Cora Harper (Official Thread)

Am I the only person who thought Cora was wildly underused?

Early in the game there are a couple of really good opportunities for Cora... and they just completely fall flat over the rest of the game.  Like... really flat.  Like the person in charge of writing Cora got fired after Act 1 was written, and the replacement went in an entirely different direction. 

The three biggies for me were:
Rivalry with Ryder
Her Biotics
Militarism

The Rivalry with Ryder is set up really well in the first first few scenes.  Cora is obviously angry and hurt by Alec's decision to name Ryder pathfinder.  The initial cutscene between Ryder and Cora focuses on what should be an ongoing point of contention throughout the game.  It could have led to arguments, confrontations, DRAMA later on.  Y'know... the stuff that makes characters interesting.  Instead we have a one off "is this going to be a problem?" dialogue and its never seriously addressed again.  Ryder is supposedly making these huge decisions.  It would have been much more interesting if there was a conflicted second in command around to challenge Ryder occasionally, battling within herself over loyalty and her own ambition. 

Every Squad mate has a reason for making the trip to Andromeda.  Cora's big reason was wanting to find a place where a powerful human biotic didn't have to feel like a freak.  This is one of the more interesting backstories in the group.  She's been a soldier, an Asari Commando, and she STILL doesn't feel like she's part of a whole.  She joins the initiative to find a home.  Like I mentioned above, she TRAINED TO BE THE PATHFINDER... this is a big deal.  This should have tied into the Rivalry with Ryder.  There should have been more of a feeling of betrayal by Alec to overcome.  IT should have come up when Ryder was making choices in the game.  This feeling of being an outside should have been used in the context of the greater narrative.... and it just never is.

Militarism.  This is not actually something that she displays a whole lot early in the game, but it is something I think was played with early on and ended up hurting the game when it didn't continue later.  When Podromos is established, Ryder has a choice between a scientific or military focus.  Cora votes for military...  and of course she would.  This is a theme that could have carried through a lot of the big decisions in the rest of the game.  The explorer/conqueror dynamic is played with a few times, but it seems like Bioware chickens out every time they got close to a REAL moment.  Cora could have been the voice for a strong, human led, conquest style expansion into Helius.  If the theories about her family are true, this could have been a REALLY cool thread to pull.  It also could have played into the Ryder rivalry, demonstrating that Alec thought Cora was too much a soldier to be the pathfinder.

Also, The Cora romance should have been Difficult to achieve given their situation.  Imagine having to earn that relationship through actions, in game decisions and dialogue choices beyond "Click The Heart".  Imagine how rewarding the romance would have been if Ryder had to overcome the pride and ambition of a rival, earn the trust of a loner, AND either choose a path of conquest OR convince a soldier to walk a new path.  Decisions with consequences.

I think all romances should be like this. Not difficult, which should depend on the character, but dependent on choices you make throughout the game, choosing the flirting dialogue options should be a necessary but not sufficient requirement for romancing a character, at least for a full romance, and not a simple one night stand. When BioWare said they were going for more organic relationships I thought the would implement somthing similar to this, but in the end I can't really tell the difference between ME:A and what the DA team has done since DA2.

Well said, I'm inclined to agree. I definitely detected a lot of veiled insecurities - was part of what I liked about her arc and getting to dig more into that and getting to know a bit more about how beneath it all, Cora was unsure of a lot of things but put up a confident front, and it was quite rewarding to slowly get to see more of that side of her. Admittedly more so in the romance - I've played through both as Scott and Sara now and while I liked Cora's arc in both, her romance arc obviously reveals more over vulnerability.

Even still, it does feel more like we're just scratching the surface - true for most of the Andromeda crew, really. Makes me hope that in any potential sequels we'll continue on as Ryder and with most of the same crew - I'd love to see them all develop over a few games like the MET squad.

The Jaal romance is like this. Depending on your decision at the end of his loyalty mission his romance is locked off.  Cora doesn't really have the same turning point as Jaal though, she is conflicted as to what decision to make at the end of her mission and leaves it up to you because of that conflict. 

I would like there to be more of a mix of types of romances. I'd like more romances to be like Jaal's but I'd also like to keep the current type of romances too. It would be annoying to accidently lock yourself out of any romances (like any ME 3 (fem) Shepard player who wanted to romance a human but let Kadian die in ME1)

Cora's growing more hair in that art, nice!

Could someone ask Jules de Jongh if she's still doing voice work for Andromeda? It could clear up a lot of recent concerns.

I don't know if this was mentioned here before, but if you get the hamster after locking in with Cora there is a special line of dialogue. After commenting on how it is the cutest thing you've met in Andromeda so far, he says, "Don't tell Cora I said that."

Dude, you''ve only been dating her for like a few ingame weeks/months

Its way to early to say "I love you" in that stage.

I personally like that Cora is the only squadmate not outright telling Ryder that she loves him. Pretty much everyone else does, right? Jaal, Vetra, Gil, Liam, hell even Peebee says it. I think her feelings are expressed a lot more in her actions and the little tidbits we get between her and Ryder in-between missions. Things that other romances - except maybe Jaal's - don't have. It's a little more subtle that way. She's also, I believe, the only LI that doesn't obsess over settling down at the end of the game. Instead, she says she likes to be with Ryder but that she'd rather explore the galaxy a while longer and that she'll "think about" maybe settling down later. So...

Maybe DON'T go around opening wounds that are supposed to be closed already?

I just found out I'm still not over real life bullshit, and here you have to bring up more game bullshit. Do I look like a masochist?

Hmmm.. I don't know if that's what you meant but I'm thinking that being adventurous persons doesn't necessarily mean that you don't want to settle down. And from what I understood during the romance option I chose with Cora, she was dreaming of peace and quiet with Ryder, but in an adventurous way I guess you could say.
So I see her more like, deep down, the Norah Jones type of romantic. "I wanna wake up with the rain falling on a tenn roof while I'm safe there in your arms", if you know what I mean.
But because of her background, it takes a lot for her to open up in that way and even more so to say "I love you".

but that's of course only my thoughts of it so far.

Edit:
My point with all this is was that if I had missed something or if this was the same for everyone, and if she never says it, is that a writer choice or a writer miss. But then again it's always fun speculating in why it would be if she just reluctant to say it