Still working on downloading it. So so slow...

What should I play first?

I was never that fond of DA2 to be honest. Gameplay-wise, it's good, but I found the story to be lacking (won't spoil anything here though).

Woo a Dragon Age thread!

I'm going to finish my DAO download today. At least now, I will have sufficiently low expectations for DA2 when I play it so I'll still be able to enjoy the game

Going to play a rogue first. Not sure to go dwarven male or elven female

Oh, and that's another nit-pick regarding DA2: You're human. That's it. You can choose between male or female and between warrior, rogue and mage though.

Would've been better titled just Dragon Age. >.>

I heard that was a major issue too (and there was a hee-larious 'Hitler ranks about DA2' for it), though if I had to choose between picking 3 different races or having a voice for my main, I'd pick the latter! But maybe DA3 will have both. (yes, already looking forward to that)

Dragon Age 2 had better combat gameplay, but the story and environment were both lacking. I played through Origins 6 times and enjoyed it thoroughly each time; I'm having trouble getting the motivation to play DA2 a second time for achievements.

I really enjoyed it.

The demo had me worried, but I really enjoyed it overall. What shortcomings this one had was offset by some of the nice touches I felt. I didn't like the changes to graphics--the look of the enemies that were changed and the rather blah look of the city (and especially the recycled dungeons akin to ME1). The graphic reboot makes me think that somebody thought 300/Watchmen/SuckerPunch was better than LoTR in terms of visual design. And I loved having a voiced protagonist.

The story was less epic and had a few weaknesses, but I'm glad they didn't make the same old "save the world" type of storyline. Individual missions (unless it's a "boss fight") tend to be shorter but on the up side the pace moves fast. And there are a lot of cameos from some people, depending on your decisions in the first one.

In short, I don't think it was an A like I'd rank it, but it's a solid B- to B+ (depending on your tastes).

Hey does the gender of your character affect what kind of 'origin story' you start with?

(download complete... installing now!)

EDIT: Another question - how do the DLCs for DAO work? I've never played before but I have all the DLC because I bought the Ultimate Edition. Are they incorporated into the game's main storyline, or do I have to intentionally 'activate' the DLCs?

As far as I noticed, gender doesn't affect anything at all.

As for DAO DLCs, you should've gotten codes when you bought the Ultimate Edition (I did, at least), which you can activate in your EA account and after that download to the game. They're very separate from the main story line (they are, in essence, all side quests). You'll get shiny new map points to go to in order to activate the quests, as far as I remember.

Gender really doesn't effect things beyond whether or not you can romance Alistair or Morrigan as they're bother heterosexuals.

Three of the DLCs are essential side quests. Solider's Peak, The Stone Prisoner and Return to Ostagar. I'm not sure about the PC version...but in order for me to play the DLC (aside from the above listed) I had to choose a new game from the main menu and then select that DLC. Since they are essentially their own stories...so to speak.

Damnit I spent an hour on character creation. Remade my character twice after 1) every dwarf looked like me and 2) chose the wrong voice. Anyway, beware o' world, for your new sexy-hairless-cocky noble dwarf assassin has arrived!

What does coercion do and how do I use it?

Also the dwarf origin story is AWESOME!

Coercion pops up in dialogues as (Persuade) or (Intimidate) lines. Also, were you a Dwarf Noble, or commoner? If you're a noble, I may insist upon you re-doing it if you didn't leave the origin with 30 gold.

I was a noble... how do I get this 30 gold...

btw is it worth it to be both a duel weapons user and archer, or only pick 1?

I usually just stick with one and do it REALLY well.

Agreed.

Basically you should only pick one and go for that as there's usually not enough levels in the game to allow you to...mix and match. Though if you really want to do archery and dual wield...you can sort of get it through playing Leliana (since she's default archery rogue).

You could do both if you have Awakening.

Meeehh... who wants to play Awakening anyway?