The Character Romance thread (Official)

Cora is confirmed, but Jaal is speculation until said otherwise by the devs. It's obvious he is, but they refuse to say "yes" when directly asked.

Mac Walters said something to the effect in the Gameinformer interview about romances in November: 

www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2016/11/18/mass-effect-andromeda-39-s-new-approach-to-romance.aspx

Yeah, I did hear mixed stuff about Sam's romance but didn't play it, which is why I said I couldn't speak to it, just her character. And I would understand why people prefer squadmate romances. But I pointed out Cullen as an example of why I personally wouldn't mind an NPC romance as a main choice, provided it's handled in that way. Not once did I feel like I was missing out on anything by him not being a companion, and he had enough banter around Skyhold to make up for the lack of it on the field. But YYMV. I do agree having a choice of two squad mates for every orientation is best however.

But personally, I would prefer a choice between two or three with a little less content than just one 'core' romance with a lot. Because what if I really don't like that one? More options means a bigger chance of me getting someone I really like. And as much as I love the romances in Bioware games, I like that it's a little part of a bigger story rather than a huge focus. But then, I'm someone who generally prefers a small romantic side plot in a novel that's about something else, to a romance novel with a side plot that exists as a means for the characters to get together. Actually, I hate romance novels to be honest! But I love the romances in Bioware games, exactly because it's this fun little thing that happens in the midst of everything else. And I was satisfied with the amount of romance content I got in DAI. Enough that it felt like a real relationship, but not so much that it overshadowed the events of the game.

Wow. Can't say I'm too surprised. Just ... How can anyone this day and age be so utterly ignorant in regards to human (or alien lol) sexuality? It blows my mind. 

A character's sexuality "has to be a part of who they are." WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN MAC WALTERS.

Yeah, Cora's definitely bi. She was probably going to be straight, then they decided she needed to be bi, so they cut off her hair and wrote in the bi-space babes background. You know, so her sexuality would now be part of who she really is. MAKES SENSE. /sarcasm

Ok, so Tom Taylorson, Scott Ryder's VA, liked both of these tweets.

The first was mine tweeting the devs the results of the Poll I did a while back about potential romantic pairings. Scott and Liam got 40 or over 40 votes (can't remember ) and came 3rd as most popular (after SaraxJaal and other romance options).

The second was a reply, where they seemed happy that Scott and Liam got a lot of votes.

Tom Taylorson liked that tweet also so, take from that what you will, just don't take it to mean a confirmation or anything, just thought it was interesting (also gave me a small ray of hope for bi Liam).

It makes perfect sense. Looks like they've learned from the mistake of ME3. There was the ending, the spoonfed hoodiebrat drama, kissuptoIGNwithDiana and including diversity for diversity’s sake. Yep, making Shep gay for the last game was a mistake. Well sure, there's the Liara-FemShep stuff but asari are the l-word race backed by lore* (though I'm the 'target audience' I've always rolled my eyes about that one). Also Kelly in me2 but c'mon, she was a joke, nobody cares/d about Kelly. Gay MShep on the other hand made no sense and it lead to the character assassination of Kaidan. It came out of nowhere and it was forced. Like literally with all the "hey Shep let's be gay together" speeches. Cortez and Traynor are the blandest characters BW ever made and their sole purpose was to fill out the quotas. Because the fans demanded it.

Now before you reach for the pitchforks... oh... already armed I see. Please put them down.

Andromeda is a fresh start in every sense. With Ryder I support this stuff because s/he's a new protagonist, not an established one, s/he can be anything. In DAI I was afraid of Dorian. I really was. I mean after Zev, Anders and then Kaidan... Ugh. Well, they proved me wrong. He wasn't forced on you and it fit his character. He became one of my favorite and even though it's not my thing I have a dwarf warrior lined up for him in a future pt. I think Walters meant something like this with the "has to be a part of who they are". Will I be disappointed if Vetra is Sara-only option? Definitely! There'll be tears, curses, longing looks ingame but if there's a reason for it I can accept it. Cora confirmed for Scott, not sure if she's needed for Sara. Liam is the opposite. I liked the bro-vibes he gave in the game engine trailer. Never had a human best friend in the series (Tali+Garrus all the way!) they could be the first. PB is an asari, basically confirmed it. I would have preferred a Scott-only or no romance option, just to defy expectations. Reyes is voiced by Hawke so that's a big +1. Fingers crossed for a new Dorian.

*Jaal is an interesting one. He's bi (confirmed?). Also a missed opportunity. The angarans could have been the reverse-asari of Andromeda. Just imagine a male race. They can reproduce (asari like gene mixing with a hint of seahorse thing). Leave the pitchforks, don't laugh, I'm serious! There are some women in the GE trailer but they could be 'females'. Results of a ~genetic mutation, they are essentially mules. Now they're accepted but there were some ugly pages in the angaran history.

My Shepard is always gay, and it always makes sense to me. I disagreed that they assassinated Kaidan character. Bisexual people can sometimes prefer women to men and, other times, vice versa. Actually I admired Bioware's attempts to be more inclusive, especially compared to other AAA companies. Surely some of their attempts were not the best, they did improve significantly in DA:I. I'll just hope that they keep doing so. #MakeLiamBi

I'm curious, what do you mean by this?
Because I don't want another sassy gay best friend with a story that's partly fixated on him liking men and why that is BAD and NOT GOOD and IT NEEDS TO BE CHANGED!!

i guess he is one of those "i was propositioned by anders/kaidan or whatever and i need to be desanitized after that" types. he needs "clear looking gays" not the one that look like "ordinary males" in his eyes. 

I just hope they learned from their mistakes and give the next gay character more screentime, because I think it will be a crew member again. They've already showed us that they are capable of creating interesting NPC's (like Cullen, though it was another team). But Cullen was straight... I hope they put the same effort into a gay crewmate.

Might wanna update this since tweets have more or less confirmed that Jaal is a romance option, though the extent by which we can romance him is still ambiguous.