For those of you who haven’t played any of BioWare’s seminal RPG series — Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Knights of the Old Republic, and its MMO counterpart Star Wars: The Old Republic — one thing that stands out is your ability to form meaningful relationships with the characters you interact with most. While this is usually just a way to get flavorful dialogue choices or a gameplay mechanism to gate access to particular skill choices, the most prominent examples are the characters with whom you can initiate a romance. When these games were new, BioWare was rather avantgarde in this respect: They pushed the ratings envelope for romantic cutscenes and, (eventually) by allowing for homosexual relationships, invited controversy. Moreover, because of all the different branching possibilities of how certain relationships impacted other story beats and character interactions, all of these games are prized for their replay value, and it helps that they’re all solid RPGs to boot.
In a dream team scenario where BioWare (or a BioWare-inspired team within Blizzard, take your pick) gets to make a Warcraft RPG that features these kinds of relationships with party members, I’d advocate for Yrel as a romance option because, quite frankly, Yrel is the best girl. Someone who has had her world completely rocked, and who develops the strength to stay resolute without losing her way, is someone I’d love to explore more as a character. Especially when you consider different branches of how her narrative goes: Does your character’s interaction with Yrel help her to keep the faith and her hope alive? Or do you harden Yrel, in a sense causing her to drive herself to victory like the ill-fated Vindicator Maraad?
Look, I just like the idea of finding shiny geodes to give to the best girl because she’s the kind of earnest and good-natured heroine that I enjoy the most. If your idea of a good time is bringing Wrathion busted Titan artifacts or bringing Kor’vas Bloodthorn choice demon organs to show your affection, don’t let me stop you.