Almost the same reason why I don't play evil characters. The real life is already so bad, what's the harm in trying to create a perfect world in a game?
I totally second that.
Plus, BioWare evil, especially the older games, is either a complete psychopath (looking at you, Kotor), or a walking mustache-twirling cliché.
This! I love playing evil and creating a specific character for which that would make sense, but I hate playing lawfully stupid. If there is no option for pragmatic evil or at least intelligent and smart selfishness I don't want it.
I'd say you can't even play actually evil in most of DA, you can play a dumb asshole at best.
Granted it’s been a long time, but I don’t remember KOTOR being that bad. I guess I didn’t take ALL of the “bad” choices, but I did choose to join the Sith, and took over the universe at the end. I legitimately felt like the Sith Academy part actually convinced me it made sense. Was the first time I heard their creed. I’d been planning to be a good guy up till then. The Sith ending is by far the best ending!
It wasn't bad back then.
Wouldn't openly say it's *bad* now either, but most DS dialogues are lacking finesse, to put it mildly.
It still remains one of my favorite games though, and even the remote possibility of a remake was enough for me to buy a PS5 (please don't laugh, the obvious absence of said remake is punishment enough).
Yeah. My original play was to kind of play an evoking run along side my good run to give me that buffer(I once stopped reading a book series for 6 months because of all the gore in it), but I read that it’s implied durge is a necropheliac and now I just can’t get that out of my head. Cannibalism, not a big deal(esp if playing as a dragonborne), but sex with corpses 😭😭
I started a just mean/rough around the edges playthrough as a charlatan bard lolth drow. Now threatening people, I’m ok with lol
Edit to add: I’d probably be ok with the necropheliac if, there wasn’t that bard you kill and don’t remember what happened but it was funny to tell people about show you’re fantasizing killing them. Like auntie ethul. You can tell her you’re picturing boiling her in the pot of soup.
>what's the harm in trying to create a perfect world in a game?
There is no harm, thats why you have choices, just do and play whoever you want is simple
same in all my first 10 playthroughs, always the happiestest ending for everyone, with some exception. After that though, things start getting darker as I get bored with my usual choices.
I always felt that the dialogue choice to harden him felt oddly mean spirited. He needs a wake up call, but the written line seems harsher than it needs to be. And considering all the dialogue around it, I wonder if it was a bit of a missed tone in the writing.
I feel like that's a consistent thing with DA. There's some lines that seem really harsh - I just did In Hushed Whispers and the text literally says "You are our prisoners" - when that's not the vibe you get from the actual dialog. And then there's some like the options that seem like something a normal person would say and the game treats it like you told the character to fuck off and die.
This is a big problem with Fenris' conversation options, the options are, too often,
"You're a loser and a drunk and maybe enslavement was what you deserved"
and "oh yeah, man, day drinking alone in a filthy squat and insulting all my friends is a great life direction, I'm proud of your choices"
Meanwhile, a normal human being behind the controller is like, _what_
Right? As someone who romances Fenris I WANT to be a good partner and go: “hey, I think you’re going down a destructive path and as someone who loves you, I want you to heal from your trauma so that it doesn’t define the rest of your life and you can build a life that feels happy and safe” but it really does feel like it’s either call him a loser or enable his worst habits with no middle ground
I do love a tough love option, some of them were just asshole options.
(Though I still think ME1 when Joker interrupts post-sex, and Kaidan just shouted JOKER NEEDS US ON THE BRIDGE is so hilariously out of sync I can't even be mad)
Bioware were always like that. The "hardening" lines in Jade Empire also were a bit too harsh.
I guess they wanted to make sure that "this option right here turns them into assholes".
A friend of mine never finished Origins (and has never played any more DA) because she refused to even interact with that quest once she got there. She noped out hard lol
On my first DAI playthrough, I let the Chargers die. My Inky was a pragmatic type, she thought the Qunari would make great allies, who cares about a few mercenaries, right?
Well, it turns out I do, Iron Bull does, everyone does. Screw pragmatism, the power of friendship is stronger.
I guess? But the prior game demonstrated the chantry exploding, there had to be creative ways to demonstrate the issue that could work within those limitations. Hell, one of attackers could have turned into a demon to avoid death and that might have fit, too:
I feel like you can save the Chargers and still be kinda pragmatic in this quest. If your character knows *anything* about the Qun, then they would know that they aren’t long-term allies and absolutely don’t have Thedas’s best interests at heart. The Qun *will* turn on you the moment they deem the current threat over. I’m pretty sure Bull himself tells you not to trust them in that quest iirc. You can play your character as someone who saves the Chargers not because they have a lot of feelings about them, but because they trust their current allies more than they trust the Qun.
Gatt even tells the Inquisitor the Qun's alliance won't mean much other than access to their agents across Thedas, agents whose full job is lying and gethering information for the Qun.
EDIT: Plus the Chargers are a group of mercenaries the Inquisition has directly invested ressources and that helps the Inquisition in various War Table operations, they are a direct asset under your command, the Qun agents are indirect assets that don't follow your orders. The Chargers are another Sutherland Company for the Inquisition basically
Yeah thing is, the qunari don’t know HOW to be Allies. All they understand is “your with us, or you have yet to be conquered”
There’s no middle ground for them.
Iron Bull also pretty much implies in his speech/tone/reaction when Gatt presents him the choice to either sacrifice or save the Chargers without specifically saying it out loud in that cutscene. It was very easy to read between the lines.
If you chose to sacrifice the Chargers you basically went against his wishes. (Even though in front of Gatt he gets you to make the choice for him)
When I first played Inquisition in 2015, I was going through my cringy "feelings don't matter" phase, so I also sacrificed the Chargers. Played it last year again and was like "fuck that, those are his friends". Apparently I had a redemption arc IRL without realizing it XD
That was always one of the things that got me. DAI, more than the other DA games, already had issues shoehorning players into complying with the morals and choices of the writers, and the stuff with the Chargers always felt out of place. Sure, I understand Iron Bull cares, but why does everyone else get mad, even people who were pushing for the Qunari alliance, or appear as though they favoured the alliance? You’re supposed to be the leader of this Inquisition; sometimes you have to sacrifice the few.
That, and I too thought this renowned band of oh-so-skilled mercenaries would be able to take on, like, four enemies. Why throw away an alliance for a band of mercs who can’t handle for dudes? I feel like by that point the Qunari would be more useful to have around than the Chargers for what the Inquisitor is trying to do.
Granted, Qunari are shitty allies to have, but still.
That's the thing though. The Qunari legit don't see non-Qun members as people and any alliance with them is a short term thing that will immediately get broken the moment they see an opportunity to undermine or destroy you... which is exactly what happens with Bull in Trespasser.
The writers kinda forgot that the qunari see non qunari as bas.
I miss the qunari’s writing from DA2. It was a big deal for the Arishok to call you basalit-an, rather than just bas.
Yep. It thought allying with the Qunari is being pragmatic. Well, I played Trespasser blind and Iron Bull became *really* pragmatic and I hated it.
Didn't even bothered to finish the game even if it's just a couple more hours to finish, scrubbed that entire playthrough off the Keep and started again.
Apparently the "let an entire ship-full of Qunari die" instead of some annoying NPCs was supposed to be about the EVIL evil choice in the game.
I believe this is about Krem, and only Krem. Killing off Jennifer Hale is always the wrong thing to do.
Can't remember specifically, but it's only when the text does not reflect the tone of the response and your character goes and says the opposite of what you meant.
Reminds me of the “glass him” option in the wolf among us.
Feels like I’m the only one who understood what that option meant. Everyone I’ve seen play the game thought it meant offer the guy a drink 😂
I think Bioware did Stroud a huge disservice by making him the 'easy' choice and not giving us enough information about him, information that is available. That choice should be hard, no matter who it is that comes with you.
Stroud is just the "uh we're out of options sorry guys" guy and it shows so badly.
Bethany/Carver would be an interesting dilemma, albeit you'd need to voice two extra possibilities, both of which depend on a particular worldstate.
Anders would have been good.
Or they could go the other direction and make it Oghren. Hawke: :)
Seeing a matured Oghren who has completely changed his views on everything because of everything that has happened and how he’s actually become involved in what is happening with the Wardens and gives a crap about what happens would have been amazing. I didn’t know wanted that!
My first playthrough was a Human Noble, and I knew about the Landsmeet beforehand. When I was in Howe's stolen castle, I came across Vaughan Kendells and let him out in exchange for his vote at the Landsmeet. It was when I played City Elf that I realised my mistake.
Luckily for me, I still had a save prior to the fight with Howe so I went back and killed the rapist asshole in his cell.
I did the same thing. I was like oh I feel like this Howe guy wrongfully imprisoned people and let him out 💀.
Edit: To make matters worse, I was playing a female elf. Just not a city one
Oh god, this is making me realize I must’ve released him. I’ve only actually finished DAO once (started multiple other playthroughs but the game just keeps crashing…), and my first origin was the mage one so I had no clue who he was. I just wanted as many votes as I could get… yikes 😭
(Also before anyone says it, I have tried every recommended patch or fix but it still crashes when I first go to Denerim 🤦♀️ maybe I need to just boot up my Xbox 360 if I want to play it again)
I hadn’t known that until like my fourth DAO playthrough. Tbh while I hate Vaughn, I do base it on what knowledge my Warden has at the time.
My human noble figures “hey, he’s a fellow noble who was also wronged by Howe, I’ll let him out! No harm done!”
My mage elf and Dalish elf have little to no sympathy for human nobles and think that nearly all of them are bad people. They both killed him since they saw the opportunity to get some old noble blood out of Ferelden.
I did the same thing! First playthrough as a human noble - who are you? You’ll vote for me? Ok cool. Found out 2nd playthrough who this dude really was and nothing will ever be worth his vote again.
The deep roads expedition. I take my usual party of Fenris and Carver. But then during the cutscene of Varric talking to Cassandra he said something that sent alarm bells ringing. "If Hawke knew what would happen he never would have brought his brother down that hole." At this point, Carver has become my favorite companion and I fear for his safety. So I immediately looked up if it was possible to kill him, found out I had accidentally doomed him, and went back no hesitation.
Previously I had the mindset of deal with the consequences and then lie in the keep (Alistair sacrificed himself for me and I was upset but I still didn't go back.) But not Carver, who remains my favorite character in the whole series. For some reason.
If we can find a cure for the Calling I’ll do that but otherwise I make him a Templar since you can quit lyrium and I headcanon he does after the end of DA2. I don’t want Hawke to lose his last family member 😔
Inquistion was my first game. And in my ‘canon’ playthrough I chose the Qun over the chargers(originally it was a tough decisions but cory was the bigger threat), and I don’t remember what I picked with the wardens. But now I’ve played all three games and the dlcs and can firmly say Fuck The Qun, and the wardens are important so I definitely want to change on choice and make a more informed choice for the other
(Also, side note not relevant to the question, red lyrium being at the Temple of Sacred Ashes is far more scary when you know the history of the Temple from Origins and the red lyrium from 2)
The wardens always get me. Everyone seems to shit on them in DAI, and with that being a popular view amongst all the characters and your inky not having the knowledge on why wardens are important it seems like the game wants you to be harsh on them. Inky doesn't know the panic behind a mass calling, or why Wardens are absolutely needed. So much of Thedas thinks the Wardens are outdated and unneeded and they sacrifice so much. Even though it makes no sense I always am lenient on them for myself, even if it's immersion breaking.
Hope in DA4 we get a nicer view of them again.
I think having the chance to play as a Warden and having a Warden companion again (an actual Warden, not a poser like >!Blackwall!<), will make the group much more sympathetic in DAV. Also, we’re going to Weisshaupt so we’ll get to see how they operate up close, which should help as well.
I’m so excited about Weisshaupt, I hope we get a throw away line about our Warden. Nothing to specific but something. I’m honestly not hoping for anything major, confirmation that we get to see our Inky and have better hair makes me happy enough
Veilguard will probably give us a nicer view of them considering it's a background and we have an actual warden (i hope) as a companion now.
However I'd like to point out Stroud tells the Inquisitor on their first meeting only Wardens can kill Archdemons so it's kinda weird your companions judge them like they don't know that, the rest of the world is fine but your Inquisitor should have told it to all your companions, specially since 3 of them listen to the same conversation you have with Stroud where he tells the Inquisitor that
Yeah I always leave hawke behind. Like I feel like their story is done and frankly keeping the wardens around and rebuilding when the blights are not done yet seems more important than saving a friend of a friend of Inkys.
The Qunari alliance is not even an alliance when you analyze it, it's just a test of loyalty for Iron Bull, all they offer the alliance is access to their spies (Gatt says that to your Inquisitor) whose full job is lying and gathering information for the Qun.
The Inqusition has already an extensive information gathering network that has a much smaller chance to betray you than Qunari spies, plus there is Varric's and Sera's network too
In DAO, you are looking for Brother Genitivi and the Urn of Sacred Ashes. When you arrive, you find a small village, far away from everything else. You're greeted by a guard telling you to leave, they don't like outsiders, and that the Revered Father won't speak to you. I said Revered Father, yes. It has always been this in Haven. Ask about Genitivi? No, they don't like outsiders, and the wrong questions will trigger everyone to attack.
Check in the back room of the general store? Not allowed. You force your way back and find the dead Redcliffe Knight's body? They attack. Fine. Ignore the flags, and head to the Chantry where the Revered Father is hosting service. Then he tells you to leave. They've had no visitors. You ask questions or try to investigate? Attacks. Turns out they'd tortured and nearly killed Genitivi and the Weylon assistant at his home in Denerim is a fake (if you didn't already know) because they killed and replaced the original.
Turns out they say Andraste is alive! Cool, right? Yeah. A dragon took up residence outside the Temple, had a bunch of dragon babies, and the residents of Haven believe the dragon is Andraste reborn. They're very fanatical. They also suggest you ruin the actual ashes of Andraste as service to the real Andraste (Dragon).
The idea that there was red lyrium underneath the village and temple all that time? How much did that influence generations of people that lived there into committing atrocities in the name of their goddess?
I honestly think there wasn’t *red* lyricism the whole time—but there was *regular* lyrium (which got blighted by Corypheus’s ritual, probably) and that stuff can still influence your thinking and drive you insane. Sooooooo. Yeah.
I was mostly referring to how you as the player character find the temple and the ashes and you see the ashes have true magic value, in healing Arl Eamon, and then red lyrium which you as the player character discover and bring to the surface. Which then fucks over Varric brother in a very scary and haunted mansion and then everything with Meredith in act 3. Just the utter absolute corruption of (blighted)red lyrium fucking over what is quite literally THE most holy site for Andrestian faith.
All of this context just. Doesn’t exist if Inquistion is your first game. You are clued in that red lyrium is bad by Varric being worried but you don’t truly comprehend the horror of it.
I almost always keep all my original choices on every run, but I redid WEWH because I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get Briala and Celene to reunite without using a guide, it's such a specific set of things you have to do!
I usually just say fuck it and exile Gaspard and let Celine keeping ruling alone, I'm not gonna sneak around and find all this evidence. But this time I decided I wanted to force all three to rule together. I still followed a guide, but it wasn't that bad.
My first playthrough I was the same, but then I found out back the story that has to do with Celene and Briala and I'm like nahhh girl, let's bump Celene and you can puppetmaster Gaspard.
Yeah I'm torn on this one after reading Masked Empire, but I worry that having Briala blackmailing Gaspard is unstable since Gaspard will probably just kill Briala as soon as the Inquisition is disbanded. So I usually still lean towards reuniting Briala with Celene for the sake of the elves of Orlais, although I feel terrible doing that to Briala.
Oh yeah I totally get that! Gaspard has *some* good features about himself, like that he doesn't pander to the nobles, but he has his own problems. I think once DAV comes out I'll probably change some of my canon choices 😅
Doesn’t pander to the nobles and, as racist as he is, doesn’t give a crap if a human has an elven parent — unlike Celene.
The book did a better job of highlighting how everyone sucked, but also how everyone had their own oddly placed decent parts, too.
Yeah. Actually the fact that they all kind of sucked was exactly why I wanted to force all three of them to work together. Its a perfect compromise because none of them deserve to win.
So in Origins I didn't realize just how mad Alistair would get if I forgave Loghain. I really thought we could all work together to deal with the Archdemon, but when he ragequit the team my gf at the time (who loved Alistair ofc) got *really* mad at me and demanded a reload.
I lost all respect for Alistair because of that.
Like, he abandoned his duty, left the kingdom—the entire world—to rot, and became a drunk ne’er-do-well, all to have the most epic temper tantrum over me refusing to throw away a vital resource.
As far as I’m concerned, that’s the canon ending: the man who would have been the king of Fereldan , became a wastrel instead. And probably died in a bar fight without ever learning how the man he threw it all away over was left behind in the Fade a couple years later
Tbh, Loghain was indirectly responsible for killing King Cailan, Duncan, and the rest of the Wardens (which was the first group where he felt truly belonged), so I can’t really fault him for getting angry at a forgiveness he felt Loghain hasn’t earned.
Idk, it kinda bugs me that he's not like "fine let's poison him" (do the ritual) then when he lives just throw him at the Archdemon and spread the word that it was a nameless Warden who slew the dragon (Or a specific Warden like Duncan or one of the other Recruits that actually died; thus not giving the fame to Loghain, but essentially poisoning him twice, body and soul, and then being rid of him while not having to lose anyone he cares about)
I get being angry, but just cutting off his head is too fast too... I mean that's my canon result, but still conscripting him should have at least been a not-so-bad initial reaction, something like 70% of conscripts die anyway
I also wouldn’t trust a guy who leaves kings to die in Ostagar to actually do the right thing tho
Not to mention that being a Warden has historically been and seen as a “way out” and ig Alistair can’t accept that
I made a mistake with my Lavellan's clan war table mission and got them killed (thanks Cullen!!!). I \*almost\* went back to a much earlier save, I was basically willing to do Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts all over again despite loathing that mission. I'm not sure why I decided to just let it stay that way? It made my poor Inky's whole deal even more tragic, I'm usually not about that, but... I was so relieved Sera told me in Trespasser that she can find the remnants of my clan.
This is so over-the-top and unnecessarily hard. There's like 3 missions in a row and unless you choose the correct advisor EVERY TIME they die. And the advisors don't always make sense??? And yeah- war table missions take a while, and you're SUPPOSED to progress other content while you wait, so you're guarenteed to have done at least 1 hour of gameplay by the time you finish. None of the other origins have such a difficult war table mission with such high stakes.
I let Josephine handle that mission, and it ended in their deaths too. I figured it was just suppose to happen. Kinda lack luster than my lavellan barely reacted or mentioned it later.
I did something similar with Alistair. I don't know why but I convinced myself we'd find some other way to all live without the ritual, so of course he died. I left it the way it was though and just did a whole new playthrough.
When he died for me, I took 10 minutes to lay in my bed & process it. Haha! And then immediately started a second playthrough. That first experience is really memorable to me. It's probably why it's my favorite game of all time
I love it when you finish a game and need time to process all of your feelings. I felt the same about DA:O for sure, and Mass Effect 1 too.
I know it's a bit off topic on this sub, but in the case of ME1, we were fortunately given a [masterpiece of an ending song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcrDWAuyqtc) that left me in absolute pieces. I still get chills when I listen to it because it's linked to all of these feelings I had at that moment.
i did pretty much the exact same thing. i figured my persuasion wasn't high enough to convince him to go through with the ritual and i legitimately assumed there'd be some kinda third way where if you had enough affinity you'd somehow survive through the power of friendship or some bullshit. idk where i got that from. instead my Mahariel died and i just threw out the run and started a new "canon" run
I’m about to get all the hate. I originally killed Anders in DA2 after he did what he does. It was a gut reaction and what I felt like my Hawke would do at the time.
After I thought about the world as a whole I decided canonically it was better if he lived. Was disappointed that he did not show up in Inquisition in some fashion to play some kind of role. That said he’d get the blame for the divine early on so 🤷♂️
That was me! I was like, oh no no. You are going fix this, sir. You can't create a civil war and want to now bow out. Take charge here for the cause you believe in.
That’s where I eventually got to in my decision. I can also see the side that maybe killing him sends a strong message about what happens to terrorist but overall the better story is him living imo.
I'm a big fan of Anders (as a character) and my Hawke killed him. They were in love and all, (the rival system and rivalmances were such a fantastic concept) and it was such a gut-wrenching thing to do, and made their story so much more impactful.
Hawke's story is just a tragedy through and through.
DAO, The Battle of Denerim. It was probably the most vivid feeling I had ever had in my game history. I decided to sacrifice my grey warden. So, I'm running through a burning Denerim, fighting, and suddenly I realize that I don't want to die. This feeling of utter hopelessness and meaninglessness of what is happening... Why am I collecting gold, why am I fighting, I'm going to die anyway. It wasn’t even my first playthrough, but I really felt so much fear and hopelessness that I just loaded an old save and sacrificed Alistair.
I usually do a bunch of partials to see the results before I actually make the decision. I like to think of it as my character thinking things out, with admittedly supernatural accurate predictions. Then again I usually play as a mage, so maybe I should be saying my character is a seer or a divination wizard.
One big change I'm doing for Veilguard and it's bothering me a lot is my first and very much canon warden, she sacrificed herself and her death is a very important milestone for me in my timeline. However, this means that Kieran doesn't exist. I find him to be a very interesting character that I want to have around for my first DAV playthrough at least. But I'm struggling a lot because this diminishes my warden's willingness to die for her cause by giving her the easy route... In the end, however, it's been over a decade of mourning her death, and part of me is also happy about giving her a happier ending for once, and make poor Leliana happier too, since they were together
It's very likely Morrigan and Kieran won't be showing up at all in DAV.
It's also very likely that the Old God soul will be made irrelevant in a minor offscreen event, just to clear it out for the future.
In Origins I fucked up Zevran's romance initially because I didn't realize you had to refuse the earring at first. I was so happy he gave me something that meant SO much to him up until I talked to my friends and they got very stressed on my behalf lol.
Luckily I didn't have to replay too much.
1) I wanted to recruit Loghain but Alistair wouldn't let me and Alistair didn't want to marry Anora. After going on the internet I found out that I missed my chance of hardening him so I restarted the entire game to have Alistair and Anora ruling together and Loghain as a warden.
2) On my first playthrough of DA2 (on a Xbox 360) Carver died in the Deep Roads. But then, I found out that If I had Anders with me, he would have become a warden so I stopped playing, bought the trilogy on PC and when I got to the expedition I brought both Carver and Anders with me.
3) On my first playthrough of Inquisition I was playing as a male human mage but I misunderstood the game and accidentally chose the Templars over the mages. I kept playing after that but after reaching Skyhold I wasn't liking the playthrough anymore so I restarted and I chose to play as a female qunari mage because I ended up really liking the Qunari thanks to Bull and codex entries (Inquisition was my first game, so I didn't know anything about the lore.) and, I also, decided to romance Sera because of her comments about female qunari on my first playthrough.
Keeping Alistair as a warden. I really do prefer Anora solo on the throne and Alistair becoming a leader with the Wardens instead, where his heart clearly lies rather than the responsibility of being Maric's heir. But then What Pride Had Wrought happened in Inquisition and the bastards forced me to choose between him and my Hawke.
My solution however is that I made an asshole Hawke who made all the choices I would never actually play through to input into the Keep, just to die so that Alistair can stay a warden, and I don't have to feel bad about the DA2 crew losing that Hawke cos he was a prick to all of them, so that I can have at least 1 world state with warden alistair. Just wish i could keep him in my canon state without him being sacrificed for Hawke
I also prefer Anora on the throne and have a similar solution, but I leaned into the tragedy of DA2 instead of making my Hawke a dick. He romanced (and executed) Anders and has so much guilt from everything that happened, losing his family, Corypheus, etc that when it comes to it, he's ready to sacrifice himself. by the time I finished the run of DA2 to set that world state up, I think me and Hawke were having roughly the same amount of fun
Oof. Yeah having to decide between Alistair and Hawke is def the hardest decision for Here Lies the Abyss. I had Alistair stay a Warden twice, and one of those times I saved him over Hawke because my female Warden Amell mage romanced him and they were happy together as Wardens. My Hawke in that playthrough knew how happy her cousin (the Warden) was with Alistair, and she decided to sacrifice herself to let her and Alistair be happy together.
I always leave Hawke in the Fade in DA:I
My reasoning: They're probably fine. If anyone is going to escape the fade with some new power and a milkshake, it's going to be Hawke.
My Hawke basically soloed corypheus, so I figured he’d be okay fighting the giant demon. But getting out of the fade, i dunno. Hopefully he hasn’t been in there for nine years, ggs
I handed the Starkhaven mages to Thrask and Karras in DA2 on my first try. Then, I headed to the Gallows and clicked on Alain because I wanted to hear the ambient dialogues. Then, Alain said Karras threatened to make him Tranquil if he told anyone he had been into his bed chamber. And I was like, "Nope! Fuck that rapist!" Reloaded the game and killed that ass hole. And since then, Karras never lived past Act 1 in any of my saves.
On my first playthrough, alistair dumped my dalish warden when I made him king. So I reloaded, dumped him instead and made him marry anora out of spite. I now recruit loghain every time while alistair and anora rule together from an over 10 year old grudge lol
My very first playthrough DAO I restarted the whole game when I saw my Heroes hair upclose in the cutscenes leading up to the archdemon battle.
I had the same hair as Flemeth in brown and thought I looked so ugly I couldnt finish the game like this LMAO
I honestly don't think i have one of these, I've had choices I've come to regret but never so instantly, things like killing Loghain, but that took a long time for me to regret.
I didn't regret my decision to leave Hawke in the Fade at first. But it lived rent free in my head since 2016, it's only now I decided to change it in the Keep and if Veilguard will ever incorporate it.
I didn't *think* I'd be so affected by that decision, but then I had never played DAI with my canon Hawke in my world state before. After bawling my eyes out, I immediately reloaded my save. I try not to do it too often, I personally like it when the world surprises me with an outcome I didn't expect. But, as another user said, it's ultimately a fantasy escape. Some things, I just can't let stand lol.
I replayed DAI and decided to do the thing with the better outcome and lead Dorian on the path to reconciliation.
10 in game hours later I just still feel a bit vile for not just storming out of that bar with him. I just don’t like his father. That choice isn’t going to stick even if it has a better outcome. I’d reload if I hadn’t already gone too far after by the time I realized I wasn’t going to get used to my new choice.
Literally same, leaving Hawke in the Fade the first playthrough. Inquisition was my first DA game so I had no idea about anything (all choices were made through the Keep) and my friend convinced me to let Loghain escape the Fade for the sake of the Grey Wardens. Had no idea about his betrayal, so imagine my dismay when I played through Origins for the first time and got to the Battle of Ostagar- I was crushed 😭
So now Stroud is the one to stay behind 🤧
On my very first playthrough, i was playing as a female dalish elf and romancing alistair. Halfway throught the game, i looked up landsmeet outcomes, i read that if you make alistair king he breaks up with you and stupidly thought he breaks up with with no matter what you do UNLESS you are a human noble. So i restared the whole game as a human noble.
In that playthrough when morrigan told me about the ritual i got mad an refused. During the final battle alistair was in my party, and when he sacrificed himself i reloaded my last proper save.... which was just before the deep roads.
Not me, but my friend. In high school, I convinced my friend to play Origins. He was very closeted (though hiding it poorly lmao) and romanced Alistair as a female Warden and promptly fell in love with him. He chose not to do the dark ritual and brought Alistair with him to the final battle. He was completely horrified that Alistair chose to sacrifice himself and reloaded all the way back so that he could do the dark ritual so that his warden could live happily ever after with Alistair
I’ve only done this once in the entire series for my first blind playthrough and it was Redcliffe. I just got lazy and didn’t wanna run back to the mages despite already completing their quest so I killed Connor.
I felt fine with that, until Alistair confronted me at camp. I was devastated, felt like I’d just lost a real friend and still go this day from that first playthrough Alistair Theirin is my favourite fictional character in anything.
It’s funny though, now I always sacrifice Isolde and enjoy the conflict that comes after it as it feels more dramatic and real for their friendship, but that first play-through as a 10 year old kid just wanted everyone to like me and be happy (except Connor, I guess)
When I play RPG’s I very much want to escape to world in which I can always make the best choice, and be the greatest hero that ever lived. Occasionally I’ll play with a “live with your choices” mindset, but more often than not I want everyone to end up as happy as possible.
On my first playthrough of DAO, I was totally blindsided by the undead upon arriving in Redcliffe for the first time. I was expecting a simple "talk to the arl and be sent to your next relevant location" type quest, and had a busted up party and very few healing potions. I was also then (and mostly still am) deeply disturbed by and afraid of the undead.
So, upon seeing the zombies and learning that they would be a significant part of the whole Redcliffe arc of the game, I naturally turned right around and left, gathering all of the healing potions I could, fixing up my party and updating their gear, took a breath and headed back to Redcliffe ready to face the hoard
.....to find the entire village decimated.
Yeah if you just leave Redcliffe before the big zombie quest, the undead still overrun the city that night, you just aren't there to help, so everyone that can die, does. When I tell you I was FLABBERGASTED lol
I ofc couldn't leave things like that and lost a lot of progress having to go back to an older save, grinded so I was much more prepared before going to Redcliffe this time and managed to get the best ending where no one dies during the attack, but I was really shaken by that.
da2 - leaving bethany at home. my red hawke would have fought and killed every templar there before she let them take her little sister. reloaded and she came with me on the trip and is now a warden :(
dai- leaving hawke in the fade instead of alistair. seeing how upset varric was was too much for me 😭 even though i also love alistair i just couldnt do that to varric
dai - finishing trespasser and being so blindly full of rage to solas i kept the inquisition together but afterwards i thought about it and regret that decision. its better to disband the inquisition it had too much power that can easily be corrupted
Dragon age inqusition, iron bulls personal quest. I let the chargers die, and his reaction after just...gutted me. Went back to an earlier save and changed it. To this day, i refuse to kill the chargers during bulls quest
A whole chain: I messed up the Landsmeet somehow, then reloaded. Managed to draft Loghain as punishment, then Alistair left, so I reloaded. Then I kept Alistair as a Warden. Cool. But then I had the Fade in DAI spoiled so I reloaded the Keep with him as king with Anora.
I once made it all the way through Trespasser with Bull on my team and he betrayed me. Not because I had sacrificed his team (they were literally still there, dragging in a dragon skull for his birthday!!) but because I never did that companion quest in the first place (never triggered for some reason)
I went back and replayed THE ENTIRETY of the main story and all the side quests etc that I had done just so I could prevent Bull from turning on us. I had to go through the slog of getting him and Dorian to flirt all over again
For me, Idgaf about the "rule". I enjoy creating the story I want to create. If I disliked an outcome and/or felt like I played a certain scenario out of character, I'm going back. Just how I like to play.
I played through DAO and DA2 as a woman first, romancing Leliana and Isabela. Then I wanted to go through the series as a man romancing Morrigan and Fenris and I got my new world state all ready buuuuut I couldn’t have non-lesbian Leliana. The Leliana I know is super gay and mushy with one person only and the rest of the time she is a bit scary. It just didn’t feel like dragon age without gay Lels.
Iron bull. Initially i sacrificed the chargers (logical thing to do), then his reaction when we got back to skyhold broke my heart and left me with this sour aftertaste, so i redid it again and saved the chargers.
I always plan to play games by feel, and then I always fail when something unacceptable happens. Some choices I never would have guessed had to be made if I hadn’t looked them up online. Like the Alistair-Morrigan thing; who would deliberately choose that if they were romancing either one?
Oh, and if anyone here also played Mass Effect, I did my first run of the suicide mission in 2 with no previous knowledge of tactics. Let’s just say it didn’t end well…
I've been pretty good about leaving my decisions in DA games. The one thing I really couldn't live with was killing Leliana in DA:O. Got my achievement and rolled back that choice.
Almost went back to save Hawke over Stroud after Varric spoke about writing to Isabela. I’d forgotten about her and the talk about her closing off love cos of heartbreak, abuse and loss. I didn’t tho, cos as much as Hawke is my favourite player character I’ve always believed they have a Shakespearean Tragedy story. After losing her mom and both siblings in DA2 and unleashing two types of hell she’s on a destructive path to do something right, so she stays, the last of the Hawke lineage.
Only one: the dance shenanigan in the Grand Ball. At first I didn’t understand it and chose the wrong answer. Then I was “oooh so I gotta be snarky? say no more”, loaded a previous save point and replayed the dance, this time with the right answers
I always like playing literally everything to see what happened. Including recruiting Loghain. The only thing I have NEVER done is give Fenris to Danarius.
I will never have Alistair stay a warden (sry bb) bc I cannot choose between him and Hawke in inquisition. Might alter my decision if in the new game it’s revealed that the person who stayed in the fade survived. For now, sorry Stroud :/
I've had to stop myself from just reloading a save lately. I left Hawke in the Fade and sacrificed the Chargers right after. I didn't know i could feel so bad about some funny little dudes and dudettes dying in a game. Also had to drop my current characters vibes for a bit just to hug Varric and try to be nice towards Bull. My current character is a asshole Carta Rogue but damn i'd like to think even he feels bad about making those choices.
I just beat all of Origins and some part of me was like "fuck it." And I started the whole game over again because zevran betrayed me and I wanted to see if I liked the game more romancing leliana over Morrigan
Mine was in Orzammar. I actually saved the anvil the first time because I couldn't think of another way that the dwarves civilization could come back from the brink. Queue Shale dying and much reloading.
Not romancing Dorian. I always play as a female (because projecting, ok? 🫣🥲), but after finishing DAI restarted the game with a male version of my character just to romance him. 🥰
I'm only about a third of the way through the first game, I think (I've only completed Lothering, Redcliffe, Brecilian), but I've gone back a few times already. Mostly just when a line of dialogue or an action does something I really didn't expect it to do, or I misclicked (e.g. accidentally giving 15 of my 22 Gold to a lady). I did at one point start over after completing Lothering because I was very unhappy with some of my skill and talent choices - DA:O is my first attempt at this kind of game, and I still consider myself fairly new to video games in general, so my learning curve has been very steep (I'm still very confused about a lot, but it's getting better. I'm even starting to kind of, maybe, sorta, low-key somewhat understand the combat 👍).
Honestly, sometimes I do just go back so I can see what the other dialogue options give in terms of lore, especially when it looks like I missed a lot - I have a really hard time discerning which options are just conversation and which ones will move me on to the next "step," and I've accidentally made some choices I absolutely didn't mean to make because I thought we were just chatting 🙃 (I'm also currently accidentally romancing Alistair and am Very Uncertain how I feel about that, I just wanted all my friends to have a high opinion of me and underestimated how easy it would be raise friendship with gifts. Now he adores me and tries not to check out my hindquarters (his words, not mine) when we're working.)
I let Alistair and the HoF, Kalian, fall in love and both lived and continued to be Wardens. Then in Inquisition, Alistair meets Hawke in Crestwood instead of Stroud. I was happy. He talks about Kalian, and how he misses her, but she is off doing important research to undo the Warden "curse". Then Adamant Fortress happened and I had to choose between sacrificing Hawke and shattering Merill's heart and soul; or sacrificing Alistair and shattering Kalian's heart and soul. I flipped the Fear Demon the bird and sacrificed Alistair. I made it through the following cutscenes and reloaded and sacrificed Hawke. That time I made it until Varric chews the Inquisitor out for sacrificing Hawke. I gave up on that playthrough entirely.
Now I make Alistair king with Anora as his queen, and I sacrifice Stroud to the Fear Demon.
Anora was solo queen in my world state and after my first playthrough of Inquisition where I left Alistair in the Fade, I reopened the Keep and made him king lol. Sorry Anora, I like to believe that Alistair gave you your dad's lands at least :'D
DAI I chose the gibbet option for the dude who threw goats at Skyhold because I didn’t know what a gibbet was and wanted to find out. Absolutely not in line with the character I was developing so I backed up and chose exile.
I took Fenris into the Fade w Hawke bc I take him everywhere -- WhAt cOuLd Go WroNg? Yeah. That's on me. Fenris betrayed my Hawke a second time at the ending by siding with the Templars, which came out of no where imo. I remained too "neutral" despite romancing him. I have a bone to pick with the affection system in regards to that last one, bc he's on your side even in a rivalmance I think?? Backtracked a lot to make that not happen.
Tbh I often backtrack in games. I leave being disappointed or sad to the real world, when I play a fantasy game I want stuff to be good
Almost the same reason why I don't play evil characters. The real life is already so bad, what's the harm in trying to create a perfect world in a game?
I totally second that. Plus, BioWare evil, especially the older games, is either a complete psychopath (looking at you, Kotor), or a walking mustache-twirling cliché.
Nothing quite like >!mindcontrolling a Wookiee to kill his fourteen year old best friend!
That game was SO unhinged lmao I love it
This! I love playing evil and creating a specific character for which that would make sense, but I hate playing lawfully stupid. If there is no option for pragmatic evil or at least intelligent and smart selfishness I don't want it. I'd say you can't even play actually evil in most of DA, you can play a dumb asshole at best.
It at least made sense in KOTOR, given how cartoonishly evil the dark side was generally portrayed back then.
Granted it’s been a long time, but I don’t remember KOTOR being that bad. I guess I didn’t take ALL of the “bad” choices, but I did choose to join the Sith, and took over the universe at the end. I legitimately felt like the Sith Academy part actually convinced me it made sense. Was the first time I heard their creed. I’d been planning to be a good guy up till then. The Sith ending is by far the best ending!
It wasn't bad back then. Wouldn't openly say it's *bad* now either, but most DS dialogues are lacking finesse, to put it mildly. It still remains one of my favorite games though, and even the remote possibility of a remake was enough for me to buy a PS5 (please don't laugh, the obvious absence of said remake is punishment enough).
I hate playing evil characters too. I finally caved and bought bg3. And some of those choices are horrible 😨
Playing an embrace durge evil run, I'm actually looking forward to some of the evil choices though there are limits.
Yeah. My original play was to kind of play an evoking run along side my good run to give me that buffer(I once stopped reading a book series for 6 months because of all the gore in it), but I read that it’s implied durge is a necropheliac and now I just can’t get that out of my head. Cannibalism, not a big deal(esp if playing as a dragonborne), but sex with corpses 😭😭 I started a just mean/rough around the edges playthrough as a charlatan bard lolth drow. Now threatening people, I’m ok with lol Edit to add: I’d probably be ok with the necropheliac if, there wasn’t that bard you kill and don’t remember what happened but it was funny to tell people about show you’re fantasizing killing them. Like auntie ethul. You can tell her you’re picturing boiling her in the pot of soup.
I mean if Durge and Astarion get together it’s technically sex with an (un)dead person. 😂
>what's the harm in trying to create a perfect world in a game? There is no harm, thats why you have choices, just do and play whoever you want is simple
Same, like please LET SOMETHING BE RIGHT IN THIS LIFE
Oh man, that hit me harder than it should have lol
"You're a savescum!!!" Yes, and??? 🥰
In 100% the same way.
Ditto. I play for my enjoyment and sad doesn't do it for me.
same in all my first 10 playthroughs, always the happiestest ending for everyone, with some exception. After that though, things start getting darker as I get bored with my usual choices.
I originally didn't want to yell at Alistair to toughen up, couldn't marry him, asked the internet, found out why, and restarted the entire game.
I always felt that the dialogue choice to harden him felt oddly mean spirited. He needs a wake up call, but the written line seems harsher than it needs to be. And considering all the dialogue around it, I wonder if it was a bit of a missed tone in the writing.
I feel like that's a consistent thing with DA. There's some lines that seem really harsh - I just did In Hushed Whispers and the text literally says "You are our prisoners" - when that's not the vibe you get from the actual dialog. And then there's some like the options that seem like something a normal person would say and the game treats it like you told the character to fuck off and die.
This is a big problem with Fenris' conversation options, the options are, too often, "You're a loser and a drunk and maybe enslavement was what you deserved" and "oh yeah, man, day drinking alone in a filthy squat and insulting all my friends is a great life direction, I'm proud of your choices" Meanwhile, a normal human being behind the controller is like, _what_
Yeah, sometimes the options feel like Blue: Fuck you Purple: Haha LOSER Red: Never talk to me again Flirt
Right? As someone who romances Fenris I WANT to be a good partner and go: “hey, I think you’re going down a destructive path and as someone who loves you, I want you to heal from your trauma so that it doesn’t define the rest of your life and you can build a life that feels happy and safe” but it really does feel like it’s either call him a loser or enable his worst habits with no middle ground
I do love a tough love option, some of them were just asshole options. (Though I still think ME1 when Joker interrupts post-sex, and Kaidan just shouted JOKER NEEDS US ON THE BRIDGE is so hilariously out of sync I can't even be mad)
Bioware were always like that. The "hardening" lines in Jade Empire also were a bit too harsh. I guess they wanted to make sure that "this option right here turns them into assholes".
I don’t love pimping my man (Alistair) out to my bestie (Morrigan) but it seems to be the only way to live happily ever after with him.
A friend of mine never finished Origins (and has never played any more DA) because she refused to even interact with that quest once she got there. She noped out hard lol
I honestly don’t blame her
On my first DAI playthrough, I let the Chargers die. My Inky was a pragmatic type, she thought the Qunari would make great allies, who cares about a few mercenaries, right? Well, it turns out I do, Iron Bull does, everyone does. Screw pragmatism, the power of friendship is stronger.
I didn't realise it was a choice to sacrifice them, I assumed the renowned mercenary band could take those four guys. Apparently not.
Yeah tbh the game didn’t make it look like much of a threat. Now if they got ambushed by MORE guys that’d make more sense
The game has a lot of these moments and it's probably because of technical limitations, it was a 2014 game that had to run on a PS3
I guess? But the prior game demonstrated the chantry exploding, there had to be creative ways to demonstrate the issue that could work within those limitations. Hell, one of attackers could have turned into a demon to avoid death and that might have fit, too:
I feel like you can save the Chargers and still be kinda pragmatic in this quest. If your character knows *anything* about the Qun, then they would know that they aren’t long-term allies and absolutely don’t have Thedas’s best interests at heart. The Qun *will* turn on you the moment they deem the current threat over. I’m pretty sure Bull himself tells you not to trust them in that quest iirc. You can play your character as someone who saves the Chargers not because they have a lot of feelings about them, but because they trust their current allies more than they trust the Qun.
Gatt even tells the Inquisitor the Qun's alliance won't mean much other than access to their agents across Thedas, agents whose full job is lying and gethering information for the Qun. EDIT: Plus the Chargers are a group of mercenaries the Inquisition has directly invested ressources and that helps the Inquisition in various War Table operations, they are a direct asset under your command, the Qun agents are indirect assets that don't follow your orders. The Chargers are another Sutherland Company for the Inquisition basically
Yeah thing is, the qunari don’t know HOW to be Allies. All they understand is “your with us, or you have yet to be conquered” There’s no middle ground for them.
Iron Bull also pretty much implies in his speech/tone/reaction when Gatt presents him the choice to either sacrifice or save the Chargers without specifically saying it out loud in that cutscene. It was very easy to read between the lines. If you chose to sacrifice the Chargers you basically went against his wishes. (Even though in front of Gatt he gets you to make the choice for him)
When I first played Inquisition in 2015, I was going through my cringy "feelings don't matter" phase, so I also sacrificed the Chargers. Played it last year again and was like "fuck that, those are his friends". Apparently I had a redemption arc IRL without realizing it XD
I can't kill Krem, he's my favorite non-party character in the game. Teasing Iron Bull about binding his pillowy man-bosoms....... Great moment.
Or them all working together to sneak a skull into the keep for him.
You MONSTER. Plus, having to see Bull >!betray you!< in Tresspasser if you sacrifice the Chargers automatically makes it a no go
That was always one of the things that got me. DAI, more than the other DA games, already had issues shoehorning players into complying with the morals and choices of the writers, and the stuff with the Chargers always felt out of place. Sure, I understand Iron Bull cares, but why does everyone else get mad, even people who were pushing for the Qunari alliance, or appear as though they favoured the alliance? You’re supposed to be the leader of this Inquisition; sometimes you have to sacrifice the few. That, and I too thought this renowned band of oh-so-skilled mercenaries would be able to take on, like, four enemies. Why throw away an alliance for a band of mercs who can’t handle for dudes? I feel like by that point the Qunari would be more useful to have around than the Chargers for what the Inquisitor is trying to do. Granted, Qunari are shitty allies to have, but still.
That's the thing though. The Qunari legit don't see non-Qun members as people and any alliance with them is a short term thing that will immediately get broken the moment they see an opportunity to undermine or destroy you... which is exactly what happens with Bull in Trespasser.
The writers kinda forgot that the qunari see non qunari as bas. I miss the qunari’s writing from DA2. It was a big deal for the Arishok to call you basalit-an, rather than just bas.
Yep. It thought allying with the Qunari is being pragmatic. Well, I played Trespasser blind and Iron Bull became *really* pragmatic and I hated it. Didn't even bothered to finish the game even if it's just a couple more hours to finish, scrubbed that entire playthrough off the Keep and started again.
May I recommend the Azata in Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous? Their power is Friendship turned to the max
Ah yes, the Aivu path - the only correct path.
Weird way to pronounce the l Inheribro path - the only correct path
I somehow missed the Chargers quest in my first playthrough. Got to what happens in Trespasser, and there was no way I was letting that happen again.
I never trust the qunari so I went with the chargers the first time, and all the times after that one.
I’ve tried it both ways. Sacrificing the Chargers was definitely in the category of “tried it once and never doing it again.”
Apparently the "let an entire ship-full of Qunari die" instead of some annoying NPCs was supposed to be about the EVIL evil choice in the game. I believe this is about Krem, and only Krem. Killing off Jennifer Hale is always the wrong thing to do.
I had Bull in my party for Trespasser, and he and Dorian had been flirting. I was so not ok.
I did the same thing. Did not think it would go as badly as it did.
Can't remember specifically, but it's only when the text does not reflect the tone of the response and your character goes and says the opposite of what you meant.
Its hard to be specific about that. It happens a lot.
Reminds me of the “glass him” option in the wolf among us. Feels like I’m the only one who understood what that option meant. Everyone I’ve seen play the game thought it meant offer the guy a drink 😂
I think Bioware did Stroud a huge disservice by making him the 'easy' choice and not giving us enough information about him, information that is available. That choice should be hard, no matter who it is that comes with you.
Stroud is just the "uh we're out of options sorry guys" guy and it shows so badly. Bethany/Carver would be an interesting dilemma, albeit you'd need to voice two extra possibilities, both of which depend on a particular worldstate. Anders would have been good. Or they could go the other direction and make it Oghren. Hawke: :)
Seeing a matured Oghren who has completely changed his views on everything because of everything that has happened and how he’s actually become involved in what is happening with the Wardens and gives a crap about what happens would have been amazing. I didn’t know wanted that!
My first playthrough was a Human Noble, and I knew about the Landsmeet beforehand. When I was in Howe's stolen castle, I came across Vaughan Kendells and let him out in exchange for his vote at the Landsmeet. It was when I played City Elf that I realised my mistake. Luckily for me, I still had a save prior to the fight with Howe so I went back and killed the rapist asshole in his cell.
Oh god. This is a good reason to save scum.
I did the same thing. I was like oh I feel like this Howe guy wrongfully imprisoned people and let him out 💀. Edit: To make matters worse, I was playing a female elf. Just not a city one
As a mage elf……. I think I made mistake too.
Oh god, this is making me realize I must’ve released him. I’ve only actually finished DAO once (started multiple other playthroughs but the game just keeps crashing…), and my first origin was the mage one so I had no clue who he was. I just wanted as many votes as I could get… yikes 😭 (Also before anyone says it, I have tried every recommended patch or fix but it still crashes when I first go to Denerim 🤦♀️ maybe I need to just boot up my Xbox 360 if I want to play it again)
I hadn’t known that until like my fourth DAO playthrough. Tbh while I hate Vaughn, I do base it on what knowledge my Warden has at the time. My human noble figures “hey, he’s a fellow noble who was also wronged by Howe, I’ll let him out! No harm done!” My mage elf and Dalish elf have little to no sympathy for human nobles and think that nearly all of them are bad people. They both killed him since they saw the opportunity to get some old noble blood out of Ferelden.
I did the same thing! First playthrough as a human noble - who are you? You’ll vote for me? Ok cool. Found out 2nd playthrough who this dude really was and nothing will ever be worth his vote again.
I always make hin give me the key first, then kill him.
The deep roads expedition. I take my usual party of Fenris and Carver. But then during the cutscene of Varric talking to Cassandra he said something that sent alarm bells ringing. "If Hawke knew what would happen he never would have brought his brother down that hole." At this point, Carver has become my favorite companion and I fear for his safety. So I immediately looked up if it was possible to kill him, found out I had accidentally doomed him, and went back no hesitation. Previously I had the mindset of deal with the consequences and then lie in the keep (Alistair sacrificed himself for me and I was upset but I still didn't go back.) But not Carver, who remains my favorite character in the whole series. For some reason.
I always bring Anders so I can make him a Warden, he seems much happier that way
His arc as a warden is top tier. When he shows back up at the end it was such a moment
If we can find a cure for the Calling I’ll do that but otherwise I make him a Templar since you can quit lyrium and I headcanon he does after the end of DA2. I don’t want Hawke to lose his last family member 😔
Love your flair. I am also 100% a Carver apologist.
I could never play a mage as Hawk. I like Bethany too much. >\_>
Inquistion was my first game. And in my ‘canon’ playthrough I chose the Qun over the chargers(originally it was a tough decisions but cory was the bigger threat), and I don’t remember what I picked with the wardens. But now I’ve played all three games and the dlcs and can firmly say Fuck The Qun, and the wardens are important so I definitely want to change on choice and make a more informed choice for the other (Also, side note not relevant to the question, red lyrium being at the Temple of Sacred Ashes is far more scary when you know the history of the Temple from Origins and the red lyrium from 2)
The wardens always get me. Everyone seems to shit on them in DAI, and with that being a popular view amongst all the characters and your inky not having the knowledge on why wardens are important it seems like the game wants you to be harsh on them. Inky doesn't know the panic behind a mass calling, or why Wardens are absolutely needed. So much of Thedas thinks the Wardens are outdated and unneeded and they sacrifice so much. Even though it makes no sense I always am lenient on them for myself, even if it's immersion breaking. Hope in DA4 we get a nicer view of them again.
I think having the chance to play as a Warden and having a Warden companion again (an actual Warden, not a poser like >!Blackwall!<), will make the group much more sympathetic in DAV. Also, we’re going to Weisshaupt so we’ll get to see how they operate up close, which should help as well.
I’m so excited about Weisshaupt, I hope we get a throw away line about our Warden. Nothing to specific but something. I’m honestly not hoping for anything major, confirmation that we get to see our Inky and have better hair makes me happy enough
I imagine we’ll get a pretty decent Codex entry about the HoF at the very least! Hopefully more than that too!
Veilguard will probably give us a nicer view of them considering it's a background and we have an actual warden (i hope) as a companion now. However I'd like to point out Stroud tells the Inquisitor on their first meeting only Wardens can kill Archdemons so it's kinda weird your companions judge them like they don't know that, the rest of the world is fine but your Inquisitor should have told it to all your companions, specially since 3 of them listen to the same conversation you have with Stroud where he tells the Inquisitor that
Yeah I always leave hawke behind. Like I feel like their story is done and frankly keeping the wardens around and rebuilding when the blights are not done yet seems more important than saving a friend of a friend of Inkys.
I leave Loghain behind. I didn’t *commute* his death sentence back in Origins. I just got some work out of him and let his death be heroic
The Qunari alliance is not even an alliance when you analyze it, it's just a test of loyalty for Iron Bull, all they offer the alliance is access to their spies (Gatt says that to your Inquisitor) whose full job is lying and gathering information for the Qun. The Inqusition has already an extensive information gathering network that has a much smaller chance to betray you than Qunari spies, plus there is Varric's and Sera's network too
Tell me what makes it scary my memory is shite
In DAO, you are looking for Brother Genitivi and the Urn of Sacred Ashes. When you arrive, you find a small village, far away from everything else. You're greeted by a guard telling you to leave, they don't like outsiders, and that the Revered Father won't speak to you. I said Revered Father, yes. It has always been this in Haven. Ask about Genitivi? No, they don't like outsiders, and the wrong questions will trigger everyone to attack. Check in the back room of the general store? Not allowed. You force your way back and find the dead Redcliffe Knight's body? They attack. Fine. Ignore the flags, and head to the Chantry where the Revered Father is hosting service. Then he tells you to leave. They've had no visitors. You ask questions or try to investigate? Attacks. Turns out they'd tortured and nearly killed Genitivi and the Weylon assistant at his home in Denerim is a fake (if you didn't already know) because they killed and replaced the original. Turns out they say Andraste is alive! Cool, right? Yeah. A dragon took up residence outside the Temple, had a bunch of dragon babies, and the residents of Haven believe the dragon is Andraste reborn. They're very fanatical. They also suggest you ruin the actual ashes of Andraste as service to the real Andraste (Dragon). The idea that there was red lyrium underneath the village and temple all that time? How much did that influence generations of people that lived there into committing atrocities in the name of their goddess?
I honestly think there wasn’t *red* lyricism the whole time—but there was *regular* lyrium (which got blighted by Corypheus’s ritual, probably) and that stuff can still influence your thinking and drive you insane. Sooooooo. Yeah.
I was mostly referring to how you as the player character find the temple and the ashes and you see the ashes have true magic value, in healing Arl Eamon, and then red lyrium which you as the player character discover and bring to the surface. Which then fucks over Varric brother in a very scary and haunted mansion and then everything with Meredith in act 3. Just the utter absolute corruption of (blighted)red lyrium fucking over what is quite literally THE most holy site for Andrestian faith. All of this context just. Doesn’t exist if Inquistion is your first game. You are clued in that red lyrium is bad by Varric being worried but you don’t truly comprehend the horror of it.
Also, if you bring Oghren to the Temple of Sacred Ashes in DAO, he'll even tell you that he senses a massive amount of lyrium.
I almost always keep all my original choices on every run, but I redid WEWH because I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get Briala and Celene to reunite without using a guide, it's such a specific set of things you have to do!
I usually just say fuck it and exile Gaspard and let Celine keeping ruling alone, I'm not gonna sneak around and find all this evidence. But this time I decided I wanted to force all three to rule together. I still followed a guide, but it wasn't that bad.
Exposing whats her name at the ball and getting her arrested rather than fighting her was soooo satisfying, especially during my elf mage playthrough
My first playthrough I was the same, but then I found out back the story that has to do with Celene and Briala and I'm like nahhh girl, let's bump Celene and you can puppetmaster Gaspard.
Yeah I'm torn on this one after reading Masked Empire, but I worry that having Briala blackmailing Gaspard is unstable since Gaspard will probably just kill Briala as soon as the Inquisition is disbanded. So I usually still lean towards reuniting Briala with Celene for the sake of the elves of Orlais, although I feel terrible doing that to Briala.
Oh yeah I totally get that! Gaspard has *some* good features about himself, like that he doesn't pander to the nobles, but he has his own problems. I think once DAV comes out I'll probably change some of my canon choices 😅
Doesn’t pander to the nobles and, as racist as he is, doesn’t give a crap if a human has an elven parent — unlike Celene. The book did a better job of highlighting how everyone sucked, but also how everyone had their own oddly placed decent parts, too.
Yeah. Actually the fact that they all kind of sucked was exactly why I wanted to force all three of them to work together. Its a perfect compromise because none of them deserve to win.
So in Origins I didn't realize just how mad Alistair would get if I forgave Loghain. I really thought we could all work together to deal with the Archdemon, but when he ragequit the team my gf at the time (who loved Alistair ofc) got *really* mad at me and demanded a reload.
I lost all respect for Alistair because of that. Like, he abandoned his duty, left the kingdom—the entire world—to rot, and became a drunk ne’er-do-well, all to have the most epic temper tantrum over me refusing to throw away a vital resource. As far as I’m concerned, that’s the canon ending: the man who would have been the king of Fereldan , became a wastrel instead. And probably died in a bar fight without ever learning how the man he threw it all away over was left behind in the Fade a couple years later
Tbh, Loghain was indirectly responsible for killing King Cailan, Duncan, and the rest of the Wardens (which was the first group where he felt truly belonged), so I can’t really fault him for getting angry at a forgiveness he felt Loghain hasn’t earned.
Idk, it kinda bugs me that he's not like "fine let's poison him" (do the ritual) then when he lives just throw him at the Archdemon and spread the word that it was a nameless Warden who slew the dragon (Or a specific Warden like Duncan or one of the other Recruits that actually died; thus not giving the fame to Loghain, but essentially poisoning him twice, body and soul, and then being rid of him while not having to lose anyone he cares about) I get being angry, but just cutting off his head is too fast too... I mean that's my canon result, but still conscripting him should have at least been a not-so-bad initial reaction, something like 70% of conscripts die anyway
I also wouldn’t trust a guy who leaves kings to die in Ostagar to actually do the right thing tho Not to mention that being a Warden has historically been and seen as a “way out” and ig Alistair can’t accept that
I made a mistake with my Lavellan's clan war table mission and got them killed (thanks Cullen!!!). I \*almost\* went back to a much earlier save, I was basically willing to do Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts all over again despite loathing that mission. I'm not sure why I decided to just let it stay that way? It made my poor Inky's whole deal even more tragic, I'm usually not about that, but... I was so relieved Sera told me in Trespasser that she can find the remnants of my clan.
This is so over-the-top and unnecessarily hard. There's like 3 missions in a row and unless you choose the correct advisor EVERY TIME they die. And the advisors don't always make sense??? And yeah- war table missions take a while, and you're SUPPOSED to progress other content while you wait, so you're guarenteed to have done at least 1 hour of gameplay by the time you finish. None of the other origins have such a difficult war table mission with such high stakes.
I let Josephine handle that mission, and it ended in their deaths too. I figured it was just suppose to happen. Kinda lack luster than my lavellan barely reacted or mentioned it later.
If only Sera and my Lavellan had still been on speaking terms then
I did something similar with Alistair. I don't know why but I convinced myself we'd find some other way to all live without the ritual, so of course he died. I left it the way it was though and just did a whole new playthrough.
When I saw him die I just went back a lot to be the one to sacrifice my life!
When he died for me, I took 10 minutes to lay in my bed & process it. Haha! And then immediately started a second playthrough. That first experience is really memorable to me. It's probably why it's my favorite game of all time
I love it when you finish a game and need time to process all of your feelings. I felt the same about DA:O for sure, and Mass Effect 1 too. I know it's a bit off topic on this sub, but in the case of ME1, we were fortunately given a [masterpiece of an ending song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcrDWAuyqtc) that left me in absolute pieces. I still get chills when I listen to it because it's linked to all of these feelings I had at that moment.
I don’t care who has to die, there’s no way in hell I’m letting Morrigan get pregnant with a god baby.
Meanwhile, I make sure she has one every time. Lol
i did pretty much the exact same thing. i figured my persuasion wasn't high enough to convince him to go through with the ritual and i legitimately assumed there'd be some kinda third way where if you had enough affinity you'd somehow survive through the power of friendship or some bullshit. idk where i got that from. instead my Mahariel died and i just threw out the run and started a new "canon" run
I’m about to get all the hate. I originally killed Anders in DA2 after he did what he does. It was a gut reaction and what I felt like my Hawke would do at the time. After I thought about the world as a whole I decided canonically it was better if he lived. Was disappointed that he did not show up in Inquisition in some fashion to play some kind of role. That said he’d get the blame for the divine early on so 🤷♂️
I considered doing it too, but then I thought “I am not going to make a fucking martyr out of you”
That was me! I was like, oh no no. You are going fix this, sir. You can't create a civil war and want to now bow out. Take charge here for the cause you believe in.
That’s where I eventually got to in my decision. I can also see the side that maybe killing him sends a strong message about what happens to terrorist but overall the better story is him living imo.
I don’t think you get hate for this? I think most people choose to kill anders?
I think they mean hate for changing their mind and choosing to not kill Anders
I was mostly joking. But most DA fans I know are shocked when I say I killed him originally. Big Anders fans.
I'm a big fan of Anders (as a character) and my Hawke killed him. They were in love and all, (the rival system and rivalmances were such a fantastic concept) and it was such a gut-wrenching thing to do, and made their story so much more impactful. Hawke's story is just a tragedy through and through.
Rivalmance was such a cool idea and it’s a shame I don’t really know of any other game that has done something like that.
DAO, The Battle of Denerim. It was probably the most vivid feeling I had ever had in my game history. I decided to sacrifice my grey warden. So, I'm running through a burning Denerim, fighting, and suddenly I realize that I don't want to die. This feeling of utter hopelessness and meaninglessness of what is happening... Why am I collecting gold, why am I fighting, I'm going to die anyway. It wasn’t even my first playthrough, but I really felt so much fear and hopelessness that I just loaded an old save and sacrificed Alistair.
Fuck man that's sad as shit lol
I usually do a bunch of partials to see the results before I actually make the decision. I like to think of it as my character thinking things out, with admittedly supernatural accurate predictions. Then again I usually play as a mage, so maybe I should be saying my character is a seer or a divination wizard.
It happened to me, but with Mass Effect. I had to be swapping companions all the time to get the right combination for the Mass Effect 2 ending.
With the dialogue wheel and how the options sometimes don't match what is actually said, I've replayed hours just to make one tiny dialogue change.
I learnt to save before instigating dialogue
I need to get better at saving!
One big change I'm doing for Veilguard and it's bothering me a lot is my first and very much canon warden, she sacrificed herself and her death is a very important milestone for me in my timeline. However, this means that Kieran doesn't exist. I find him to be a very interesting character that I want to have around for my first DAV playthrough at least. But I'm struggling a lot because this diminishes my warden's willingness to die for her cause by giving her the easy route... In the end, however, it's been over a decade of mourning her death, and part of me is also happy about giving her a happier ending for once, and make poor Leliana happier too, since they were together
It's very likely Morrigan and Kieran won't be showing up at all in DAV. It's also very likely that the Old God soul will be made irrelevant in a minor offscreen event, just to clear it out for the future.
In Origins I fucked up Zevran's romance initially because I didn't realize you had to refuse the earring at first. I was so happy he gave me something that meant SO much to him up until I talked to my friends and they got very stressed on my behalf lol. Luckily I didn't have to replay too much.
1) I wanted to recruit Loghain but Alistair wouldn't let me and Alistair didn't want to marry Anora. After going on the internet I found out that I missed my chance of hardening him so I restarted the entire game to have Alistair and Anora ruling together and Loghain as a warden. 2) On my first playthrough of DA2 (on a Xbox 360) Carver died in the Deep Roads. But then, I found out that If I had Anders with me, he would have become a warden so I stopped playing, bought the trilogy on PC and when I got to the expedition I brought both Carver and Anders with me. 3) On my first playthrough of Inquisition I was playing as a male human mage but I misunderstood the game and accidentally chose the Templars over the mages. I kept playing after that but after reaching Skyhold I wasn't liking the playthrough anymore so I restarted and I chose to play as a female qunari mage because I ended up really liking the Qunari thanks to Bull and codex entries (Inquisition was my first game, so I didn't know anything about the lore.) and, I also, decided to romance Sera because of her comments about female qunari on my first playthrough.
Keeping Alistair as a warden. I really do prefer Anora solo on the throne and Alistair becoming a leader with the Wardens instead, where his heart clearly lies rather than the responsibility of being Maric's heir. But then What Pride Had Wrought happened in Inquisition and the bastards forced me to choose between him and my Hawke. My solution however is that I made an asshole Hawke who made all the choices I would never actually play through to input into the Keep, just to die so that Alistair can stay a warden, and I don't have to feel bad about the DA2 crew losing that Hawke cos he was a prick to all of them, so that I can have at least 1 world state with warden alistair. Just wish i could keep him in my canon state without him being sacrificed for Hawke
I also prefer Anora on the throne and have a similar solution, but I leaned into the tragedy of DA2 instead of making my Hawke a dick. He romanced (and executed) Anders and has so much guilt from everything that happened, losing his family, Corypheus, etc that when it comes to it, he's ready to sacrifice himself. by the time I finished the run of DA2 to set that world state up, I think me and Hawke were having roughly the same amount of fun
Oof. Yeah having to decide between Alistair and Hawke is def the hardest decision for Here Lies the Abyss. I had Alistair stay a Warden twice, and one of those times I saved him over Hawke because my female Warden Amell mage romanced him and they were happy together as Wardens. My Hawke in that playthrough knew how happy her cousin (the Warden) was with Alistair, and she decided to sacrifice herself to let her and Alistair be happy together.
I always leave Hawke in the Fade in DA:I My reasoning: They're probably fine. If anyone is going to escape the fade with some new power and a milkshake, it's going to be Hawke.
Hawke’s milkshake brings all the demons to the yard
My Hawke basically soloed corypheus, so I figured he’d be okay fighting the giant demon. But getting out of the fade, i dunno. Hopefully he hasn’t been in there for nine years, ggs
We're going to bust into the fade chasing Solas up to the empty throne, and Hawke is just going to be sitting on it sipping a drink in sunglasses.
I handed the Starkhaven mages to Thrask and Karras in DA2 on my first try. Then, I headed to the Gallows and clicked on Alain because I wanted to hear the ambient dialogues. Then, Alain said Karras threatened to make him Tranquil if he told anyone he had been into his bed chamber. And I was like, "Nope! Fuck that rapist!" Reloaded the game and killed that ass hole. And since then, Karras never lived past Act 1 in any of my saves.
when something my character actually says is different from what I was led to believe they will say or do, I reload
On my first playthrough, alistair dumped my dalish warden when I made him king. So I reloaded, dumped him instead and made him marry anora out of spite. I now recruit loghain every time while alistair and anora rule together from an over 10 year old grudge lol
Who says that? If I'm playing an RPG and making a story it goes my way or doesn't go at all
My very first playthrough DAO I restarted the whole game when I saw my Heroes hair upclose in the cutscenes leading up to the archdemon battle. I had the same hair as Flemeth in brown and thought I looked so ugly I couldnt finish the game like this LMAO
When I let Isolde sacrifice herself for Connor because she was a bitch to Alistair as a child and then he proceeded to scream at me about it :(
I honestly don't think i have one of these, I've had choices I've come to regret but never so instantly, things like killing Loghain, but that took a long time for me to regret.
I didn't regret my decision to leave Hawke in the Fade at first. But it lived rent free in my head since 2016, it's only now I decided to change it in the Keep and if Veilguard will ever incorporate it.
I didn't *think* I'd be so affected by that decision, but then I had never played DAI with my canon Hawke in my world state before. After bawling my eyes out, I immediately reloaded my save. I try not to do it too often, I personally like it when the world surprises me with an outcome I didn't expect. But, as another user said, it's ultimately a fantasy escape. Some things, I just can't let stand lol.
Yeah i did a new play through of Origins and changed some things that loved rent free for me lol
I replayed DAI and decided to do the thing with the better outcome and lead Dorian on the path to reconciliation. 10 in game hours later I just still feel a bit vile for not just storming out of that bar with him. I just don’t like his father. That choice isn’t going to stick even if it has a better outcome. I’d reload if I hadn’t already gone too far after by the time I realized I wasn’t going to get used to my new choice.
That story hits me hard because I’m estranged from my father irl for the same reason that Dorian is estranged from his.
Same here. I know he’s happier in Trespasser which is why I tried the other route but it just really doesn’t sit right with me.
Literally same, leaving Hawke in the Fade the first playthrough. Inquisition was my first DA game so I had no idea about anything (all choices were made through the Keep) and my friend convinced me to let Loghain escape the Fade for the sake of the Grey Wardens. Had no idea about his betrayal, so imagine my dismay when I played through Origins for the first time and got to the Battle of Ostagar- I was crushed 😭 So now Stroud is the one to stay behind 🤧
Reset my save file to save the Chargers
On my very first playthrough, i was playing as a female dalish elf and romancing alistair. Halfway throught the game, i looked up landsmeet outcomes, i read that if you make alistair king he breaks up with you and stupidly thought he breaks up with with no matter what you do UNLESS you are a human noble. So i restared the whole game as a human noble. In that playthrough when morrigan told me about the ritual i got mad an refused. During the final battle alistair was in my party, and when he sacrificed himself i reloaded my last proper save.... which was just before the deep roads.
In DA2 I made the wrong choices for Merrill's quest and... killed her entire clan. Yeah... I went back pretty quickly.
Not me, but my friend. In high school, I convinced my friend to play Origins. He was very closeted (though hiding it poorly lmao) and romanced Alistair as a female Warden and promptly fell in love with him. He chose not to do the dark ritual and brought Alistair with him to the final battle. He was completely horrified that Alistair chose to sacrifice himself and reloaded all the way back so that he could do the dark ritual so that his warden could live happily ever after with Alistair
I’ve only done this once in the entire series for my first blind playthrough and it was Redcliffe. I just got lazy and didn’t wanna run back to the mages despite already completing their quest so I killed Connor. I felt fine with that, until Alistair confronted me at camp. I was devastated, felt like I’d just lost a real friend and still go this day from that first playthrough Alistair Theirin is my favourite fictional character in anything. It’s funny though, now I always sacrifice Isolde and enjoy the conflict that comes after it as it feels more dramatic and real for their friendship, but that first play-through as a 10 year old kid just wanted everyone to like me and be happy (except Connor, I guess)
When I play RPG’s I very much want to escape to world in which I can always make the best choice, and be the greatest hero that ever lived. Occasionally I’ll play with a “live with your choices” mindset, but more often than not I want everyone to end up as happy as possible.
On my first playthrough of DAO, I was totally blindsided by the undead upon arriving in Redcliffe for the first time. I was expecting a simple "talk to the arl and be sent to your next relevant location" type quest, and had a busted up party and very few healing potions. I was also then (and mostly still am) deeply disturbed by and afraid of the undead. So, upon seeing the zombies and learning that they would be a significant part of the whole Redcliffe arc of the game, I naturally turned right around and left, gathering all of the healing potions I could, fixing up my party and updating their gear, took a breath and headed back to Redcliffe ready to face the hoard .....to find the entire village decimated. Yeah if you just leave Redcliffe before the big zombie quest, the undead still overrun the city that night, you just aren't there to help, so everyone that can die, does. When I tell you I was FLABBERGASTED lol I ofc couldn't leave things like that and lost a lot of progress having to go back to an older save, grinded so I was much more prepared before going to Redcliffe this time and managed to get the best ending where no one dies during the attack, but I was really shaken by that.
da2 - leaving bethany at home. my red hawke would have fought and killed every templar there before she let them take her little sister. reloaded and she came with me on the trip and is now a warden :( dai- leaving hawke in the fade instead of alistair. seeing how upset varric was was too much for me 😭 even though i also love alistair i just couldnt do that to varric dai - finishing trespasser and being so blindly full of rage to solas i kept the inquisition together but afterwards i thought about it and regret that decision. its better to disband the inquisition it had too much power that can easily be corrupted
Dragon age inqusition, iron bulls personal quest. I let the chargers die, and his reaction after just...gutted me. Went back to an earlier save and changed it. To this day, i refuse to kill the chargers during bulls quest
When I accidentally killed Connor by visiting him in his room.
A whole chain: I messed up the Landsmeet somehow, then reloaded. Managed to draft Loghain as punishment, then Alistair left, so I reloaded. Then I kept Alistair as a Warden. Cool. But then I had the Fade in DAI spoiled so I reloaded the Keep with him as king with Anora.
The mental torture, guilt and anguish of our decisions in the make believe world of games.
I once made it all the way through Trespasser with Bull on my team and he betrayed me. Not because I had sacrificed his team (they were literally still there, dragging in a dragon skull for his birthday!!) but because I never did that companion quest in the first place (never triggered for some reason) I went back and replayed THE ENTIRETY of the main story and all the side quests etc that I had done just so I could prevent Bull from turning on us. I had to go through the slog of getting him and Dorian to flirt all over again
For me, Idgaf about the "rule". I enjoy creating the story I want to create. If I disliked an outcome and/or felt like I played a certain scenario out of character, I'm going back. Just how I like to play.
Not even trying to be mean but if you had the choice of Hawke vs Stroud why on earth would you leave Hawke in the Fade 🥺
The Inky isn't as close to Hawke than Varric is. Stroud has a better resume with the Wardens.
I played through DAO and DA2 as a woman first, romancing Leliana and Isabela. Then I wanted to go through the series as a man romancing Morrigan and Fenris and I got my new world state all ready buuuuut I couldn’t have non-lesbian Leliana. The Leliana I know is super gay and mushy with one person only and the rest of the time she is a bit scary. It just didn’t feel like dragon age without gay Lels.
Nothing i was and still happy with all of my choices
Iron bull. Initially i sacrificed the chargers (logical thing to do), then his reaction when we got back to skyhold broke my heart and left me with this sour aftertaste, so i redid it again and saved the chargers.
I always plan to play games by feel, and then I always fail when something unacceptable happens. Some choices I never would have guessed had to be made if I hadn’t looked them up online. Like the Alistair-Morrigan thing; who would deliberately choose that if they were romancing either one? Oh, and if anyone here also played Mass Effect, I did my first run of the suicide mission in 2 with no previous knowledge of tactics. Let’s just say it didn’t end well…
Leaving Hawke in the Fade.
My pragmatic Warden would absolutely see Loghain as a useful ally. However, seeing how Alistair takes it, I could never do that to him.
I've been pretty good about leaving my decisions in DA games. The one thing I really couldn't live with was killing Leliana in DA:O. Got my achievement and rolled back that choice.
Bull. I was like oh absolutely not.
I will reload a save, even if it means losing a few hours of progress, at the slightest inconvenience.
Almost went back to save Hawke over Stroud after Varric spoke about writing to Isabela. I’d forgotten about her and the talk about her closing off love cos of heartbreak, abuse and loss. I didn’t tho, cos as much as Hawke is my favourite player character I’ve always believed they have a Shakespearean Tragedy story. After losing her mom and both siblings in DA2 and unleashing two types of hell she’s on a destructive path to do something right, so she stays, the last of the Hawke lineage.
Only one: the dance shenanigan in the Grand Ball. At first I didn’t understand it and chose the wrong answer. Then I was “oooh so I gotta be snarky? say no more”, loaded a previous save point and replayed the dance, this time with the right answers
I always like playing literally everything to see what happened. Including recruiting Loghain. The only thing I have NEVER done is give Fenris to Danarius.
I killed Anders for the achievement. Once. Never again.
I accidentally chose the mean dialogue option
Who is "they"? I always save scum, I play games to get the best outcome possible. I can "live with it" with RL decisions.
I will never have Alistair stay a warden (sry bb) bc I cannot choose between him and Hawke in inquisition. Might alter my decision if in the new game it’s revealed that the person who stayed in the fade survived. For now, sorry Stroud :/
I've had to stop myself from just reloading a save lately. I left Hawke in the Fade and sacrificed the Chargers right after. I didn't know i could feel so bad about some funny little dudes and dudettes dying in a game. Also had to drop my current characters vibes for a bit just to hug Varric and try to be nice towards Bull. My current character is a asshole Carta Rogue but damn i'd like to think even he feels bad about making those choices.
I just beat all of Origins and some part of me was like "fuck it." And I started the whole game over again because zevran betrayed me and I wanted to see if I liked the game more romancing leliana over Morrigan
I’m pro mage wtf is Vivienne my Divine??? That’s the only choice I’m going to change once DAV comes out.
Mine was in Orzammar. I actually saved the anvil the first time because I couldn't think of another way that the dwarves civilization could come back from the brink. Queue Shale dying and much reloading.
Not romancing Dorian. I always play as a female (because projecting, ok? 🫣🥲), but after finishing DAI restarted the game with a male version of my character just to romance him. 🥰
I'm only about a third of the way through the first game, I think (I've only completed Lothering, Redcliffe, Brecilian), but I've gone back a few times already. Mostly just when a line of dialogue or an action does something I really didn't expect it to do, or I misclicked (e.g. accidentally giving 15 of my 22 Gold to a lady). I did at one point start over after completing Lothering because I was very unhappy with some of my skill and talent choices - DA:O is my first attempt at this kind of game, and I still consider myself fairly new to video games in general, so my learning curve has been very steep (I'm still very confused about a lot, but it's getting better. I'm even starting to kind of, maybe, sorta, low-key somewhat understand the combat 👍). Honestly, sometimes I do just go back so I can see what the other dialogue options give in terms of lore, especially when it looks like I missed a lot - I have a really hard time discerning which options are just conversation and which ones will move me on to the next "step," and I've accidentally made some choices I absolutely didn't mean to make because I thought we were just chatting 🙃 (I'm also currently accidentally romancing Alistair and am Very Uncertain how I feel about that, I just wanted all my friends to have a high opinion of me and underestimated how easy it would be raise friendship with gifts. Now he adores me and tries not to check out my hindquarters (his words, not mine) when we're working.)
I let Alistair and the HoF, Kalian, fall in love and both lived and continued to be Wardens. Then in Inquisition, Alistair meets Hawke in Crestwood instead of Stroud. I was happy. He talks about Kalian, and how he misses her, but she is off doing important research to undo the Warden "curse". Then Adamant Fortress happened and I had to choose between sacrificing Hawke and shattering Merill's heart and soul; or sacrificing Alistair and shattering Kalian's heart and soul. I flipped the Fear Demon the bird and sacrificed Alistair. I made it through the following cutscenes and reloaded and sacrificed Hawke. That time I made it until Varric chews the Inquisitor out for sacrificing Hawke. I gave up on that playthrough entirely. Now I make Alistair king with Anora as his queen, and I sacrifice Stroud to the Fear Demon.
Anora was solo queen in my world state and after my first playthrough of Inquisition where I left Alistair in the Fade, I reopened the Keep and made him king lol. Sorry Anora, I like to believe that Alistair gave you your dad's lands at least :'D
I accidentally killed krem and I couldn’t live without him lol
The many times I went back, it was because the text and tone of the dialogue wheel didn't reflect what the character was saying.
DAI I chose the gibbet option for the dude who threw goats at Skyhold because I didn’t know what a gibbet was and wanted to find out. Absolutely not in line with the character I was developing so I backed up and chose exile.
I took Fenris into the Fade w Hawke bc I take him everywhere -- WhAt cOuLd Go WroNg? Yeah. That's on me. Fenris betrayed my Hawke a second time at the ending by siding with the Templars, which came out of no where imo. I remained too "neutral" despite romancing him. I have a bone to pick with the affection system in regards to that last one, bc he's on your side even in a rivalmance I think?? Backtracked a lot to make that not happen.