Never tought BioWare(the masters of single player RPG) would manage to surpass their early Neverwinter Nights...
Let's start with the easy part, graphics is no longer a problem these days, every game has great graphics as in the level of detail. The only problem is the rush with which some games are made, even by BioWare...one example is nwn 2 which has a lot of places to get yourself stuck in, or glitches like the one I remember I had somewhere in a library where I should have activated 4 books, but one of them could not have been activated source of an error or something(I had to reload from somewhere far and then it worked)...well you can't find anything like this in Dragon Age. So it's perfect in this way.
Sounds are great, the music is great and the way people speak, you can distinguish very well if someone is speaking from within a closet or from afar or from near you or from behind etc. Also you can read on their lips the words they speak and they also mimic. Also your companions speak between themselves or join in a conversation that you have with certain NPCs.
Now the fighting is as in many bioware games as you may probably have played: you pause the game choose actions and then unpause for the characters to make that actions. You have but 3 classes however 3 races and 6 background stories so you actually can get enough Dragon Age if you complete it 100%. As a warrior you can wield duals, two handed or weapon shield or bow, as a rogue pretty much so and as a mage you might just stick with the staff, and if you decide to become arcane warrior(as I had) you can war heavy armor and weapons...
The dialog is so elaborate that I can't explain it much, you have to play the game to feel it...it will give you a unique experience.
In the end I woud advise you not to play a male character, it will give you a bitter ending. That's just possibly, it depends what you choose. So even if you are a male, just pick the female :P
I would also be open to discuss certain characters of this game...if need be.
Take care.