Kirkwall is a rotten, nasty, place.

You still get to pick if lots of mages or Templars die - you get to choose between embracing freedom or order, you get to choose whether your sibling ends up dead, cloistered or Joined...

The reason DA:O feels more satisfying is the game presents you with a simple plan at the beginning, "gather allies, kill boss" - that's the sum total of the main plot, with political intrigue thrown in that only really matters to the Human Noble.

The plan in DA2 is "get rich, stay alive" and then in the final act "pick a side" it feels crap because both leaders are actually insane and have been for years - Orsino might not have practiced blood magic before, but he's supported it.

Mass Effect 3 has the same problem, the game plan is "kill reapers, save galaxy" but in the final few minutes the devs had a Reaper tell you that killing all the Reapers would kill EDI and the Geth - presenting a false choice that got everyone's panties in a twist. A moment's reflection should, however, tell you that the only reason you're listening to the Reaper-child is because you know the devs put him there, any Sheppard would ignore him and kill the Reapers anyway!

Players don't like being set up to fail - that's the issue.

Dragon Age 2 is just a Tragedy in the Greek sense, that's all.