I want to know everyone's favorite romance. Mine is Fenris, but Cullen and Alistair are close seconds.
I want to know everyone's favorite romance. Mine is Fenris, but Cullen and Alistair are close seconds.
Morrigan, Fenris, and Solas
Orgins:zevran,leliana /dragon age 2:merrill,Anders Inquisition:cassandra,cullen are my favorites
Bella.
In DAO - my Warden falls for Alistair.
In DA2 ... Well, My Hawke is a little tragic. She adores Varric. Unfortunately, he's smitten with Bianca, so they're best friends instead. Since Hawke has spent her whole life guarding apostates from the Chantry, she winds up with Anders. It's not so much she's "in love" with him, but she does care for him and the responsibility of keeping him out of trouble is familiar.
In DA3 - My shy Inq gets ninja-romanced by Cullen.
@Shenchie `she gets ninja romanced by Cullen' lol love it
This one took a little bit of thought because I don't have any single favorite that stands out for the entire Dragon Age franchise. So, I'll just list my most liked and disliked from each game.
Dragon Age Origins:
My favorite romance options were definitely Morrigan and Leliana. Both of them outstanding romances for different reasons. Leliana because of her sweet and caring personality, and despite the fact that she's a devout Andrastian, she doesn't let her faith interfere with yours. Morrigan I found to be both intriguing and refreshing. Unlike Leliana, Morrigan possessed a lot of self-confidence and refused to let anyone else define who she is, whether it was because of her lack of faith, her magic, or even her gender, Morrigan was the master of her destiny.
Both of them had their flaws, and did annoy me at times. Morrigan's arrogance needed to be taught some humility, instead of acting like she was always right or the most important. And there were times I think Leliana needed to put a sock in it when it came to the Chantry and the Maker, and her naiveté really bordered on ignorance. But these flaws made them more interesting both as characters and as romances.
My least favorite was probably Zevran. It's not that he was a bad romance option, he just wasn't my favorite. And I'm pretty in the middle with Alistair. Not my favorite, but I liked his romance better than Zevran's.
Dragon Age 2:
Once again, I had two romance options that I really liked. Merrill and Isabella. Merrill was took adorable naiveté to a whole new level. Her cute awkwardness made her a joy to always have in the party. And I really liked the fact that she didn't possess any of the racial prejudices that a lot of Dalish elves do. There's not a doubt in my mind that Merrill was the cutest of all the Dragon Age companions.
Isabella is also high on my romance ranks. As with Morrigan, I loved how confident Isabella was, how she refused to let anyone else define who she was. Unlike Morrigan, Isabella had no magic, so she had to rely on her own moxie to get respect. Not to mention I liked her dirty sense of humor and the banter she had with Varric. I would give my left arm to have Isabella and Cassandra in the same room together, just to see what kind of train wreck that would be. I'd probably bust a gut laughing.
As for the others, I did not like them at all. I felt all the male romances were too...soft. To emotionally wrecked, or had any confidence at all. Way too much melo-drama for me to like any of them. The only male I would have liked my Champion romance was already in a committed relationship: Varric. If it weren't for Bianca, my female Hawke would have swooped in on him.
Dragon Age Inquisition:
In this game, I had three favorite romances.
Cassandra was definitely one of my favorites. I loved picking at her hard exterior to find that soft side of hers that she kept so well hidden. Her cute moments definitely stood out amongst some of the best in the game. Just like with the others, I enjoyed her confidence, but her temper and lack of acceptance towards other beliefs did irk me from time to time. Irregradless, I liked her as a romance option because of that gentler side of her that she revealed to the Inquisitor that she had never shown any else. That was very well done for her own story and character.
Then there was Josephine, who I found to be extremely lovely. She was very sweet and had a lot of cute moments. As Leliana put it, Josephine was an innocent in love, and I adored that. Not to mention, in her romance quest, I was able to fulfill my own fantasy of dueling for the love of a fair lady. As and RPG geek, that was something I was unable to not love.
My final favorite was the Iron Bull. Of all the male romances in all the games, he had the most confidence, and wasn't afraid to pursue a romance, or make an effort to convince you not to start one with him. I found that incredibly refreshing. I have a deep respect for characters who possess confidence, especially when it comes towards romance in a male character. I don't like the whiney, melancholic, broody type characters. I know some people do, but that's just not to my taste.
I also loved Scout Harding. I was gravely disappointed that we couldn't pursue a real romance with her. She was cute, funny, a very chipper attitude, she would have been awesome. Not to mention I think it would have been nice to have a dwarf romance for once. I mean, we've had elves and humans aplenty, and then a Qunari, but no dwarves.
As for my least favorite, I only had one, and this character was my most disliked out of the entire game franchise: Sera.
I disliked her as a character, and even more so as a romance option. One of the things all my previous favorites had in common, no matter their own beliefs? They had no racial or spiritual prejudices, especially when it came to romance. You could romance Fenris as a mage, Leliana and Cassandra as a non-Andrastian, Merrill didn't care about sleeping with a human, but did Sera share any of these qualities? Not in my opinion.
I never liked Sera as a character because of her blatant disrespect and racist attitude towards elves, and in my second playthrough as a female Dalish elf, I thought I could steer her away from that attitude by accepting an elf's romance. Imagine my colossal disappointment after the Temple of Mythal. Never, in all of the romance options I've played, did any of them force my character to choose between her and my characters faith, or loyalty to their people. Even Cassandra and Leliana, the two most ardent Andrastians in the games, never forced that choice in a romance. That really cemented my dislike for Sera and her vile racism towards elves and their beliefs. If she was truly capable of feeling what love is, she would have accepted my elven Inquisitor's beliefs, instead of rejecting her for them, then acting as if their break-up was the Inquisitor's fault.
Alright, I really love talking about this. I'm gonna go over each of my faves and least faves from each game.
My fave in Origins... Well, it's a little bit of a toss-up, but I think I have to go with Morrigan. She's so terrifying and clever and powerful, and the way she talks about love being a weakness and a cancer whilst actually being in love is just... So perfect and endearing. She's a brilliantly done character, even if I would stay far, far away from her in real life.
My least fave in Origins is Alistair. He's boring and whiny. Many of my characters only keep him around as the butt of jokes. He's just not interesting enough for me to bother with.
My fave in DA2, and indeed any Dragon Age game, is Merrill. Merrill is so goddamn sweet and cute and vulnerable and shy and lonely and misunderstood, I just want Hawke to wrap her up in her arms and make sure everything's gonna be okay. Also, she was among the first to really point out that demons are just spirits too, and blood magic is no more dangerous than any other magic. She's got hidden wisdom. Plus she's super kind, like, the nicest person in Thedas. No one else can compare to Merrill.
My least favourite in DA2, and any Dragon Age game, is Fenris. Fenris can go eat a bag of [CENSORED]. I have never met a person I hated more than Fenris. Honestly, Fenris makes Corypheus look personable. He's consistently rude, horrifically prejudiced, dead-set in his ways, and his attempts at playing the victim card are total bullshit. I didn't sell him to Danarius, because my Hawke isn't an asshole, but boy howdy did I enjoy it when I killed that little [CENSORED!] after he turned on me in the final battle.
Now, Inquisition is a very difficult one, so many good choices here. On balance, I guess I'd have to go with Dorian's romance. He's so funny and morally upstanding, and he teaches us so much more about Tevinter, and his backstory is awesome. I love it when you're meeting his dad, and you choose one of the romantic dialogue options, and his dad is all "oh, this is what I was afraid of" and Dorian defends you! Plus, that mustache.
For my least fave in Inquisition, once again tricky, a toss-up between Cullen and Blackwall, but I am going to have to go with Blackwall. First of all, I'm really not into the whole lumberjack aesthetic, or that beard of his. Second of all, he's kind of... Well, a horrible rotten liar. A family murderer who stole the identity of a good man to try to avoid his mistakes and seem like a better person. Blech.
Basically, I agree with @Mabari-Master on nearly everything.
@Eureka Enderborn,
Which parts? That part where I list who are my most and least favorite romance options and why, or the part where I state why I absolutely hate Sera?
I agree with what you said about Alistair, and that's part of the reason why I don't like him as a romance. For story and character development, I think it's interesting how the Warden can inspire and show Alistair towards a purpose and goal in life, but I don't really feel that's a great quality in a romance option.
Concerning what you said about your most and least favorite romance options in DA2, I agree with you %100 on both elves. Right after helping Fenris during our first encounter, I wanted to curb stomp that ungracious elf for insulting Bethany right in front of me. The entire course of the game did very little to change my opinion of him. Merrill on the other hand is so sweet and vulnerable, like you said, my Hawke just wanted to cuddle her and take her home, like a lost puppy.
As for what you said about Cullen and Blackwall, yeah I'm going to have to agree with you on that one. Cullen's romance reminded me a little too much of Alistair's, which wasn't that appealing to me. And I'm pretty lukewarm about Blackwall in general; he's not a bad character, but not a great one, either. It's the same thing with his romance. He's just...meh.
Really, the only points I ever disagreed with you on was Iron Bull, and I don't dislike his romance at all, I just don't particularly like it, either. Also, I do think Zevran's romance has more value to it than Alistair's, IF you're playing a selfless and moral Warden. I feel like it creates an interesting dynamic. But hey, that's just one man's opinion.