Poll: Dragon Age 2: the Romance Issue. Did the designers seem to 'push' Anders at the Player?

[IamGamer41]

I found Anders less forced then Isabella she almost jumps you the second you meet her.
I romanced Anders the first playthrough because i found his character interesting in awakening (not after the climax of act 3 though).
More forced is Isabella(who i romanced the second playthrough) she is also the problem/glitch if you sleep with her for fun she will be named in the epilogue (whoever you decide to romance).

I think it is a step forward that almost all characters that you can romance are bisexual(as to the characters that are very obviously gay/bisexual)

Every character should not have a gay/bisexual option just to please those few who want it.You need to take into account the characters themselfs.Like Alister from DAO was not gay, bottom line you dealt with it because that how he was.If games are going to become like you say then there should be a option at the beginning to choose your sexual preference.The thing with Anders was forced.I was like "wow dude thats not my thing".I check the little broken hearth response then he acted like I was a jerk.
As far as Isabella goes it proves that a women needs more then a rocking body to be attractive.I found her very distasteful and regretted sexing her up on my first play through.Her romance however wasn't forced as she openly stats that shes a whore and likes to bump uglis with anyone.

 

[Nimcha]

I do sort of wonder, are most of the companions bisexual or is that just me? Not that I have a problem with it, of course.

All the "romanceable" ones - yes.

That's kinda cool, though I had hoped they would've included a gay character this time. Oh well, minor issue.

 

[DustyDrB]

Hmmm. I missed that completely. Is Anders missing one of the basic trees as well? I did respec pretty much everyone, so I should have noticed that. Guess that says something about my observational skills. Though I purposefully set Merrill up as a DPS mage and Anders as a healer and buffer.

Anders is missing Merril's blood magic tree.

Dalish Pariah is a specialization tree though (like how Hawke gets the option of 3 trees and every companion has one specialization). The creation tree is a basic ability tree (Bethany has it and Hawke has it to start the game with). I didn't notice Merrill was missing it because I didn't have her set up that way. But in future playthroughs, I don't want to be tied to Anders (he was in my party 80% of the time in my first go at the game. I'm all for variability across playthroughs). I hope they give Merrill the creation tree in a patch.

 

[Bullfrog1983]

He was definitely actively pursuing my character, but I shot him down once. After that he left me alone, especially when I started boinking one of the chicks.

 

[Susano]

I do sort of wonder, are most of the companions bisexual or is that just me? Not that I have a problem with it, of course.

All the "romanceable" ones - yes.

That's kinda cool, though I had hoped they would've included a gay character this time. Oh well, minor issue.

Anders is "gay" if you're male Hawke, he references having been in a relationship with

Spoiler

Karl, that mage that the Templars turn tranquil in one of Anders' quests

If you're female Hawke, the dialogue changes to make him "straight".

 

[Nimcha]

I do sort of wonder, are most of the companions bisexual or is that just me? Not that I have a problem with it, of course.

All the "romanceable" ones - yes.

That's kinda cool, though I had hoped they would've included a gay character this time. Oh well, minor issue.

Anders is "gay" if you're male Hawke, he references having been in a relationship with

Spoiler

Karl, that mage that the Templars turn tranquil in one of Anders' quests

If you're female Hawke, the dialogue changes to make him "straight".

Interesting. I haven't played as male Hawke yet but I will after my second playthrough. Thanks for the info.

I actually meant a companion you could only romance if your Hawke was of the same sex as them, but I think you got that.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I said I didn't mind the compliments: "softie" eh...

But then the next option was just two hearts and a heartbreaker and I did not want rivalry points added. So I went with the least romantic in my opinion and kept my distance from heart comments.

That was the moment that made me hate Bioware for the forced romance. I either rudely yell at him to stop thinking about me like that or flirt with him. Why is there no middle ground like with Zevran? It was so unrealistic.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I do sort of wonder, are most of the companions bisexual or is that just me? Not that I have a problem with it, of course.

Every character is. It was immersion breaking. Every character came on to me, man or woman. That was a big wtf for me. Hawke is freaking James Bond.

 

[Smertnik]

I played through the game twice, once I was friendly with him, once I rivaled him and at no point did he 'forced' a romance on me. So yeah, don't know what you're talking about.

 

[Imbechile]

First, a clarification. This post is in no way a comment on Homosexuality. I would be asking this question if Anders had been female. However, it is an issue because this romance would be a big question depending on the sexuality of the gamer and how they chose their Hawke to be.

Did you find the Anders Romance...forced? Like there seemed almost no way to avoid a romance with Anders without taking drastic measures to avoid it?

I honestly had to reload at one point because just being nice to him was leading to a Romance like a freight train.

It does feel a bit. I'm playing male, so I was suprised when he kissed my character. I've only been nice to him. I didn't try to seduce him and he ended up loving me ??

 

[Slycne]

It's only forced in the sense that, by simply being nice to him, playing as a male Hawke you will be confronted with a dialog wheel response tree consisting only of "Flirt with" or "Completely end any pretense of a relationship" responses (this may be true while playing as a female Hawke as well, but in that case I was actively trying to pick those responses so I might have "pre-empted" it).

Huh, strange. Because unless I had targeted amnesia at that precise moment, I never got that. I was playing a Male Rogue Hawke and I was generally always Humorous/Charming with some Diplomatic/Helpful responses towards him. Anders never tried to force a response of feelings. Hell, I never even got the vibe of that.

Maybe it triggers if you are only every Diplomatic/Helpful(the top response)?

 

[hazabaza1]

The thing that annoyed me is that he said "I feel like I know you" and the only not romance response was "I don't want you thinking about me that way."
To which he responds "GAWD, EVERYONE CONTROLS MY THOUGHTS *CUT CUT CUT*"

 

[mireko]

I said I didn't mind the compliments: "softie" eh...

But then the next option was just two hearts and a heartbreaker and I did not want rivalry points added. So I went with the least romantic in my opinion and kept my distance from heart comments.

That was the moment that made me hate Bioware for the forced romance. I either rudely yell at him to stop thinking about me like that or flirt with him. Why is there no middle ground like with Zevran? It was so unrealistic.

What exactly does (male) Hawke say in that conversation?

'Cause (female) Hawke takes it easy.

Maybe this is the inverse of how Mass Effect handled its voice acting (except Jo Wyatt can act).

The thing that annoyed me is that he said "I feel like I know you" and the only not romance response was "I don't want you thinking about me that way."
To which he responds "GAWD, EVERYONE CONTROLS MY THOUGHTS *CUT CUT CUT*"

It's in-character, imho. He's whiny and dickish.

 

[Denamic]

Drastic measures to avoid him?
Like saying 'No'?

 

[scw55]

I didn't find him forced on me. You could say it was the other way round. Anders found himself me me being forced on him =)

It was Isabella that I found forced on me with her filthy glances.

I would love it if they made an RPG where it was impossible for characters to want to romance you because you made your character too "ugly". It would be funny.

 

[hazabaza1]

I said I didn't mind the compliments: "softie" eh...

But then the next option was just two hearts and a heartbreaker and I did not want rivalry points added. So I went with the least romantic in my opinion and kept my distance from heart comments.

That was the moment that made me hate Bioware for the forced romance. I either rudely yell at him to stop thinking about me like that or flirt with him. Why is there no middle ground like with Zevran? It was so unrealistic.

What exactly does (male) Hawke say in that conversation?

'Cause (female) Hawke takes it easy.

Maybe this is the inverse of how Mass Effect handled its voice acting (except Jo Wyatt can act).

The thing that annoyed me is that he said "I feel like I know you" and the only not romance response was "I don't want you thinking about me that way."
To which he responds "GAWD, EVERYONE CONTROLS MY THOUGHTS *CUT CUT CUT*"

It's in-character, imho. He's whiny and dickish.

I guess, but why couldn't Hawke just say "I don't feel the same way."
Plus, the first impression of Anders I got was "Those bastards made me give away my cat!" which made me laugh out loud. I thought he'd still be his happy-go-lucky Awakenings Anders.

 

[HerbertTheHamster]

Every single Bioware romance is forced as hell. Anders is no exception.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Snip

Hawke tells him, angrily, to stop thinking of him like that and he doesn't do that. It was completely uncalled for. I had to reload and pick a mild flirt option because I felt bad and there was no other option.

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

It's only forced in the sense that, by simply being nice to him, playing as a male Hawke you will be confronted with a dialog wheel response tree consisting only of "Flirt with" or "Completely end any pretense of a relationship" responses (this may be true while playing as a female Hawke as well, but in that case I was actively trying to pick those responses so I might have "pre-empted" it).

Huh, strange. Because unless I had targeted amnesia at that precise moment, I never got that. I was playing a Male Rogue Hawke and I was generally always Humorous/Charming with some Diplomatic/Helpful responses towards him. Anders never tried to force a response of feelings. Hell, I never even got the vibe of that.

Maybe it triggers if you are only every Diplomatic/Helpful(the top response)?

That would be my guess, as selecting the top response in that case is what prompted "now every response I have has a relationship symbol?" state, and that character was almost always diplomatic and tactful rather than snarky, so I'd probably selected the top options in prior interactions as well.

Aveline usually hates my choices. I guess she's too righteous or something.

While you can flirt with Aveline on multiple occasions, you can't actually ever end up in a relationship with her (also the flirting probably went right over her head), for reasons that I'm sure you'll discover later.

 

[DaJoW]

Haven't noticed it in 2 playthroughs. Flirted with him once, then he brought it up saying it wouldn't be a good idea, I agreed and that was that.