Yeah, Orlais.

I think Bioware prefers human versus human settings over human versus monster. Pretty obvious considering their mature style.

For my taste Bioware is too politically correct in their themes and moral displays, but still great at story telling and at game making in general. I loved both Dragon Age games (but certainly Origins more).

Frostbite 2 thank you god. Thank you so much
So I have to survive one more year to be happy again

Sounds good, didnt play DA2 so might give this a go, especially as its been made with Frostbite 2.

Well, personally I enjoyed the Darkspawn story of both Origins and Awakening, but going strictly by lore, you'd see how they can't explore that theme as often as they'd wish, since Darkspawn incursions are rare and the events of the Fifth Blight and the Disciples seem to be unique. 

Mages vs Templars on the other hand always had a hint that it was going to be a big thing, even on Origins. There's been a lot of animosity brewing between the groups in previous lore and events, so they have a good theme to explore there (will be curious to see how they tackle the theme of the Exalted March, since every Exalted March in the past has ended in victory for the Chantry).

I agree that they're a bit politically correct in most decisions available, yet the frame of the games don't leave much wiggle room for those as well. In DA:O, you couldn't be intrinsically evil since that's not what the Wardens stand for and Hawke is held as a Champion. 

Well, that and Bioware's idea of evil is a mustache-twirler who ties a box of kittens to the railroad tracks.

But now I'm just nitpicking.

That's the best evil out there! . 

They're so evil, even Chaotic Evil characters don't mingle with those. Poor kittens .

The Mages vs Templars conflict I think is very interesting and it sets up for more engaging story telling than humans versus darkspawn.

But this theme ties into my politically correct critcism. I may read too much into things, but my general feeling is always that deep down, the Templars are portrayed as the bad guys and the Mages are the morally supreme guys. They put Blood Magic as an excuse to allow for a balanced conflict, that its presence would allow for more morally ambigious choices, but in their hearts I feel like Bioware are rooting for the Mages.

I'm also not a big fan of the "liberal agenda" of Dragon Age (and probably ME too, although I haven't played them), namely that it's like Bioware is trying to advance gamers forward by promoting modern liberal human rights. It's just something I don't expect from a Medieval fantasy setting and hurts immersion for me, that people in those worlds supposedly have 21st Century Western Liberal morals. I would prefer if they avoided the topics of sexism, racism and gay rights entirely.

Thanks Basil...

I for one loved DA:O and really liked DA2. I hope they take the variety of levels and interesting NPCs from the first game and meld it with the much better story telling graphics and combat from the second for DA3.

DA2's side missions reminded me of ME1, the same level with different doors closed off over and over again. It's too bad they weren't given the time to build a larger variety of levels. Also I didn't like how they cut way back on the variety of NPCs you encountered, that's what really made the first game shine.

I don't know, to me both factions have too many blurry lines to be read as "good" or "bad". They both have their good and bad elements, and even the mages, with all the oppression they've suffered, they have also inflicted equal harm on the general populace, given how easily and quickly a mage can become a powerful entity of destruction. 

The real issue that stems from the conflict of those two factions will probably unravel the truth behind the driving force of the Darkspawn and how they were created, since mages (Tevinter mages) are behind that. I hope they explore this theme on DAIII as well. 

As for the "agenda" behind these games, I don't see a particular one. Sexism, racism, homossexuality and whatnot has always been a part of society, even if it was obscured and shunned back in the medieval ages. Remember that the games don't deal on the moral spectrum of religious conflicts when it comes to those issues since they have made a good effort of keeping a neutral ground in those themes. You want your character to be gay? Go ahead. You want him/her to be straight? Go ahead. 

How did you do that? I can not read the original post like you.