[feedback] Romances and Companion Interactions Feel Shallow

Yeah I think they're making a huge mistake by refusing to make a dlc for Veilguard. They could fix some of the issues with the game like completing the romances and giving us a proper ending even if it were just epilogue plates, and it would not only serve as a gesture of good faith to long-time fans(especially those that love DA but don't care about ME), but it could get the series back on the rails, so to speak.

A DLC wouldn't fix the issues in the current game. The romances are shallow so why prolong the agony in a DLC. Patching some of the issues in the current game would also not do anything for the issues since it's just badly written with no depth. 

Well, they COULD patch/fix whatever, if they wanted to, but that is the point - they don't want to.  Larian has had voice actors back in for rewrites numerous times. BioWare could do that 1 time and just add a few things into romances that would make them better.  And to not have an epilogue, too.  I just think they care little for their fans.  Larian cares - BioWare does not.  That is the main point.

I for one will not care anything about ME5 or 4, or whatever they want to call it, when it comes out.  Why would I think it will be any different than this.  Yeah, I know it's a different team.  Whatever, it's the same company.

Gorechid

Thank you for sharing your feedback on the game. Your thoughts on the romance aspect and companion interactions are insightful. It's clear that you've invested a lot of time in the game, and your perspective on how the romance elements compare to previous Dragon Age titles and Mass Effect: Andromeda is valuable as it can provide insights on changing options later on. I'll note your feedback about the depth of interactions and dialogue with companions, particularly outside of missions.

We appreciate the effort you put into outlining your experiences and the specific areas where you feel the game could improve. I love to see this type of feedback from players. It gets you and others more engaged with a series you love. 

Happy gaming!

I 100% agree. Never has a BioWare game made me feel so isolated as the main character. Especially the Lucanis romance. I get the dude was locked up for year, but he’s so loving and supportive of Neve from the jump and whenever Rook flirts with him, it feels like I’m harassing the dude. He just blinks at me.  And after we are in a committed relationship, the dude continues to blatantly flirt with Neve. He shouldn’t be a romance option at all if he’s going to be disrespectful like that and I can’t call him on it .😆 Some people defend it by saying he cares much more deeply for Rook than he does Neve, but that is not apparent all. We never have a real conversation about his avoidance of a relationship with Rook.  When I romanced Emmrich, I went about 8 hours with no character interactions whatsoever. I kind of forgot we were in a relationship. I’d like to romance Davrin, but he’s a hard friend zone because he reminds me of my ME bestie Garrus. 
As a side note, what is up with that weird reminder system on the left side of the screen that pops up and totally takes you out of the moment? I thought I had an accessibility feature turned on. Obviously Lucanis remembers I like coffee so he made me a cake that goes with coffee. Why is the game explaining simple nuances like I’m a child? 

I don't see Lucanis' interactions with Neve as flirting- I just see it as the same kind of friendly team banter we see with all the companions, though I take issue with the fact that the companions chat more with each other than they do Rook. I have a much bigger issue with the fact that Rook's romance beats with Lucanis are the same as Neve's romance beats with him.  Rook is the literal MAIN character of the game and the protagonist- why are there ANY similarities between their romances?  They're romance beats should be unique to them.  In fact, I don't like that we see romance stuff for companions at all. It's unnecessary. We understood that Dorian and Bull were romancing in DAI through banter while out questing- that's all we needed. 

I noticed the same thing. The companions seem to banter more with each other than they do Rook. I know that feedback was sent a couple of times. That one would be hard to change since it involves voice actors. I think, at least IMO, a lot of us were used to DAI banter, which was great. we expected a lot of that with Rook, and it almost lacked it in a way.

"Almost lacked"? No, it was profoundly lacking. Rook feels isolated and outcast...that's the opposite of immersive.  As far as dialogue goes I won't be surprised if we find out there are all kinds of voice lines they took out. We already know they removed Rook's responsiveness to banter in the Lighthouse. There's a mod to put it back in, even though there isn't as much as there should have been. It's so crazy how lacking the game is as far as interactions with companions and how stuff just stops with no endings it's almost like they did it intentionally. They either didn't care or they hate Dragon Age fans. My guess is a mix of both. But hey- at least they pushed the unfinished game out the door on time so they could move on to what they really wanted to work on, right? 

Yeah, I'm frustrated and angry.
Was a fan of DA, not a fan of ME. Ugh

I just finished act 10 and had drinks with spite and lucanis, and it's just sad. I'd like to think I'd play again and try another character but I don't even know who to try.

 I was hoping for some antivan passion and charisma I feel like I had more of that with zevran in DAO. Spite interactions woulda been great! Like if spite liked rook but lucanis was reserved, spite could have done more lifting being a romance bridge. Or if lucanis really despised becoming an abomination (which has extremely little blow back in this world that used to want you dead on sight for that) then he could have tried to be more "I'll show you the kind of man I am! Give me a chance to prove my heart. I am more than this demon." And spite could have been SPITEFULL at rook over being boxed in because of lucanis's efforts to be human.. FOR ROOK! 

Davrin is kinda meh. Dose he or dosent he trust the griffin, oh he didn't eat a dying Halla now he has 100% trust? He's the saddest greywarden I've seen. I wasn't a fan of Blackwall, but I adored Alistair and his character progression! I love playing as an elf but I became a noble human for that man so I could have him in the end and marry him for the other games.

Emmerich? I don't feel the need to flirt with a guy the age of my father sorry guys not my trauma Llama. He's cool to have around and I like Manfred.

The girls are all a bust. Taash I don't even talk to..at all, i don't wanna deal with her crap. Ballara is the forever bleeding heart and 80% of her personality is "I ramble" worse than merril. Harding is just not engaging for me. Her side story didn't make tons of sence and I kinda just did it to get through it. Neve is a maybe she seems kinda like a person but if she's gonna flirt with lucanis all the time there's no point.

Could we get small fixes over time? More flirting dialog when walking around, edit some sences to  be more special/thoughtful? Or in like 4 months announce the romance upgrade that may bring people back to the game? I'm not a game developer, but I feel like it's possible. I want this game to be salvageable for the franchise sake.