Why this discussion is so long? DA:O would have been a good game if not for its extremely bland story: "Hordes of murder hobos kill everything and everyone, just because, and only one person can stop them." The writer of this crap should stop working in the gaming industry. The only way it can be appealing, if you never ever played any other CRPGs and evil for the sake of evil hordes are somehow a refreshing plot to you.
A game doesn't need a complicated or convoluted plot in order to be good.
If we talk about games in general then I agree, but if we're talking about RPGs specifically then the plot is everything, which is why in my view slashers like Diablo, Dark Souls and other games with stats without substance are not RPGs (they are action games with RPG elements). On the other hand, I consider Star Control 2 a real open world RPG despite it doesn't have formal stats (you can become more powerful by upgrading your ship instead) because it has very well made plot with choices and consequences.
