Patch 1.08 notes and discussion (June 8, 8AM PDT)

So, they fixed the unlimited experience points glitch on Voeld? Man, this game has been so tedious to me that the only thing keeping my interest in continuing was my ability to max out every power and have my pick. I honestly can't say that I'll finish the game now.

But they made Jaal bi clearly that's more important than being  able to do quest.

Lord Buckethead got 249 votes in Theresa May's constituency, beating the Official Monster Raving Loony candidate who got 100 and something.  They tend to stand in leaders constituencies.

All elections seem to be crazy these days, anyway.  Turnout seems to be up a bunch, which is great.

Its good to be able to tweak stuff after you see it in action.  And of course you can change your hair and/or makeup which makes more sense.

Yeah, I mean, if it's just changing hair or make up I can understand, but I just find it funny that you can actually change the entirety of Ryder's head as well, and if you do that, no one would freak out or give a shit, lol.

Okay yes, that is true, but this game exists as a product in our 'real' world/market, where the (or at least many of) asari's gender presentation is female. Liara is voiced by a woman actor, has a feminine body composition, and feminine facial features; she is simply blue with strange hair. So no, Liara isn't technically "female" in the game's lore/codex, but she isn't androgynous for example; the romance b/t Liara and femShep reads as a f/f one to most players.

Gil and that Hispanic guy don't count as gay romances? If Bioware is going to go down this route they might as just make all romance options bi so no one can say Bioware hate gays, women, or whoever because they can't fuck characters x and y. 

I romanced Reyes as a female Ryder but tbh it wasn't as satisfying (story wise) as romancing squad mates, as in all other ME games. There isn't really a climax, you just kind of dance with him or something. I don't know about Gil's, bc I would never fuck that dude IRL, but he just hangs around the ship and never comes out with you to do any of the story with you. So they added a squad mate option, and now everyone has the option of a satisfying roleplay romance if that's what they're looking for. 

Frankly I have never been satisfied by romances in these games and don't always do them. In my replay of MEA I would probably romance no one. As a straight girl I would try a romance with Vetra before Liam bc ugh. But it is important to the fandom overall to have a romance that matches their IRL sexuality, and Bioware is recognizing that they didn't offer a "true" romance in the ME style to gay male players, so they fixed it.

ETA: I'm replaying the trilogy right now with a first-time romancing of Liara (Kaidan, Jacob, and Garrus previously), and with the Shadow Broker DLC included in the ME2 play I think it is the most satisfying one overall. Especially because she goes from bookish to badass. Bc Kaidan is mostly boring and on Horizon is awful to you and totally absent, and then Jacob is...Jacob, and Garrus is basically a lizard-person, so it's fine characterwise but really weird otherwise. So you have mostly awful squadmate options for straight women, but I would never complain to them about that, bc they offered me the options; I just didn't like the way they wrote the two human male characters, and the other was just too ugly and weird. It's the same with Liam in MEA: as the only human male squadmate available to a straight or bi SisRyder, he is AWFUL, I would kill him on Virmire and be alone forever. And I first romanced Jaal before Reyes and had to stop because I just did not want that sex scene in there, at least not with my first playthrough.... But if they had only offered me Reyes and Gil, and no Liam or ugly penis Jaal (who are actually part of your squad and the story), I would have been frustrated enough to at least send them a tweet saying that a Ryder w/ "my" sexuality had no real options. That's what I mean when I say it is not about changing characters' sexuality to appease player desires to romance particular characters, but to be inclusive of people they realized they accidentally excluded, so that they could at least have the option of a complete romance instead of a fling.

The other two are not squadmate, first of all. Second of all, Reyes was made for female before badly modified for males, making the romance awkward when you're referring to in female pronounce, being called Reyes' "queen" while Gil's content is only half the length of the other romance. Third of all, there is a lack of polish in general where they don't even acknowledge the relationship in a way that you could romance both at the same time while there is confrontation with the other straight romances if you romance both. Fourth, they created a trophy required you to romance 3 people, but there is only 2 options, meaning you couldn't get it as a gay player. Fifth of all, it has been a continuous tradition in ME series where the gay players not only get the least option, but their option is modified from the opposite gender like with Reyes.

By adding Jaal, it's more about giving the gay player the ability to get the trophy, something they overlook from the gay options while creating the trophy, as well as allowing gay players a squadmate romance that has plot relevant.

I could care less if they go for playersexual, maybe the quality of the gay romance would increase, instead of leftover or afterthought like with set sexuality. Still, Bioware has decided to go with the set sexuality. I doubt they change their approach.

The new introduction to the Tempest scene is AMAZING!!!