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OP
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Why is there not an option to romance Vivienne in Dragon Age Inquisition?
- Thread starter Deepthought_
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Funny because I just played Andromeda earlier this year and as Male Ryder, none of the female crew members appealed to me outside of the human interest so it was definitely more of a stretch than the original 1-3 where I romanced Tali and then Jack (who they gave one of the worst romance endings too in the game š”).
For what it's worth, incels being mostly white is in the second line on Wikipedia.
That's not true. Sera will not let you romance her if you're a guy. She's strictly into women.
Like Inquisition has moved pretty firmly away from making everyone bisexual or romanceable no matter what, they're pickier than ever where they might not romance you depending on your race even :
- Blackwall (female only)
- Cassandra Pentaghast (male only)
- Cullen (female human and elf only)
- Dorian (male only)
- Iron Bull (male and female)
- Josephine Montilyet (male and female)
- Sera (female only)
- Solas (female elf only)
Er, I was pretty much defending your opinion, OP. I'm saying there should be an effort to make worthwhile black female romance leads, unless you specifically and ONLY are talking about Vivienne, which didn't seem to be what the original post was about.
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I thought I was clear about that but if I wasn't my bad
Her being the only black woman in the game and being most games they are underrepresented in especially as Romantic options
If the thread title had been "Can we talk about Vivienne?" And OP had bloated his first two posts into an 800 word essay, hitting the exact same points, I doubt you would have responded like this. Since it's not spelled out for you, it's easier to just dismiss as a bad thing.
as a brazilian i'm sure i'm ignorant about what people outside here consider black or not (and fully aware i'm considered black to anyone else, which is great by me) but wouldnt josephine count as a black romance option anyway? she sure doesnt look white or even "mixed" like isabella to me
vivienne is her own person with her own romances. you still have an option with Josephine (and she's pretty great), unless you don't consider her black in which case tough luck i guess.
vivienne is her own person with her own romances. you still have an option with Josephine (and she's pretty great), unless you don't consider her black in which case tough luck i guess.
In DA 2 characters actually had no preference and you could just romance anyone regardless of gender. Gives the player more choice but can also carry some unfortunate implications about sexual preference being a choice.
No you couldn't, both Varic and Aveline were companions that were not romanceble, heck, Aveline even specifically chose to romance someone else that she uses you to try and setup. ANd the devs have stated the romance options in DA2 are not playersexual but canonically bi. 4 Bi people existing isn't that weird.
Since we're pointing out how this post is bad, I'd also like to highlight that you framed this as if the OP is trying to present themselves as progressive by promoting issues they don't care about, the OP nakedly shows that the OP is motivated by personal connection and interest:
Or y'know, they're bisexual
none of the romanceable party members display a clear preference when it comes to gender expression
Four Bi people isn't weird but when they're the only romance options and never mention their bisexuality in dialogues it sounds a lot more like a retcon from biowares site.
I too am curious as to how OP regards Josephine as a POC romance option. Don't get me wrong, OP's "I should fuck whomever I want in my video game!" stance is easily not a healthy one, but it's still interesting how ethnicity might be factoring in here.
You were never able to romance every character in a DA game. These romances are quest lines that cost time and resources to make, they can't make every party member an option. It would be pretty stupid anyway, since it would make the game a harem simulator where none of the companions could have their own story.
That was a response to the complaints after Origins where people wanted same-sex options, and probably also a result of the game being rushed (easier to make everyone bi than make separate gay options). Many complained about that. Then they made straight, bi and gay characters in Inquisition. They listened, and did their best to include different sexual orientations in the game.
That was a response to the complaints after Origins where people wanted same-sex options, and probably also a result of the game being rushed (easier to make everyone bi than make separate gay options). Many complained about that. Then they made straight, bi and gay characters in Inquisition. They listened, and did their best to include different sexual orientations in the game.
I'm not quoting, I'm falsely paraphrasing to make a point.
The game has a character who you don't get to bump pixels with. There are sound reasons for this. She's in love with someone else and she has very clear preferences on who she considers worthy of her attention. This ties in with her overall demeanor and personality and gives the character a sense of agency.
However you say that since the character in question is a black woman they should take that agency away from her so the game can have a bangable black woman.
Well if the OP realized there is a plot reason for her lack of interest in the MC and not thrown out the whole "I should be able to fuck her if I want to" the thread may have drifted in the direction OP claims to have been going for
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There goes that false narrative again and putting words in my mouth
Keep trying tho
I guess that's a very important point to determine, and I'll plead a lot of ignorance on that since I come from a very mixed family (including a Brazilian stepmother).
I think my view was more "African" black, with ethnically African features related to lips, nose, eyes, and hair, of which gaming has struggled with in general. I know a lot of games (especially in create-a-characters) just feel that giving you a few generic face options and a "sliding" skin shader is enough to count as representation, especially if they just use those same tools on NPCs. Done poorly, it's just a tan, or borderline blackface.
(it's a start...)
That might be a different discussion for a different day, though. A LOT of studios have done excellent work making characters that are clearly defined by ethnic features and traits, rather than just defaulting to a "default" model and just making the skin darker.
I know that, from my playthrough of Origins and DA2, I never really saw Isabela as black, but I did see her as a darker skinned woman of color (if that makes sense). Someone else could very well disagree with me on that. I know when I saw Vivienne, I clearly saw her as a very prominent, well-designed, and ethnically realized black woman, compared to almost everyone else in the whole game.
-Isabela is bi (down with a foursome of different genders) in DAO
- Fenris it is heavily implied that he had a sexual relationship with his former master (though that's not consensual so it's iffy on this one) and can have sex with Isabela if you don't romance either of them.
-- Anders flirts with you in DAO Awakening (I know he does it if you are a woman, don't know if same for a man) and also has a former lover that turns up in DA2 that was his teacher and a man.
-Merril is just sweet and seems pretty innoccent so it's hard to point out if she even has a sexual history previously.
All those characters have shown some bi preferneces (apart from Merril who doesn't show either way previously) outside flirting with the player character. It's not really playersexual, as they don't turn straight or gay by the player characters choices, they are still bi and have history.
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No what I am saying that as a black person why isn't she a option to romance while other sexuality s have one
You are absolutely wrong in what you think
As a black person I feel I do not have representation while others do
Anders is a playboy in Awakening. He talks about his "women and wine". That was a retcon in the second one. His whole character was kind of weird in the second one because he was possessed by Justice I guess.
Here you go chief
Shes not interested in you, and you think that doesnt matter and you should be able to do it anyway. "I'm not owned, I'm not owned" and all that jazz
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Ignoring you because I have awnserd this over and and over again
I will not play into this false narrative read the thread and my replies to people who think like you
I think even BioWare have stated that the problem with DAO and DA2 was that there were severe problems with lightening in engine, which meant that sometimes the skin colours were really wack as well. If you look at Isabela in DAI multiplayer she does look a lot more like she's more ethnically black.I guess that's a very important point to determine, and I'll plead a lot of ignorance on that since I come from a very mixed family (including a Brazilian stepmother).
I think my view was more "African" black, with ethnically African features related to lips, nose, eyes, and hair, of which gaming has struggled with in general. I know a lot of games (especially in create-a-characters) just feel that giving you a few generic face options and a "sliding" skin shader is enough to count as representation, especially if they just use those same tools on NPCs. Done poorly, it's just a tan, or borderline blackface.
(it's a start...)
That might be a different discussion for a different day, though. A LOT of studios have done excellent work making characters that are clearly defined by ethnic features and traits, rather than just defaulting to a "default" model and just making the skin darker.
I know that, from my playthrough of Origins and DA2, I never really saw Isabela as black, but I did see her as a darker skinned woman of color (if that makes sense). Someone else could very well disagree with me on that. I know when I saw Vivienne, I clearly saw her as a very prominent, well-designed, and ethnically realized black woman, compared to almost everyone else in the whole game.
If we go by the lore she's got the same ethnic history of coming from Rivain (which is were Vivianne's family is originally from) but doesn't know who her father is, so she could be mixed.
I'm really confused by how people are trying to spin the OP.
I understand and agree. It's a problem in fantasy games and representation. It's more that there aren't very many black or other POCs in these games. It makes Vivienne stand out.
I understand and agree. It's a problem in fantasy games and representation. It's more that there aren't very many black or other POCs in these games. It makes Vivienne stand out.
Eh dont worry about the ignore, this was a low effort troll thread anyway and you clearly weren't looking for discussion
"Representation in romance options for straight black men is very bad in Bioware games" would have generated discussion, but hey that took me 3 seconds to come up with and time is money
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How many games give black people romance options. My op clearly states that I point out being black as a main point
These people trying to make this into something it's not are strange. It's probably mostly white people projecting in this thread
Crazy. Hopefully the posters feel good telling a real person he can't look forward to more representation in a game because the digital character isn't into him (the team coded her to not have a romance option).
This is a healthy and normal perspective.
This is a healthy and normal perspective.
I wanted to romance the spymaster lady but some things...just arent meant to be :-(
The underrepresentation of quality, non-token POC in games is absolutely a conversation worth having.
It's also not the conversation that was presented in your (now edited) OP and subsequent replies about being "forced" to romance other people. It may be what you meant, but don't go complaining about false narratives because folks reacted to what you said and not what you meant.
If you've played the game then you know why. Her having clear preferences is a part of her personality and her being interested in someone else is a core part of her story.
That's why. It's pretty simple.
I 'unno. Maybe it's just your phrasing. If your post had been simply "I want a bangable black woman in Dragon Age/Bioware games" then I would have happily dismissed it as regular thirsty gamer stuff, but hanging the whole thing on the one character who happens to be a black female displaying character agency... yeah, little bit weird. Not super weird. Maybe 1/3 of an eye-roll weird.
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Well I as a black person cant romance another black person in a game so if I want to use the romance option to see how it works or plays out
then I have to try it on other people
While every other sexuality , race and preference has there's
Late entry for the entitlement of the year -award.
"This character should be interested in my character in a video game because I think so".
That is both sad and incredibly... sad.
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Nah you are interpreting it wrong and I've noticed a lot of white incel projection in this thread
Bingo - she's also aiming to become Divine which is why she joined the Inquisition in the first place. She wants power, and the Divine is a position were you have to be celibate, she's not going to risk her chances of getting it by the rumours of being the Inquisitors' side piece.
As a black dude, I hear where you are coming from. But also, fuck Vivienne she's basically the house nigger. It's why my Inquisitor always clashes with her. She'd see the oppression of mages continue because she's able to carve out a nice piece of power for herself. I really dislike her.
That's not to say she isn't excellently written.
Someone else knows what's up.
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User Banned (2 weeks): Inflammatory Generalizations
Yea I think most POC know where I coming from mostly white people out of touch on this one with their incel culture
I have been noticing slowly her attitude sucks but haven't beaten the game yet liking it so far
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