Can you do 22, 41 and 44 for the DA asks please? :)
Thank you very much for the ask! 🤗
22: Favorite DA2 party combo?
Since I'm just average at the combat system in these types of games, I usually pick the party for roleplay and story reasons.
In da2, my absolute favorite for Marianne, my sarcastic mage Hawke is: Anders, Fenris/Carver and Isabela. Simply because it's full of sarcastic, witty and dry banter. Everyone kind of resents each other and masks it through humor, poor Isabela has to act as mediator and gives some breather to the constant bickering.
But that also means a constant tug-of-war between approval and disapproval for my mage hawke, hahaha.
41: Who did you romance in your frist playthrough of each game?
Way back when I first played origins, my first love was good old Alistair. He charmed me since the very beginning and that attachment to him never left me, no matter how hard I try.
That was back when I still thought I was straight, so I really couldn't explain why I found Morrigan so attractive and interesting. But her design and voice had me intrigued from the start and I subconsciously would have wanted to romance her too, but alas, as a female warden it was impossible.
For da2 I had completely spoiled myself about Anders' role in the story, so I romanced him for the enhanced storytelling. And it was a very fun ride, but before that, I had flirted a lot with Isabela and almost didn't want to through with my plan because she's just that captivating. If I could romance them both at the same time, I totally would. 😂
That's why my canon hawke had a fling with Isabela before moving in with Anders.
For Inquisition I sadly had myself spoiled about Solas' true nature as well (damn you, curiosity!) and wanted to see what all the fuss was about with solavellan. This playthrough ended up being an abandoned rather quickly though, mostly because I didn't like the character I had created. I was also caught in an extremely stressful bind between wanting to romance Solas, Cullen, Josephine or Sera.
My first real, complete playthrough of inquisition was with my Maxwell Trevelyan, who I had planned from the very beginning to romance Dorian because I heard really good things and never tried a mlm pairing before. It was a lot of fun and these two are very close to my heart as a result, even if Solavellan constantly fights it for canon spot.
44: One romance you just can't stand/doesn't make sense/etc?
Not per se, but I can tell you that the rivalmances in da2 (aside from Sebastian’s and maybe Isabela's) really rub me the wrong way, because they seem very toxic and borderline abusive. While it is sometimes interesting to explore such an angle, it should still be deemed inexcusable and not romanticized, which it isn't. That's why they are mostly a no for me.
That aside, I wish Sera's romance was written by a lesbian and not a straight man, because it really shows. Her romance is great, but I wish we could be kinder to her and just... the writing in it is really meh. Could be better.
Lastly, one that doesn't concern the protagonist, is Cole's romance with Maryden if he's made more human. Why make him suddenly interested in romance if he was heavily implied (or even outright stated) to not be sexually/romantically attracted to women or people in general at all? That's a real shady move, because it (kind of) implies that anyone on the ace-aro spectrum isn't really human and that's... problematic at best and downright harmful at worst.
Sorry for rambling, this was a very fun ask to answer! Thank you again!
