Well, I've bought it. Signature Edition, no less. My verdict, after ~6 hours of play? It's intriguing. Not a masterpiece, in the same way DA:O or Mass Effect 1 and 2 were, but definitely worth a play.
Right, that's the TL;DR version. More thoughts to follow now:
1. The ridiculous
Well, so I bought this game, right? I pop the disc in the drive, let it install, and start it up. But nooooo, I cannot play it yet, because us filthy european types are only allowed to play it starting March 10th. What a load of crap.
Well, a few hours' waiting took care of that, but nonetheless. Why allow retailers to sell it, and players to install it, but then require an activation check (which runs with admin rights, no less) to check the release date? Makes no sense to me.
While I was waiting, I decided to download the OST (one of the Signature Edition goodies). A minor WTF here is that the only download option they give is a zip archive with the soundtrack in .wav format, clocking in at a massive 725 MB. Would it really have been that hard to put up .oggs or .mp3s?
While on the subject of Signature Edition goodies, as a proud owner of DA:O Ultimate, I got a few rather game-breaking items for free; among them a bow with ~60 DPS (available when the average weapon clocks in at <10 DPS), and a staff that deals a massive 400+ ice damage (which is a glitch, surely).
2. The game so far
Well.
As I said, it's intriguing. And it's definitely fun enough for me to continue playing, but the story has a few problems. For one, the Prologue/Act 1 break is accompanied by a one-year timeskip, during which neither my main character (female Rogue) nor my sister apparently earned any experience. Which, considering I spent that year as part of a mercenary gang, is sort of strange. Related to that, I keep running into people (shopkeepers, mostly), who my character seems to know and care about, but which I, of course, have no relationship with. It's a bit jarring, to be honest.
The second problem is that so far, no overarching plot has materialized. Where DA:O had a clear goal, and a clear antagonist for you to defeat, my current goal in DA2 is to get a job. Which, as far as motivations go, is certainly enough to get Joe average going in the morning, but is sort of not very epic, if you know what I mean. Yes, there certainly are signs of something brewing in the distance; but honestly? If a hero's worth is measured by his or her opponents, then Hawke is worth about 50 Sovereigns, at this point.
Now, in terms of technical stuff, the game looks pretty good to me. The slight tweaks to the art style BioWare made are definitely working for me, and I like the looks of it. Kirkwall is a pretty enough town to wander around in, at least for now. In terms of gameplay, I guess you could say it's something of the same process that gave us the gameplay changes from Mass Effect 1 to Mass Effect 2. I know there'll be someone out there screaming "Dey made it easier for those console-playing peasants," but I, for one, couldn't care less. It's fun, and that's all that matters to me.
More stuff to follow when I feel like it.
