Here's how I figure they'll likely end up answering the questions of the Dragon Age universe:
1. The God (Demon?) Child.
This one actually makes me laugh aloud when I pause to think about it. Boy did they ever write themselves into a corner with this one. All that foreshadowing in Origins? The "Witch Hunt" DLC to try and help give some context to the decision? There is no way in bat-shit smeared holy hell that Bioware will actually give the choice real weight in the next installment (or ever, for that matter). Y'know how they'll wind up covering the issue? 200/1 odds that if you *did* go along with Morrigan's plan and go off to never never land with her and yadda-yadda-yadda, you'll get 1 line of dialogue from an exposition heavy character along these lines:
"Oh, you startled me there Protagonist. Reading some disturbing rumors from overseas about a mysterious Dark Child... but back to whatever generic quest we're currently pursuing."
If you didn't go along with it? Said line is never spoken. ANOTHER GAME DESIGN SLAM DUNK.
2. Sandal.
It's not a question of *if* he'll be used as a Deus Ex Machina at some point, it's just a question of how big and how blatant of one. At *some* point he's going to pull out his big boy voice, assume the role of the lead writer and offer you X choices like a glorified game show host.
"Destroy, dominate, or interbreed with the darkspawn!"
Y'know, something along those lines.
3. Flemeth.
They'll never actually tell you what she is. Ever. The most that you'll get is one line of dialogue (likely optional) in which the character expresses how frustrated they are about their lack of knowledge where she's concerned. As if acknowledging that players want something addressed is the same as addressing it...
4. Orlais
I know to a certainty that one or more installments of this series will revolve around bashing the French. Seriously, after that insanely stupid villain in the "Bang a Redhead" DLC? After all the hints that Dragon Age's expy for Britain (Fereldan) is gonna have to go to war with them again? You can be damn sure you've got lots of moustache twirling effeminate frenchmen to stab in your future. This will culminate with the choice of which voice actor you'd like to serve as the Emperor/Empress of expy France. One will be an asshole, both will border on tacky.
5. The Dalish
It won't matter what you've done up until this point, nothing's gonna change much where these guys are concerned. They'll offer you one last choice in the last installment that'll determine whether your Dalish party member's last words are optimistic or somber.
6. The Idol
Won't come up again, won't be explained, won't make sense. Ever. It could've be labeled "Artifact of Doom" without much issue.
7. Mages/Templars
It became pretty clear that they wanted to turn Dragon Age into fantasy X-Men at the tail end of DA2. In much the same way that it became clear they wanted to turn Mass Effect into Terminator in space at the tail end of ME2. Anders is going to be redesigned as Magneto at some point (they redesigned him from a snarky self interested hetero slacker who you could kill into a plot mandatory bisexual crusader for mage rights with a martyr complex, so I don't think this is a stretch). At some point you'll be given the option to neuter/kill all mages. After that choice is made the series will end, and nothing thereafter will be expanded upon or... well, you get the idea.
8. Mark of the Assassin
If you banged Tallis, she'll have a cameo. And she'll also have a cameo if you didn't, but it'll have like 1-2 less lines of dialogue and no kiss/pants on sex scene.
9. Legacy
You'll have to kill the super Darkspawn again. It won't matter which grey warden you picked, nor will anything else you did the length of the DLC. You're probably looking at similar mechanics in terms of the boss fight itself, because good god have Bioware proven they're lazy in this regard.
10. Ex Party Members
Anyone that you had the option to kill/not recruit who nobody complained about not being able to bang? They're gone without a trace. Anyone who you could bang? Story mandatory and their arc will conclude with either you banging them again or them dieing. Except Morrigan... again, they *really* wrote themselves into a corner with that one. Doubt she ever surfaces again.
11. The Dog
They'll put one in. They won't do anything with it, or integrate it into the game in any meaningful way, but by god it'll be in there. And you'll be able to name it w.e you want, and no one will ever refer to it by that name. And that'll be the extent of it. And reviewers will candidly mention how they loved the cuteness of said dog. And gamers will roll their eyes en masse...
12. Enemy Types
Dark Spawn. More mooks in different costumes with 3 basic classes. That; spiders (ad nauseum), demons, dragons, and every model they can salvage from Mark of the Assassin (so Wyvern and Goblin Expys).
1. The God (Demon?) Child.
This one actually makes me laugh aloud when I pause to think about it. Boy did they ever write themselves into a corner with this one. All that foreshadowing in Origins? The "Witch Hunt" DLC to try and help give some context to the decision? There is no way in bat-shit smeared holy hell that Bioware will actually give the choice real weight in the next installment (or ever, for that matter). Y'know how they'll wind up covering the issue? 200/1 odds that if you *did* go along with Morrigan's plan and go off to never never land with her and yadda-yadda-yadda, you'll get 1 line of dialogue from an exposition heavy character along these lines:
"Oh, you startled me there Protagonist. Reading some disturbing rumors from overseas about a mysterious Dark Child... but back to whatever generic quest we're currently pursuing."
If you didn't go along with it? Said line is never spoken. ANOTHER GAME DESIGN SLAM DUNK.
2. Sandal.
It's not a question of *if* he'll be used as a Deus Ex Machina at some point, it's just a question of how big and how blatant of one. At *some* point he's going to pull out his big boy voice, assume the role of the lead writer and offer you X choices like a glorified game show host.
"Destroy, dominate, or interbreed with the darkspawn!"
Y'know, something along those lines.
3. Flemeth.
They'll never actually tell you what she is. Ever. The most that you'll get is one line of dialogue (likely optional) in which the character expresses how frustrated they are about their lack of knowledge where she's concerned. As if acknowledging that players want something addressed is the same as addressing it...
4. Orlais
I know to a certainty that one or more installments of this series will revolve around bashing the French. Seriously, after that insanely stupid villain in the "Bang a Redhead" DLC? After all the hints that Dragon Age's expy for Britain (Fereldan) is gonna have to go to war with them again? You can be damn sure you've got lots of moustache twirling effeminate frenchmen to stab in your future. This will culminate with the choice of which voice actor you'd like to serve as the Emperor/Empress of expy France. One will be an asshole, both will border on tacky.
5. The Dalish
It won't matter what you've done up until this point, nothing's gonna change much where these guys are concerned. They'll offer you one last choice in the last installment that'll determine whether your Dalish party member's last words are optimistic or somber.
6. The Idol
Won't come up again, won't be explained, won't make sense. Ever. It could've be labeled "Artifact of Doom" without much issue.
7. Mages/Templars
It became pretty clear that they wanted to turn Dragon Age into fantasy X-Men at the tail end of DA2. In much the same way that it became clear they wanted to turn Mass Effect into Terminator in space at the tail end of ME2. Anders is going to be redesigned as Magneto at some point (they redesigned him from a snarky self interested hetero slacker who you could kill into a plot mandatory bisexual crusader for mage rights with a martyr complex, so I don't think this is a stretch). At some point you'll be given the option to neuter/kill all mages. After that choice is made the series will end, and nothing thereafter will be expanded upon or... well, you get the idea.
8. Mark of the Assassin
If you banged Tallis, she'll have a cameo. And she'll also have a cameo if you didn't, but it'll have like 1-2 less lines of dialogue and no kiss/pants on sex scene.
9. Legacy
You'll have to kill the super Darkspawn again. It won't matter which grey warden you picked, nor will anything else you did the length of the DLC. You're probably looking at similar mechanics in terms of the boss fight itself, because good god have Bioware proven they're lazy in this regard.
10. Ex Party Members
Anyone that you had the option to kill/not recruit who nobody complained about not being able to bang? They're gone without a trace. Anyone who you could bang? Story mandatory and their arc will conclude with either you banging them again or them dieing. Except Morrigan... again, they *really* wrote themselves into a corner with that one. Doubt she ever surfaces again.
11. The Dog
They'll put one in. They won't do anything with it, or integrate it into the game in any meaningful way, but by god it'll be in there. And you'll be able to name it w.e you want, and no one will ever refer to it by that name. And that'll be the extent of it. And reviewers will candidly mention how they loved the cuteness of said dog. And gamers will roll their eyes en masse...
12. Enemy Types
Dark Spawn. More mooks in different costumes with 3 basic classes. That; spiders (ad nauseum), demons, dragons, and every model they can salvage from Mark of the Assassin (so Wyvern and Goblin Expys).
