so I gave in and tried the game out. I'm kinda hooked to be honest, it definitely keeps me interested so far. there will be some minor spoilers below, so if you don't want to know anything at all of the plot, don't read any further.
I like how the game flows, the way everything is presented like a side-quest instead of having a few major plot points and then some random "kill this and talk to that" quests you can pick up from chanter's boards and whatnot. sure, in the end most quests end up having you kill something, but at least in act 1 (only just started act 2) it feels like you're seeking out worthwhile work to be able to pay for the expedition and you get deeper and deeper into several plotlines along the way. choices seem to have at least some minor effect on what happens in the game and a lot of side-quests are actually pretty long and will continue with new quests throughout the game. so, to put it simply, questing is fun and doesn't feel nearly as much as mindless grinding as in most other rpg's. so far.
also, the main story is indeed interesting and manages to keep me playing to see where it all ends up. it's not epic in any way and it doesn't exactly keep you on edge out of suspense, but it makes you interested in the characters and to see their fate and try to affect the outcome best you can. parts of it are kind of stupid on the other hand, for example the whole thing with Aveline. she is a well written character. I like her lines and her personality, and that she's not your average big breasted bimbo. but why the hell would the captain of the guard follow you around and put her life at risk for some clearly illegal and highly suspicious jobs? and why does she let a nobody like Hawke stir up trouble all over town and kill whoever he/she pleases?
also dialogue in general is all over the place. some of it is great. some characters have among the best voice acting I've heard in a game. while some of it borders on embarassing. mainly female Hawke. how the hell could they let that dialogue through? I've never before actually hated my main character. but no matter how I attempt to roleplay her to my liking, she ends up saying something utterly stupid and acting like a complete moron. not to mention the horrible voice acting. picking the "evil" option, which I tend to do most of the time, ranges from being calm and straightforward but still caring to being a raged lunatic who'd murder anyone from looking at you wrong. and the "jokes"... well, let's just say I'd trust a 3rd grader to write better comedy.
and then we have combat, which is the absolutely weakest part of the game. I'm playing on hard and it definitely offers a lot of tactics and frequent use of pausing and giving orders. but the times when the game is incredibly hard is when the computer more or less cheats and throws wave after wave of enemies at you that spawn in the middle of the battlefield, preferably on top of your weakst characters and more or less kill them in an instant. too many fights in the game consist of first dying, then figuring out where the next group will spawn and try to move your characters out of reach in time. I'm slowly realizing that having a tank is useless since they don't do any damage but still can't control the battlefield in an effective way. Taunt is useless and it's way too easy to lose threat to a high damage dealer. a group of mid health/high damage warriors or rogues plus a healer seem to get the job done. except for some boss fights. and these are a whole different story. the two hardest fights so far consisted of a boss that managed to kill my damage dealers easily but couldn't touch my tank. but the boss just wouldn't die becaue the tank deals next to no damage at all. these were fun fights, I give them that, but they definitely didn't feel very tactical. too much luck and quick reflexes involved.
and finally, the overuse of repeated scenery. lazy is the only word that can describe it. extremely lazy.