While I will avoid at all possible points to avoid spoilers, ESPECIALLY of the end game, there are a few thing that I will be bringing up in light of said-end.
This means that side quests, romances, etc. may be spoiled. I will be putting each section in spoiler tags with a label, so you can decide for yourself whether you want that particular thing spoiled or not.
You have been sufficiently warned.
120 Hours – and the game is over. I have finished my first playthrough of Dragon Age: Inquisition. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. And while I told myself I would wait a little while before starting another playthrough in earnest, it was really that I just couldn’t decide who to play as next. Having finished all of the side quests before tackling the end quest (I was just so afraid of losing anything that I didn’t risk it), I found there was nothing really for me to do in the after game. So it got me to thinking – if any DLC or expansions come out, it is likely that some of them will add to this after-game section. Now that my first playthrough is behind me, there are a few things I’d like to see come out in after-game content.
I am thinking of the future…no, I don’t want to talk about it with you.
PS. Love you. <3
1. Expanded Romances, or at least some sort of conclusion…
Hugs don’t count as a damn conclusion, BioWare. I must spoil this, because it is more of a warning than anything – don’t expect further romance in the after-game. For some reason, after you save the world, everyone loses that passion they had in the face of destruction and it’s all business as usual. You’ll have the usual romance options you did before between major quests (mostly stealing smoochies), but that’s it. I’ll give an example with my own approach regarding Cullen that I found particularly frustrating:
Spoiler: Cullen Romance
Just before you have your intimate moment with Cullen, you have a deep conversation about how he didn’t consider a future past the Inquisition when this journey started – now that he has you, he’d like to stay with you once everything is over. I loved this, as it made me think that after all the fighting, there was a serious future with Cullen – but maybe now wasn’t the best time to discuss it. After all, no jinxies.
You know when would be a good time to discuss it? IN THE AFTER GAME. I would have loved to have seen another romance scene where they actually talked about what they hoped for their future together. It’s also just responsible and is how a real relationship works – did they want to stay with the Inquisition forever? Or did they want to retire someday and have a little bit of land for themselves? Did they want kids maybe? (All of the Cullen-Daughter fanart isn’t helping my poor pulled heartstrings either).
It would be nice to see both Cullen’s and your own Inquisitor’s perspective on these big life issues because either of them could think either way. It’d be easy to see Cullen wanting kids, but it’d also be understandable if he felt the world was too dark to bring children into it with what he’s seen.
Your Inquisitor’s own views would be taken into account and help you flesh her our further – did SHE want kids? Did she want to step down as Inquisitor at some point? Did she have a preference for where they would live? After all, if you’re a Human Noble, you have a family back in Ostwick. Dalish romancers will probably be less stuck here, as you certainly can’t go back your clan with a Human Templar love-puppy in tow.
For those not wanting the spoilers, it’s basically a request for a bit more depth after the end of the game. The world isn’t over – so let’s have a little bit of a real heart-to-heart with our romances about the long-term situation. You might find some will be interested in a permanent relationship and will want to talk about their hopes and dreams for the future – others will just want to take things as they come and live life in the moment, nothing complicated or set in stone.
Hope you aren’t too attached to sitting in that throne…
2. More purposes for the Inquisition
This one’s a little trickier. I’ve seen a few spots where people have pointed out that the Inquisition is meant to disband after they beat the Big Baddie – however, Cassandra mentions in her speech to Chancellor Roderick that they would find those responsible, bring them to justice, and sort through the chaos (“restore order” are her words, I believe). That last part is still a very real part of life in Thedas. Helping the Chantry to reform, for one. While a new Divine IS elected, that alone won’t be enough to get things going. Having a hand in helping the Chantry put themselves in order, or acting as an interim force as you did during the rest of the game, would be a good start. You might get missives and requests from the new Divine, asking for you to do a few quests on their behalf until their own strength is regained enough to do them themselves. Depending on who is Divine will depend on the type of requests you receive, and then you would have the right to accept or even refuse them if you do not agree. This might also act as another indication of the Inquisition’s relationship with the Chantry – if you refuse a lot, the relationship is strained.
Wearing your Carta-roots on your face.
3. Back to Your Roots – Meeting Your Family/Friends
There is a War Table Operation early on involving your family/friends that you left behind to “join” the Inquisition, one specific to each race’s background. While a letter is all well and good, I think it’d be nice if they visited you in Skyhold after all is said and done. It would be a good opportunity to show the consequences of your attitudes regarding your background earlier in the game. A few examples:
Spoiler: Human Noble
During your time as a Human Noble there are a couple times, particularly with Josephine, that you are questioned on your family. It is here that you can decide whether your Herald enjoys being a noble or resents it. This choice could be reflected in a visit from some of your family – do they welcome you and say they’re proud? Or are you the blacksheep gone further rogue?
Also, your family is mentioned as being devout Andrastians – what happens when they find out that you’ve been skeptic, or atheist? What if you DID declare yourself the Herald – are you a heretic to them then, or do they believe in you as well?
And what do they think of your romance choices? Are they very particular about being with other nobility (which means pretty much ONLY Cassandra will make them happy), is prestige in general enough (so Cullen may satisfy them as well), or are they caring and only wish for you to be happy (kind of doubt it)?
Spoiler: Dalish Elf
The Dalish one is a sticky situation – after all, they think you’re being held hostage at first (sort of true)! It wouldn’t be too farfetched to think they would want you to return to the clan once you’ve saved the world. However, a lot of choices in the game can drastically change your view of the elves, so now is your chance to really show how you feel when your Keeper and a small envoy come to take you “home”. If you were friends with Solas at all – especially a romance with him – and took the Temple of Mythal seriously, your Elf might be against returning to the Dalish. If anything, you might just be very confused and need more time. Or, you treated Solas like the crackpot everyone else treats him as and you can’t wait to go back to the Dalish – you just need a little time to tie things up with the Inquisition.
Their reactions to your romance choices will be interesting – I imagine almost all of them to be a negative attitude, though. After all, most (if not all) of the Dalish clans completely forbid relations with other races because of how few free elves are left and they need pure-blooded elves to bolster their numbers again. Defending your romance interest alone might be enough to get you kicked from the clan. Time for a new surname, maybe?
Spoiler: Surface Dwarf
This one could go one of two ways. For one, I imagine your lyrium-smuggling family would be really happy if you landed yourself with some needing Templars. Now is where we see how your dwarf developed – do you still embrace their criminal side? Or have you turned over a new leaf? If the latter, especially if you are helping the Templars break their lyrium addiction, I imagine your family will not be pleased. It might take some finesse to keep the Carta on your good side – or, you could say you’re done with their ilk and will destroy the Carta if they come after you. It’s up to you. I imagine rebelling against your Carta-roots would earn you points with Varric, certainly.
Depending on how serious “family” is to the Cadash line, it may be a big issue whom you are dating. If they are anything like Varric’s family, they’ll insist you date a dwarf (ha! not an option). If they’re not so organised, they probably won’t care, but will be leery if you date someone of good standing and authority, someone who would look down on criminals.
Spoiler: Qunari Vashoth
Out of all of the origins, I imagine a meet-up with your old mercenary group, given how your war table operation goes, would probably be the most light-hearted and overall pleased-for-you out of the four. They seem genuinely relieved that you’re okay and doing something big, in their own special way. Their response to your love interest would probably either be a jibe of getting soft or endless innuendoes to embarrass you in front of your significant other. Because that’s what best buds do.
Essentially, as ever, I’d like to see more depth to your character – this time, in a way that acknowledges and expands on your origins. It would help flesh out their background before the Inquisition more. It would also serve as a nice avenue for showing character development, reconciling the innocent bystander you were at the start to the mighty Inquisitor you have now become.
Grabbing blankets and venison is well and good, but how about helping with the burning buildings, too?
4. Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes…In the Areas You’ve Explored
I know that as you progress through the areas and assist the denizens of Thedas, there are some small changes to show progression – you take over keeps, a group you assisted moves into the old enemy camp, etc. That’s all well and good, but I feel like there should be more to it. Just as an example:
Spoiler: Orlesian Civil War
There are two areas most affected by the Orlesian Civil War – the Exalted Plains and the Emerald Graves. (Arguably, Emprise du Lion could be included in this.)
Once you have finished Wicked Eyes & Wicked Hearts, you can return to both of these areas and inform them that the war is over. In the Emerald Graves, Fairbanks says that while that’s all well and good, the people are still trying to pick up the pieces and it’s slow going. That’s fair enough.
But the Exalted Plains are the actual battlefields the civil war waged on. You are able to go to each side and tell them that the war is over. And, that’s it. There’s no movement, no aims to rebuild the area they tore apart, nothing. It’s just a scarred piece of land left to ruin.
It’d be nice if, after the game was over, some of the areas the civil war tore apart changed in some way. As the civil war must end in some manner to move forward with the main quest, it would be viable that you are able to see the consequences of that choice. I’d love to see how the winning ruler tackles these problem areas – do they start cleaning up the Exalted Plains? Does anyone reach out to Fairbanks and his lot in the Emerald Graves? Celene, Gaspard and Briala would all have very different ideas of how to approach the problems of these areas in my mind, and you should have to live with their choices.
For example, I can easily see Gaspard turning the Exalted Plains into his army’s new headquarters, razing the farmland and remaining houses to build a massive military force. I could see Briala wishing to convert that same land into a hamlet for elves to begin living outside alienages. Celene would most likely try to get things back to as they were, a small village with some farmland, and her impressive fort overhead.
There is the matter that not all areas will be cleared by the end-game if you left them until afterwards. However, these could easily be mitigated by fixing the area up, leaving for a while, and getting a letter or war table operation to say the area has changed, you should go check it out. Other prominent areas I can think of are The Hinterlands, Crestwood and possibly even Haven. This might be overly-ambitious thinking on my part, but I can’t help but feel like it would just feel more alive if there were little touches like this that made my actions feel like they had more of an impact.
Most of the above would be too big for just a patch and probably for DLCs as we know them (simple cosmetic weapon, armour and item sets). None of them would be extensive enough for an expansion of their own, but may be best served as part of a larger expansion. In the end, only time will tell what BioWare has in store for us. Fingers crossed for Varric romance.
Tags: BioWareDragon AgeDragon Age: InquisitionFantasyRPG
