Slow start but once it gets going your in it for the long run.
Your one of six possible characters who ends up on a path to becoming a Grey Warden(a group of warriors whose sole purpose is to fight the Blight) due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and in turn end up having to save the kingdom of Fereldon from an Arch Daemon who controls the Dark-spawn and are known together as the Blight. You end up on a journey to tell the other races to respect their treaties and fight with the Wardens in a final battle against the Arch Daemon. This takes you all over the world trying to gain allies in your fight.
The game play:
This is a grand adventure with mainly RPG elements. We are talking just over 50 hours of game play. You play as a party of four but you can end up with as many as 10 people to choose from eventually. Every character has their own skill tree with the chance to add unique skills to that tree. You get your standard strength, dexterity, will power, magic, etc skill points as well as attributes and skills. Each character seems to play differently for the most part and even though you have your main character to play as you will find your self swapping during battle to play as your other characters who you can customize as well.
There is a lot of loot in this game however by the end of the game it all pretty much looks the same IMO and there didn't seem to be anything to over powered. Certain weapons can have upgrades added to them called rune stones but there is only one guy who can put them in your melee weapon and he is located at your camp which you should visit often.
The difficulty can be hard at points but you won't really find yourself dying at any point more than a few times with the exception of the end boss, but overall i would say the difficulty is balanced and if you want to lower it or heighten it you can at any point.
There is a lot to explore and a lot of missions to do in this game however the thing that makes this game so good and why it grew into my heart is the story telling. Every character in your group has a story and if you win them over you will hear about it, as far as the main story goes it is full of side questing and the decisions you make effect everything you do. Each of your parties members will like or dislike your choices and you often have to pick a side by the end of a main story quest that will effect the end game. There is tons of talking and story telling so if you enjoy listening and being brought into a new world you will love this.
That is not to say there isn't combat in this game, if anything its non-stop, but you would put the controller down after awhile if the story wasn't enticing you to move forward. That is not to say the fighting is bland because there is many ways to handle each fight its just to say that both story and fight go hand and hand. The chances are that by the end of the game you will be feeling the urge to try another class and the opposite path you choose before.
If your looking for the next big RPG to play you should definitely put this on your list. This long and enchanting journey deserves a play in your gaming machine.