Dragon Age Love

I've been absorbed with Bioware's Dragon Age: Origins for the last few weeks, and like any new hobby, I just can't get enough.

The plot may not be the most unique ever -- it's a pretty standard good vs. evil, gather the army to defeat the bad guys type of story -- but the characters elevate its simpler plot to grand heights that I absolutely adore.

No doubt about it: Alistair is my favorite character.

His whole personality hits all my "fall in love with a fictional character" requirements: he's sweet, funny in a dorky, adorable way, and awkward in an endearing, non-Michael-Cera kind of way.  I played as a female human noble Warden, so of course I romanced him (which is perhaps my favorite Bioware feature), and his romance is cute as hell.  He likes to talk to you, and plenty of the conversations feel semi-realistic so it stays fun. I could even come on to him early on, which is hilarious.

Eventually, when I romanced him, Alistair admitted he was a virgin, a character quirk I'm not sure I've seen admitted in a game before.  Sure, there are assumptions one can make -- Morrigan is probably a virgin too, considering her isolated life, and I'm willing to bet that maybe Tali from Mass Effect could be, but I've never heard one of them admit it.  Hell, when I went to romance Garrus in Mass Effect 2, the "come on" line happens right after he tells Shepard about banging some turian chick! Not exactly virgin territory there.  So the Alistair is a virgin element was a unique addition, and one that I found even more endearing.  He's so awkward and cute when he asks to sleep with you! Plus, the speaking options don't write the Warden into a corner -- I could be a virgin or not, and it didn't seem to affect much for him.  There's a hilarious conversations about licking lamposts, wink wink, to walk you through that revelation.

And then of course, there's the ending. Spoiler Alert! You can marry Alistair if you are indeed a female human noble, which I was and so of course I elected to do this.  Eventually, if I can make it all the way through Dragon Age II, some dialogue crops up where Alistair refers to my PC (player character) as 'the old ball and chain' :). I may not be loving II, but I can't wait to get there.

Alistair looking all suspicious near the end of the game -- I can just hear him saying, "Swooping is... bad." :)

I can't talk about Alistair without talking about Wynne, the 'grandmotherly' mage full of wisdom, an admittedly cliche character type who thankfully breaks the mold.

Wynne fills the necessary magic role in the game better than Morrigan ever could (in my opinion).  She's funny without being bitchy, and she's a fantastic, strong NPC that adds a lot to the party I've been playing.  Seriously, even though she's old, Wynne is a total bad-ass: I even have her take on Loghain at the end of the game, and she always kills him.

She should be the kind of character I can predict, right? She's got lots to say on how to be a strong Grey Warden, and she always wants to help me or Alistair or anyone else in the party. Wynne comes across as grandmotherly, and Alistair's request for her to mend his socks at one point certainly boosts that point.  But somewhere along the line, some programmer/writer with a sense of humor decided that, underneath it all, Wynne was going to be a dirty old woman. And it works, and it's awesome.  Oghren, the dwarf, and Zevran, the elf assassin, hit on Wynne constantly; Zevran, in particular, is fascinated with her 'bosom,' as he puts it.  And while Wynne might turn them down consistently, her banter with them is full of hints at her former less-than-grandmotherly adventures.

Those boobies have seen some things, apparently.  

Plus, since I was in a romance with Alistair, Wynne continuously teases Alistair about being into the Warden. She calls him on watching my character's ass while we're out on a mission, and eventually, when I brought the two of them on enough quests, she 'lectured' him on where babies come from, an exchange that cracks me up every time I hear it. Listen here and be amused! Their mother-son relationship, even when it goes off the rails, adds even more depth, like they really are friends inside the world of the game.

 Wynne's magic leads me to Morrigan, one of the earliest added NPCs and one that I'm not totally sure I love.  She's an out-there character, a Witch of the Wilds who technically should be chased/threatened by the templars (which include Alistair, to a certain degree).

And Sten.  A qunari, a giant race of warriors, stranded in Ferelden and absorbed into the Warden's party as penance for a crime of rage and loss: his character bleeds darkness, mystery, and a cold detachment that takes lots and lots of work to overcome.  For a long time, Sten is silent, standing off to the side of camp in near-silence. Few conversation options exist, and new ones are few and far between as the game goes on.

This is Sten, when the Warden finds him.  He's gigantic and intimidating, all white hair and purple eyes, and only slightly less so once you get him into some armor and a giant sword

Eventually though, the Warden can get Sten to talk, and even more eventually, I got his personal quest.  By the last push of the game (just barely pre-Landsmeet), I had Sten's approval close to 100 points, although the label of his approval is still "neutral" in a funny twist.  (For comparison, Alistair's at 100 points is "love" and Wynne's at about 80 is "friendly.") I really liked Sten and his warrior mentality, dark as his outlook is.

Other than Alistair though, I think I love Shale the best.  He's a golem, which is basically a huge rock-man brought to life with magic, and he is absolutely hilarious.  I only got him by chance -- the copy of DA:O I bought has all the DLC included and he's part of a quest called The Stone Prisoner.  I am so glad I did.  Shale is somewhat effeminate both in voice inflection and word choice, which creates a fun contrast between his intimidating appearance and his personality, and he really enjoys pushing the buttons on the other characters, who never seem to quite know what to do with him.  There's on exchange where Alistair asks Shale about his sleeping patterns, and Shale expresses that he doesn't sleep, he just watches the rest of the party while they sleep, counting breaths because "it helps to overcome the overwhelming urge to crush their faces."  Yet the way he says it doesn't seem that intimidating, more like a casual, almost joking comment.

Ah, Shale. Intimidating to look at, yet terrified of birds.

He's also got this quirk where he just hates birds, obviously from years spent frozen in place and having pigeons crap on him.  Hilarious.

Also: SPOILER, but apparently on Shale's personal quest, the player discovers that, prior to being a golem, Shale was actually a girl. I didn't know this, and since Shale refers to himself as a "him," that's what I'm going with. It doesn't change how much I love the character, regardless.

I love this game so much, and the characters make it. I may just re-start it again the second I finish it.