Face the consequences of your decisions in Dragon Age: Inquisition

By Will Fulton Published December 2, 2014

face consequences decisions dragon age inquisition choices — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The latest and final gameplay feature for the massive, upcoming role-playing game Dragon Age: Inquisition focuses on the importance of your choices and their consequences within the story. As has been developer BioWare’s signature since way back with Baldur’s Gate, the choices you make throughout the game, big and small, have cascading consequences throughout the world, making each play truly your own.

The decisions start right at character creation. Your gender affects the romance options that present themselves to you. Your race also has a substantial impact on how the deeply-prejudiced people of Thedas respond to your inquisitor. The companions you acquire along the way react to the decisions you make, altering their opinion of you. Earn their trust and you’re able to go on special quests relating to their backstories. Anger them sufficiently, and they might just pack up and leave you forever.

Recommended Videos

Related: Your old Dragon Age choices still matter in Inquisition, thanks to Dragon Age Keep

Inquisition also gives you greater flexibility than any previous Dragon Age in what missions you choose to take on, and when. Your advisors present you with various options of what to pursue at any given moment. The quests you choose to accept and the order in which you undertake them alters the flow of the game and changes the shape of Thedas, according to BioWare.

Your choices from the previous two games in the series also carry over into Inquisition, thanks to the Dragon Age Keep web app. Regardless of the platform on which you played the first games (or whether you even played them at all), you can go through and configure all of the branching decisions that you made to make sure Thedas is just as you left it at the top of the new game.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…

Gaming

Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s best sidequest puts gender identity front and center

Taash looking concerned in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

When creating my Rook at the beginning of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, I was happy to see options for the non-binary gender and preferred pronouns. Features like that are always a welcome addition to RPGs that are all about creating and embodying a character. I didn't expect to see those identity decisions pop up much in the actual story, and they didn't for over 10 hours. Characters would no doubt address me with the correct pronouns, but Rook is clearly a vessel and the personal growth is reserved for your companions.

The presence of inclusivity options to any extent is worth celebrating, so I wasn't holding it against the game if it didn't take the idea any further. Then I hit a mission that left my team's confidence rattled. My main objectives were to speak to three specific characters. I was on my way to talk to Lucanis when I interrupted two other characters having a conversation. Neve, a mage who had been with me from the start, was discussing fashion with Taash, a dragonslayer I had only recently recruited and hadn't even taken out on a mission since meeting. What appeared to be one of many casual conversations between companions that give the world and people a bit of flavor ended up showing just how important it was for BioWare to highlight the subject of identity. It moves a little quickly for the weight of what it is trying to convey, but still feels genuine and inspiring.

Gaming

How to transmog equipment in Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Dragon Age The Veilguard Rook standing between Bellara and Neve.

With the wide assortment of equipment and clothing your character can wear in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, it's not easy choosing what you want your Rook to wear while venturing on quests and slaying enemies. Sometimes fashion comes before function, but luckily The Veilguard allows you to prioritize both with the transmog system.

Gaming

How to respec in Dragon Age: The Veilguard

A character draws a bow in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

You can spend a long time making your character in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Between their race, appearance, background, and class, there are a lot of ways to customize the game to your liking. Once you do make your choice and get into a few battles, you will earn your first skill point and be prompted to spend it in the skill tree. That's all basic stuff for an RPG, but even seasoned veterans of the genre might get a little overwhelmed by the size of the skill tree here. It's more like a bush, and you will begin at the center and can carve any path you want toward the edges, where the specializations are. However, you will never have enough points to unlock them all. In fact, you will only be able to reach a single specialization at one time. While you could spend an hour reading and mapping the perfect upgrade path, why not just have fun and try things out and respec your points later? Here's how to reset your skill points in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
How to respec in Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Respecing in Dragon Age: The Veilguard is easy, free, and can be done as many times as you like. When you want to refund your points after you've unlocked the skill tree and spent your first points, you have two options. The first is to simply select the individual skills you want to refund (as long as they aren't connecting two nodes) and refund them one by one. Or, you can start from a clean slate by pressing Y or Triangle on the controller to refund every single point you've spent.