*Romance distribution spoilers* Make your voice heard about the lack of romance options, sex scenes,

Of course, because you're pissed for the wrong reasons. Of course, you also care more about the dating simulator aspect of the game instead of the actual gameplay itself, which is horribly amusing in it's own right.

Now you're getting it! BioWare didn't get into the dating simulator business to sell quality games, they just did it to virtue signal and pat themselves on the back about it. So ideally after EA cuts them down to size they can go back to making quality video games, instead of whatever the hell we're getting now.

Guys, enough with the bickering in the thread. Take it to PM.

Yes this is major problem and everyone with human decency sees it even from the numbers. 0 squadmates is huge issue and I have been always against something that is unfair. I'm sad that Bioware cares more about making the game less video game with the unequal romances- which seems to mean bias towards straight guys to them- rather than making the game fair and enjoyable to players. If Bioware can't do math and doesn't have money to buy calculator- 0 is not same as 2 or 3 no matter where you were schooled- they should stop trying to count since they can't and just go with all bi route with LIs.

Hmm...

Looking back at Mass Effect 3. Straight MaleShep had 7 options and Straight FemShep had 2.

Straight MaleShepard:
Liara
Ashley
Tali
Miranda
Jack
Kelly
"Reporter-woman" - never took her on my ship so don't know her name

Straight Female Shepard:
Kaidan
Garrus


Crewmates like Liara and Tali had more than side characters like Kelly. But they were there.

You could say that I was less than happy with the big difference but I the romances that FemShep had in that game. There were only two but those two were so so good! The romance with Kaidan was great, there was a little extra scene for the FemShep's who had been waiting for him. He moved around the Normandy and interacted with the others. I always look forward to replaying that romance.



And FemShep+Garrus is probably the best romance I have done in any BioWare game. They had no sexy naked stuff but more on the romance. Tango and target-shooting on the Citadel. Completely amazing!


Here is hoping that the two options that are available for m/m will be really good. That they will be rewarding to experience in game. In just a few days we should all find out.

I'm really starting to feel like there shouldn't be because reading things that stupid is almost as painful than shooting myself in the foot.

So I might as well...

I'm getting a headache reading it.

Poor them though. Missing on the husbando that is Gil because the L-word has two more in their cast.

So that's the reason m/m and Vetra romances only have fade to black! Damn you and your internal fanfics Bioware 

The quality of a crew romance can never reach that of a squad romance though. I preferred Reyes, then Gil, then Jaal, in that order, but I was still planning on romancing Jaal just cause he was a squadmate and adventuring with your LI is fun, now it's not even an option.

Also, pretty sure that the number of lesbian/bi female LIs (which I'm very happy about!) is however a byproduct of straight guys being the target audience, because according to my bros, when they're playing female, they tend to romance female, cause even when their avatar is a girl they feel awkward flirting and romancing guys (which I can understand).

Bottom line, no squad romance for male ryder sucks, and when every other orientation has minimum 2 squad options, gay male ryder having 0 is insulting. If we had had ONE single option in the whole game, if he had been squad, i'd have taken it.

Whatever, guess I can go back to Reyes without feeling that I'm missing squad content, there is no squad content meant for me.

One doesn't have to come at the expense of the other.

Of course if you had to choose one you'd choose quality, but ideally you have both. And I don't see any reason to believe that those with more romances for less quality when more effort was put into their scenes.

I think it's best that people drop that idea that if someone isn't getting shot at with you, then they're inherently inferior, because at this point that's all it is boils down to.

Romance Content is a part of NPC content, not the other way around.

Either way,

They all participate in banter on the field.
They all have their own missions.
They have their own unique scenes.

They don't fight. They actually have their own functions like Kallo being your driver and Gil being your engineer with their own unique dialogue interactions.

With the case of Reyes, he doesn't have his own banter (not even on Tempest) but there's an entire planet devoted to him (more than any LI) and apparently has the largest subset of romance content.

It appears BioWare is not making the same distinction as you are regarding squad =/= nonsquad. You can't fault them for not conceding to your own subjective descriptions of what qualifies as "quality".

I get what you're saying, they're good points, and maybe I didn't explain myself well.

The quality of the romance might be the same, but the quality of the relationship or the character as a whole lacks when you compare crew to squad, in my opinion.

All the squad options are relevant to the story and play a part in the grand scheme of things, they participate in your squad meetings (which the crew doesn't, if I'm correct?), you get to take them to hub worlds and adventuring and have their comments on what's going on (crew comments during planet missions but they don't during hubs I think?). Also I don't think crew members have Loyalty Missions?

I, personnally, always feel closer to my LI during the romance scenes, if I've been taking them everywhere and hearing little tidbits from them and seeing them at my side during the whole adventure.

Gil is the engineer, an important job, but all his interactions revolve around that. Reyes is only important on one planet. Also they,re both CC faces, whilst the squadmembers feel unique, and look unique.

So have we decided where the best place to send letters of concern should go?

I'd like to let them know that, while I do appreciate that they continue to include gay male romances, the marketing approach, as well as the marginalization of those characters has made me, a diehard Bioware fan who has bought every single one of their games since Baldur's Gate (with the exception of Neverwinter Nights), to vow not to preorder going forward. My main points will be the disparity between gay male and straight male options in both quality and quantity, the generic CC design of both m/m options, the lack of sex scenes for m/m romances, the "queerbaiting" (although I'll phrase it differently) around Jaal, and the general unresponsiveness from the devs and marketing in general surrounding m/m romances during this cycle.

That being said, I'm not willing to write off Bioware nor even this particular team of devs yet. They come across as bumbling and clueless around issues of diversity relating to m/m content -- I'm not getting a malicious vibe from them. And the fact that I'm privy to some private PMs between more than one poster and the devs indicate that they are listening and trying to understand. If (and I'm genuinely worried about it), ME:A gets a sequel, I would like to think that this feedback will be received and attended to. And, in the meantime, I have ZERO concerns about DA4. That team has demonstrated that, while they don't always get it right, they are making the right strides. I feel good with Patrick at the helm and Sheryl back on the ship.