Your priorities are not the same with those of the writers, also what you propose will require a ridiculous amount of characters to include every class and sexual orientation (minimum 12 if not 15) and that's not counting personalities.
What is it I propose? I'd just like to see a little better distribution of romance options through the classes on the next go around. You are making all sorts of assumptions.
Nods to the class distribution issue. Unless someone did the research before making their character (and I know some people like to avoid all spoilers so this doesn't help everyone), it's easy to mess up having a viable party and the companions you want tagging along with your Inquisitor. It's difficult to imagine a perfect solution, but I might think that making the LIs mostly rogues or mages might be the best bet (since for me, personally, I find those two classes to be the most versatile). That likely wouldn't solve the problem for everyone, but I'm not really sure what the best way to go is :/
What is it I propose? I'd just like to see a little better distribution of romance options through the classes on the next go around. You are making all sorts of assumptions.
You want to distribute the romance through classes so you won't end up with 2 same class characters because you want to have your selected romance with you, right?
To make it work for any class and orientation for each class there would have be at least:
1 straight female warrior, 1 straight male warrior, 1 gay warrior, 1 lesbian warrior
1 straight female rogue, 1 straight male rogue, 1 gay rogue, 1 lesbian rogue
1 straight female mage, 1 straight male mage, 1 gay mage, 1 lesbian mage
(and we are not touching the bi option here at all)
This way you can have a rogue you can romance who is not lesbian and someone else can have a rogue that they can romance with according to preferred orientation and you all can bring a character to a party that is your romantic interest and who also compliments your party as a class.
Do you see where this leads? Is it not ridiculous?
I don't think the class distribution has been that bad. Although I also don't see an issue with having it uneven within a single game if the overall trend in the series is more even.
Straight guys: 1 warrior, 2 mages, 2 rogues, 1 NPC
Straight gals: 4 warriors, 2 mages, 2 rogues, 1 NPC
Gay guys: 2 warriors, 2 mages, 1 rogue, 0 NPCs
Lesbians: 0 warriors, 1 mage, 3 rogues, 1 NPC
If anything, I think that the lesbian options are the most uneven. I'd like to see lesbians get a warrior option at some point. I know that some have really been wanting that.
You want to distribute the romance through classes so you won't end up with 2 same class characters because you want to have your selected romance with you, right?
To make it work for any class and orientation for each class there would have be at least:
1 straight female warrior, 1 straight male warrior, 1 gay warrior, 1 lesbian warrior
1 straight female rogue, 1 straight male rogue, 1 gay rogue, 1 lesbian rogue
1 straight female mage, 1 straight male mage, 1 gay mage, 1 lesbian mage
(and we are not touching the bi option here at all)
This way you can have a rogue you can romance who is not lesbian and someone else can have a rogue that they can romance with an according orientation and you all can bring a character to a party that is your romantic interest and who also compliments your party as a class.
Do you see where this leads? Is it not ridiculous?
I'm not blind to the argument you are making but there is a lot of day light between what I'm saying and how you are representing it. It's an issue of scope. I think that the distribution we have seems loaded in a few places and light in others. I think with a little effort or forethought we could get a little better distribution of RIs. I don't expect it to ever be equal but I think we could do a bit better than what we have currently. I don't think that's an unreasonable expectation.
I'm not blind to the argument you are making but there is a lot of day light between what I'm saying and how you are representing it. It's an issue of scope. I think that the distribution we have seems loaded in a few places and light in others. I think with a little effort or forethought we could get a little better distribution of RIs. I don't expect it to ever be equal but I think we could do a bit better than what we have currently. I don't think that's an unreasonable expectation.
hmm? Do you mean the 3 warriors, 1 rogue, 2 mages thing? What difference 2 warriors, 2 rogues, 2 mages would make? There are 4 people in your party.
Plus outside of romance you have 3 warriors 3 rogues an 3 mages and people still sometimes run in what they see an imbalanced party.
hmm? Do you mean the 3 warriors, 1 rogue, 2 mages thing? What difference 2 warriors, 2 rogues, 2 mages would make? There are 4 people in your party.
Yes that's a part of it. It's compounded by the fact that the 3 warriors you can romance serve the majority preference or are bi and the Rogue and Mages are are either restrictive or serve so of the other preferences. Now there is nothing wrong with being inclusive but again, why not spread it around a little better. I'm sure gay or bi sexual people would like to romance a warrior.
Plus outside of romance you have 3 warriors 3 rogues an 3 mages and people still sometimes run in what they see an imbalanced party.
I'm not asking for even, I'm asking for less uneven.
Yes that's a part of it. It's compounded by the fact that the 3 warriors you can romance serve the majority preference or are bi and the Rogue and Mages are are either restrictive or serve so of the other preferences. Now there is nothing wrong with being inclusive but again, why not spread it around a little better. I'm sure gay or bi sexual people would like to romance a warrior.
I'm not asking for even, I'm asking for less uneven.
Unless they would make Cole romanceable (which ok, would be kind of weird situation) I'm not seeing how they could make it work in this particular setting. The only other option would be to either eliminate Bull (and have one less romance for gay guys in the process) or eliminate Blackwall (and leave Dwarf and Qunari females with Bull, which creates a problem of a different kind)
I doesn't work for the story they have written. No character in this story is there just to be there, they all play a role in the plot. The story comes first.
Yes that's a part of it. It's compounded by the fact that the 3 warriors you can romance serve the majority preference or are bi and the Rogue and Mages are are either restrictive or serve so of the other preferences. Now there is nothing wrong with being inclusive but again, why not spread it around a little better. I'm sure gay or bi sexual people would like to romance a warrior.
I doesn't work for the story they have written. No character in this story is there just to be there, they all play a role in the plot. The story comes first.
Right. While balance is a concern for Bio, it's very much a secondary concern. Given the way their process works, I don't think they can do any better with balance than they have.
Yes, the way I see it a lot of thought was given in this situation. It is a delicate matter as is.
Right. While balance is a concern for Bio, it's very much a secondary concern. Given the way their process works, I don't think they can do any better with balance than they have.
Yes, the way I see it a lot of thought was given in this situation. It is a delicate matter as is.
I don't understand your resistance. If Bioware could deliver quality romances AND spread out the choices, is it your opinion that they shouldn't do so?
I don't understand your resistance. If Bioware could deliver quality romances AND spread out the choices, is it your opinion that they shouldn't do so?
It is my opinion that romances and classes should not define characters, the story should define characters. I'm sorry, i'm not concerned much with combat technicalities, i play CRPG for the interactive narrative it offers.
I don't understand your resistance. If Bioware could deliver quality romances AND spread out the choices, is it your opinion that they shouldn't do so?
I don't really have a problem with the class thing - I pick my romance based on the character not their class.
But for such a long game, I would have liked to have seen more cutscenes / choices that actually mattered, and engaged with the characters more.
That and my intense hatred of the fully-clothed-fade-to-black technique they've been using since DA2 - I despise it, it ruins the moment, destroys the intimacy that you've spent sometimes hours cultivating (especially when you have to finish off personal quests first), which is why atmospherically, character-wise and story-wise, Origins is still my absolute hands down favourite of the three games. (Plus the romance music is just gorgeous in that game 
)
That and my intense hatred of the fully-clothed-fade-to-black technique they've been using since DA2 - I despise it, it ruins the moment, destroys the intimacy that you've spent sometimes hours cultivating (especially when you have to finish off personal quests first)
Well not all the characters go at it fully clothed 
Some of the romance scenes are rather raunchy for an AAA game
As before, my main Inquiz fits Cassandra perfectly. So the romances don't bother me.
I do recognize that there are too few and there are problems with them for other players, such as a darven male having almost nothing in common with his options, or a Dalish female basically having to forsake her own faith to make the match seem plausible. There are also the male characters who turn out to be something other than what you thought they were if you played as a female character.
The only way to solve this is with what I suggested before. Customizable romance character.
I just want to clarify something OP... are you saying that the class of the LI is one of your primary concerns when choosing an LI?
Fan fiction is the answer to all your problems...
From a mechanics point of view I think it wouldn't be too difficult to go in and have the companions setup with "preferences" rather than making them iron clad "must haves".
For example if Sera prefers female companionship then you'd only need to get to X amount of approval points to get her attention as a female character, but if your a male the option still exists - you just need more approval points to get there.
If Blackwell prefers elves or humans, well then X points and you can get his attention. But you'd need more to get him interested if your a Dwarf, for example. You could add in extra steps and more dialogue for the non-preferred characters, overcoming objections or even additional quests to complete.
You can vary these points as much as you'd like and even include things like character class to even make it more interesting. Cassandra would have a much easier time being romanced by a human fighter, for example, than she would an elf mage. That's not to say she can't fall for an elf mage, but it would take a lot more on his part to rise high enough in her esteem.
I do have to applaud the makers of the game though for including this, and three big thumbs up to however did the dialogue between Dorian and Iron Bull. I'm out wandering around, on my way to bust another rift - when Iron Bull starts hitting on Dorian. Came completely out of left field, caught me totally by surprise.
I literally had to pause the game I was laughing so hard. Priceless.
From a mechanics point of view I think it wouldn't be too difficult to go in and have the companions setup with "preferences" rather than making them iron clad "must haves".
For example if Sera prefers female companionship then you'd only need to get to X amount of approval points to get her attention as a female character, but if your a male the option still exists - you just need more approval points to get there.
Well that is not really realistic (and I know, this is a game, but BW strives for believable characters). I don't know about you, but no matter how much I like my male friends, I still would turn them down 
Objections and preferences are integral parts of the characters, just as ourselves. They wouldn't be the same characters anymore and having all of them (or majority of them) "bi" would not fit the game well in my opinion.
The only option that requires a Dalish to give up her beliefs is Sera, and that should have been pretty obvious from the start.
I don't like the idea of my class affecting whether I can get a romance, as that means I need to know who I'm romancing before I've even started the game...
The only option that requires a Dalish to give up her beliefs is Sera, and that should have been pretty obvious from the start.
I don't like the idea of my class affecting whether I can get a romance, as that means I need to know who I'm romancing before I've even started the game...
Did anyone request that?
Did anyone request that?
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