If you're adding romanceable NPCs to fill a spreadsheet then that seems like a problem to me. That's also kind of what I view the impetus for playersexual characters to be.
I know a few of the people here haven't played it, but I considered Inquisition to be the most well developed way of adding romanceable characters into a game. None of them were the most interesting romances I've played in a game, but I still wanted future games to take its lead in this regard.
Of course I've said my piece on this before.
Herosexual is a great term, but I'm assuming you meant heterosexual.
Anyhow, I'm gay, and I've grown up having the whole "delicate princess needs to be saved by a big strong man" trope in video games thrown into my face since the early 80's.
I can honestly say it never bothered me growing up because in a lot of those situations, there wasn't any roleplay to be had. I was steering a character's adventure. They just happened to be straight, no biggie.
As games evolved and we started seeing narratives written with the player as a focus and getting to make choices, it was a little annoying to have developers shy away from romances that weren't heterosexual.
Ultimately, I just stopped caring because romance in games isn't a big deal to me and I don't need to see my avatar engaged in virtual sexuality.
If romance is there, great, give me an option that suits me. If you're not going to provide an option that suits me, don't force romance on me and leave it open-ended as a "just friends" situation because that's fine too.
What I do NOT enjoy is this new age SJW cancel culture shit where if every gender under the sun doesn't have an option specifically tailored to them in the game, the developers have to eat shit.
Although I'm grateful when it is there, I don't need gay representation in my games. And I certainly do NOT want developers shoehorning in gay/non-binary whatever when they don't fit into a narrative just to appease people.
Larian, in specific, has mostly handled it well. They left romances general enough to appeal to any sexuality without making it feel basic by playing it super safe.
Bioware walks that fine line of pandering to SJWs, but what they have done well is leaving romance options locked specifically by sexual preference.
Although I have issues with Inquisition from a gameplay standpoint, it did romance right.
I liked that Blackwall only dug chicks. I liked that my husband Dorian only dug guys. I liked that Iron Bull swung both ways. And I loved that it was even so specific as to make some characters like Solas only dig female elves.
It felt specific and real, since not everyone enjoys everything. And getting turned down by someone who isn't into you because of your gender is as real as it gets, and it was handled tastefully.
I just wish that developers would stop forcing romance in general.
Lae'zel propositioned me for sex, which was super odd considering that I had never hinted at being even remotely interested.
I viewed that as a result of the poor, basic "approval" system.
I feel as though developers should allow us to designate our preferences during character creation and give us at least a few opportunities to voice those.
That way some of those situations may never come up, or at the very least there could be a dialog about it, and Lae'zel wouldn't assume that I want some chick Gith lovin' just because our ideologies line up.
Herosexual is the term I've seen used when NPC sexuality is determined by whatever your Character is, I liked the sound of it, it doesn't mean Hetero necessarily.
apart from that, I can only agree with you. Fantasy is a pretty trope heavy genre to begin with but I don't think tropes are a bad thing in themselves it only becomes an issue when they become a lazy shorthand for writing characters and scenarios.
And Bioware certainly has the most expectations put on their characters because they've made a big part of their narratives the interplay between their NPCs and between the player and the NPC. Having characters in Inquisition that could reject your advances based on their own personal sexuality (gasp!) was I though a sign of the medium maturing from what I'd grown used to: say what they want to hear, gain love.
Thanks for the response I'm glad I'm getting these
I'd never heard herosexual before, but I'm going to start making it an active part of my vocabulary.
But yeah, having Blackwall basically be like "I appreciate the attention and I'm flattered, but wrong tree, my friend" was shocking because it was so on-point.
That was a fantastic and completely unexpected, realistic reaction to how that situation typically goes.
...
I see the point Wormerine made as kind of about this, those companions are memorable because they are written first, then placed into our characters way, hopefully for them to interact with in a meaningful way. Character romance too often in games starts out as an expectation for the player first, and a character interaction second.
When a character like Wyll who has a past relationship with a female cambion, and will hit on Lae'zel and Shadowheart, offers to bunk with my male dwarf berserker, it hits an odd note for me.
Characters having preference is a good way of putting it.
