The Character Romance thread (Official)

Replaying value would drop. For me, close to zero.

I'll be honest, if there were no romances I'd probably not be playing any of the newer Bioware games at all... For me, there are many games with more interesting stories, settings, better roleplaying options and gameplay. The character interaction of which romance is a big part is what draws me to franchises like DA and ME.

(This is not meant as some general criticism of Bioware btw, I'm not saying their plots or gameplay are bad, just that I, personally, prefer those aspects done differently, and find that in games by other companies. But I still play and enjoy BW stuff, mainly due to being able to roleplay a romance interwoven with a story, even if I don't like the story all that much).

Agreed, in the Dragon Age and Mass Effect games the romances were completely optional. You never had to touch on the subject and if it gets brought up, it only takes one response to stop it.
Also, I can't for the life of me imagine romances in Bejeweled and Tetris so yeah not every game needs romances to be fun.

For me the romances are a small part of the enjoyment I get out of the game, but I still get enjoyment from them. Although I hate romance novels and rom coms, I love fictional narratives about something else, where a romance blossoms between two characters who interact throughout the story. And with the scope of Bioware's games, and the amount of time and effort that goes into the characters and how our relationships with them develop, it actually makes little sense to not include the possibility of romance. I mean, we have friendships, rivalries, alliances, people we can disagree with the point of killing them. We have family and people who hero-worship us and sometimes people who show up from our pasts. And romance in popular media is pretty prevalent, so it's not surprising many story-driven games include it. Even the most testosterone-laden, explosion-filled action movie will typically have the hero get the girl. I love that my female badass hero has the opportunity to get the boy in Mass Effect.

Also, it's interesting to me how many people go into threads about romance topics and complain about all the focus on romance. If that's what you're selecting to read, then, yeah...? That'd be like me going into a thread on weapons and being like, 'all this talk of weapons makes me think people only care about the combat! If only they'd scrap the fights and focus more on the characters and story. And then those people can just play pure shooters instead.' (Not that I don't enjoy or care about combat - major bonus points if it's fun! - but even if it were terrible I'd still play the game.)

My point being, Bioware games have always been this great big hybrid of genres that appeal to different people for different reasons. They shouldn't 'take out' something just because some players don't particularly care about it. Nor will they. Romances in Bioware games have become rather iconic for the franchise, to where, if anything, other games are beginning to emulate it (see Fallout 4's attempt, which was rather fun, even if it fell short of my hopes for it).

And romances are fun to speculate on. Characters are fun to speculate on in general. And it ties into issues of inclusivity, which I enjoy talking about as well. And sometimes it's fun to get all giddy over the possibility of romancing a character I like. Gives me a taste of that thrill I used to get when crushing on a boy I liked, without having to betray my real life boyfriend now!

I think that something to remember is that the fact that romances are a huge deal in Bioware games all over the place (not just here or on old BSN). That means something. It means that this is a major selling point for a pretty significant part of the audience. I don't think we have any real data on it, but I vaguely remember that the ME3 stats included how many people completed a romance and it was like 60+%, which is pretty significant. So, while I am sympathetic for people who don't care much and feel that they overshadow the rest of the game, it seems like it's part of the reason why they have such a significant fanbase to begin with.

I am a big fan of them. I don't mind saying that. But I also wouldn't be too upset if they chose not to include them in a new IP. I'd be annoyed if they removed them from a current IP, but I wouldn't be sad if a new one didn't include them. But, if the rest of the game wasn't awesome, it might be enough to keep me from buying it. Not upset, just not as interested.

Are you me? Just insert the game Azure Dreams and that's pretty much been my same path in regards to loving dating/relationships in games. (Not exactly but pretty close!)

I never played Harvest Moon, surprisingly, but I picked up Stardew Valley last year through Steam and loved it. I still play every so often when I get the urge. As I understand it, it's pretty similar to the Harvest Moon series.

For me, discussing romances is safer than main plot, and without actually playing combat, I cannot feasibly discuss it.

Talking plot leads to expectations, leads to disappointment. No desire for that. Romance talk is more fun, safer expectations wise. Plus, enjoy the competitive nature it sometimes inspires.

yes, it's somewhat annoying that I have to be straight in each game...I'd wish there were more developers like Bioware who would include homosexual protagonists...

I do hope you're right and that seems like something Bioware would do lol 

We also have to expect the colonial affairs group on the Nexus and, I believe, combat??? At least according to the Nexus site, so they might expedite the combat one as a showcase and then introduce a colony video close to release date to really drum up the hype before the game drops. 

Memorable over bangable?