigger and quicker profits, I think those days are gone now. DA:O may be the last game I loved a lot for this genre and that style will never come back. Bioware was simply awesome until EA bought them. Note DA:O was well into development and Mass Effect (which I think is the greatest game story I ever experienced) was completed before EA got Bioware into their fold.

My idea of a masterpiece is a little different. I would like to see a game where there are no "quests" and no "story" but only interactions among various creatures and NPC's and the player and these interactions lead to other interactions some of which have meaningful consequences to the game world. Sort of an AI virtual reality soup for the player to get lost in and make their own story.

that the thing those and you said it right there, you either do the quests or don't do them so your faced with the same problem you have in DA:O yeah you can wonder but (for me atleast) that's almost as boring as grinding the same missions in an typical MMO. Really aside from a few dungeons a dragur dungeon is a dragur dungeon is a dragur dungeon. I however am bias to the character/story drive with C&C RPG alot more then shallow sandbox dungeon crawls.

They are totally different games. Personally I think that Dragon Age is a better game for a single play-through but not much replay value. Skyrim is a game that has a staying power even though the first play-through is above average at best.

Eh, opposite for me, since skyrim has zero story and quest branching, how many times can you play the same quest and get the same results before it gets boring? Atleast when yo uhave an awesome story, and multiple paths and the Origins aspect yo ucan go through with lots of different classes and get different results.

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but free-roam is a significant difference...

Hated Dragon Age because of how linear it was.

WOW! I started this thread, took a nap, and when I woke up and check for posts..........It had gone viral - !!! LOL jk. Wow again, and I thank all of you so very much for your generous input. I understand the differences clearly now and am very excited about playing Skyrim!

(dare I ask if there are any romance stories within Skyrim like the ones in DA...well I guess I just did. mainly curious is all....just sayin.) Thanks again. Gardenia

NO there are zero romance stories ala Dragon Age/Bioware style.

The romance in Skyrim is about as stale and shallow as it gets. However the world does let you imagine it to be more than it is if thats your sttle though as this is your first RPG i am betting your nor too into roleplaying.

nope characters in skyrim are almost as shallow as you'd see in an FPS game. While they do havea marriage option it barely changes anything and is porly implemented and one some even broken.