drlymer

Easy mode is very much my preference, especially for the first playthrough of an RPG. To the point I get very anxious at playing a game that doesn't have such a mode. When I play rather expansive games I like being able to do whatever character builds, equipment, or party configurations that seem the most fun or interesting at the time, and I really don't want to give a crap about combat balance when I do it. At the end of the day I'm here to be engaged in the world and characters, and if I keep dying during an ambush or a boss fight that drags me right out of it and I get annoyed. I respect games like Dark Souls and they certainly have a place in the gaming sphere, but their kind of punishing difficulty is not optimal for everything, or even most games. And to be honest, even after a decade and a half of crpgs and srpgs, I'm just not all that good at them. I do actually like the idea of an "Ironman" mode for RPGs however, especially those with a wide breadth of choice for the player character, as it permanently prevents you from save-scumming to see different outcomes to your decisions. Whatever you pick, that's what you have to live with. I'm something of a scummer myself, especially during first playthroughs where I want to be Mr. Perfect Paladin Who Makes Everyone Everywhere Happy. Having such a strict save system would definitely change the way I approach the game, and I think that might well be for the better. Though if that is implemented, it should be a separate toggle like in X-com, meaning you can choose Normal-Ironmode, Classic-Ironmode, Easy-Ironmode... whatever fits people's skill level.

And how many of our personal story's don't have romance in them? Who can honestly say that love hasn't made a major mark on our personal development through life? I get the criticism that traditionally in games 'romance' has been handled poorly, and can be a drain on other resources for the game, but I honestly feel that the entire absence of such a driving force of human nature in a story about a personal journey is a little... incomplete? I'd like to see it done well more often, and in ways that other companies, like our old friend and community punching bag Bioware, haven't done. And I think Obsidian are just the team to do that (albeit in the sequel, heh)

Would be nice to have, I'd rather add to my pledge than just buying the game on Early Access. Or is that not how they're managing the beta?

After that spoiler section, I actually had to stop playing the game for the day after that. The Garrus romance was excellent, in my opinion. But then, his romance path and his bromance path are pretty similar, though I would say that is more to his credit.