Dragon Age Inquisition is almost here and although I don't follow the game as closely as I did with the Mass Effect titles sometimes I go to the forum and read some posts a bit. In that endeavour, one thing that impressed me in a negative way was how people see squadmates. It's like they are food on a menu just waiting to be picked and eaten. Besides that, they have been a lot of talk throughtout gaming sites about romance in that game, it's clearly a big deal.
In a way that is natural, having great character is probably the most consistent aspect of Bioware games and so people getting attached to them is a testimony of Bioware good work.
With that said, it seems to me things have gone out of hand and what should be just a small part of the game started being a big focus of it. The main character doesn't need to be able to romance everybody and the group of squadmates doesn't even need to become friends. Squadmates shouldn't be fan service, but people with their own motivations and goals that may or may not be similar to the protagonist's. I don't want to feel I'm being worshiped like sometimes it happened in the trilogy, I want conflict and tensions that may or may not be solved. Tuchanka is probably the best mission in the trilogy and in big part because how well the squadmates and their past stories were integrated to the plot. And interstingly enough, neither Wrex nor Mordin could have been romanced and both did what they thought was right.
And it's not like Bioware haven't done that very well. To be fair, they've done it a lot and in most of their games. ME trilogy have a lot of good examples of this. But some developments in how squadmates were handled in ME3 and this pre release buzz from DAI makes me wonder about this stuff. Hopefully DAI will show that my concerns are unfounded and Bioware is keeping their eyes on the right place.
In a nutshell, don't make squadmates untouchable fan service there to be romanced, make them characters with their own mind that won't do what you want everytime. Any thoughts on that?
The problem of overly attached squadmates.
#1
Posté 07 septembre 2014 - 05:11
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#2
Posté 07 septembre 2014 - 05:41
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In a nutshell, don't make squadmates untouchable fan service there to be romanced, make them characters with their own mind that won't do what you want everytime. Any thoughts on that?
DA has been better at having a much more interactive experience with party members to the point where conflicting ideals or actions could end up in a fight or departures. You have to earn their friendship/love. I can't think of a single romance that that doesn't require the protagonist fit "their" mold, but it's been years since I've played those games.
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#3
Posté 07 septembre 2014 - 05:47
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The writers have repeatedly emphasized that each companion in Inquisition has their own arc. In that regard I'm not worried that they'll come across as fawning over the Inquisitor like tiny little chess pieces. I think I know what you mean, but it's mainly fan response, and then who can really blame the fans for getting so attached to the characters when characters are what BioWare does best in the eyes of the many? Plus, I'm not really getting the vibe that anyone on Inquisition's companions list is anything less than interesting in their own right.
I like seeing friendships between companions/squadmates, but I'll agree it isn't necessary. I don't think it's ever come across as over-the-top or anything, though. ME3 had lots of squadmate interactions, which was wonderful. Or did you dislike that? But their unique personalities as individuals totally shine through all those scenes. Just because Garrus and James are kicking back together doesn't mean they don't get to continue being interesting in separate fashions. And while it's true that Inquisition has a very relatively sizable romantic availability across its cast, I don't think that's going to stop these characters from being neat regardless of which route you take. I've never romanced Thane, but that hasn't stopped me from liking him. I don't consider him or any other Mass Effect romance option fan service despite having only done files romancing a couple of characters to-date.
I'm not concerned, personally.
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#4
Posté 07 septembre 2014 - 05:50
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In a nutshell, don't make squadmates untouchable fan service there to be romanced, make them characters with their own mind that won't do what you want everytime. Any thoughts on that?
Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure, this time in DAI Bioware created our followers exactly that way.
I believe in Bioware. 
#5
Posté 08 septembre 2014 - 05:27
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I thought the OP was talking about the way party members like to stay close to Shepard in the ME series and Hawke in DAII (might have also happened in DAO can't remember.0 That can be a real issue when you're trying to scout out and draw out enemies. I'm getting the Reaper IFF in ME2 and Mordin and Jack just came out of cover and got slaughtered. Although I guess it was pretty easy to just pull shepard back in a fighting retreat and have him finish off the gasbags himself.
I had the thought that the turbo-power thing in DAI might be affected by party management issues. Conflict management and being able to resolve tensions between members of the camp and being able to put together a group who can work well together might make it easier to power up that turbo thing -- maybe its like a synergy boost -- I'm talking about that thing which allows you to use a extra-special attack once in a while.
Yeah ME1, playing a female Shepard. The only way I knew was a sure way to avoid a romance with Kaidan was to kill him off at Virmire or to have Shepard flirt with Liara. Gaming w/o always having cartoon sex would actually be kinda of more fun.
#6
Posté 08 septembre 2014 - 02:09
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The thing I liked about DAO was that they weren't pals or buds you could get close but they were still individuals I remember having to fight Sten for control of the group that added something special to the game. ME3 could've used some of that, particularly where the romances were concerned. Cheated on Liara/Ashley/Kaiden and both LI's are on board? Fireworks.
The one thing that always bugged me was that certain characters talked less if you weren't romancing them or you'd rejected them. Never played as femshep but I get the impression that Garrus says a whole lot more than "not right now" and "maybe later" when you're a woman.
