So I loved the game, I shall be replaying it for years and I am very thankful to Bioware for making it. That said a few aspects bring the game down a bit. The biggest problem for me is the ending. No I'm not saying It's a bad ending, compared to some other bioware game endings it's pretty decent. I just feel like they missed out on a chance when the game had so much potential for an amazing ending. I got to thinking about what my specific problems were and what I would have enjoyed and this lead to me inventing a sort of new ending (or pre-ending) that would have fixed all the problems I had. What I am suggesting would require a lot of time, effort and some major(ish) changes to the game. This is just wishful thinking on what could have been, I do respect the reality of development and am not ungrateful for what we got.
The best endings in Bioware games for me are endings that reflect your choices, Inquisition did that with the epilogue slides and I LOVE that they did but still, a lot of it seemed meaningless to me. The game lacked consequences and outcomes that actually mattered in the game. So a few endings came to mind, specifically Mass Effect 2, Origins and Awakening. Mass Effect 2's suicide mission has you making choices that decide who lives and dies and previous decisions like the Normandy upgrades and loyalty make a difference. Origins allows you to call upon your allies in battle, previous decisions dictate what forces you have at your disposal. In Awakening you have to choose between the Keep and Amaranthine, you can also (sort of) save both if you make the right upgrades to the keep.
A mixture of all of these things would have really made the ending a lot better but how would this fit. So instead of changing how the battle with Corypheous specifically played out (other than making it more difficult) I would have added to the lead up to it. The game lacks a major assault on Skyhold, a battle where the outcome was at least partially decided by previous choices would have been amazing. Cory just attacking Skyhold himself would be silly and he has no army at this point however there is one available and there is a reason for such an attack. Cory can manipulate the blight. It's not unreasonable that as a last resort he could summon an army of darkspawn and compel them to attack Skyhold as a distraction while he does his breach/Orb/last attempt thing. The previous choices you made in the game could have impacted the results of this battle.
So lets say an army of darkspawn is marching your way and you are in a big fortress that can see them coming for miles. You would have time to prepare for battle. Choices such as where to position certain forces and what jobs they are better at would be important. Lets say you recruit the mages, they would be good at ranged attacks, attacking the darkspawn as they come meaning it takes them a lot more time to breach Skyhold and also meaning less of them make it through. Templars on the other hand might be better suited for close combat as well as the protection of non combatants. You can only have one group of course but other forces could have been available and your Inquisition soldiers would also be there to do some of this. So all kinds of NPC's live in skyhold and many are not combatants they need to be protected. I would suggest a force be assigned to getting them to safety and protecting them in that big throne room or something. Maybe you sided with the mages and you decide to station them on the battlements for ranged attacks, who will protect the noncombatants? The Inquisition forces would do some of it, Maybe you supported Gaspard and he sent some of Chevaliers to be stationed Skyhold, they may be able to fill in for Templars but there may be less of them so less effective. The Inquisitor and party could also prioritize this and send certain other companions on certain jobs. No mages? Maybe you supported Briala and she sent some of her army to Skyhold, among them were skilled archers who could buy you some more time. Maybe Celene's support meant grater diplomatic benefits which upped enlistment and meant more soldiers. Each force would be more effective at certain jobs than others and the Inquisitor can always improve that aspect in other ways.
The darkspawn eventually breach the gates and so you have a force ready to engage them immediately. Lets say you have your mages on the battlements, once the darkspawn get there they are in more danger as they are better at ranged battle. A stronger Inquisition army or a secondary force (like Briala's elves) to help at that stage would minimize casualties or you could go help the mages yourself. There would be other npc's fighting in other areas in Skyhold if you didn't assign a good enough force to protect the noncombatants and get them to safety they might need rescuing. Some would be savable, some would die ect. All depending on combinations of choices and the time it took you to do certain things. This would give these characters some usefulness. Maybe that Templar woman who just stands around doing nothing is helping Morrigan get Kieran to safety, maybe she can die doing that. Stuff like this would have an impact and if you can change the outcomes sometimes it makes it more meaningful. So yeah rescue npc's (if not done already), help the forces on the battlements or join the main fight in the courtyard. You can only do one of these things at this point and if you haven't picked the right forces to take care of the other two you will take heavy losses. We could have the possibility of principle characters like Ser Barris and Fiona dying (I know some would love that) and this would affect the ending for that faction.
You defeat the darkspawn but more are coming, then Cory starts doing his thing and you can see it in the distance. You meet with the war council and they talk you into leaving the battle to deal with him. The state of your forces decides the outcome of the battle after you leave. If you messed up badly the darkspawn could get into the main hall and kill almost everyone, maybe even main characters. Bioware could just keep important characters that they need for the future (like Cass, Viv, Leliana) alive no matter what. Strong forces and the right decisions will result in the remaining darkspawn being defeated with minimal casualties. If they had had stuff like outfitting of your soldiers and upgrades to skyhold's defenses this would als factor in. Skyhold could also be damaged quite a lot of not fortified correctly ect. I would have had Hawke not go to Weisshaupt, some other warden should have gone instead. Hawke goes with you to help fight Cory (it just seems right to me that Hawke be there) and announces at the ending party that (s)he is leaving to find his/her LI, sibling or whatever. Final battle with Cory happens, more or less the same except it is better and as I said harder at least on hard and nightmare. You go back to Skyhold to see the outcome of the battle, whoever is alive is at the ending party, obviously Josaphine would need to always survive so she can throw it. 
So yeah, that's how I think the ending could have been improved. Please tell me what you think and share your ideas on how the ending should have been.
Retour en haut
It was really just something I thought up today whilst cleaning my kitchen. 
