themanclaw

I loved the handmaiden, in part due to her sultry voice (mmmm). I also like the fact that she was very down to earth and is able to break off her old notions of what is worthy of loyality when confronted with the fact that Atris is in the wrong (and being convinced of the exile). I wouldn't call her naive, just headstrong and very awkward. The only romance option that I did not like was the disciple. He just came across as annoying and stuck up.

KotOR 2. The writing was exquisite. I invested in PE with the hopes that they can make a narrative as deep and thoughful as they did in KotOR 2, along with the dynamic characters and overarching story which kept you siphening through a philisophically grey mist to unravel the conflict which was intertwined with both the external and interpersonal.

Indeed. An important thing I've learned from social and cognitive psychology is that men and women basically have the same clockwork. It is commonly believed that things like women being attracted in particular to the guys who are d-bags, or men being attracted in particular to dull women are genertically hard-coded from our days as cave people. This is a misconception. Our hardwired genetic code for cognitive functions is much less specific, an example of which would be something like facial recognition. The prior mentioned stereotypes are a result of a layering of societal norms. As such, Obsidian, having created their own societies, needn't make their characters conform to typical gender expectations. I think that is a good opprotunity to cast aside cheesy cliches.

I say yes. Obsidian proved they could make romances subtle (when needed) and fairly deep in KotOR 2. When a romance is done right, it also reflects the character in the romance, not some generic, cookie-cutter "i love you (kiss)". If this is accomplished, it will bolden the characters adn make the story a deeper-feeling experience. And to all the naysayers-- nobody is forcing you to participate in the romances (or at least I think Obsidian wouldn't do that). Also, I think a simple "yes or no" poll would have been a good idea if not for specificity, then at least to get a general idea of how much the community wants romance options.