You haven't read the whole thread, have you?
There's a lot of specificity, here.
You have me there. Maybe I should dig up some of my old concept sketches.
Or maybe I should make one up from scratch.
Hm... how about the LI being someone already engaged to an arranged marriage? I don't think Bioware has done that before, but it would be compatible with the DA setting.
Guest_TheDarkKnightReturns_*
Hm... how about the LI being someone already engaged to an arranged marriage? I don't think Bioware has done that before, but it would be compatible with the DA setting.
Josephine.
And your turncoat Miranda concept was ace.
It's be an interesting moral quandry to have our LI be revealed to already be married, something that we never learn if we never romance them (thus preventing any spoilers like say, the Blackwall situation in Inquisition).
Perhaps in the non-LI version, they leave for a few days to take care of some personal business and return later, without revealing what they did... but if romanced, we tag along and discover that their spouse has tracked them down?
Of course, if Bioware wanted to play it safe, they'd make it so that the spouse was like Isabela's husband who mistreated her, so naturally we'd sympathise with our LI. But I kind of would love to see it be something that is complicated and morally complex, as the game would leave it ambiguous who is in the right or wrong? Did they leave because they were unhappy, being mistreated, or for a tad more selfish reasons?
And if you wanted to make it even more morally dubious, perhaps our LI is revealed to also have a child with their spouse, leaving it uncertain whether they were forced to leave their child behind or whether they just abandoned them?
Josephine.
Curses! Foiled again!
And your turncoat Miranda concept was ace.
That one was inspired.
You have me there. Maybe I should dig up some of my old concept sketches.
Or maybe I should make one up from scratch.
Yes. Both. Either. 
I want a ****** with a booty so big I can rest my mead mug on it wherever I go. And that can kill and skin a boar and make me bacon every morning, and with hair that grows fast enough to make rope from it every day. That's all. Is that so much to ask? Is it Andraste?
Josephine.
And your turncoat Miranda concept was ace.
Josephine was engaged, in an arranged situation, not already married and certainly not emotionally involved.
I think this would be a very interesting opportunity for plot, yes especially for playing an amoral hero, doing the a**hole playthrough, but also VERY interesting for a realistic heroic character with flaws. For example, since today is Martin Luther King Jr. day in the U.S., the man was a great man, educated, created change and is an American Hero. He is also known to have had affairs.
Bioware gives some good options for playing a realistic flawed protagonist, this would be a really interesting one. If they gave you options to play it out as shallow and manipulative or a 'true love' scenario...give you a range of plot options there, and then the reactions of the companions and others.
This could be a GREAT idea.
I think this would be a very interesting opportunity for plot, yes especially for playing an amoral hero, doing the a**hole playthrough, but also VERY interesting for a realistic heroic character with flaws. For example, since today is Martin Luther King Jr. day in the U.S., the man was a great man, educated, created change and is an American Hero. He is also known to have had affairs.
Exactly, MLK was a legend and someone who changed the world, but he was also human, with all the good and bad things that comes with it.
Likewise, take a look at another American icon like JFK, who it's fair to say was both a great man in many ways for his accomplishments, yet deeply flawed in others, like his numerous public affairs and having all the hallmarks of someone with a severe case of sex addiction. (He once claimed he got headaches if he didn't have sex for more than three days... which is not normal, let's be honest?)
I kinda wish that Bioware had more protagonists who were flawed, instead of falling into the paragon or renegade category. It seems that most of the flawed characters in Bioware games are companions instead, who get to have those shades of grey and characterisation, while our protagonists are left as either the biggest goody-two-shoes or jerkass on the planet?
I think the most flawed protagonist we've had is Hawke who, despite whatever alignment you chose, ended up being relatively neutral and not proactive when it came to the various conflicts in DA2. In fact, consider that most of your companions call you out on this exact thing, Anders wants you to help the Mages, Aveline wants you to get an actual job, Sebastian wants you to take over the city etc? Hawke's flaws were that like Varric, they didn't deal with things and pretended they weren't happening, wanting to continue having fun and a quiet life, instead of being constantly dragged into the chaos?
And sadly it seems, people didn't seem to like that and wanted to go back to the blank slate and good/bad characterisation of previous games... then complained that those types of characters weren't interesting to prove that fandom can never be happy, ever! 
Exactly, MLK was a legend and someone who changed the world, but he was also human, with all the good and bad things that comes with it.
Likewise, take a look at another American icon like JFK, who it's fair to say was both a great man in many ways for his accomplishments, yet deeply flawed in others, like his numerous public affairs and having all the hallmarks of someone with a severe case of sex addiction. (He once claimed he got headaches if he didn't have sex for more than three days... which is not normal, let's be honest?)
I kinda wish that Bioware had more protagonists who were flawed, instead of falling into the paragon or renegade category. It seems that most of the flawed characters in Bioware games are companions instead, who get to have those shades of grey and characterisation, while our protagonists are left as either the biggest goody-two-shoes or jerkass on the planet?
I think the most flawed protagonist we've had is Hawke who, despite whatever alignment you chose, ended up being relatively neutral and not proactive when it came to the various conflicts in DA2. In fact, consider that most of your companions call you out on this exact thing, Anders wants you to help the Mages, Aveline wants you to get an actual job, Sebastian wants you to take over the city etc? Hawke's flaws were that like Varric, they didn't deal with things and pretended they weren't happening, wanting to continue having fun and a quiet life, instead of being constantly dragged into the chaos?
And sadly it seems, people didn't seem to like that and wanted to go back to the blank slate and good/bad characterisation of previous games... then complained that those types of characters weren't interesting to prove that fandom can never be happy, ever!
yeah it is something that you have to balance, to create a character that can be played in many different ways, with out creating a nightmare for the programmers with all the different threads, but I think dragon age does a better job of it than a lot of other games...through a combination of choices you can be a dick or you can be the good guy in different situations..
yeah I want more, but overall I am happy in the Dragon Age games with having options that let you be flawed...for instance you could be a very kind, fair-minded andrastian human noble in DA:O, yet have those ingrained prejudices against elves and abominations that might lead you to say...Kill Connor outright out of fear at Redcliffe...while still make 'heroic' choices in other options....
So I think bioware has done good work on this point...I just want more and see this idea of a married LI as a great way to give another option for that.
Yes. Both. Either.
Well, if the Lady insists...
I've mentioned a few times some thoughts on a 'Dear John' romance- or rather, a companion whose character arc centers around the prospect that his wife is cheating on him while he's away saving the world. (Technically this doesn't require marriage or a male companion, but that's the default I'm using based on the history that gives it the name.)
A Dear John arc would center around a perfectly decent and good person whose initial resistance to romantic advances is clear- he's in a happily committed relationship, and even though he regrets being away he's resolved to return home after all this is done. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Except... one day, something changes. He's distracted. Irritable. He doesn't want to talk about home. And after investigating, you find why- a letter that begins 'Dear John,' and ends with the revelation that his former beloved wishes merely to be former. Distant travels, deposits through the Dwarven merchant guild, and brief visitations aren't enough to sustain a household or raise a family. She wanted more than to wonder if she would be a widow, and someone else has offered her that.
It's hard, it's painful, and though there's a clear culprit there's no clear blame, even if the wife is confronted. And why should there be? Perhaps, a great guy as he is, as committed to the world as he was, he wasn't as committed to his family as he vowed to be. She doesn't have to be a villain. She doesn't have to be unsympathetic, even. Perhaps how she did it was wrong, but what she did was all too reasonable. She pursued her happiness with someone who was there for her, rather than someone who loved her but wasn't.
Maybe there is an option for reconciliation. Perhaps, rather than cheating, this was the prospect of divorce. Or perhaps her new love also died. You could even frame it that the letter was forged, the plot by a jealous would-be suitor to break the two apart by John's reactions.
There are many ways it could be framed, and many ways it could offer the PC to role play, romance arc or not. Say you're just his friend, or comrade. Do you play the sympathetic friend, reminding John there are other women out there and that he should move on? Do you play the marriage counselor, and do all in your power to reconcile them? Do you hate and condemn the betrayer, or understand and forgive if not approve of what she did?
Or, if you love him yourself... is this your chance? Do you comfort him, let him know that there is someone close to him who still loves him and would never abandon him? Would you go so far as to subtly sabotage any chance of reconciliation, just so that he is free for you? Or do you pine chastely, but do the honorable thing and try to make him happy be reconciling him with the woman you are jealous of and who doesn't deserve another chance from him?
That's a romance arc character I would want to design.
yeah it is something that you have to balance, to create a character that can be played in many different ways, with out creating a nightmare for the programmers with all the different threads, but I think dragon age does a better job of it than a lot of other games...through a combination of choices you can be a dick or you can be the good guy in different situations..
yeah I want more, but overall I am happy in the Dragon Age games with having options that let you be flawed...for instance you could be a very kind, fair-minded andrastian human noble in DA:O, yet have those ingrained prejudices against elves and abominations that might lead you to say...Kill Connor outright out of fear at Redcliffe...while still make 'heroic' choices in other options....
So I think bioware has done good work on this point...I just want more and see this idea of a married LI as a great way to give another option for that.
Yeah, Origins had some nice moments like that. I played a fairly tolerant Dalish who was respectful of the various religions, but got a little snarky and annoyed whenever they tried to thrust their beliefs upon them without asking. Like take the Ostagar priestess who says that the Maker is willing to grant his blessing to all those who'd accept him;
"And does he steal the homeland of those who don't?"
Or when that ridiculously unhelpful Revered Mother in Lothering asks for a tithe, asking you to donate money to the religion that looks down on you as a heathen, not to mention help for the upkeep of a church that's about ten minutes from the Darkspawn showing up to kick down it's door and raze the place to the ground;
"You must be joking?"
But yeah, I'd love to also see a married LI just for the possibilities and moral dilemma it'd pose. I enjoy those kinds of complicated situations in game, because it makes the world feel far more realer and truer to life.
Actually, speaking of the realism factor, I'd love to have more reactivity to breakups, not only for the LI we break up with, but for the other potential LI's that your breakup might then impact? Perhaps you might even lose out on some LI's who then become locked off because they either don't want to upset the previous LI who they're friends with, or they saw you chuck your last LI after five minutes of dating each other and now think that you're too fickle for them to want to date now?
Alternatively, perhaps a romance that can only trigger once you've broken up with someone, with one of the companions you flirted with prior, now revealing that they've had a crush on you this entire time but were too nervous to say anything before, now having the courage now you're single again?
Of course, that last one might be difficult to do properly, since we don't want a repeat of the much-lambasted moment when Anders began forcefully hitting on Hawke, as well as his obvious infatuation with them if he's not romanced. Leliana's unrequited crush and clear infatuation with the Warden, if unromanced, is probably the mark that such a romance would need to hit, since it's never really stated overtly and remains mostly subtextual.
Or maybe even a romance that consists of you being consoled by a companion over a break. (or perhaps it could be their breakup instead), only for you to end up finding yourselves attracted to each other and a romance blossoming?
-snip-
Or maybe even a romance that consists of you being consoled by a companion over a break. (or perhaps it could be their breakup instead), only for you to end up finding yourselves attracted to each other and a romance blossoming?
doesn't cullen console a female Inquisitor if another breaks up with her? I thought I read that
and Sera, regardless of romance or not, is very reactionary to your choices and, while a very grating character, is an interesting one at times because she is so much more active instead of only reacting to things you say in dialogue with her. Not exactly what you were saying but just as a side note.
Isabella from DA2 would be a good choice. Or someone with the physical appearance and personality of Charisma Carpenter's BtVS character, but with the heart of Buffy. Maybe a couple (or 3) of similar who were willing to date all at once and in the same location.
I'd have Tali all over again.
doesn't cullen console a female Inquisitor if another breaks up with her? I thought I read that
and Sera, regardless of romance or not, is very reactionary to your choices and, while a very grating character, is an interesting one at times because she is so much more active instead of only reacting to things you say in dialogue with her. Not exactly what you were saying but just as a side note.
I'm not sure, it seems in-character, but probably best to check with the Cullen thread?
And yeah, it was weird that she was the only one who really seemed to react to various story-based stuff, like getting freaked out by the Mage specialisations, or doing a possession test if you drank from the Well? You'd think that the others would have had stuff to say about that last one, but no-one else does aside from Solas and Vivienne?
I kinda miss characters like Wynne who'd constantly be asking you questions instead of the other way around, since we've not gotten that many in recent games. Aside from a few conversations near the beginning, you're rarely ever asked about yourself or what you think about various things that aren't mission related? The most people seem to ask is "Do you think you're the Herald or not?" which is nice and all, but how about asking what I had for breakfast or what colour my underwear is, you know, something else for the sake of varity?
I'm not sure, it seems in-character, but probably best to check with the Cullen thread?
And yeah, it was weird that she was the only one who really seemed to react to various story-based stuff, like getting freaked out by the Mage specialisations, or doing a possession test if you drank from the Well? You'd think that the others would have had stuff to say about that last one, but no-one else does aside from Solas and Vivienne?
I kinda miss characters like Wynne who'd constantly be asking you questions instead of the other way around, since we've not gotten that many in recent games. Aside from a few conversations near the beginning, you're rarely ever asked about yourself or what you think about various things that aren't mission related? The most people seem to ask is "Do you think you're the Herald or not?" which is nice and all, but how about asking what I had for breakfast or what colour my underwear is, you know, something else for the sake of varity?
yes, I mean I understand there is only so much they can do, but some increased 'active' choices and interactions would be awesome.
I'd also like to see two mutually exclusive recruitable characters. Like you cannot have both, the simply won't stay with you or join you if you have the other. I wouldn't want a lot like this, but just having two would be interesting.
I'm rooting for Dagna.
Edit: Once she's matured a little, so it doesn't feel...off.
If it helps, in DAI she's in her mid 20s-early 30s...
As for me, I'd go with something like the Inquisitor I created, actually:
If it helps, in DAI she's in her mid 20s-early 30s...
As for me, I'd go with something like the Inquisitor I created, actually:
Yeah, Dagna was 18 in Origins, so she's about 29 in Inquisition?
And your elf is cute, looks very similar to how my Lavellan looked, except for the tattoo.
If it helps, in DAI she's in her mid 20s-early 30s...
As for me, I'd go with something like the Inquisitor I created, actually:
Hooo, hello little mama 
If it helps, in DAI she's in her mid 20s-early 30s...
As for me, I'd go with something like the Inquisitor I created, actually:
*raises brow* Well helloo....
*raises brow* Well helloo....
Back off ******. I'll cut you. The elves are mine.
Back off ******. I'll cut you. The elves are mine.
Bring it! you don't get them ALL....I'll risk a few cuts...besides, you got shiny on your collar instead of stripes on your arm...how tough can you be...
If it helps, in DAI she's in her mid 20s-early 30s...
As for me, I'd go with something like the Inquisitor I created, actually:
Bring it! you don't get them ALL....I'll risk a few cuts...besides, you got shiny on your collar instead of stripes on your arm...how tough can you be...
Ask the last man that got between me and a hot elven lass.
Except you can't, they don't exist. They know better, lol.
Ask the last man that got between me and a hot elven lass.
Except you can't, they don't exist. They know better, lol.
well call me stupid and color me dumb, cause I don't know no better.....
just don't call me Shirley
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