Do you think BioWare regrets introducing romance into their titles?

Different writers have expressed some regret in the past that it is such a HUGE thing (at least, I recall someone saying this, and I want to say it was Gaider, but I don't have a source soooo take that for what you will), but yeah... it's very important to me. Always has been - even before I realized there were "official" romances in Neverwinter Nights, I found myself wishing they were there. (And whaddyaknow, turns out they were! Just not with the characters I expected. My enjoyment of the game increased tenfold.)

I'm not one for the romance genre by itself, but I absolutely love a romance arc in my RPGs. It's part of the reason I come back to the same games again and again and again; I know where all the loot is and can quote every soundbite, but I'm so attached to this or that character (not just romances) that I want relive that experience over and over. And I cannot stress this enough, but it's soooooo nice to be able to create gay or bi heroes and have choices - actual choices! Like any other person! So often you see LGBT folks as side characters, if they appear at all. We don't really get stories where we're the heroes and love interests in fantasy/scifi/cyberpunk, etc. LGBT is often considered it's own genre and is largely limited to, like.... soap opera style shows/movies set in the boring-ass real world. Or reality TV. You don't get to be a gay dwarf in love with an elf or a gay human in love with an alien or a gay wizard throwing fireballs at orcs. There aren't shows or movies about that. There's just vidya games (and a handful of comic book characters the majority of people have never heard of).

ANYWAY. The devs have said before that they create the characters first, and then think "who among these should have a romance arc?" (plus consideration for time and money constraints) and go from there. Regardless of whether other people feel like it's necessary, I definitely do. Or at least I'm disappointed when there are no romances or they're a letdown.

Surely you aren't this desperate for self validation. 

Here's a thought: address the actual topic of the thread, and don't ever talk to me again.

I can't speak for BioWare but I'm guessing the inevitable fallout from designing/writing LIs would be a bit.. frustrating? Disheartening? Every time a game with romances drops, there's always a flood of people complaining because there are not enough x, y or z romance options. And then there's the complaints over their looks, their beliefs, their *insert complaint here*. It's impossible to please everyone and romances are something that players are very vocal about.

I like the romances. (I'm still wallowing in Solavellan hell over here.) They're a nice way to take a step back from the actual campaign and often times a romance will reveal a bit more depth of character pertaining to that LI. That being said, going no romance is okay too. I had no interest in any of the potential LIs in MEA so I didn't bother, and it didn't impact my playthrough.

What IS the point of the game, then? Because I thought the point of games was to have fun, and I have fun when I get to play a gay hero who has fantasy adventurers with his boyfriend.

And why shouldn't there be romances? Because those resources could have gone to something someone else would have liked instead? That's true of everything all the time. Race choice resources COULD HAVE gone to a base-building feature. War table resources COULD HAVE gone to a tower defense minigame. Class choice could have gone to quicktime events, party members could have been scrapped in favour of pre-rendered cutscenes. Hell, the resources for the entire game COULD HAVE gone to another FIFA or Madden.

Also, just as an aside, saying "But what if the FICTIONAL CHARACTER just ISN'T INTO YOU?" makes you sound insane. Haha.

Honestly, I feel more like Bioware have made it more difficult for other companies to implement romances. If a game says it has romances, I have come to expect a certain quality/amount of content in order to feel like they delivered what they promised. That being said, I do not need a ton of romanceable characters, as long as there's at least one I really like.

The problem as I see it, is that companion interaction in general has become a big part of their games. When you interact with companions on such a personal level, you can't help but develop bonds with them (be it romantic, friendly or as a rival). So if there isn't a romance option for a specific character you like, it becomes frustrating. I've recently replayed NWN2, and I always get so annoyed, exactly because the two characters I like the most are not romanceable.

By now I would probably be disappointed if they didn't have romances in any DA title. I'd probably also accept no romances in any ME spin-off. I think the MET romances are meaty enough to last me a lifetime in regards to that franchise. (I do admit that MEA was made more tolerable because of them, but that's a problem with the gameplay, not the fact that the romances added something extra. Also, the friendships with the rest of the crew was on about the same level).

However, if they make any new IP's without romances, I would still give it a try if it looked like a game I would like.

I think any regret should not be that romances are in the game, but that they have become such an important focus.

As has been said before, romances are a good opportunity to roleplay. They add personality to characters, and make for a fine addition for side-quests.

But fans have become, let's face it, entitled. They demand graphic sex scenes, they demand more and more romance options, they demand weddings, they demand certain romanceable characters: dwarves, elves, quarians, AIs, etc. They demand that this character be gay, this one be straight, this one be bi, and so on.

As a result, more and more zots have to be sunk into a portion of the game that not everyone even cares about, rather than just keeping it a fun little bit of SIDE content.


Edit:  And don't get me wrong, I LIKE romances, and want to see them continue to be put into games.  But they shouldn't be the huge focus they have become.

These topics usually end up with a bunch of straight people going '' what a sad human being you are, a pathetic excuse for a person, for needing your games to have gay romances? You piece of lowlife trash, how dare you require this? I DON'T NEED IT, I DON'T WANT IT, SO WHY DO YOU? Do you really need a GAME to VALIDATE your EXISTENCE? How pathetic, how sad. ''

I'd be fine with no romances if it still meant that there were tons of gay romances amongst the NPCs.
But honestly, the only reason I started playing Dragon Age was because of the gay romances, and if they take them away I don't think I'd have much of a reason to continue playing. 

If people are more interested in the romances than the story, what does that say about the story. 

Figured considering it was the first game they had a canonically ace character with Brin.

I don't even think Dragon Age fanbase is that creepy, bad or obsessive, all things considered.

Oh definitely, people who say that the DA fanbase is creepy probably have not seen creepy fanbases.