Liara T'Soni in Mass Effect 1 earned a particular amount of annoyance from me for a number of reasons. Part of that was due to annoyance that this shy, awkward nerdy girl had to join my team of certified badasses on a mission to save the galaxy (I admit though that we kind of needed her help) but mostly it was because of how she was romanced.
I really hate the idea of the perfect love interest being this shy awkward damsel in distress type who nervously makes approaches at you and seems in awe of your greatness. I have always found this fantasy very immature, Liara is personified as the ideal girlfriend with all the smarts and prettiness and friendliness combined with the degree of awkwardness and hero worship, but there always felt like there was a lack of genuine personality and chemistry.
After a while I got really sick of hearing her awkwardly talking to me and maintaining that after all of two conversations between us that there must be some kind of romantic connection between us. Plus her being nice all the time just isn't normal or believable. Plus, perhaps most annoying of all, they make sure to let me know that she's a virgin.
I mean really? The shy awkward but very sexy geekling develops a damsel in distress style crush on the big tough rugged manly hero and if they consummate their relationship it means that she has given him her virginity? I'm sorry but that fantasy always rubbed me off the wrong way, I can accept the sexy blue chick idea but at the same time Liara just bugged the crap out of me.
From her constantly getting headaches and nearly passing out after doing the meld, for constantly asking really dumb questions where the answer was obvious, from being so helpless that she latches on to whatever tough authority figure happens to be nearby for protection, to automatically announcing feelings for Shepard almost as soon as she arrives on the Normandy and for being awkward out of a seemingly complete lack of self esteem.... I cannot fathom why her romance was so popular.
Seriously, Ashley was in my own opinion miles better than Liara. True she was tough and aggressive but the flaws made her feel more real, her attitude gave her much more personality and in her romance she wasn't shy or awkward about expressing herself sexually. She remains jokey and self assured and independent and to me at least, always seemed like Shepard's equal.
To her credit, Liara does get better in Mass Effect 2. Stronger, more determined, tougher and more confident and in control. I suppose one can technically argue then that it was a major part of growing up between the two games but still I don't feel that makes the romance in Mass Effect 1 any better. But for what its worth, if the current version of Liara T'soni was present in Mass Effect 1 I might have been more inclined to give her a shot.
Plus what's kind of annoying is that because she is guaranteed to live she also gets all this extra attention. She gets a comic where it is made clear that she is Shepard's savior, she then gets a huge story arc and a giant slab of DLC all to herself (including pretty much getting the rights to the ideal 'reunion' romance scene) and yet more guarantee to live to the third game.
It goes without saying that she'll be the 'canon' romance in the Mass Effect movie, I mean by Christ everything about the games so far seems to be telling me that Liara should have been the way that I go and the actual romance subplot that I liked was one that will be eclipsed by Liara.
Look I have a lot of respect to the Liara fanbase, they've been good to me and all the other Ashley/Kaiden fans on the Bioware social network. I repeat that Liara come Lair of the Shadow Broker and how she was portrayed in Mass Effect 2 is a vast improvement over what she was before and I could even go so far as to say that she is now 'awesome', but I still didn't like her romance in Mass Effect 1 and I am really bitter about the lack of any attention I get as an Ashley fan in Mass Effect 2. So perhaps that element of spite is also a reason.
Just to be be clear, I mean no offense to anyone.