I've never played Dragon Age Origin. On amazon there is the 'ultimate edition' at decent value which includes all of the DLC. I am however concerned about the negative things I've heard about the sequel so is it worth me involving myself in this franchise if it goes down hill. I'm not worried about the game not being visually impressive as in an RPG looks aren't a priority for me but an added bonus.
 
I will be getting this for the PS3 if I do buy it.
 
Thanks in advance for any help you provide.

Although the second one isn't as good, Origins has so much good stuff in it that it is totally worth it.

The fact that DA2 barely follows on the story means that you aren't missing out if you avoid the sequel.

Origins is a fantastic game. You owe it to yourself to check it out, irrespective of whether or not you intend to play the sequel. Personally, I think you would be better off playing through Origins a couple of times, as different classes/races, than playing the sequel. 
 
Either way, yeah, this game is great. Including all the DLC it could easily last you 100 hours plus. Don't let negative talk of DA2 cause you to miss out on this gem.

Of course not! Origins is still an excellent game. I would recommend you purchase it on PC if you can run it.

You dont need to worry about the franchise. Dragon Age Origins stands alone well as a solid fantasy RPG that has a lot of content. The world and story are fully fleshed out, if you dont want to play the sequel then you dont have to. PS3 version isn't great from what I heard though.

Just go and get Origins, you won't regret it duder! 
As for the sequel, it's actually a very good game, but it's not a worthy successor to Origins.

Origins is great. Preferably you should play it on PC. The sequel is a good game, but it just should've been called something else.

Play it dude. One of my all time favorites.

Origins is awesome, and barely related to the second. Getz it. PS3 version is good, but PC is better if you have the hardware.

Completely agree with @CrossTheAtlantic here, Dragon Age 2 felt much more like a spin-off than a proper sequal. An interesting spin-off to be sure, but ultimately an inferior one. Though I'm very optimistic about Dragon Age 3, as a lot of the choices in Dragon Age 2 proved pretty brave; and honestly, DA 2 would have been a great game if more time had gone into story and level design, not the fundamental game-play decisions. So I'd say there's a lot of hope for the franchise.

However, even if the third game would completely botch, it won't change the fact that Origins is the best Bioware game since Baldur's Gate 2. Great story, and the best characters you've seen in the last decade of gaming. Though you really, really should get the game for the PC, simply due to the amount of fantastic mods that exist for the game. They improve the experience from a superb one to a near-perfect one. This site herehas terrabytes of content for Origins, including fully-voiced companions, dungeons, long-running quests, and what is essentially mega-texture packs. Heck, most of it is better than the official DLC for the game (with the exception of Shale, love that "stoned" bugger.)

@PieGuy: The question you need to ask yourself in the end is.. Have you ever.. Licked a lamp post.. In wintah'?

Great game.
 
And if there's any moment where you think this game is old, ugly or boring, slap yourself in the face and continue.
Its one of the best games ever and the only thing that can ruin it is your own spoiledness with other games.
 
So yeah, go get it, enjoy it.

Solid game, big chunks of the story and setting are ripped straight out of the SOIAF books, but still a solid game.

Dragon Age 2 is still a good game. Origins is a great game and it doesn't matter if the sequel is not as good but I recommend both highly. They both do alot of different things right. I probably prefer DA2 because of its story telling compared to the first but the first is probably a better RPG in terms of gameplay and mechanics. 

Thanks for the multitude of answers. I was half expecting the question to be ignored.
 
I want to play it on PC but I'm about to start university and I can't spare the funds or the time to justify buying one at this time. I am fully intending to convert to being a PC gamer though in the future, reason being I enjoy many games that are clearly better on PC such as The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Battlefield.
 
Guess I shall be buying it right now. Pity it is start of a weekend so it won't be until Monday.
Any suggestions on race/class/gender etc. or general tips for a newcomer would be much appreciated.
I've noticed a thread on the order to play DLC so I shall check that out.

Origins is a must have.  I personally like the second one as well and recommend both, but at the very least play Origins!

Origins is amazing its because of that I will still buy the apparently bad sequel eventually. 

Origins is one of the best RPG's you can find, and one of my own personal favourites of the entire last decade. DA2 is... OK. It was a fucking awful sequel, and doesn't deserve to share the same brand name, but it's not necessarily a bad game. It's got some great writing, and your party members are the highlight of the whole affair that may just be worth the monotonous pacing, muddled story and repetitive environments. 
 
Origins is a must buy, while DA2 is a maybe rent. 
 
@PieGuy:  
Your choices carry over, though they have very little bearing on DA2 besides a quick nod to your choices, or an extra inconsequential side quest ect. DA2 overall has very little to do with Origins minus the World it's set in.

@PieGuy: Glad to see you decided to get this wonderful game, mate. But before you go rushing off to buy DA 2 afterwards, there's Dragon Age: Awakenings to be had, the full-fledged expansion to Origins. I recently played through it (for the third time, sigh..) and while it doesn't stack up quite as well as Origins, it's still heaps better than DA 2, besides: depending on the choices you make in Origins, the world in "Awakening" actually comes across as drastically different.

As for race/class, I'd really just recommend you go with what you enjoy playing as. You'll meet so many companions (Edit: not campaigns, bah) that will fill every role you could possibly hope for in your party, so I'd say just go with the kind of character that you'd rather be, after all, you can control all your party members. Race/background/class, as well as the choices you make have pretty dire consequences, so think carefully whether you want to be a human noble from a powerful family, respected and feared alike, or a rape-victim from the poor slums with racial issues (I shit you not.) It makes for great roleplaying, as the different heritages opens up new options for your character. An elf can deal with things in a way a dwaf can't, and vica versa. Personally, I went for a big-ass human from a big-ass noble family with a big-ass two-handed sword with a big-ass bad-ass attitude my first play-through, but just go for what you like best. (Dwarf Noble line is pretty awesome, though.)

Origins is still good. Play it, maybe check out the expansion, then move along while you still have a high opinion of the IP.

Play Origins, pretend Dragon Age 2 doesn't exist because he has pretty much nothing to do with Origins anyway. Just be warned after you finish Origins, you'll probably be bummed out knowing you'll never get a real sequel.

Never too late to the origins party.

I just bought the Ultimate Edition myself last week and I am loving it so far. I'm playing on the 360 and it works surprisingly well with a controller. Buy it!

It's alright. I think DA2 makes Origins seem a lot better than it actually was.

@PieGuy: Yes and no. Rather than posing a meter whick tracks your choices in the game, and then swiftly sub-catagorizes them under "how nice, how bad and how kinky", Dragon Age has two methods of keeping you far more involved in the choices you make. First of all, you've got your companions. Each of them has a very distinct personality, and the ones you bring with you will have opinions or your actions. Befriending your companions will allow you to get to know these greatly-written characters better, improve their skills in combat; and even lead to hanky-panky if you so want. (Lots more hanky-panky than in mass-effect, loots more.) Seeing as you actually will come to care about your companions, the decisions won't always be as easy as you reckon.

Secondly, Dragon Age has consequences based off almost every single damn action you take in the game. It's pretty staggering, really. But rather than track points, you'll see the game-world change around you. Main-characters will die (even your companions), entire cities and/or peoples will die and be destroyed, and the story will drastically change. Abandoning the moral meter was a smart choice for Dragon Age: Origins. The game is dark, and the game makes it a habit of making the "right" decisions often be the most unpractical ones. Being easy and selfish is easier, while being good can lead you to lose much, but gain other things along the way.

There's no quick-time events a-là Mass Effect 2, though. Conversation options definitely will change depending on your previous actions, but.. You can theoretically be a bastard in one scenario, and be a good guy in another when it fits you. God knows I saved a marriage and a kingdom before engaging in a four-some, and then betraying an one of my dearest companions for more power (and what a shit-storm that mess brought up.)

It's exactly what makes the game so great.

Origins is a must play.
 
I like DA2 but it is not nearly as good and the subject of much nerd rage.

Play it!

The sequel is an alright game, it's just not nearly as fantastic as the first.

play it.

Well you can play it now, or you can wait 15 years for the remake.

The remake will probably have insane graphics though.

Everyone should at least play DA1...the sequel's kinda "mjeh".