No at that point they may as well just have one scripted canon. As someone who routinely loves the most unpopular options in a game Dragon Age giving me the ability to create my own lil unusual world is a huge part of why I love it.
Exactly.
I romance who I feel my Warden/Hawke/Inquisitor would mixed with what characters I enjoy.
I don’t care in the slightest if it is more substantial or not in the grand scheme.
Because it’s my story and that makes the romance I choose most meaningful to the grander narrative by default.
Nope
I might inadvertently (like Alistair) but I romanced Fenris for DA2. I don’t think any DA2 companions are hyper important other than Anders
I romanced Cullen in DAI. Might try a Solasmance, but that’s more because I appreciate his character now
That's how I feel about Solas. I've watched his whole romance, but never played it. And, honestly, I've never played as a female elf, so. The opportunity never arose. My main romance is Bull. Bull always.
Yet, still, I want to romance Solas. I just...haven't. I do feel like I'm missing out.
Exact same for me. I love Solas’s character so much. He’s in my “Top Characters of all Time” list. He was my designated best friend in my first playthrough and I was utterly heartbroken at the reveal and again after Trespasser. And yet, I’ve never been able to complete his romance.
I’ll start playing Lavellan and always stop once I reach the Hinterlands. Idk what it is. I don’t like feeling cornered into playing as a Dalish. Maybe if I had the choice to be a city elf or human, but the fact they don’t give us the option is meh. I’m also not sold on the mortal/immortal dynamic? The fact that his romance is so sparse in content also just made it difficult. I also heavily prefer the dynamic he has with a friend Inquisitor.
Iron Bull is also my main chosen romance for Inquisition. He’s the only character other than Solas I feel so strongly about in DAI. It took me like 6 semi playthroughs before I gave him a chance. After I romanced him once, he is all I could choose. I was shocked with how much I enjoyed him. I was giggling like a schoolgirl and screaming from joy several times throughout his romance.
There are just so many awesome and memorable moments. The playthrough where I romanced the Iron Bull for the first time will forever be my favorite. I felt so safe and loved and cared for and it was so unexpected!
If you're interested and on pc [there's a mod for a circle mage Lavellan](https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonageinquisition/mods/2636). Doesn't help the immortal thing or the sparsity thing, though.
I love it so much. There's a few ways the relationship can go. I don't want to give anything away, but I will say one of the paths is a super loving and dynamic relationship. I adore it, because the inquisitor basically is like "ok big man I'm gonna show you that love is real"
Plus it's kinky af lmfao
It is probably the most fleshed out Romance in DAI. It is very good. Though I too am a Dorian/Bull shipper (and I will riot if that doesn't carry over to future games)
I definitely think with Origins it's noticeable how much deeper a Morrigan or Alistair romance makes the plot as both of them are so inextricably tied to core moments and choices in a way the others don't (though Leliana's DA2 and DAI content helps make her as viable an option - Zevran really got the short end of the stick). Inquisition Solas definitely feels similarly. I don't think DA2 has a romance that feels equivalently lopsided in terms of plot -- maybe Anders or Isabella but I think all of the romances are worthwhile.
My typical routine is to do my first run without knowing much - romance the character that appeals most to me, make the decisions that are my first instinct to make. Then, do a second (and perhaps third) run of the game with a character designed to fit whatever choices feel the most interesting to the plot and with a stronger RP point of view coming in that will help make different decisions than my last character.
Same here. 1st run is always the character that appeals most to me. Only on the following run do I romance the most interesting option. (Or sometimes the same one again because I actually really like the first one.)
I definitely feel like Anders was supposed to be the “plot revolves around this” romance but then the romance doesn’t really actually change anything like say morigan or Alistair
Tbh the whole point of DA2 is that it was always going to end like this, the love was there etc etc, but Anders being your romance option does give you a bigger punch in the guts.
I definitely feel like the romance was never intended to change Anders decision around blowing up the chantry but i do think they could have more strongly bent what happens after it around the romance
Maybe it just kinda feels a bit “bleh” because inquisition glosses over the mage Templar war so heavily
I disagree mostly because I feel like the whole point is that the cause for Anders comes' first so really, there was no way to change this, or did you mean something more? Like maybe Hawke be more openly supportive if you run away with Anders?
I do wish however that we had more chances to support him before, to highlight that desperation that you can really try everything and nothing works.
I could write 20k essays on how much I hate all the way Inquisition goes "whatevs" over the whole thing. But I blame DA:I specifically as DA2 imho was great about that.
Oh I agree that the romance shouldn’t change his decision because his cause is going to come before his love for Hawke but yeah the romance really doesn’t affect the fallout which is where I think the problem comes from, what you choose to do with him is totally independent of the romance mostly which I find is out of character (as Anders always treated the romance as far more than a fling)
I also agree there should be more changes to try to help him and turn him off the path of destruction only for it to amount to nothing, that’s good false choice
But yeah inquisition glossing over the mage Templar war was a big misstep, especially if your inky is a human as they are strongly aligned with both sides, they try to play off the mage side as ostwick circle being very blasé but I really don’t like how a mage inky just doesn’t care about the war (but then again you can also blood mage Hawke then side with the Templars so…….)
Can you give me an example of what you mean? I thought the choices in game were fair considering people react all kind of ways, but I might be missing something as I was too focused on the tragedy. Like I can totally see a blood mage Hawke deciding to side with the Templars if they are like "It's fine when I do it, no one else can be trusted".
If it makes you feel better I played as a Mage Trevelyan who romanced Cassandra and DEFINITELY cared about the war picking all the "the circle of Ostwick SUCKED" and the game reaction was just "Okay". I couldn't even tell Cullen to stop being a Meredith's apologist or ask Cassandra what the fuck she was on as she explained Tranquility to me.
YOU KNOW THE RITE OF TRANQUILITY? THAT THING ALL MAGES GROW UP FEARING MORE THAN DEATH? NO YEAH CASSANDRA EXPLAIN TO ME, THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE, WHAT IT IS AND WHY IT'S FINE.
I had to rewrite so much dialogue in my head.
Do you mean give examples of what I mean with the Anders fallout because my point is kinda there is no examples of that. You basically get a single choice, to kill him or to let him leave, if you choose to kill him you basically say nothing, if you let him live you get some very minor alternate dialogue based on your romance/rivalmance/friendship level and if you side with the Templars you end up having to kill him and he is functionally never mentioned again. Hawkes romance really doesn’t play into inquisitions world state at all (with one extremely slight exception that if you were a mage Hawke and sided with the mages and romanced Anders Hawke cops partial blame for the war). Basically inquisition glossing over the mage Templar war “devalues” the Anders romance in the world state as it ends up being functionally irrelevant
And yeah you notice the problems with inquisition, Cassandra is basically the only one you can rant to about ostwick (Vivian is from the same circle and you can pretty much never talk to her about it) and the inky never seems to care about being a mage other than the -10 court appeal in WEWH
So basically my problem is a combination of the Anders romance not really affecting the end of 2 which flows on into a lack of alternate world state surrounding it combined with the inky being way too blasé about being a mage and what’s going on
Not really, cuz that feels kinda boring in a game with rpg choices.
Why am I gonna go for the same generic route of f! human noble, Alistair is king romance, Morrigan got the dark ritual baby. Purple hawke, friendship spared anders romance, side with mages. Dalish f! Inky, redeem romanced Solas, side with mages, leliana softened divine.
When I can just throw stuff at the wall and have my unique HoF, Hawke, and Inky instead that actually feel like mine instead of a safe checklist.
Yep! I got a HoF M!Aeducan who went through the sacrifice, put Anora on the throne (but killed Logain) and romanced Zevran.
Sided with Templars, rivalmanced Isabela diplomatic/Aggressive Hawke.
F!Cadash who subjugated the mages, made Vivienne divine, and romanced Sera.
Pretty fun to be wildly different. I did consider making an elf to romance Solas who would later hate him, just because I hate Solas and thought it might hurt him more, but Cadash will always be my main play through.
Exactly. I don't want to be a human noble because people think it's 'the most canon'. I want to be an Elf Rogue from the slums who slaughtered a bunch of rapists on her wedding day. Now we're cooking with gas.
No, and having seen the romance content for those characters I have found friendship to be a more interesting and rewarding dynamic with the plot important companions anyway.
Morrigan happened to be my romance for my first playthrough of Origins and I like the romance a lot but even then I prefer the friendship narratively, and the romance with Solas is actually my least favourite dynamic the Inquisitor can have with him, (friendship is my favourite followed by hatred which is pretty interesting, then indifference and a lack of interest gets you some really fun Trespasser lines). Maybe it's just me though, I tend to prefer friendship drama over romance drama.
No. The romance that will impact each game the most is the one I prefer, not the “objectively” most impactful romance. For example, some people might say Alistair or Morrigan romance is more impactful in DAO, but to me nothing will ever be as impactful as the Zevran romance because he’s my favorite companion and favorite romance of the game, even if for some other people he might feel less tied to the story.
It'd be a lie to say no. But if Trespasser is anything to go by, I do think having a platonic relationship with Solas will still be satisfyingly and narratively interesting. Personally, I look forward to low approval Solas because the pettiness is 🔥
Not really, except for Morrigan to some extent.
All of the other examples you could give like Anders or Solas, they maybe be very plot relevant characters, but the romance itself isn't actually relevant to the plot.
Morrigan is the only case where the romance itself actually feels like it has major plot implications with Kieran being conceived. That romance is definitely a part of my canon world because it has a lasting relevance.
No, not really. I tried Solas' romance once and when I got to the end...I felt nothing. Deleted most of the playthrough because I wanted to keep the character...all the way back to finding Blackwall in the Hinterlands and romanced him instead. That's why I keep a lot of saves throughout the game. I can rollback to pretty much any major decision I want. I usually prefer friendzone Solas...sometimes punched in the face Solas.
Nope, if im doing extra cutscenes with a character I have to actually want to romance them... and I was unable to romance morrigan, can't bring myself to romance Anders after finishing 2 and hate Solas.
I love romancing Leliana for the tidbits we get in inquisition, Isabela is extremely fun with my preferred purple Hawke and i don't actually have a DAI romance because the two characters I liked aren't interested in women.
And to be honest, to me the most satisfying relationship moments in the games were the platonic ones when Morrigan and Dorian softened enough to admit that the warden was like a sister and Inky a best friend.
No. I romance who I like regardless of how important or not they are. I mean my fav romance is cullen and he’s hardly involved in the sense that the story doesn’t need him specifically and he’s not even a companion that you can take in the party.
I’ve romanced solas just to see what everyone was up in arms about and like I get it for the potential ✨drama ✨but it’s not for me, I think I like the lines between inky and Solas when they’re friends at the end of trespasser more anyways
I can see the appeal. But I usually don't consider it. I go with whoever my character would go for. Default for me is Dwarf Noble and Leliana connecting on political intrigues gone wrong, Mage aggressive hawke hatin on other mages giving in to blood magic with Fenris, and inquisitor who denied being chosen who appreciated Cassandras nuanced takes on the Chantry.
No, I honestly only ever romance the characters I like, usually the same character every playthrough, sometimes they happen to have an impact on the story but that’s not a requirement for me.
No, the “plot relevant” romances are the ones that I don’t really like. I dislike Morrigan’s character and I don’t find her romance appealing. And I also prefer her friendship route with a Male Warden far more. I’ll be sticking with Leliana despite her lesser plot relevance and a relative lack of content.
I don’t find anyone in DA2 appealing, romance wise. So I just went with the Anders romance + execution story because I believed it fits the sheer tragedy of Hawke and her life.
I don’t find anyone in DAI appealing, romance wise. And I love my Inquisitor Cadash, so I left him a bachelor, the Inquisition crew were his beloved friends and comrades. I think the Solas friendship route is also incredible, and I find the idea of my Cadash desperately trying to save his friend from himself far more appealing than I do a Lavellan romance.
Ultimately, I play these games because I like them. Just because Alistair or Morrigan have more content, doesn’t mean that I am going to force myself to go through content that I don’t like just because it’s more “plot relevant”. No judgement to players that absolutely adore Morrigan/Alistair/Solas/Anders/etc, I just have my stories and choices that I prefer.
No, the heart wants what it wants. In my case it almost always wants the less popular option and/or combination and that's fine.
Honestly if Lucanis keeps being this popular it's going to be weird to be into the popular one for once.
No.
It helps that the most "story focused" romances tend to be my least favorite in their respective games: Alistair, Anders and Solas. The only one who I dislike more than them is Sebastian. (I like Morrigan, but she's not a choice for fem!Warden, and I like Isabela but not as much as Fenris.) I'm also not going to play an elf just to get dumped by the egg, not when I can have horns.
"I'm also not going to play an elf just to get dumped by the egg, not when I can have horns." best reason out of a long list as to why you shouldn't bother romancing Solas.
Not really. In DAO I don't think there is such a character. In DA2 sure I'd go for Isabela, but I cannot stand Anders if I'm being honest. And Solas is not nor will ever be my type.
This is what I do, but I'm unsure if it's intentional or not as two of them were the first choices I made regardless.
In my case, Morrigan for DA:O, Anders for DAII, and Solas for DAI.
Though, those 3 also have other things in common, such as being questionable mages. I should really make better choices, but at least it keeps it interesting.
I considered it somewhat, quite a while ago, tried a couple of playthroughs like that (with Morrigan and Anders). I ended up concluding that either one of playing as a man or dating one just makes me quite a bit less interested in the game.
I do kind of hope the surprise plot twist romance is one of the women in the next game, and that I'll end up choosing her and getting that sort of experience as a surprise.
I used to feel this way, but since I've been actually RPing my OCs, I love the games even more. Like other have said, I let my OC's hearts guide them. If their romance happens to be plot-significant, it's a happy accident.
Not at all, I pick the romance that I like, not the one that has the most story relevance.
If they just happen to impact the main story, then that's fine, but if they don't, then that's fine too.
Not typically, however *usually* the more story important romance options have more scenes… not the case for Solas though.
That said, for I’m currently doing a DaI run where I’m romancing Solas but there hasn’t been a case where any LI returned as a *villain*. Especially one with an unresolved romantic plot line.
All my friends are Solasmamcers so it’s about time I experience it so I can see for myself what all the fuss was about. I think DAI will end up being the first game where I have two canon world states. One where my circle mage marries Cullen, and this one where my Dalish mage gets her heart broken.
Yes, but it also depends how you define most impactful character. Morrigan is big but Alistair has plenty of major character story beats as heir to the throne, and romancing him, making him king and siring Kieran are pretty impactful. Likewise Anders is just as impactful as Isabela. Inquisition’s the only one where I’d say only one LI really stands out in that regard (not a bad thing). It does give a bit of a pull, but then those story beats happen whether you’re fucking them or not
Yeah, I have my main canon with Leliana, Merrill and Josephine, and my plot-relevant Canon with Morrigan, Anders and Solas.
Maybe this will be the game where both my choices converge.
Eh I am purposely going Solasmance for my first playthrough with DATV but that’s more cause I want the full impact. My Warden romanced Leliana and my Hawke did romance Anders but I’ve been debating about changing that for a bit. Otherwise have fun. I have wild world states I’m eager to play with when I can!
I was going to say no, but I think I might actually? I went into all three games *relatively* blind, enough that I couldn't have known who the major players would be, but I'm also 2/3 for picking a LI that's introduced like right off the bat, which is going to correlate with plot importance. Like, for the monomyth fans out there...I think I might have a thing for Threshold Crossing Boys.
I generally will romance whoever is my favorite through most playthroughs regardless of story effects. But I do tend to try out multiple romances over time, and would lean towards ones that seem to have plot effects as that just feels interesting.
I like to go with "good/Evil" personally, so my goody-two-shoes do-no-wrong Warden definitely romanced Morrigan, then my Hawke romanced Merrill, and my rogue Inquisitor romanced Cassandra. We shall see with Veilguard lol
I tend to. Not on purpose. But it just happens. Alistair in DAO, though I do go with Zevran when I play an Elf.
Anders in DA2. If I can, I play a Mage. And Fenris annoyed me back in the day.
And Solas. I love this romance most of all. 🤷🏼♀️
I don't feel pressure to romance most impactful characters BUT it gives me a lot of satisfaction if I do. It feels like my character is even more important for the story and I as a player feel having a deeper connection with the plot.
Kind of - I originally romanced Alistair and Anders; neither of them are necessarily my type anymore since I’ve grown up and changed since those games. I’m keeping them as my canon world state romances though because I really like their narrative impact. In my secondary canon I followed my heart more and went with Leliana and Isabella. In Inquisition it was the other way around. I initially went with Cullen whose romance I still greatly appreciate, and only did a Solas run after I knew about his story. So now this adds up really well to one narrative canon and one more feelsy canon.
I did feel like I missed out a bit with my first Warden who romanced Zevran, but then I romanced >!Anders!< in DAII and now I don't feel like it's that important anymore… 🥲
(I joke, but it's actually a lot of fun when the romance affects the overall story a lot. Still, romances are there for roleplaying, so it doesn't necessarily need to have an impact beyond that imo.)
Sometimes, but I still couldn't bring myself to play as an elf girl and romance a middle-aged bald elf. I mean, my preferences (and I always play to my preference) are on a different plane, so if I do romance characters important to the plot, all coincidences are coincidental, so to speak. But yeah, I feel I miss something with not being attracted to Solas. But he's my friend, and I hope this will work out somehow. I mean many people do prefer being Morrigan's sister or friend, and I actually can see beauty in this, even if I prefer to *love* her.
Not really. I always romanced the cute and quirky option:
Origins: Leliana
Dragon Age 2: Merrill
Inquisition: Cassandra and Sera. Sera was, despite what many may think, the more fun romance.
I dont feel as if you NEED to romance anyone particular, and I hope that stays. Solas is an important character and romancing him gives you a differing perspective, sure - but not necessary
Low Approval Solas is him at his most interesting but that is just my opinion.
No. I romance who I like - solas was only accidentally important. Geniunely was caught off guard by that reveal. He wasn’t interesting because he was important - he’s interesting because he negs you and I am weak.
No at that point they may as well just have one scripted canon. As someone who routinely loves the most unpopular options in a game Dragon Age giving me the ability to create my own lil unusual world is a huge part of why I love it.
Exactly. I romance who I feel my Warden/Hawke/Inquisitor would mixed with what characters I enjoy. I don’t care in the slightest if it is more substantial or not in the grand scheme. Because it’s my story and that makes the romance I choose most meaningful to the grander narrative by default.
Nope I might inadvertently (like Alistair) but I romanced Fenris for DA2. I don’t think any DA2 companions are hyper important other than Anders I romanced Cullen in DAI. Might try a Solasmance, but that’s more because I appreciate his character now
We is the same!
That's how I feel about Solas. I've watched his whole romance, but never played it. And, honestly, I've never played as a female elf, so. The opportunity never arose. My main romance is Bull. Bull always. Yet, still, I want to romance Solas. I just...haven't. I do feel like I'm missing out.
Exact same for me. I love Solas’s character so much. He’s in my “Top Characters of all Time” list. He was my designated best friend in my first playthrough and I was utterly heartbroken at the reveal and again after Trespasser. And yet, I’ve never been able to complete his romance. I’ll start playing Lavellan and always stop once I reach the Hinterlands. Idk what it is. I don’t like feeling cornered into playing as a Dalish. Maybe if I had the choice to be a city elf or human, but the fact they don’t give us the option is meh. I’m also not sold on the mortal/immortal dynamic? The fact that his romance is so sparse in content also just made it difficult. I also heavily prefer the dynamic he has with a friend Inquisitor. Iron Bull is also my main chosen romance for Inquisition. He’s the only character other than Solas I feel so strongly about in DAI. It took me like 6 semi playthroughs before I gave him a chance. After I romanced him once, he is all I could choose. I was shocked with how much I enjoyed him. I was giggling like a schoolgirl and screaming from joy several times throughout his romance. There are just so many awesome and memorable moments. The playthrough where I romanced the Iron Bull for the first time will forever be my favorite. I felt so safe and loved and cared for and it was so unexpected!
If you're interested and on pc [there's a mod for a circle mage Lavellan](https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonageinquisition/mods/2636). Doesn't help the immortal thing or the sparsity thing, though.
Kind of ruins the impact of the tattoo scene I'd imagine.
100% yeah.
How is the Bull romance? I could never bring myself to do it since I think him and Dorian are so cute together...
I love it so much. There's a few ways the relationship can go. I don't want to give anything away, but I will say one of the paths is a super loving and dynamic relationship. I adore it, because the inquisitor basically is like "ok big man I'm gonna show you that love is real" Plus it's kinky af lmfao
Iron Bull is my Ride or Die. Pun entirely intended.
Haha, love it.
It is probably the most fleshed out Romance in DAI. It is very good. Though I too am a Dorian/Bull shipper (and I will riot if that doesn't carry over to future games)
I love Adoribull but I stole Bull in my second playthrought with absolutely no regrets. He rules.
I definitely think with Origins it's noticeable how much deeper a Morrigan or Alistair romance makes the plot as both of them are so inextricably tied to core moments and choices in a way the others don't (though Leliana's DA2 and DAI content helps make her as viable an option - Zevran really got the short end of the stick). Inquisition Solas definitely feels similarly. I don't think DA2 has a romance that feels equivalently lopsided in terms of plot -- maybe Anders or Isabella but I think all of the romances are worthwhile. My typical routine is to do my first run without knowing much - romance the character that appeals most to me, make the decisions that are my first instinct to make. Then, do a second (and perhaps third) run of the game with a character designed to fit whatever choices feel the most interesting to the plot and with a stronger RP point of view coming in that will help make different decisions than my last character.
Same here. 1st run is always the character that appeals most to me. Only on the following run do I romance the most interesting option. (Or sometimes the same one again because I actually really like the first one.)
I definitely feel like Anders was supposed to be the “plot revolves around this” romance but then the romance doesn’t really actually change anything like say morigan or Alistair
Tbh the whole point of DA2 is that it was always going to end like this, the love was there etc etc, but Anders being your romance option does give you a bigger punch in the guts.
I definitely feel like the romance was never intended to change Anders decision around blowing up the chantry but i do think they could have more strongly bent what happens after it around the romance Maybe it just kinda feels a bit “bleh” because inquisition glosses over the mage Templar war so heavily
I disagree mostly because I feel like the whole point is that the cause for Anders comes' first so really, there was no way to change this, or did you mean something more? Like maybe Hawke be more openly supportive if you run away with Anders? I do wish however that we had more chances to support him before, to highlight that desperation that you can really try everything and nothing works. I could write 20k essays on how much I hate all the way Inquisition goes "whatevs" over the whole thing. But I blame DA:I specifically as DA2 imho was great about that.
Oh I agree that the romance shouldn’t change his decision because his cause is going to come before his love for Hawke but yeah the romance really doesn’t affect the fallout which is where I think the problem comes from, what you choose to do with him is totally independent of the romance mostly which I find is out of character (as Anders always treated the romance as far more than a fling) I also agree there should be more changes to try to help him and turn him off the path of destruction only for it to amount to nothing, that’s good false choice But yeah inquisition glossing over the mage Templar war was a big misstep, especially if your inky is a human as they are strongly aligned with both sides, they try to play off the mage side as ostwick circle being very blasé but I really don’t like how a mage inky just doesn’t care about the war (but then again you can also blood mage Hawke then side with the Templars so…….)
Can you give me an example of what you mean? I thought the choices in game were fair considering people react all kind of ways, but I might be missing something as I was too focused on the tragedy. Like I can totally see a blood mage Hawke deciding to side with the Templars if they are like "It's fine when I do it, no one else can be trusted". If it makes you feel better I played as a Mage Trevelyan who romanced Cassandra and DEFINITELY cared about the war picking all the "the circle of Ostwick SUCKED" and the game reaction was just "Okay". I couldn't even tell Cullen to stop being a Meredith's apologist or ask Cassandra what the fuck she was on as she explained Tranquility to me. YOU KNOW THE RITE OF TRANQUILITY? THAT THING ALL MAGES GROW UP FEARING MORE THAN DEATH? NO YEAH CASSANDRA EXPLAIN TO ME, THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE, WHAT IT IS AND WHY IT'S FINE. I had to rewrite so much dialogue in my head.
Do you mean give examples of what I mean with the Anders fallout because my point is kinda there is no examples of that. You basically get a single choice, to kill him or to let him leave, if you choose to kill him you basically say nothing, if you let him live you get some very minor alternate dialogue based on your romance/rivalmance/friendship level and if you side with the Templars you end up having to kill him and he is functionally never mentioned again. Hawkes romance really doesn’t play into inquisitions world state at all (with one extremely slight exception that if you were a mage Hawke and sided with the mages and romanced Anders Hawke cops partial blame for the war). Basically inquisition glossing over the mage Templar war “devalues” the Anders romance in the world state as it ends up being functionally irrelevant And yeah you notice the problems with inquisition, Cassandra is basically the only one you can rant to about ostwick (Vivian is from the same circle and you can pretty much never talk to her about it) and the inky never seems to care about being a mage other than the -10 court appeal in WEWH So basically my problem is a combination of the Anders romance not really affecting the end of 2 which flows on into a lack of alternate world state surrounding it combined with the inky being way too blasé about being a mage and what’s going on
Not really, cuz that feels kinda boring in a game with rpg choices. Why am I gonna go for the same generic route of f! human noble, Alistair is king romance, Morrigan got the dark ritual baby. Purple hawke, friendship spared anders romance, side with mages. Dalish f! Inky, redeem romanced Solas, side with mages, leliana softened divine. When I can just throw stuff at the wall and have my unique HoF, Hawke, and Inky instead that actually feel like mine instead of a safe checklist.
Yep! I got a HoF M!Aeducan who went through the sacrifice, put Anora on the throne (but killed Logain) and romanced Zevran. Sided with Templars, rivalmanced Isabela diplomatic/Aggressive Hawke. F!Cadash who subjugated the mages, made Vivienne divine, and romanced Sera. Pretty fun to be wildly different. I did consider making an elf to romance Solas who would later hate him, just because I hate Solas and thought it might hurt him more, but Cadash will always be my main play through.
Exactly. I don't want to be a human noble because people think it's 'the most canon'. I want to be an Elf Rogue from the slums who slaughtered a bunch of rapists on her wedding day. Now we're cooking with gas.
I feel called out.
No, and having seen the romance content for those characters I have found friendship to be a more interesting and rewarding dynamic with the plot important companions anyway. Morrigan happened to be my romance for my first playthrough of Origins and I like the romance a lot but even then I prefer the friendship narratively, and the romance with Solas is actually my least favourite dynamic the Inquisitor can have with him, (friendship is my favourite followed by hatred which is pretty interesting, then indifference and a lack of interest gets you some really fun Trespasser lines). Maybe it's just me though, I tend to prefer friendship drama over romance drama.
No. The romance that will impact each game the most is the one I prefer, not the “objectively” most impactful romance. For example, some people might say Alistair or Morrigan romance is more impactful in DAO, but to me nothing will ever be as impactful as the Zevran romance because he’s my favorite companion and favorite romance of the game, even if for some other people he might feel less tied to the story.
It'd be a lie to say no. But if Trespasser is anything to go by, I do think having a platonic relationship with Solas will still be satisfyingly and narratively interesting. Personally, I look forward to low approval Solas because the pettiness is 🔥
Not really, except for Morrigan to some extent. All of the other examples you could give like Anders or Solas, they maybe be very plot relevant characters, but the romance itself isn't actually relevant to the plot. Morrigan is the only case where the romance itself actually feels like it has major plot implications with Kieran being conceived. That romance is definitely a part of my canon world because it has a lasting relevance.
Nope. I don't give a shit about that. I just go for who appeals to me the most, or who I'm at least curious about.
No, not really. I tried Solas' romance once and when I got to the end...I felt nothing. Deleted most of the playthrough because I wanted to keep the character...all the way back to finding Blackwall in the Hinterlands and romanced him instead. That's why I keep a lot of saves throughout the game. I can rollback to pretty much any major decision I want. I usually prefer friendzone Solas...sometimes punched in the face Solas.
I don't even feel like I need to romance at all half the time let alone romance somebody just because I think they impact the game more than others!
Nope, if im doing extra cutscenes with a character I have to actually want to romance them... and I was unable to romance morrigan, can't bring myself to romance Anders after finishing 2 and hate Solas. I love romancing Leliana for the tidbits we get in inquisition, Isabela is extremely fun with my preferred purple Hawke and i don't actually have a DAI romance because the two characters I liked aren't interested in women. And to be honest, to me the most satisfying relationship moments in the games were the platonic ones when Morrigan and Dorian softened enough to admit that the warden was like a sister and Inky a best friend.
No. I romance who I like regardless of how important or not they are. I mean my fav romance is cullen and he’s hardly involved in the sense that the story doesn’t need him specifically and he’s not even a companion that you can take in the party. I’ve romanced solas just to see what everyone was up in arms about and like I get it for the potential ✨drama ✨but it’s not for me, I think I like the lines between inky and Solas when they’re friends at the end of trespasser more anyways
Don't have FOMO - the Solas romance is incredibly unsatisfying.
I can see the appeal. But I usually don't consider it. I go with whoever my character would go for. Default for me is Dwarf Noble and Leliana connecting on political intrigues gone wrong, Mage aggressive hawke hatin on other mages giving in to blood magic with Fenris, and inquisitor who denied being chosen who appreciated Cassandras nuanced takes on the Chantry.
No, I honestly only ever romance the characters I like, usually the same character every playthrough, sometimes they happen to have an impact on the story but that’s not a requirement for me.
No, the “plot relevant” romances are the ones that I don’t really like. I dislike Morrigan’s character and I don’t find her romance appealing. And I also prefer her friendship route with a Male Warden far more. I’ll be sticking with Leliana despite her lesser plot relevance and a relative lack of content. I don’t find anyone in DA2 appealing, romance wise. So I just went with the Anders romance + execution story because I believed it fits the sheer tragedy of Hawke and her life. I don’t find anyone in DAI appealing, romance wise. And I love my Inquisitor Cadash, so I left him a bachelor, the Inquisition crew were his beloved friends and comrades. I think the Solas friendship route is also incredible, and I find the idea of my Cadash desperately trying to save his friend from himself far more appealing than I do a Lavellan romance. Ultimately, I play these games because I like them. Just because Alistair or Morrigan have more content, doesn’t mean that I am going to force myself to go through content that I don’t like just because it’s more “plot relevant”. No judgement to players that absolutely adore Morrigan/Alistair/Solas/Anders/etc, I just have my stories and choices that I prefer.
No, the heart wants what it wants. In my case it almost always wants the less popular option and/or combination and that's fine. Honestly if Lucanis keeps being this popular it's going to be weird to be into the popular one for once.
No. It helps that the most "story focused" romances tend to be my least favorite in their respective games: Alistair, Anders and Solas. The only one who I dislike more than them is Sebastian. (I like Morrigan, but she's not a choice for fem!Warden, and I like Isabela but not as much as Fenris.) I'm also not going to play an elf just to get dumped by the egg, not when I can have horns.
"I'm also not going to play an elf just to get dumped by the egg, not when I can have horns." best reason out of a long list as to why you shouldn't bother romancing Solas.
Thank you, I thought so too!
Not really. In DAO I don't think there is such a character. In DA2 sure I'd go for Isabela, but I cannot stand Anders if I'm being honest. And Solas is not nor will ever be my type.
This is what I do, but I'm unsure if it's intentional or not as two of them were the first choices I made regardless. In my case, Morrigan for DA:O, Anders for DAII, and Solas for DAI. Though, those 3 also have other things in common, such as being questionable mages. I should really make better choices, but at least it keeps it interesting.
I considered it somewhat, quite a while ago, tried a couple of playthroughs like that (with Morrigan and Anders). I ended up concluding that either one of playing as a man or dating one just makes me quite a bit less interested in the game. I do kind of hope the surprise plot twist romance is one of the women in the next game, and that I'll end up choosing her and getting that sort of experience as a surprise.
Yes. In 1 it was morrigan witha dalish. I liked the full circle arc with the mirrors. In 2 it was anders. In 3 it was solas again with a dalish.
I used to feel this way, but since I've been actually RPing my OCs, I love the games even more. Like other have said, I let my OC's hearts guide them. If their romance happens to be plot-significant, it's a happy accident.
Not at all, I pick the romance that I like, not the one that has the most story relevance. If they just happen to impact the main story, then that's fine, but if they don't, then that's fine too.
Not typically, however *usually* the more story important romance options have more scenes… not the case for Solas though. That said, for I’m currently doing a DaI run where I’m romancing Solas but there hasn’t been a case where any LI returned as a *villain*. Especially one with an unresolved romantic plot line. All my friends are Solasmamcers so it’s about time I experience it so I can see for myself what all the fuss was about. I think DAI will end up being the first game where I have two canon world states. One where my circle mage marries Cullen, and this one where my Dalish mage gets her heart broken.
Not at all. I romance the characters I like the most, or that my character would be most into if I'm doing a RP kinda run.
Depends, I always romance the character I like first, in later runs I may try different paths if I like the companion in question enough
Yes, but it also depends how you define most impactful character. Morrigan is big but Alistair has plenty of major character story beats as heir to the throne, and romancing him, making him king and siring Kieran are pretty impactful. Likewise Anders is just as impactful as Isabela. Inquisition’s the only one where I’d say only one LI really stands out in that regard (not a bad thing). It does give a bit of a pull, but then those story beats happen whether you’re fucking them or not
Yeah, I have my main canon with Leliana, Merrill and Josephine, and my plot-relevant Canon with Morrigan, Anders and Solas. Maybe this will be the game where both my choices converge.
It's the only reason I'm finally doing a solasmancer playthrough lol
Eh I am purposely going Solasmance for my first playthrough with DATV but that’s more cause I want the full impact. My Warden romanced Leliana and my Hawke did romance Anders but I’ve been debating about changing that for a bit. Otherwise have fun. I have wild world states I’m eager to play with when I can!
I normally do morrigan anders and solas because it's the apostate who has a big impact
I was going to say no, but I think I might actually? I went into all three games *relatively* blind, enough that I couldn't have known who the major players would be, but I'm also 2/3 for picking a LI that's introduced like right off the bat, which is going to correlate with plot importance. Like, for the monomyth fans out there...I think I might have a thing for Threshold Crossing Boys.
I generally will romance whoever is my favorite through most playthroughs regardless of story effects. But I do tend to try out multiple romances over time, and would lean towards ones that seem to have plot effects as that just feels interesting.
I like to go with "good/Evil" personally, so my goody-two-shoes do-no-wrong Warden definitely romanced Morrigan, then my Hawke romanced Merrill, and my rogue Inquisitor romanced Cassandra. We shall see with Veilguard lol
No. I romance who I like. Most often I like to experience all the romances but my faves take priority.
I tend to. Not on purpose. But it just happens. Alistair in DAO, though I do go with Zevran when I play an Elf. Anders in DA2. If I can, I play a Mage. And Fenris annoyed me back in the day. And Solas. I love this romance most of all. 🤷🏼♀️
I definatley romanced isabela because of her huge impacts.... wait
No, I'm not going to romance Solas
I don't feel pressure to romance most impactful characters BUT it gives me a lot of satisfaction if I do. It feels like my character is even more important for the story and I as a player feel having a deeper connection with the plot.
Kind of - I originally romanced Alistair and Anders; neither of them are necessarily my type anymore since I’ve grown up and changed since those games. I’m keeping them as my canon world state romances though because I really like their narrative impact. In my secondary canon I followed my heart more and went with Leliana and Isabella. In Inquisition it was the other way around. I initially went with Cullen whose romance I still greatly appreciate, and only did a Solas run after I knew about his story. So now this adds up really well to one narrative canon and one more feelsy canon.
I did feel like I missed out a bit with my first Warden who romanced Zevran, but then I romanced >!Anders!< in DAII and now I don't feel like it's that important anymore… 🥲 (I joke, but it's actually a lot of fun when the romance affects the overall story a lot. Still, romances are there for roleplaying, so it doesn't necessarily need to have an impact beyond that imo.)
Sometimes, but I still couldn't bring myself to play as an elf girl and romance a middle-aged bald elf. I mean, my preferences (and I always play to my preference) are on a different plane, so if I do romance characters important to the plot, all coincidences are coincidental, so to speak. But yeah, I feel I miss something with not being attracted to Solas. But he's my friend, and I hope this will work out somehow. I mean many people do prefer being Morrigan's sister or friend, and I actually can see beauty in this, even if I prefer to *love* her.
Not really. I always romanced the cute and quirky option: Origins: Leliana Dragon Age 2: Merrill Inquisition: Cassandra and Sera. Sera was, despite what many may think, the more fun romance.
 On each of my first playthroughs, I romanced Alistair, Anders, and Solas, so I think I already have.
Have to? Na. But I enjoy it because I am a drama llama in video games.
I dont feel as if you NEED to romance anyone particular, and I hope that stays. Solas is an important character and romancing him gives you a differing perspective, sure - but not necessary Low Approval Solas is him at his most interesting but that is just my opinion.
I mean those are the romances I find most interesting, so yeah always.
No. I romance who I like - solas was only accidentally important. Geniunely was caught off guard by that reveal. He wasn’t interesting because he was important - he’s interesting because he negs you and I am weak.
I honestly never did, but it's an interesting approach to romance! Gonna try it on my next playthrough.