Svirfneblin

Now that is uncalled for!So when a male wanders in and says female romance options need to be large-breasted supermodels, that's bad... but when a woman wanders in and says male romance options need to look like Eder or they're just too "ewww," that's okay? Sorry. Not doing the double standard thing. Durance is the only gimme "ewww," because I'll grant he doesn't take care of himself. Hiravias doesn't bathe and apparently likes to have sex while he's in the form of a giant cat. I believe 'eww' can be a pretty appropriate response to that.

Ok you named BG2. That is one. Which are the other RPGs? I mean both DA2 and DAI had more options for women. None of the ME games had more options for men. Ok I think there were a few more for men in ME3 so that is two (maybe there were a ton for either gender). Neither of the KOTOR games gave more options for men. So how is this rare? Granted not every RPG with romances is made by Bioware but they are the standard for this sort of thing. I am not claiming you are wrong just...I have no clue where you are coming from here. For the record, straight men have the most options in ME1 (Ashley + Liara). Straight females get one(Kaiden) and lesbians get one (Liara), gay men get 0. Straight men also get the most in ME2 (hey I get to count Kelly Chambers if you're going to count Sebastian from DA2.) Straight men get Miranda, Jack, Tali, Kelly. Straight women get Jacob, Thane, Garrus. Lesbians get Kelly, gay men get nothing. ME3...is complicated because the romance options carry over based on previous choices. Straight men have Ashley, Liara, Miranda, Jack, Kelly, but only Liara is always available. Straight women get Kaiden, Garrus, Thane, Jacob- it's worth noting that if Kaiden died at Virmire and Garrus was not romanced in ME2 then straight females have no options. The other two guys also cheat on you and inevitably die during the game so that kinda sucks- the male romance options only potentially die and none of them cheat on you. Gay men get Kaiden and Steve, Lesbians get Liara, Kelly, and Samantha. So overall I would say that straight men got the most options in the ME series, while straight women have gotten the most options in DA. Admittedly I didn't count DLC stuff from ME, romance content found only in a DLC is pretty weak IMO. SW:TOR only has straight romances except for the two mini romances in the expansion. Men get a few more options than women across all classes, they get 11 and females get 9. Jade Empire also had two options for straight men, one for straight women/lesbians/gay men. So overall, even Bioware tends to have more options for straight men.

Kendall was an orlan? I always figured he was human.

Also I'm not sure class accuracy bonuses should factor in- why are rogues better with scrolls than wizards?

For my offensive casters I often go with the utility talent boosting the element they use the most (Heart of the Storm, Scion of Flame etc.)

Well, they could have made the interactions pause gameplay and take up the screen like most conversations. Maybe they thought that was intrusive/annoying?

Well you can give them clothing so they don't have to run around naked, but yeah ranged dps often goes unarmored.

I think the Durance and Grieving Mother quest progression are triggered by rests after completing segments of the main plot- not sure on this though.

I didn't like The Witcher either, but I feel like I can't judge it fairly since having a set protagonist (and no companions) in an RPG is a pretty huge turn off for me.

Well it was pretty clear that Maerwald was insane, but the conclusion that you would end up like Maerwald because you were Awakened/a Watcher (the ambiguity with these two things happening at once doesn't help) is a logical leap.

I liked having different ammunition types, but I am not missing having to manage stacks of generic ammunition.

There's only one free inn in the game I believe, although in practice your funds soon make inn stays trivial (unless you rest after every encounter I guess).

I think Sagani is an interesting character- she balances the struggle of leaving her family with her desire to see the world. The latter is wearing thin due to years on a seemingly pointless journey but the Watcher gives her a ray of hope. Maybe she wasn't your cup of tea, but I dunno about poorly written. BG1 characters are basically just one personality trait since they have almost no room to express anything else. I suppose I can concede that they can be memorable in their one-note ness, but characters with no depth seems like bad writing to me. I thought Sarevok was a decent villain, my beef is mainly with the companions. Well and Gorion, people only remember him because he was important to the plot.

There are more heterosexual romances in DA:I than homosexual or bisexual ones. At no point in the DA series have there been more homosexual than heterosexual options. And here I thought I'd escape the "I'm a heterosexual male and not being catered to exclusively!" bull**** was exclusive to the BSN. I am sorry that having the same amount of romance options as gay men or lesbians qualifies as "as gay as possible" to you. DUDE are you blind, cassandra pentaghast looks like a ****ing man. That does not count as a straight romance option. She looks like a god damn transgender shemale or something, it's disturbing. Looks are pretty subjective, but I think most people would identify Cassandra as female and some find her attractive. Sorry Bioware doesn't give you boners anymore?

Gorion(you didn't use his name I noticed...) was memorable? He had almost no dialogue- he tells you to leave Candlekeep soon, then runs into Sarevok and dies. I think most of the people praising Baldur's Gate 1's characters are not quite seeing things clearly due to: A. Nostalgia glasses B. Liking BG1 for other reasons (combat, exploration etc.) and mentally connecting these positive experiences to the characters C. Having characters blank enough that the player can project personalities onto them which the game didn't actually write I just don't get how BG1 characters can be 'full of personalty' and 'memorable' and all that other stuff people attribute to them when their character consists of a few lines of introduction dialogue and some random phrases in combat or when you click on them. No future exploration of their character, reactions to anything, banters...just nothing. More writing does not necessarily make characters better, but BG1 companions (and Gorion) have so little writing and characterization I can barely consider them characters.