why is the lucanis romance so awful?

[Vivi]

I feel like Act 1 did it right. He was giving me most of what I wanted from him. He came off a little jealous in his conversation with Teia, his Cafe scene was really just exactly how I'd expect a Slow Burn romance to start. I'd describe it as 'Smouldering.' Heat, just below the surface. It felt right, it felt like we were two Duelists dancing around a subject, trading subtle flirts and sizing each other up.

Then... nothing happened. That was it. His character never grew past that base level of Smoulder. All the heat, the angst, the "chaotic bisexual" he was alleged to be just stayed under the surface. He was bland, milktoast, he rarely has anything interesting to say and he never really got into his trauma or how difficult it was being tortured for a year straight and having a Demon put in him. He kept everything under the surface and never let us see it. He stopped reciprocating any of Rook's flirtations, he ices you out completely, and all the while him and Neve have constant flirtatious conversations where he actually doesn't just give her the cold shoulder. It feels ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ terrible.

I felt like I was playing out someone's ghosting/cuck fetish fantasy. It felt like I was dialing his number but it just kept going straight to voicemail, all the while seeing him not behave like that with Neve. By the time he actually shows even a modicum of interest, Rook has genuinely pushed him for 20+ hours with no reciprocation and it feels like he just gave up and accepted it. I felt like a creep romancing him, and it made me kind of uncomfortable. I do agree that his ending scene and a lot of the little moments are cute and very good, but the hours and hours between that and his Act 1 romance of him playing the dead fish completely negates that because it feels disingenous. It feels like you wore him down. It's a really bad feeling and it's completely the opposite of what I wanted out of him.

I was hoping for a Fenris 2.0. A complex man who's suffered unimaginable horrors, who has interest in you and expresses it but feels burdened by his trauma and current situation and is afraid of what he might do to you. He wasn't anything close to that, and I'm really shocked because he was on the right track and then just got completely lost after Act 1. I also think forcing you to choose Treviso to romance him is ham-fisted and shortsighted by the Devs especially considering the endings. You don't even get a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ conversation of him telling you off and making it clear the flirtations are done and he will never see you that way after what you did, you just stop getting the option and it's really unimmersive. He barely even mentions how appreciative he is for helping him instead. My Shadow Dragon Rook legitimately let her city burn to help him because Treviso couldn't defend itself whatsoever, and he doesn't even acknowledge that level of sacrifice. He just doesn't care about you.

It just feels like you aren't meant to enjoy the Lucanis romance and that he just isn't into you, and I don't like that. It's not a Slow Burn, It's a No-Burn.

[Mr Nothing]

Because he doesn't have a spade tattoo

[Silneth]

Completely agree, OP. I restarted my playthrough because I was hitting all those points you touched on and I just wanted to nope on out of that situation. He's so clearly into Neve, and not Rook, and it's pretty awful.

[asstro-girl]

I feel like a victim of false advertising, I wasn’t even romancing Emmerich and Davrin they were taking me on dates.

[Naamtar]

Harding plays out the same way.

I wouldn't be surprised if all of them do.

The pacing is off. Like you just aren't given any romance dialogue options when the bulk of the side quests open up, and it just kind of remains that way through almost all of Act 2. In fact I think there's only one dialogue option that confirms you've entered a relationship until you get to the end of her personal story.

[DaisyRay]

I was very against it at first, but kept it going for his accent lol. However, I like the end scenes with them. It was cute, not too raunchy and just overall romantic. I do still believe, and I'll say this every time, they pushed Darwin on me too much.

I had little to no scenes with Lucanis outside his personal plots, but every time I turn around Darwin was popping up to do something. It really bothered me a lot and I was going to romance him in my next playthrough, but now I might just do Emerich.

[She beats me]

I completely agree, its a bother tbh and upsetting. We are just playing the devs fanfics at this point LMAO. I still enjoyed the game and I’m going to romance Lucanis every playthrough (unless i do minrathous and romance neve) but wow. The companions getting together is cute, but they put entirely too much time on that instead of thinking about the actual player and the romances we would be experiencing. In possible new iterations I genuinely hope they never do that again.

[StingingVelvet]

His Divine Shadow původně napsal:

So all DA games have kind of awful pacing except for the 2nd. It takes almost the entire game to get going with anyone in every game, same with Mass Effect.

Yeah, also the romances are very chaste usually. If you offer or ask for casual sex on the rare occasion you can then you get shot down like you're a bad person, even if you're a woman talking to a guy.

[Naamtar]

StingingVelvet původně napsal:

His Divine Shadow původně napsal:

So all DA games have kind of awful pacing except for the 2nd. It takes almost the entire game to get going with anyone in every game, same with Mass Effect.

Yeah, also the romances are very chaste usually. If you offer or ask for casual sex on the rare occasion you can then you get shot down like you're a bad person, even if you're a woman talking to a guy.

Iron Bull has entered the building.

[Mewsha]

I actually prefer him with Neve. Their romance dialogue is so sweet as she brings out his romantic side in a way Rook seemingly doesn't.

[Membi]

Unpopular opinion maybe but I like seeing Lucanis hit on Neve, since my character didn't choose him. It gives them more character, more...realism, not just standing around, waiting for me to ask them to prom but instead exploring other options. It's something I want to see more of in future games. And not just with romance, I also like the companions moving around the lighthouse, having conversations with eachother.

But yeah, I understand that it sucks if Lucanis still seems so into Neve even after you clearly have shown interest in him.

[Darth_Revan]

If it makes you feel better, I tried being a crow who saved minrathous, and everyone kept saying poor lucanis this and that. I was so annoyed. Then I saves treviso and neve is pissed off at rook. Literally just wanted rook to f off in a polite manner. She came around, and it was sweet to gain her trust. But before that, there was some conversation she was having with lucanis where he asks how shadow dragons are doing, she goes how do you think blah blah. He tells her sorry. She goes "why? You didn't do this" and it made me feel so angry lmao. This dude gets to walk around with her while rook gets chewed out, no one asks rook how they feel, and the crows are not that appreciate except teia. I hate the crows, and I started hating lucanis lmao. He has his moments where I like him, but I liked davrin way more than him.

[StingingVelvet]

Darth_Revan původně napsal:

II hate the crows, and I started hating lucanis lmao. He has his moments where I like him, but I liked davrin way more than him.

The Crows come across as posers and dorks, which is one of the story and tone's greatest sins. There are a lot of sins, but that one is right near the top IMO. Darvin is a relatively normal mature warrior character at least, because they left the cutesy comedy crap to his pet.

[Raywhisper]

Obviously you should be romancing Taash as she is shining star of a game. Other characters are not that important!

[Nathiri]

Membi původně napsal:

Unpopular opinion maybe but I like seeing Lucanis hit on Neve, since my character didn't choose him. It gives them more character, more...realism, not just standing around, waiting for me to ask them to prom but instead exploring other options. It's something I want to see more of in future games. And not just with romance, I also like the companions moving around the lighthouse, having conversations with eachother.

I agree!

Regarding them moving around the lighthouse independently, some of those dialogues were really good for adding small personality details. I wasn't that keen on Davrin outside of Assan being cute, but after seeing him and Taash hanging out as training buddies on my spouse's run, I liked him a lot more. (Sadly I haven't had that in my own playthroughs yet, so I don't know if it was specifically for players that romanced Davrin, or if I just missed it.)

And the fact that Rook can leave them to finish their conversations alone is cool. I just never do it because I am a busybody.

Edit: I didn't ever flirt with Lucanis, so I thought it was dead funny that he told Teia to stop flirting with Rook in the very first meeting. Mind your business Luc :D

[CW5 Savage]

yeah him and rook awful not a good choice