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[Winged Silver]

I really thought Bioware showed a lot of improvement with ability to become involved with one of your companions. Both in terms of realism (no tighty whities) and overall maturity (the specific example I would cite would be of the case where Josephine remarks that you've only known each other for a few months, though I haven't played her story yet myself, so if anyone can confirm, that'd be great), each character was well developed, interesting, and even surprising (I tried to avoid as many spoilers as possible before playing, but I found myself intrigued and surprised by how some of the characters acted).

 

However, on my third playthrough, one issue I thought might be worth commenting on would be the overall pacing of these things.

 

Understandably, different individuals will react to romantic overtures in different ways - some will respond quickly and eagerly, others might take a little convincing, and others might act even differently. But for the sake of showing a sense of development, I think it's worth taking into consideration that even after what some might call the "big moment" (essentially, whatever scene changes the associated tarot card), conversations should continue in some degree.

 

I'm going to cite my own personal experiences here, feel free to jump in with yours, or if you think/know I missed something (totally possible due to errors on my own parts/glitches in the game (that third Solas mission anyone?)

 

The Iron Bull:

So far, I've found his story to be the most well paced. That being said, I did mess up and not select the "continue romance" option for a long portion of the game, so it wouldn't surprise me if other players found his story done very quickly. Even so, I thought the way there were multiple scenes, not all just related to romance, sprinkled fairly evenly throughout was a good touch, and the fact that it didn't start/end in an extremely short time span was much appreciated.

 

Solas

So far, I've personally liked Solas' arc the best, but I'd also argue it had some of the bigger issues. Despite taking him everywhere, there was a strangely awkward gap in new conversational material from him in the second half of the game. Looking back, I have to say it felt like the story took him and my Lavellan from her room immediately to that one scene. In between, there wasn't a whole lot of conversation. I was especially surprised on how little (re:none) he had to say on getting to walk physically into the Fade. From all of my companions, I really would have expected to hear more from him. One thing I did really like that the developers did with him was allow your Lavellan to jump into a conversation he and Cole were having regarding the nature of your relationship. I've always enjoyed hearing the gossip my companions say about my characters, so I really enjoyed that. 

 

Dorian (total playthrough is incomplete)

So I haven't finished the whole game with him yet, but I've gotten to a point where his tarot card has changed, so I'll try to make a brief comment here. Perhaps it's my fault for somewhat gunning for him from hour 1, but his arc seemed to go by remarkably fast. It's possible there's more to come, or that I haven't yet explored all his options, I just felt somewhat surprised by how quickly I reached the "committed" point (assuming that is indeed where the tarot cards change), considering on my last playthrough with Solas his tarot card didn't change until after the Arbor Wilds (almost the end of the game).

 

So given all this, how do other companions compare? I can only think that setting certain conversational romantic turning points after certain points in the main story might help a bit with showing the passage of time, and making sure to have fairly regular intervals between conversations to show a sense of regularity as your character seemingly grows closer to their intended LI. Just some thoughts though.

 

What do you think?

[AlexiaRevan]

Hum...

 

Its about the same . 

 

I romanced Sera . And was afraid we will get some crappy sex scene . It was awesome instead !

 

And then after that ...I though that was it ya know . But there was moreeeeee! So that was even better !

 

And it ended well..all happy and sappy ............and I Love it !

 

And the companions comment on everyone romance . I heard so far Cass talking about it and Iron Bull . Gotta hear them all though 

[Chinadrgn]

Yes to what you said. Not enough face time with Solas, I.B. just stayed silent for me for a long while after Sky Hold, never received the final quest for Dorian even though I ALWAYS stopped in to interact with the character when I was in S.K. and just not enough content with anyone else. Although, Solas was the WORST concerning lack of content.

[Winged Silver]

I think we can all agree that more content is never bad 

 

I almost think a safe general rule is to have at least some sort of new line thrown in after every major event (come on, if they care enough to "greatly disapprove" they can justify themselves), and maybe one or two random-esque conversations (such as Varric and playing cards). And then a couple of LI related conversations perhaps. I did adore seeing a group of my companions playing Wicked Grace. That was just a lot of fun. 

[Mes]

Romanced Cullen first - I thought there was plenty of content. I was surprised, happy, melting all over myself... yeah. It was great. 

 

Did Solas second. For all his popularity here, there really is a huge gaping hole of NOTHINGNESS in between a couple of his scenes. Yes you could take him around with you (unlike Cullen), but personally I didn't think that was enough.

 

Anyone have thoughts on the Cassandra romance? I'm doing that one now.

[SardaukarElite]

I think considering that the player basically controls the main story's progression the romances were paced well and the content had a nice distribution throughout the story.

 

My main complaint is that it can be quite easy to trigger a big block of content all at once if you accidentally save it up or simply unlock the triggers for several scenes at once. But that is the same as most optional content in the game, and I'm not sure you can avoid it without greater control of the main story's progression.

 

I think we can all agree that more content is never bad 

 

That's the logic that lead to requisitions being a thing.

[Winged Silver]

My main complaint is that it can be quite easy to trigger a big block of content all at once if you accidentally save it up or simply unlock the triggers for several scenes at once. But that is the same as most optional content in the game, and I'm not sure you can avoid it without greater control of the main story's progression.

 

Agreed. Managed to get both those situations I think ^.^ lucky me.

[In Exile]

Romanced Cullen first - I thought there was plenty of content. I was surprised, happy, melting all over myself... yeah. It was great.

Did Solas second. For all his popularity here, there really is a huge gaping hole of NOTHINGNESS in between a couple of his scenes. Yes you could take him around with you (unlike Cullen), but personally I didn't think that was enough.

Anyone have thoughts on the Cassandra romance? I'm doing that one now.

The Cassandra romance has the most hilariously endearing romance scene, I think. There's a quest leading up to it that's just... it's so perfect.

That said, I think it does have pacing issues in that I think it's best saved until after you deal with the Orlesian Civil War. The flirts related to it are IMO better than the in a romance related supports.

[Maverick827]

I've always felt like romances in these games have to involve a lot of head cannon to work.  It takes days, weeks even to travel long distances in a medieval world (we're taking day trips to other countries, but it just doesn't work like that), so I've always just assumed the bulk of the relationship building happens on the road with your companions.  Not to mention the actual questing parts.

 

This is why romancing characters you don't actively use in your party and romancing non-companions has always seemed weird to me.  Realistically, there would be months at a time where you wouldn't see anyone at Skyhold at all.  Then you'd travel back to Skyhold for a week before setting out to start another months-long campaign.

[hostaman]

 

 

Anyone have thoughts on the Cassandra romance? I'm doing that one now.

 

SPOILERS AHEAD

 

I initially hated Cassandra due to the dodgy accent, but I started taking her on Quests and realised she was the strongest character for me.  I now always take her along.

 

I initially thought she was unobtainable (i don't read spoilers) so I romanced Josephine, but then Cassandra started to show a soft side under the hard exterior (and she seemed to approve of everything I said).

 

I'm glad I romanced her, she's awesome.  And I got to 3rd base with Jo from Spooks (MI5) 

[BlueLynx]

There was not enough content for Solas.  My problem with it was that I had to progress through the main story to progress my relationship, there was very little dialogue or anything else in between, I greatly missed this, out of my anticipation to see what happens between him and levallan I was going through the main story to quickly.

 

I also wish he was more involved in conversations (questing, missions etc)   Even though it was a beautiful and deep romance, full of emotion and meaning, the maturity and realism being shown to these relationships makes me so happy to see, companions in whom you can speak with twice, then it turns into a sex scene, is tasteless and dull, I have been so pleased with inquisition romance in those aspects, also !  I noticed when speaking with Cullin over a game of chess he mentions Solas after you choose romance dialogue.  I love that.  It would be interesting to see some jealousy mixed into the cinamatics/romances also.

 

by the way, was anyone else annoyed with levallan's simple dialogue of "I would like to speak about what happened before" in such a business like tone? after the final romance scene between them when it ends in heartache.  I hope they improve some of these things in the future.

[Efvie]

This is a fairly big problem, in my opinion. A huge part of it is that the games happen in such a condensed timeline*. Sure, sometimes it’s… something at first sight (which actually would be kind of cool to see in a game too) but more often it’ll take weeks or months for feelings to develop. Add complications such as the end of the world etc.

 

Another issue is that BioWare romances tend to focus on Big Scenes—although fortunately it’s no longer really about the Sex Prize, which means there’s few of them.

 

I, on the other hand, would love to see more of the small things. The flirt options were great (although even better if you could’ve used some outside conversations). Some ideas that come to mind to deepen the relationships with little extra work:

 

— Campsite/tavern time with people. Could be as simple as ‘sit next to Cassandra tonight’, then some generic, non-audible cutscene of talking with each other. (This, by the way, would work wonders for other companions too).

 

— Your LI being there to greet you when you get back to base, if they didn’t travel with you. (Obviously might depend on personality, but most probably would.)

 

— Small, seamless affections. Sure, you can go through dialogues to invite Josie for some private time, but what if instead each time you ended a conversation with her she’d just reach out to touch your hand?

 

— The lover in your quarters. An optional night cycle or invite mechanism or certain events could trigger nights, or mornings, with the LI tucking you in or staying in bed while you get up. Or in the case of Josie, probably the other way around.

 

More VA work and more dialogues would be fantastic, but small things could bring more meaning, and more importantly meaning whose significance is easier for the player to interpret as they like.

 

 

 

 

* Actually DA2 would for obvious reasons have had wonderful opportunity to let the relationships develop during those intervening years.

[Winged Silver]

This is a fairly big problem, in my opinion. A huge part of it is that the games happen in such a condensed timeline*. Sure, sometimes it’s… something at first sight (which actually would be kind of cool to see in a game too) but more often it’ll take weeks or months for feelings to develop. Add complications such as the end of the world etc.

 

Another issue is that BioWare romances tend to focus on Big Scenes—although fortunately it’s no longer really about the Sex Prize, which means there’s few of them.

 

I, on the other hand, would love to see more of the small things. The flirt options were great (although even better if you could’ve used some outside conversations). Some ideas that come to mind to deepen the relationships with little extra work:

 

— Campsite/tavern time with people. Could be as simple as ‘sit next to Cassandra tonight’, then some generic, non-audible cutscene of talking with each other. (This, by the way, would work wonders for other companions too).

 

— Your LI being there to greet you when you get back to base, if they didn’t travel with you. (Obviously might depend on personality, but most probably would.)

 

— Small, seamless affections. Sure, you can go through dialogues to invite Josie for some private time, but what if instead each time you ended a conversation with her she’d just reach out to touch your hand?

 

— The lover in your quarters. An optional night cycle or invite mechanism or certain events could trigger nights, or mornings, with the LI tucking you in or staying in bed while you get up. Or in the case of Josie, probably the other way around.

 

More VA work and more dialogues would be fantastic, but small things could bring more meaning, and more importantly meaning whose significance is easier for the player to interpret as they like.

 

 

 

 

* Actually DA2 would for obvious reasons have had wonderful opportunity to let the relationships develop during those intervening years.

This would be really cool. It doesn't have to be a lot, just some little things that remind you that hey you're actually in the relationship. I thought the way they let you dance with your LI at the Masquerade was a really nice example of that little something extra that showed affection between the two characters, but wasn't a full blown scene-of-great-import. More things like that would be really cool. 

[In Exile]

I've always felt like romances in these games have to involve a lot of head cannon to work. It takes days, weeks even to travel long distances in a medieval world (we're taking day trips to other countries, but it just doesn't work like that), so I've always just assumed the bulk of the relationship building happens on the road with your companions. Not to mention the actual questing parts.

This is why romancing characters you don't actively use in your party and romancing non-companions has always seemed weird to me. Realistically, there would be months at a time where you wouldn't see anyone at Skyhold at all. Then you'd travel back to Skyhold for a week before setting out to start another months-long campaign.

I think the way DAI is set up the vast majority of your time as Inquisitor is really spent doing mundane management at Skyhold.

[Fialka]

Agree with the Solas thing, though it's the same whether you romance him or not. There's this huge chunk of time where he has nothing to say, vs. say, Cassandra, who seemed to have a cutscene almost every time I went to talk to her. If you romance him its even more alienating. Solas is supposed to have another quest, though, but it's bugged and doesn't trigger, so maybe that's why there's a gap.

Also, I think Dorian, who I haven't romanced, has a similar issue. I feel like I exhausted 90% of his dialogue about a quarter of the way into the game. He gets some war table missions, but that isn't really the same. I love his character, so it was kind of disappointing.

[nightscrawl]

Dorian (total playthrough is incomplete)
So I haven't finished the whole game with him yet, but I've gotten to a point where his tarot card has changed, so I'll try to make a brief comment here. Perhaps it's my fault for somewhat gunning for him from hour 1, but his arc seemed to go by remarkably fast. It's possible there's more to come, or that I haven't yet explored all his options, I just felt somewhat surprised by how quickly I reached the "committed" point (assuming that is indeed where the tarot cards change), considering on my last playthrough with Solas his tarot card didn't change until after the Arbor Wilds (almost the end of the game).

I think the Dorian romance arc is fast paced, perhaps by design**, and it's very easy to culminate it (with the quarters sex/no-sex and commitment scene) quickly. I adore this romance, but I do wish that the amulet quest was forced to trigger after completing either Here Lies the Abyss (Adamant) or Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts (Halamshiral).

Of course it doesn't help that I have a level of paranoia about his quests bugging out, so I ignore Varric after arriving at Skyhold and run around with Dorian until everything triggers. This is a bug forcing me to play the game in a particular way that I might be able to avoid otherwise if the bug didn't exist.



** Dorian himself says that Tevinters "care deeply, about everything," and have no reservations, "not in war, and not in love." Dorian is a passionate person, both in his feelings about Tevinter and its problems and his feelings about the Inquisitor, so in that regard it does make sense that the romance would progress quickly.

[phaonica]

This is why I purposefully don't exhaust everyone's dialog options as soon as possible.