You are one of the few who escaped the destruction of your home. Now, forced to fight for survival in an ever-changing world, you must gather the deadliest of allies, amass fame and fortune, and seal your place in history. This is the story of how the world changed forever. The legend of your Rise to Power begins now.
EDIT:
I have recently sold DA2 after three play throughs. I couldn't manage any more. The replay value isn't like that of Origins which I still own and will keep for the collection.
Dragon Age 2 is the sequel to Dragon Age: Origins but don't expect this to be exactly like Origins. It's been changed. Combat is more fast and less tactical and companion interaction and customization is limited unlike with Origins. The worst part of the game has to be the re-used areas and Act I. Act I forces you to complete the mage vs templar quests and doesn't even give a reason as to why you should do these quests that seem like they should have been in act III (when your duty is either to mages or the templars). Dragon Age 2 has many flaws and at times I would give it 7/10 but the story gets great in Act II and the many dark twists and surprises are awesome. While companion interaction is smaller than that in Origins, what is there is good and companions come out with much memorable dialogue. Some things have been dumbed down but the inventory, skill trees and statistics all remain.
If you can get past the flaws, you will love this game but to me - it's no Origins and Bioware should have stuck with Origin's style. With that said, it's still a wonderful game at times but most agree (me included) that a Origins 2 with everything Origins contained (art style, combat, companion interaction) would have been much better.
To end this review, I'll say this:
Press a button and something awesome happens! (Although in my opinion, I think not.)
Gameplay: 6/10
Story: 7/10
Role Playing: 10/10
Characters: 8/10
Areas: 3/10
Quests: 6/10
Overall:
6/10 only because the story is gripping and because the combat gets better once you unlock more abilities to use. I'd recommend crafting poisons and bombs as well as it gives you more reason to enter the radial menu when you've used up all abilities, plus on harder difficulties, these will help greatly.