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

[MiracleOfSound]

I avoided speaking to Anders as I found him insufferable so he never really got the chance to try and woo me.

 

[Gonsol]

I think i came up to the point where i had the option to kiss him, i just said no and he has not bothered me since. I don't actually think i got any rivalry but even so... you get like 10 or 15 friendship everytime you help him with something so i had him constantly on full friendship.

 

[Knight Templar]

He hit on me once, got shot down and didn't seem at all annoyed with things. From a meta-gaming perspective I only got 5 rivalry points so he clearly wasn't taking it as a big issue.
But after that there was no indication he was interested in men (or indeed anybody) so far as I could tell. 

Then I went back to fucking Merrill and playing with Isabela's feelings.

You are a scholar and a gentlemen.

 

[StriderShinryu]

I'm currently playing as a Male, Rouge Hawk, (using 'current' loosely as I'm playing Origins more than 2 so I have a save to import on my next playthrough), and I'm really trying to get a romance going with Marrill (I am 100% friends with her) and yet after 15 hours of gameplay, I haven't seen a single heart option on the dialog wheel when I talk to her. As for every other male character (except for Varric) I almost always get a flirty option. I would gladly go gay with Varric and some of the stuff I said to him did come out somewhat flirtatious but no real relationship options.

When I play as a female Hawk, I hope to be able to kick off that Marrill relationship more easily.

In my experience, you only get one shot to flirt with Merrill in Act 1 (before the Deep Roads). Then things are really quiet with her until maybe half way through Act 2 when you can start having a lot more interaction with her. This is playing with a female Hawke by the way so I don't know how it differs with a male Hawke. Basically, don't give up on romancing Merrill yet as it just takes a longer time to get things going with her.

 

[Redem]

No more so than Alistair in Origins. BioWare (at least for DA, haven't had the opportunity to play the other games) seems to pick a "canon" romance. The other options are there and perfectly valid, but there seems to be one that BioWare goes with as the official romance, to be referenced in future xpacs/games (if you don't import saves).

You know Hawke seem canonicly male and Anders seem to have to be the closest to be Canon romance doesn't that mean the canon storyline will be that Hawke gay?

 

[Meatspinner]

It felt more like the Twilight movies than anything else
"I cant be with you Hawke/Bella. You don't know me. I'll just end up hurting you"

/Barf

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

So far he still hates my guts. So...I don't think so.

 

[Zaik]

It left an unusually large number of options available for him and Fenris.

Seemed like every time you talked to them it was right there. Merrill was sort of like that, but there was a few times you didn't end up with one of those options. Aveline and pirate lady had a less pushy approach.

Forced though, I wouldn't go that far. You do have to intentionally pick the option with the huge yellow heart picture, it's not like something bad happens if you don't.

I assume that they're there so much to get the "Why isn't every character in the world a bisexual? Bioware hates gays!" crowd off their back.

 

[Mathak]

Still better than Alistair. Several times Wynne has gone off on me for 'cheating on the poor boy' when i romance Leli or Zev and I was all like 'What? I mocked him once like 6 missions ago and now he's picking out curtains? The hell?'.

At least Anders has a clear 'No thanks' option so I can get back to drooling over Merrill's accent.

 

[Jaded Scribe]

No more so than Alistair in Origins. BioWare (at least for DA, haven't had the opportunity to play the other games) seems to pick a "canon" romance. The other options are there and perfectly valid, but there seems to be one that BioWare goes with as the official romance, to be referenced in future xpacs/games (if you don't import saves).

You know Hawke seem canonicly male and Anders seem to have to be the closest to be Canon romance doesn't that mean the canon storyline will be that Hawke gay?

Possibly. I hope they continue to treat homosexuality they way they did in Origins. I am all for gay rights, but I don't want to see Dragon Age turn into a political statement. I give them props for treating homosexual relationships the way our own culture should: like it's no big deal.

 

[Jandau]

Not really. That being said, I don't like any of the male romance options in DA2. My female Hawke was forced to go gay because Anders is a jackass terrorist, Fenris is an emo douche and Sebastian is a pompous prick.

On the bright side, the female romances are quite nice. Also, did anyone try romancing Aveline? I heard somewhere that she turns you down since she's stuck on Donnic, but that doesn't sound right...

 

[Timzilla]

I also noticed that a paragon Shepard in Mass Effect 2 sort of seems drawn to Tali.

Which is odd considering Tali is portrayed as something of a little sister figure, making putting the moves on her feel sort of renegade.

Well, it's sort of the same thing with Garrus, it seems wired to have relationships with either of them, because they seem more like family.

 

[badgersprite]

Um, no, I never noticed this, and I was playing as a female. It was simple; I just never flirted with him, and hence no romance with Anders was to be found. The character who seemed most pushed on me was Isabela, far and away.

 

[Ladette]

I was planning on romancing Anders on my second playthrough...

Spoiler

Until the psycho went and blew up the only person who isn't batshit insane in the entire game.

But no I never had that problem. He said a flirty line, I said I don't like you that way, he never brought it up again.

 

[Meggiepants]

Interesting. I thought you had to choose the heart option to start any relationship with anyone. If you don't choose heart options, they don't respond.

I'd be curious to know if you get this forced flirt decision point with Anders if you are already romancing someone else.

 

[Akihiko]

I wouldn't say forced. He does come onto you though, as does all of the romances though. For example them turning up at your house to have sex. Worst of all? If you do have sex with either Anders or Merrill, you either break the persons heart or ask them to move in, there's no turning them down lightly or anything. It's either one or the other. To top it off, once they're in your house you cant kick them out. The entire thing is bugged though. I was pushed into a romance with Merrill despite not liking her, yet in the ending it said that I went off with Isabela, because it reads whoever you slept with first.

Not really. That being said, I don't like any of the male romance options in DA2. My female Hawke was forced to go gay because Anders is a jackass terrorist, Fenris is an emo douche and Sebastian is a pompous prick.

On the bright side, the female romances are quite nice. Also, did anyone try romancing Aveline? I heard somewhere that she turns you down since she's stuck on Donnic, but that doesn't sound right...

You can't romance Aveline, no. Her questline in Act 2 is regarding hooking her and Donnic up. In Act 3 they're married.

 

[Blindswordmaster]

Bioware: Was putting an "Let's just be friends" option too much to ask? With everyone else I could turn down a romance without rivalry, but not with Anders. Seriously, he's someone I'd go drinking with, but i don't want to fuck him. So I had to flirt with him a little, just to preserve the friend status. I shouldn't have to do that.