Thandal Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Perhaps I'm being unfair. Maybe they did play... some. But if they did then not mentioning that half the Companions can be LIs, (well, three-per-gender of player) and half cannot seems like a pretty significant oversight when the focus is on the players' relationships with the characters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagdalenaDwojniak Posted April 17, 2015 Author Share Posted April 17, 2015 (edited) You are totally right, Thandal. Both universities which organised conferences I attended would literally burn me at the stake for ommitting such important step for assessment. And the bibliography... Let's just say they could have used more footnotes to make finding the referenced materials easier. If I were them, I'd also try to ask myself a question: why certain companions can be romanced and others cannot? Isn't it because there are not many people comfortable with romancing a dwarf? Or a giant (Sten)? Doesn't it mean we fear the unfamiliar? After all, it's not like in, say, a D&D-based game: elves in DAO are just short, slender humans with slightly different ears, bigger almond-shaped eyes and refined features. They could well hide their identity in proper circumstances (by the way, do elves in Denerim wear hoods when outside the Alienage?). Dwarves and the Qunari could not. And why not include it in a game, where you can assess your fears (not that you could then actually date a dwarven berserker, but still :wink:)? It makes little sense that you can have a dwarven PC, but then be forced into dating someone who may not be knowledgeable enough about your culture. In fact, all romanceable companions are human - except for Zevran, who is the only one somewhat of a less exasperating (cultural bias-wise) choice for city elves (not sure of the Dalish, his mother was Dalish, but he claims not to have a feeling of belonging to the Dalish, there's at least one dialogue referenced by the wikia where he calls himself a city elf). Strange. Most games with non-humans have at least one choice of each race if they use romances. Frankly, DAO is my first hands-on experience with game using romances, so everything is going to be examined carefully :wink:. I get it Oghren is still infatuated with a dwarven NPC, so it would be a bit strange, but, well... He's interesting, outspoken and plain cute. I could see people wanting to engage in a relationship with him. Especially those who love Drakensang, where dwarves rule :smile:. Oh, please tell me if I stray from the main topic too much. It will take time before I can see how Zevran reacts, I'm just back from Calenhad. Edited April 17, 2015 by MagdalenaDwojniak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thandal Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 This is your topic, so "stray away". :laugh: There are many, many, MANY who would have romanced Oghren if that had been an option. But he actually has two NPCs with whom he's entangled, so it's probably for the best that he's hors de combat. And that all the LIs other than Zev are human has been noted before. Not sure why, except that all the other Companions (except Oghren and Sten) are humans so there's not much else to choose from, and the writers may have run out of time (as they did with the "Human Commoner" origin, remnants of which remain in the files on the original game discs but with no way to activate them.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagdalenaDwojniak Posted April 18, 2015 Author Share Posted April 18, 2015 Yes, Oghren is cute, but I bet nobody would want to step between him and Felsi. There was Branka too. And Hespith? Maybe the developers did run out of time. A human commoner could have been good. A Chasind perhaps? It is strange that there are just Zev, Oghren and Sten (all male, mind you). When I compare the situation to companions of Drakensang, then it is quite weird. In TDE, 30% of companions were either of elven or dwarven origin (hey, Forgrimm was a key player even!). In TROT, it grew to 40%. And there were women too. It was much more balanced. I did see something called "MerAnne's Dwarf Companions". The default characters are all dwarven ladies. Maybe we should give it a try ;). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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