How *unappealing* do you predict straight male romance options will be in DA4?

I agree. I dislike Sera immensely, in no small part due to how I find her to be a judgemental hypocrite but I also, however, find her to be a well-written character, in large part because of those flaws. For example, I can understand why she is the way that she is even if I don't consider it to be an excuse for her behavior.

I think my feelings on Sera are best described me disliking her as a person but loving how she's written as a character. 

While it can get very frustrating at times, it is part of being a creator. For example, just because a creator receive a lot of feedback, both good and bad, does not mean they'll have to take all of it into account. They judge it and see which they feel have merit and which they feel do not. It's the same with what requests and demands a creator may receive. 

I suppose a, perhaps poor, comparison could be to a commission artist. Someone may wish to request a work done in a specific style or of a specific something but the artist may refuse on account of not using such a style or preferring to not draw things of that specific nature. 

I wouldn't say I didn't enjoy it, there just wasn't a great deal of it.

The non-acknowledgement thing is once the romance subplot is done it's as if nothing happened: in contrast with e.g. Sera where she'll acknowledge you as her gf thereafter and there's always that couple of options to kiss her or throw melons off the roof of the pub.  Well, until the MQ is done when all dialogue options are inexplicably disabled.

That's one thing I liked about DAO:  once you've started a romance, the character's "barks" when you clicked on them would change, effectively acknowledging the romance every time you took control of them on the map.

you are mentioning a game of the past, careful there, or you will get burned as it's a taboo to do those kind of things here. (just a friendly warning even if you don't care)

Hmmm.   After re-reading the post you quoted, it appears you're correct that I glossed over her flaws a bit more than I should have, I guess.  I wasn't going for an in-depth character study, but I see your point.  

My last comment in that post (she was written to be polarizing, some will hate her, some will love her, etc) was intended to at least acknowledge she has flaws, but I guess it wasn't as clear "out of my own head" as I thought it'd be.

Yeah, she can be an opinionated ass about some subjects.  And she quite often lacks a "big picture" view of things that could help moderate her actions.  I tend to be a bit more 'big picture' myself, though, and I can see that looking at the big picture too much can cause you to miss the important "little picture" moments.  She also has a fairly dim view of "elfy" elves.  One I happen to agree with, although not as harshly as she does.  Elves are definitely second class citizens in much of Thedas, so it's quite understandable for some of them to reject "andrastian" society and form (reform?) a culture they barely understand but view as distinctly theirs.  In my opinion, the Dalish Elves cling so tightly to barely remembered songs and scraps of stories, which on the face of it is fine, but they then use that to further the difference between them and "shemlen."  Sera thinks that's a load of rubbish, and in many ways so do I.  By all means, celebrate your heritage.  Try to learn "where you come from."  But instead of focusing on how we're different, I think our goal should be to find the ways we're more alike.  

I could write a Wall-O-Text regarding my opinions on race relations in Thedas, but I'll cut it short here, I think.  Last thing I'll say, though, is that I agree with you that her flaws are realistic flaws.  She's probably the best written single companion in a single game Bioware's done.  I'd love more content with her in DA4, but to be honest, she'd work best as a cameo along with the inquisitor if romanced, as a side note in something similar to the War Table operations if not romanced.  I just hope there's someone "similar" in DA4, 'cause she was awesome and I want more characters like her.

Dorian has a post-battle remark: "Are you all right? Good! Me too" (or something like that). Sadly, I've only gotten it a single time. I think Cassandra takes priority in my party setup (usually Dorian, Cole, Cassandra), in the same way that Solas takes priority over other mages for magical observations, so I never get to hear it.

That's part of a cutscene, so I don't think it counts for the combat bark discussion.

I like that when I romance a different character, I know for sure that I will get to see content that I've never seen before, no matter how completionist my previous playthroughs have been. Plus, it adds depth to my PC and her/his relationship with the other characters, and it's another way to see my choices reflected in the game. I appreciate little things like the battle cries others have mentioned, other characters acknowledging the relationship, repeatable kiss scenes, etc.

I have no need for sex scenes in the game. I don't know why people jump to the "you just want to get off!" accusation when they get frustrated with romance discussions. Perhaps they are projecting? 

I don't think it's wrong. I just don't understand why women like Josephine and Cora aren't considered "conventionally attractive" when they obviously have feminine features, nearly flawless skin, permanent makeup, shiny healthy hair, hourglass figures, etc.

Definitely subjective. I think Bull is more attractive than almost any male companion we've had.