The romance would depend entirely on if the characters interest you or not. I didn't think DA2 really had lovable characters, but I pursued one just the same to add a little to the storyline

Some of the differences that divide people are that DA1 is more tactical, and DA2 is more action. DA1 has more varied locales, while DA2 has more mature political affairs

Consider DA1 to be the spiritual successor of Baldur's Gate and other Infinity Engine games if you've played any of those

I personally was not turned off by DA2's lack of locales or likable characters. I mean, the characters were likable, just not the best for romance options. They were still very well fleshed out. But the first one had more amusing characters. I think it just goes with DA2's darker tones. Even if DA1 dealt with a more serious plot with the blight destroying everything, and the back-stabbing politics even in that game. They just delve more deeply into things in DA2

You really don't even have to play any of them though if you don't want to. They're long and enjoyable, but could be considered dated for a new-comer

I can imagine playing an action oriented game where button presses don't translate directly into actions could be kind of disorienting. It's more MMO-styled in that regard. You tell them to do something, and then they go do it. Unlike things like Fable, where a button press directly equates to an action rather than a command. And if you play more tactfully or on harder difficulties, you'll want to do a lot of pausing and issuing commands. The companion AI is generally pretty good. But they're far from brilliant, so for tougher encounters you'll be spending a lot of time pausing with the command wheel, or manually popping over to other characters to tell them to guzzle a potion

There's a lot of customization to the AI though, which is great. You start out with general character rules like Ranged Wizard, or Support Wizard, so they have a general idea of what to do, and then you can customize that with "use this command under X condition" so they'll start a battle with a buff, or drink a potion at 50% health or stuff like that. And then when it gets too crazy you sometimes have to tell them, or control them, to do more specific stuff. It's really fun, but my girlfriend hates playing that way, so she plays them on casual

Edit: I didn't really discuss romances much, I don't feel like they're shoe-horned in at all, I think it helps develop both the romanced character, and your own character as people. They add to the story, but they're not necessary to enjoy the story. And skipping them doesn't detract at all. They do a pretty good job of making them feel natural when you pursue them. And in the same regard, it's really natural to ignore them. It's just done fairly well. But they've been doing this for a long time. Baldur's Gate 2 had romance options, and every one of their games since then. So I wouldn't worry too much about them one way or the other. They do "optional" romance better than anyone else on the market. The only better love stories out there, are written specifically to be love stories