Quality or Quantity? What matters more to you for romance?

Well... I think by now everyone knows my stance on this: better written, plot integral gay romances are always going to be preferable (for me anyways), even if it's only one romance.

I think it's kind of complicated by the fact that there are certain "types" that tend to be made of each sexuality. Having a greater variety of love interests allow for more variety in the kinds of characters portrayed of different sexualities. But I think, ultimately, I would prefer 2 really fleshed out options for me rather than a dozen with a couple conversations and a single cutscene.

The ideal, imo, would be, out of major characters central to the main plotlines, 2 straight, 2 bi, and 2 gay romances. Nothing more than that, and each romance getting a ton of well-written, focused content that portrays them as three-dimensional, complicated people.

A normal haircut.

I agree completely. I think that approach with regard to major characters central to the plot would make the most sense and would be ideal for everyone. Everything beyond that regarding romance options that are more secondary or not as important can be up to the discretion of BioWare and determining what they believe is best for each option.

Agreed. The journey and experience of what is happening is absolutely integral to fleshing out that romance and making it believable. The more detached the character is from events, the less satisfying that particular romance would be.

We are going to the Andromeda galaxy. What is normal anymore?

Por que no los dos?

Seriously, though, yeah, I prefer quality over quantity. I have plenty of "romance" options in Skyrim but they're a blip compared to what Bioware offers. Quality always trumps quantity for me.

When it comes to memorable, gushy, romantic one liners.... QUALITY!
When it comes to firm, sexy buttcheeks, abs, thighs and biceps... QUANTITY!


Rah Rah Rah

That is a really good point. In many ways, DAII was a much more intimate experience, so the writing and characters had to really compliment that approach. What I will say is the stakes in MEA, at least at initial inspection, don't appear to be as galactic-defining as the choices in the Mass Effect trilogy. Perhaps this will be a more intimate and a tight-knit crew. One vibe I keep on getting from the little footage we've seen is similarities to the young crew of the USS Enterprise in the new Star Trek films.

I do agree that I think Peebee, so far, is probably going to be a romance option for SisRyder. It's possible Vetra could be as well, but Peebee definitely seems like a safe bet to gamble on.

I absolutely agree Bethesda was making excuses because it is horrified to even attempt to do romance. We saw Bethesda's strange attempt at romance in Fallout 4 with rather mixed results. The best Bethesda seems capable of doing is some fade-to-black scenes and cringe-worthy dialogue. Bethesda is so focused on world-building and sandbox elements that it really seems to lack in the dialogue and storytelling department.

I do recall a few ocassional NPCs, such as in Whiterun and Riften, flirting and trying to gain the affections of another. That was about the extent of the romance that I remember, although it seemed less romantic and more so borderline stalkerish and desperate.

That's a fair point. You have a higher chance of finding someone you like among the five options, but their stories and backgrounds may not be nearly as well-developed or fleshed out due to BioWare having to invest resources into multiple love interests. Ideally, you want options and quality, but it's difficult to maintain that level of commitment for each and every character.

Liara, as an example for the Mass Effect trilogy, got far more love and attention than anybody else because she couldn't die and was made a focus by BioWare. Miranda was my personal favorite, but because she could die in ME2, she was relegated to a minor role in ME3 along with the rest of the ME2 crew. I'd love to have another LI like Miranda, but I'd want her to have the same level of commitment and time investment that Liara received.

This may actually explain why none of our squadmates will be able to die in MEA. BioWare probably wants to avoid the situation where if your LI is capable of dying, that character is then relegated to minor character status in future games.

Well, ideally, there would be at least two options for every sexual preference. Beyond that, the fewer characters BioWare has to worry about developing, the better the ones they have ultimately are.

It's definitely a tricky situation. While some might like to see their current LI return, others may prefer to see if newcomers as a LI in a future game might be better. There really isn't a right or wrong answer to this. I just know that killing the companion off can ultimately kill that character from a storytelling perspective.

So far, Cora seems to be the one I'm almost positive will be my LI. I don't know exactly what BioWare's plan for "MEA2" is, but I'm under the impression most, if not all, of the MEA companions will show up in one capacity or another. Especially for LI, I could see BioWare trying to continue those relationships because they actually worked really well in the original trilogy. The most popular companions (Liara, Garrus, and Tali) had the most development and focus.

Then again, if you're starting a Bioware game and you meet the lead human female squadmate, you KNOW she's into guys (at least) and is guaranteeded to be romanceable for male PC.

I prefer quality over quantity, but to a degree, and I still want options. I do multiple playthroughs and it would be nice to be able to romance more than that one person. Also, the more LIs there are, the more likely I am to find someone I like. And with the exception of DAO, there's always at least one romance in every Bioware game I have zero interest in for my gender/orientation. So if they were my only choice I wouldn't have a romance at all. So that hour of extra content or whatever would be meaningless to me. Also - frankly I don't even want that extra hypothetical hour, even if it's with an LI I like. I like the romances as they've been - it's nice side content. Some extra dialogue, a friendship scene you'd get regardless with a few tweaks (like shooting bottles with Garrus), and one or two scenes exclusive to the romance. That's enough. Create some long, sweeping romance side plot with multiple sex scenes and a bunch of dates and I start feeling like I really am playing a dating sim within a bigger sci-fi plot, and it feels out of place and a bit silly to me. I'd prefer all that extra content be put toward creating an additional love interest instead.

So if there is a huge budget toward romance in a Bioware game, ideally everyone gets, say, three options for their gender and orientation, and all are nicely fleshed out - regardless if they're on the squad or not. I'd prefer that over one option only that's got a ton of depth to it, or ten light romances and flings and one night stands. I'll wait and see how Andromeda plays out in this regard, but if a bunch of those 'more romances than ever' were put toward one night stands with minor NPCs, I might wonder at the decision to not pour those resources into one or two extra options that have meaningful content instead.