To me, DA: Origins wasn't that superb a game. It was just so hackneyed in its storytelling and so vague when it came to combat mechanics. I really missed the D20 system as well as simply knowing how spells worked (or didn't) via the interface. Don't get me wrong, I got over these things for the first playthrough but I became incredibly bored trying to play it again some months down the line.
To compound it, all these DLC's of questionable value get released. It really makes you mourn the Bioware of yesteryear (or, in this case, yesterdecade).
I find myself in complete agreement
When you move away from a proven and entertaining system like D20 - the last thing you want to replace it with, is a boring, restricted, and streamlined system like in Dragon Age. I never had much trouble figuring things out in it, though, but I was appalled at the limitations of the class system, and I couldn't even come up with more than a single character I'd play it with. So, a replay was no-go - as I never replay CRPGs with exactly the same character, and there was zero build variety in the game. It was like Dual Wielder, Archer, Tank, or Two Handed guy - and absolutely no reason to think about how to actually place your points during level up. It was simply a matter of when you got stuff, not about what you wanted or tough choices. One of the most basic things you MUST have in your character system, is a series of difficult choices. You WANT the player to think about his build, and you WANT him to miss out, so he'll experiment with the game - and play it again to see all those powers he didn't see the first time.
That's it for non-mage characters. Contrasted with D&D 3.5 - where I've created, literally, dozens of completely unique and EFFECTIVE melee characters. Then we have archery and stealth, which is a complete bore in DA as well. It's as if they went "Brad Wardell" in their design department.
What they did is like taking the meat out of the burger, and replacing it with more salad.
With all that bitching, though, it's still a fine game with a great story and presentation. It's just sad that it's not something I'll replay and contemplate - like the old Bioware games used to be.