1591 réponses à ce sujet

[Andraste_Reborn]

But for what purpose? There really isn't any reason to abandon the LI balance that's been maintained through the series unless the developers intentionally wanted to inconvenience the players because...they could.

 

Before they got an extra year of development time, there were six romances planned for Inquisition: Cassandra, Blackwall, Iron Bull, Josephine, Dorian and Sera. Three men and three women, two straight, two bisexual and two gay. (Well, Bull is pansexual, but for game purposes it amounts to the same thing.) When they got the extra time, they added two more race-gated romances, Cullen and Solas.

 

As for why those two characters - everyone else in the inner circle was already a romance or unsuitable. Leliana might be involved with the Hero of Ferelden, and they weren't going to write here another romance storyline when she already had one in DAO. Vivienne and Varric are already spoken for. I suspect that Cullen and Solas are only straight and race-gated because the cinematic designers were still pushing it to get everything finished. (Iron Bull was originally going to be unvailable to dwarves, but John Epler is a saint and fixed him on his own time.)

[Fiery Phoenix]

Bioware confirmed at GaymerX last year that Anders, Fenris, Isabela, and Merrill are bisexual. 

I followed GaymerX closely last year and I don't recall hearing that. I imagine it would have made a big deal on this forum.

 

Regardless, if it's true and one of the writers actually confirmed it, then that closes the deal.

 

Except that, you really do think she is straight. Sugar coat it all you'd like, it is what it is. You will see what you want to see. Doesn't matter if I or anyone else comes up with 100 examples, you will always see her as "ambiguous" at best. 

No, I really don't. We know DA2's love interests were meant to be ambiguous from the start for the sake of availability to both genders, and in my opinion, Izzy worked just as intended. The fact that people have conflicting opinions of these characters' sexualities just proves BioWare's plan worked.

 

In the end, everyone is free to see things as they like. Izzy is one of my favorite characters in the series and her romance was really fun to play through (romanced her a couple of times with male and female Hawke). And while I thought she was generally represented as straight, I won't go out and call her bi or straight just yet. Not that it makes a difference. She's an amazing character regardless and I can't wait to see what's next for her.

[Jagged Orchid]

Umm DAI is mostly balanced except straight females getting 2 more options

 

This is very true. 

 

Going backward...

 

DA2 - Everything was mostly balance. Although a female Hawke did also get a sort of halfish romance with Sebastian. 

 

DAO - Straight Men got Morrigan and Leliana (2)

           Straight Women got Alistair and Zevran 

           Gay men got Zevran

           Lesbians got Leliana 

 

If we start looking at other BW games, I can give examples where straight males got almost all the options, while straight females got an option. Who cares about eeveryone else. So for once, the female pc gets more options than the male pc and it so unbalanced?

[Jagged Orchid]

No, I really don't. We know DA2's love interests were meant to be ambiguous from the start for the sake of availability to both genders, and in my opinion, Izzy worked just as intended. The fact that people have conflicting opinions of these character's sexualities just proves BioWare's plan worked.

 

In the end, everyone is free to see things as they like. Izzy is one of my favorite characters in the series and her romance was really fun to play through (romanced her a couple of times with male and female Hawke). And while I thought she was generally represented as straight, I won't go out and call her bi or straight just yet. Not that it makes a difference. She's an amazing character regardless and I can't wait to see what's next for her.

 

Except for Isabela, that really is NOT the case. Also, I'm done. Sorry I even bothered. You are convinced she is straight because you are flat out ignoring EVERY example people mention. And really, it does make a difference, but if you sleep easier at night thinking she is straight, so be it. 

[SardaukarElite]

The only thing that I can think of is that this was intentionally done for political reasons (sticking it to entitled straight male players (Gaider's comments reinforce this idea even more)) and as a response to the unbalanced treatment of Love Interests in Mass Effect 3 (Namely that Female Shepard was screwed with Male Shepard basically having his own Harem by comparison).

 

If BioWare was really hung up on scoring points for feminism they could have made a less ridiculous female walk animation.

[Aimi]

I suspect that Cullen and Solas are only straight and race-gated because the cinematic designers were still pushing it to get everything finished.

It's very difficult for me to imagine how a Solas romance could have even theoretically worked with anybody other than a female elf.

[Andraste_Reborn]

It's very difficult for me to imagine how a Solas romance could have even theoretically worked with anybody other than a female elf.

 

I think Solas being race-gated is probably for story reasons, but why not a male elf?

[Fiery Phoenix]

Except for Isabela, that really is NOT the case. Also, I'm done. Sorry I even bothered. You are convinced she is straight because you are flat out ignoring EVERY example people mention. And really, it does make a difference, but if you sleep easier at night thinking she is straight, so be it. 

Trust me, I understand and can see why you would think that's not the case for Isabela. I just don't quite agree because the examples given are dependent on configurations that may not be true for every playthrough/scenario and thus are not much to go by. 

 

However, Hanako Ikezawa said that someone confirmed she's bisexual at GaymerX last year. That slipped past my radar, but if it's true and it actually came out of the mouth of a writer, then that's a confirmation and I can't argue with it. And believe it or not, I would actually prefer Izzy to be written as bi, because she was open to both Hawke genders in DA2 and it would be weird to suddenly lock her out after how much people got attached to her.

[Jagged Orchid]

Trust me, I understand and can see why you would think that's not the case for Isabela. I just don't quite agree because the examples given are dependent on configurations that may not be true for every playthrough/scenario and thus are not much to go by. 

 

However, Hanako Ikezawa said that someone confirmed she's bisexual at GaymerX last year. That slipped past my radar, but if it's true and it actually came out of the mouth of a writer, then that's a confirmation and I can't argue with it. And believe it or not, I would actually prefer Izzy to be written as bi, because she was open to both Hawke genders in DA2 and it would be weird to suddenly lock her out after how much people got attached to her.

 

The way you are going on about her being straight, despite proof that she is not, kinda discredits everything you have to say. I could turn that argument around and make so many characters conically gay because they didn't wear their straight sign.

 

So like when I meet new people, If I don't explicitly state that I am a lesbian, does that make me straight? Better yet, If I do state my preference, but not everyone is around to hear it, does that somehow negate everything I've said?   Because, according to your logic, that is exactly the case.

[Fiery Phoenix]

So like when I meet new people, If I don't explicitly state that I am a lesbian, does that make me straight? Better yet, If I do state my preference, but not everyone is around to hear it, does that somehow negate everything I've said?   Because, according to your logic, that is exactly the case.

In real life, the answer is of course a resounding No to ever single one of those questions. In a video game with literally dozens of different possible scenarios, however, I generally expect more exposition and less ambiguity on such things. Since, per David Gaider, that's not how they wrote DA2's love interests, I am left with the impression that most of them can be anything you interpret them to be, that there is no right or wrong answer.

 

I mean, let's look at how DA:I works. You are able to know a companion's sexual orientation naturally through interacting with them. It's organic, and it's always the same thing regardless of the Inquisitor's gender. There are no question marks; it's directly visible to you. DA2 didn't do things that way; everyone was open in that game. It's just not as easy to draw solid conclusions when all you're given is half-answers and so many variables.

 

Again, I understand that others may not see it that way, and I respect that point of view. We were meant to interpret these characters however we wanted, and I think we all have equally valid arguments for and against every possible outcome.

[AlanC9]

No, I really don't. We know DA2's love interests were meant to be ambiguous from the start for the sake of availability to both genders, and in my opinion, Izzy worked just as intended.

This would explain bisexuality, not ambiguity. Sure, some of the Gamergate types complain about not having any purely straight women to date, and ambiguity might have helped them. But Bio's never shown any interest in catering to those folks.

Edit: FWIW, I agree that Merrill and Fenris really were written to be ambiguous. Or at least, were written to permit such an interpretation.

The fact that people have conflicting opinions of these character's sexualities just proves BioWare's plan worked.

You are literally the only person I've ever seen arguing here that Isabela was anything but obviously bisexual. Though in fairness, anyone who's been here since DA:O knew she was bisexual already, so you can maybe make a case that regardless of the character's known orientation, her DA2 presentation could be ambiguous if the player made all the right choices.

[Jagged Orchid]

Again, I understand that others may not see it that way, and I respect that point of view. We were meant to interpret these characters however we wanted, and I think we all have equally valid arguments for and against every possible outcome.

 

No, you don't. Dialog stating Isabela's bisexuality was linked to you. However, you discarded it since it doesn't trigger in every single playthrough. Sorry, but that doesn't make it any less real.

 

Anyway, I really am done now. You will continue to argue no matter what I or anyone else says. That and it's way past by bedtime. 

[CmnDwnWrkn]

I find Cassandra to be considerably more attractive than this lame-ass thread.

[Biotic Flash Kick]

doriann would be a butt pirate

[Legion of 1337]

Because Bioware doesn't repeat love interests, and they already filled their quota of 2 LIs per orientation. Of course they tossed the quota thing out the window when they added Cullen and Solas, but they're not for the heteromasculine scum so it's OK to do that I guess.

[Fiery Phoenix]

This would explain bisexuality, not ambiguity. Sure, some of the Gamergate types complain about not having any purely straight women to date, and ambiguity might have helped them. But Bio's never shown any interest in catering to those folks.

Edit: FWIW, I agree that Merrill and Fenris really were written to be ambiguous. Or at least, were written to permit such an interpretation.

You are literally the only person I've ever seen arguing here that Isabela was anything but obviously bisexual. Though in fairness, anyone who's been here since DA:O knew she was bisexual already, so you can maybe make a case that regardless of the character's known orientation, her DA2 presentation could be ambiguous if the player made all the right choices.

It's not exactly a totally original argument, though. I've seen quite a few others who share my point of view around here. More people understandably tend to think she is a bisexual character, but that's not really how I see it because I don't think it's that cut-and-dried.

 

The same issue has been debated so many times on the site since DA2's launch. As I said, it's just a consequence of DA2's approach to romances. There will always be disagreements on the love interests' sexual orientations.

 

No, you don't. Dialog stating Isabela's bisexuality was linked to you. However, you discarded it since it doesn't trigger in every single playthrough. Sorry, but that doesn't make it any less real.

 

Anyway, I really am done now. You will continue to argue no matter what I or anyone else says. That and it's way past by bedtime. 

Welp, at least we seem to understand each other's arguments. Not a terribly common sight on these forums.

 

It's actually well past my bedtime as well so I'm hopping off pretty soon. Night!

[KaiserShep]

I don't remember her flirting with my Lady Hawke on their first meeting. I do remember the Hayder bit, and you're right it does happen regardless of Hawke's gender. I didn't think it was much to go by, though. Honestly, it just looked like friendly teasing to me, which is something Izzy seems to like to do all the time even with her own enemies (except for the 'friendly' bit in the latter case ).

 

Subtlety is Isabela's greatest weakness.

[Panda]

Putting aside subjective and inherently flawed standards of physical beauty...

 

The OP does touch on a thought that I had.

 

Why are Inquisition's LI offerings so starkly unbalanced across gender preferences? Past games didn't have a problem with keeping a balance with the available love interests, so why was this outright abandoned for Inquisition?

 

The only thing that I can think of is that this was intentionally done for political reasons (sticking it to entitled straight male players (Gaider's comments reinforce this idea even more)) and as a response to the unbalanced treatment of Love Interests in Mass Effect 3 (Namely that Female Shepard was screwed with Male Shepard basically having his own Harem by comparison).

 

But for what purpose? There really isn't any reason to abandon the LI balance that's been maintained through the series unless the developers intentionally wanted to inconvenience the players because...they could.

 

I'd put in the same category as asking why the developers wanted to introduce race-gates to romance arcs when there's no benefit that comes out of it that you don't already have. It was put in because the developers wanted to put it in.

 

To directly answer the OP, another bisexual option in the form of a female character similar to Isabella would be good. And this is from someone who likes all of the LI's despite confusion and mistrust about the developers intentions and mindsets when determining Love Interest Availability.

 

Actually DAO was more uneven than DAI, in DAI everyone has at least 2 options no matter race and gender, when some Wardens have only 1 option in DAO and if they don't like it they have to be without romance.

 

DA2 also had one DLC companion, Sebastian, that tipped scales.

 

I think for purpose to having more LI's for straight female elf and human was that Bioware didn't really have more female characters to make romances, Leliana possiblu taken and Vivienne had lover so no available LI's for straight male Inquisitor and lesbian Inquisitor within advisors and companions.  And BW seems to write characters first, romances then. I'm guessing that because animation time issues they didn't make Cullen bisexual -although they intended first -to give gay males another option.

[AlanC9]

  And BW seems to write characters first, romances then.

They have said on multiple occasions that this is how they work, yes.

[Angry_Elcor]

Please no trolling

 

But then you wouldn't be able to post.

[Angry_Elcor]

And while I thought she was generally represented as straight, I won't go out and call her bi or straight just yet.

 

How many women does she have to sleep with for that to happen? From her dialogue, she sure seems to have slept with more women than men, so...

 

 

 

[Hanako Ikezawa]

I followed GaymerX closely last year and I don't recall hearing that. I imagine it would have made a big deal on this forum.

 

Regardless, if it's true and one of the writers actually confirmed it, then that closes the deal.

Trust me, it happened. I'm still depressed about Gaider saying that. 

[HuldraDancer]

Not sure why I'm joining this but more banter that does in fact show yes Isabela likes women too.

 

• Anders: I keep thinking I know you from somewhere...
• Isabela: You're Fereldan, right? Ever spend time at the Pearl?
• Anders: That's it!
• Anders: You used to really like that girl with the griffon tattoos, right? What was her name?
• Isabela: The Lay Warden?
• Anders: That's right! I think you were there the night I—
• Isabela: Oh! Were you the runaway mage who could do that electricity thing? That was nice...
• Hawke: Please stop talking. Now.

[KaiserShep]

Lol, the Lay Warden. That always put a smile on my face.