#YES i have the bi solas/cullen/blackwall mods. no i will Not be doing that to sera don't even @ me

[theydjarin]

Build an Inquisitor Lighting Round: Romance

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Based on previous polls, I've made Aakak, a qunari mage, destined to be a knight enchanter! People think he's a hardass because he's stoic, a little shy, and keeps his cards close to his chest, but he's a huge softie around anyone he trusts.

[dgcatanisiri]

Revisiting some of my older thoughts on Inquisition (hello there so much confliction on Sera...), and I’m gonna repeat myself: I have no idea what the hell they were going for with the romances.

Like, let’s say that they’d released Inquisition without the extension they’d used to add Cullen and Solas. That would have meant that Bull and Blackwall would have been the only men available for female Inquisitors, and... I mean, one glance at the romance related fan content for the characters, and while I am making assumptions, based on anecdotal experience, Blackwall seems to fall dead last - even when you add male players who roll a female PC, rather than just the average female player, I don’t think there’s any pressing desire from most of them. And I see a lot more of Bull with guys than I do with women (other can of worms there, I’ll get to that...). Hell, when it comes to bi mods, I see a lot of Cullen, Solas, and Cassandra, but little demand for Blackwall.

It gets really weird when you look at the mechanics side - where a flirt with Blackwall will remove the ability to flirt with other characters, so... Was he EXPECTED to be the runaway heartthrob of the game? (I mean, I suppose it could be meant to tie in with the chivalrous/courtly love thing going on with him, but... how quickly is a flirt available with him? That seems weird to cut things off THAT quickly...) Because... I can’t see that happening, even if there weren’t Cullen and Solas there to cut in to his fanbase - he easily can trip feelings more appropriate to “dad” or “uncle” or even “granddad” before he trips “boyfriend.”

I really, really, REALLY do not get what the logic had been here with this arrangement. I mean, it’s not really right that it was off-kilter to begin with, but I do find myself curious how much of a lead balloon the game would have been received as if there HADN’T been Cullen and Solas available - like, I’m fairly sure they compete for the top spot of romances out of all the characters in the game.

But you know, I am also going to go with it being a HELL of a choice to go in the direction of making the ONLY two romance options for gay men hook up - so, as it turns out, the characters may well end up better clicking with each other than the player, and so THEN what the fuck should the player do? Cuz now it’s just that you’re not that enamored of either, you think they work better with each other, and so you have NOTHING.

Also, another hell of a choice to reward the asshole dudebros who dismissed Cassandra as being “manish,” among their kinder insults, with getting to romance her while locking out the hordes of lesbians/bi women who were ready, willing, and eager to climb her like a jungle gym as far back as DA2...

Like, you want to talk at me about “some people are straight”? Yeah, some PEOPLE. But these are characters, were every design and decision about them is a choice made by someone else. It’s a line of code that makes Cullen shut down flirtations with my strapping male Qunari, not that a living, breathing person has said he’s not attracted to men. If I’m flirting with someone (considering my IRL love life, something of a big if there, but...) and he tells me he’s not in to guys, that’s my cue to slink off and die of mortification, and, maybe, sometime in a year or two, take another shot with someone else. In a video game, though? That is an imposition, a barrier put up by some member of the development team, who said “hm... nah, not for guys” in reference to that character. That is something completely different.

This is the core thing with video game romance options. Yes, you can’t please everyone, I’m fully aware of that. But the choices you offer are THE ONLY choices that your character gets to have. You can imagine some alternative if you want, but if you’re looking for what is textual and on screen? You have only these particular characters, and if you don’t like them, you get NOTHING.

So that’s why I am 100% all bi LIs - Dorian and Iron Bull? They do nothing for me romantically. I would absolutely take Cullen any day. I’d even give Solas a shot. Not enamored of Blackwall, honestly, trips some of my alarms about people I’ve come across IRL, but I could give him a spin too, at least in one playthrough.

I just don’t understand what the thought processes were in all of this, because it all seems like the choices that were being made in no way reflect what the fandom would have wanted in the first place, had they been polled ahead of time. And, sure, I can tell you plenty of occasions I was surprised by how much I found myself responding to a romance differently than I expected...

...I mean, I can’t help but think that had Inquisition shipped without the Cullen and Solas romances, or (god forbid, yes, I’m going to be salty and bitter) they had been included as same-sex romances ONLY, there would have been demands to the point of “angry mob with torches and pitchforks marching on BioWare offices” to open up either or both as romances for women. And (see again, salty and bitter) that probably would have gotten a response, too.