Zepheera wrote...
***Mildly spoilery - for characters, not story***
I think a large part of it is that the character is very well fleshed out, you get a LOT of his back story, and his character is very innocent. He's a person who's been raised very sheltered and with high moral values. Compare him to the others, he's the typical "sweep her off her feet, virtuous prince charming". The extremely well done voice acting just adds the icing to the cake for it.
Now, myself, I love romancing Alistair occasionally, it's a sweet side story that makes you feel good. However, I also really enjoy Zevran's romance story quite a bit, there's something about that one that draws me to it just as much as the PC/Alistair one.
Why is Alistair so popular? Because once you're into the "romance" portion, the Duncan dialogue has pretty much been exhausted, barring a few instances. He's got the "boy next door" background, the classic good looks, very expressive (and I admit, sexy) voice acting, and all of that gets tied up into a nice little package that says "pick me!" with puppy dog eyes.
Your impression of Alistair is very much tainted by the fact that you're playing a female character.
Characters in this game are completely different depending on your character's race, gender, and in-game choices.
Since a male character cannot romance Alistair, I'm never going to see that side of him.
All I see is a guy who is all "whoa is me" about the things life has thrown at him. He was an unruly kid even before he was sent off to the chantry. He's never accepted any responsibility for his own life situation, and he would rather whine and complain than actually try to take control of his life.
He has a responsbility both as a king and a Grey Warden, but he seems like he would prefer to just be a bum.
There isn't a single thing he does in the game that would make a man respect him, if you're not playing a female character.