Poll: Dragon Age Origins and 2- Best Romance?

[Gone Rampant]

So during my Mage playthrough I romanced Morrigan by accident- mostly because my prior playthroughs had virtually everyone else as my partner.

But when I recruited Zevran, I wound up romancing him as well, which got me thinking. I was only thinking of romancing Morrigan because I'd never seen the content with her if you romance her in Witch Hunt... but then I saw it on Youtube and it was pretty much every dialogue choice I'd make (Although I also heard that she's nicer to the Inquisitor if she has high respect and is romanced), so now that I'm gonna be with Zevran, by partial accident, I wanted to ask who was your favorite romance in Origins and 2.

Also, because I stopped using these forums a while back and I'd like to get back into the community.

 

[Elfgore]

Morrigan, with Merill bringing in a very far second.

Morrigan only wins because of her final scene in Witch Hunt. I'm a massive sucker for stuff like that. Merill is next because... she's kinda the only decent romance in Dragon Age 2. Isabella bored me and I didn't want to make my Hawk gay. She won by default.

I too was a playboy in my first playthroughs. In Origins, I think I had sex with Morrigan, Zevran, and Leliana. In Dragon Age 2, Isabella and Merrill. I think I just clicked options that made my team like me... I guess that made them like me a lot.

 

[Lieju]

Merrill.

I'm just a sucker for cute fish-out-of-water type of characters who mess with mad science/dark forces they do not understand.

Also, you know, lesbian romance.

 

[Tragedy's Rebellion]

...None of them really. They were all really, really bad. But if you are asking which romance can actually be seen at the bottom of the barrel... None, I'm sorry. I tried to come up with one, but they all are creepy, pointless and/or token.

 

[Phasmal]

Fenris.

Firstly because he's a white-haired elven hottie with a voice like smoke.
Secondly, I liked his story, and I thought the romance with Hawke developed more naturally than if you are to romance Anders, who was my only other option for dudes. Anders gets too attatched to you after you kiss like once, in my opinion.
I liked Fenris as a character. I know a lot of people didn't, but I felt like the character was designed well to appeal to the people who might want to romance him.

I would have voted Alistair, but I'm still kind of irritated that there is no real happy ending for a female Warden romancing him. (Or maybe there is but I couldn't find it).

 

[Twyce]

Fenris.

Firstly because he's a white-haired elven hottie with a voice like smoke.
Secondly, I liked his story, and I thought the romance with Hawke developed more naturally than if you are to romance Anders, who was my only other option for dudes. Anders gets too attatched to you after you kiss like once, in my opinion.
I liked Fenris as a character. I know a lot of people didn't, but I felt like the character was designed well to appeal to the people who might want to romance him.

I would have voted Alistair, but I'm still kind of irritated that there is no real happy ending for a female Warden romancing him. (Or maybe there is but I couldn't find it).

I'd say Alistair's happy endings were either:

Spoiler

1) He and your warden remain wardens and spend the rest of their days together (by making Anora queen).
2) Play as a human and become his queen when you make him King. You had to have the Human Noble origin though and a high persuasion skill.

Personally, I was more partial to option 1.

Totally agree on Fenris. His voice actor, Gideon Emery, was AMAZING. *sighs dreamily*

 

[Gamer87]

Morrigan. I love her character and Claudia Black is awesome. Too bad she wasn't available for my female warden during my first playthrough who ended up forever alone

The romances in DA2 seriously annoyed me. All characters have some kind of deal-breaking super flaw.
Isabela is a walking STD whose selfishness started a war.
Anders is a terrorist who killed innocents/freedom fighter who DOESN'T TELL YOU when all you want is to help his cause.
Fenris wants all mages dead (including you/your sister)
and Merrill gets warned repeatedly about the dangers of demons and still never learns.

!!!rage!!! (because I care about these games and characters)

Why isn't Anders and Isabela in the poll?

 

[Phasmal]

I'd say Alistair's happy endings were either:

Spoiler

1) He and your warden remain wardens and spend the rest of their days together (by making Anora queen).
2) Play as a human and become his queen when you make him King. You had to have the Human Noble origin though and a high persuasion skill.

Personally, I was more partial to option 1.

Totally agree on Fenris. His voice actor, Gideon Emery, was AMAZING. *sighs dreamily*

Yeah but I'm pretty sure you still have to...

Spoiler

Have him die, have you die, or have him have sex with Morrigan. None of those endings seemed fun to me

And yes with the voice actor. He does a few voices elsewhere, and everytime he pops up I'm like `Fenris what are you doing here`.

He does voices for Skyrim, Wildstar and Diablo 3 as far as I know.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

Morrigan, because I just love Claudia Black and what personality she gave the character. On my female warden I went with Lelliana for obvious reasons.

DA2..the romances were quite meh, but since I am quite a predictable person I ended up with Isabela because Merrill was way too awkward of a character to choose her.

 

[Twyce]

Sniiiip

I TOTALLY forgot about the Dark Ritual requirement. Yeah I hated that too.

This comic [http://blog.bioware.com/2010/03/01/dragon-age-the-revelation-comic/] always kinda helped ease the 'ugh' factor on it. It wasn't illustrated by Bioware, but David Gaider helped write it. I guess according to the blog along with it, this was some scene that didn't make it into the final game. Course... If you weren't friends with Morrigan it might not apply as much.

Yeah Gideon is all over the place! It's funny I almost didn't recognize him Fire Emblem: Awakening. But I think that's because his voice clips are so short (plus he doesn't have his accent).

 

[Dragonlayer]

The High Dragon being worshipped by the cult in New Haven None of the romances in the first game really clicked with me personally, unlike a certain gas-masked xenos in another Bioware property. But when I did my decadent Dwarven nobleman playthrough and shagged everything I could, I had to larf about how bitchy Morrigan the ultra-***** melted into an airy giggling schoolgirl.

Oh, I also liked the Dark Ritual business with Morrigan because it fit in so well with my Human noble playthrough: by the end of the game, he was an ambitious, fanatical and ruthless Templar, so I figured he'd leap at any chance to stay alive and then tie up the loose ends afterwards (hell, I was planning on murdering Morrigan in the DLC to keep my heretical secret safe).

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I TOTALLY forgot about the Dark Ritual requirement. Yeah I hated that too.

This comic [http://blog.bioware.com/2010/03/01/dragon-age-the-revelation-comic/] always kinda helped ease the 'ugh' factor on it. It wasn't illustrated by Bioware, but David Gaider helped write it. I guess according to the blog along with it, this was some scene that didn't make it into the final game. Course... If you weren't friends with Morrigan it might not apply as much.

Oooo, I like that comic. I wish that had been in the actual game. It would have added a new level of depth to Morrigan's character.

For me it's a toss up between Merrill and Leliana. They're both basically the same--cute, kind, nerdy shy girl, and I am a sucker for that. Morrigan is too cold and stand-offish for my tastes, even after you do romance her, and Zevran was...no. Alistair was fun, but it felt a little weird because it felt like I was romancing myself. He acts the same way I do when flirting with a girl: a complete and utter goof ball. And as for all the characters in Dragon Age II, I only ever picked Merrill because none of the others interested me. Isabella is too much of a flirt and I wouldn't trust someone like her in real life, Fenris and Anders have too many anger issues--you know pillow talk would be nothing but, "Grr I hate Mages/Templars!" and the archer prince is too uptight.

So, forced to choose, I think I would pick Merrill. She's got the higher cute factor, and unlike Leliana, she ends up completely alone, with only you left in her life. Plus, with Leliana being who she is and with her role now, you know she would eventually start to close herself off from you and keep secrets because it's her job.

 

[alceste007]

I TOTALLY forgot about the Dark Ritual requirement. Yeah I hated that too.

This comic [http://blog.bioware.com/2010/03/01/dragon-age-the-revelation-comic/] always kinda helped ease the 'ugh' factor on it. It wasn't illustrated by Bioware, but David Gaider helped write it. I guess according to the blog along with it, this was some scene that didn't make it into the final game. Course... If you weren't friends with Morrigan it might not apply as much.

Oooo, I like that comic. I wish that had been in the actual game. It would have added a new level of depth to Morrigan's character.

For me it's a toss up between Merrill and Leliana. They're both basically the same--cute, kind, nerdy shy girl, and I am a sucker for that. Morrigan is too cold and stand-offish for my tastes, even after you do romance her, and Zevran was...no. Alistair was fun, but it felt a little weird because it felt like I was romancing myself. He acts the same way I do when flirting with a girl: a complete and utter goof ball. And as for all the characters in Dragon Age II, I only ever picked Merrill because none of the others interested me. Isabella is too much of a flirt and I wouldn't trust someone like her in real life, Fenris and Anders have too many anger issues--you know pillow talk would be nothing but, "Grr I hate Mages/Templars!" and the archer prince is too uptight.

So, forced to choose, I think I would pick Merrill. She's got the higher cute factor, and unlike Leliana, she ends up completely alone, with only you left in her life. Plus, with Leliana being who she is and with her role now, you know she would eventually start to close herself off from you and keep secrets because it's her job.

Yeah, I was also torn between Merrill and Leliana. Leliana had had the accent and interesting back story, while Merrill had the headless plunge into danger. In the end, I voted for Merrill as well. I will have to look up the comic.

 

[GabeZhul]

The romances in DA2 seriously annoyed me. All characters have some kind of deal-breaking super flaw.
Isabela is a walking STD whose selfishness started a war.
Anders is a terrorist who killed innocents/freedom fighter who DOESN'T TELL YOU when all you want is to help his cause.
Fenris wants all mages dead (including you/your sister)
and Merrill gets warned repeatedly about the dangers of demons and still never learns.

!!!rage!!! (because I care about these games and characters)

Why isn't Anders and Isabela in the poll?

To be fair, Fenris is not that black and white. While he is indeed antagonistic towards mages (for good reason), he doesn't want all mages to die and in fact he is perfectly romanceable as a mage Hawke. In fact I would say that he might be the best hetero love interest for a female PC in both DA games (though I might be biased since I found Alistair somewhat bland).

As for Merill, that is just patently not true. She does get burned by demons repeatedly, and at the end of her personal quest she gives up on the whole mirror business because of it. Sure, she is a blood mage, but so can your character be without any adverse effects, so it doesn't immediately mean that she is an idiot for using it. Also, I would say that she has the best hetero male / lesbian female romance in DA2.

At the end of the day though, I would say all romances in the Dragon Age games are just okay. Nothing to write home about, but not nearly as cringe-worthy as some romance subplots I have seen in my time.

 

[Gamer87]

Snip

To be fair, Fenris is not that black and white. While he is indeed antagonistic towards mages (for good reason), he doesn't want all mages to die and in fact he is perfectly romanceable as a mage Hawke. In fact I would say that he might be the best hetero love interest for a female PC in both DA games (though I might be biased since I found Alistair somewhat bland).

As for Merill, that is just patently not true. She does get burned by demons repeatedly, and at the end of her personal quest she gives up on the whole mirror business because of it. Sure, she is a blood mage, but so can your character be without any adverse effects, so it doesn't immediately mean that she is an idiot for using it. Also, I would say that she has the best hetero male / lesbian female romance in DA2.

At the end of the day though, I would say all romances in the Dragon Age games are just okay. Nothing to write home about, but not nearly as cringe-worthy as some romance subplots I have seen in my time.

I love Merrill, and she does eventually give up the mirror, but not before getting her friend and mentor/and her entire clan killed because of her naivity. Blood magic is absolutely fine by me if you can control it and at first I thought she was in control and that that was really cool. But she just keeps making mistakes showing she's in over her head. And her mistakes cost lives.

And don't even get me started on the Feynriel dream thing where she turns on you. Merrill is adorable, but she betrays Hawke and keeps making the same stupid mistakes.

As for Fenris I can't really imagine a Hawke that wouldn't be too offended about his entire attitude towards mages to romance him. I mean, however you feel about magic, your sister and father were mages and Hawke (in my canon) loved their father and is very protective of Bethany.

 

[LittleBumble]

Honestly I'm going to have to go with Zevran, which I find kinda weird for me since I'm usually opposed to the whole "Go for the bad boy." thing. (Which Zevran basically is the 'bad boy' to Alistair's 'boy next door'.)

But I dunno something about his whole character is very enjoyable to me and his romance is also pretty interesting as well. But other than that I can't really say what it is that makes me enjoy him as my favorite love interest. Maybe it's the roleplaying aspect(as I admit I have a set personality with my warden and like to imagine how she interacts with the others)and the fact that my mage warden has a similar backstory to him.

That or I am weaker for rogues with accents than I think. Cause my mage warden is also best friends with Leliana. =P

 

[ShadowsofHope]

Mm, going to have to go with Leliana. Dat accent. She has sex with my ear every time she talks, just like the female agent in SWTOR.

She does annoy me somewhat, but it's like listening to the female version of Morgan Freeman. You can look past it.

 

[CloudAtlas]

I'm voting for Isabella. She's the only female romance option who Hawke/the Warden could really consider her equal and is not downright evil. Leliana and Merrill are just girls - Isabella is a woman.

 

[SacremPyrobolum]

I feel like you were supposed to canonically romance Morigan in Origins because of the Witch Hunt DLC and the whole Dark Ritual thing you do with her.

 

[Mikeyfell]

I've got to say my favorite is Alistair.
it felt more natural than any of the others because he was in the party for a reason, and he was just a friendly guy (I'm not gay)

Most of the other romances had baggage that could have made them the most appealing romantic option (Fenris, your tortured past is so sexy... not gay)

So did Alistair but he did a lot to down play it, he wanted to show you the real him instead of looking like he was defined by his shortcomings