game. VanOrd commended the game's story, saying that it was memorable and crafted with care, successfully making players care about the game's world and characters. He added that the deep character development made every choice "momentous". GamesRadar thought that the story and the Warden's appearance felt generic, but that the story became more and more engrossing as it progressed. Nick Tan from Game Revolution liked the banter between companions as a humorous change of pace within the game. Gerald Villoria from GameSpy praised the exclusion of the moral system for making the characters feel more complex. Juba wrote that the story was good but predictable, not straying far from standard fantasy stories. Wesley Yin-Poole from VideoGamer.com called the story memorable, saying that it "leaves an itch in your mind", and has attracted players to return to the game "like an addict seeking a hit of relief." In commemoration of the 10th anniversary of Origins, Eric Van Allen of USGamer observed that companion relationships are more tense in Origins, and that most of the companions do not follow the Warden out of blind loyalty. Van Allen notes that the underlying tensions resulted in a game that "reveled in the moral grays", encouraging players to make decisions that aligns with their own feelings, unlike in Mass Effect. As for the game's combat, Snider called it streamlined but said that players who do not want to use the pause mechanic would not be able to appreciate the game, as the combat requires both patience and strategy. He liked the game's third-person view more than the top-down view, saying that being able to view the sky made environments feel more complicated, and praised the high difficulty of boss battles, which task players to manage their stamina carefully. His conclusion was that Origins "feels like a real throwback to the good old days of PC role-playing epics." VanOrd said that the combat system was easily recognizable for players who have played other RPGs developed by BioWare. He added that players can have a lot of fun switching between characters, and agreed that the game had created thrilling boss battles. He praised the choice to have health and stamina replenish immediately after battles, as it sped up combat pace and flow. Tan also commended the combat, finding it a better system than other BioWare RPGs, but disliked the fact that characters can't step into water. Juba