You can pause combat at any time, switch between party members, cast spells, etc., the same on all platforms.īut switching between characters, moving them effectively to take advantage of such things as a thieve's ability to perform a backstab, for example, and other basic manuevering, is cumbersome on consoles. And it's not that combat is actually different, because even though Bioware and/or Edge of Reality did work to make combat less difficult on consoles, meaning that battles are balanced for Xbox 360 and PS3 differently than for PC, the actual mechanics are the same. Does it really matter that the PC version's screens for quests, codex, and inventory look awesome while the console's counterparts are rather drab? Or that the codex is all but worthless on consoles since you can't easily identify new entries once you scroll down, since the act of scrolling causes new codex entries to be marked as already read?Īnd then there's combat, which is a very tactical affair on PCs, but is far more action oriented on consoles. Conversely, the console ports often offer absolutely horrid looking visuals, sometimes fraught with slow downs, although on ocassion they can look quite stunning.Īnd while the in-game graphics are one thing, the usability and looks of the rest of the user interface is quite another. The result is the PC version has superior graphics, which can be tuned in the typical fashion for preferred resolution and various other elements such as anti-aliasing and texture detail. They are basically the same in that both versions allow players to interact with enemies, inventory, and other aspects of the game with the same range of functionality, but the implementation is different enough to make the PC version appear quite elegant and polished while the console version looks like a bastard step child. What's interesting is these elements are and aren't different between PC and console. The result is a game that is largely the same on both platforms except when it comes to some important aspects of game play, namely combat and interaction with inventory, quests, and character development.

The basic game engine is of course common between the PC and console versions of Dragon Age: Origins, but Bioware hired developer Edge of Reality to port that engine to consoles and presumablty to fit game play onto the game pad and the less flexible nature of console + TV.

But at some point during the development cycle Bioware realized that the money is in the console world, the place where most gamers reside and one that is largely free of piracy. It has its roots in the grand old RPGs, games like Bioware's own Baldur's Gate series. The Dragon Age series was originally conceived and targeted to PCs.

Dragon age origins camera mod