**ROMANCE**

They could have no romances in any of their games and that would have been fine with me. That's just not something that I desire to have in games I play.

I think you answered in-part why they're a source of contention. 

More often than not romances in any media are just not well written. They come off in most movies as an afterthought or obligatory...like of course the hero gets the girl at the end as icing on the cake. 

yes

That is, uh, well I'm not even sure what to call that.  'Crazy' doesn't seem to cover it.

Video games historically haven't been great at doing romances, even BW ones can end up cringe worthy or just downright silly.  I don't think the mere inclusion of romances make a good game, nor does their exclusion bother me.  Plenty of great games out there with no romance content at all. 

I'm not sure what the best answer is, I'd like to see games able to incorporate the content into the game in a way that doesn't make it feel out of place or tacked on but given how games are made and the cost of developing intricate and well developed content I'm not sure how we get to that point.

Romance? There was romance in this game? Really? I had a sex scene with Cora but calling that anything more than a one night stand is a bit of a stretch. Consider Dragon Age Origins and the angst about Morrigan's baby. You formed this relationship with her and then she decided she didn't want it. This was real story and immersion. Dragon Age Inquisition came out with sex. No real connection - just sex and for a straight guy like me I looked at the two prospects and said, "no thanks."

Meanwhile, The Witcher 3 gave us Romance as we wondered if the love we had for yennifer was due to a wish or if we really loved Triss. It wasn't about the sex it was about who we wanted to spend time with and it was story driven.

Then we get this offering. How could I fancy Kerri the journalist when she shared the same face as every other Assari bar one? There was no romance in this game; just an assortment of sex scenes which went nowhere.

No. I started Bioware games because of the immersion; the little bits of escapism and living in someone else's skin even if total fiction.

Natural progression, as we as mature humans have learned it, involves the development of relationships; some to friendship and some to intimacies. I, personally, enjoy that Bioware has allowed us the choice to take it there. The whole point is choice and only a small few games give us that. Don't like romance, or even friendships, don't romance or develop a friendship and just gun one's way through a swath of baddies. Do want immersion and character development... well, it's there.

Without the Opera part of Space Opera it's just another shooter.

The biggest pull of the romance arcs for me are the added replay-ability...a way to deepen (eh...not that way) what I know about the different characters I interact with. Case in point, the lack of interesting romance choices for Sara in MEA (Liam is a moron, Jaal is hideous, and Reyes is Zevran 2.0), coupled with the fact that the dialogue choices don't drastically change my character, has really zapped alot of the replay value for this game. And I will prolly play through as male Ryder just to do it, but I am not super interested in the romances for him and will likely ignore them. In comparison, Morrigan in DAO and Cassandra in DAI totally made me want to play through as a dude just to experience their romance arcs. They were such compelling ladies...I had to bang em!

So would I play a Bioware game without romances? A difficult question. The very first RPG game I ever played was DAO (I only played puzzle games like tetris and myst before this). A friend gave it to me because I bought a playstation. When Alistair started flirting (stammering, blushing) with me, I had no idea what the hell was going on. When it hit me that he wanted to get busy, I was a little taken aback, but rolled with it because he was so adorable. At the end, when the stupid ass broke up with me, it legit hurt my feelings. Then, when the fool rushed the dragon and died for me, I literally cried.

I am an old cynical asshole, so a game that literally made me cry cause my pixelated boyfriend broke my heart and then died for me? What the actual fuck? Seriously, I hadn't gotten that emotional over a story since reading Where the Red Fern Grows when I was 8.

Then I immediately restarted the game as a human noble female to do it right (ie, to let us live happily ever after). An lo and behold, when faced with forcing him into a marriage that would deny his ability to do his duty as king...I died killing the dragon. SHIT!!

That frackin game. The romance arcs were a huge pull and I played every one, male and female, in the game. Some were silly, some were fun, some were traumatic. But all were worth it.

DAO introduced me to Bioware games, hooked me because it broke my heart, and kept me coming back for more heartbreak every since. (Jaysus, sounds like an abusive relationship, dunnit?). It also compelled me to get into gaming in general, and I have enjoyed so many wonderful stories because of that initial game. And the romance was a big part of what started it.

SO...yeah, I would probably play Bioware games without the romances. I mean, of course I would. There is alot more to these games besides the romances. My three favorite characters of all time are non-romanceable (Wrex, Legion, Wynne).

But it would make me a little sad for the hopeless romantic in me...that little ball of cheesiness and teenage angst that lives somewhere in the totally embarrassing, but very real part of my psyche.

That's pretty similar to what happened to my girlfriend. She dabbled and had fun in some games, but DA:O was the first time she truly got what made RPGs special. Alistair didn't break up with her dwarf but he still died. It was the first time she cried from a game, but not just because it was a sad moment. It was a perfect moment/end. 

It took me multiple tries to get into Origins, but it wasn't until I made a female City Elf that the game clicked into place. One of my absolute favorite romances in any Bioware game ends horribly when my elf, in an attempt to play smart politics/save Alistair's and her life by saving/recruiting Loghain to the wardens...ends with Alistair hating my character. 

My elf was a pretty disillusioned jaded young woman that endured a horrible Origin and resulted in being very distrustful towards most people (especially humans) Initially she didn't want to be a warden nor cared for Alistair. Slowly over time she began to understand them both and love them both. In the end he leaves her and forces her to go face the archdemon on her own when it had been building up to the two of them for the whole game.

By the time Awakening rolls around my character only has one true love in their life and it's to the Grey Wardens. She's married to the job and has given up everything to save Thedas and keep a watchful eye on it. 

I picked no because at this point it would be just another choice Bioware is taking away.

I definitely would. While the romance's certainly add another dimension to the game(s) I could get by without one. As a matter of fact, I usually do one play through of a BW game without romancing anyone, to see how the story flows.

Damn, dat some high tier ProfPic lol.


As for the OP's question, This is a Romance simulator with an End of the world cluster side quest.

This poll explains so much...

Good grief.