1536 réponses à ce sujet

[Saibh]

Carmen_Willow wrote...

You do sort of get to "fix" somebody like Cullen in the game - Alistair. He actually reminds me a lot of Cullen. I always thought they were pretty similar.

Alistair was not broken in the way Cullen was.  Alistair was grief-stricken.  I can tell you from working in grief counseling that the loss of someone important to you is a major trauma.  The idea that real men never cry over such a loss, or don't have the crazy emotional ups and downs of the typical grief experience is a lie.

Real men have emotions.  Real men cry.  I saw two WWII veterans, tough as nails guys who not only came to nursing homes every day to be with ther wives as they were dying but who also cried openly when they died.  These were guys who were at places like France and Iwo Jima,  who'd been on the ground. 

They went through the same grief cycles as other normal people do.  And those grief cycles look very much like emotional or mental illness at times.  Part of my job was helping to sort out the "worried well" from the truly ill.  Cullen was truly ill.  Alistair was one of the "worried well" working his way through a traumatic event.

Yes, and that was a good thing. Cullen couldn't be, uhm, "fixed". Alistair had some problems, but you were able to work through them. In that regards, they are alike--but Cullen is an extreme that wouldn't have made a good romance.

[Margaret_TheElf]

@SaberBloodwork: I wouldn't mind my character being strong, but I DO want her to be somewhat feminine! I'll be playing Mass Effect 2, and watch how femShep moves; completely like maleShep! Her hips don't exactly swing side to side, and she does that weird, man stretching while you just stand there! So, yeah, there's my input. Is there a thread like this, but for female romancing? I made a new poll out of requests, and I would like to throw it out there!

[Dick Delaware]

Saibh wrote...
Yes, and that was a good thing. Cullen couldn't be, uhm, "fixed". Alistair had some problems, but you were able to work through them. In that regards, they are alike--but Cullen is an extreme that wouldn't have made a good romance.

Er... I probably didn't explain myself well. It might be more accurate to say that Alistair reminded me of Cullen, but, you know, not completely unhinged.

[Leanansidhe]

mopotter wrote...

Anarya wrote...

SKRemaks wrote...

God, yes.  Transplant Garrus into a Dragon Age human, and let me at him.  Total badass in public, total dork in private.

David can write him, please.  Then, when he's finished with DA Garrus, he can sneak over to the Mass Effect 3 writers's cubes and write ME3 Garrus.  That way we'll have something to look forward to other than CALIBRATIONS!

Just kidding about that last...sort of.

You know, I really loved Garrus as a character but I sort of dislike how the romance was implemented. I don't know, I didn't get the impression that he really loved or wanted my Shep, more just like a "eh why the hell not, let's be friends-with-benefits" kinda thing. Whereas in ALL the DAO romances I really felt like each character loved the Warden. I guess I'm just a romantic or something. But anyway I like the badass in public, dork in private thing. Garrus

Me too.  I liked Garrus a lot.  I did some flirting with him, but I always came out with the impression that he had never thought about Shep as a romance and was not sure it was a good idea.  

With a 10 year span, I wouldn't mind a friends with benefits relationship in DA but I'd like the long term option too.

Both of you are quite right.  I also really loved Garrus as a character.  Hence the wanting a romance with someone like him in DA2.   You know, a romance that has more than 3 conversations to it.   

And, Mo, you should try his romance all the way through.  He's a sweetheart in the end.

To get this back on topic, we seem to want either a total badass (Garrus-like) or a total nerd (Sand-like.)  If we get those options, I think most of us will be happy.

[Sable Rhapsody]

SKRemaks wrote...

Both of you are quite right.  I also really loved Garrus as a character.  Hence the wanting a romance with someone like him in DA2.   You know, a romance that has more than 3 conversations to it.   

And, Mo, you should try his romance all the way through.  He's a sweetheart in the end.

To get this back on topic, we seem to want either a total badass (Garrus-like) or a total nerd (Sand-like.)  If we get those options, I think most of us will be happy.

Oh god, Garrus.  I.  Loved.  Garrus.  Alistair will always be IMO the best romance I've ever played for dialogue, implementation, depth, etc.  But Garrus is tied with Atton Rand for my favorite LI character in any video game ever.  Garrus is badass, scarred, adorkable Turian Space Batman with a heart of gold.  UNF.  How could I not love Garrus to itty bitty bits?

I also think part of the reason I ended up preferring Garrus and Tali as LIs is that they weren't originally developed as LIs in ME1.  There was time for friendship, and the characters weren't saddled with the typical LI angsty tropes of doom.

I know I and several other ladies have complained (and HOW) about this, and I think Sheryl responded to us way back around ME2's release.  But for the love of Pete, Sandal, and Andraste's Knickerweasels, NO MORE OF THE CARTH SYNDROME.  It's very possible to have a complex, emotionally engaging LI without all the wangst.  Alistair pulled it off just fine.  They both had issues, but it wasn't a therapy romance.  The PC was there to talk to them, to engage them and help them without having to take a monkey wrench to their issues, and they clearly cared about the PC.

[mordy_was_here]

Sable Rhapsody wrote...

Oh god, Garrus.  I.  Loved.  Garrus.  Alistair will always be IMO the best romance I've ever played for dialogue, implementation, depth, etc.  But Garrus is tied with Atton Rand for my favorite LI character in any video game ever.  Garrus is badass, scarred, adorkable Turian Space Batman with a heart of gold.  UNF.  How could I not love Garrus to itty bitty bits?

I also think part of the reason I ended up preferring Garrus and Tali as LIs is that they weren't originally developed as LIs in ME1.  There was time for friendship, and the characters weren't saddled with the typical LI angsty tropes of doom.

I know I and several other ladies have complained (and HOW) about this, and I think Sheryl responded to us way back around ME2's release.  But for the love of Pete, Sandal, and Andraste's Knickerweasels, NO MORE OF THE CARTH SYNDROME.  It's very possible to have a complex, emotionally engaging LI without all the wangst.  Alistair pulled it off just fine.  They both had issues, but it wasn't a therapy romance.  The PC was there to talk to them, to engage them and help them without having to take a monkey wrench to their issues, and they clearly cared about the PC.

I've pretty much decided that if one of my potential romances this time around has an estranged son, a dead wife, or both, he gets to bite the dust. That's huge for me, because I'm always the one waving the "Give 'em a chance! They're deep characters!" flag.

I just want someone I can crush the civilized world with, without having to patch up his emotional boo-boo's first, ya know? So my vote goes for Zaeed with a sword.

Modifié par Mel213, 23 juillet 2010 - 09:43 .

[Dick Delaware]

Sable Rhapsody wrote...
Oh god, Garrus.  I.  Loved.  Garrus.  Alistair will always be IMO the best romance I've ever played for dialogue, implementation, depth, etc.  But Garrus is tied with Atton Rand for my favorite LI character in any video game ever.  Garrus is badass, scarred, adorkable Turian Space Batman with a heart of gold.  UNF.  How could I not love Garrus to itty bitty bits?

I also think part of the reason I ended up preferring Garrus and Tali as LIs is that they weren't originally developed as LIs in ME1.  There was time for friendship, and the characters weren't saddled with the typical LI angsty tropes of doom.

I know I and several other ladies have complained (and HOW) about this, and I think Sheryl responded to us way back around ME2's release.  But for the love of Pete, Sandal, and Andraste's Knickerweasels, NO MORE OF THE CARTH SYNDROME.  It's very possible to have a complex, emotionally engaging LI without all the wangst.  Alistair pulled it off just fine.  They both had issues, but it wasn't a therapy romance.  The PC was there to talk to them, to engage them and help them without having to take a monkey wrench to their issues, and they clearly cared about the PC.

I'd also like to add, I prefer the Tali and Garrus characters because they act like normal people. They don't argue about stupid sh*t, they don't have idiotic motivations, and they seem much more relatable than characters like Alistair and Morrigan. Sure, I like Alistair and Morrigan, but I don't know, the more down-to-earth vibe from Tali/Garrus sometimes makes them much more enjoyable to be around sometimes. Garrus has been betrayed horribly by Sidonis, and underneath he's a just filled with vengeance, but it's a lot more subtle than the Woobieness in the Origins characters, which IMO could get a little too much sometimes. Hell, the guy is willing to make light of what happened to him on one occasion when you find out that The Illusive Man sent you into a trap:

"And here I thought I had my fill of betrayal this year."

[Jezdamayel]

Cipher266 wrote...

Jezdamayel wrote...

brain_damage wrote...

A snarky elven wizard, like Sand from NWN2. In fact, give us Sand!

that is what i was thinking~! PLEASE!! i want sand!!!(but hs has to be voiced by the same guy!!)

i would  like a pretty boy myself. smooth  pale skin, looong black hair.....Amber eyes/red....ears peirced... a nice tattoo... um anyway......he can be a badd ass loner that has never(ever) let anyone into his heart...(without all the sleeping around like another suave guy i know.haha) and make him  be-able to be with both sexes so i can have him with my man and woman.... or just my man... yes.. that would be lovely. <3<3<3<3AND yes  make it hard to make him like you.. like sten... but not sten XD.i like a challange!!

This post is now diamonds.

Actually yes that sounds nice....but make this one straight, bi guys are fine, but I think this one should be straight....then that would dissapoint several people....Hmmmm.....

stright would be cool too. i would play a female just to get with him ^0^

[GodWood]

-walks in thread-

..

.....

-walks out-

[Tirigon]

GodWood wrote...

-walks in thread-
..
.....
-walks out-

Good idea.


*follows him*

[WingsandRings]

I just want Bioware to make sure that the romances all can last throughout the entire game, rather than hitting a wall half-way through, like the Alistair romance. Zevran's was nicely set up, in that you COULDN'T move up until after the Landsmeet. That said, it's...awkward to me to be supposedly romantically involved with someone, and yet the only dialogue option you really have is "wanna have sex?" for hours and hours of gameplay because you've exhausted all the others.

[WingsandRings]

Oh, and no Carth-clones. And no being compared to dead wives (Carth and Sky! *shakes fist*)

[Wynne]

Carmen_Willow wrote...

Alistair was not broken in the way Cullen was.  Alistair was grief-stricken.  I can tell you from working in grief counseling that the loss of someone important to you is a major trauma.  The idea that real men never cry over such a loss, or don't have the crazy emotional ups and downs of the typical grief experience is a lie.

Real men have emotions.  Real men cry.  I saw two WWII veterans, tough as nails guys who not only came to nursing homes every day to be with ther wives as they were dying but who also cried openly when they died.  These were guys who were at places like France and Iwo Jima,  who'd been on the ground. 

They went through the same grief cycles as other normal people do.  And those grief cycles look very much like emotional or mental illness at times.  Part of my job was helping to sort out the "worried well" from the truly ill.  Cullen was truly ill.  Alistair was one of the "worried well" working his way through a traumatic event.

A counselor with a dwarf avatar--I like you already! 

This is how I see it, too... I wouldn't want a guy who cried all the time when he broke a fingernail or anything, but tragedy and loss affect men deeply, too. Duncan was like a father to Alistair. I didn't see Alistair as less for being pained.

I liked both characters very much, but post-Uldred Cullen was definitely in need of skilled help; Alistair just needed someone to lean on.

Time4Tiddy wrote...

Someone mentioned Bishop from NWN2 - I loved this guy and wished he would have been a fullromance.  A guy who hates you and is attracted to you at the same time.

The really fascinating thing about Bishop is that even though he was evil, his nihilism and his cynicism didn't prevent him from seeing who he could have been if your positions were reversed. I found that one of the most fascinating things about the character; that even though he turned out wrong, if you don't act like Casavir then he comes to fatalistically comprehend the person he could have been. Then if he likes you, he confesses how he felt so free when he was dying after setting fire to the place which made him and knowing he was going to die in it as well because he'd been wounded too badly, and that he had even tried to warn the people before setting the fires but no one would leave... explains his "teach others to fend for themselves rather than letting them cower in their homes, and if they won't listen it's their own damned fault" mentality.

He never articulates his suffering in a sad, mopey, woobie-like way. You had to read between the lines to see his pain and comprehend him. His terror of any kind of obligation or commitment; his paranoia of being controlled, his bitter acceptance of the lot fate handed him... I loved that. Loved those scars and marks on his soul, which made you wonder at just how awful his childhood really was. He just had so many layers.

I would have loved to try to convince him he really could change. That would have been so epic. If only you could have done that for him before you parted, like with Morrigan... at least given him a taste of happiness; let him into your heart and seeing that you were in his. *sad sigh*

SaberBloodwork wrote...

Saibh wrote...
THIS. So much. God, I am sick of that one. Anomen, Carth, Thane, sort-of Kaidan, Zevran, Leliana goes on about Marjolaine, Sky...there are way too many. I could take another charming, good guy male lead, but I do not want another dead love (or sister) type thing going on.

I feel the same! Alistair was a break from this romance plotline, so it felt really refreshing. I'm not even sure if Bioware does it intentionally. Or rather, 'did'. I remember there being a thread in Mass Effect 2 forums about Thane being another man with a dead wife/girlfriend and a son. I think that maybe this time BW will get the
idea that not all of women are happy about being a replacement for something that was before.

We should so write a romance manifesto, with this being item #1! I know a lot of women forgave Thane, and I loved him for what he was, but the dead wife and constant references to her and his son just drove me crazy. I wanted to learn about his people, his religion, his homeworld, his beliefs, his ideas, and his memories without having to hear all about his wonderful wife and the child he had with her! It drove me crazy. I was all set to love the character, and I ended up being disappointed in certain aspects of him which seemed to take over the romance. He doesn't get the amount of content I would have hoped for, and most of his dialogue surrounds his son and/or Ms. Sunset-Colored Eyes. Sure, you can tell him you can't be a replacement for his dead wife... but IIRC, that ends the romance! Sigh.

I hate this trope. I hate it. I've seen as much as I can take of it. Maybe in another ten years I'll be okay with it again, but at the moment I just want this trope to die a horrible, painful death. (For male LIs; if they make a female with this, then awesome--the guys haven't seen that happen yet.)

SaberBloodwork wrote...

David Gaider wrote...
The kind of guy with that broken-nose ruggedness, the sort that would pick you up like you weighed a feather and throw you against the wall to kiss you. The sort that growls more than he talks, that sort of thing. I'll have to try writing someone like that sometime.

If this time we get a guy like this, I'll die happy. (But yeah, I want my character to able to act just as tough. I love strong heroines! [smilie]../../../images/forum/emoticons/grin.png[/smilie]

Me, too! I get tired of the whole dominant male thing. But then, as you were saying, the strength wouldn't have to be one-sided, and I wouldn't mind an LI like that because I can't think of a case where we had such a character as a romance. It might be a very nice change. In real life, though, I like give and take, but it's more fun for me if the guy appreciates a woman who knows what she wants and takes it. I'm shy and awkward IRL, but I like the type of person who enjoys assertiveness from a girl. It helps draw me out of my shell, I think.

Saibh wrote...

Yes, and that was a good thing. Cullen couldn't be, uhm, "fixed". Alistair had some problems, but you were able to work through them. In that regards, they are alike--but Cullen is an extreme that wouldn't have made a good romance.

I don't know about that. There are two different Cullens--PTSD Cullen, and shy brainwashed early-game Cullen. The former could probably be helped, but only after years of intensive therapy or if he'd had a close friendship with the player to anchor him to the idea that not all mages are bombs waiting to explode. The latter--he's completely viable. Get him away from the Circle Tower, and I swear he'd be a pleasure to watch develop once you get him away from the party line.

The interesting thing is, with a ten-year story... either is possible. I find that fascinating. A character you think is great could turn out horribly, and vice versa, depending on what happens in their life.

Modifié par Wynne, 24 juillet 2010 - 01:16 .

[Riona45]

CalJones wrote...

Bioware always seems to give us some sensitive type with a dead wife (Carth, Sky, Thane) or other relative (Anomen, and Alistair if you count Duncan as a proxy father) who requires you to play therapist. Kaiden was refreshingly trauma free but still fell onto the sensitive side of the spectrum.

Kaiden was trauma-free, for the most part, but I wonder if that's one reason why he's so often accused of being bland and boring. :-/

[London]

I watched Kaiden's romance dialogues on YouTube to see if I'd like ME (even though I'm not into gun / sci fi games). Not enough actual romance dialogue. I tried to listen to the stories but sometimes he'd just talk for 3 minutes at a time and I'd fast forward until I could see a Dialogue wheel hoping it will change the subject lol.



I guess it would be a little better if I was immersed in the game, but I was able to watch all the DA dialogues on youtube without fast fowardning.

[Saibh]

Riona45 wrote...

CalJones wrote...

Bioware always seems to give us some sensitive type with a dead wife (Carth, Sky, Thane) or other relative (Anomen, and Alistair if you count Duncan as a proxy father) who requires you to play therapist. Kaiden was refreshingly trauma free but still fell onto the sensitive side of the spectrum.

Kaiden was trauma-free, for the most part, but I wonder if that's one reason why he's so often accused of being bland and boring. :-/

Jacob had a traumatic dad (I swear, in ME1 they all do), and he was even more boring. To be fair, Jump Zero was traumatic, but he had already dealt with it--as he was quick to remind Shepard the player. His personality wasn't interesting enough to warrant being intriguing on its own...I don't commend any sort of character that needs to fall back on a dark past to be interesting, though.

A personality like Thane's, I think, wouldn't need the whole dead-wife, estranged-son thing going on to be interesting--but then, the whole romance system in ME2 is pretty bland, so I'm not sure what else he would have talked about.

Modifié par Saibh, 24 juillet 2010 - 01:24 .

[Saibh]

Wynne wrote...

I hate this trope. I hate it. I've seen as much as I can take of it. Maybe in another ten years I'll be okay with it again, but at the moment I just want this trope to die a horrible, painful death. (For male LIs; if they make a female with this, then awesome--the guys haven't seen that happen yet.)

...You know, I never thought about that. That is a weird double standard. There are quite a few BioWare romances with dead wives, and all of them are men. Of course, Sky and Zev were romancable by men, but we have yet to see a married woman. 

I don't know about that. There are two different Cullens--PTSD Cullen, and shy brainwashed early-game Cullen. The former could probably be helped, but only after years of intensive therapy or if he'd had a close friendship with the player to anchor him to the idea that not all mages are bombs waiting to explode. The latter--he's completely viable. Get him away from the Circle Tower, and I swear he'd be a pleasure to watch develop once you get him away from the party line.

The interesting thing is, with a ten-year story... either is possible. I find that fascinating. A character you think is great could turn out horribly, and vice versa, depending on what happens in their life.

I think, with all of the Cullen fangirls running around, one of the writers actually stepped in at one point and answered the question on whether Cullen was curable--and the answer was no, I recall. I'm pretty sure. Must dig up link at later, non-lazy date.

Yeah, I think pre-Broken Circle Cullen was still whole. Afterwards, I don't think any amount of rebounding-from-Alistair Wardens can cure him.

[Riona45]

Wynne wrote...
Yeah, I totally agree--not that it would be bad to have an LI more damaged than me, as a stable person is the best choice to help somebody who's unstable due to a bad home life. But there's way too much self-centered Woobieness. They should at least, at the very absolute least, also show interest in my character's feelings and try to comfort her when she's upset.

Agreed--I'm fine with helping a love interest get past issues, but they should also be willing to ask me how I'm doing, too.  To be fair, that did happen to an extent with Alistair.

*laughing* Mical! Yeah... he was just too generic in personality, to me. Nice, and wise, but a little too childlike, and not very nice to look at, and not a fraction as interesting as Atton. God, I wish we'd had more Atton content! 

The thing about that game (KOTOR 2) is there was so much cut content.  I enjoyed both characters, but by the end of the game, it seemed like Atton didn't really have much to say over all (if you talk to him, you have the option to...play Pazaak with him again!), and it felt like most of the pseudo-romantic conversations occured with Mical.*


*And, this is coming from someone who used Atton a lot, heard most or all of his important dialogue, and earned his full approval.

Modifié par Riona45, 24 juillet 2010 - 01:40 .

[Anarya]

Riona45 wrote...

CalJones wrote...

Bioware always seems to give us some sensitive type with a dead wife (Carth, Sky, Thane) or other relative (Anomen, and Alistair if you count Duncan as a proxy father) who requires you to play therapist. Kaiden was refreshingly trauma free but still fell onto the sensitive side of the spectrum.

Kaiden was trauma-free, for the most part, but I wonder if that's one reason why he's so often accused of being bland and boring. :-/

Trauma free? What about his terrible childhood and the fact he killed a man as a teenager? Jacob has some trauma too considering his personal mission and absentee father but they did both come off as bland to me. I'm not really sure why that is to be honest.

I personally have no problems with the whole dead wife thing. I mean if you have an older LI they're going to have a past, that's just being realistic. So it's either have an ex they cared about, have a dead spouse, or have a string of meaningless romances or one night stands without ever having loved. I can see why they so often go with dead spouse considering with the still-living ex option you would have the player wondering if the ex will show up and if the LI still has feelings for him/her, and with the "never really loved" option you'd start to wonder if there was something seriously wrong with the LI that he/she is incapable of forming attachments (I guess Zev is basically this but he has a good reason for it). Of course you could set it up so that the PC is just so ridiculously awesome that they teach the LI how to love or something, and I guess this is kinda what happens with Morri and Zev. But I think I'd rather know the LI is functional enough to have had a mature adult relationship at some point if they aren't very young and sheltered like Alistair or have other extenuating circumstances.

Modifié par Anarya, 24 juillet 2010 - 01:38 .

[Riona45]

Anarya wrote...


Trauma free? What about his terrible childhood and the fact he killed a man as a teenager?

I didn't mean to say his whole life was trauma free, it's just that stuff isn't really eating at him too much by the time you get to know him.  In fact, he even tells you as much.  He's had problems in his life, but he's not a broken bird that you need to fix, either.

[Saibh]

Riona45 wrote...

The thing about that game (KOTOR 2) is there was so much cut content.  I enjoyed both characters, but by the end of the game, it seemed like Atton didn't really have much to say over all (if you talk to him, you have the option to...play Pazaak with him again!), and it felt like most of the pseudo-romantic conversations occured with Mical.

You know what shocked me when I finally got around to playing as a guy? A lot of the dialogue I had perceived as being romantic really wasn't. The only dialogue that happened just for girls was the Peragus flirtation and that bit about playing Pazaak with him in your head, IIRC. Oh, and I think he hands you a medpac right before the mission where you meet Mira. All the other stuff--him telling that one assassin to fight him instead, telling the Twin Suns that he's there to protect you--was for men and women.

[Anarya]

Riona45 wrote...

Anarya wrote...


Trauma free? What about his terrible childhood and the fact he killed a man as a teenager?

I didn't mean to say his whole life was trauma free, it's just that stuff isn't really eating at him too much by the time you get to know him.  In fact, he even tells you as much.  He's had problems in his life, but he's not a broken bird that you need to fix, either.

Ah I gotcha. Well ok then I agree with that assessment.

[Estelindis]

Riona45 wrote...
I liked being surprised, though.  New romances don't have to be similar to the ones that came before, and I actually don't have a list of personality traits that I *require* or anything. 

This.  A love interest should, in my opinion, be an interesting character first and foremost.  Freshness and originality would be paramount!

[Saibh]

Anarya wrote...

Riona45 wrote...

CalJones wrote...

Bioware always seems to give us some sensitive type with a dead wife (Carth, Sky, Thane) or other relative (Anomen, and Alistair if you count Duncan as a proxy father) who requires you to play therapist. Kaiden was refreshingly trauma free but still fell onto the sensitive side of the spectrum.

Kaiden was trauma-free, for the most part, but I wonder if that's one reason why he's so often accused of being bland and boring. :-/

Trauma free? What about his terrible childhood and the fact he killed a man as a teenager? Jacob has some trauma too considering his personal mission and absentee father but they did both come off as bland to me. I'm not really sure why that is to be honest.

I personally have no problems with the whole dead wife thing. I mean if you have an older LI they're going to have a past, that's just being realistic. So it's either have an ex they cared about, have a dead spouse, or have a string of meaningless romances or one night stands without ever having loved. I can see why they so often go with dead spouse considering with the still-living ex option you would have the player wondering if the ex will show up and if the LI still has feelings for him/her, and with the "never really loved" option you'd start to wonder if there was something seriously wrong with the LI that he/she is incapable of forming attachments (I guess Zev is basically this but he has a good reason for it). Of course you could set it up so that the PC is just so ridiculously awesome that they teach the LI how to love or something, and I guess this is kinda what happens with Morri and Zev. But I think I'd rather know the LI is functional enough to have had a mature adult relationship at some point if they aren't very young and sheltered like Alistair or have other extenuating circumstances.

Some people just get over their exes, no lingering feelings, no traumatic break-up. For some people, romance was never a big part of their lives. It's not abnormal--it's not even something that really needs mentioning.

Seriously, they've done the dead wife thing to death (see what I did there?). Carth, Sky, Thane, Zevran killed the only woman he ever loved, Kaidan still shows some amount of remose over a girl he apparently didn't know that well...It's over done. And in all of those, except Zevran's, you get compared to her. Carth and Sky are the worst. Even Anomen has a dead little sister.

[Anarya]

Saibh wrote...

Anarya wrote...

Riona45 wrote...

CalJones wrote...

Bioware always seems to give us some sensitive type with a dead wife (Carth, Sky, Thane) or other relative (Anomen, and Alistair if you count Duncan as a proxy father) who requires you to play therapist. Kaiden was refreshingly trauma free but still fell onto the sensitive side of the spectrum.

Kaiden was trauma-free, for the most part, but I wonder if that's one reason why he's so often accused of being bland and boring. :-/

Trauma free? What about his terrible childhood and the fact he killed a man as a teenager? Jacob has some trauma too considering his personal mission and absentee father but they did both come off as bland to me. I'm not really sure why that is to be honest.

I personally have no problems with the whole dead wife thing. I mean if you have an older LI they're going to have a past, that's just being realistic. So it's either have an ex they cared about, have a dead spouse, or have a string of meaningless romances or one night stands without ever having loved. I can see why they so often go with dead spouse considering with the still-living ex option you would have the player wondering if the ex will show up and if the LI still has feelings for him/her, and with the "never really loved" option you'd start to wonder if there was something seriously wrong with the LI that he/she is incapable of forming attachments (I guess Zev is basically this but he has a good reason for it). Of course you could set it up so that the PC is just so ridiculously awesome that they teach the LI how to love or something, and I guess this is kinda what happens with Morri and Zev. But I think I'd rather know the LI is functional enough to have had a mature adult relationship at some point if they aren't very young and sheltered like Alistair or have other extenuating circumstances.

Some people just get over their exes, no lingering feelings, no traumatic break-up. For some people, romance was never a big part of their lives. It's not abnormal--it's not even something that really needs mentioning.

Seriously, they've done the dead wife thing to death (see what I did there?). Carth, Sky, Thane, Zevran killed the only woman he ever loved, Kaidan still shows some amount of remose over a girl he apparently didn't know that well...It's over done. And in all of those, except Zevran's, you get compared to her. Carth and Sky are the worst. Even Anomen has a dead little sister.

Well Carth is supposed to be like 38 or something isn't he? It is kinda abnormal to get to that age without having any kind of serious relationship. Haven't gotten far enough in JE to meet Sky yet. Not that they need to be hung up on it or anything. I guess there's nothing barring the writers from just not mentioning anything about a LI's romantic history.