No, no. I have played Bioware Dragon age. It`s opened-ended enough that you can easily compare it to Skyrim. If you look at each NPC follower carefully they are designed to fit with most open-ended situations. For instance if you ask one lady of her view of a place and she has no view (cos the game hasn`t scripted her for it) she just says `I don`t know the story about this place.`

For a Romance it does not matter all that needs doing in Skyrim is just loosening the romance lightly so it`ll apply to anywhere in general. You just need the PC and NPC with a basic character storyline.

There`s absolutely no reason at all why the same basic mechanic in DA2 could not apply to Skyrim. I agree with the others.

I've somewhat dated some Jacks from ME2 as well. *another facepalm*

I like drama, I guess. Happily single atm though.

I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry at this statement. Dragon Age 2 is far more scripted and linear than Origins, and Origins already was pretty limiting.

Dammit!

I meant Dragon Age, not dragon age 2 which is crap.

Sorry.

Doing multiple things at once.

Well, I'm happily married and I enjoy the romance arcs in roleplaying games. Some times it does come off as awkward but then again, it can be nice to have that part of my characters experience fleshed out as well. It's the whole package, in a sense. But the quote above is exactly why I got the feeling gamesas was trying to toe the line, because some players are uncomfortable with the concept of romance (even though they don't have to take that path if they don't want to) and some love it. *shrug*

I don't get Bronys either but that's a semi popular mod for Skyrim, so to each their own. Who am I to judge? Teehee.

I never knew that, in all my playthroughs. Was that a mod? I mean it wouldn't be that bad. Or even the hug part. But spamming the "A" button while engaging the big nasty would be a little over the top.

Some guys who don't have a girlfriend or wife in real probably want this sort of thing. six with an NPC. I don't see the use of it. There are other sorts of games for those kinds of things.

I don't think DA2 was limited at all in the story options. It's limited in the exploration of gamespace. That's different, and a valid complaint... but there are many branching ways of interacting with characters. To the point where you can buddy-buddy, be enemies who respect each other, or just simply hate each other. The story takes on a different in all those ways. It's simply not the definition of "linear". Linear is being dragged down one path.

Same with DAO. Not just with romances, but politics as well. I mean, my "favorite" playthrough is one where I respected Logaine and had him kill the archdemon.. and I swear, I thought it was epic. Almost shed a tear in that scene. lmao. And the thing is, many other players have played so differently than they'd think my option was bizarre.

That's [censored] stupid.

It has absolutely nothing to do with that. I don't look at the types of games as just a video game. I don't even like calling them that. People look down om me when they find out I am elderly and play them. Because all they see is a 6 year old playing Mario Bros. These games are rated mature for mature people. The same as movies. And that's the way I look at it.

I like RPGs because they are like playing a game, watching a movie and reading a novel at the same time. I have no problems with six being in any of them. And I can assure you it is not from lack there of in RL.

Who the hell bought this game for that reason?

And I got married for 2 reasons.

1) for the Get Married trophy.

and 2) just because I thought it was neat. If you're into roleplaying, you can sort of flesh out your characters story by deciding who he/she is most compatible with. And it's nice to return from a tiring adventure to someone who will cook you dinner and not be pissed off that you'd been gone for so long.

This.

On Topic:
Marriage, in its current state is shallow and the development time dedicated to creating it could have been better spent elsewhere.

"At least we have the option" isn't good enough.

That's like say... including Alchemy, but all we can make is Minor Health Potions.

Damn I so agree with this.

I went back for another Origins play right now, until 1.4 does anything or not. My female elf warrior has a delightful thing with Leliana going. It's much more rewarding and fun and interesting than a Skyrim "marriage."

But I think that's exactly why Beth put it in there /haha. When I read previews about Skyrim, I texted my brother that you could get married in it, assuming it had to be the same or better than Origins. It's not. It's a Beth sales gimmick.

I don't know if it's a gimmick.. it just seems more inspired by Fable (and not even do that well), rather than any registering anything close to Bioware titles in their mind.

The marriage feature is just another example of how very shallow this game has become, if NPCs had some depth to them, had any disposition to the PC at all then they could have added a good relationship-marriage part of the game that would be something else to explore. As it is its just a gimmick, something that probably took less than a day to script.

To be honest I'd forgive them if it was just puritanical will they bent to.. the tattooed underwear, the loveless marriage.. It would just make them cowards (like most other game designers). but i honestly think it was just laziness, they didn't want to push the envelop, just cash in on the franchise through the console.. very disappointing.

So true!

No, I think maybe it was only Alistair now that I think about it. He had some cute dialogue attached to it depending on who you had in your party at the time. I wouldn't mind more NPC dialogue in Skyrim, but this is kind of what I mean- Alistair's romance is the same no matter who your PC was, so it's not like there's much to it. Leaving it more open ended allows people to make the NPCs what they want them to be. And judging by the art and fanfiction, people are doing that with Skyrim NPCs, too.

IMO romance is too much of a fixation in Bioware games and the whole thing gets to be a sideshow. I'd rather that not be the case in TES and Fallout. While I like the romance RP angle, less is more IMO.

Well, personally, the romance portion of a roleplaying game is important enough to me that I would hope gamesas could get it just right, even if it has to be by DLC, so those who would like to discover a romance line in their games can have that option and those who don't, do not have to partake. But if it were to be something I'd buy, it should be done well and thoroughly, or else scrap the idea entirely. This superfluousness is just plain silly.

Free gold daily and someone to guard your house?

100 gold a day a convinient extra vendor at my house and home cooked meal what else could a i ask more from wife in a video game

I'm sure there are plenty of dating sims to fill that void. No need to bring that sad/silly stuff into TES. Would've preferred it if they skipped marriage altogether and focused on, i'unno, adding sheaths to dual wielding sets? But no, Fable had a marriage gimmick and DA had those corny "romance" scenes so we gotta suffer through it.

I got married because I liked Aela's personality and because when your married your spouse will give you 100 gold a day.

I'm a Roleplayer, so that's why.