18 réponses à ce sujet

[DreadvasNormandy]

(NOTE: If this has already been address my apologies. Please integrate with existing topics if possible. Thanks).

We play Commander Shepard,

Male or Female it isn't the question. The question is how come we strive for a galaxy thrived in love and loss yet there still seems to be a lot of blocks on relationships meaning more than the expectations players seem or hope to have in comparison to one outside the game and comparible to real relationships?

What I mean is the Normandy seems to be sterile on open-relationships almost constantly. Would it be wrong to say Shepard is the only one allowed to fraternize?

Take Kenneth Donnelly and Gabriella Daniels. Everyone knows, at least should have the assumption, they are more than just 'best friends' but we don't know this. After all nothing wrong with two people of an opposite gender being friendly to each other but my debate here is if they expressed their love, or announced they were engaged or married, would this be stronger character development to minor-NPCs?

Take major NPCs then. Back in ME1, assuming you didn't romance Ash, it's implied Gunnery Chief Williams and Kaidan Alenko had a thing for each other. Makes sense to me. Part of this 'romance' would echo a lot when you had to  choose who dies and who lives. Imagine making a choice out of two people, in love, knowing you would forever be responsible for killing the one they loved! It would certainly be quite a tragic moment.

My point is we shouldn't be just supporting romances for Shepard's sake but for everyone who wants to find love and express it, lose love and express their loss, and make the world a place where relationships are stronger with some than others. ME2 introduced a lot of romances, especially the well-recieved Asari/Krogan relationship or Turian/Quarian relationship on Ilium. Comparing to ME1's Petrovsky storyline, and the Julia storyline, I feel Bioware tends to make Shepard's love-life far more open than these closed ones.

Furthermore wouldn't it make more sense for romances to have multiple suitors? If you romance someone, say Tali, wouldn't it make sense others may find Tali attractive? Don't you? Garrus may for example. What if you had to choose in a situation where Garrus confronted you with this, Tali wants you to both stop, and it leads to a possible fight ending in one death unless you back off? Romances shouldn't just be all about getting to the sex part there should be far more tension involved.

Hopefully some share this thought. If not then at least be assured ME3 will support your disinterest based on how open they keep Shepard's love life. There's nothing wrong with this I just hope other characters, outside of Shepard, can make these choices too.

[Ecael]

Shepard doesn't really pry into the love lives to others. If you were his squadmate, he might think that demanding to know you like this hurts your feelings.

[DreadvasNormandy]

Ecael wrote...

Shepard doesn't really pry into the love lives to others. If you were his squadmate, he might think that demanding to know you like this hurts your feelings.

Oh no I don't mean Shepard should pry into love lives.

Still some characters, like Thane, Garrus, Jack, they show a relationship's form is fragile enough to make them express it in nostalgia, reminscing on past times, knowing they are here without them but still remember them as significant moments. It's just this is past-tense. Right now what do characters feel towards each other? Miranda and Jacob sounds good right? Why keep it in the past if they're on the same ship? Is it so difficult for one to imagine them getting back together?

[JeanLuc761]

We'll have to see what Bioware does for the finale. I would be very surprised if there is a deep romance conclusion yet none of your squadmates/crew comment on it.



I romanced Tali (big surprise), and so far as I can tell it was only myself, Tali and Mordin who paid attention to this. A little more discussion or confrontation from the others would be nice.

[DreadvasNormandy]

JeanLuc761 wrote...

We'll have to see what Bioware does for the finale. I would be very surprised if there is a deep romance conclusion yet none of your squadmates/crew comment on it.

I romanced Tali (big surprise), and so far as I can tell it was only myself, Tali and Mordin who paid attention to this. A little more discussion or confrontation from the others would be nice.

Given the choices to treat Tali well in ME1, Quarians in general in ME2, keeping Tali's father in the Flotilla's good books, and the romance with Tali too in ME2, by ME3 it is strongly implied a lot of Quarians will adore Shepard and Tali because of how well you treat them. Opposites may occur given said choices in reverse.

Thing is being on the same wavelength with certain characters means denying others. Pursuing a Quarian relationship won't go down well with Cerberus so a Renegade Shepard, or one with ties to Cerberus, will be hard to maintain. A hypothetical story is, say, Garrus knows Cerberus will use your relationship with Tali to get to you so decides to intervene as Tali's romance and take suspicions off then, when Cerberus arrives, kills Garrus instead of Tali. If you don't let Garrus have his way Tali dies instead. Tough choice right? But it's tough choices like this which make games a lot more significant.

I don't support killing off popular characters for the sake of it just as romances for the sake of it but it has to be said a richer game environment needs more people in game having these choices than just one person.

[Chamberboozer]

I agree with you in almost every way, except that it shouldn't be between your longstanding crewmates. That's too cliche. This would work excellently for a female turian going after garrus or miranda having some guy flirt with her, but the Garrus/Tali example to me seems a little strange.

[Collider]

Um, as if Garrus would care about whether Shepard romances Tali.

Modifié par Collider, 07 mars 2010 - 05:38 .

[Keltoris]

Ecael wrote...

Shepard doesn't really pry into the love lives to others. If you were his squadmate, he might think that demanding to know you like this hurts your feelings.

EDI, run a Reaper Code purge, pattern 14.

[JeanLuc761]

DreadvasNormandy wrote...
Given the choices to treat Tali well in ME1, Quarians in general in ME2, keeping Tali's father in the Flotilla's good books, and the romance with Tali too in ME2, by ME3 it is strongly implied a lot of Quarians will adore Shepard and Tali because of how well you treat them. Opposites may occur given said choices in reverse.

Thing is being on the same wavelength with certain characters means denying others. Pursuing a Quarian relationship won't go down well with Cerberus so a Renegade Shepard, or one with ties to Cerberus, will be hard to maintain. A hypothetical story is, say, Garrus knows Cerberus will use your relationship with Tali to get to you so decides to intervene as Tali's romance and take suspicions off then, when Cerberus arrives, kills Garrus instead of Tali. If you don't let Garrus have his way Tali dies instead. Tough choice right? But it's tough choices like this which make games a lot more significant.

I don't support killing off popular characters for the sake of it just as romances for the sake of it but it has to be said a richer game environment needs more people in game having these choices than just one person.

It would be very interesting if Bioware went that way.  I don't think they'd go so far as to necessitate the death of a close friend, but I almost expect something dramatic to happen.  I will say though, you're right about the Quarian/Tali importance to the storyline.  ME2 was extremely focused on the quarians; hell, Tali's loyalty mission was 70-80 minutes long if you're thorough!

[crimsonrhodelia]

DreadvasNormandy wrote...
Take major NPCs then. Back in ME1, assuming you didn't romance Ash, it's implied Gunnery Chief Williams and Kaidan Alenko had a thing for each other. Makes sense to me.

What are the lines that imply this? As a femshep player, all I got was Ash's sister commenting she saw Kaidan in a news vid and thought he was cute. You then get the option to ask Ash if she has any intentions to make a move on him, something along those lines. I'm just curious, I like their sort of teasing sibling relationship a lot, and I just can't see Kaidan releasing control of himself enough to fall for someone who isn't Shepard.

[Collider]

While I would appreciate it if other characters acknowledged your romance,
:whistle::whistle:
related polls
social.bioware.com/892908/polls/2913/
social.bioware.com/892908/polls/1975/
social.bioware.com/892908/polls/2681/
social.bioware.com/892908/polls/2679/

I don't think it should be as severe as the OP says. Virtually all players want a happy ending, they don't want to choose between saving earth or saving your romance interest while feeding all the kittens ever into a blackhole.

Modifié par Collider, 07 mars 2010 - 05:44 .

[Collider]

crimsonrhodelia wrote...

DreadvasNormandy wrote...
Take major NPCs then. Back in ME1, assuming you didn't romance Ash, it's implied Gunnery Chief Williams and Kaidan Alenko had a thing for each other. Makes sense to me.

What are the lines that imply this? As a femshep player, all I got was Ash's sister commenting she saw Kaidan in a news vid and thought he was cute. You then get the option to ask Ash if she has any intentions to make a move on him, something along those lines. I'm just curious, I like their sort of teasing sibling relationship a lot, and I just can't see Kaidan releasing control of himself enough to fall for someone who isn't Shepard.

There did not seem to be an implication to me. Kaidan is used instead of Male Shepard as female shepard isn't...male. I think at most Kaidan and Ashley were friends, instead of any of them having a crush or interest in one another.

[stillnotking]

I know you feel this is a reasonable post, OP, but everyone knows the definition of "romance" is a series of quasi-random dialogue choices culminating in a cheesy sexual encounter which is then quickly forgotten.

I, for one, am eagerly looking forward to the awkward two-second hug with Tali in ME3 prior to embarking on Shepard's next thrilling "romance".

[DreadvasNormandy]

Thank you all for your responses!



Some may assume choosing between Kaidan or Ashley was cliche not because you have to save one of them but because you have to save one! What do I mean? Well a lot of times I've chosen Ashley over Kaidan and, especially on Insanity, arrived to see her on pretty much zero health thanks to Saren. YET! She's alive and without a scratch.

Compare this to Garrus in ME2 with the copter.



I agree a lot with Mucho_Nacho in the sense humans may not have the interspecies appeal Shepard seems to have, especially as a Paragon (in this game it's kinda implied not if you're just good or evil instead if you're pro-human or pro-alien), but interspecies relationships do exist outside of humans.

Yeah Samara and Grunt no thanks! Though it would be amusing if Grunt was attracted to Samara in an unrequited way because he admires her warrior spirit. Now imagining Samara teaching Grunt to be a better fighter I could believe even to the point of sparring (compare to Wrex and his tale against Aria...*cough* I mean Aleena) because it seems the relationship between Krogan and Asari is a curious one. Certainly both have a lot of respect for the other.



Overall if ME3 doesn't leave the player with more impact than what ME1 and ME2 did then it doesn't live up to the hype it deserves. As Mordin says saving lives and killing dangerous people are two sides of the same coin.

[DreadvasNormandy]

Collider wrote...

While I would appreciate it if other characters acknowledged your romance,
:whistle::whistle:
related polls
social.bioware.com/892908/polls/2913/
social.bioware.com/892908/polls/1975/
social.bioware.com/892908/polls/2681/
social.bioware.com/892908/polls/2679/

I don't think it should be as severe as the OP says. Virtually all players want a happy ending, they don't want to choose between saving earth or saving your romance interest while feeding all the kittens ever into a blackhole.

Very helpful post!

I kinda want to tick them all for obvious reasons of making the game as open as possible but, yeah, maybe I am being too severe with romances and tragedies.

If anything we should have a little more comedy into the game: who wouldn't want to see your romance option up on stage, with you, during Elcor Hamlet? (The Elcor lead is the target of assination you must save!).

[crimsonrhodelia]

stillnotking wrote...

I know you feel this is a reasonable post, OP, but everyone knows the definition of "romance" is a series of quasi-random dialogue choices culminating in a cheesy sexual encounter which is then quickly forgotten.

I, for one, am eagerly looking forward to the awkward two-second hug with Tali in ME3 prior to embarking on Shepard's next thrilling "romance".

Be careful, the Talifans will tear you apart for this post!

[Collider]

I'm all for ups and downs in the relationships. But the writers have still have creative liberties despite probably having already created the framework for the trilogy and possibly ME3. Bioware listens to the fans, which is why Garrus and Tali are romance options and in part why Thane is a romance option. While the downs of the romance can make the ups ever more satisfying, there's a certain degree of tastefulness.

[DreadvasNormandy]

Collider wrote...

I'm all for ups and downs in the relationships. But the writers have still have creative liberties despite probably having already created the framework for the trilogy and possibly ME3. Bioware listens to the fans, which is why Garrus and Tali are romance options and in part why Thane is a romance option. While the downs of the romance can make the ups ever more satisfying, there's a certain degree of tastefulness.

Hah you reminded me of the famous Jeirt/Thane easter egg about how they listen to fans. It would be pretty sweet if Jeirt got a NPC made and, if you're a female Shepard who didn't romance Thane, makes comments how foolish you are not to or, if you did, goes into a jealous fit! 
For male Shepards it'd be Tali obviously. A lot of guys here probably would resent the idea Tali is with another guy (assuming you are not Shepard) and same circumstances occur.