I actually really liked Cassandra's character development, in her friendship arc at least. I agree about Merrill and Bethany completely. If only she wasn't Hawke's sister...
I could say the same for Carver... 
And Aveline... Oh! Aveline why must you be immune to my Hawke's charms... T_T
Oh those copper marigolds...
And no, you don't get to romance your sister. Let it go. Bioware isn't going to do an incest storyline. Ick.
The Bethany thing reminds me of the Imoen fiasco of yesteryear. XD lol
I loved flirting with Aveline. Completely over her head.
Ikr? That whole quest was priceless!
I loved flirting with Aveline. Completely over her head.
Ikr? That whole quest was priceless!
My favorite quest in all three games. Absolutely the most fun I've had playing a cracked Cupid.
... Bethany is kinda like Liara.... maybe OP should go play ME.
My point was that as a hetero male, Romance boils down to just two choices: Isabela and Merrill, both of which have some serious psychological flaws. The first is a self-centered good time girl and the latter firmly believes that unlike every other blood mage, she alone "can handle it" and doesn't even consider the consequences of failure on her part in regards to how it affects others. (Just like every other junkie addict when they first start out.) Both are VERY unappealing. As a female hetero character, there are at least more choices, though most are still rather unappealing. Sebastian at least passes for a Nice Guy, provided you ignore the fact that ultimately he is a religious fundamentalist fanatic (the Maker be praised).
If the player is so shallow that just hopping in the sack is all they are looking for, "Romance" in DA2 is fine. But if one's idea of Romance is to have a meaningful relationship to go along with the physicality, then forget it. BioWare seems to be endorsing the moral ethics of a simplistic Hook Up society. As in, "What does Love have to do with anything?"
'As a hetero male'? Get of your damn high horse buddy. You mean: 'In my opinion'...
My favorite quest in all three games. Absolutely the most fun I've had playing a cracked Cupid.
With choices like this, I'm surprised that they didn't add a little incest with Bethany. At least she's a nice person. Certainly a lot more appealing than any of the other Romance candidates.
OTP.
The Bethany thing reminds me of the Imoen fiasco of yesteryear. XD lol
Never understood that one. Im mean, they arent technically related, so it doesnt matter?
When I went onto the DA forum just now, I saw the title "Romance Sucks For Straight..." and I just knew it finished with 'males'. Though I did a double-take and laughed when I saw it was the DA2 subforum, not DAI.
Same complaints just go round and around. Often has the same issue too: a straight guy thinks he's being cheated out of options, and incorrectly presumes that because he doesn't like his options, all straight men dislike their options. Which obviously isn't true, loads of guys love Isabela and Merrill. Just like loads of guys love Cass and Josephine. Being picky doesn't mean the options are bad.
Bioware's hypocrisy is funny in this regard.
"We better have maximum inclusion and have gay characters everywhere you look! Gotta keep every minority happy and inclusive!"
"...But what about straight males?"
"GO DIE IN A HOLE CIS SCUM. You don't matter!"
Yeah, but DA2's still the weirdest one to make this complaint about, since no one, save Sebastian, is exclusive to either gender. The OP can't really establish how Isabela and Merrill are better for females than they are for males.
Bioware's hypocrisy is funny in this regard.
"We better have maximum inclusion and have gay characters everywhere you look! Gotta keep every minority happy and inclusive!"
"...But what about straight males?"
"GO DIE IN A HOLE CIS SCUM. You don't matter!"
Couple of things here. First, straight and cis are NOT the same thing. Secondly, all the DA2 LIs are bi except for Sebastian.
Which actually brings me to an issue I've seen discussed elsewhere. In Origins, the two bi romances (Leliana and Zevran) each have a conversation specific to a same-sex love interest. (Zevran also has a conversation track in an opposite sex romance where he mentions being bi. Leliana may, as well, but I haven't seen it.) In DA2, Anders is the only companion I've seen who brings it up. The others... I haven't done a same-sex relationship with Isabela or Merrill, admittedly, so I can't speak for them. Fenris' reticence makes a certain amount of sense, given his background, but it's still the sort of thing I would expect him to bring up before jumping into bed with a male Hawke.
Maybe Bioware should consider special narratives for not choosing a romantic interest. You can still earn loyalty points.
Cool, that's fair enough about Cass and Josie - you shouldn't feel bad about having an opinion!
Neither would be the type of girl I'd go for myself. However I'm rather attached to romance in my BioWare RPGs, especially the novelty of having a gay one, so I pursued Josephine. She doesn't come near Leliana or Isabela at all.
I actually really liked Cassandra's character development, in her friendship arc at least. I agree about Merrill and Bethany completely. If only she wasn't Hawke's sister...
I got a lot of hate for my views in past threads about Inquisition.
Is this mentioning of Bethany due to the idea that she's the only female virgin in the game? I don't think she is.
How does it suck?
Well, I have the flu right now. So everything sucks.
Bioware's hypocrisy is funny in this regard.
"We better have maximum inclusion and have gay characters everywhere you look! Gotta keep every minority happy and inclusive!"
"...But what about straight males?"
"GO DIE IN A HOLE CIS SCUM. You don't matter!"
-5/10
-5/10
You saw the splash this one made on the Sera thread, right?
You saw the splash this one made on the Sera thread, right?
Oh I was there lol
You saw the splash this one made on the Sera thread, right?
Oooh, that sounds interesting, do tell
Responding to several posts in the thread.
I brought this subject back up because in anticipation of DA:I, which purportedly links the decisions of DA:O and DA2 and creates a personalized backstory to DA:I, I went back and replayed the two earlier games. That freshened the memory of just how disappointing Romance options in Dragon Age is. As someone said, its seems that ALL choices are bad choices. Really, under any circumstances, are any of the LI candidates someone that anyone in their right minds would want to grow old with into their golden years? Wham, bam, and move on to the next hook up is more like it. And since these are the ONLY kinds of choices BioWare has put forward, whether they say it explicitly or not, it is an endorsement of the Hook Up lifestyle. Don't look for True Love because in Reality, it simply doesn't exist. Mr Right becomes Mr Right Now. There is no "The One" anyone was "meant" to be with.
As for the Chantry not being analogous to any Real Life religion, why is that? Sword & Sorcery Fantasy is usually loosely based on Dark Ages/Middle Ages European society with the aspect that Magic works, with all of the societal implications of that highly significant Given. It therefore follows that any resident religion would have generally similar policies, even if the specific details were drastically different. One of the foundation principles of most human religions is the idea that Mankind should "be fruitful and multiply". Homosexuality by its very nature deters that policy: humans don't make babies when cavorting with people of the same gender. At most, formal religions turn a blind eye towards homosexuality, and I can not think of _any_ that go so far as to endorse the practice. In societies like Ancient Greece, the Society may have readily tolerated homosexuality, but aside from party hard deities like Bacchus, most deities don't go so far as to say that it's a Good Thing. So Thedas being more or less analogous to Dark Ages Europe, I would expect a similarly analogous religion structure. Several have pointed out that the Chantry doesn't prohibit homosexuality, but is there anywhere that the Chantry _permits_ homosexuality? If neither policy is stated, it can NOT be safely concluded that the Chantry is pro or con on the subject. It's something that just has not been defined. Deliberately, I believe. If BioWare had declared one way or another on the subject, it would have alienated either homophobic customers if the Chantry boldly states, "We're fine with it" or homosexual customers that take umbrage at their chosen lifestyle being condemned. To a business, it's better to say _nothing_ than it is to take sides when such a decision WILL reduce Sales.
All this aside, the whole purpose of replaying DAO and DA2 proved to be a waste now that it has become impossible for me to log in to the Origin servers when starting DAI. If I want to play the game, I MUST use the Default World Setting. So Romance in the Default is, I believe, no love life for the hero, and this whole discussion is moot. Still, I just feel it would have been nice if BioWare had included some choices that weren't hopelessly emotionally and/or mentally scarred.
If you're still calling the early medieval period "the dark ages", you don't know what you're talking about.
That's all.
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