Josielyn wrote...
I think Bioware has done a fantastic job on the romances in the past 2 DA games, and there is no need to tone it down. In fact, the romance is key to what attracts 30-something-working-moms to RPG games: way better than the paperback novel that you trade with your sisters! Otherwise, why would we bother with the time taken on RPGs, when we already spend 8+ hours a day in front of a computer? As far as electing not to participate, simply rejecting an advance does not make your character mean, it just loses approval points. However it is worded, rejection is still rejection. I think that is somewhat similar to what happens in real life, ?no? At least you can still be "friends" with your companions whose romantic dreams you have just crushed! What if Bioware decided to be mean and force you to either romance a party member, or you lose them permanently? What would you choose, and would the NPC be happy with you stringing them along just to benefit from their sword? (I mean the metal kind).
I do feel there's one exception here in regards to how "rejection" should work in the context of a story between a PC and Companion. Take, for instance, Aveline. In DA2 the option is given to make your attraction/affection for her known, yet she is completely oblivious to it in a way that doesn't match the character's intellect. While she might be clueless on how proper courtship works she wouldn't be as effective a cop as she is if she wasn't observant, and Hawke, via dialogue choices, practically waves a neon sign in front of her saying, "I'm into you."
Then, instead of rejecting you outright the romantic side story drops a walking wall in front of your romantic interest in the form of Donnic *right* when Aveline is about to realize that, this whole time, you've been telling her, "Hey, I kinda love you." Then it's essentially dropped. There's no real recognition of the possibly mutual interest, you get an awkward "friend" kiss and that's that. I can't tell whether Luke was trying to "teach a lesson" or he was just, as Gaider put it, intentionally going for the knife cut.
Now what does this have to do with what you stated above? I have no problem with rejection in either direction. Anders came on to me and I told him, "You're a good friend man, but I don't swing that way." He was hurt but I didn't feel bad because I was honest. Same with Morrigan in DAO. Now, when it's a companion that rejects you I would rather have it be an instance where you openly explain your feelings and, for whatever justification in the companion's character, he/she tells you, the PC, that they don't think of you that way.
However giving the player the option to engage in romantic dialogue, yet not affording any resolution or instead introducing another non-party character for the simple sake of being a "**** block" scapegoat is, in my opinion, not the best way to go about it, especially if the focus of your affection appears to suffer from brain damage by being incapable of understand obvious dialogue. But, no, I would rather have honesty go both ways then lie for the sake of either not upsetting the player by not giving them what they want or string the companion along in a romance you, as the player, aren't really into.
Thankfully I've never had that in any Dragon Age game. Closet thing to "pretending" to be on good terms with someone was Carver. I hated that character with a passion (the only, to me, poorly written/performed character in the game. Bethany was just better all around yet locked off to Mages) yet, from an RP perspective, I felt Hawke would try damn hard to get along with Carver for the sake of Bethany's memory and for their mother.
Retour en haut
I bet people would like you anyway. You'd be like the "Gate Guy" Walter from Stargate. Everyone looks at him first when stuff's going wrong (until he shrugs and they all look somewhere else) but he still had a pretty good size fanbase while the show was running. 
