Love at first gameplay - Hunks in Bioware's games

To put the trivial things aside... let's get to the point, shall we?

Romance has been in games from almost day one and ever since it has been very popular theme. Save the princess, save your wife, save your girlfriend... You get the picture. Due to development of games during the past years, perspective to love and romances has changed quite a bit. Usually you still save the girl of your dreams in the end but nowadays you have this important thing we gamers didn't have in the past... you have a choice. Hate the bitch? Don't seduce her. Any games with these kind of "interactive", choice-based romantic plotlines are what I really like. In this article I'll tell you about some of my romantic adventures in Bioware's games (which rock btw) and reveal who are the real hunks of their games. So prepare for some pixel eyecandy.


1. Carth Onasi, Knights of the Old Republic



Carth was one of the first male game characters I really really liked at more personal level. When I bought the game in 2004 with insanely high price and played it with my mother's laptop (it didn't actually work that well), only thing on my mind after the first hour of gameplay was how hot voice Carth had. Graphics really weren't the main thing to me those days, nor today, but the voice, there isn't a game which couldn't be improved with a excellent voice acting. Kotor really had that base secured and that's one of the reasons why I loved the game the first minute I played it.

After all the fighting in the beginning you get to have a long conversation with Carth and that was the situation when I really noticed how amazing character he was. Backstory was average, but touching, looks were okay (the beard really got me), he seemed loyal (always good feature) but the voice was pure gold and honey to my ears. I was really mesmerized by the character after the conversation and when I continued the game I noticed that Carth was everywhere. He was in my every party and every fight and once every 30 minutes I tried to talk to him to see if he had anything new to say. When the flirting started I was about to jump off my seat. I hadn't seen much of games like these where you really had a chance to build your own relationship based on choices and conversation options, it was an amazing Heureka! moment for me and since then I really started to look for games where a romance crazy girl like me could get a similar experience while playing a good game.

Today Carth is pure nostalgia for me, he was one of the most interesting characters in the game and the first game guy with which I had "a serious romance" with a hint of realistic feeling. I always disliked Bastila because I thought her voice acting was emotionless (i.e. rubbish) and when I later played the game with a male char, of course I wasn't that excited of her. Carth was the only true love for me that time and I still remember how I tried so hard to find his missing son from Korriban during my first playthrough. I fucked up the mission and Carth never got his son back and I was so heartbroken thinking what I had done to him by screwing it up. But later I noticed it didn't have that much of an impact on anything, so I just finished the mission in other playthrough to see how it would end, out of curiosity. Too bad that subplot mission in Kotor didn't feel that important after you had completed them once. But anyway, Carth will still get four stars from me, it was nice first experience of actually interactive gaming romances but nowadays he has been dethroned by more versatile guys.

****

2. Kaidan Alenko, Mass Effect



Yes I know, Raphael Sbarge who voiced Carth also acted Kaidan. I actually noticed that right away, can you imagine?

I never like Kaidan as much as I liked Carth, there was some passion missing in his personality in my opinion, but better graphics, many options for romance plots and again, ah-so-good voice acting saved the day. Kaidan's background was more interesting than Carth's and building a relationship with him was much fun, so I fancied him. Again I noticed that in the end of the day I had kept him in my every (possible) party and spent some time with him every time I boarded the ship, just hoping him to give new delicious conversation options. Too bad it seemed like that when I was halfway the game, Kaidan didn't really have much more to say to me (guys don't like talkative girls I guess) and the romance cooled down a bit. I had heard there was a sexual cut scene in the game between the player and the chosen sweetheart, but when it finally occured I was little disappointed. It was very simple scene with no real action shown, only minimum of skin and it was only few seconds in length, I waited much more after all the stir around the game. And more importantly, I waited more pillow talk, hmph! But it was still good entertainment and I appreciated the effort game developers had made, somehow I sensed that this was something players like and want more (ehem) and the situation will continue to evolve in the future (meaning much more sex in games, hurray!).

But Kaidan, what could I say about him? He had a fun romance with my character but I must admit I have higher hopes for Mass Effect 2 romance subplots. Something more extra and it will be perfect. Kaidan is still adorable, I'd give him another chance in the sequel.

***

3. Alistair, Dragon Age: Origins



Oh, Alistair. This one I really like, even now, since I still haven't finished the game. Dragon Age looks and sounds good in every aspect and romance plots are top-notch, but really, the truth is I didn't care that much of Alistair in the beginning. His looks aren't my favourite and he seemed a bit boring in the beginning. However, after the episode in Ostagar I saw his true colors. Of course then I had the first opportunity to flirt with him, but that's not the main reason, nope. The one and only reason is his sense of humor. In the beginning when I hadn't yet gotten Zevran or Oghren he was the number one source of humoristic comments in my party. Especially his quarrels with Morrigan were fun to watch and I really enjoyed his boyish jokes. ("Yes, fun. Tricking Morrigan... oh, who am I kidding? That does sound fun. I'm a bad man.") That really caught my attention and I began to notice him and I started to train him to be my number one tank, any excuse to keep him talking and in my party eh.

After few flirting moments with Alistair in the camp, I soon notice him to be a) shy virgin ("No, never licked a lamp post in winter.") and b) shy lover. I tried to get him into my tent in every conversation after the option came available, but he just wouldn't do it. Those templars... Then I gave up and focused my efforts to not-so-innocent flirting and kept teasing him in every way possible, that was something I really enjoyed, seeing the mighty Grey Warden blush because of something I said, hehee. Many of the best conversation moments for me in the game have been when other party members have been teasing Alistair, there is so much chemistry between different characters that I kept spamming conversation spots in cities to hear it all, it was quite addictive actually. It became even more fun when the relationship between main character and Alistair got more serious, I found myself laughing out loud many times when in party with Wynne, Zevran or Oghren.

But really, finally, the secret tent moment came and I was pretty pleased. Some good music on the background and the cut scene was much longer than in Mass Effect. Even some talking after the scene, well done. Audience's wishes were heard I assume! After that I was pretty addicted to Alistair's company and the situation still continues. I know there's many possible endings ahead and I'm not yet sure which one I want, as far as I know the options aren't really that black and white.

Btw, there has been really a girl movement around Alistair, there's even fanclubs and fansites for him, drooling everywhere, Bioware must have done something pretty right with this guy! One of the funniest things is to read comment sections in Youtube-videos of Alistair, they are really something. I'll post some of them here for your reading pleasure:

"i know its probably been said but I LOVE ALISTAIR!!!"
"I can't believe it, he's not even real, but i <3 him, sooo much!"
"haa i love him to ^^ hes one of my fav his approval is 100 love XD i always blush when he stops to talk to my char"
"I'm going to make another female noble character, play through the whole game just to experience the romance with Alistair AGAIN."
"He is so unbelievably.... perfect! Gahhh, I love him too much! I just got this game because I heard its an amazing story, but no one ever warned me about the irresistible force that is Alistair!"
"I'm Alistair obsessed. He is like the perfect man."
"Why can't I find an Alistair in real life? *sigh*"

Without further ado and after all this hype, my score to Alistair is five stars, what I encountered was really a romantic lovestory.

*****

Here are 3 lovestories and 3 sexy game characters, I'm sure that I'm not the only one who likes these guys. I think love brings much more excitement to gameplay and romance subplots are always fun to play through. Finally I could ask, are there any other male game characters which are better than these guys? Tips are always welcomed.