GI article Nov 18th: Andromeda's New Approach to Buttsecks

Confess, Mordin turned you off and that made you even more interested on him....

"This also extends to characters' sexualities. BioWare has been praised for its diversity and inclusion of various sexual orientations in its games, but it has also been criticized for shoehorning them in, particularly in regards to bisexual party members. While characters have various sexual orientations in Andromeda, Walters said the team made sure that it makes sense for the individuals, and doesn't just come out of left field. He feels Andromeda does this much better than past games. "It has to be a part of who they are," Walters says. "It can't just be, 'We need to have three male and three female [options].' We do look at the balance and make sure there's good inclusivity, but I'd much rather say if we need to do that then we have to rethink that character."

This sounds extremely promising, nothing grates on my guacamole more than shoehorned sexual orientation or characters that seem out of context story and situation wise (DA2 and Inquisition, I'm looking at you).

I'm all for every sexual orientation being represented and different forms of relationships being possible, from friendship to quick & casual to full blown romance...but everything needs to make sense, and not feel like a 'token' gesture.... cheapens the whole experience IMO.

Guilty! He was such an interesting character though XD I loved him. I wouldn't have been against a romance with a Salarian.

I just think it's a nice dynamic that you can be interested in someone but they don't share the same sentiments. Lil bit of realism with my space babes. I know a lot of people hate that when it comes to space waifus but ce la vie. I also like the idea that people can be interested in you and you can turn them down. Tired of feeling like a massive stalker all the time.

That's true. Hopefully they learnt from DAI and improved on it.
I feel like I'm saying this quite often recently   .

I don't agree, but I can understand why you would point to DA2, but why DAI? Which of the LIs being what felt like a token gesture to you? I'm just curious

I am keeping my expectations low. I do think howewer that for succeeding MEA has to improve on DAI on different features.

Agreed. The fans are quick to offer citicism, which is fine, but often forget to keep it constructive and pair it with praise. BioWare is the only company of which I'm aware that is trying to do this type of thing in their games, both in terms of romance arcs and in terms of inclusivity.

I thought DAI was a bit hamfisted, but I understand why others may have felt it was amazing. I bet the next game is a bit more even-handed. The Mass Effect team has always been more careful and measured about introducing romance options, wanting them to make sense for their characters, I believe. They've sometimes been labeled as "less progressive" as a result.

Now, with a fresh trilogy, they will be able to write a diverse cast from the start. Hopefully, they are able to avoid both the hamfisted, on the nose DA approach, as well as the fan accusations of being adverse to diversity. Obviously, I'm much more concerned about game quality than fan grumbling, when it's all said and done.

I don't think people are saying that they want all romances to be 'safe' ones.

I still think romances outside the squad and crew will have less content, based on what Walters said, so we'll see.

Iron Bull felt shoehorned to me, he just didn't feel right IMO.

I do not understand what he means by that. They try to make the cast's sexuality diverse but they have to rethink the character because of that? Does he mean they'll retrofit a character after deciding they're bisexual for example, so they suit that better or does he mean the characterization governs the sexuality? I don't get it what he's talking about.

Regarding DA:I's romances: All of them were very disappointing in the fact that they pretty much culminated at the scene and were available really early, and you were mostly locked into them after the decision, but the later companion scenes would reflect on it with a dialogue choice or two that you were lovers, but all in all it just felt short and always existed aside the main narrative, which was true to DA:O I guess, but it felt like less and even ME1 AND 2 AND 3 felt like they had more to them in terms of meaningful romance. I did love Solas's romance though because I felt it meant something to the narrative. Cassandra's, Bulls, Sera etc. they were all great contributions to the characterization of those characters and mostly satisfying if you liked those characters yourself, but they just felt really short in total. Blackwall though, I felt was kind of tacked on. Bull was just a fling unless you really wanted him as a lover and the game allowed you to have that, even though I think that scene (when he says "Kadan, my heart") is one of the weakest and emotionless love culminations.

I really, really liked Cassandra's character and how well she fit into the main themes of the story; she felt like a better protagonist than Inquisitor to me at times, but I felt she started to get sidelines after you became Inquisitor and her romance, rather than going further with the sort of companionship and building trust you have with her in Haven, just go to the boring "Oh Player1 you're so amazing, how do you do it all the time?!" and she wants the "ideal romance" and... well, her romance scene was cute and sensual but that's all it was, and I felt there was a much more interesting partnership developing in the earlier parts of the game, so it felt like a waste. Another point where I feel BioWare have opened up the player-choice and becoming too inclusive hurts the game more than it helps. It makes individual parts less memorable for the sake of making sure there's something for everybody.