Hiya!
I know it’s an old game but I just finished BioWare’s epic RPG, Dragon Age: Inquisition, a few weeks ago and I still have it on my mind. I even said in my review of it that it’s something that you should really play, especially since you can get the Game of the Year edition that has all of the DLC campaigns bundled with it for cheap now. Looking back at my review, there was something that I failed to cover, though. That thing are the romance options that are available in the game. Dragon Age: Inquisition has a great number of romance options for both male, female, gay, lesbian and even bisexuals and I love how inclusive it all is.
More romance options for females? Can’t say I can complain about that!
I am biased, however, so as much as I loved how BioWare tried to give different flavors for each gender and sexuality, I can’t say I’ve been satisfied with the romance options of their other major entry, Mass Effect. One of my most earliest post for this site was all about how I couldn’t connect with any of the human male characters from the first Mass Effect trilogy and this affected why my brother and I decided to get into a romance with the asari Liara T’Soni with our FemShep. We stayed loyal to Liara throughout the entire Mass Effect trilogy and I’m kind of glad we did because, in my mind anyway, FemShep and Liara were the two “main” characters in the story. But I did feel a little cheated that Liara wasn’t a male. You can scream that she’s asari so they don’t have genders but… c’mon! She’s obviously female!
This is why I had high hopes for Mass Effect: Andromeda. I was hoping that the male romance options would be much better but they were much, much worse! None of them tickled my fancy. I even wrote about how much I disliked the female Pathfinder (FemFinder?) romance options in Andromeda and how this made me ran into the arms of Suvi Anwar, the team’s scientist. She was definitely the best option because of her accent! Yeah, I love Suvi’s accent so much and my Female Pathfinder agrees.
This leads us to Dragon Age: Inquisition. This was another BioWare game that romance options but, like I mentioned at the start, this game seemed to have a little more potential in that department. It looked like the roster was a little more filled out and… normal. I was really hoping that maybe, finally, this will be the BioWare game where I can be a heterosexual female!
There was immediately a couple of characters that my female elf Inquisitor was interested in. My first instinct was Dorian because… well, look at him! He’s gorgeous! Look at the guys properly quaffed hair! Look at that well groomed mustache! Oh, and he’s a rebellious bad boy guy from another land? Oh, and that really rich, snooty accent! It turns out I have a thing for accents. Sometimes, it can be the very thing that’s turns me off. But not Dorian’s accent! I just love the way he says all of those witty remarks and comebacks! He’s perfect! Too bad he’s not interested in girls! It turns out he swings for the opposite time, which was disappointing to say the least!
No matter! There was still another prospect with Cullen. While he isn’t as hunky as Dorian, I will admit Cullen had a certain appeal. He was a stern and strong time, which I can appreciate. I also love how loyal he was to the Inquisition and its cause. And he is pretty good looking as well. I mean, he may be a commander of a huge army but he still manages to spend time grooming his hair!
He should’ve been my pick ultimately but there was one reason why I didn’t go with him. The reason is because he wanted me to recruit the templars instead of the mages. Yeah, it sounds stupid, right? So I guess I have to explain why I did it.
Normally, when I play a BioWare game or any role-playing game for that matter, I really play the role. I create an entire backstory in my head based on the options given to me. I don’t play as “myself” so I make story decisions based on how I feel the character will develop. My character’s choices do generally align with mine but I add more interesting elements to it. For Dragon Age: Inquisition, I created a female elf Inquisitor who was a warrior. I intentionally picked the elf race because of the description that they’ve been oppressed by the land of Thedas. I then picked the Weapon and Shield class because I thought having a Rogue/Archer or Mage elf would be trite.
But I added a little twist to her: my Robin Inquisitor was religious but she didn’t believe in the elven gods. I pictured her as someone who was Dalish but has roamed the world enough that she believed in Andrasde and not the elven gods (which automatically excluded Solas as a paramour… but he was never in the running to begin with). My Robin Inquisitor, even though she doesn’t believe in the elven gods, still honored the elven culture, which is why she exclusively wore the Dalish Warrior armor throughout her adventure even though she came across much better armor. She was that proud to be a Dalish elf. As an elf, she was also under scrutiny of the humans and she felt the bias against her because of her alienage, which is why she understood the plight of the mage rebels instead of the oppressive templars who tried to rein them in. Oh, and it also helped Lord Seeker Lucius acted like a dick the first time Robin Inquisition met him. I mean, sucker punching a nun? What a cowardly act!
So, when it came time to decide who should I side with, I made up my mind and chose the mages. Unfortunately, Cullen was gung-ho about recruiting the templars! This was a real ideology clash for my Robin Inquisitor and I really couldn’t picture her falling in love with someone who’s values differ from her. Yes, it seemed a little silly to treat this kind of decision as weighty as I did. I guess I take my role playing seriously!
Since I exhausted my prospective paramours, just like my FemShep and my Pathfinder from Andromeda, Robin Inquisitor fell in love with a female. Oddly enough, I kind of liked the implication that she was a lesbian. Not only was she looked down upon just for being an elf, I’m guessing she was also looked down upon for being a homosexual. I get that being gay in the Dragon Age world isn’t that big of a deal but it’s apparently still scandalous for two females to be dancing in the Winter Palace, even though Empress Celene is gay herself. So, yeah. I liked that Robin Inquisitor was a strong willed character with a lot going against her.
But who exactly did Robin Inqusitor fall for? Well, it was the roguish Sera. Initially, I didn’t like her because, well, she isn’t all that pretty! I thought my Robin Inquisitor would eventually fall in love with Josephine. But, while playing the game, my impression of Sera changed. She did come off as rather abrasive at the start but, as I got to talk to her and get to know her, I started to like her even more. I liked that she was with the Friends of Red Jenny, a Robin Hood-like group, and I really love the way she speaks. I was annoyed by her accent when I first met her but it really suited her more “street smart” attitude. The thing that cinched it for Robin Inquisitor were the pranks! I hate to admit it, but Sera was right! The Inquisition needed those pranks to liven things up. At least I did!
Sera really grew on my as the time passed and she was definitely loyal to the cause. So, yes, I eventually agreed to fall in love with her and I can’t say I was disappointed in the least. There were a few bumps along the path of love. Sera was a devout atheist and didn’t like that I believed in Andrasde or any god for that matter. She was also a city elf who didn’t like Dalish elves so our romance wasn’t as straightforward as I would’ve wanted it to be, especially since my Robin Inquisitor would disagree about our heritage. However, my Robin Inquisitor did come around in a sense when it was revealed near the end of the game that the elven gods weren’t really god but just very powerful mages. This led credence that the story of Andrasde wasn’t true as well. This pretty much shattered Robin Inquisitor’s belief of there being a god of any kind.
Robin Inquisitor and Sera stuck to each other throughout the entire quest to close the rifts and return peace to the world of Thedas and I wouldn’t have it any other way. We even got married two years earlier in a rather abrupt ceremony. But that didn’t matter as I know the both of them will have so many more rooftop time together even in their twilight years. Or, at least until the next Dragon Age comes up and it turns out Robin Inquisitor becomes a giant douche who became drunk with power. But still, rooftop time is great, huh?
I love it when my wifey swears at me.
Still, I do wish that I finally had a heterosexual love affair in a BioWare game. Dragon Age: Inquisition was the closest I’ve ever been, though, so I will give it points for that. With the Mass Effect: Andromeda franchise at the backburner, here’s hoping that the new Dragon Age game will be released soon… with a great man for my character to love.
Who did you romance in Dragon Age: Inquisition? Let me know in the comments section below!
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