I recently finished Mass Effect 2, and was looking for more BioWare goodness to hold me over until Mass Effect 3. I understand that this game is quite different gameplay wise, as it is a homage to older RPGs, but as someone who appreciates Mass Effect purely for the storytelling and dialogue options, I was wondering how this game compares in those fields.

It's less Mass Effect and more just text stuff like Kotor.

" It's less Mass Effect and more just text stuff like Kotor. "

In Dragon Age your character isn't voiced, which some might consider a drawback. I thoroughly enjoyed both games and can't really think of a reason why anyone would not like Dragon Age's storytelling and dialog if they liked Mass Effect 2. 
 
The dialog system in DA is quite a bit more traditional, but then again I felt DA presented me with far more interesting moral choices than ME2 did. DA's story is fairly basic and that's fine, especially as it's beautifully fleshed out by good characters and the PC's connections to the surrounding world courtesy of their particular Origin story.

The dialogue options are much more versatile than the paragon/neutral/renegade choices the ME games give you. It gives you the possibility to really sculpt your own unique character. The story too can be influenced a fair bit more than the ME games. So many possible outcomes for so many situations its silly to list them all.

" @Green_Incarnate: Hmm... KOTOR's pretty good I guess. But, would you say that the game ever reaches that interactive cutscene feel that Mass Effect has? Also, is there good voice acting?
 
@ISuperGamerI: How are things story wise though. Do all the loot/RPG mechanics slow down the storytelling?  EDIT: Also, how is the Xbox 360 port? "

You actually choose what you say instead of picking a color coded emotion hoping they say what you want. You feel more in control of what happens for that reason, which I guess is "archaic" now. 

Well your main character isn't voice acted, so it's quite different in that sense.

Dialog is better than mass effect however as others have mentioned, the protagonist's voice isn't voice acted (everyone else is though) so Bioware was able to write things in more specific ways giving you generally anywhere from 2-6 options (averaging 3-4) per choice in a dialog tree. 
 
The Dragon Age story is actually really similar to ME2's.... you spend the game preparing for a very dangerous mission.  You're not told it is a suicide mission in DAO but it is more or less you building an army to fight another army.  Your companions are interesting but they don't have big intricate loyalty missions like they do in ME2, though most do have side quests you can do to earn their loyalty but if you chose not to, the character isn't really under powered as a result. 
 
Over all, if you play DAO you'll really see a lot of ME2 in the structure of the game, in fact at times it seems like DAO might have been Bioware beta testing certain concepts and seeing how their audience liked them.

The lack of voice acting for your character annoyed me but its still a great game regardless, the other characters are well voiced though.

" I recently finished Mass Effect 2, and was looking for more BioWare goodness to hold me over until Mass Effect 3. I understand that this game is quite different gameplay wise, as it is a homage to older RPGs, but as someone who appreciates Mass Effect purely for the storytelling and dialogue options, I was wondering how this game compares in those fields. "

Dragon Age's story for me was disappointing, as it is heavily inspired in Lord of the Rings, and it follows its story mixing it with a "chosen one" storyline.