[SPOILERS] Dargon Age: Inconclusion

[Ferisar]

Alright nerds, you had two weeks and finished DA:I because you're just that good. Let's have a chat.

Obviously, this is all spoiler-territory. If you haven't finished the game, be warned.

Spoiler: World-State and Ending-ish-Relevant Conditions

Morrigan had Old God baby. Warden is alive. Morrigan drank from Mythal's pool. I don't think anything else matters for this particular topic, but I'm not sure.

Spoiler: Ending/Near-Ending

So, when I was playing this thing at around the end of what I'd consider act 2.5 (In my opinion the conclusion of the Arbor Wilds mission), I was getting the sense that this was going to be pretty by-the-books in terms of its conclusion. Yeah, the Ancient Elven Temple of Witchcraft and Wizardry told me that Malfoy didn't actually kill Harry, it was his drinking problem, but that could only serve as so much subversion. It was interesting, and certainly did put Tevinter down a peg, but it also simultaneously diminished the importance of the villain quite a bit (which was going to happen from the second his identity was revealed. He's just so damn silly). The pool of wisdom seemed... completely-not-ominous-at-all, but I let Morrigan go for it.

And this is where shit got weird. In retrospect, having that old god baby in the first game seems like a recipe to get screwed over by Flemeth in this one, especially if Morrigan takes the dip. Kid runs off through an Eluvian straight into the Fade, which means he's some sort of prodigy to begin with, but then meets up with Morrigan's mum who wants the kid for herself. Not only does she seem to be assuming direct control, but her goal was apparently to get the Old God soul all along and to make Morrigan drink from the kool-aid pool. It seemed... Bad. Until it was then revealed that she was actually Mythal to begin with. Which, alright, fair enough, at least explains why Flemeth was literally Voldemort of this universe. But still, what?

Then the actual ending rolls around, and it is pretty much as by-the-book as you get. Corypheus shows at the Breach, whines a lot about Tevinter and God and his lack of hair styling, and then gets shit on because that's what happens when you try the same fucking thing at the same exact location three times in a row. His whole character trait just seemed so... tame? One of your characters even mentions it at the post-fight scene. He's darkspawn and Tevinter Magister AND wants to open up the world to the demons. If there was Literally Hitler in Thedas, this guy takes it. I'm going to say the fight was a bit disappointing from a gameplay standpoint because if you went for a completionist run, he would be a massive push-over. And that's -without- bringing Focus abilities into it. I forgot half-way through that I even had any active, and that was on Hard. Maybe Nightmare is different, but I digress.

Anyway, bad guy dies, Solas seems all sad his elf-orb exploded and runs off, you talk to everyone, help elect a new Divine (because you apparently have Pope-levels of authority(and totally voted Cassandra)), and then go to bed. Then credits. Then... what?

Spoiler: Post-Credits

This is what I'm curious about, what happened to other people? I'm assuming we find out his identity regardless, but does Flemeth always die? Did she die? Is he a vessel? Did he absorb her power? Does that mean the Wolf statues at the temple were there because they were lovers? What's going on here. I feel like I just got punched with a sequel-hook so hard that I don't actually get what it's going for. I just know that bald man + glowy eyes = bad, nine times out of ten. It's not skittles, but I still have no idea how to feel about it.

Spoiler: Personal Verdict

Good!...-ish? As everyone might feel, the actual conclusion in terms of the main antagonist seemed reeeeally standard. His one threatening move was the Haven fight, but everything from that point on was just him getting completely screwed. I felt like I was going up against a Saturday morning cartoon villain, except with a cast of an M-rated crime serial on my team. The actual make-up of your group completely outclassed everything this guy had. He felt beyond tame. Everything that led up to and happened after his death seemed (and was) way more important then he ever was. Back when I met this guy in DA2, I thought he was neat as all hell, but now I'm not so sure. Conceptually? Very interesting. A remnant of a bygone era that originally walked through the Black City. That -awesome-. But his being a villain removed any sense of threat from me. He just... fell over. Much like he fell over when Hawke wrecked him. Hell, his Orb seemed more important than he ever was. Everything else, though? 10/10.

So what has your experience been? Decision variance at the end? It -seems- like there's a lot of potential, but I'm going to have to go through this game another couple of times to actually get a sense of how much will change. I know a friend of mine who only had one different thing that would seem to influence these events had a coooompletely different meeting with one of those characters, but that's just one change/example. I wanna know what happened to other people!

But yeah, thoughts? Variance? Tomatoes?

 

[Casual Shinji]

The game ends as it begins; It begins with a beginning where you are the Choosen Hero, and then ends with a Boss fight. I fully expected the ending to be very generic, considering Corypheus was such a stock villain, but I was shocked at how throw-away it all was. There's not even any build up to it, it's just 'Yeah, here's the bad guy, go fight him now.' I mean, the guy even shows up on your doorstep to save you the trouble.

As for the post credit scene... I fully expected Solas to factor into something important near the end, because I had ignored that guy throughout the whole game, and then I suddenly get a cutscene of him mourning over the mcguffin orb. His thing with Flemeth would've been cool if he wasn't such a wet blanket.

In my game Morrigan didn't have a son, not only because I didn't give the ***** one in Origins, but because I didn't bother with the whole 'make up your world history', which I assume requires you to make an Origin account, and fuck that.

Overal the game was fine. It really lacked fun characters that you want to hang out with though. Iron Bull and Dorian were pretty cool, but none of the party members apart from Cassandra felt very important to the plot (how little of it there was).

I don't know, all I can think about when remembering the whole experience is how much better and likeable the characters in Mass Effect and Origins were, and that's never a very good thing.

 

[Estelindis]

I found the villain to be rather lacklustre, particularly at the very end. The final fight was boring. However, I was very interested by some other developments at the end.

Spoiler

I'm not sure how to interpret what happened between Flemeth and Solas. At first glance, it seems like she died and he gained her power, because he apologised that he should be the one to pay the price, but his people needed him. However, I do wonder if, perhaps, she actually possessed him. This could be consistent with his apology if living through whatever they think the future will bring would actually be harder than simply dying.

Overall, I think the best writing came from the companion plots and the Fade section. Combat was generally fun, but it was infuriating not to have more than eight ability quickslots.

 

[Secondhand Revenant]

I found the villain to be rather lacklustre, particularly at the very end. The final fight was boring. However, I was very interested by some other developments at the end.

Spoiler

I'm not sure how to interpret what happened between Flemeth and Solas. At first glance, it seems like she died and he gained her power, because he apologised that he should be the one to pay the price, but his people needed him. However, I do wonder if, perhaps, she actually possessed him. This could be consistent with his apology if living through whatever they think the future will bring would actually be harder than simply dying.

Overall, I think the best writing came from the companion plots and the Fade section. Combat was generally fun, but it was infuriating not to have more than eight ability quickslots.

Spoiler

I bet she possessed him. She called him Dread Wolf, the god that tricked the others and is the reason they're gone. Flemeth mentioned how Mythal was betrayed and wanted vengeance. I imagine she may have wanted it against him for his betrayal.

 

[laggyteabag]

I gotta admit, I was kinda disappointed with the final boss fight, at least in a gameplay standpoint. I was level 23 when I started the final mission, and I must admit, it did seem kinda cool running up a floating castle covered in red lyrium whilst chasing the big C up it whilst the Archdemon and Morridragon were fighting in the sky. When the archdemon started combat with me, I was kind of expecting a fight similar to the Archdemon in Origins (at least in terms of difficulty), but instead it was just the same as a normal dragon, but one that spawned with half its health. As a result of this poor beast's handicap, it proved to be little more than a pushover, especially considering that I had just finished committing dragon genocide across all the the game's areas, so what was one more to add to the collection? The Dragon was dead, and it was just between me and two-face now, and once again, I was expecting a fight that was something similar to the fight between melty face and Hawke in DA2, but instead it ended up being pretty easy. That being said, it was probably because I went down the path of the Knight-Enchanter, and ended up with the power comparable to a god, but I was not expecting to be able to kill him just just spamming the spirit sword button over and over again. Alas, he was dead, Solas seemed pretty sad that C Man's shiny ball was destroyed, and then he disappeared for reasons unknown.

We went back to Skyhold, I sent Blackwall over to the Wardens, and then Vivienne was elected as the new Divine out of nowhere (say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?), then the credits rolled. Solas' disappearance was made clear, then suddenly Flemmeth (who was revealed to not only be a body snatching lady voldemort, but is apparently also what remains of the elven god Mythal)gets hugged by Solas and then kinda dies or something, Solas is actually a weakened ancient elven god in mortal form (Fen'Harel, the Dread Wolf), and now we are waiting for the sequel/DLC/expansion that will hopefully explain it a little more.

I did like the ending, but it did feel a little mechanically weak, especially when compared to their counterparts in previous games. I am interested to see where the DLC/expansions will take us, so I guess BioWare succeeded on that front. Good job guys, people seem to like you again.

 

[Jessabi]

I loved the game, but the end boss fight was so lackluster. I was expecting a massive battle (reminiscent of the Battle of Denerim) with the Inquisition army at your back, fighting through hordes of demons and the dragon to reach Corypheus before the breach tore the world apart. But no, you just show up with your three companions and he's standing there ready to give his Evil Monologue. Fight him a bit, fight the dragon, fight him again, done. The fight wasn't even interesting from a game-play standpoint. The whole thing lacked that epic final showdown feel that I was hoping for. I think that if they'd sacrificed just one of the questing areas then they could have focused more on the end battle and made it more memorable.

Corypheus was a bit of a sucky bad guy all-in-all though. Great for the DA2 Legacy DLC, but fell short as the main antagonist of an entire game in my opinion.

As for the post credits scene, I was surprised that Solas was the Dread Wolf all along! I took the end as Flemeth stealing his body (as she loves to do) but after hearing other opinions I'm not so sure anymore. I guess we'll have to wait for DLC or a sequel to know for certain.

 

[Bergthor86]

I had the same world state you did, so can't say much about the variance. As for my thoughts on the ending, I thought it felt very underwhelming. I felt like the game could have used another act with another couple of main missions and some more companion content. As it is, I'm justing waiting for a Solas-focused expansion of a similar size to Awakening that can act as a final act to the game. And it needs to be Solas-focused! He was definitely my favourite character in this game, even before the post-credits revelation.

Despite the underwhelming ending and a general sense of the game straying too far from the classical BioWare RPG (the Dragon Age Keep had over 300 choices over the two previous games, this game had a total of maybe 30) i still think it's a terrific game though, one of the best I've ever played. It's just it could have been so much more.

 

[A-D.]

Also about the villain

Spoiler

Bioware broke the first rule of villainy, phase one always succeeds. I can't take a villain serious when my character trumps him every. single. time. The game would have ended in a more satisfying manner if he had actually made it to the Fade before you beat him.

I would agree actually that they could have handled it much better, without much extra work being required.

Spoiler

He goes to the breach, you go there to stop him, fight him a bit and then dragon-stuff happens. You fight the dragon and once you win you notice that he managed to open the Fade for real and got physically into it. So you have to go after him and stop him in the Fade. Not only has Corypheus a short advantage already due to you having to kill his pet, but now you also have to fight the Nightmare Demon, you know that gigantic Spider-thing from earlier. Which costs you time again and then you really got to run and stop Corypheus. So when you reach him, he is in the process of cracking open the Black City, so you interrupt and then fight him, just a few seconds short of him succeeding outright. You kill him and the Black City somehow implodes because he actually did succeed and you have to leg it out of the Fade before shit gets really bad, maybe even with a little countdown for funsies.

Now you get out of the Fade and have to seal it before the Black City implosion business shatters all of Thedas, while your army has just shown up and has to fight back the Demon Horde on your heels while you close the rift for good. Depending on how fast you are (add in a little mini-battles maybe) based on how much time of the countdown timer is left before you manage, the ending is different based on how much the world got affected, going from "perfect no change" right down to "Physical World and Fade merged somehow" and everything in between.

The latter part is more wishful thinking, but everything in the first paragraph really should've been in there, if nothing else seeing the Black City up close would have been awesome. Plus it would have given Corypheus a much better ending because he was so close to winning despite your actions and you only managed to do so by the skin of your teeth.

 

[Ferisar]

Also about the villain

Spoiler

Bioware broke the first rule of villainy, phase one always succeeds. I can't take a villain serious when my character trumps him every. single. time. The game would have ended in a more satisfying manner if he had actually made it to the Fade before you beat him.

I would agree actually that they could have handled it much better, without much extra work being required.

Spoiler

He goes to the breach, you go there to stop him, fight him a bit and then dragon-stuff happens. You fight the dragon and once you win you notice that he managed to open the Fade for real and got physically into it. So you have to go after him and stop him in the Fade. Not only has Corypheus a short advantage already due to you having to kill his pet, but now you also have to fight the Nightmare Demon, you know that gigantic Spider-thing from earlier. Which costs you time again and then you really got to run and stop Corypheus. So when you reach him, he is in the process of cracking open the Black City, so you interrupt and then fight him, just a few seconds short of him succeeding outright. You kill him and the Black City somehow implodes because he actually did succeed and you have to leg it out of the Fade before shit gets really bad, maybe even with a little countdown for funsies.

Now you get out of the Fade and have to seal it before the Black City implosion business shatters all of Thedas, while your army has just shown up and has to fight back the Demon Horde on your heels while you close the rift for good. Depending on how fast you are (add in a little mini-battles maybe) based on how much time of the countdown timer is left before you manage, the ending is different based on how much the world got affected, going from "perfect no change" right down to "Physical World and Fade merged somehow" and everything in between.

The latter part is more wishful thinking, but everything in the first paragraph really should've been in there, if nothing else seeing the Black City up close would have been awesome. Plus it would have given Corypheus a much better ending because he was so close to winning despite your actions and you only managed to do so by the skin of your teeth.

Spoiler

EXACTLY! Can you imagine how awesome the ending would have been if it ended on the steps of the Black City? that would have made the ending.

I MEAN...

Spoiler

To be fair here guys, I'm pretty sure they -reeeeally- want to play the ambiguity angle with the whole "Maker/Chantry/Andrastean faith" since they're playing up all the other gods and beings as physically potent and real. If they made the Black City a "real place", it would have to be a huge subversion of how the Chantry interpreted it. If it wasn't, they would have to deal with another major faith that manifests itself actively.

HOWEVER... That said, that does sound a lot cooler. They could've STILL handled it IN the Fade, and made for a very interesting environment and a longer mission, instead of just a straight boss-fight where the villain has no potency and just gets destroyed. Shit, let him manifest the Black City as an excuse of being able to shape the Fade from being there physically and having that much power. Say it's an excuse of a mass of spirits/demons simply reflecting his gluttonous want. But yeah, it could've been done. Very sadness.

 

[Ladylotus]

Spoiler: Endgame spoilers

I found that the main story was very 'safe'. They didn't take any chances with the villain or the story, probably due to the problems with the last two times they tried to do something that wasn't the norm.

But BY GOD was the Flemeth/Solas scene an amazing twist. I thought it was a fantastic way to end the story, giving the fans more than enough reason to look into DLC or a sequel. I interpreted it as them having an internal agreement to share their body. Not only is Solas as a built up character still given relevance, but Flemeth isn't thrown away for the sake of creating tension for a new villain.

I'm sure I'm wrong, but it's be a decent way to make sure both characters get their way.

And the buildup for the release of the Elven gods is now huge. Coryphenus ( <3 Sera) was a poor villain for an overall fantastic adventure. The content is vast and only one companion character seems poorly done (Blackwall, though I will admit his combat abilities are fantastic and his companion quest was grand). I loved the return of Lelianna and Morrigan, seeing how they changed over a decade was amazing.

Overall, the villain was weak, the story was not what you'd want from a Bioware game, and the characters were fantastic. Even lesser baddies were fun, despite never seeming little more than annoyances. The buildup for a sequel and DLC is great, and I can't wait to see what Bioware has in store for us.

 

[A-D.]

Also about the villain

Spoiler

Bioware broke the first rule of villainy, phase one always succeeds. I can't take a villain serious when my character trumps him every. single. time. The game would have ended in a more satisfying manner if he had actually made it to the Fade before you beat him.

I would agree actually that they could have handled it much better, without much extra work being required.

Spoiler

He goes to the breach, you go there to stop him, fight him a bit and then dragon-stuff happens. You fight the dragon and once you win you notice that he managed to open the Fade for real and got physically into it. So you have to go after him and stop him in the Fade. Not only has Corypheus a short advantage already due to you having to kill his pet, but now you also have to fight the Nightmare Demon, you know that gigantic Spider-thing from earlier. Which costs you time again and then you really got to run and stop Corypheus. So when you reach him, he is in the process of cracking open the Black City, so you interrupt and then fight him, just a few seconds short of him succeeding outright. You kill him and the Black City somehow implodes because he actually did succeed and you have to leg it out of the Fade before shit gets really bad, maybe even with a little countdown for funsies.

Now you get out of the Fade and have to seal it before the Black City implosion business shatters all of Thedas, while your army has just shown up and has to fight back the Demon Horde on your heels while you close the rift for good. Depending on how fast you are (add in a little mini-battles maybe) based on how much time of the countdown timer is left before you manage, the ending is different based on how much the world got affected, going from "perfect no change" right down to "Physical World and Fade merged somehow" and everything in between.

The latter part is more wishful thinking, but everything in the first paragraph really should've been in there, if nothing else seeing the Black City up close would have been awesome. Plus it would have given Corypheus a much better ending because he was so close to winning despite your actions and you only managed to do so by the skin of your teeth.

Spoiler

EXACTLY! Can you imagine how awesome the ending would have been if it ended on the steps of the Black City? that would have made the ending.

I MEAN...

Spoiler

To be fair here guys, I'm pretty sure they -reeeeally- want to play the ambiguity angle with the whole "Maker/Chantry/Andrastean faith" since they're playing up all the other gods and beings as physically potent and real. If they made the Black City a "real place", it would have to be a huge subversion of how the Chantry interpreted it. If it wasn't, they would have to deal with another major faith that manifests itself actively.

HOWEVER... That said, that does sound a lot cooler. They could've STILL handled it IN the Fade, and made for a very interesting environment and a longer mission, instead of just a straight boss-fight where the villain has no potency and just gets destroyed. Shit, let him manifest the Black City as an excuse of being able to shape the Fade from being there physically and having that much power. Say it's an excuse of a mass of spirits/demons simply reflecting his gluttonous want. But yeah, it could've been done. Very sadness.

Spoiler

The thing about the Black City is that though the Maker/Andraste have an ambiguous existence, the city itself exists. Sure, it may not have been Golden at one point like the Chantry claims, but the City in the Fade is there, visible to every dreamer (I think it was Origins that claimed that while the Fade was different to every dreamer, the Black City was always visible in the distance).

like...idk it was just one of many things that kept Coryphyus from being an actual threat. That and the fact that you maybe saw him twice in 30+ hours of game as well.

Spoiler

Actually i think the City is not a physical place in itself, like it is there, but its not a city as such. To me it always seemed like this concept of introversion, to get there you must really want it, but to want it you must know why you want it. It is a reflection of who you are, so to every dreamer, just like how the fade shifts, it appears a little different, its always there, but the distance is different, or the shape of it. When the Magisters went into the Fade and the "Golden City", it merely reflected them and it showed them for what they truly were, wretched, evil things, greedy and lusting for power.

Perhaps thats how the darkspawn came to be, rather than be a curse of the Maker directly, it transformed them into what they truly were deep down, it warped them because they were evil, they were vile and greedy and prideful. So if a person who was pure, innocent and overall the nicest person around, it might appear gold, it might be white. It reflects your true nature, your heart and mind for you to see like a reflection. That is why its always in the distance, because on some level, people do not want to be shown that mirror, to see every imperfection laid bare. Which is why it may have also served as a tool to show the difference between Corypheus and the Inquisitor, he may see it as black, but depending on your actions and behaviour throughout the game, it may appear different to you. So when you would have gotten there, you could have asked why it was called Black when you saw it as, say, silver, to allow for some food for thought. Or add a ME1-style option to resolve the battle diplomatically, ya know, talk Corypheus into letting go because what he wants doesnt exist and never has.

 

[Kirke]

Spoiler: I agree with many of the previous posts, but I also have another complain about the ending:

You have no say in what the inquisitor does once Corypheus is dead. My inquisitor is an elven rouge, and throughout the story she took whatever chance there was to point out that she wasn't all that special. My thinking was that when it was over, she'd go home. She straight up said so in an early conversation.

But then it was just never an option. With Corypheus dead, what's the purpose of the inquisition? I also think the sequence in the main hall was a bit jarring. It just didn't feel believable. Dorian even says as much, "The hero dies in all the best stories.".

 

[Saviordd1]

Corypheus was a bit of a sucky bad guy all-in-all though. Great for the DA2 Legacy DLC, but fell short as the main antagonist of an entire game in my opinion.

See at first I was all for him. How they kept pulling the "Elder One" thing and finally his reveal of him walking through the flames and ***** slapping you a bit was amazing. I was so psyched for him.

But then he sorta turned into a Saturday morning cartoon villain. After haven you repeatedly foil him at no cost. Every main mission might as well have a zany 90s intro sequence and end with Cory shaking his fist and saying "I'll get you next time Inquisitor!"

OT: Overall I'd say my opinion is thus: Great game, great gameplay, so many great moments, lackluster ending (Though not as bad as ME3 to be sure) and one hell of a sequel punch.

 

[Jessabi]

Also about the villain

Spoiler

Bioware broke the first rule of villainy, phase one always succeeds. I can't take a villain serious when my character trumps him every. single. time. The game would have ended in a more satisfying manner if he had actually made it to the Fade before you beat him.

I would agree actually that they could have handled it much better, without much extra work being required.

Spoiler

He goes to the breach, you go there to stop him, fight him a bit and then dragon-stuff happens. You fight the dragon and once you win you notice that he managed to open the Fade for real and got physically into it. So you have to go after him and stop him in the Fade. Not only has Corypheus a short advantage already due to you having to kill his pet, but now you also have to fight the Nightmare Demon, you know that gigantic Spider-thing from earlier. Which costs you time again and then you really got to run and stop Corypheus. So when you reach him, he is in the process of cracking open the Black City, so you interrupt and then fight him, just a few seconds short of him succeeding outright. You kill him and the Black City somehow implodes because he actually did succeed and you have to leg it out of the Fade before shit gets really bad, maybe even with a little countdown for funsies.

Now you get out of the Fade and have to seal it before the Black City implosion business shatters all of Thedas, while your army has just shown up and has to fight back the Demon Horde on your heels while you close the rift for good. Depending on how fast you are (add in a little mini-battles maybe) based on how much time of the countdown timer is left before you manage, the ending is different based on how much the world got affected, going from "perfect no change" right down to "Physical World and Fade merged somehow" and everything in between.

The latter part is more wishful thinking, but everything in the first paragraph really should've been in there, if nothing else seeing the Black City up close would have been awesome. Plus it would have given Corypheus a much better ending because he was so close to winning despite your actions and you only managed to do so by the skin of your teeth.

Why don't you work for Bioware? Something like that would have been freakin' awesome!

Corypheus was a bit of a sucky bad guy all-in-all though. Great for the DA2 Legacy DLC, but fell short as the main antagonist of an entire game in my opinion.

See at first I was all for him. How they kept pulling the "Elder One" thing and finally his reveal of him walking through the flames and ***** slapping you a bit was amazing. I was so psyched for him.

But then he sorta turned into a Saturday morning cartoon villain. After haven you repeatedly foil him at no cost. Every main mission might as well have a zany 90s intro sequence and end with Cory shaking his fist and saying "I'll get you next time Inquisitor!"

OT: Overall I'd say my opinion is thus: Great game, great gameplay, so many great moments, lackluster ending (Though not as bad as ME3 to be sure) and one hell of a sequel punch.

I'll agree with you about his reveal, the battle at Haven up to the discovery of Skyhold was my favourite portion of the game! He had potential but just never quite made it.

 

[Saviordd1]

Also about the villain

Spoiler

Bioware broke the first rule of villainy, phase one always succeeds. I can't take a villain serious when my character trumps him every. single. time. The game would have ended in a more satisfying manner if he had actually made it to the Fade before you beat him.

I would agree actually that they could have handled it much better, without much extra work being required.

Spoiler

He goes to the breach, you go there to stop him, fight him a bit and then dragon-stuff happens. You fight the dragon and once you win you notice that he managed to open the Fade for real and got physically into it. So you have to go after him and stop him in the Fade. Not only has Corypheus a short advantage already due to you having to kill his pet, but now you also have to fight the Nightmare Demon, you know that gigantic Spider-thing from earlier. Which costs you time again and then you really got to run and stop Corypheus. So when you reach him, he is in the process of cracking open the Black City, so you interrupt and then fight him, just a few seconds short of him succeeding outright. You kill him and the Black City somehow implodes because he actually did succeed and you have to leg it out of the Fade before shit gets really bad, maybe even with a little countdown for funsies.

Now you get out of the Fade and have to seal it before the Black City implosion business shatters all of Thedas, while your army has just shown up and has to fight back the Demon Horde on your heels while you close the rift for good. Depending on how fast you are (add in a little mini-battles maybe) based on how much time of the countdown timer is left before you manage, the ending is different based on how much the world got affected, going from "perfect no change" right down to "Physical World and Fade merged somehow" and everything in between.

The latter part is more wishful thinking, but everything in the first paragraph really should've been in there, if nothing else seeing the Black City up close would have been awesome. Plus it would have given Corypheus a much better ending because he was so close to winning despite your actions and you only managed to do so by the skin of your teeth.

Why don't you work for Bioware? Something like that would have been freakin' awesome!

Corypheus was a bit of a sucky bad guy all-in-all though. Great for the DA2 Legacy DLC, but fell short as the main antagonist of an entire game in my opinion.

See at first I was all for him. How they kept pulling the "Elder One" thing and finally his reveal of him walking through the flames and ***** slapping you a bit was amazing. I was so psyched for him.

But then he sorta turned into a Saturday morning cartoon villain. After haven you repeatedly foil him at no cost. Every main mission might as well have a zany 90s intro sequence and end with Cory shaking his fist and saying "I'll get you next time Inquisitor!"

OT: Overall I'd say my opinion is thus: Great game, great gameplay, so many great moments, lackluster ending (Though not as bad as ME3 to be sure) and one hell of a sequel punch.

I'll agree with you about his reveal, the battle at Haven up to the discovery of Skyhold was my favourite portion of the game! He had potential but just never quite made it.

Another issue is that Bioware keeps pussy-footing around the idea of the Maker and Andraste. If they don't wanna directly address the question then good for them, that's fine by me. However you can't introduce a villain whose backstory is directly tied to that question and then not deliver on an answer or at least hint at an answer. By the end of the story it's a pretty 50-50 mix of "Well maybe he really did go to the black city" or "Damn he cray cray"