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[TheMarshal]

Cootie wrote...

Hmmm... back to discussion-ville! Less mind-numbing naysaying!
Let's say that some time after ME-3's release, if they adopted the DA2 LI design model and the convo wheel changes, they released some sort of "Collector Box" set with the entire trilogy reworked with some tweaking. Like applying the DA2 LI functional bisexuality and the dialogue wheel symbols, amongst other things.

Would you buy it? Is that reason enough to buy the entire trilogy one more time?
I probably would.

Absolutely.  Not being able to romance Tali or Miranda with a femShep is one of the main reasons I only have one Shepard.

[Ninja Mage]

Civil is not saying ,'Asari are not female, button to turn off the gay, Shepard is pre-defined, sod-off, and meh want some cake?? How is that civil?

[Cootie]

coolair74 wrote...

Cootie wrote...

Hmmm... back to discussion-ville! Less mind-numbing naysaying!
Let's say that some time after ME-3's release, if they adopted the DA2 LI design model and the convo wheel changes, they released some sort of "Collector Box" set with the entire trilogy reworked with some tweaking. Like applying the DA2 LI functional bisexuality and the dialogue wheel symbols, amongst other things.

Would you buy it? Is that reason enough to buy the entire trilogy one more time?
I probably would.

I fully doubt id buy it, the game is fine as is, for me. I think if they did that , you had have all kinds of remarkes from Fox news about , MASS EFFECT TRILOGY , GAY EDITION. I dont think it will help, much to the contrary.

About the DA2 thing, I personally didnt like it. I tend to think that all of the options are going through your head and you have to pick the one you like most. Since Im full hetero, I would never consider Garrus as an LI, i dont think he would either. Which is at the very heart of the arguement, Just because you may think of them as LI's , why would they recipricate? What if they are simply straight?  Now maybe the addition of a new guy who is Bi or something could work, but they would have to fix the DA2 wheel of death cuz Anders was about as suttle as dump truck.

For one who's an advocate of keeping an original narrative, you complain about Anders' lack of subtlety? O.o
He's an emotional bomb that's been shoved onto a landmine. Hoo-rah.

As to why they would all fall for Shepard? How come all of the lay-days are infatuated with MaleShep after two-three conversations? All of them? And they throw themselves at him just the same.
Except it's not controversial and homosexual, eh?
This has been brought up in the OP as well. We don't want hastily written and poorly executed romances. We want romances to make sense, and I wouldn't mind the formula they tried in DA2, as you were the one to initiate them, usually. With the exception of Anders, I believe. But hey, you forgive him for being an awesome character, no?

That way we don't have the ShePrize of ME-2, which was a beeg issue to me.

[coolair74]

Cootie wrote...

coolair74 wrote...

Cootie wrote...

Hmmm... back to discussion-ville! Less mind-numbing naysaying!
Let's say that some time after ME-3's release, if they adopted the DA2 LI design model and the convo wheel changes, they released some sort of "Collector Box" set with the entire trilogy reworked with some tweaking. Like applying the DA2 LI functional bisexuality and the dialogue wheel symbols, amongst other things.

Would you buy it? Is that reason enough to buy the entire trilogy one more time?
I probably would.

I fully doubt id buy it, the game is fine as is, for me. I think if they did that , you had have all kinds of remarkes from Fox news about , MASS EFFECT TRILOGY , GAY EDITION. I dont think it will help, much to the contrary.

About the DA2 thing, I personally didnt like it. I tend to think that all of the options are going through your head and you have to pick the one you like most. Since Im full hetero, I would never consider Garrus as an LI, i dont think he would either. Which is at the very heart of the arguement, Just because you may think of them as LI's , why would they recipricate? What if they are simply straight?  Now maybe the addition of a new guy who is Bi or something could work, but they would have to fix the DA2 wheel of death cuz Anders was about as suttle as dump truck.

For one who's an advocate of keeping an original narrative, you complain about Anders' lack of subtlety? O.o
He's an emotional bomb that's been shoved onto a landmine. Hoo-rah.

As to why they would all fall for Shepard? How come all of the lay-days are infatuated with MaleShep after two-three conversations? All of them? And they throw themselves at him just the same.
Except it's not controversial and homosexual, eh?
This has been brought up in the OP as well. We don't want hastily written and poorly executed romances. We want romances to make sense, and I wouldn't mind the formula they tried in DA2, as you were the one to initiate them, usually. With the exception of Anders, I believe. But hey, you forgive him for being an awesome character, no?

That way we don't have the ShePrize of ME-2, which was a beeg issue to me.

My main issue with Anders was that he was straight in Awakinging, he Bio actually said that all he wanted was a pretty girl, a good meal and something to shoot lightning at.  Then he pops up in Kirkwall and decides he likes dudes?  Lore broken. You can say, well dont choose the heart, well I say , it shouldnt even be there.

So to change existing toons now would undermine the work that the writers have done to develop the characters. 

[Temper_Graniteskul]

Gaider's said he probably wouldn't have Anders initiate if he had it to do over. I think the writing could always be better - something you think will work when it's in development just doesn't gel upon implementation. Every day, always learning...

[android654]

coolair74 wrote...

Cootie wrote...

coolair74 wrote...

Cootie wrote...

Hmmm... back to discussion-ville! Less mind-numbing naysaying!
Let's say that some time after ME-3's release, if they adopted the DA2 LI design model and the convo wheel changes, they released some sort of "Collector Box" set with the entire trilogy reworked with some tweaking. Like applying the DA2 LI functional bisexuality and the dialogue wheel symbols, amongst other things.

Would you buy it? Is that reason enough to buy the entire trilogy one more time?
I probably would.

I fully doubt id buy it, the game is fine as is, for me. I think if they did that , you had have all kinds of remarkes from Fox news about , MASS EFFECT TRILOGY , GAY EDITION. I dont think it will help, much to the contrary.

About the DA2 thing, I personally didnt like it. I tend to think that all of the options are going through your head and you have to pick the one you like most. Since Im full hetero, I would never consider Garrus as an LI, i dont think he would either. Which is at the very heart of the arguement, Just because you may think of them as LI's , why would they recipricate? What if they are simply straight?  Now maybe the addition of a new guy who is Bi or something could work, but they would have to fix the DA2 wheel of death cuz Anders was about as suttle as dump truck.

For one who's an advocate of keeping an original narrative, you complain about Anders' lack of subtlety? O.o
He's an emotional bomb that's been shoved onto a landmine. Hoo-rah.

As to why they would all fall for Shepard? How come all of the lay-days are infatuated with MaleShep after two-three conversations? All of them? And they throw themselves at him just the same.
Except it's not controversial and homosexual, eh?
This has been brought up in the OP as well. We don't want hastily written and poorly executed romances. We want romances to make sense, and I wouldn't mind the formula they tried in DA2, as you were the one to initiate them, usually. With the exception of Anders, I believe. But hey, you forgive him for being an awesome character, no?

That way we don't have the ShePrize of ME-2, which was a beeg issue to me.

My main issue with Anders was that he was straight in Awakinging, he Bio actually said that all he wanted was a pretty girl, a good meal and something to shoot lightning at.  Then he pops up in Kirkwall and decides he likes dudes?  Lore broken. You can say, well dont choose the heart, well I say , it shouldnt even be there.

So to change existing toons now would undermine the work that the writers have done to develop the characters. 

Ander's isn't bisexual. He explains that he's pansexual.

[Temper_Graniteskul]

coolair74 wrote...

My main issue with Anders was that he was straight in Awakinging, he Bio actually said that all he wanted was a pretty girl, a good meal and something to shoot lightning at.  Then he pops up in Kirkwall and decides he likes dudes?  Lore broken. You can say, well dont choose the heart, well I say , it shouldnt even be there.

So to change existing toons now would undermine the work that the writers have done to develop the characters.

Talking about women is not the same thing as being straight; that's an assumption, not fact. Hell, he flirted with Nathaniel all the way to Amaranthine in my playthrough.

[Servo to the bitter end]

coolair74 wrote...


My main issue with Anders was that he was straight in Awakinging, he Bio actually said that all he wanted was a pretty girl, a good meal and something to shoot lightning at.  Then he pops up in Kirkwall and decides he likes dudes?  Lore broken. You can say, well dont choose the heart, well I say , it shouldnt even be there.

So to change existing toons now would undermine the work that the writers have done to develop the characters. 

As someone mentioned in another thread, this doesn't mean he's not bisexual. This expanded his character, it didn't alter it.

[Alamar2078]

Demonhoopa wrote...
They actually would not be "Bi". They would be whatever you are playing as in that playthrough. They are "Shep" or Hawke" sexuals.

I disagree with going out of the way to make a distinction.  If a person doesn't care about their partner's gender then they're "Bi" right???   Making a new term "Shep-sexual" seems like an attempt to distort a point.  Honestly it reminds me of a politician trying to dodge a touchy issue.

What cracks me up about all the "Bi shrieking" over DA2 is that there are actually more characters written as Bi in Dragon Age Origins. You can learn that Liliana, the Antivan Assasin (mental block on the name) and Isabella just through dialogue that they are up for anything with either gender.

In DA2, Isabella is the only written Bisexual. The others are "Hawke sexuals". They are either gay or straight depending on your gender and theirs. Or they are neither if you are skillful with your dialogue choices (I've never been hit on by Fenris or Anders playing either gender).

I'm in the "who cares" if someone is Bi/gay/straight camp.  Why are you responding to my post?   I just dont want a complete whitewash where everyone is either straight, or gay, or Bi as it doesn't seem realistic to me and I can see where it could easily offend any number of folks if you shoehorn everyone into an one-size-fits-all solution.

[Cootie]

coolair74 wrote...

My main issue with Anders was that he was straight in Awakinging, he Bio actually said that all he wanted was a pretty girl, a good meal and something to shoot lightning at.  Then he pops up in Kirkwall and decides he likes dudes?  Lore broken. You can say, well dont choose the heart, well I say , it shouldnt even be there.

So to change existing toons now would undermine the work that the writers have done to develop the characters. 

But somehow it is perfectly fine when internet polls manage to change Garrus and Tali into potential LI's? The thing about sexuality, sir, is that you cannot really find it just by looking in a lot of cases. Anders, well, with all of the information you had, you assumed he was straight. It's not so much a "complete revamp of his character" as it is just adding a footnote. Just like the ME LI's that were carried over into ME-2. Expansions on their characters. It doesn't remove anything or somehow demolish who they were.

Despite this, I am a fan of the Hawke-sexuality theory. People are really only homosexual if you initiate the romance. Even Anders. I made it through without "the talk". Which is another reason why I think it'd work well in ME-3.

[Demonhoopa]

coolair74 wrote...

android654 wrote...

coolair74 wrote...
As long as there is a button to turn off the gay, im all for it.

There is one, its called the don't pick the romance button. If you can read, you can find it.

Yeah that worked so well in DA2

Sure working for me.

[Temper_Graniteskul]

Alamar2078 wrote...

I'm in the "who cares" if someone is Bi/gay/straight camp.  Why are you responding to my post?   I just dont want a complete whitewash where everyone is either straight, or gay, or Bi as it doesn't seem realistic to me and I can see where it could easily offend any number of folks if you shoehorn everyone into an one-size-fits-all solution.

That's fair.

I think DA2 is interesting as an experiment: what happens when you do remove the flags for romance, and just include a little extra content (Anders' extra dialogue with a male Hawke). It makes it easier to see some of the pros and cons of this kind of decision - information they wouldn't have had if they'd just pursued the standard spread of LIs. Even though it hasn't gone over well with everyone, I think it's still more useful when figuring out how to execute future romance plotlines than keeping the status quo would have been.

[Blacklash93]

Demonhoopa wrote...

In DA2, Isabella is the only written Bisexual. The others are "Hawke sexuals". They are either gay or straight depending on your gender and theirs. Or they are neither if you are skillful with your dialogue choices (I've never been hit on by Fenris or Anders playing either gender).

Anders is as well. He does have a history with one man and alludes to others.

My main issue with Anders was that he was straight in Awakinging, he Bio actually said that all he wanted was a pretty girl, a good meal and something to shoot lightning at.  Then he pops up in Kirkwall and decides he likes dudes?  Lore broken. You can say, well dont choose the heart, well I say , it shouldnt even be there.

So to change existing toons now would undermine the work that the writers have done to develop the characters. 

Anyone can go on about one gender but still like the other. He did express plenty of interest in women in Awakening, but that never ruled anything out. Nothing about him as a character was underminded.

Simply being a Ferelden circle mage makes him likely to bisexual or at least open-minded. He obviously wasn't originally intended to be bi, but him being so is no stretch of the imagination. It's more of a new development than a retcon.

Modifié par Blacklash93, 24 mars 2011 - 10:04 .

[Demonhoopa]

Alamar2078 wrote...

Demonhoopa wrote...
They actually would not be "Bi". They would be whatever you are playing as in that playthrough. They are "Shep" or Hawke" sexuals.

I disagree with going out of the way to make a distinction.  If a person doesn't care about their partner's gender then they're "Bi" right???   Making a new term "Shep-sexual" seems like an attempt to distort a point.  Honestly it reminds me of a politician trying to dodge a touchy issue.

What cracks me up about all the "Bi shrieking" over DA2 is that there are actually more characters written as Bi in Dragon Age Origins. You can learn that Liliana, the Antivan Assasin (mental block on the name) and Isabella just through dialogue that they are up for anything with either gender.

In DA2, Isabella is the only written Bisexual. The others are "Hawke sexuals". They are either gay or straight depending on your gender and theirs. Or they are neither if you are skillful with your dialogue choices (I've never been hit on by Fenris or Anders playing either gender).

I'm in the "who cares" if someone is Bi/gay/straight camp.  Why are you responding to my post?   I just dont want a complete whitewash where everyone is either straight, or gay, or Bi as it doesn't seem realistic to me and I can see where it could easily offend any number of folks if you shoehorn everyone into an one-size-fits-all solution.

Couldn't disagree more.

On my Male Hawke playthrough, Merril engages Isabella in conversation asking her if she really likes to lay with women. She's fascinated/shocked by it in a way that suggests she's not gay or bi. However, on my Femhawke playthrough this conversation does not happen because she likes Hawke and therefore must like women.

You can't take data from different playthroughs that have a different character (switching genders of the protagonist is a different character) and proclaim the character Bi. They never like both genders in the same game world.

If you switch the gender of the main character in DA2, the rules change. But they are seperate (un) realities in my opinion.

(edit apparently Anders refrences liking men so I guess that makes two bi characters......one less than Origins. I don't see the big deal).

Modifié par Demonhoopa, 24 mars 2011 - 10:17 .

[Alamar2078]

Demonhoopa wrote...
Couldn't disagree more.

On my Male Hawke playthrough, Merril engages Isabella in conversation asking her if she really likes to lay with women. She's fascinated/shocked by it in a way that suggests she's not gay or bi. However, on my Femhawke playthrough this conversation does not happen because she likes Hawke and therefore must like women.

You can't take data from different playthroughs that have a different character (switching genders of the protagonist is a different character) and proclaim the character Bi. They never like both genders in the same game world.

If you switch the gender of the main character in DA2, the rules change. But they are seperate (un) realities in my opinion.

(edit apparently Anders refrences liking men so I guess that makes two bi characters......one less than Origins. I don't see the big deal).

I still think you should run for office.  But that's OK we all have our POVs and yours may well be "right".

Either way do your posts have anything to do with the point I wanted to discuss ... I.E. that I'd prefer a mixture of purely straight, gay, and bi characters over an "everyone is bi" or "everyone is straight" approach???

EDIT:  Or even "everyone is Shep-sexual"

Modifié par Alamar2078, 24 mars 2011 - 11:13 .

[Tarek]

plz Bioware give us Bi/gay option in ME3

yes I know I said this before, no harm in asking.

[ElitePinecone]

Demonhoopa wrote...
You can't take data from different playthroughs that have a different character (switching genders of the protagonist is a different character) and proclaim the character Bi. They never like both genders in the same game world.

If you switch the gender of the main character in DA2, the rules change. But they are seperate (un) realities in my opinion.

I think this is a good point to make - we can't play Shepard (or Hawke) simultaneously as a female and male, so from an in-universe perspective, the love interests are "outwardly" attracted to characters of the same gender, as far as we know, and until or unless they say otherwise. In Kaidan's cut romance, for example, in ME, there was no mention of Rana being a close/special friend, instead he only referred to her as 'a girl' who the turian was picking on (in contrast to the conversation he has with femShep, or with maleShep in the released version of the game). 

My point is that we're only calling these characters 'bisexual' from an out-of-universe perspective; for all intents and purposes they are only attracted to whichever gender we play as, and within that 'canonical bubble' of our own design, that truth holds. The capacity for something to exist doesn't make it so. 

Alamar2078 wrote...
Either way do your posts have anything to do with the point I wanted to discuss ... I.E. that I'd prefer a mixture of purely straight, gay, and bi characters over an "everyone is bi" or "everyone is straight" approach???

EDIT:  Or even "everyone is Shep-sexual"

Would it be more interesting, deep, emotionally satisfying and engaging? Yes, definitely.

But a healthy dose of pragmatism always helps. "Purely" straight, gay and bi characters represent an outlay of time and resources for content that won't necessarily be used or appreciated by every player. I'm not privy to Bioware's design decisions, or their budget, but I do understand the argument (well outlined by David Gaider) that in this case Bioware have to be realistic where they allocate their resources. 

Bioware have their own metrics; they know how many people romanced Zeveran and Leliana, and will know the same statistics for DA2 by the time of ME3's release. Clearly there is a market for same-sex content; but perhaps not enough to justify 'pure' gay or lesbian characters. Having characters open to both genders on different playthroughs is not only economical, but also creates same-sex characters that are for all intents and purposes 'gay' and 'lesbian', in the universe of each individual playthrough. 

I truly understand and sympathise with your argument, but I don't think it could be done with the market for gaming as it is currently. I'd definitely appreciate it, though, having said that, if Bioware were to put it in. 

[android654]

ElitePinecone wrote...

Bioware have their own metrics; they know how many people romanced Zeveran and Leliana, and will know the same statistics for DA2 by the time of ME3's release. Clearly there is a market for same-sex content; but perhaps not enough to justify 'pure' gay or lesbian characters. Having characters open to both genders on different playthroughs is not only economical, but also creates same-sex characters that are for all intents and purposes 'gay' and 'lesbian', in the universe of each individual playthrough. 

I truly understand and sympathise with your argument, but I don't think it could be done with the market for gaming as it is currently. I'd definitely appreciate it, though, having said that, if Bioware were to put it in. 

Do you think the response to Zevran and Leliana had anything to do with the "Hawkesexual" choice in DA2?

[ElitePinecone]

android654 wrote...
Do you think the response to Zevran and Leliana had anything to do with the "Hawkesexual" choice in DA2?

It's hard to tell, Bioware haven't released numbers on the exact number of people who took advantage of DAO's s/s romances, except to say that the response to Zevran in particular was surprising (i.e. more people than one would expect completed his romance). There was definitely a positive reaction from various lobby groups, gaming media and so on. It's built up to the point where a *lack* of s/s romances in a Bioware game now merits an article or interview question, as we saw to amusing effect with Casey Hudson and Ray Muzyka. 

Having read Gaider's comments, it looks like it was a genuinely bold experiment to see what four 'open to all genders' (Hawkesexual?) love interests would look like. I'm still playing through DA2, having only received my copy the other day, so I can't really comment much on the romances yet. It is possible, I suppose, that they could be a symptom of shorter development time and fewer resources available to make 'unique' romances.

That being said, my cynicism is tempered by the great way David Gaider has handled including s/s romances, especially his spirited defence against criticism that Bioware now includes too much of this sort of content. 

[catabuca]

Tarek wrote...

plz Bioware give us Bi/gay option in ME3

yes I know I said this before, no harm in asking.

Just quoting this because it was, after all, the reason this thread and its sister group were formed

But back to the DA2 issue: I think there are a lot of different issues being conflated into one big 'omg they're all bi' issue, which is ultimately misleading and unhelpful. I'm speaking generally here, and not specifically about anyone in this thread, and certainly not about all people who are discussing this - but more about what I've been reading over the past week in various places over BSN.

The issue of Anders being the one to initiate something is one topic: someone linked to Gaider's comments on it above, so I won't repeat those. Of course, Anders is forthright in his attraction whether you be playing as a female or male Hawke, and yet we are seeing, on the whole, this issue only rearing its head with regard to his sexuality. If there truly was an issue with the way his romance is implemented, we should be seeing lots of f!Hawke players getting upset about this 15 rivalry points, but they are mysteriously absent from the discussion. I can only assume this is because it is being used as an 'easy' way to attack gay content within the game. Sure, this might not be a correct assessment for all players, but it seems to be the prevailing theory.

I've also seen some complaining that the inclusion of all-bi (or however you want to describe the availability of all romances to all gender Hawkes) LIs as somehow curtailing the choice for straight players. If none of the characters had been bisexual, Isabela and Merrill would still have been Isabela and Merrill, their characters would likely not have been that hugely different (although Isabela would have only been a perv for the guys, obviously). If neither of them are appealing to straight male gamers now, they would not have been had they been exclusively straight either. Again, this is an argument that appears to only be used to complain about the presence of gay content in the game, and not because it is a legitimate concern that their characters are somehow lacking regardless of orientation.

When it comes down to it, the decision to go in this direction with the romance options has merely made the maximum amount of choice in the game available to the maximum amount of players. More people have a chance to experience more content and there is an attempt to provide something for everyone without breaking the bank for what is, after all, optional content.

Everybody wins (apart from those who want to be the only ones who get what they want to the exclusion of others).

And, not that I'm sure it matters as much as we perhaps make out on BSN, but for every person who cries foul and claims they'll never buy another BW game again, there will be another who will embrace the company and promise to support them in the future. Count me among the latter.

Reading Gaider's and Epler's comments over recent days regarding this issue has made my heart swell a thousand times. I can only hope that one day their ME counterparts will have the bravery to act with the same grace and provide content for ALL their fans, not just some - even if it isn't to the equal and fair extent the DA team have achieved.

[catabuca]

ElitePinecone wrote...

It's hard to tell, Bioware haven't released numbers on the exact number of people who took advantage of DAO's s/s romances, except to say that the response to Zevran in particular was surprising (i.e. more people than one would expect completed his romance). There was definitely a positive reaction from various lobby groups, gaming media and so on. It's built up to the point where a *lack* of s/s romances in a Bioware game now merits an article or interview question, as we saw to amusing effect with Casey Hudson and Ray Muzyka. 

Having read Gaider's comments, it looks like it was a genuinely bold experiment to see what four 'open to all genders' (Hawkesexual?) love interests would look like. I'm still playing through DA2, having only received my copy the other day, so I can't really comment much on the romances yet. It is possible, I suppose, that they could be a symptom of shorter development time and fewer resources available to make 'unique' romances.

That being said, my cynicism is tempered by the great way David Gaider has handled including s/s romances, especially his spirited defence against criticism that Bioware now includes too much of this sort of content. 

Well said, especially the bolded parts.

Yes, I believe BW do now find themselves in a position where the lack of choice (in the ME franchise) provokes more of a negative response than the inclusion of it. It will come as no surprise when I say I think this is right, and that it is right to question why such content is not present. Asking why, and asking to be included, is not the same as demanding (before that old chestnut gets rolled out again).

[Coach]

Fantastic post, catabuca. I concur.

[Tarek]

Shepard and (insert random handsome guy) sitting in a tree K I S S I N G.



ty catabuca, I mean we are just asking politely its not like we are holding a gun to Bioware's head.

[Siansonea]

Always a worthwhile read 'buca.

[Ramirez Wolfen]

Temper_Graniteskul wrote...

Ramirez Wolfen wrote...

Alright, I've come up with something that I want to say. I will try not to be offensive.

It seems that along with some of the things being said here, some of you think that you are "entitled" to having bisexual LIs because it's for "equality" (it may seem like I'm about to get offensive but bear with me on this).

Actually you are not entitled to anything. No one is entitled to anything, but it seems that the majority (the ones who make straight romances and straight things in the media, if I'm saying this right) are making the rules, and no one can deny this.

Here's the thing, though - is this also your reply to the people getting butthurt over the fact that all of the DA2 LIs are available to Hawkes of both sexes? Because if it's not, that's hypocrisy at its finest. Sure, no one's entitled to all bi LIs or whatever, but neither are they entitled to whatever magical golden ration of straight to gay to bi LIs they think is appropriate. (For the record, I'm not sure where everyone got the idea that Anders was straight in DA:A. Yeah, he mentioned women, but he also flirted by the bucketful with Nathaniel.)

Ultimately its the devs who make the call. In DA2 they made the call for all LIs to be (functionally) bi. By your logic, no one complaining about it has that right, because they're not entitled to make that call. Or is your argument actually that the majority should dictate what the devs do, and make sure devs write some straight LIs even if the devs want to try all bi/gay LIs?

As far as ME goes, CHudson and Myzuka's ham-handed 'explainations' didn't do any explaining at all. There's no reason for MShep to be considered canonically straight when FemShep isn't, especially given all of the other player-driven choices, including selection of LI (if any). There's also no particular reason to exclude m/m from the potential LIs.

From DA2, I think the heart icon in the dialogue wheel is actually performing fairly well, and serves to temper those instances of weird summaries that bear no resemblance to what's going to be spoken; it's staved off any ninjamances for me, anyway. There's still tweaking to be done, and there could always be more dialogue options, but it's overall working a lot bettr than I'd thought it would. It definitely would have been useful in ME2 (damn you, Kelly).

I know this response is a day old, but I felt the need to respond to this.

1) Yes, that's my response to them as well.

2) Ultimately, the devs make the call, but we as consumers influence it. The majority usually are the ones that influence decisions.