I'm not exactly a fan of Bianca, but the way her detractors get worked up about her "threat" is a bit.. ridiculous.
It is not an actual threat, smart ones. That was just her telling you, "Take care of Varric for me," in her own way.
Yeah, but it'd be nice to still pull a b***h aside and let them know that sassmouth don't fly. As a bonus, do it in front of Varric, greatly disapproved be damned.
The whole concept of Justice from start to finish is painful to me. So much of Origins is trying to get Ferelden to trust Wardens again and you're lugging around a corpse saying "no, really, he's a GOOD zombie"? I don't think so, not after Redcliffe Castle. So DA2 Anders is also NOT *my* Anders.
But Velanna. Urk. Nuff said.
I wish Mother Giselle were either more likable, OR more confrontational towards the Inquisitor about stuff she disagrees with.
I'm also not convinced the Chantry folk the Inquisitor recruits as Agents in the Hinterlands are actually an asset...?
Oghren is my least favorite character in the series. I feel like entirely too much time is spent on his drunken antics. Alcohol abuse is not funny it's just sad.
In both DAO and DAI I pretty much like everyone. Some, like Oghren and Blackwall, aren't very interesting, but I wouldn't go so far as to say I dislike them. And I actively adore most characters that people have raged about in this thread.
DA2, though... well, even there it's a little complicated, because I really want to like everyone there, too. I like them in theory, the concept of them. It's just that in practice, most of them just became too one-note and unreasonable. The only one who seemed to not actively ignore any fact that didn't fit what they wanted to believe was Varric, who really came across as Kirkwall's token non-douche.
But of course the prize for biggest douche goes to:
Anders. Someone said upthread that Bioware writers seem to read a lot of blogs. I can believe it, because Anders sounds exactly like the most world's mst obnoxious and self-righteous blogger - "oh why won't you see that I'm the most oppressed person in all of history? HAVE YOU NO HEART?!" And like any such person, his natural enemies aren't actually the ones oppressing him, it's the majority of people who just want to live their lives and not devote all their time to fighting against one particular injustice in a world that's full of injustices. "I have removed all possibility of compromise, for there is no compromise," he sanctimoniously proclaims at the end. He's achieved the ultimate goal of of the activist blowhard: he's bullied everyone into assuming either the role of Ally or the role of Enemy, because those are the only roles he can tolerate.
Now, Fenris is every bit as hateful, don't get me wrong, but I'm inclined to let him off the hook because 1) he's got some serious trauma in his past that has given him some understandable emotional problems, and 2) he seems to be at least partly aware of those problems and be trying to cope with them with what maturity he can muster - to control himself when he can, and to apologise for his outbursts when they get the better of him. He's also, at the end, able to rise above it even if you don't have full Friendship/Rivalry with him and join you in supporting the mages if you point out his double standard.
Anders, by his own admission, does not have any angsty backstory to justify his behaviour. No one's ever actually hurt him, he's just outraged about the fact that they could have. It's all a matter of principle for him, all about how inherently wrong it is that he doesn't get to be free. The fact that most people, people who weren't born with sparkly superpowers, are also not particularly free is apparently lost on him - it's all about him and what people aren't allowed to do to him. Oh, he'll get fired up about injustices to other mages, but only because he takes it personally - when it comes right down to it, he's perfectly willing to throw an entire Circle under the bus if that's what it takes to force moral clarity upon the world.
I'm actually sort of impressed with the writing behind Anders. Everything about his transformation from compassionate idealist to deranged fanatic feels completely true to life. Not only have I seen a ton of people like Anders, but when I was younger I am terribly afraid that I was very much like Anders (though I never blew anything up because of it, and nor, to the best of my knowledge, did those other people). But exactly because of that, everything about him infuriates me.
Dorian and Cole.
Reasons = Dorian - I expected a magister, not a refugee or wtf he is now to Tevinter. Cole - hate demons, the way this game is trying to convince me to like "spirits" and possessed people is putting me of a lot.
Sera would be a top contender. She isn't very mature, and unlike most immature characters, she doesn't CARE that she's immature and doesn't even acknowledge that people *might* be right. Plus, she's quick to threaten people when they say things she doesn't like. It's... Actually really annoying.
In DAO I could hardly stand Oghren. He was just the stereotypical drunk dwarf, and he was rather disgusting on top of that. Wynne annoyed me most of the time and felt like a nagging mom. Then there was Sten, I didn't exactly dislike him, I mostly forgot about him. I would go to my camp and remember he was there for a brief period of time.
DA2 Merrill was the one who got on my nerves. Out of all the companions she was the only one I decided to rival. She would never heed the advice that practicing blood magic, listening to demons, and fixing killer mirrors was a bad thing. Sometimes I found her a bit adorable, but more the most part her naivety was really irritating.
DAI Sera was just the worse. If there is one thing I cannot stand, it's immaturity and close-mindedness. Her opinion is always right and anyone else who disagrees is stupid, that is the impression she strongly gave off throughout. Even when evidence is right in front of her contradicted her opinion she would still try to deny it. She was very aggravating. I also was not a big fan of Blackwall, he was boring and I forgot about him a lot of the time. Despite doing his companion quest I still could not bring myself to like him.
I didn't strongly dislike anyone in DAO, but I didn't like Sten very much. He was just boring.
I didn't play DA2 long enough to dislike (or like) someone.
In DAI, I don't like Sera. She's very annoying and childish and strange. I never really know what she's talking about and when I say something she's always pissed off and says I'm wrong. Also *ducks* I don't like Solas. He's too grumpy and arrogant.
In DA:O: Goldanna.
I can't believe I let Alistair give her fifteen sovereigns, and as thanks, she kicked us out of her house. I know I should have sympathy with her situation and everything, but that really made me annoyed.
In DAII: Perhaps Merrill, and to an extent, Fenris.
In DAI: Sera was a bit annoying at times.
Didn't like Sebastian but tat worked quite well with the rival approach.
In DAI didn't like Sera, extremely annoying.
Hate defined as avoid having in my party or talking to as much as possible:
Oghren, Sten, Wynne, Leliana (redeems herself a little in DAI).
Velanna, Justice.
Sebastian (the only companion I would kill if given the option), Bethany.
Solas, Iron Bull.
Yeah, but it'd be nice to still pull a b***h aside and let them know that sassmouth don't fly. As a bonus, do it in front of Varric, greatly disapproved be damned.
Just played "Well, ****." last night.
Gotta think her statement would not catch nearly as much grief had she not been made to look like an idiot just two seconds earlier.
I hate Vivianne. Full of her self she are. And in other games it's Wynne(Like the character better in the book Asunder).
You know, I don't dislike Blackwall, but ... what was the point of the "Thom Rainier" arc?? It really served no meaningful purpose at all.
You could have given the real Warden Blackwall the same past as Thom Rainier and preserved virtually that same whole character arc. It would have been arguably more effective. And, in turn, he would have become much less boring by virtue of actually something of substance to talk about (which he has almost none of).
Seriously, what were they thinking?
Disagree about Blackwall. The secrecy, the fear of discovery, the handwaving and waffling about his past and Warden business both, are all definitely parts of his character that wouldn't work in this way without the stolen identity. It also adds a twist to the "former badguy grimly seeking redemption" trope. Blackwall is serious about that quest, and he has changed, but even in his atonement he remains a deeply flawed person still running away from himself. That is more believable to me than the various instant huge personality-changes we see some characters go through during the series.
So I don't think the arc is pointless, it's more that the game doesn't do it justice at all because it exists in a vacuum with essentially zero impact or follow-up. The same can be said for most of the companion arcs and main story hooks, unfortunately, though Blackwall's should make far bigger waves than most so the shallow treatment is much more glaring than with say Varric or Solas.
I'm not exactly a fan of Bianca, but the way her detractors get worked up about her "threat" is a bit.. ridiculous.
It is not an actual threat, smart ones. That was just her telling you, "Take care of Varric for me," in her own way.
That might mean more if it didn't come immediately after you just saved Varric (and for that matter her) from the crisis that SHE created. After what Bianca did, she's got no room to bow up at anybody - anyone at all - about putting Varric in danger.
I have to play again the previous games to remember better, but I remember that yes, I hated Goldanna, but she's not a main character.
And Isabela from DA2... her looks totally changed from DA:O (pale skin, almost red/brown hair...) and then she looked like a provocative brasilian bimbo and the only thing you see is her silicone breasts (quite exagerrated and not even looking realistic). I didn't like the fact that if you don't romance Fenris he goes with her... it's like "ok Hawke it can be you or Isebela, I don't care".
I didn't realy like Anders, either, I guess I have a problem with paranoiac weeping characters.
In DA:I, I don't "hate" anyone, maybe Solas is a bit boring and Sera is annoying... Dagna is REALLY annoying, can't she just stop talking??
For me, out of every iteration of Dragon Age and its hundreds of major and minor characters, no character comes close to being as bad as Fiona.
She is a swirling black hole of ineptitude that sucks in all that is redemptive and inspiring about the story of Thedosian mages, leaving narrative paucity in her wake.
Anders and Blackwall. And no, I hated Blackwall before the big reveal too.
This is a tough one for me. I too will break this down by DA iterations.
DAO:
Oghren: I really didn't like the personality of DAO Oghren much at all. It was painful to have to take him along during the Orzammar sections, and he was just ...a whiny #$% most of the time. Mechanically he was a fine party member, but I really didn't like him much because he was just plain rude, coarse, and not at all the kind of person I would hang around with. He wasn't necessarily badly written, just not someone I liked.
DA2:
Fenris: "I'm so ANGRY" seemed to be the order of the day with this guy. There was no depth to the character, he was just an emo-angsty self-entitled little ******. Maybe it's just that I have outgrown the teenager mindset, but it felt like I was babysitting a sullen neighbor's Jr-High school son, the kind that always "knows more about the pain of life" than anyone else and thinks his limited life experiences are the breadth of everything. I liked aspects of his character design and dialogue, but he just was such a pain to deal with, that I ended up leaving him behind on almost every mission.
DAI:
Cole: I have never had such an outright HATRED for a character until Cole. I despise this character for so many reasons, but most of all because of his 'special nature'.
I will explain a bit more, I used to help storytell and admin for the old Camarilla Roleplaying Fanclub for White Wolf's World of Darkness, and there was a certain type of player that we'd inevitably encounter over time, that we'd call 'Crayon-Eaters". These players would commonly mistake eccentricity and childishness for immersive roleplaying, and so would define themselves through 'cutesy' acts and strange behavior, rather than actually flesh out their personality. They would play the role of the 'innocent', the naive, the mentally-disturbed, the 'damaged-goods', and expect to be protected by others, to be shepherded by other players, and to be reluctantly reactive to story and plot rather than proactive. The 'strangeness' of their behavior came to define them, rather than their actual actions and they often lacked character goals beyond 'being weird'. Through their eccentricity, they would expect the spotlight and center-of-attention, because otherwise if they were ignored in favor of you-know, actual plot, they were exposed as being rather shallow and empty of any group-dynamic and contribution. In essence, there's a strong bit of Mary-Sue and Larry-Stu qualities that comprise a 'Crayon-Eater' and they require and demand quite a bit of plot armor and narrative protection to function.
Cole embodies so many of the same tropes and tactics of the Crayon-Eater, that it's impossible for me to not see the parallels even at a glance. I understand that he is further fleshed out in the novels, but upon a cursory read-through, I saw more of the same 'broken' behavior and character qualities that turned me off of Cole in the first place. I don't think that he is a very well-written or strong character, but rather is a caricature of a character archetype, and not a particularly good one at that.
Coupled with his INCREDIBLY offensive character trait of invasive mind-reading everyone at all times, not just without their consent but actually against their stated objections to "Get Out Of My Head!" and I find the character to cross over the line of simply being shallow and tasteless into confirmed CREEPY MIND-RAPIST. I don't find him endearing at all, rather I find him repulsive and my first instinct each time he loads up in-game is to want to squash him like a vile roach. What makes things worse is his habit not just of mind-raping people, but of exposing their secrets constantly and with a smug sense of almost-malice. He's like a 'Damien' style of EVIL.
I don't know why some people find Cole lovable, huggable, or endearing. I can't imagine why Dave Gaider or Patrick Weekes felt that writing him in the manner chosen made for a better character or how his invasiveness into the private thoughts and memories of others is somehow justifiable or excusable in the context of a 'heroic' character or protagonist's companion. Unfortunately there is no way to kill/destroy Cole, so my solution has been to never open or pursue "The Forgotten Boy" mission, leaving him to remain a nonentity in my subsequent playthroughs.
Origins - I liked the whole party. I would have said Loghain but he's not a party member long enough for it to matter.
Awakening - Again I liked the whole party.
][ - Carver. Talis would be here if she weren't DLC.
Inquisition - Sera
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