BioWare Monday: Best Fwends

Spoiler Warning: This series of weekly posts delves into various BioWare games, and will spoil the hell out of them. Proceed with caution.

Aside from romance, all BioWare games from KOTOR onwards are, to one extent or another, about camaraderie and friendship. And, to me, those virtual relationships with virtual people can some of the most meaningful, and the truest testament to the storytelling brilliance behind the games. So this BioWare Monday is all about the best friends you can make in space or in Thedas.

An important aspect of the friendships that have been meaningful to me in these games have been growth. These are characters who arrive somewhat broken, and unlike in most cases in real life, you can fix them with the power of friendship!

So lets dive in, starting with Kotor and skipping Jade Empire.

KOTOR: Mission Vao

Mission is the youngest companion in KOTOR, and one of the first you can find and add to your party. She's streetwise and funny, and has a Wookie best friend. It's not the deepest relationship, but you can really help her grow past some shit, and unlike some people (BASTILLA), she doesn't betray you.

Mass Effect: Garrus and Tali

That's right. I'm cheating. ME has two best friends, and I ain't picking one of them. When you first meet Garrus, he's a frustrated cop. When you first meet Tali, she's running for her life. Shepard gives both of these lost souls a purpose, one which blossoms during the course of the games. These are incredible, meaningful relationships, and if I was ranking the Mass Effect series as a whole, they'd be the most important ones along with Liara.

Dragon Age Origins: Morrigan

This could have easily been called "The Morrigan post." Morrigan starts out mocking and hostile, but if you work hard at being her friend, you reach this point:

I couldn't find a video of the Warden and Morrigan's final conversation, but if she and the Warden have become friends, she basically thanks the Warden for teaching her what friendship is and it is moving af. Morrigan is acerbic, she's difficult, she's incredibly mean to Alistair, but that just makes winning her friendship all the more incredible. And while in real life you may not want to spend time with someone this negative, in the game it's an amazing story of growth. This virtual relationship has long been very dear to my heart.

Mass Effect 2: Miranda

Miranda is, in many ways, the Morrigan of the ME franchise. She's a brittle shell of perfection (generically modified perfection) around a history of brokenness and a monstrous parent. And while Miranda's dad is just a rich evil fuck, and not an immortal witch who's actually an ancient Elven goddess, the scars are quite similar. Miranda also learns and grows quite a bit while with Shepard, and in the end makes the right decision and stands by her friend and morality, and against her surrogate and evil rich fuck The Illusive Man.

Dragon Age 2: Isabela and Aveline

I love these two. Partly for their friendship with Hawke, but really for their friendship with each other. In the first act of the game, and to a certain degree in the second as well, you can't have both of them in your party if you want approval. What one approves of, the other disapproves of. Which makes total sense. One is a pirate, the other is a cop. But if you do everything right, by act 3 they are dear friends, whose differences are a thing to be joked about, not a bitter rivalry. And it's beautiful. Truly some of the most heartwarming stuff in the game.

Mass Effect 3: EDI

As I wrote previously, if I ranked friendships based on the entire series, this would be Garrus and Tali. But by game 3, they are leaders. And if you don't romance either of them, they become a couple by the end, becoming a real life version of Tali's favorite soap opera, Fleet and Flotilla. But we're here to talk about EDI. No relationship in the games starts as acrimonious as the one with the Normandy SR-2's AI. When we first meet EDI, in the first game, she's not EDI yet. She's a rogue AI Shepard has to put down. When we first meet her humanoid body, in ME3, it's in the possession of an evil AI that almost kills Ashley or Kaiden (which ever one is alive). The body makes a huge difference, as in the third game, EDI truly becomes a person, who relies on Shepard to help her become a good person. Plus, her rivalry to romance story with Joker is awesome. EDI a huge part of why I could never choose the Destroy ending for ME3.

Dragon Age Inquisition: Dorian

Dorian is the fabulous gay friend you've always wanted who's also a powerful mage noble. His story with his dad is moving and difficult, and he's someone who is easy to become close friends with. I do wish they had written more dialogue for him. After a while, he kinda runs out. But being there for him, as a friend, a gay man on the outs with his family, a Tevinter in a land where everyone hates Tevinter (which is every land except Tevinter), an ethical man from an unethical place. Yeah. Of course it's Dorian.

Mass Effect: Andromeda: Vetra

Vetra is the hyper competent friend everyone needs. If you need something done, expedited, taken care of, this Turian will take care of it. She's a great friend, and a great substitute mom for her younger sister. Vetra comes with The Tempest not because she was assigned, but because she wanted to. Because she wanted to get shit done after going a bit stir crazy in the Nexus during the long months of waiting for the Arks. She's invaluable, and Ryder's final scene with her, with the rock climbing, is such a delight.

Those were my best friends in BioWare games. Who were yours?

Related posts:

BioWare Monday: Intro and Ranking The Games
BioWare Monday: Traitors In The Party
BioWare Monday: Default BW Male
BioWare Monday: Who's Down With OTP?