What were your thoughts on the romances?

Pacing was bad for everybody when you consider the romance arcs are at best 20 minutes of content versus 100+ hours of gameplay. That being said, anyone that wasn't Jaal, Cora, or Peebee had the least amount of content and felt the most underdeveloped. I think BioWare just needs to change their approach to romances and revamp how they tackle them in these bigger games. The current approach just doesn't make sense when you go for tens of hours not even knowing if you are romancing someone or not.

Agreed. At least DAI managed romances better, and that game is arguably comparable in size to MEA. I really don't understand what the total disconnect was here. Maybe BioWare was just overwhelmed and cut corners with romances? It's rather odd, considering DAI and ME3, as you indicated, both did a much better job. Typically, BioWare doesn't go backwards when it comes to improving upon their game philosophy. Unfortunately, there was a breakdown in their process somewhere. Hopefully this can be somewhat rectified in DLC, but ideally this won't happen again in future Mass Effect games. I doubt BioWare plans on making these games any smaller going forward, so they've got to put more effort into these romances if they really want them to work.

Agreed. Not many game developers do romance right, and certainly not with this amount of depth and choice. I'd still say CDPR has the upper hand in terms of execution and tying a romance scene into a story in a meaningful way. That being said, BioWare isn't far behind. The Jaal romance and Cora romance show BioWare has the technical prowess and creativity to compete with the best. Now, if only they would make the relationships feel authentic and provide a lot more content to fill an 100 hour playthrough. I'm really hoping BioWare is taking in all this quality feedback and not being blindsided entirely by everybody complaining about animations. Those certainly could use improvement, but there are other areas in this game that are seriously lacking, such as romance.

I'm confused... all of that was in Andromeda? I've only done one play through as male Ryder romancing Cora and throughout numerous of the Meridian scenes she's shown to worry about the situation Ryder is in. At the same time just roaming around in the Nomad mopping up side quests I recall Jaal mentioning the Angaran word for love to Cora and Ryder, Drack congratulating Ryder and Cora being an item and Cora mentioning that she's got someone to get hot under the collar about (can't remember the actual phrasing) when PeeBee is talking about how sexy she finds Jaal.

That said all of this was obviously late game once you'd 'locked in' the relationship.


I think the bolded is a bit unfair. I actually kind of feel the total opposite in Andromeda in the sense that it's far more rewarding after you lock in the romance as there are numerous references and comments with regards to your relationship once you've 'settled'. Of course this wouldn't be the same if you weren't romancing a squad mate and my only reference point is Cora at the moment.

Conversely leading up to the romances is just so stop and start that as has been mentioned by yourself the pacing is just all off. It just doesn't feel natural in any way.

All that aside... I found the romance scene with Cora somewhat juvenile in places. I mean the sex there starts on the bridge section of your quarters when there's a sofa to the right and a bed to the left? Just seems odd that the sex scene was so hot and heavy right off the bat when the game portrays that Ryder and Cora are very serious about each other. Maybe that's just me projecting my view of sex though, dunno.

I think this post proves how subjective the experience of BW romances are. Here are some of my opinions. 

Peepee is the worst, IMO. She's an annoying cunt, and only exists to be fucked by Scott.
Cora also exists to be fucked by Scott. That's why her entire character is her ass.
Liam is the Lifetime movie romance.
Vetra's romance was the special, something deep and melding experience that you mentioned. Turians and humans can't get physical, so the bond is entirely emotional. Vetra appreciates that you love her for her, not what she can do for you.
Jaal is the clear canon romance for Sara, has the most screen time out of all romances, and is plot relevant. Superior, IMO.
Reyes has the best flirtatious vibe, as in getting to know someone, and falling in like with them, and really wanting to know them better.
Suvi needs to leave Jesus at home, and STFU about it.
Gil seems like a good guy. Interesting how if you liked his romance as a gay man, other gay men would bash you for it.

In an ideal world, every orientation would get a hardcore fucking scene, since I guess that's what people people consider "equal" treatment, and then access to other romances that are more PG. 

I feel that all characters that can be romanced, with the exception of Suvi are likable and easy to bond with as pals. The only one that gave me a romantic rather than friendship vibe during my first PT was Reyes. I am going to work on that next PT to make it work.

I tried very hard to fall for Jaal. I ended up feeling like I did it in the Name of the Human-Angaran Inter-galaxy Friendship. Terrible VA (for me).

Liam managed to create a moment. It took a long time, but he did. I played his scene after soccer match with and without the commitment. The committed scene, them just walking away, was too disappointing to keep it. I know, it is weird to complain about that after making a face at Jaal's overt scene, but I was expecting them to be kissing and giggling behind the Tempest. In, like, not headcanon.

PeeBee represents the one archetype of BioWARE girls I actually did like romancing on my males. I liked Liara, I liked Vette, I liked Merrill. I do get kicks out of playing an impossibly knightly man that places his little princess on the pedestal and throws his cloak protectively between her and the world, no matter what she does. But once I got through Peebee's story, I lost what little desire I had for White Knighting for Boinks her.

Cora, OMG, she gets me. I get her. We will form a garden club together. We'll have tea and bake cookies, and chat about the seeds sprouting, and go on trips through Eos hills to pick a few wildflowers. We'll dream together about Eos steppes starting to have those flash blooms maybe when the rains shall fall. That's the wrong kind of fantasy though, it's has nothing to do with romance. I mean, maybe, eventually, ten years down the road, but just not now.

Vetra is my bestie, on every gender protagonist. She is too bestie to romance. Really, her romance is just gentle friendship, and should be non-committal. Or called a romance.

Gil is a likable fellow. I am not interested in inserting myself in the middle of his complex relationship with Jill. I can take exes... not presencies. I also don't like card games. At all. I would not mind him hooking up with Kallo. I could hook up with Kallo also. Ryder and Gil? Not really.

Suvi I don't like in so many ways that I am not even imagining hate-passionate anything. Terrible VA too (for me).

Avela... who?

At Keri isn't Battle Tits. Talk about a bad VA.

Yeah, I thought Keri's VA was more than decent.

Who is Keri? Asari journalist?

Ah. I actually don't think Keri's romance is lackluster. It doesn't have much content, but what's there is well done.

Jack's in ME3 was like that too, well done, just not much of it.

The Keri romance is rather forgettable. One interesting fabric to it, however, is if you also happen to be in a romance with one of the main squadmates. Keri will actually make note of that other romance and even be okay with being the "other woman." So if you are interested in doing infidelity roleplay, Keri can play into that itch. No idea if that romance will ever be expanded on in DLC since it's so minor.

We get it. You hate Scott and all of the people he can romance.