Character identification is definitely an issue.
In my first DA:O playthrough, I picked human noble origin. In just the short span of a few hours, I have lost my entire family to a traitor, and forced to live the life of a grey warden and dive head first into a battle. As if that's not enough, I was betrayed a second time, and branded a traitor to the entire country. The only friends remaining are Alisdir, whom I just met a few hours (game-world time) ago, and my dog. Under this kind of situation it's hard not to identify with the character and feel the urge for revenge.
As for DA2, you control a character that you hardly know. You know almost nothing of his background, and you find yourself in the middle of a battle suddenly. And when you finally find peace, you skip a whole bloody year forward in time. That really annoys me. I am finally starting to get used to the character, and suddenly I have to lose control of him for a whole bloody year?! It's like controlling a new character again! I just don't feel the connection with him as I did with the warden.
Okay, it was a little rushed, but for anyone who's played the first one, there is plenty to pick up in the prologue to help set the mood. The Blight hits Lothering, where your family lives. Massive hordes of darkspawn engulf the entire town, you guys just manage to escape, fleeing to the hillside. You're effectively running around an area where the hero of Ferelden refused to go for the entire rest of the game (minus the Return to Ostagar DLC), because there was way too many darkspawn around. let that sink in for a second.
You meet up with another pair of people, a husband and wife, and find out the direction you were hoping to run is just as covered in creatures that want to tear you apart. not good. So you band together for the time being, and turn towards the only place that may just be worse than where you're standing: The Wilds. Even in happy times, nobody wants to go there, it's probably even more dangerous right now, but even a slim chance is still a chance right now. To top it all off, you don't even make it there before getting cut off and surrounded. An ogre shows up, you barely manage to kill it, and at the cost of your own brother/sister, no less.
Little aside here to talk about the ogre that killed King Cailan. When you watch the cutscene, it was one-on-one against the King, pretty much, then the same thing against the Warden. It's not like it crashed through thirty royal bodyguards to kill him or anything.
So, surrounded, all hope is pretty much lost, when fate slaps you in the face again and deals you a dragon. Fortunately, you don't wind up having to face it. Not so fortunately, it turns out to be The Witch of the Wilds, which is probably worse than a dragon anyways.
So, the whole thing is a pretty traumatic and emotional experience, at least I would think so. yes, you don't know too much about the main character to begin with, but it is constantly getting filled in as you play. I know at least as much about him as I do any character I played in the first one.
I am having trouble identifying with the companions as well. In DA:O all the characters had a very good reason for joining you in your desperado.
Sten: To reclaim his honour instead of dying in a cage.
Oghren: To forget his horrible past (and a crazy wife) and to make a new name for himself in the outside world. His reputation as a crazy drunk is very much carved into rock in the dwarven world.
Leliana: okay this one is a little shaky, but she is never in her right mind in my opinion.
Morrigan: Casted out by her own mother. Not much of a choice for her.
Wren: She feared that she doesn't have much longer to live, and she wants to contribute the remainder of her life to a brighter future for the youngsters.
Shale: Well, you sorta bought her, but the main reason is because she doesn't really have anyone else to go to.
RPG games are rife with awkward reasons for people to join you. I can hardly think of any good ones, really.
Sten: Was content to stay in that cage, as I recall. You had to be pretty persuasive to get him out of it, and I'm pretty sure his honour was the only thing that got him moving. Seems to me the logical choice for him would have been to stay in there, not get up and help someone who apparently bribed his freedom.
Ohgren: He's a crazy drunk with you two, his only real motivation was getting away from that wife, and having some rough fun following you around. Not exactly the best reasons either.
Leilana: 'God told me to do it.' Yep, pretty shaky, but at least people do that in the real world, too.
Morrigan: Plenty of choice, I say. The only thing that kept her around was her own plans for you. Otherwise, she could have wandered off on her own as soon as she was out of her mother's sight. She's done it on her own before.
Shale: Is pretty crazy in my opinion, and definitely not a normal case for pretty much anything, so I don't feel how she makes much of an example.
Onto DA2 characters:
Aveline: She only just met up with you, and yet it already seems like she's family. Okay sure we worked together for an entire year - a year that's basically non-existent for me! What the hell happened during that time?
Anders: Why the hell is he joining me? Sure I helped "save" his friend, but that was a one time deal for the map. Why the hell would he stick his neck out so much for some mercenary that he hired?
Varric: He claims to be interested in me as a business partner, but so far he has done far more than that for me. May be he really is that sharp that he can see that I am meant for greater things, but otherwise he's offering me far too much than should be normal.
Etc. All the companions just acts far too friendly for my liking. Except for my brother. He's an ass. He also seems to have a brother complex.... (which reminds me. Your opposite gender sibling always die during the intro. I wonder if Bioware is worried about incest romance.)
As for the random bosses... well, I am a mage, and mages are feared for a reason, so I can live with that.
Not saying they make much more sense than in the first game, but some of them do, at least as much as you can expect them to.
Aveline: You helped each other through the Blight, either you or her killed her last husband, and it's kind of hard to make friends when all the locals either hate fereldens, or are fereldens and are the kind of people she doesn't associate with. Makes more sense than most.
Anders: Chibi covered this one quite nicely.
Varric: he does see potential in you, it's quite obvious. Face it, it's what he does.
Incest romance also covered by Chibi. The Revenant thing i agree with, Rule's dragons not so much. Their power levels were kept about the same. yes there's more of them, but there's more pandas in China than Canada, is that wrong?