Finished my first game as a Male Human Noble Warrior (Templar and Champion), and I loved it. About 30 hours, plus or minus, for those interested.
Very entertaining ending, and it meets my requirement of "Give a crap about PC and companions" and even added "Give a crap about world".
My Male Human Noble Warrior mostly played as the "heroic" type, trying to uphold justice and the like. I am thinking my next character will be an "at any cost" kind of person. Just debating between Elvish Rogue and Elvish Mage.

***** SPOILERS BELOW *****
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Have you opened the gate to let the Knights in and give you a hand in that fight ?

This game is a bit heavy on the sex. During my first run through the game, one night at camp, I had sex with one character. As soon as I finished, I walked across camp and convinced yet another character to have sex with me.
For a society so closely based on the Middle Ages, there sure are a lot of whining post-modernists.

I don't know that I'd categorize it as 'heavy on the sex' when it's completely optional (you have to actively pursue it to have it happen). It's not like they're going to just jump your bones out of the blue. ;)

This game is, indeed, "the new shit". I'm enjoying myself.

True, but one party member in particular tries to solicit sex in many of his conversations with you. Also, if you're going to allow sex with so many party members, why not make Shale available for good measure?

Don't you forget about the dog!

Give him enough bones as gifts and he'll do anything!

They both have their strengths and weaknesses. Risen's story is pretty sucky, and there aren't really any interesting characters in it. On the other hand, it's entertaining all the way through, from the open world exploration to the great dungeons. Dragon Age isn't. Far too much time is spent grinding through linear dungeons that consists of a series of battles that are too similar to each other. And the balance isn't too good either.

I think you can only pick one party member, because once you do, it's like you two are in a relationship and every one else in the party is like "oh well isn't that cute."
I slept with Alistair.. I reloaded my save and I am not doing that again.

I don't know. I slept with Alistair and Zevran already. And looks like once I have enough approval with Leliana, I'll will be able sleep with her too.

As a male, I slept with Morrigan, and then walked across the camp and slept with Zevran. If seeing the awkward polygonal sex wasn't horrific enough, the fact that I could go from member to member on the same night and get booty was a bit much.

haha, well I suppose I should have started with Morrigan, because after sleeping with Alistair she was like "oh hows your boy toy?" all the time and didn't even open the option. :(

Oh, for those who weren't aware (like me), there is one more free DLC. Just go download the Character Creator, make a throwaway character, upload it to your account, then start up DA:O.
Nothing amazing, but fun for people like me who get off on having lots of items to sell.