Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Just bought Dragon Age Origins (ultimate edition). After putting about 12 hours into it, I can truly say that it's a wonderful game in the tradition of Bioware's Knights of The Old Republic, Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights; set in a new universe with dark fantasy and truly epic battles I haven't seen the like of since Peter Jackson's Return of The King. I'm not going to go into too much detail though, because there are many quality reviews here on Amazon and elsewhere on the internet. I want to share more the buying and installing experience. First of all, there is no downside to paying an extra $10 and getting the "Ultimate Edition" Versus the standard "Origins". The Downloadable Content packs (7 packs) that are included in the ultimate edition cost about $15 a piece separately, so they are well worth it in the bundle. The DLCs themselves fit seamlessly for the most part into the main story, and add a great deal of adventure and added playtime to the story. Go for the Ultimate Edition by all means. Installing... The DVD-disk physical copy version has two disks, both of which come in the box. They automatically patch the game up to 1.04 is it installs (the latest version), and install very easily and flawlessly. However, the DRM (Digital Rights Management, anti-piracy measures) is a nightmare. As I read the terms of service (yes, I sometimes do that), I actually contemplated sending the game back. It was that bad. The choicest bit of it comes to mind: "You agree that a breach of this License (disable the DRM, make a video for YouTube using the game, use a No-CD crack, etc) will cause irreparable injury to EA for which monetary damages would not be an adequate remedy and EA shall be entitled to seek equitable relief in addition to any remedies it may have hereunder or at law without a bond, other security or proof of damages". Translation? If you do anything they don't like AT ALL, no amount of money or apologies is enough to fix the "irreparable injury" you cause to their $3 BILLION dollar-a-year company. They will have to put you in jail to ease the pain. So anyway... It uses two serial numbers: One for the main game, and one for the DLCs. You get three installs per serial number. The DLC serial code is expired as of 2009, luckily I didn't have any problems with it. Secondly, you are required to sign up for an EA/Bioware account to use the serial number for the DLCs. If you do this, you also must be logged on to the internet when you start the game. Thirdly, they use a disk-check (SecureROM) every time you start the game. Fourthly, the game collects info on your gameplay and PC. Goodbye privacy, because this game phones home like a momma's boy. It will let you look at the save games but won't let you load them until it finishes the handshake process with EA servers. Lastly, ANY CHANGE to your system can invalidate one of your three installs. Get a new computer, upgrade you RAM in your current one, put in a new cooling fan, replace the hard drive, buy a new graphics card... Any of these things can invalidate one of your three installs. If you run out of installs, you have to buy a new game or argue with EA. So good luck playing it five years down the road. In summary: It's a great game, but Electronic Arts (EA) is a horrible company with draconian DRM practices. This is the first game that I have bought from them since they started using DRM, and I almost didn't. I probably won't again. The companies punish honest gamers, because it is much easier to steal these games than buy and install them legitimately. Edit, July 2015: I upgraded my OS and had to reinstall the game using the serial. I COULD NOT reinstall the DLC, as that second keycode was "already in use" . Thankfully, I kept a copy of the old install files, as well as save games. I grafted the old DLC files into the new install of the main game, and tried to load a DLC save while logged into the original Bioware account. This tricked it into thinking the DLC installation was legit. Glad it worked. Also, I seem to remember an announcement on the dashboard about them discontinuing some of the online community (DRM) services, since it's so old now. That makes it easier.