Larian are still years away from BioWare when it comes to relationship system

[aramintai]

DOS (2014-2017) games were very amateurish in this regard, not even in the same league with BG2 (2000), but BG3 is somewhere close to Dragon Age: Origins (2009). But having that same 10+ years old outdated system is nothing to brag about. Remember "Morrigan disapproves" meme?

In Dragon Age 2 (2011) BioWare made further developments and made a friend/rival system, so that relationships with companions don't have to end with murder or them leaving you if they disagree with you too much, they develop in a different way. It's not present in BG3.

And in Dragon Age 2 same old complaints were voiced about lazy resource decision to make all companions playersexual. It's still here in BG3, more than 10 years later. In Dragon Age 3 (2014) BioWare took those complaints to heart and actually made an effort for companions to have preferences. Yea, you couldn't romance some of them depending on your gender, but it was more realistic. None of that is to be seen in BG3, it's still stuck in 2011 in this regard.

Furthermore, BioWare, for the most part, tries to make their romances tasteful, in BG3 most of the characters are so thirsty after main character it's as if it's their main mission to get into bed with them, forget about the impending doom problems.

And lastly, where is something meaningful at end of the game if you've romanced somebody in BG3? Companions turn into dummies after you finish their questline and only get some tiny convo at the end. Where are the ending slides at the very least with consequences of decisions made?

[Aranador]

Ahh, bit Bioware is just a small company with limited resources, they couldnt possibly produce a game with the depth and scope of BG3, so it doesnt really matter if they have a 'romance system' or not, 'cause you're not going to get anything more than a pushed out cash grab game with it.

[aramintai]

Originally posted by Aranador:

Ahh, bit Bioware is just a small company with limited resources, they couldnt possibly produce a game with the depth and scope of BG3, so it doesnt really matter if they have a 'romance system' or not, 'cause you're not going to get anything more than a pushed out cash grab game with it.

What are you even talking about? They've produced plenty of big rpgs. Larian's BG3 is standing on the shoulders of a trendsetter giant. If it's about that debate on the internet about some devs being scared of Larian setting new trends I don't recall BioWare participating in them, they're busy making Dragon Age 4.

[Orion Invictus]

Originally posted by aramintai:

Originally posted by Aranador:

Ahh, bit Bioware is just a small company with limited resources, they couldnt possibly produce a game with the depth and scope of BG3, so it doesnt really matter if they have a 'romance system' or not, 'cause you're not going to get anything more than a pushed out cash grab game with it.

What are you even talking about? They've produced plenty of big rpgs. Larian's BG3 is standing on the shoulders of a trendsetter giant. If it's about that debate on the internet about some devs being scared of Larian setting new trends I don't recall BioWare participating in them, they're busy making Dragon Age 4.

Alright, see if you can figure this out.

Aranador's post is obviously false. Nobody in their right mind would seriously argue that Bioware is a small company. Therefore, do you think Aranador is being literal, or facetious?

[Jotun]

All bioware games were ♥♥♥♥♥ after DA2, so I don't understand your point.

Bioware romance are a meme at this point. DA:I is probably the worst offender.

[Morgan]

Originally posted by Aranador:

Ahh, bit Bioware is just a small company with limited resources, they couldnt possibly produce a game with the depth and scope of BG3, so it doesnt really matter if they have a 'romance system' or not, 'cause you're not going to get anything more than a pushed out cash grab game with it.

Bioware is owned by EA. Hardly a small company.

[mutantbeth]

well some companions have coded sexuality. at least gale and shadowheart do. gales dream visitor is a woman and shadowheart shows attraction to gale. same with wyll who shows an interest in laezel and vice versa

[aramintai]

Originally posted by Jotun:

All bioware games were ♥♥♥♥♥ after DA2, so I don't understand your point.

Bioware romance are a meme at this point. DA:I is probably the worst offender.

Then why BG3 is still having same crap outdated system and is praised for being novel?

[Muscarine]

Dragon Age 2's was almost perfect, and that came with amazing characters and writing

Well, i'm biased, i think DA2 is by far the best Dragon Age (Mark of the Assassin notwithstanding, this DLC sucks ass)

Despite that, unfortunately, the way they designed it it was also extremely easy to end up in neutral status with most companions, and there's nothing in place for that

Companion relations were too dependant on brute forcing one way and left no room for a more nuanced Hawke, which was a shame because roleplaying Hawke is probably the single best experience i've ever had in an RPG (i fell in love with Jo Wyatt)

There's mods to fix that on your own, but yea it'd have been nice if the game handled companions opinion in a more nuanced manner

[EricHVela]

Games are a long way from a decent relationship system. They're all terrible about it.

... but it's avoidable in BG3. Anders' orientation switch isn't avoidable in Dragon Age: Kirkwall (DA2) because it comes up during a main quest even though he's not being romanced. It was Bioware pretending that one of their characters had a specific orientation... just that it happened to be whatever the player character's gender is at the time. Ander's dialog actually changes... and it's a quest that's required for the main plot.

Nobody's gotten it right.

The closest thing is BroShep and Jack (aka Jaqueline), the "not-just-a-fling" option... the one that takes a lot of patience and (before the "extended cut") didn't have a sex scene with her. It made Jack's change in personality have a lot more sense in the finale. (The "it's just sex" option with Jack ends it right there.) Why did Shep/Jack get closest? Because there's a story purpose to it (to make sense of Jack's change in personality).

Most games have no story purpose for the romance. It's usually feels like it's there just for players to watch polygons clip into each other. So, I just skip all that and stick to the things that actually have story impact.

I like it when games let me skip all that without having to resort to little heart and hate icons (which Bioware had to do but BG3 doesn't).

[Mr.Suitss]

Only problem I have is everyone wants to sex me for no reason. Say one nice thing? Lets sex. Like come on lol You as a character should to chasing someone to try and get them to be with you. Also not being able to just be a bro because it mean they want sex is kind of a bummer. But other than that the game is great.

[Moriendor]

Originally posted by Jotun:

Bioware romance are a meme at this point. DA:I is probably the worst offender.

Nothing wrong with DAI in my book. I romanced Josephine and it was all fine, well done and tasteful.

BG3 has its strengths but the romance stuff is certainly not one of them. Those weirdos who can not accept that 'no' means 'no' and who want to f*** anything and everything that moves are more than a little bit over the top.

[aramintai]

Originally posted by Mr.Suitss:

Only problem I have is everyone wants to sex me for no reason. Say one nice thing? Lets sex. Like come on lol You as a character should to chasing someone to try and get them to be with you. Also not being able to just be a bro because it mean they want sex is kind of a bummer. But other than that the game is great.

Yea, they're so horny that at some point I started to think maybe some of them are bugged. Like Gale, for example. I do like Shadowheart's romance though, it takes a while and she prioritises the mission way more than trying to get together with you. And even then you're clearly are the initiator and have the agency. Again, unlike Gale. Some romances are just lazily written, I think.

[thorin.hannahs]

I just locked in a relationship and was hoping for a good quest line and some nice companion specific rewards. I'd rather have unique abilities over gear but would take either. I can't help but think of Bioware in that regard.

KotoR you could put in a bunch of maintenance to turn HK-47 into a killing machine and I vaguely remember Dragon Age: Origins having something similar. Mass Effect had the approval thing that unlocked the companions uber ability right? There is an approval thingy for companions in BG3 would be nice to get something for maxing it out.

[The Ominous iOG]

Not going to lie, the overall writing of the game is quite generic so far in the first act. It's things that ChatGPT and NOVEL AI could come up with.

I'm glad they have adult things and didn't cower out of it. Put all of those PG-13 games on Nintendo or other consoles.

The problem is that most of the characters, especially the male characters (which everyone noticed right away), take little effort to build an intimate relationship. It doesn't feel organic.

More like, "Hi, want some sex? Yes? No?"

[Solem]

Originally posted by aramintai:

Originally posted by Mr.Suitss:

Only problem I have is everyone wants to sex me for no reason. Say one nice thing? Lets sex. Like come on lol You as a character should to chasing someone to try and get them to be with you. Also not being able to just be a bro because it mean they want sex is kind of a bummer. But other than that the game is great.

Yea, they're so horny that at some point I started to think maybe some of them are bugged. Like Gale, for example. I do like Shadowheart's romance though, it takes a while and she prioritises the mission way more than trying to get together with you. And even then you're clearly are the initiator and have the agency. Again, unlike Gale. Some romances are just lazily written, I think.

In older BG games, when you romance someone you actually have to get invested in their story, their lives, help them on their quest and with their struggles to win their affection. With the exception of a few cases where it makes sense, they didn't just jump you into bed without having a proper story and dialogue first. They acted like people, unlike the shallow pornstars they were written to behave as in this game.

What baffles me even more are all the creeps defending it.