sounds like every crpg to me. Name one that has absolutely positively the whole experience that any p&p gives me

Doing a speedrun of the CRPG doesn't exactly bring the experience closer to P&P though.

true that. but nobody forces you to play the game that way, even if some people choose to do it. but then again, there are people who call $ANY_MORPG an rpg ... Personally i just take everything with a stat system as a crpg. Nothing will ever approach the freedom you have in p&p.

Very true, though I am of the opinion that you can role-play in just about any setting, no matter the predefined rules, wether it be Counter-Strike, World of Warcraft, a discussion forum, Mechwarrior, FIFA, Command & Conquer, Baldur's Gate, a MUD, or anything else. Defined rules can help the player becoming more creative in playing/creating their role than a completely free world where anything is possible.
The irritation for us who like to role-play (well, for me anyway, I cannot speak for anyone else) is that most people apparently wants to use their imagination as little as possible, constraining the experience to the predefined rules instead of expanding the experience and using them as merely a base.

Well thats true but then in order to get that you'd basically need magic. That or decades of development time and billions of dollars to build a genuinely sentient AI

Or a real GM behind it.

Which pretty much removes the CRPG label

I know where you are. Unfortunately, the only hint I can give is pretty useless: Save that bit for later. But unless you reload an earlier save, you can't - because as you said you're locked in. So... what I'd do is probably to change the difficulty down to easy and change back after that bit is over.
I used three heavy melee fighters (the dwarf, Shale and myself (a warrior)) plus Wynne for this bit. Don't know how wise that was, but it worked out well enough. Though the final battle was a huge pain.
There are a couple of locations like this in the game, and I don't like it much. The Mage's Tower was especially annoying as I ran out of inventory space very early on, and couldn't sell anything as the doors were locked behind me. But at least I got a warning there, unlike in Orzammar.
I love the game overall, but there are some annoying bits for sure. I was pretty tired of Orzammar by the time I reached the point you're at, and getting locked in didn't exactly make things more fun...

Not to mention the fact that all your party members can be killed at various points in the game, and there's also the different endings to consider.
I'd certainly prefer a continuation if I'm ever going to play an expansion or DLC for this, but I see how it could be very difficult. Unless they go for an expansion with different characters. That would probably be the easiest, they could even have it take place somewhere else (like in Orlais).

Probably the most important thing with health poultices is to DIY them. To make the greater ones you need I think 4 elfroot, 1 concentration agent, 2 distillation agent and 1 flask. The last 3 are sold infinitely by the merchant in camp (anything with 99 items in the shop list is really infinite) and elfroot is sold infinitely by the Dalish. Not sure where the recipe is, maybe the shop in Denerim.
It's relatively expensive to get all the ingredients but once you do, a decent herbalist will solve your health kit problems and you'll still save money on buying the ready made kits

I took Leliana, which I have regretted, since I thought I needed a thief. However, since I need more cunning for some chests (I assume), it's not worked out very well. Kinda wish I'd kept Alisdair instead (I have Shale and Oghren at the mo, and I'm a mage).
I do this, despite it being expensive, because you can't buy poultices very often. However, I had neglected to buy elfroot when I visited the Dalish because at that point, I had plenty of poultices. Given that it's such an trek to go backwards, I carried on regardless, using what I could find. I had assumed that Orzammar couldn't possibly take much longer... but it's been the longest region for me by far. (I haven't seen Denerim though.)

Nah Orzammar is the single longest section of the game. Nothing to stop you leaving briefly and paying a visit to the elves. Well unless you've been sealed in, that was a rude surprise because I was low on health poultices myself at that point. That creepy monster that looked like a naked version of me with tentacles did a number on my party's health (and my psychological well being)

Changing games a bit, they have stated that your choices in Mass Effect will affect Mass Effect 2 (party members that got killed won't show up, among other things - I suspect the player's choices in the ending will have a pretty major effect). And I would actually be pretty surprised if Dragon Age: Continuations (my unofficial title for the next game, the third being "Dragon Age: Finales") is completely separate and NOT affected by your choices in this game.
Even something as old as Baldur's Gate 2 is actually (slightly) affected by some of the player's actions in the previous game.
Though, of course, if the player has NOT played the previous game or chose NOT to import their earlier savegame, there will be a default prologue.

I think that common sense suggests how to handle most of these choices:
NPCs who can die/be romanced/etc: They can stick around, but they won't be "main" NPCs. Using DA:O for example: Allister and Morrigan are the mandatory NPCs (I don't think you can get rid of them outside of the plot). As such, they play a key role in a lot of events (Allister especially). Leliana, while awesome, is clearly a side character in most main plot related events. So if you gave Sten a puppy so that he wouldn't become angsty, start reading Twilight, and kill himself, he will still be around in DA2. But he will be restricted to side plots, commentary, and joining you in a massive bisexual orgie. He won't be the key to stopping the Darkspawn from taking over the homeland of the Carebears.
Events/Choices: Either go to a new region (the easiest way) or have another event occur that sets a new status quo. Using KOTOR 1 and 2: It didn't matter if Revan was Sith or Jedi, since he left and another group of Sith came to wipe everything out in the few years between games.
And if you really want to see how Bioware is going to handle this: Do what I did and pre-order ME2 :p.

Thats why I hope the next game takes place in Orlais, I want to see Val Royeaux and have Leliana be a truly major character.
If they don't make it so it reads player saves, I hope they make the canon choices some of the darker ones, especially the choice the night before the last battle (though I hope like mad that the choice there doesn't directly affect a new character, not sure I can stand to play the chosen one again)

Yes, I always had Leliana with me due to chests, but she's a bit useless in combat. But that might be because I made bad choices when I levelled her up (I don't know, I didn't think so but it might seem that way in retrospect).

I expect the same thing, though it's AFAIK never been said that the next games will happen directly after DA: Origins.

MAJOR SPOILERS!
One choice in the end can cause Alistair's death. And Morrigan's fate is also determined by your choices. Since you can even die yourself through one ending, there are absolutely no guarantees about any of the characters in the game.
END MAJOR SPOILERS