• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.

Why is there not an option to romance Vivienne in Dragon Age Inquisition?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Deepthought_

Deepthought_

Banned
May 15, 2018
1,992
I just bought this game not to long a go and I was kind of excited to see a black woman as part of the story and ally

As a black man I wanted to make her my characters partner in the game to find out I can't is a big wtf

It annoys me because almost every other character in the game has that option
 
Last edited:
Kuro

Kuro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,531
Print_Dog said:
She doesn't want you?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
giphy.webp
 
Garlador

Garlador

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
14,131
I'm perfectly fine with party members not all just being romance options. They have their own preferences and in some cases are already in relationships before you entered the picture. That's fine.

That said, I WOULD like to have a black woman as a romance option at some point... Don't think that's happened yet. We've been able to romance elves and qunari and all manner of aliens, but not a black woman.
 

Gomography

Alt-account.
Banned
Dec 16, 2018
178
Considering you can do the lesbian girl as a male Vivienne should be a little more poly.
 

Deleted member 47318

User requested account closure
Banned
Sep 1, 2018
994
Despite all their pretenses at progressiveness, I don't think anyone at Bioware actually cares enough about black people to make one properly romancable in their games.

There was Jacob in Mass Effect 2, but he ended up cheating on Femshep. Amazing representation for their sole black male companion so far.
 
Fid

Fid

Member
Jun 5, 2018
254
Detroit
OP, you should switch to playing AssCreed Odyssey, a game where you can fuck everything.

See that mountain over there in the distance?

You can fuck it.
 
Bony Manifesto

Bony Manifesto

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,583
Inquisition was really uneven in terms of how developed each character was, and Vivienne was one of the thinnest. She has very little to talk about and her friendship quest is one of the most basic in the game. A shame, as it seemed like she could have been one of the most interesting characters.
 
Hella

Hella

Member
Oct 27, 2017
23,391
Even when playing, I knew Vivienne was too good for a lowly inquisitor like me. She's such an awesome character.

I kinda feel Inquisition hit the best balance of giving the player romance options without overriding the agency of the party members. I didn't like the game but it's probably the best romance stuff Bioware's ever done, in terms of scope and execution.
 
OP
OP
Deepthought_

Deepthought_

Banned
May 15, 2018
1,992
Andrew Lucas said:
Gamers and dealing with rejection, a marriage done in heaven. Move on, fella.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Fid said:
OP, you should switch to playing AssCreed Odyssey, a game where you can fuck everything.

See that mountain over there in the distance?

You can fuck it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Missing the point

Only black woman in the game that you can't romance while other sexuality's and preferences are able too

Stop trying to spread a false narrative in this thread
 
Garlador

Garlador

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
14,131
Kyros said:
Despite all their pretenses at progressiveness, I don't think anyone at Bioware actually cares enough about black people to make one properly romancable in their games.

There was Jacob in Mass Effect 2, but he ended up cheating on Femshep. Amazing representation for their sole black male companion so far.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I'm not sure if it's better or worse that you didn't mention Liam from Andromeda.
hqdefault.jpg


Liam - clearing the very, very low bar of being the best black romance option in Bioware history.

Wulfram said:
Isabela?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I'll be honest, I wasn't sure if Isabela counted or not. I never saw her as a black woman (viewed her as "tan" which fit her career as a pirate) and her appearance in Origins didn't register with me at all that she was a woman of color. Maybe it was model limitations, but she had the features of any other generic female character.
isabela_savepoint_es.jpg


Not that she was a bad romance option, and I appreciate that they made her skin darker in DAII, but Vivienne was really clear from the get-go what her ethnicity was, and I REALLY appreciated that.
Vivienne_head_front.jpg
 
Last edited:
Zhukov

Zhukov

Banned
Dec 6, 2017
2,641
"A black female character displaying agency and expressing clear preference?! Not on my watch! She should be wholly subject to the whims of me, the mighty player. That would be way more progressive you see."
 
L Thammy

L Thammy

Spacenoid
Member
Oct 25, 2017
49,941
What Bioware can learn from Alicesoft.


But seriously, without having played the game, I'd think that the OP's point makes more sense when framed against Bioware's history. Yes, not every character has to be a romance option, and there could be story reasons for why that has to happen. But unlike the real world, in a video game someone actually has to sit down and decide on these things. Fictional characters don't actually have their own agency and aren't actually free to make up their own minds.

If Bioware makes it a habit to make party members into romance options, then it's fair to question why they didn't do that in this case. Maybe they could have given that story to a different character, or they could have another romance option to fill that niche. It isn't good enough to say "well, that's how it is" if you're looking at the decisions that made it that way.
 
Herne

Herne

Member
Dec 10, 2017
5,309
I thought Vivienne looked like a really interesting character with the art shown prior to release and I was excited to learn about her as I played.

And then I learned about her as I played, and... yeah.
 
Garlador

Garlador

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
14,131
Zhukov said:
"A black female character displaying agency and expressing clear preference?! Not on my watch! She should be wholly subject to the whims of me, the mighty player. That would be way more progressive you see."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
L Thammy said:
But seriously, without having played the game, I'd think that the OP's point makes more sense when framed against Bioware's history. Yes, not every character has to be a romance option, and there could be story reasons for why that has to happen. But unlike the real world, in a video game someone actually has to sit down and decide on these things.

If Bioware makes it a habit to make party members into romance options, then it's fair to question why they didn't do that in this case. Maybe they could have given that story to a different character, or they could have another romance option to fill that niche. It isn't good enough to say "well, that's how it is" if you're looking at the decisions that made it that way.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This is really the gist of it. It's not about making EVERY character (or minority) a submissive sexual pursuit, but rather the overarching choices of what type of characters are (or are not) romanceable in their games, and it's WORTH discussing.

I remember hearing the same complaint levied against gay romance options when they didn't exist in the Mass Effect games until the third title. "Oh, so you just want every character's sexual orientation to be catered to your whims? EVERYONE should just bang you, that's SO much more progressive".

It's not that. It's about taking the time, care, and understanding to craft a romance that does make sense for a character. A character like Dorian is so overtly and vitally gay that to make him a straight romance is a horrifying option given his backstory, but the point is that he's still a gay romance option, providing important representation that's well-crafted, well-executed, and without the character losing his agency.

There's zero reason you can't do that with more minority characters in Bioware games.
 
OP
OP
Deepthought_

Deepthought_

Banned
May 15, 2018
1,992
Zhukov said:
"A black female character displaying agency and expressing clear preference?! Not on my watch! She should be wholly subject to the whims of me, the mighty player. That would be way more progressive you see."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
What are you quoting

Why give me the option to increase my approval rating with her

You give gay people their option to romance why not black people . You and a few other posters are trying to push some false narrative I think
 
FakePlasticTree

FakePlasticTree

Member
Jul 24, 2018
10,192
I think it was just a design decision they went with not unlike Dragon Age 2 where th game's deadline was short and thus all the romances were available to both sexes. I believe Gaider said on the old forums that was a decision they had to make and not something they had originally wanted.
It is lame though that among the romances, none of them are black, but yeah I think that was just what they went with.
 
OP
OP
Deepthought_

Deepthought_

Banned
May 15, 2018
1,992
Garlador said:
This is really the gist of it. It's not about making EVERY character (or minority) a submissive sexual pursuit, but rather the overarching choices of what type of characters are (or are not) romanceable in their games, and it's WORTH discussing.

I remember hearing the same complaint levied against gay romance options when they didn't exist in the Mass Effect games until the third title. "Oh, so you just want every character's sexual orientation to be catered to your whims? EVERYONE should just bang you, that's SO much more progressive".

It's not that. It's about taking the time, care, and understanding to craft a romance that does make sense for a character. A character like Dorian is so overtly and vitally gay that to make him a straight romance is a horrifying option given his backstory, but the point is that he's still a gay romance option, providing important representation that's well-crafted, well-executed, and without the character losing his agency.

There's zero reason you can't do that with more minority characters in Bioware games.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

You are completely missing the point again

Or do u not understand where I as a black person am coming from or you just don't care
 
Ultimadrago

Ultimadrago

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,135
No person playing Dragon Age: Inquisition is worthy of Vivienne's hand.

I know OP, I was disappointed too. But hey, I heard that Josephine is a good option! Just don't do Sera. Ugh.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.