I made the statement I made based on the comment about Origins' characters. It doesn't matter what you've played before, doesn't matter what your experiences are, a good character is a good character. If you don't agree, that's fine. But someone's liking of a character has nothing to do with what games they've played before. I like characters on Skyrim, and they're some of the most shallow poorly written characters in gaming, minus a handful of them, because of the scale of the game.
I didn't say anyone was free of bias, that they couldn't compare games, etc etc. I said that overall, biases should not be the main contributor as to why someone says what they do about something. That is exactly why people strive to avoid letting their biases influence what they say in the first place.
And that's the main reason I ignored the original comment about not understanding why we liked something you didn't because possibly due to your experiences. Because there's nothing there to discuss.
I have been playing Origins for the first time ever this past week and I am enjoying it a lot. To me the storyline has been interested and engaging, and the major npcs are interesting and I feel an emotional connection with them, much like the ones in the Witcher. And If I enjoy a game, then it would make sense to praise it. I think you have to understand here that just because you don't enjoy Origins or consider it special doesn't mean other people won't feel differently. Sometimes it just comes down a difference in what we enjoy. What you consider to be badly written, wooden characters are obviously not what I would consider badly written, wooden characters. It's not that one of us is wrong, it's just we have different tastes and I really don't see why there is a problem with that.
I also find it a little... strange that you assume that if people like Dragon Age Origins it's because they have low expectations or haven't played anything you consider better. While that may be true, it's also possible that this isn't the case, and some of us find that Origins speaks to us more than it does to you.
You bring up a good point, that being emotional engagement. Witcher's characters to me are for the most part better written than that of origins, but Origins does a much better job (to me) of making me feel like a friend of theirs, like we're a family. I care more about these characters than the majority of Witcher's, and that's just due to the nature of Dragon age. You constantly fight side by side with them, you choose who to bring, they constantly talk as they share your experiences, and you help them out on deep levels with their special missions and progress increasing that bond over the length of the story. That for me is what makes Origins' story good in the first place despite the rather simplistic concept looming in the background.
It's another example of why I say you need to leave biases out of things and first look at a game on its own merits.
edit: Well, I should say I "cared" past tense, about the characters more. Now, DA has left me jaded.