I can't say that how weird or obnoxious threads might get on a game forum would affect how much I care for a certain feature in a game.
Mass Effect without romances would be a good thing on itself. Not having to slog through countless of romance-related threads on the BSN would just be a mere bonus.
I can't say that how weird or obnoxious threads might get on a game forum would affect how much I care for a certain feature in a game.
Particularly when the exclusion of said feature would likely result in the same amount of romance speculation/discussion threads in addition to a whole new slew of threads complaining about/praising the exclusion of said feature.
Well sure, provided that the game files being a bit smaller is a big enough deal. But if you think that the romance discussions will just stop dead in their tracks because one game lacks it, I don't suppose that's a dream that's likely to come true.Mass Effect without romances would be a good thing on itself. Not having to slog through countless of romance-related threads on the BSN would just be a mere bonus.
Particularly when the exclusion of said feature would likely result in the same amount of romance speculation/discussion threads in addition to a whole new slew of threads complaining about/praising the exclusion of said feature.
If Bioware actually dropped romance content, the ensuing post apocalypse will put anything that's ever come before it to shame.
("Post apocalypse" is not my term of choice, but I had an instructive morning with regard to the fickleness of the profanity filter and moderator discretion.)
This guy angry elcor XD: Dont do romances if you dont like.
This guy SagaX: Don't feel the need to read what I wrote if you don't like.
Romance never really works out in the end anyway. Just look at the show Sons of Anarchy.
To Bioware: you need to watch more softcore romantic porn so you can make more believable romance scenes.
Get that sh!t out of here! BioWare should at the very least watch Brazzers for inspiration for their romance scenes.
Get that sh!t out of here! BioWare should at the very least watch Brazzers for inspiration for their romance scenes.
They should get their inspiration from Nick Manning.
Bonus points if the male PC can say "dropping loads" at the end of the scene.
They should get their inspiration from Nick Manning.
Bonus points if the male PC can say "dropping loads" at the end of the scene.
Nick Manning in Andromeda? I say hell yes!
Romance never really works out in the end anyway. Just look at the show Sons of Anarchy.
Did you know that SoA was loosely based on Hamlet?
http://www.bustle.co...d-go-down-a-few
Trust me, everyone on that show was kinda borked from the start. 
You guys want a show where romance ends poorly in the end?
I just came in because someone mentioned SOA. I love sharing the Hamlet connection. 
I do believe that, for a new IP, BioWare should feel free to not include any player romances.
However, for Mass Effect and other established series where romance has been included traditionally, it's probably going to cause a bigger outcry not to include it. I could live without romances in my games.
However, I will say that, as a straight woman, it's kind of nice to have the option for romance there in something that isn't just a dating sim that is solely about romance and nothing else. For straight women and for LGBT people, being able to romance someone of those specific preferences is a rarity in any kind of game outside of dating sims. For guys, well... usually your male protagonist has a love interest, even if it's scripted and you don't have options. It does add to the connection to the characters and the plot. I do enjoy the romances. And I do enjoy gushing about them, and see absolutely nothing wrong with everyone who likes a character and enjoys romancing them gushing in a romance thread. It's fun.
I don't want a dating sim, though, and I think some people do. Romance should be a side bonus, not the be-all and end-all of the game. I get why people are annoyed by the focus on romance--you know resources could be spent on other parts of dialogue, building comeraderie etc. And some people are downright creepy about their preferred video game LIs. (Believe me, I've definitely been creeped out from time to time, too, even within groups where I actually also like the character in question.)
And that's the thing--those of us who do appreciate the romances, well maybe some do like dating sims. But most of us are playing the game for the story and the lore and even the gameplay. But, romance definitely adds something to the experience for a lot of people, and that means it adds value to the game to those people.
For me, my favorite part of both Dragon Age and Mass Effect is probably the lore, although I am pretty sure I spend more time gushing about the romances than I do typing out my myriad wild theories. (Well, at least on the forums I do. I've been known to get into chats with other fans and go on and on about Dragon Age lore theories... Probably annoys said people...)
But yeah. I'd be all for "no romance" in a new IP, but 1) they've pretty much already said we're getting romances, if I'm not mistaken (something about alien romances was said somewhere?) and 2) romance is already an established feature of both Dragon Age and Mass Effect.
So I'm going to respectfully disagree with "no romance for ME:A," but wish you luck in getting no romance in whatever the new upcoming IP is--especially since threads were made at some point by a developer questioning how people would take it if there were a game without romance in it. While many of the responders said they enjoyed romance, most also said that they could certainly live without it. This could have been a question pertaining to the new IP that we still know nothing about--but who knows except for BioWare employees?
I support this, romances are a crutch hold Bioware games back.
Romances are awesome, love the way Bioware has done them in previous games.
No romances means I probably wont buy the game, lol. They are a big part of RPG's for me.
Escapist article about BioWare romances
That article is pretty well-written, and I think it does a good job of summing up the problems.
I do believe that, for a new IP, BioWare should feel free to not include any player romances.
However, for Mass Effect and other established series where romance has been included traditionally, it's probably going to cause a bigger outcry not to include it. I could live without romances in my games.
However, I will say that, as a straight woman, it's kind of nice to have the option for romance there in something that isn't just a dating sim that is solely about romance and nothing else. For straight women and for LGBT people, being able to romance someone of those specific preferences is a rarity in any kind of game outside of dating sims. For guys, well... usually your male protagonist has a love interest, even if it's scripted and you don't have options. It does add to the connection to the characters and the plot. I do enjoy the romances. And I do enjoy gushing about them, and see absolutely nothing wrong with everyone who likes a character and enjoys romancing them gushing in a romance thread. It's fun.
I don't want a dating sim, though, and I think some people do. Romance should be a side bonus, not the be-all and end-all of the game. I get why people are annoyed by the focus on romance--you know resources could be spent on other parts of dialogue, building comeraderie etc. And some people are downright creepy about their preferred video game LIs. (Believe me, I've definitely been creeped out from time to time, too, even within groups where I actually also like the character in question.)
And that's the thing--those of us who do appreciate the romances, well maybe some do like dating sims. But most of us are playing the game for the story and the lore and even the gameplay. But, romance definitely adds something to the experience for a lot of people, and that means it adds value to the game to those people.
For me, my favorite part of both Dragon Age and Mass Effect is probably the lore, although I am pretty sure I spend more time gushing about the romances than I do typing out my myriad wild theories. (Well, at least on the forums I do. I've been known to get into chats with other fans and go on and on about Dragon Age lore theories... Probably annoys said people...)
But yeah. I'd be all for "no romance" in a new IP, but 1) they've pretty much already said we're getting romances, if I'm not mistaken (something about alien romances was said somewhere?) and 2) romance is already an established feature of both Dragon Age and Mass Effect.
So I'm going to respectfully disagree with "no romance for ME:A," but wish you luck in getting no romance in whatever the new upcoming IP is--especially since threads were made at some point by a developer questioning how people would take it if there were a game without romance in it. While many of the responders said they enjoyed romance, most also said that they could certainly live without it. This could have been a question pertaining to the new IP that we still know nothing about--but who knows except for BioWare employees?
I recall Gaider expressing increased frustration at romance, specifically the public nuisance of having to defend any and all creative decisions within. Which is telling because I think he wrote the best romances as a whole.
So it wouldn't surprise me at all if his new IP is romance free. I think that's the direction he wanted to go.
Well, I wouldn't got quite as far as that, I wouldn't want to turn ME:A into Leisure Suit Larry.
But... something similiar to Starship Troopers would work for me.
Larry is cool...sadly I am missing my CD for that game 
(can't even seem to find the damned box)...I loved that (same for a lot of old games - games where the story/gameplay was more important than graphics (simply because graphics themselves weren't good enough to blind/to mask the obvious flaws a game had...I mean games like Fallout 1 and 2, Deus Ex (the first one). KOTOR etc. were great because of the story, not because of awesome graphics (sadly: most devs don't manage to combine both IMHO: the great graphics we now have and the story-telling from times past
greetings LAX
Larry is cool...sadly I am missing my CD for that game
greetings LAX
It is difficult to come up with good stories these days because everything has been done already and people have access to almost everything. This is why Hollywood turned to making manga and anime adaptions, because those aren't as widely known as bestselling novels.
I myself had to abandon a fantasy novel I was writing because my magic system was too similiar to The Last Airbender's. Well, and I hated my protagonist.
A twist like Malak's reveal in KotOR wouldn't work again, because now we'd expect it.
On the other hand, the attention span of consumers has dropped a lot over the years. We are used to instant gratification, we no longer have the patience to see a story develop over the course of a game, we're not in the mood for intricacies and subtle hints, we do not want to think overly much. We want action, fun, cool lines spoken by power fantasy characters.
I'm sure there are indie games just as good or even better than what we had back in the day. But among the big AAA titles, those games wouldn't sell. The demographic changed. In the beginning gamers were nerds, using a computer required some knowhow and you had to figure things out on your own because there weren't a dozen websites with complete video walkthroughs. That changed completely.
Btw... there's a remake of Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards available on Steam. 
Ah, Leisure Suit Larry.
That game all my friends would have me come over to play because they needed me to answer the trivia questions to pass the adult test and get the least censored version of the graphics.
But realistically, that was a great game for teenagers. It was funny, it made it okay to talk and laugh about sex, and most importantly, safe sex was an important game mechanic! I still think it's hilarious that anyone figured locking the nudity behind trivia questions would actually stop teenagers! 
It's possible that I've forgotten some of the less-savoury elements in the years since I played it. 
lol k.
They have done romance free games, you know.
well i find it more amusing that, we are in a time where the previous mass effect trilogy was full of romances which was mostly well received altogether. going by that, and also by all the pre-development ventures of Bioware i am certain that they have made these choices already a long time ago. this thread is futile.
but i can humor some people a little. its funny so many people here are "claiming" that they would like a romance-free game but there was nothing in any of the previous mass effect games that compelled you to enter in a relationship with a person, which is an excellent move from bioware. so you can choose to romance no one. no one is forcing you to romance someone; if you dont want to do it, then dont do it.
you people clamour for Bioware to be more accommodating of what fans need/want yet here you are deliberately saying to remove a choice from the game that accommodates a large fraction of fans. remove romances on the whole? are we going back to the stone age? are we now regressing? we've made many strides for equality in the game which is why i find this thread, absolutely absurd.
come on guys, we were on a nice stretch recently. no bs threads in general discussion. now we have this.
To OP, don't like them, dont play them. No one is forcing you to do romance.
To the rest of the people losing their minds or whatever, bioware is not going to cut out something that been in their games ever since KOTOR. Not happening.
Ditch the combat and dialogue. Text based romance set in space is much more cost effective. 
Retour en haut