this could be the game of the year. instead it appears like an outdated sequel of neverwinter nights from 2002.
to get a more objective picture, i´ll take three other recent RPG games, which i consider as modern milestones of the genre, as scaling factor: the in parallel with DAO launched RISEN from german piranha bytes, the polish THE WITCHER and the bioware epos MASS EFFECT.
DAO tries to follow the footsteps of previous bioware dungeon & dragons gems baldurs gate (I + II) and neverwinter nights. however it tries it too hard and so is the result.
the story is typical for bioware - matchless, unique and breath taking. you encounter the characters in plenty of dialogues with great voice acting which uncover the complex and deep plot step by step. together with its protagonists, the story sucks you in and keeps you motivated in further playing. anyway, after more than dozen hours of playing you realize that it is the only factor you still sit behind the computer.
the graphics are not what they try to believe us to be. compared to new risen and to older witcher the visuals of the surroundings and environment are literally plain and poor. the game nature is dead and this definitely not due to the darkspawn. there are no (or only very few) accessories which increase the realism of the game - no birds, no flies, no butterflies, no animals, very few flowers & plants, spare vegetation, sterile sky. you don´t experience the shifting of day and night (which became obvious in other RPGs), you don´t feel the time flowing and the world living.
also the graphics of greater places like the city of denerim don´t lift you from your seat. the buildings and interiors appears uninspired, schematic, like combinations of few preassembled graphic blocks and items.
compared to the magnificent and picturesque world of risen or the witcher the visuals of DAO look recycled, out of date or finished in haste.
the first impression of the visuals of the physiques and facials of the persons is astonishing (especially their gesture and mimic abilities combined with phantastic voice acting) but after a while you´ll get the impression that everybody is a relative of everybody. the heads (male and female) wear all similar facial traits, are of the same "genotype" - even the main characters. therefore they lack a rate of distinguishability and facial originality. the advantage of facial customization at the beginning of the game lets you feel playing rather some kind of RPG-sims with premade characters.
another issue is the same body type. it may look nice when every woman has the stature&breasts of a lara croft but when you encounter an aged grandma in such condition, it is simply ridiculous. you´ll get that silly grimace on your face when you see the underwear sex scenes made politically correct for light flammable US-parents. not to mention the fact that female brassiere was created in 19. century and definitely not worn in medieval ages.
back to the game world: its emptiness is tangible also in shortage of objects you can reasonably interact with. it is apparent especially when you desperately need healing potions or healing plants. DAO suffers the illness of many other its RPG predecessors - instead of useful items you´ll find piles of useless junk. soon your inventory will be full with potions which have no real impact on the game, or things like various metal shards, fire rocks or cheap "precious" stones you can easily live without or sell for very few coins. during the fights you´ll recognize that the lack of useful (healing) ingredients or potions can be very frustrating.
another problem issue are the fights themselves. the fighting system is as old as the genre itself and hasn´t undergone any improvements since. the result is that you don´t have any real impact on the fight tactics (the so called tactics system is extremely complicated in relation with its real use). you cannot use the terrain to your advantage (for example you cannot block the door with your "tank" character(s) and heal it/them from behind, because the enemy seems to slip through every tiny gap) and this makes in relation to your small party casters or archers ineffective, because the enemy tends to hunt them down very fast and surround you in large numbers. in addition, your party members seem to suffer unintended amnesia during the combat - often they simply "forget" what you´ve delegated them to. so it for example happens that during the battle a fighter "self-willed" gives up to continue fighting and/or remains standing aside receiving hits; or when you´re running towards an enemy group, one or two of your party members don´t respond to your orders.
in addition, the fight is not swift and flexible (like in mass effect), it is not tactical and ingenious (like in risen) and it is even not a funny spectacle (like in witcher). unfortunately, it is a nearly ancient "dice roll" system which appears with modern graphics and natural physical movements quite awkward. therefore a turn based system would make this fight system at least more challenging and less annoying.
90 percents of the quests are type of hack & slash & retrieve something. they may have nice description, but at the end are all about the same. there are no variations within the quests monotony.
at last few words to the atmosphere. you perceive the game feeling explicitly through the brilliant story and strong character identities. otherwise there is none. the mentioned visuals don´t contribute to it not a bit, the soundtrack is quite average and indistinctive. the total opposite to the mentioned other three games, where the music lifts the playing to higher dimension and brings you goose skin.
my personal quote is that dragon age is a huge project that was more ambitious than its result. this project could have been miles better, mass effect was already a step in the right direction. there might be perfect player support with manuals and well marketed downloadable contents when the game lacks essential elements what make it more than the sum of its parts. all in all is dragon age more a disappointment than an exciting surprise.
summary:
it´s an expensive (50 euro) epic action focused quantity type RPG with an average and linear story, repetitive quests, with awkward outdated combat, plenty of (really good) dialogues, lots of uselles text readings and loot objects, many useless character skills, annoying huge dungeons with always the same monotonous quest line & interiors and average till simple environment graphics. if you liked dungeon siege, you would be pleased. in case you liked neverwinter nights, you may be disappointed.