I’ve played Dragon Age: Origins so many times on the XB360 that I’ve lost count. I made it my personal mission to get all of the achievements for this game, no matter how long it would take. I eventually got every single achievement, including all DLC achievements and once I did, I told myself that I was done with Origins and that I could wait until Dragon Age 2 releases to get my fill of the DA universe.
Not long after, a feeling hit that made me want to play Origins again, even though it’s 100% done. I’ve heard that Origins is fantastic on the PC and that was the format to play it on. Thankfully Steam was having their annual Xmas sale and the ultimate edition for Origins was one of the games that were on sale. The ultimate edition includes all the DLC missions along with the main game.
I’ve played around 20 hours of Origins on the PC and it is truly amazing. This game was made for the PC and it shows. Not only does it look better but it’s easier to navigate and to manage your spells. In the console version, you have to pause the game to bring up a wheel to use abilities. In the PC version, it has a bar at the bottom of the screen (similar to World of Warcraft and Baldur’s Gate II) where it’s easier to choose your power, spell, potions, and anything that you would need in the heat of battle, in real time. The PC version also links up to the Bioware Social Network easier and faster than the console version and takes screenshots during important events in the game.
Origins works well on both PC and console but the PC version has the edge, clearly. At least the console version is playable and bearable, unlike two games of the same series but one is from Bioware and the other from Obsidian.
Star Wars: The Knights of the OId Republic I and II are two games that I have played over and over again and I can never tire of them. I first started to play both games on PC but sadly once new operating systems started to come out, those two games became incompatible. I did have both games for the original Xbox as well since they were extremely cheap. I tried to play them on the Xbox but it was too painful. I wanted so much to play KotOR again but the console version of the game is simply terrible. I feel bad for those gamers who only know of KotOR on the Xbox because it is wonderfully done on the PC. On the console, it lags, the controls are stiff and simply ugly. If you want to truly experience this game, you need it on the PC. Thanks again to Steam, KotOR I was released some time ago and is pretty cheap. As for KotOR II, you have to get a crack for the game in order to run it on newer systems since it is no available on Steam, but it should be.
There are other games that do not make the transition from PC to console very well, such as Wing Commander and there are games that have been teased at to make the transition in the future, like Starcraft 2. This is a tricky thing to do and not many games can handle being great on two different formats. Sid got it right when he wanted to bring his Civilization series to console and created Civilization Revolution which was created with console play in mind and it was done well. Many gamers who couldn’t get into the Civ series on the computer tend to enjoy Civ Rev on the console.
Of course there are games out there that are equally good on PC and on the console but in my personal experience I haven’t really found any. As mentioned above, Dragon Age Origins works well on both PC and console but they are not equal and I doubt a game like that exists.
It’s safe to say that some games need to stay PC games and stay away from any home console system.
