234 réponses à ce sujet

[aTigerslunch]

I romance pretty much all the time except when I play the character that is mean to everyone and doesn't get any love for it.  Makes sense to me, otherwise its romanced characters.

[Mrs.Chestbeard]

The only DA game that my character canonically didn't romance anyone is DA2. I romanced Anders in my first run but I felt pretty betrayed after the whole chantry fiasco and never did it again. Also, my Hawkes gender switched from canonically female to male after that and was content with just buddying it up with Varric. In DA3 however, I will definitely be romancing Varric (if he's available) or Cullen as a female Inquisitor.

 

That said, if Bioware ever took romances out completely I would still buy the game. (even though I love the romance system)

[Not a Cat Doll]

The only DA game that my character canonically didn't romance anyone is DA2. I romanced Anders in my first run but I felt pretty betrayed after the whole chantry fiasco and never did it again. Also, my Hawkes gender switched from canonically female to male after that and was content with just buddying it up with Varric. In DA3 however, I will definitely be romancing Varric (if he's available) or Cullen as a female Inquisitor.

 

That said, if Bioware ever took romances out completely I would still buy the game. (even though I love the romance system)

I have nothing relevant to add, but you have the best username ever. And that avatar- I can practically smell the musk and gunpowder from here.

 

And I'm off!

[Saberchic]

I have absolutely done playthroughs with no romance. While romances are a part of the game, they do not make the game for me. In fact, my 2 out of my 3 favorite DAO playthroughs (I have many many runs of that game ) are loner PCs. They just did not have the time for romance. I love roleplaying, and I will do a romance only if it fits the character I create. 

[Boomshakalakalakaboom]

I enjoy the romance aspect of the games very much but it certainly isn't any where near the most important thing to me about them. Both of my first play-throughs for DA:O and DA:2 were done without completing a romance. I think I'd flirt here and there but that was about it. It also depends on what sort of character I want to play, for example there is my mage Hawke who spent her former years only be able to trust her immediate family so she found it very hard to even open herself up to her companions. It all just depends on how I want to play the game and that changes every time I start a new character.

On a side note, the video on the previous page is so, so wrong.

[Allan Schumacher]

Removed the link to that video because it is starting to genuinely anger me.

 

GaymerX is a convention.  It happens to have happened in July.  We aren't going to AVOID going to it just because some people might go "whoa they are focusing on the romances."  The topic is going to be ALL ABOUT LGBT content, and we'd discuss that topic (which is often our romances) regardless of impending release.

 

If you look at our actual marketing materials, very little of it talks about romances.  At this point it's mostly people seeing other people talking about it and assuming that that is all there is, and perhaps a preoccupation with romances by the person speaking out against them.  If something bothers you, there's that innate human frustration to see other people enjoying it and then feeling vindictive for a variety of reasons.

 

BioWare considers the romances to be optional content that is used to help explore aspects of characters.  This hasn't changed.

 

 

EDIT: I also wanted to add that as a gamer, romance content isn't really interesting to me and if a game doesn't have it I'm okay with that.  If I can handle other people liking our games because of this content, it shouldn't be a problem for others.

[JadePrince]

To be honest, if the Dragon Age games didn't have the romantic content, I probably wouldn't buy them. DA is the only RPG I know of which lets me play a gay character and romance a same-gender LI in a meaningful way (as opposed to, say, Skyrim's 'marriage' option). But more than that, Dragon Age: Inquisition is one of the few pieces of entertainment media period (TV, movies, etc) which is putting gay, lesbian, and bisexual characters and queer relationships to the forefront of their cast. That is super important to me. 

 

I love many things about Dragon Age aside from the romances (there's a reason why I have no interest in playing gay dating games), but if I wanted to play a game without romances, I could pick up any multitude of existing games with awesome story/gameplay and no romantic content. I love DA because it has awesome story/gameplay AND the option to play as a queer character and interact with other queer characters.  

[Ashelsu]

If romance options don't appeal to me, I'll pass. (DA 2). My Hawkes bonded more with Aveline, Bethany and Varric. Friendship is probably more important. And in Awakening there were no options, it didn't stop me from playing it.

Bioware game without romance is OK, bioware game without companions and interesting NPC - nay.

[Maria Caliban]

I tend to be a completionist and dislike skipping content. Oh, I'll tell you how I found the Witcher sex cards in poor taste, but that did not stop me from collecting every last one. Not to mention I often scan the achievement list before playing, while playing, and after my first playthrough, and will do things just to get the achievement for it.

[TheodoricFriede]

Not feeling great about most of the available romance options, so ill probably be alone in most of these playthroughs.

 

Hopefully Rift Mage can summon Desire Demons.

[Ieldra]

A good romance can add to a story significantly. If there is one that feels right for the character I'm playing, I won't go out of my way to avoid it just to play a game without romance. At the same time, if there isn't one that feels right, I won't choose an LI just to have romance.

 

For some odd reason, most of my female characters in Bioware games have ended up single because there wasn't an LI option I found interesting. In DA2, my mage revolutionary femHawke romanced Anders and then killed him, that was a good story the game let me play out, but it was still somewhat unsatisfactory because even though Anders was the right romance for Rowan Hawke, I as the player don't like his DA2 version all that much. That was pretty much a pattern for my female protagonists in Bioware games.

 

So....yeah, I do play non-romance games for various reasons. No interesting LI is one, but I've also made protagonists who wouldn't bind themselves to others, don't believe in love or just didn't find it important enough in the circumstances. Just as I think in RL, the set of characters I play, as a whole, express that love is really nice to have, but not as essential as most people make it out to be. And it's certainly not essential to the story I'm playing, unless I imagine it to be so.

[carlo angelo]

Honestly, I didn't romance anyone in Dragon Age: Origins because I just wasn't interested. I found Morrigan intriguing and I loved Leliana... But, although I have a male warden who could romance both, I wasn't keen to roleplay a character who I'd often roleplay in other RPGs with a romance-subplot, where the options are "do I pursue a romance this one character of the opposite sex subtly or seriously?". And I wasn't that interested in Zevran either, and if he's the only character my player-character would romance as a male warden, I figured I'd sit it out.

 

However, in saying that, I really appreciated Origins because at least there was that choice to either go through a story arc focused on this relationship with this certain character or not. I chose not to because it wasn't for me in the end, but it was a nice thought just having that one character there, even though there wasn't the option of who my player-character would spend his energies on as someone I headcanon as homosexual (a choice so rare in video games).

 

Come Dragon Age 2, that's when I decided to go on this relationship arc of the story because the characters appealed to me a little more. And not only that, but then it's not just a question of "would this playthrough have a romance subplot or not?" but "okay, so who do I see gelling with my player-character now?".

 

With Dragon Age: Inquisition, chances are that my male Inquisitor will romance a character (either Dorian or Iron Bull), and for Bioware to allow that, something no other big-name gaming company would implement when it comes to choices and romances in their video games, is pretty damn nice. But of course, I may not choose to indulge in that aspect of the game. The fact is, at least the choice is there now for characters I want to imagine as homosexual, or bisexual, even.

[JWvonGoethe]

Removed the link to that video because it is starting to genuinely anger me.
 
GaymerX is a convention.  It happens to have happened in July.  We aren't going to AVOID going to it just because some people might go "whoa they are focusing on the romances."  The topic is going to be ALL ABOUT LGBT content, and we'd discuss that topic (which is often our romances) regardless of impending release.
 
If you look at our actual marketing materials, very little of it talks about romances.  At this point it's mostly people seeing other people talking about it and assuming that that is all there is, and perhaps a preoccupation with romances by the person speaking out against them.  If something bothers you, there's that innate human frustration to see other people enjoying it and then feeling vindictive for a variety of reasons.
 
BioWare considers the romances to be optional content that is used to help explore aspects of characters.  This hasn't changed.
 
 
EDIT: I also wanted to add that as a gamer, romance content isn't really interesting to me and if a game doesn't have it I'm okay with that.  If I can handle other people liking our games because of this content, it shouldn't be a problem for others.

I think it's kind of unfortunate that a video game developer would be put in a position where they are almost forced to defend themselves against including romance in their work.

Can anyone imagine an author being put in this position? Would a book, poem, play, opera, painting or film ever be criticised for focusing on, or even just featuring, romance?

I think Bioware should be proud of the fact that they are a studio who are taking this kind of content seriously while their contemporaries are still stuck on sex cards (The Witcher), magical marriage amulets (Skyrim) or stripper-groping mini-games where the object of your sexual assault will agree to have sex with you as long as the nightclub bouncer doesn't catch you groping her (GTAV, so in fairness it's meant as satire. Probably).

There's a misconception that people are playing through Bioware's romantic content solely in order to get some kind of vicarious sexual kick out of it. Rather, I think people engage their characters in these romantic arcs because it creates a more compelling story, and compelling stories give the player a reason to get that much more invested in the actual gameplay.

[Basement Cat]

I like the romance aspect of the games, but it isn't a deal maker/breaker for me. I like the fact that we can become friends or even enemies with our companions; it makes them feel more alive and more like a real person. If the option is there to take it further, it's appreciated.

 

If the romances are tied to achievements I will definitely pursue them all. That little 'bleep bloop' sound is so satisfying.

[Maria Caliban]

Can anyone imagine an author being put in this position? Would a book, poem, play, opera, painting or film ever be criticised for focusing on, or even just featuring, romance?

Yes.

It's a very common complaint regarding novels - ranging from urban fantasy to horror to women's fiction to mysteries to literary fiction. I've certainly heard people complain about romances in action films and historical dramas.

[Caja]

[...]

So I am curious if there are any others out there who do a playthrough with no romances involved ? If so why did you choose to not pursue a romance ? 

 

Above all, how important is romance to you ? Is it an optional extra for you or do you see it as a necessity for your character ?

 

 

While romances are optional content for me, I have never managed a playthrough without one. My main character is always romancing someone. As EntropicAngel has pointed out, it adds an extra layer to the role-playing. Furthermore, I enjoy the extra content (extra dialogue and extra scenes). It makes the story and the interaction with other characters richer. However, it depends on the companions. I wouldn't bother much with a romance if I came to the conclusion that it doesn't fit for my main character.

 

That being said, I would probably be disappointed if BioWare decides one day to get rid of the romances altogether but I would still play the game.  There are other aspects I enjoy. 

[KaiserShep]

I've done no romance playthroughs, but they typically involve a protagonist who is a bit more extreme and casts aside silly things like feelings. My city elf Warden is such a character. I like to roleplay that Vaughan Kendells erased what was left of his romantic side. None among his cast of companions could ever come between him and his true love: the murder knife.

[JWvonGoethe]

Yes.

It's a very common complaint regarding novels - ranging from urban fantasy to horror to women's fiction to mysteries to literary fiction. I've certainly heard people complain about romances in action films and historical dramas.

The actual way the romance is handled may get criticised, certainly. The Literary Review even hands out awards for the worst sex scenes in fiction. But I've never heard of a novel being criticised solely for the fact that it features romance as an important part of the story.

[Basement Cat]

I agree with whoever it was, first playthrough I don't really romance anyone...I do them for fun afterwards. 

Until inquisition when I will be choosing every flirt line possible with Cullen. 

Your username gives you away...

[HuldraDancer]

There's a misconception that people are playing through Bioware's romantic content solely in order to get some kind of vicarious sexual kick out of it. Rather, I think people engage their characters in these romantic arcs because it creates a more compelling story, and compelling stories give the player a reason to get that much more invested in the actual gameplay.

 

My grandmother came to the conclusion that I was trying 'live through the game cause I'm sad that I have no man in my life' when she found out that there were romances in the game, up until that point she sounded fairly interested in the setting until romances were brought up. Funny how that word get some peoples minds going and jumping to conclusions^^;

[Basement Cat]

My grandmother came to the conclusion that I was trying 'live through the game cause I'm sad that I have no man in my life' when she found out that there were romances in the game, up until that point she sounded fairly interested in the setting until romances were brought up. Funny how that word get some peoples minds going and jumping to conclusions^^;

Which is weird if you consider that a lot of great stories have romance in it and not even as a focal point.

[HuldraDancer]

Which is weird if you consider that a lot of great stories have romance in it and not even as a focal point.

 

Yes it is even more so with her cause she loves soap operas that are at least 45% romance. For some reason being a game makes it different? She didn't accuse me of trying to live through books and movies that I enjoyed that had romance but games are different some how. Romances are probably her second favorite genre in movies right behind disaster movies preferably where everyone dies. I can only assume that she finds it different because as opposed to a story you watch or read you are not just observing you are participating by choice, but thats the only conclusion I can come up with.

[Maria Caliban]

The actual way the romance is handled may get criticised, certainly. The Literary Review even hands out awards for the worst sex scenes in fiction. But I've never heard of a novel being criticised solely for the fact that it features romance as an important part of the story.

Alternatively, I've heard many times that urban fantasy is mostly women having sex with werewolves/vampires and it would be so much better if romances were left out entirely.

[Basement Cat]

Alternatively, I've heard many times that urban fantasy is mostly women having sex with werewolves/vampires and it would be so much better if romances were left out entirely.

That's just Stephanie Meyer's influence. It will pass.