Dragon Age And Mass Effect Series: Favourite Romances?

[Thorn Wilde]

This post contains some very minor spoilers regarding romance options in the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series of games, if that wasn't already clear. 

 

I've been playing these games a lot. And I mean a lot. I've played through the entire Mass Effect series three times. I am now on my fourth play through. Since last October. I did say. I've played Dragon Age even more, even though I only got Origins last Christmas. I obsess about things. It's part of my charm.

 

These are extremely versatile games. Things can be vastly different from play through to play through, as your choices affect the world around you in bigger and bigger ways. Part of the reason I keep going back to these games, though, even as I get bored with a lot of others, is the romance options. There are so many of them I want to try!

 

While lesbian romance options have been part of the Mass Effect series since the beginning, thanks to Liara (and I've mostly played as FemShep cause she has a better voice I think), there were no gay romance options for a male Shepard until Mass Effect 3, when Kaidan inexplicably became bisexual (not that I mind) and gay shuttle pilot Steve Cortez showed up. I'm a bit in love with Cortez. He's such a sweetheart!

 

Dragon Age is an entirely different beast, however. Same-sex romance has been a part of those games from the start, with Leliana and Zevran both being bisexual romantic interests in Origins. In Dragon Age II, all the base game romance options are bisexual (though if you romance Anders as a male Hawke, you'll find that he appears to be canonically gay). Dragon Age II is a terrible game, of course, released before it was finished and chock full of bugs, but I've had to play it several times for the sake of the romances. Cause the characters and the plot are awesome.

 

In Dragon Age: Inquisition the romance options once again have gender preferences, and some even race preferences. But since there are so many romance options in the first place, it kind of evens out. Sera and Dorian are gay, Josephine and Iron Bull are bisexual (pretty sure Iron Bull would shag just about anyone or anything that seemed able to give consent), Blackwall and Cassandra are straight, as are Solas and Cullen, with the added restriction that Solas can only be romanced by an elf, and Cullen only by an elf or human. The added coolness is that you can flirt with any of these people (except Solas and Blackwall) regardless of their gender or race preference. I like playing a male Inquisitor and flirting shamelessly with Cullen to watch him blush.

 

So, do you play these games? Which characters do you prefer to romance? And why?

[Krista]

Alistair in my go to Origins man. I really like his development a lot. Although, I must admit I would have tried really hard to romance Cullen back in origins as well. Maybe I have a thing for Templars.  

 

DA:2 I rarely play. I think Fenris is the one I usually went for there... 

 

DA:Inquisition - by far, I think has the best romance options. One, you 'finally' can get your hands on Cullen if you're a human or elf woman. 2, they have gender and race specific romances you're just not offering your wang or flower to any character and eventually they'll take you up on it. (I think they did that in DA:2) Only thing I didn't like is that Dwarf characters were a bit limited.. and there weren't a dwarf romance character available.. Although I don't play as a dwarf much at all.

 

One of my favorite romance arcs is Solas. 

 

As for Mass Effect, I just cannot get into that game..

[Thorn Wilde]

Alistair is a sweetheart. I think I've romanced him with two female Wardens.

 

Fenris is a hottie, and all angry and temperamental. I like doing a rival romance with him, where he's all broody and angry all the time. Very hot.

 

I despised Cullen in the earlier games, except the playthrough of Origins where I played a female mage cause then he was kind of cute. In Inquisition, though... Oh, man! <3

 

The Solas arc is very interesting, but I haven't played it myself yet (I get curious and watch YouTube videos; it doesn't spoil anything for me, just makes me want to play the romance even more). 

 

It's weird that they've yet to make a romanceable dwarf, beyond the bits in the dwarf noble origin story in Origins... I romanced Sera with a female dwarf. The cool thing about Sera is that she has different romance dialogue based on your race, even down to nicknames. I just think that's excellent. Plus her quirky weirdness just makes her cool in every way. I'm currently romancing Dorian with a male Trevelyan. I totally hated his moustache at first, but it's grown on me (lol! Pun intended). Plus, that arse... Yum!

 

I want to romance Iron Bull next, but I feel a little guilty romancing him or Dorian, since the two of them enter into a behind the scenes romance if you bring them along on enough missions together, and they're so perfect for each other. If I romance one I feel like the other will be lonely...

Edited June 12, 2015 by Thorn Wilde

[Krista]

I think as you progress through the game, Dorian and Iron Bull develop a relationship with one another. I think you have to have certain dialogue options to release those..

 

For some reason I forgot all about Dorian - I create hot male Inquisitors just for him and Cassandra.. lol. I was nearly addicted to the game for the better part of two months.

 

The Iron Bull romance is very 'easy' to develop. I think him and Blackwall literally have the easiest go at it. Solas' romance took a lot of maneuvering around certain discussions.

 

Also, you can downright ruin your relationship with ANY of these characters. They may even break up with you later. That's another aspect of this game that I like.  As for Bioware not making dwarf characters - I think one of the most interesting characters Inquisition has is lead scout Harding. She was nicely built into the story and you could flirt with her.. but she never takes the bait. If that was a romance companion in this game, I think it would have really made it better.. maybe she will be in later games. They really do need to develop lasting Dwarf characters instead of recycling Oghren and what's his face from DA2. For some reason these names are escaping me at the moment.  And I don't recall being able to romance either of those characters anyway. 

Edited June 12, 2015 by Krista

[Thorn Wilde]

Varric, you mean? He's one of my favourite characters, actually. He's hot in his own way. But, as becomes apparent as you progress through his arc, he's kind of already spoken for.

 

I totally forgot about Harding! If you're single, and you've been to enough of the regions and had flirty conversations with her there, she will eventually start returning your flirts, and you can have romance-y conversations with her back at Skyhold. It doesn't count as a full romance, though, and if you enter into a relationship with another character it just kind of stops.

[Krista]

I liked Varric, but I talked to him more in DA:2 - a lot more. Although he was more or less a scapegoat for moving the plot along in both games. Cassandra and Varric's interactions were at least funny at times. I would just like an original romance available dwarf in the next one. 

[Myr]

I really enjoyed both series.  Though I need to go back and play the Dragon Age 3 DLC.  And my Mass Effect 3 run on Psychotic difficulty. lol

and obviously, I took every gay option I could get in the games

[Thorn Wilde]

I've started two new characters in DA:I since Jaws of Hakkon came out, and neither of them are high enough level to play it yet, as it's recommended level 20 or above.

[Krista]

Are you ever an absolute mean person in these games? There are some interesting interactions if you're pretty much a villain and choose all the mean/evil decisions and all of the confrontational dialogue options? You can be down right cruel, but I can never bring myself to do that.. lol. I may attempt it, but I like to think I'm trying my best at saving the world.. instead of just mowing everyone over..  

[Thorn Wilde]

I can never do that, either. I played through the entire Mass Effect trilogy as a Renegade (ruthless, amoral) Shepard once, and even then there came some choices where I was just like, no, I'm not doing that, I have to choose the Paragon option. Tried to play an amoral blood mage type in Dragon Age: Origins, and just never finished that playthrough. And in DA2, try as I might, I can't play anything other than Sarcastic Hawke. Currently, I'm playing an aggressive and abrupt Inquisitor in DA:I, and it's so hard. I'm gonna have to let him change a bit gradually, I think...

[thecalimack]

Mine is Hawke and Anders. But GODDAMMIT ANDERS!

If you played Dragon Age 2, you'd know what I mean.


Then there's Iron Bull in DA: Inquisition. He's so dreamy... Easily my favorite character and the one to romance.

[Thorn Wilde]

Mine is Hawke and Anders. But GODDAMMIT ANDERS!

 

If you played Dragon Age 2, you'd know what I mean.

 

 

Then there's Iron Bull in DA: Inquisition. He's so dreamy... Easily my favorite character and the one to romance.

 

I know EXACTLY what you mean.

 

Iron Bull is awesome, but I feel so sorry for Dorian when I romance him.

[Krista]

Mine is Hawke and Anders. But GODDAMMIT ANDERS!

 

If you played Dragon Age 2, you'd know what I mean.

 

 

Then there's Iron Bull in DA: Inquisition. He's so dreamy... Easily my favorite character and the one to romance.

 

I know what you mean as well. Playing with him as a companion in the extended origins, Awakening - I liked his character. One of the rare characters I liked in that extension. I think the ending of DA:2 is mostly the reason I don't play it much. It seems no matter what you succeed with, you lose everything.. even both factions Templars and Mages. Although, it led into the epic Inquisition.

 

I think my mouth fell open three times in DA:2, maybe that is what kept me interested since the conversations, limited places to visit, and side-plots were a bit blah. The Anders one was a big one... even if I saw it coming with him.. I didn't think he would have done THAT. I have to stab him between his shoulder blades every time.. I think he killed the only innocent political/religious person, or maybe I just liked how she rebuked Orsino and Knight Commander Meredith. Also, the way she always seemed to know what was going on... and wanted to see how it would play out.

[thecalimack]

I know what you mean as well. Playing with him as a companion in the extended origins, Awakening - I liked his character. One of the rare characters I liked in that extension. I think the ending of DA:2 is mostly the reason I don't play it much. It seems no matter what you succeed with, you lose everything.. even both factions Templars and Mages. Although, it led into the epic Inquisition.

 

I think my mouth fell open three times in DA:2, maybe that is what kept me interested since the conversations, limited places to visit, and side-plots were a bit blah. The Anders one was a big one... even if I saw it coming with him.. I didn't think he would have done THAT. I have to stab him between his shoulder blades every time.. I think he killed the only innocent political/religious person, or maybe I just liked how she rebuked Orsino and Knight Commander Meredith. Also, the way she always seemed to know what was going on... and wanted to see how it would play out.

 

It made me wonder what the developers were thinking. Still, it was my favorite game aside from Inquisition. Never played Mass Effect yet, wish I could.

Shepherd sure knows ow to Channing my Tatum.

[Krista]

I bought the Mass Effect series about a few months ago, but my first couple of hours of play through completely went over my head. I didn't know what all the different classification of warriors were or anything, or which one would be best to have. The world is just sort of.. swept upon you and it is a lot to take in. I got the general idea of who to hunt down and all that, but I didn't know if I was making any headway - and I stayed lost like forever.. That didn't happen with Dragon Age, but I'm more into the lore of Elves, Dwarfs, and you could tell what Darkspawn were.. not so much a crap ton of alien life forms in Mass Effect, I'm not much on Sci-Fi as it is..  

[Thorn Wilde]

I bought the Mass Effect series about a few months ago, but my first couple of hours of play through completely went over my head. I didn't know what all the different classification of warriors were or anything, or which one would be best to have. The world is just sort of.. swept upon you and it is a lot to take in. I got the general idea of who to hunt down and all that, but I didn't know if I was making any headway - and I stayed lost like forever.. That didn't happen with Dragon Age, but I'm more into the lore of Elves, Dwarfs, and you could tell what Darkspawn were.. not so much a crap ton of alien life forms in Mass Effect, I'm not much on Sci-Fi as it is..

 

In fantasy RPG terms, Soldier = warrior, adept = mage, engineer = rogue. Then Vanguard is like a battlemage, Sentinel is a rogue with magic, and Infiltrator is basically a ranger. The only real difference between these and the fantasy classes is that in Mass Effect (though this really only counts for the first game) it's the rogue classes who are healers, and all classes can use some kind of weapon.

 

As for the aliens, the Asari are basically elves, the Salarians are the dwarves, and the Turians are like a highly militarised society of slightly different elves. Quarians are gypsies, Geth are monster of the week and husks are zombies.

 

I know you do kind of get dropped right into the plot and this new world, but if you bear with it for the first mission and a bit it does start to make sense. Also, read the Codex entries for historical context and you've immersed yourself more than enough to enjoy the game, IMO. But that could just be me. If you don't like Mass Effect you don't like Mass Effect, and that's totally fine.

[Alex]

Alistair in origins is adorable! My favorite romance, and your Cousland can make some rather large "political" moves in this romance.

In dragon age 2, which is my last favorite, I love Isabella she was my favorite character aside from Varric in the game.

In dragon age inquisition, Sola's romance was very interesting, mystical even, and the certain part where he removes a said item from your face makes me a very happy camper!

 

In Mass Effect my favorite romances are cut into two, Garrus and Tali'Zorah, they are the most adorable and interesting romances in the game. Esp. Due to the fact that you have different amino acids making it somewhat difficult for the romances more "intimate" moments, and the fact that Tali is a Quarian and is stuck in her suit a large majority if not all her life, makes it an interesting, cute, and quirky romance. Garrus is very awkward and the racial difference is huge between them, but who doesn't love Garrus' adorable awkward nature when it comes to romance and the more "intimate" actions.

[Celethiel]

meh the male romance options in Inquisition are far too... Masculine... especially and specifically Bull...Dorian is mustache man...

[Thorn Wilde]

meh the male romance options in Inquisition are far too... Masculine... especially and specifically Bull...Dorian is mustache man...

 

The moustache turned me off at first as well, but then I just fell in love with the character. Plus, dat ass... <3

 

EDIT: If you play on PC, there's a mod over at nexus (I think) that removes Dorian's moustache.

Edited September 21, 2015 by Thorn Wilde

[Krista]

I've seen videos of him w/out his mustache, after seeing Dorian for so long with it, makes me not like him without it. I think it adds to his personality. He is a very interesting character to say the least, out of all the M/M romance options, his is the only one that I'm interested in. Iron Bull, I don't like the overly brutish type either. Cassandra, Solas, Cullen, and Dorian are the four that I have a difficult time turning down in a new play through.

 

I have a difficult time playing as a Dwarf or Qunari as well. I've tried multiple times, but I just fall out of interest pretty early. I want to see what reactions some of the side-quest people have with them, but I can easily spoil myself with videos from youtube.