Do you have to play the Dragon age expansions for origins to understand 2?

I was looking to play the dragon age series and i was just wondering if you can just play the first game to understand the second or if you need all the expansions. is there references to any of the expansions in dragon age 2?Do you have to play the Dragon age expansions for origins to understand 2?
I assume youre talking about Dragon Age Origins -Awakening.



Nope. You dont have to. There is a major character in Awakenings who will play a bigger role in Dragon Age 2, but you dont have to play Awakenings.



In fact, some people skipped Dragon Age Origins and still got the picture in Dragon Age 2Do you have to play the Dragon age expansions for origins to understand 2?
The 2nd one makes allot of comments and things like that, that reference to Origins and Origins explains allot more about the blight and darkspawn and stuff than the 2nd one. The expansions don't really tell you about the game's story line unless u get the Coriphius Expansion. It tells you a little more about Hawke's past I suppose. Other than that though....i suggest that if you want to understand Dragon Age: 2 better than you should play Dragon Age: Origins and get the expansion for that one called Awakening to really feel Dragon Age lol XP i hope i kinda help....or perhaps I'm just confusing you........lolDo you have to play the Dragon age expansions for origins to understand 2?
You don't need any of the DLC or the Awakening expansion to understand DA2. All you get in the game if you have them is a little bit of extra content, but nothing major. The Awakening expansion does give you some more insight in to a party member named Anders and his backstory though.