Dragon Age II starts out in parallel with Origins.  You play a character fleeing from the destruction of Lothering (which was sacked early on in Origins), but then you make your way to the city of Kirkwall where, a year later (and with all of the events from Origins and Awakening now in the rear view mirror), your adventure starts in earnest.  You then do the usual -- you meet up with some companions, you complete some quests, and you learn about the world you're in -- before the game culminates with a major boss battle and you save the day.

Unfortunately, the story is about as uninspired as the generic description I just gave for it.  There isn't much of a plot (you basically just wander around and complete 150 side quests on your way to the end), your companions are sort of dull (with voice acting to match), and the quests are less than memorable (there are almost no interesting villains; you just defeat hundreds of anonymous bandits and mercenaries over and over again).  The game sort of feels like BioWare went to an RPG rummage sale and bought whatever quests and story ideas were available, and then just threw everything together.
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