Good gravy, what are these devs thinking? If they wanted Nev and Luca, they should have just made them both advisors or something and given us other companions.
But, these companion arcs in general are the weakest in any game already, and I don't hold out much hope of them pulling a Larian and patching in popular requests ala Minthara.
It seems like they were thinking it wasn’t as important to deliver well-crafted romances with men, so they made sure they got the “important” work done first.
I wish they’d say something about the disappointment people are obviously experiencing, rather than just making it more clear with a pop-up in a patch. I haven’t felt this disrespected as a fan of a game since Cyberpunk, when River released broken and with the worst endings in the game compared to the two lady romances. Weird how this always happens with the male companions, always.
On top of how bad the lockout decision is, the whole Neve thing just has me heated. This is not the way to do companion romances. It’s in the freaking story missions! It’s there before you can lock either one of them in! I can’t even make a new playthrough without getting reminded that they have more chemistry together than my Rook was able to have. It’s infuriating and it’s miserable. I went from liking Neve to not using her at all. I avoid her banter in the Lighthouse. She will not have her Hero status as I go into the end game because she is so blatantly being favored that I resent her for existing at all lmao
It’s so bad. It’s laughably bad. Let me turn off the background romances. Please?
As a fellow spiteful gamer, I am here to give you a way of blocking the background romance. I didn’t finish the game yet so I can’t be 100% sure about this, but I read that to block the background romance from happening you should just never put those companions together in the party when you go exploring and it will never progress.
Oh, this is 100% happening. Neve has been benched since Inner Demons and I realized what was going on lol When I have a mandatory Neve mission, someone else takes Lucanis’ (almost) permanent spot on my squad to keep them as far away from each other as possible.
I’m more just dreading future playthroughs when I have to hear Spite rubbing it in again with that stupid “charmed” line. I’d almost be satisfied with the option to give Lucanis a bop in the nose for pulling the “My heart is only for Treviso” crud and then setting up a dessert date for Neve right in front of poor Rook’s face. Now we’ve both got tears in our eyes, **bleep**.
Edit: I got bleeped for a word that is basically like 6th grade bully level of mean, but I’m leaving it so everyone can fill in their own preferred word.
Can confirm not bringing them out together doesn’t prevent it from happening ):
I’m not even romancing either of them, I just really don’t like their (lack of) chemistry and don’t enjoy them together so this playthrough (saved Dock Town/hardened Lucanis) purposely have not had them out with Rook together AT ALL in order to try and prevent it. They have NEVER left the Lighthouse together.
But alas Lucanis has been waiting in the kitchen to talk to Rook about making gooseberry pie for Neve for the last like four hours of gameplay (and I know it’s that scene because I made a save before I went to talk to him in case it was so I could reload)
Someone on Reddit made a post detailing how to activate (and avoid activating) each of the side romances, and hooo boy. To avoid Neve and Lucanis getting together you have to metagame to the extreme. Absolutely insane. You have to stop talking to Lucanis and avoid taking him out with anyone or the banter will still kick in. His most important personality traits are apparently just drinking coffee and talking about Neve.
I legitimately, capital-h HATE, despise, loathe, etc., this decision. It’s the only question I want answered during their Reddit AMA; who was THAT big of a fan of Neve/Lucanis that they ended up getting more attention than Lucanis/Rook?
ROFL I feel you friend, but I'm angry at Lucanis and am leaving him behind. Nev was my absolute first choice. What a mistake.
And for what it's worth, folks have said the Davrin and Emmrich romances are done very well. Cullen was probably the best ever back in DAI. Solas had a ton of content and I also heard that Blackwall was good. So I don't think there's some bias against the male romanceable characters. Dragon Age certainly has done better overall than Mass Effect did in that respect. I don't think straight ladies got a single boyfriend that wasn't an absolute tool, Jacob possibly being the worst. Maybe Garrus was good, I don't really remember and doubt I did his line anyway since I tend to not be interested in the boys.
But yea, this is a train wreck. They focused on these background romances that they obviously wanted to write and completed wrecked the player's experience with the companions.
I find myself resenting her more and more. I wanted to love this game. I wanted this to be bigger and better than Boldurs Gate. I wanted epic romancing that reminded me of my time with Cullen, Feneris, Alister and Zev.
This play through I decided to romance Davrin and I'm killing Lucanis if I can because I don't want him with her. The shopping list pissed me off most - coffee beans for Neve when she comes back, like wtf where's mention of anything for me because you noticed I like coffee.
I can't understand why they shot themselves in the foot with this game. Why would you make a game your fans have been begging for only to ruin it and make no money over it. If they had cared, done it right and stuck with previous games carrying over - the keep- we would have spent even more money for DLC's.
