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you view such things. And yes this long, but with good reason).
When it comes to the romances in Dragon Age 2,
disappointment would be a nice way of putting it.
The only person I chose to romance in all my games is Anders
on the friendship path. The others just did nothing for me and of course, there
are reasons behind them all, but an explanation is not important right now. I
am going to use Anders for my rant because like I said I cannot comment on how
the others were.
Romancing Anders was interesting to say the least, but there
were problems on top of problems. Let us start in Act 1. You have the chance to
flirt with Anders up to three times. I rather enjoyed the line
“So that explains the whole sexy tortured look” simply
because, he does. The second following
conversation was too short and left me confused.
I would have assumed with this conversation you could get to
know him on a personal level, but all I got was Anders apologizing about
Justice and then him hitting on me. The confusing part set in (depending on the
options) when he said he did not want to pursue a relationship because he might
hurt me. OK, (hit the pause button here). I chose to flirt with him in the
first conversation (after the Chantry incident) and accepted his flirting in
this conversation. I have chosen to pursue a relationship with someone who has
a spirit inside him, I should be aware of the risks. I do not need Anders to
shove it down my throat as if I am some idiotic child. I never got the chance
to make my stance on the matter, to have some way of explaining to him about
how I understood the risks. The only thing I got was some soap opera music
playing in my head and some obvious soap opera remarks.
When Act 2 came around your first conversation became a head
scratcher. Oh, do not get me wrong it was sweet but at the same time too (once
again) confusing. During this conversation, he expresses his feelings but
insist on you not doing this. Uh what? Again I should have been able to take a
stand here and tell him that I aware of the risks and would not be continuing to
flirt with you if I did not feel the risks was worth it. And if you’re the type
of player who is like “OK, fine, I give up” and choose to walk away, you end up
getting rivalry points. So basically if you choose to agree with Anders and
walk away before it gets too involved he gets pissed?! I know the writer(s)
were trying to make Anders come off a bit unstable but it does not need to be
in every freaking aspect of every conversation.
Once you completed the quest “Dissent”, you are given a
quest to speak with Anders. This conversation can result in a kiss from him.
This conversation was again sweet, but it also drove me a bit batty. As Anders
pulls away, he says (to a female) “This will be a disaster, but I cannot live
without it.” OK, Bioware should have cut the disaster part out. It would have
been simple and sweet to have him simply say, “We could die tomorrow, I don’t
want it to be before I tell you how I feel.” The reason the disaster part
irritates me is because your character has chosen to support Anders, you have
chosen to pursue the relationship and are well of the risks. Having to stuff in
the obvious in a romantic scene is not romantic. Now if you are on the rivalry
path I can see this line being thrown in, but the friendship path, just no.
At the end of the conversation, once again the dialogue
plays out like a soap opera. Anders tells you he will come to you tonight if
your door is open and if it is not open, he will know you took his warning at
last. I saw no purpose in this line whatsoever, rather pointless in fact. Why
give the player a line in which they have no control over? Let us say for those
players who decide that they do not want this and chose to keep their door
close. Well too bad, you have no option to close your bedroom door. And if your
door is closed from when you first entered the mansion it would not matter,
Anders walks in still.
The second part is the warning in that dialogue, it is again
idiotic to be placed there. I wanted my character to say to him, “Please stop
with the warnings, once was enough; I don’t need it drilled in my head.”
However, I do not blame Anders, since he is nothing but pixels; I blame the
writer(s).
Now the intimate night was, well nice, but to be honest it
could have been better, if they spent more time with it. To me it felt rushed
and unfinished. I loved it up to the point my character walked Anders to the
bed. I would have liked this scene better if it showed intimacy in a tasteful
way and not just two people on top of each other, fully clothed and kissing.
After you get control of your character again, I personally felt there was no
physical intimacy. Apparently, my character took the time to make the bed
afterwards, and then she and Anders decided to get dressed. How the hell is
that romantic?
I would have liked to see Anders and my character lying in a
messy bed, half-nude, in each other arms. Then you have the final dialogue that
takes place. I know this scene plays out
on the Merrill romance path but it could have been used in this setting and I
would not have mind. After the dialogue is finished, Anders just leaves. OK, uh
I expect this from a one-night stand, but not from two people who decided to
spend their lives together. The scene could have played out far better if more
thought was put into it. For example, you and Anders could have falling asleep.
You awake in the morning to see Anders getting dressed; he tells you he needs
to get back to Darktown to deal with some patients. He kisses you on the
forehead, tells you he will see you later and leaves.
My first play through of this game, I assumed once you
wanted Anders to move in he would be there, maybe in a day or two. However, it
took him three years to move into your house. Uh, when my husband asked me to
move in with him (at the time we were dating) it did not take me three years to
do so.
Ok, so now you and Anders are officially together. I thought
“Oh boy, here comes the party banter about it, this should be good.” Sadly it
never came, not even from Isabella, which was a shock. In Origins pretty, much
everyone in your party was commenting about you and your romance. All I got in
Dragon Age 2 was a private conversation with Isabella then one later with
Varric. Merrill makes a comment about your relationship in Act 2 during party
banter and you hear no more until Act 3 when Varric makes a comment about it.
Considering how I mentioned above how the party reacted to your relationship in
Origins, this was a huge dive bomb.
Some of the party members seemed more interested in Aveline’s
personal life. Ok, these jokes are funny but come on, make a joke or two about
Anders and my female Hawke.
At some point during Act 2, you have the opportunity to give
Anders a gift. I assumed it would be Ser Pounce –a lot. Maybe you get a quest
that pops up at a certain point, which directs you to High town. There you meet
the friend, Anders, gave his cat too and this friend wishes you to return it.
If not that option, you could head to Lowtown and take one of the kittens Merrill
mentioned in party banter. To me given Anders something he loves and misses
having seems more meaningful then an amulet.
After giving the gift to Anders, he hopes one day to give
one as meaningful to you. I did not understand why if you are in a romance with
him; ask him for a kiss or to go to bed with you. The dialogue just hung there.
My husband walked in while this cut scene was playing and when it was over he said,
“What were the writers thinking?” I said “What?” He replied, “Why would they
put in dialogue that you cannot follow through with? Glad I stop playing this
game.” He shook his head and left the room.
Now on to Act 3 and oh boy what a mess this became. Now
Anders and my female Hawke have been living together for some time, I want to
know how their relationship is and how he is doing. For some crazy reason the
writers thought it was a good idea to give Anders a key this late in the game.
(Rubs forehead) If you told Anders to move in with you, an option would have
been to head to Darktown and give him the key not just as gift but to show that
you are serious about him moving in. Giving it to him so late in the game is
just, well, dumb.
It also makes it
difficult because this is the only time you can give Anders the key. So I
cannot say to him “I am more worried about you”, give the key then sleep with
him. You have only two choices to pick from so it comes down to a matter of
choosing the options wisely.
Now comes the time for Anders final quests and depending on
if you chose the rivalry or friendship path it is different. I always go the
friendship path with Anders. His final conversation before the “Last Straw” is
him apologizing for the events to come and how he feels about you. OK, if you
think you’re going to die, and you say you love this person, I would have
assumed a “final” kiss would have been in the cards, nope, just cuts off and my
Hawke is standing there looking around asking herself “What the hell was that
all about.” If she gotten a kiss, she would have walked off with a smile on her
face just assuming Anders was thinking the upcoming war might kill them or
along those lines. The conversation came off as break-up more than romantic
apology.
I always choose to save Anders and I felt like I was being
punished for siding with the Mages. The last conversation we have before the
final battle was bland and staler then bread. The reason I see it this way is I
found out how the Templar Side conversation goes and let us just say I was not
a happy camper. You mean to tell me if I side with the Templar’s Anders says he
loves me and kisses me, but I get neither of those in the Mage conversation?! I
would have assumed the writers would have put such things in especially since you
save his life and chose to stay with him. For someone who (according to the
writers) love is huge, this last conversation showed no emotion whatsoever. All
I got out of it was “You saved me? Glad your cool with running away with me,
now let’s go fight.” I get that the war is important but hell at least Alistair
was willing to say, “I love you” to my character before charging into the city.
I appreciate Bioware putting in romances; it makes the game
more interesting and realistic. They did a good job in Origins, but when Dragon
Age 2 hit, the job took a dive bomb and crashed.
For Dragon Age 3 I hope they do not slap the romance
together and assume its good enough. Either make it good or don’t put it in at
all, going half way and doing a half ass job of it, certainly does not bring a
smile to my face.
Here are the ideas:
*Be sure that the romance plays more into the game. This
means with companions, the story, everything. This way the player knows the
romance is going on and is not scratching their head wondering if it is even a
romance or just a relationship with benefits. You made some improvements with
this area in with the DLCs, but this should have been obvious placement in the
base game.
*Outside of the obvious, how about if the player has another
house, maybe they can click on a vase of flowers and it is from their romance.
Little things like that go along way. Even when I hear Anders, say in the game
as we approach the Hawke Estate and he says, “I cannot believe this is my home”
brings a smile to my face.
*Bring more balance to the Rivalry and Friendship paths. With
Anders romance friendship, many of the lines came off as more rivalry romance
lines then friendship ones. Telling a romantic friend this will be a disaster
is not something I would expect, rivalry yes, friendship, no.
*Interaction should come back. I was not a fan of I can only
speak to someone unless they wanted too. Or how about the fact I was only able
to kiss Anders four times (five if you side with the Templars) and only have
the option to sleep with him twice. I loved in Origins how you could ask your
romance both or either of these options any time you chose. You could go even a
step further and if your character chooses the “go to bed together” option,
they can choose to view the cut scene or skip it.
*Skin please, I am an adult not a child. This one area I am
completely baffled about when it comes to Bioware. They can show a Broodmother
with full view of breasts and NPCs or companions can talk about very dirty
things but when it comes to the intimate night, it plays out like an Amish porn
movie.
I am not expecting Bioware to go as far as Witcher does
(which I would be surprised if they did), but you can make intimacy scenes tasteful
with people nude. It really does not make sense to have two people completely
clothed on top of each other and then the scene fades to black as if you are
afraid to show it. No offense Devs but do you go home to your husband or wife
and when you get romantic, climb on top of each other fully clothed then walk
away satisfied? I am not seeking some in game porn show; I just want to see the
intimate romance play out. You gave a rather cheesy version of this in Origins,
(the whole being in their small clothes was odd) but at least it was there. In
Dragon Age 2, I assumed you would have stepped it up, instead you fell
backwards about a thousand steps.
*Be sure that when giving a gift to someone your interested
in or involved in it has meaning. And if that person is grateful and wishes to
return the favor allow the player to do so.
All I ask is please do the romances right in Dragon Age 3
bring back that fire you guys brought in Origins. I do not want to be tortured
again with the thought of being able to romance a companion but it actually not
being there. Do or not do, going half way certainly does not bring a smile to
my face.
I do appreciate you brining the romances in the games, it makes it far more interesting, just in Dragon Age 2, the interest was not all there.
Modifié par Cantina, 24 avril 2012 - 06:42 .
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