In real life, which they keep saying they're trying to portray with their inclusivity people do have preferences. None of us get to date who we want because we want to or else I'd be married to Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) right now.
Unfortunately, he doesn't like it when I break into his home as a sign of love and affection.
The thing about Cullen's race-gating is that he's willing to romance a Dalish elf. As far as I know, he makes no objection to her being 'elfy' and believing in the Creators, either. Meanwhile, he won't look twice at your dwarf or qunari even if they're a devout Andrastian. So as far as we can tell, he's just not into women who are significantly taller or shorter than he is.
(Which is fine. I just don't think the 'Cullen thinks dwarves and qunari are heathens and that's why he won't romance them' argument holds water.)
Yes, it all comes down to preferences. I know plenty of girls who won't date men who are short because they themselves are tall. Could be Cullen doesn't like horns or the stalky look of dwarves. So he's a bit racist? Like I said, Chantry boy, not surprised.
Yeah the gates in DA:I just felt tacked on, especially Cullen's. I mean you can flirt with him as a man and he turns you down which feels more natural but as a Qunari or Dwarf woman you can't even attempt it, why? The only race preference that felt natural was Sera's and she's not even gated.
Guest_Draken_*
See, my problem with this, is that you have now completely changed the character! That might all work for someone who isn't Solas, and that would be a great romance with a lot of replayability that wouldn't need to be race-gated. I'm all for Bioware writing something like that in the future! But Solas doesn't see the other races as inferior, and doesn't blame humans for what happened to elves. He doesn't dismiss the Dalish because they descended from "inferior" slaves, he dismisses them because they turned him away when he appeared to them as Fen'Harel and told them the truth. So I just can't see there ever being as much conflict/drama for the other races, no matter what Bioware wrote. I'd rather have the romance race-gated if it will make it better - which I think it did in this case!
Huh weird. I see Solas in a totally different way than you do. And I wasn't saying that he would call other races inferior. I was saying that he would compare the inferiority of the elves (established by humans) to the inferiority of the other races - established by their superiors. 
My female qunari was actually able to flirt with him. I don't know if that was supposed to happen or not, but it did.
Weird, my Dwarf didn't even have the option.
If they remove race gating, they should remove sex gating as well.
Huh weird. I see Solas in a totally different way than you do. And I wasn't saying that he would call other races inferior. I was saying that he would compare the inferiority of the elves (established by humans) to the inferiority of the other races - established by their superiors.
Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean here. Whilst I think Solas has some flaws with how he sees various races (he seems to think the various races "should" act a certain way), I don't think he views any of them as "inferior". But then you said you don't either... Sorry, I think I'm mis-reading what you wrote! I'm not sure what you mean about other races and their superiors... I don't think the dwarves or qunari or humans have/have had "superiors"?
Even if they do, Solas seems to hate that sort of stuff, so I don't really see any drama there...
Or I could just be being really stupid here and misunderstanding you... Sorry if I am!
My female qunari was actually able to flirt with him. I don't know if that was supposed to happen or not, but it did.
Weird, my Dwarf didn't even have the option.
I think she's referring to the creepy smile all inquisitors can give him in Haven. He gives the "thanks, but no thanks" line after that when you flirt with him further as a qunari, dwarf or male.
I think she's referring to the creepy smile all inquisitors can give him in Haven. He gives the "thanks, but no thanks" line after that when you flirt with him further as a qunari, dwarf or male.
Maybe it was my game that was glitched, I never had any flirt option as a female Dwarf though I had the one that resulted in the famous creepy smile (the one about wanting to hear his speech I think) as a male human and a male elf, don't remember about male Qunari and I never played a female Qunari.
I'll come out in support of race gating
If they remove race gating, they should remove sex gating as well.
I'm for that.
Maybe it was my game that was glitched, I never had any flirt option as a female Dwarf though I had the one that resulted in the famous creepy smile (the one about wanting to hear his speech I think) as a male human and a male elf, don't remember about male Qunari and I never played a female Qunari.
The only way you can "continue" to flirt with Cullen as a male, dwarf or qunari is if you ignore the post creepy smile flirt options, specifically, the "Are you with anyone question" question at Haven. If you ignore that question, then you can then flirt with him during the chess match at Skyhold, or at random other points, but he will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS shut you down the second time you flirt with him (as a qunari/dwarf/male).
I don't know why but Cassandra lets women flirt with her for longer than Cullen lets "heathens" or men flirt with him.
The only way you can "continue" to flirt with Cullen as a male, dwarf or qunari is if you ignore the post creepy smile flirt options, specifically, the "Are you with anyone question" question at Haven. If you ignore that question, then you can then flirt with him during the chess match at Skyhold, or at random other points, but he will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS shut you down the second time you flirt with him (as a qunari/dwarf/male).
I don't know why but Cassandra lets women flirt with her for longer than Cullen lets "heathens" or men flirt with him.
Maybe she's oblivious like Aveline? (Aveline y u no love me? T_T )
The thing about Cullen's race-gating is that he's willing to romance a Dalish elf. As far as I know, he makes no objection to her being 'elfy' and believing in the Creators, either. Meanwhile, he won't look twice at your dwarf or qunari even if they're a devout Andrastian. So as far as we can tell, he's just not into women who are significantly taller or shorter than he is.
They're not much of a "dalish" elf if they're willing to get knocked up by Cullen, so the point is rather moot no? Turning her for the Maker he is 
I didn't mind the race gating. I was wondering how it would turn out, but it just comes across that Cullen has his preferences for what he finds attractive and Solas... well, if you're paying any attention at all to who he actually seems to be, there really is no question why he's interested only in elves. I'm glad for that in his case specifically because the trope of "one true love changed my mind" with a human or something would just not feel sensible to that sort of character.
Sometimes, people just aren't into you. At least with a game like this we can roll up what they ARE into if we want the romantic experience anyway and not diminish ourselves to do it.
I am for companion romantic preference gating, whatever it might be, so long it makes sense.
Guest_Draken_*
Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean here. Whilst I think Solas has some flaws with how he sees various races (he seems to think the various races "should" act a certain way), I don't think he views any of them as "inferior". But then you said you don't either... Sorry, I think I'm mis-reading what you wrote! I'm not sure what you mean about other races and their superiors... I don't think the dwarves or qunari or humans have/have had "superiors"?
Even if they do, Solas seems to hate that sort of stuff, so I don't really see any drama there...
Or I could just be being really stupid here and misunderstanding you... Sorry if I am!
Well yeah! The common dwarves with the facial markings were inferior to the dwarves in higher castes. The qunari mages were inferior to non-mage qunari. They were chained!
I'm just not that impressed with the race gating. I understand that it's partially an issue with programming because of the varying racial sizes, so on that front, I get it. It's more work to animate romances with four races, each of which are a different size. But from a story perspective, it just hasn't done anything to impress me. I've not romanced either Cullen or Solas (because I prefer not to play humans or elves, if given a chance), so I can't speak of what the actual romance is like. But I've played the game as a female dwarf and there's really nothing that indicates that either guy shouldn't be interested in her. In both cases, without metagaming, I wouldn't even know that they were romance options for humans and elves, which is fine. But my understanding is that neither are really ever given reasons why they are race-gated.
Solas kind of makes sense knowing what happens at the end, but it's not really clear in the game. I know that people say it's because Solas is pro-elf, but when you don't romance him, he actually comes across the opposite. I just redid the Winter Palace quest and afterwards apologized to him for not doing more to help Briala and the elves and he was like, "Oh because I'm an elf, well aren't you just a little bit racist......" (slightly exaggerated paraphrase). So I never got the impression from him that he was all pro-elf. Perhaps this comes out if you play as an elf? For Cullen, he just gives the "I'm afraid I can only offer you friendship." line. Neither of those cases really impressed me or added any realism. It just seems arbitrary.
The argument that people have preferences in real life seems pretty lame, to be honest. What next? Hair color gating? Skin color gating? I mean, it's realistic, right? Maybe if it were implemented in a way that mattered at all, I'd feel differently. But for now, it just seems like an arbitrary restriction with no meaning and a bunch of people offering lame excuses as to why it makes the game better. I would certainly not miss race gating in the next game, unless it meant something for the story.
I know that people say it's because Solas is pro-elf,
Nah...it's because of the tattoo.
With Cullen from the in-game perspective you can see it as him not being interested in you specifically as a person, which is actually not a bad motive.
Nah...it's because of the tattoo.
With Cullen from the in-game perspective you can see it as him not being interested in you specifically as a person, which is actually not a bad motive.
I'm not sure what you mean by 'because of the tattoo' (and that's fine, because I will figure that out if I ever do a lady elf), but I'll assume that this means that they explain in the Solas romance why he's only into elf ladies and it has to do with having the Dalish tattoo? If so, then that is totally satisfactory to me. That's really all I'm hoping for: some in game explanation outside of just "meh, not my thing....."
For Cullen, that's just not terribly compelling. It adds nothing to the character for me. It's fine that people have preferences (I still side eye the whole "doesn't matter how ugly the human is, I'm always up for it; doesn't matter how gorgeous and awesome the dwarf is, I'm never interested" thing, but whatever). It just feels like a cop out and the fact that there's no explanation for it is really kind of annoying. I'm not against gating, but this random race-gating with no explanation just doesn't do anything for me.
I also wonder if most of the people who are in favor of it would still be in favor of it if they created a really awesome LI who was only into dwarves and qunari for "reasons".
I'm not sure what you mean by 'because of the tattoo' (and that's fine, because I will figure that out if I ever do a lady elf), but I'll assume that this means that they explain in the Solas romance why he's only into elf ladies and it has to do with having the Dalish tattoo? If so, then that is totally satisfactory to me. That's really all I'm hoping for: some in game explanation outside of just "meh, not my thing....."
For Cullen, that's just not terribly compelling. It adds nothing to the character for me. It's fine that people have preferences (I still side eye the whole "doesn't matter how ugly the human is, I'm always up for it; doesn't matter how gorgeous and awesome the dwarf is, I'm never interested" thing, but whatever). It just feels like a cop out and the fact that there's no explanation for it is really kind of annoying. I'm not against gating, but this random race-gating with no explanation just doesn't do anything for me.
I also wonder if most of the people who are in favor of it would still be in favor of it if they created a really awesome LI who was only into dwarves and qunari for "reasons".
The argument that people have preferences in real life seems pretty lame, to be honest. What next? Hair color gating? Skin color gating? I mean, it's realistic, right? Maybe if it were implemented in a way that mattered at all, I'd feel differently. But for now, it just seems like an arbitrary restriction with no meaning and a bunch of people offering lame excuses as to why it makes the game better. I would certainly not miss race gating in the next game, unless it meant something for the story.
Why not hair color gating? You don't know people with a preference for <x> hair color? People have "types"...most people. Skin color gating, well obviously that happens. These people feel less like non-entities and more real when they have opinions and actions that are in fact outside your control - which is what you want to be able to say I want to romance <x> therefore it will happen. Sorry, I like all kinds of preferences and biases in these folks because everyone I know has biases and preferences.
Man, I can only imagine how you're like when someone turns you down. A person who's not interested in another doesn't have to give them a long description on why they're not interested.
There's a huge difference between a game where the character has had an entire story-line created specifically around being an LI and real life. I'm not saying that it's not realistic. I'm saying that it adds nothing for me personally.
Why not hair color gating? You don't know people with a preference for <x> hair color? People have "types"...most people. Skin color gating, well obviously that happens. These people feel less like non-entities and more real when they have opinions and actions that are in fact outside your control - which is what you want to be able to say I want to romance <x> therefore it will happen. Sorry, I like all kinds of preferences and biases in these folks because everyone I know has biases and preferences.
I suspect most people in favor of race gating would not be in favor of hair color and skin color gating.
I'm not sure what you mean by 'because of the tattoo' (and that's fine, because I will figure that out if I ever do a lady elf), but I'll assume that this means that they explain in the Solas romance why he's only into elf ladies and it has to do with having the Dalish tattoo? If so, then that is totally satisfactory to me. That's really all I'm hoping for: some in game explanation outside of just "meh, not my thing....."
For Cullen, that's just not terribly compelling. It adds nothing to the character for me. It's fine that people have preferences (I still side eye the whole "doesn't matter how ugly the human is, I'm always up for it; doesn't matter how gorgeous and awesome the dwarf is, I'm never interested" thing, but whatever). It just feels like a cop out and the fact that there's no explanation for it is really kind of annoying. I'm not against gating, but this random race-gating with no explanation just doesn't do anything for me.
It doesn't add to the character per se, but it does add to the whole setting. I mean think about it, aside from sexual preference every companion seems to drool over PC like some sort of special candy. Cullen just not being attracted to you for personal preferences/reasons is one of the more realistic and natural things there is. The fact that it's not rationalized is what makes it "realistic". Attraction is not a rational thing. Mind you I'm not saying the devs had this in mind, but it's an acceptable explanation in a singular pt.
I also wonder if most of the people who are in favor of it would still be in favor of it if they created a really awesome LI who was only into dwarves and qunari for "reasons".
Personally, I would be completely fine, even if there were no "reasons".
There's a huge difference between a game where the character has had an entire story-line created specifically around being an LI and real life. I'm not saying that it's not realistic. I'm saying that it adds nothing for me personally.
I suspect most people in favor of race gating would not be in favor of hair color and skin color gating.
I don't know that I'd expect most NPC's to have that strong a preference but it wouldn't bother me. If there was an NPC who really liked red heads or an NPC who believed in whatever the version of astrology in DA is and the stars said their true love would be X and they were holding out for that.
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