Romantic Entanglements--Mass Effect Style

Yesterday I confessed to not only caring about romantic options in my BioWare games, but also to the fact that I put much more thought into who my character should romance than what I feel a normal person probably should.  So today I thought I would continue down the long winding path into my choices by focusing on romantic options in Mass Effect.  Mass Effect is by far my favorite game series and I have spent some serious time puzzling out who would be the best match for my Commander Shepard.

Firstly, let it be said here for the thousandth time--FemShep is the best Shep.  I roll with FemShep.  I've tested the waters of the male character and am not a fan.  So assume that my choices are from the perspective of a charming lady Shepard.  My choices for romantic partners are largely based on the choices I have made for my character.  If my Shep is a paragon her choices will be much different than a renegade Shep.  Let the insanity begin.

She'd be awesome without the poetry.

Let's start with the original Mass Effect.  In this game your romantic choices are extremely limited.  You have three choices--Ashley, Kaidan, or Liara.  If you try to tax your brain way back to 2007 when this game came out you will also remember that BioWare, to some fan upset, only allowed heterosexual relationships (this has greatly changed and now they win awards from LGBT groups)--with the exception of romancing Liara.  So you had to make the harrowing choice between Kaidan or Liara.  If I roll paragon I will generally go with Kaidan.  Kaidan is not one of my favorite characters (IMO he's the toast of Mass Effect--white, bland, and boring) but he's a nice guy--perfect for do-gooder/hero Shepard.  On the other hand renegade Shep will opt for a relationship with Liara.  It seems like the badass thing to do.  Sure, Liara isn't exactly a "badass" herself but she's a very non-traditional choice for a human.  Why?  Well, she's an alien so there's that whole weird aspect to the relationship and it's a same-sex relationship which is bucking the system.

The few times I have played a male character I have found the choices to be a little more difficult and to be exactly the opposite of my choices playing the female toon.  Male paragon Shep would totally go for Liara--she's quiet, somewhat shy, and seems to be close to passing out a lot in this game.  She needs a burly protector type.  On the other hand my renegade, male Shep would go for Ashley.  She's a tough chick with a soft side (as evidenced by several nauseating instances of poetry recitation) and I think tough Shep would be into that.

Tomorrow I'll look at the more complex choices of Mass Effect 2.  So many choices....