People disliked the gameplay? I must be living under a rock, I loved the improvements they made from DA:O.
Anyway, the story doesn't seem as 'epic' because you're not exactly saving the world so to speak... You're mostly just dealing with events as you happen upon them. So while it's nice to sort of build up a character from rags to riches, the jumps in the timeline (skip a year here, 3 there, etc) have left a bad taste in my mouth. The companions will bring up "oh, do you remember that one time?" which happened about an hour ago in reality.
Aside from the timeline though, eh I suppose it's alright. It's not an entirely unique story, but I suppose it's difficult to be entirely original these days. There were definitely some fun moments, and some really difficult choices, so the fact things change to reflect the way you handled tough situations is alright. Thinking you're doing the right thing one moment only to have it bite you in the rear a year later etc.
But yeah, I'd definitely say the first game was better story wise, although I'm the type that prefers a solid plot rather than dealing with situations as the need arises. Just felt like it was too many quests being shadowed by slightly tougher problems.
Oh and to the above poster, it does seem to get better as you go along, at least that was my impression. The last few years were quite enjoyable, and the finale was fuuuuuun.