Of course, one of the major characters was cribbed directly from Final Fantasy X, so there's that.
"Okay characters, writing and story" is fair, I think. Not as good as KotOR or Mass Effect, but better than Neverwinter Nights (and I haven't played any of the rest of BioWare's stuff, though maybe I should). It's a damn solid engine which they've had plenty of time to refine; the characters were pure
stock BioWare but serviceable, well-written and well-voiced. The worldbuilding separated itself enough from "stock Tolkien/D&D setting" to be interesting; the Darkspawn/Blight/Taint/Grey Warden/Archfiend symbiosis was a great hook, and the expansion actually did a really good job of expanding on it. The political intrigue felt a little shallow for most of the game (and Loghain never really felt fleshed-out as a villain; I kept expecting a twist somewhere where he wasn't what he seemed, but nope, evil-looking guy is just evil), though the final maneuvering for the throne worked well.
All in all it's a wonderfully crafted game and one of my favorites of the past decade, though it's a testament to how highly I think of BioWare that I'd describe it as middling by their standards.
Still more excited about Witcher 2 (and WAY more excited about ME3) than DA2, but I'll grab it someday. Maybe even next week if I earn enough extra scratch; it depends on how many days I end up working.