The Ultimate Guide to a Phenomenal Dragon Age: Origins Remake – Unleashing the Magic of Baldur's Gate 3

Highlights

The success of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition emphasizes the importance of BioWare's previous works, Baldur's Gate and Dragon Age: Origins, in solidifying its position as a renowned developer in the fantasy RPG genre.

A remake of Dragon Age: Origins has the potential to greatly enhance the gameplay experience by integrating elements from Baldur's Gate 3. This includes implementing camping mechanics, incorporating turn-based combat, and enhancing the romance features.

Although making significant alterations to Dragon Age: Origins could be a formidable task, the possibilities opened up by BG3 pave the way for future Dragon Age games to adopt a turn-based approach or for BioWare/EA to explore creating their own turn-based Dungeons & Dragons intellectual property.

With Mass Effect 4 and Dragon Age: Dreadwolf on the horizon, BioWare's focus may be on the future, but the success of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition has highlighted the significance of its past. Surprisingly, the recent release and positive reviews of Baldur's Gate 3 have shed light on the importance of BioWare's history with Baldur's Gate 1 and Baldur's Gate 2. These games, along with the Baldur's Gate/Mass Effect trilogy/Dragon Age: Origins-era, solidified BioWare's reputation as a leading developer of fantasy RPGs. The triumph of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition demonstrates the enduring value of BioWare's past accomplishments.

Even before the release of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, and continuing afterwards, fans have voiced their desire for a remake of Dragon Age: Origins. This is an intriguing, albeit challenging prospect. While some argue that the rustic charm of Dragon Age: Origins lies in its current graphics and gameplay, others consider them off-putting. With the highly anticipated Dragon Age: Dreadwolf on the horizon, a Dragon Age: Origins remake holds immense potential to enhance BioWare's current standing. Baldur's Gate 3 serves as the ideal model to draw inspiration from in this endeavor.

Dragon Age: Origins - Legendary Edition

It would be ideal for BioWare to expand the period of Ferelden in Dragon Age: Origins by adding more quests and transitioning to DnD 5E rules, specifically in terms of D20 rolls and features like Advantage. However, this may be expecting too much. That being said, incorporating elements from Baldur's Gate 3, such as camping, rests, and similar mechanics, could greatly enhance the gameplay of a proper Dragon Age: Origins remake. Implementing restrictions on abilities and interactions could make returning to camp and engaging with companions feel more organic. Additionally, it wouldn't be a significant stretch to adjust the romance mechanics in Dragon Age: Origins to resemble those in Baldur's Gate 3, as relying solely on gifting companions for romance scenes might not be as enjoyable.

The most significant and potentially the best change would be transitioning Dragon Age: Origins to a fully turn-based gameplay style with a more open-ended approach to areas. While Dragon Age has included tactical pauses and modes, much of the gameplay in the first installment consists of allowing players to act while triggering abilities. Some players may find this approach too linear outside of the tactical mode. However, adopting a complete turn-based approach in the remake would preserve the core essence of the game while adding even more strategic elements, especially with the inclusion of actions like Dash and Shove. Enhancing the graphics to match the quality of Baldur's Gate 3 is also a possibility, but focusing on gameplay is where a Dragon Age: Origins remake inspired by Baldur's Gate 3 could truly shine.

Baldur's Gate 3 Could Be a Guiding Light for Future BioWare Games

The chances of this happening are extremely unlikely, and despite the quality of the changes made, some individuals would not be satisfied with such significant alterations to Dragon Age: Origins. It would undoubtedly require careful balancing. However, there is a potential lesson to be learned from this situation. Speculation suggests that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf may be influenced by the action RPG God of War, and although this theory has been thoroughly analyzed, it is noteworthy that the gameplay of Dragon Age has never remained consistent. Therefore, the subsequent game could easily adopt a turn-based approach inspired by the Dungeons and Dragons 5e system without causing much surprise.

Another feasible option for BioWare (and EA) would be to explore a Dungeons and Dragons property for a different intellectual property. As Baldur's Gate and the Forgotten Realms are merely one potential avenue for a tabletop-based game, there are numerous other possibilities. Following the release of Anthem, it has become evident that BioWare is primarily focused on their current intellectual properties (Mass Effect and Dragon Age). Nevertheless, there is always an argument for the development of new properties. Although riskier than utilizing established names, if BioWare were to take such a risk, incorporating the Dungeons and Dragons brand would undoubtedly provide it with a solid foundation.

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is in development.