Jaal Ama Darav (Official Thread)

Oh lord, this! I've noticed that there's an obnoxious lack of content with romance options. The pacing is so odd that I'm left having to carefully script which scenes to save and what dialogue to pick.

Gil doesn't have enough to make up for him not being a combat squadmate and Reyes has a very short amount of interaction. Jaal definitely should have stayed bi after all that. Maybe it's just me. The original trilogy wasn't as detailed as some of the cutscenes we see here. And yet, I feel starved for more conversations with the crew regardless if I'm romancing them.

Maybe that's it. ME3 reeks of rushed deadline and even back then, I was nervous about it being released too soon. Andromeda is the same, giving off a very rushed feel with the glitches and bugs and it makes me more than a little salty that it looks like it got thrown under the bus for Anthem. Maybe that's just me. But the RPG world Bioware excelled at was losing ground and it makes me sad to think a time may come when I may have to look elsewhere for games that focus on character development but also player customization.

Agreed. There was a knot of worry when finding out that . If that's the case, tension between Ryder and Jaal may come up.

On a side thought: I really, really liked that Jaal would not let Ryder off the hook if they did something that angered him. He'd get past it eventually, but it was nice to see that if you didn't pay attention to his wishes, he wasn't going to just up and forget about it. It reminded me of how heated things could get when I played a Shepard who romanced Garrus but disagreed with him on methods.

To be fair, the other Andromeda companions are fairly independent as well so I won't say that you can't anger them as well. Another thing that reminds me a bit of the Garrus romance was how Jaal cannot be flirted with right away and that a friendship has to be built first. It doesn't take an entire game, but it does require a bond which appeals to the demisexual in me.

That's pretty neat to hear that angering Jaal twice can ruin any chances of a romance. I like that. It really forces the player to pay attention in that case and it's not arbitrary.

By the way, have you noticed how nearly every romance in the original trilogy involved a male LI talking about a past lady they cared about? Think about it:
Kaidan: Rana, Garrus: turian scout, Thane: Irikah, Jacob: Miranda, Jaal: Anallia, Reyes: mercenary ex you actually shoot.

Only Liam doesn't have any past flames or flings to talk about!

Ha! Drack, I get why he'd be angry. I'm amazed he got over that at all. It was something I kept expecting to have a further discussion about but then Drack reminds me he's lived beyond the rise and fall of the Roman empire, countless wars, and who knows how many governments enacted to be just too tired to grudge over something he's seen time and time again.

I have to admit; Reyes has a surprising amount of versatility with different personalities of Ryder. There was a push/pull chemistry between him and I can see how people got stuck as it almost happened with one of my Ryders. She was a professional type who wasn't much charmed by the flirting but did surprise him by defending him as a good guy. 2 flirts. That's all it took for the story to tag it as a potential romance. And those "flirts" weren't even hitting on him. They genuinely fit her better in telling him that there's better things to worry about than money and that he's a better person than his ex said he was. In a way though, it added flavor to the whole thing in how Kadara ended and her ensuing disappointment before she fell for Jaal. Still, would have been interesting to see LIs call you out for being too "friendly" with others and being wary of being messed with emotionally. The casual sex aspect with Peebee was a nice touch, but I'd like to see the other end too with certain characters.

Oi. As for the original trilogy, got to admit I was starting to wonder if Femshep was so unattractive if it felt like she had to drag guys into a relationship with her. Thane's had a dignity to it and Kaidan had a natural attraction that worked for story flow.

I didn't know that was popular in fanfics. Do you think Jaal would have had a difficult time admitting romantic feelings for Sara? He never struck me as having a hard time declaring that out loud though I always do like references to one's decisions. Makes me wish the wiki had kept up with the squad banter too because I'd have loved to see all the possible outcomes.

And yes, I will admit to being slightly jealous that Peebee and Cora got Jaal's admiration and interest so quickly. It's not like he was in a relationship though. But still...it's the same sort of irksomeness as when Ryder never gets any mention of having biotic ability.

Now I wonder if romancing Jaal would be harder if we had to flirt with him like Shepard did with Jacob.

There are basically 3 complete romances in the game: Peebee, Jaal, and Cora.  Everyone else is mini-romances. it's really uneven. I hope we don't see that again. If they don't have the budget (either time, money, workers, whatever) they should cut back on the number of options (2 for every origination configuration perhaps) instead of bragging about having 10 options ( most of the options for straight men).  

As for Jaal though yeah, I think he is their best attempt so far at a realistic feeling relationship. You have to earn his trust, then you become friends, and then the flirting-it all flows so well! 

*Sigh* Do you think they'll someday come back to Andromeda or is it dead for good? Seems a waste to go back now.

I think they will. Bioware can address the issues people had with the game without abandoning the setting or even the characters. It's really their only option since the Milky Way is in a far worse state when it comes to continuing the franchise. 

You're welcome. I don't think Bioware will ever stop making RPGs in the foreseeable future. Every RPG they have made, even those that received backlash, have made a profit. Also, Bioware is pretty much EA's only RPG developer as far as I know so they would support them for those two reasons among others.

Jaal is bi

Jaal is definitely a breath of fresh air and someone I plan to revisit after I face the one I "dread"