Regarding Choices Made in the First Two Games

(I tagged a couple little things from Origins as spoilers just in case. The game may be old but if the people I know are any indication, people are playing it gearing up for Inquisition so I don't want to bum anyone out with potential spoilers)

I'm pretty down financially at this point, so by the time I have enough spare cash to pick up Inquisition I'll have finished Origins and I'm debating playing 2. I'm interested to know how much your choices in the previous games are touched upon outside of the broader state of the world. I'm sure things like crowning Alistair king or executing Loghain will have some sort of mention, since Lilliana is in the Inquisition and she would have been around for all that (potentially), but will she remember if her and my Grey Warden had a little thing going on? Will her and Morrigan remember that my Warden was a Dwarf, and even more detailed than that, a warrior? I can't cite any examples from 2 since I haven't played past the intro, but I assume Hawke is still alive somewhere so do choices from that game pay off?

I don't want to get into spoilers, but yes, some choices are reflected and followed up upon. My favorite moment so far has been meeting a dwarf I helped out in Origins in Orzammar show up and be a sort of important character in Inquisition. But as for things like the Hero of Ferelden, maybe it's because mine was a human but everyone's just been really vague when talking about him. Stuff like 'Yeah the Hero of Ferelden sure was a hero'.

I'm 11 hours in, but much of that has been doing side quests. One characters has brought up Loghain and Ostegar. It was brief but cool. It's referred to Dragon Age 2 a lot more than Origins so far.

@donchipotle: It cool to know that some smaller choices and side quests are followed up on. That kind of sucks about the Hero of Ferelden, though. They did end a Blight, and last time I checked thats a pretty darn big deal.

@the_ruiner: I'll have to play 2 then. Or at least enough to kind of get an idea of where that game goes. I don't want to just read the Dragon Age wiki and fill out the Keep if choices are represented.

I'm, like, many hours in but not far at all because I've been doing literally every side thing that crosses my eye. That said, Leliana has already paid lip service to the fact that she was in a relationship with my warden. It was a really neat moment but I won't say anything else. Also one of the characters in your camp from the beginning has a lot to say about Loghain.

I totally missed the opportunity to speak with Alistair in the game. I thought he only appeared in the one scene. I rushed that bit and didn't realize I could until it was too late. I spoke with another character and they asked if I had spoken to him. Not sure if you can still go back and speak with that character or not. All I know is a quest auto completed (failed) because I hadn't spoken with said person yet.

Yes, they acknowledge quite a bit of that stuff. There's stuff that obviously happens in the game itself, with conversations, main missions, and side quests all having random stuff here and there(and some past details actually factor pretty heavily in the plot). You have a War Table in Inquisition, which works the way that the Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker or Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood crew missions work where you send people out. Each mission there has a thing of text that goes along with it, and I definitely saw some references there as well, including one specifically about my human Warden's family.

@skyfire543: Yes, your choices in the previous two games definitely come up, though not in a hugely major way. The game isn't radically altered by any particular choice, but there's differences in things like dialogue.

Just as a hypothetical example of the kind of thing that might happen: lets say that you made a choice in one of the earlier games about whether about whether you sacrificed character A or character B in some circumstance (this is not based on any particular choice, this is just an example of how it might work). Then, whoever you chose to not to sacrifice might show up in Inquisition to deliver some dialogue or exposition or something. They probably wont be a major character, but might show up in a cut-scene or two.

Also, Leliana from DA:O and Varric and Cassandra from DA2 are all major characters, and if you talk to them about their background, they'll give different stories depending on what you did in those previous games. So, for instance, if you romanced Leliana in the first game she'll talk about the Warden (the Hero of Ferelden, as he/she is referred to in this game) like he/she is the love of her life and her soulmate.

Edit: By the way, since you can't import your saves from the previous games, remember to go through Dragon Age Keep before you start playing. That way you can set the world state before starting to make sure the choices are what you want. The choices in this game exports automatically to Dragon Age Keep, so you'll presumably never have to do this again, any future games in the series will just have that information in the cloud.

Morrigan having a child seemed like a huge thing in my playthrough; not sure how it would even work if I hadn't impregnated her, so there's definitely some big differences/callbacks.

Also lots of callbacks and things from the books. Cole for example is character introduced in one of the books (Asunder). Also I didn't make the connection until the other night, but Cassandra is the main character in the animated movie also. So much lore tied together in this game. Its kinda crazy.

@sterling: You're making me want to go all 'Vinny with The Witcher' and read the Dragon Age books in the original Polish.

@skyfire543: If you are a reader you should check them out. The books are pretty good. Not as good as The Witcher books, but still very good.

There first book "Stolen Throne" has an incredible insight into the events before Origins. It completely changes your outlook on Loghain. The second Book "The Calling" lets you know that everything you think you know about Alistair's birth is wrong.

@skyfire543 said:

2 is kinda rough. But there are to amazing moments that are almost worth playing for. Unfortunately they come at exactly the halfway point and the very end of the game.

@the_ruiner: Have you read the two new ones? The two that came out this year? They were not written by David Gaider. I'm only half way through the Masked Empire. And I have Last Fight waiting after that. I wanted to get them read before the game came out, but that didn't work out.

@sterling: I'm honestly not as interested in Orlais and the fact that Gaider didn't write them. But the Last Fight has my attention because of the Grey Wardens.

@skyfire543: Dragon Age 2 is worth playing--there's some stuff about it I don't like, but the characters are fucking great, and the story, while sadly restricted to the city, is really good. Turn the combat to easy so you don't have to deal with it (the combat controls are actually pretty solid, but enemies spawn in waves and it gets tedious) and you'll have a good time.

@sterling: I'll definitely look into them. I need something to read.

The most significant choice callback I've seen is a character that can die in Origins has had a relatively significant cameo in this game. It actually makes me curious how many variations of that role there actually are.

I'm talking about Loghain btw. I'm betting most people let him be executed, so it's pretty neat that he got more than just a throwaway part. But I do wonder who replaces him if he's dead. If Alistair is Grey Warden does he take over the part? I usually make him king, but if he gets more screen time as a Grey Warden I may have to change that for next time.

I actually had more fun playing DA2 on hard than I did Origins. Part of that is because normal is a bit on the easy side though. I don't recommend dropping it to easy unless you really hate the combat.

I didn't like the combat that much when I played it. I'll start of normal and drop it down if I start to really hate it.

I haven't gotten the part you are speaking of (I am close to it and already knew about it). But in my choices he died in place of the hero killing the arch demon. So he is dead. And Alistair is king. Also not sure who you sided with Mages or Templars, but Alistair shows up in Redcliff if you go the mages route (as the king). And if you had him marry Loghains daughter she is there also. And since Loghain was dead, there was a long bit of dialogue about him with the inquisition lady for requisitions. She had some very strong feelings about him as she is from Dennerim. It was good stuff. Now I am looking forward to see who my warden will be when I go do the Hawke mission.

Also running into the adorable dwarf girl from Orzamar who wanted to be a mage was fantastic. If you helped her complete that quest in Origins and let her go to the circle to study she is your enchanter in the game. And she has a good line where she says she is the best enchanter you can find. Except maybe for one other person, but she doesn't have a special mind like he does. I got a big kick out of all that. Enchantment?

Actually feel like more than any previous game the choices in previous games play a role here. Specifically for the "Ashes" quest line which seemed entirely geared around reminding you what you did in prior games and with whom. One thing I'll say about DA2 is it was smart of them to set up a last name that can't be changed, because the DA1 hero has to constantly be referred to as "hero of Ferelden" and its goofy. And both are mentioned in several conversations.

I've made a world-state on Dragon Age Keep that is for my 2nd playthrough of the game, and it's essentially the 'darkest timeline' version of events. So basically I made the "he/she was killed/never recruited" whenever I could and did generally nasty things. I found it interesting that I could make it so Leliana was killed off in Origins, but when I started Inquisition she was alive and well. So, I'm curious how many of the choices in Keep are superficial versus actually impactful.

Other than that, I just finished my first playthrough (85 hours!) and there was a significant amount of call backs to choices in previous games, mostly in the form of character references and cameos. It was a bit disappointing that, unless I missed something, most of the time it was just a war room mission that had text about someone from a previous game (for example, Zevran). I also wanted to see Alistar having become a drunk, but he never popped up anywhere.

@bombedyermom: You can see Alistair as a drunk in DA2 if he got kicked out of the Wardens in Origins, but I'm pretty sure it's stated somewhere that he rejoins the Wardens after or during the events of DA2.

The Surname was unchangeable in Origins too there were just a bunch of them and probably not worth all of the extra recording. It's too bad because that moniker does get a bit awkward.