DA 4 Romances! New info for real this time!!! Zom-bangin'?

They certainly do, I just think the typical representations are emphasizing exaggerated/stereotypical ways that can play out.

There’s a pretty wide array of things that people can try to respond to scarcity, and not all of them are strong reactions. Quite a lot of scarcities elicit hardly any reaction at all, because they have nothing to compare it to. But it’s still interesting to see the scarcity itself in action, even if it doesn’t have very strong social repercussions.

Maybe I’m just easily entertained, but I’d be interested in seeing (for instance) a Dalish clan go on a long search for good hunting grounds. Not as a catalyst for some conflict within the clan, but simply to do it. Mundane stuff, like the fantasy equivalent of watching a reenactor cook Victorian food. Yes, aspects of it are hard, but it’s not about going “cooking was hard” -> “therefore x, y, and z happened in the wider social context”. It’s more about being in the moment and experiencing what it’s like to cook in that era, both good and bad. I want the scarcity itself to have time to breathe, rather than just being a storytelling tool to explain “and because cooking was hard, that led to a sequence of events where the Chantry started oppressing mages.”

Ah, I see. There's certainly nothing wrong with wanting to immerse yourself in the day-to-day of another kind of person in another place. The vast array of (insert profession mostly ignored by current media and entertainment) simulators available are testament to that. And yeah, RPGs can be good for that too. I've spent more than a few hours as Megaton's new, thoroughly overqualified junior technician in Fallout 3 without getting bored.

Without any drama at all, you do eventually get bored though. The whole point of entertainment is to compress tales about human beings to just the most meaningful and engaging moments. And writing a story focused on daily life without specifically empathizing the sociowhatever implications of this or that isn't the same as writing one where you pretend no outside factors have any causal relevance to people's lives. The former is a lovely and meditative, though generally short, exercise in letting people derive their own meaning from things we can relate to. The latter is wishful thinking that has literally nothing to do with reality or real people.

I'm all for "daily life" RPs, but daily life in my experience isn't without some drama no matter who or where you are. Dealing with annoying complications that someone else was too lazy to get ahead of, working with people you don't really like or respect but have to get along with, ignoring the pressure of others relying on you doing your thing properly so you can focus, while also judging when it's no longer practical to strive for perfection instead of just getting something done. And feeling lazy yourself and having to decide how much time and energy you owe the people around you and how much you owe yourself. Not to mention the infinite amount of tiny tensions and negotiations you have to navigate in even successful familial and romantic relationships.

A realistic story about a pack of Dalish hunters looking for a good hunting ground definitely wouldn't be short of banter or conflict or tension, and some of that would certainly be traceable back to their lifestyle and its conditions. But yeah, I think we're pretty much on the same page here.

Sorry to be nitpicky, but there actually is an exchange of "I love yous" after the sex scene. Not that this is a good thing... To me, because of the dearth of content, it feels like the romance moves way too fast, so saying it then feels weird.

And no, I'm not denying the reality that you can fall fast and hard for someone, just pointing out how if feels for me playing the game.

Read it again, I said yet. He asks you about having kids long before the sex scene and saying "I love you." And the first kiss happens after that, right before meeting Jill. Even the romantic response to Gil asking about kids is "whoa, we're not there yet."

Also, now that I look at it, Jill pushes the relationship forward a lot of the times. You start a family because of her and the part, where you even decide, what Scott and Gil are, is influenced by her. Basically:
- How do I introduce you, as a flirt or as my guy?
- Dunno, haven't even kissed yet.
- Let's kiss. *cue weirdly silent kiss*
- You're my guy.

And then she comes in. The only milestone in the relationship she didn't in some (direct or indirect) way push was sex (thank the Maker).


So yeah, may they never do that again.

I'm not sure, where you're heading with this. My point was that they tried to throw in a more serious relationship subject like having kinds, but failed to establish the relationship as serious and grounded beforehand. Not that had they said "I love you" first it would have been ok. I do think the romance rushed through everything, but also that it did so without losing that casual feel about it.

Just chiming in to tip my hat to the person who voted to watch their parents bang.

Fade-to-black, allowing for sweet post-coital snuggling and pillow-talk. I'll decide what happened in the meantime myself. No need or desire to see Bioware's attempt to animate sex whatsoever.

Oh yes! I'm all for pre- and post-sex scenes that make it clear you're going to have or have just had sex. I'm quite pleased with how Dorian's turned out. I just don't need to see the act itself using my character.

A sex scene will at worst feel irrelevant and whatever to me, but at best give me another layer of romance to my romance. The only thing I'd change is that sex scenes happen later into the romance, especially for those characters where it feels fitting. Most sex scenes happen like midway through, maybe even earlier than that, and I'm like oooooookkkkk. That was the case in DA:I at least.

The new poll made me recall of God of War series' sex mini-games, which were a mix of quick time event and loud.

Fade-to-black w/ kissing or whatevers appropriate beforehand and cuddling or whatevers appropriate afterwards. Animated sex scenes looks eh at best and laughable at worst so spend the romance resources on making the hugging, kissing, holding hands type animations look better/happen more often.