Of the RPGs you have played, pick your ONE (and ONLY ONE) favorite romance per each game, and explain your favorite overall.
Hmm, let’s see. In general my favourite romances are with male characters, just because while I do mix it up, my favourite characters to play tend to be straight women like myself. In some of the below games I’d totally accept there are better written romances with other genders.
BG2: Dorn (he’s EE, but I can’t say Anomen even though he’s the only option for female characters in the original game, Jaheira would have to be my pick if I was restricted to that)
NWN HotU: Valen
DA:O: Alistair, even though I didn’t like Alistair as a character much, my favourite romance plot in DA:O is a romance with Alistair, then saving Loghain so Alistair has a huge strop and leaves the party but marries Anora. Sometimes an unhappy ending feels more fitting, somehow! On which note, the tragic Alistair romance timebean mentions above is really good too, in a heartbreaking way.
DA:2: Anders rivalmance after sleeping with and being left by Fenris
DA:I: Blackwall until his secret comes out then swap to Cullen (the Sera romance is dead cute though)
Mass Effect: Kaiden (or Liara, though she loses out to Kaiden mainly because I have so much love for the platonic friendship that develops with her over the trilogy if you don’t romance her)
ME2: No one or Thane (I like the idea of the Thane romance but the writing doesn’t really work for me, and I love Garrus but feel he works so much better as a friend than an LI)
ME3: No one or Kaiden again (again, somehow an unhappy ending feels more right for my favourite Shepard, especially as she’s not going to be around for an HEA anyway)
ME:A: Liam (a sweet and optimistic romance, which feels right for that game and for Ryder)
And okay, they’re all BioWare games, which is partly because I’ve played their games more than any others, but also because I’ve not found romances in any of the other RPGs I’ve played particularly memorable.
Of the above, the Alistair romance is probably the one I think is best, even though he’s the character I like least, just because it has a story that can feel like it is part of the game’s plot rather than an add-on.
