i agree that a game doesnt need a convoluted plot , but considering how DAO got hailed as the second coming of CRPGs and somehow praised for its story, i figure that the central badguy plot might actually need some more nuance to it.
Well that's kind of the thing about Dragon Age: Origins, the main threat, the darkspawn and archdemon, are not as important as the world they are trying to destroy. The biggest conflicts outside of battling monsters are political ones, and despite you running around the country, desperately trying to convince people to help you, everyone's is tied up in their own drama or conflict. Your actions and decisions then decide who your allies in the final battle will be, and what your companions will think of you. The reason people like the plot of DA:O so much is because the characters you meet, and your own investments with the happenings of the world, make you care what happens to it. And that makes the darkspawn threat an actual threat.
If you actually wanted more nuance to the darkspawn though, the entire Awakening DLC did that pretty well (from what I remember, it's been a while). Too bad the sequels kinda stopped giving a shit about the darkspawn, beside Corypheus, though. DA2 and Inquistion really had too many interesting plot threads to follow and they both went with some of the most boring ones for their main plot in the end, bah.
You could also play that one DLC where you play as the darkspawn horde storming Denerim and killing all of you allies lol.
