Dragon Age Keep: Update, Replace, Ignore

I agree but there are a lot of things they seemed to ignore. After all, in one version didn't she marry Teagan? Or was that the other girl (I can't remember her name offhand), the sister of Bevan?

Anyway, my main gripe with DAI was how they pretty much ignored the entire plot of Awakening. We had Leliana asking us to find out what had happened to the Grey Wardens by seeking out Blackwall, when the logical thing would have been to ask at Vigil's Keep (which according to Last Flight was still operational). Clarel seeks permission to enter Ferelden, referring back to the history with Sophie Dryden, when the events of the Blight and the Grey Warden official presence in Vigil's Keep should have negated that negative aspect to their history in Ferelden. Then Teagan brings that up again in Trespasser when saying why we should disband the Inquisition. Not to mention that Sophie Dryden took the action she did at the request of the Banns in order to get rid of a tyrant, so actually very similar to what Eamon did with our Warden, with Teagan's approval so far as I was aware, so that makes him a steaming hypocrite. Then the Grey Warden who was left behind by the Hero whilst they went off on a wild goose chase is apparently being hounded by Clarel, who had no authority in Ferelden because she was in charge of the Orlesian Wardens, so even if she was allowed to enter the country by virtue of the establishment of Vigil's Keep, she was not allowed to take charge without the approval of Weisshauppt, which according to Last Flight she had not received because they had not heard from her during the period she was under Corypheus' thrall. To be honest, what with the history of Anders not matching the epilogue to Awakening (and the fact that the time line didn't fit with his arrival in Kirkwall) and then all the inconsistencies in DAI, it was as though Awakening never happened. Which is presumably why we never heard any more about the Silver Order of warriors that I founded (something else left out of the Keep).

In that case, may be they will add some additional tiles to the Keep if they are intending using it and Harding is going to be involved with the next game, although that would only be necessary if she was going to be a potential romance. I still think that with this length of time between games they won't be that bothered with returning characters from the previous one, except those that are meant to be in Tevinter. When it comes to romances I think they are more likely to go with completely new characters

I treall ydependson how long the yuse the sam eengine though as  they could get away with it in the ME trilogy because all 3 games used the same engine. Dragon Age hasn't done this as DAO and 2 used Bioware's aging in house engine and DAI uses Frostbite. If all games are gong to use the same engine then a save import will likely work best hoewver if you'er planning to do what the ydid with DA the keep is probabl ythe better option in the short termgiven it'll be easier to tweak and adapt so I can understand th ereasoning behind the keep. It reall ydepends I think on ho wlong they intend to keep working on DA because when they do stop working on the series they likely are going to need to create an offlin eversion so people can continue to enjoy it. Much like how they removed all the MP stuff from ME3 for the LE so we can now play the series entirely offline if we want thanks to that. The ydid that I think so that eventuall ythe ycan get rid of the N7HQ site stuff because really we don't need it any more. We do stil need the keep but I do hope that in time they come up with an offline version for that.

This is why I am not really that keen on them having too many cameo characters in the next game if they are going to change them beyond all recognition. Teagan's odd behaviour would mean nothing to new players but was jarring to old ones. Cyril also meant nothing to new players and was only significant to those who had played MoA. It was also odd him being the Orlesian representative if Gaspard was on the throne because Cyril's family were related to and fervent supporters of Celene, although you would only know that from Masked Empire.

If characters from previous games are going to be brought back as a nod to established players, then they should at least resemble the character we remember. Otherwise, what is the point?

That should be up to the player, not BioWare. If they decide that, it’s a very slippery slope for what else they can do to previous relationships.

I know, but how much of whatever that is will affect a new protagonist or will even be known to him/her? DAD will be set in a new area with hopefully new characters - what happened in the previous games that will have any important effect in the next? Why put any effort into that instead of focusing on the new plot and characters?

You make a good point, but I'm still hoping that they will go with the idea that those in power will do nothing, and it's not particularly interesting to know who exactly is ignoring us. But even if they go with the tired old "help faction X with their problems so they kindly agree to help you saving everyone's butt including their own" route, the question of who's in power in some other country could be answered in a simple conversation. I hope it won't be necessary though. I've had my fill of Ferelden/Orlais/Orzammar/Inquisition. Give me something new.