Are detailed sex scenes a bad thing for the story? .

Fade to black is garbage. They shouldn't do any game scene by that logic as the player can clearly imagine different dialogue between characters, different combat etc.
That would eliminate complaints too. Director Addison wouldn't suffer any animation problems if she was purely imaginary.
In reality people might complain if there were no game scenes in their games just as people who want to see the sexual element of the relationships conveyed would complain if they gutted them using cheap fade to black tactics.

More detailed sex scenes please. Porn is awesome! Love making is awesome! Go ahead and lie to me pretend you don't agree

No.

I wouldn't have given any thought to the romance portion of the games, if it wasn't becoming more and more obvious with each subsequent title that said romance content was beginning to have a negative impact on the other elements of the product, specifically those of general world building and non-human elements. Sure, you can't point to a direct causality of events that unequivocally proves this point, but just compare the amount of romance specific content versus the setting up of the universe as varied and containing of multiple perspectives (many of them non-human/alien in nature) in the first entries of the two major franchises, and then in the latest offerings.

In DA:O/A & ME 1 You had: werewolves, sylvan, awakened, spirits, demons, Mabari, dragons, the Rachni, the Thorian, the Hanar, the Elcor, the Geth, etc. all various facets of the game world that offered a different take on things, or helped diversify the setting. Along side them, you had some minor romance content, optional paths the player could take if he/she desired.

Now flash forward to DA:I & ME:A and werewolves, sylvan, and awakened are gone with spirits, demons, Mabari, and dragons being reduced to mindless monsters for the most part. The Rachni, the Thorian, the Hanar, the Elcor, and the Geth nowhere to be seen and nothing even remotely approaching the 'alien' perspective they brought being substituted in their place. The worlds for both universes were rendered more flat. Rather than being this fantastical place; were us and our way of thinking or doing things was just a small part of a much, much larger whole; it is instead replaced with a re-skinned brand of modern day Earth (complete with current social/political issues), albeit with a massive infestation of mindless beasts to kill for loot and experience. But hey, you can chat up with your romance option several times, or have casual flings with them, or walk through a garden holding hands now.

Now I am not saying that the developers intentionally decided that they wanted to strip down the nuance of the older games just for the sake of more naked pixels on the screen, but one can't help but notice the shift in priorities as each franchise moved forward, nor can you discount the that, by and large, out of all the other facets of the game, the 'alien' and world building themes took a hit, while everything else remained roughly the same; save for the romance content, which has only increased in size and scope.


To use a rather hasty metaphor: It's like going to a Star Trek convention, and while it wasn't the best portion of the event, there was this dedicated forum for discussing those strange things in the universe that were inherently different human norms; things that weren't just about humans wearing pointy ears, or humans with rubber prosthetics on their foreheads. But then, over subsequent conventions, that portion of the gathering got smaller and more and more underfunded, all while that "Which Starfleet officer do you find most attractive?" contest began to take up more and more convention-floor space; eventually butting into and taking over the spot once reserved for those non-human discussions.

There are some problems with this argument. WRT DA, sylvans are typically nonsapient, mabari, spirits and demons are intelligent as they ever were, there's no evidence that dragons ever were intelligent as we understand intelligence, and there never was any werewolf culture in the first place, just one area with the curse. (Presumably there are or have been other such cursed places, but they wouldn't be the same beyond the fact of lycanthropy.) And the qunari are far better developed in precisely the terms you're talking about ; IB will engage on these topics in a way Sten simply refused to.

You've got a better case for ME. However, note that this was mostly an illusion in the trilogy anyway.

I remember playing KOTOR and romancing say Bastilla just to get funny sounds and a black screen?! I was so pissed.

People can have romantic relationships with someone that doesn't involve sex, either ever or at least not within the timeframe Bioware games take place in. Just because they don't doesn't make them weird, unnatural, or lesser to those that do. 

This. The fade to black wasn't even for sex but because at the time they didn't have a kissing animation that worked. So when they kissed, it faded to black and then came back to Bastila saying they shouldn't have done that. 

I'm not really impressed with the romances in general. Back in ME1 it was novel to me and they felt kind of immersive. I liked it for the novelty. Since then, they feel really more on the why bother side. I did a peebee one and was so unimpressed it was actually depressing (almost). I felt like I compromised who my character was in the game out of curiosity. And regretted it for being stuck with an emotional 13 year old. The sex scene, so not worth it to me personally. Reminded me of some kind of real life scenario. But in terms of looking at the romances critically and seeing how they have evolved from game to game, I have to wonder if people really get anything fulfilling out of them. After all, we RP for that feeling of immersion. This game, it feels like some flirts then you have sex. Zero immersion for me because I like that sense of getting to know someone, feeling that connection. It was more like a shitty porn from my perspective. And if that money could go for something better, I would think it would be well worth it. ME1 didn't really show that much more and it was more compelling. I got to know Liara a bit more. Not much. But I felt like I had some conversations with her. I played femshep and felt like Kaidan's was better in that respect since Liara really doesn't give you as many conversations. 

I know there are people that still enjoy them and I would not want the to lose something they love that they don't get elsewhere. But I have to wonder if even they have noticed how they seem to be written lazier and lazier as time passes for each game we get. For straight women, I feel truly bad. They got some shit-tastic choices this round. Liam who sounds like he has marbles in his mouth and is kind of a crisis in motion and Jaal who, I am sorry to say this, but those chest flaps and those legs, no. Just no. Angara are the most ridiculous looking race I have ever seen. Someone was high when they made that concept. High out of their minds. For sure.

I've just finished Reyes' romance, and in terms of romantic content shown, that's pretty much what I want. The only thing missing is keeping him in Tartarus afterwards for return flirting, and, preferably unique appearance for the LI.

I liked the scenes because each flirting option felt distinctively like courtship and because all three times you kissed him during the romance was a part of an interesting lively interlude, each in a different setting, and each time with a different mood and movement. It was not embarrassing, the dialogues had a good pace, so did the actions. It also took place more or less in private (or was intentionally public). The sequence showed progression of developing attraction, and conveyed them via how the two characters engaged into kissing.

Reyes as a shadow lord of Kadara was a character that did not depend on Ryder for employement, but cooperated with him or even mislead him making a leap of faith, and offered additional RP options, such as imagining working on Kadara's Vault to make sure Reyes' little domain prospers as a lover's gift. He was also well voiced, and his appearance while not unique was neither off putting, nor so weird you have to get used to it.

All and all, that's the kind of romance I want to see in the future. I would be okay if it gets to the point of motions to take clothes off or a snapshot of skin, but certainly not to the point of jaal. I would prefer the resources to go more to setting up the stage and creating an interesting narrative then actual depiction of what happens if we did not faded to black.