Sorry I don't have pictures of the article or music, I made this video with 1 hand and I'm in a lot of pain 😭 ALSO I FORGOT SOMETHING IMPORTANT THE DEVS IMPLIED SOME KIND OF SKELETON ROMANCE

I love the emphasis on friendships. Excited for that found-family vibe that I'm hoping for.

I actually agree with you for the most part. However I do think BG3's biggest misstep in their romances was how everyone thirsted for your Tav if you were nice to them. Not flirty, just nice. So it was very difficult to have platonic friendships in BG3 without having to turn down someone's advances. So I'm really hoping The Veilguard brings back the "Heart icon" for choices so we can choose who we want to pursue romance with and not worry about being nice to someone I just want to be friends with. In my first playthrough of BG3 I hugged Karlach because I wanted to be a good friend, but apparently she saw that as a confession of love because when I got with Gale she acted like I had cheated on her and broke her heart. I was completely blindsided by that. I felt so bad. I just want to have meaningful platonic friendships again.

I will never complain about having more options in a video game 😤

I'm a simple woman, I see a notification for a new Kala Elizabeth video & I come running.

More choice is always better - I enjoyed CyberPunk but hated the limited romance options especially for a dystopian city like Night City!

I look at it like this, I as a pansexual, don't want a character story that revolves around their sexuality. We are far more than our sexuality and by taking that out of the equation the writers and developers have to focus on other aspects of a character's personality.

I dont think Solas being race/gender locked for romance matters. The friendship with Solas was deep and meaningful. And having befriended him as a human and elf, seeing the difference between those, it was incredible. As a human its harder to win his trust, and being human (when he has never liked humans) conflicts him about tearing down the vale.

I love that they are keeping the comraderie between companions. Some of the best banter in Inquisition was between companions. I also liked that some companions liked each other naturally while other relationships weren't great. It doesn't even take that much more effort to give the illusion of depth to a character. A few voiced lines, here and there, can be a game changer, even when it isn't followed up with a scene. Josephine and Blackwall from Inquisition are a great example. I remember when I uncovered this. I'd already played the game many times and was grinding collectibles on my completionist playthrough when I got the banter. It felt great to uncover that little bit of gossip, and it made me want to know more.

5:00 I really wanted to romance Vivienne but sadly she was a friendship locked character.

Dragon Age Origins, circle Mage prologue if your character is a woman, Cullen will show having a crush on them. So while he fears mages even back then, still would be willing to be with one.

I’m glad there’s more romance options because in DAI I only had Cassandra and Josephine. Both of which I wasn’t a fan of. Just hope it’s not like BG3 where they all want me because i said something nice

If only they had nudity in inquisition! 😩 (Stares at the *very* suggestive Iron Bull black rectangle censor)

Totally looking forward to this game. Looks great and I am excited to see how the characters will play and how the story will be. Thanks for the news update!

I agree 100% with everything you said. The main reasons I play Dragon age or Mass Effect is the story and characters, the friends and romances you can have, the world and lore. I had given up hope for a new Dragon Age or Mass effect so to say the gameplay trailer and the news that keeps coming, has me so excited🎉 I check your chancel and a few others almost daily for news so thank you for taking your time and posting them. I hope you feel better soon.

I disagree on Solas being into everyone, he should be a fem elf Inky’s only romance as that gives him a ton more character and fits far more with his love for the Elven people. What I do agree on is that he should’ve had more reveal with an either gender Elf Inky as I feel he is the type to value friendship highly.

I'm really curious how their relationships will evolve with each other after Rook has chosen a paramour. I really wanted to romance Cullen in Inquisition. But, he doesn't do guys and my player character is always male. Thus, I had to watch it play out on KZfaq, posted by someone who did play as a female Inquisitor. Like you said, if you're exclusivly gay or straight, you ended up with extremely limited options up until Balder's Gate 3. I am glad to see that trend continue.

Thank you for your time and dedication! The fandom appreciates it

I think we don’t have enough information at all about the game. This month has been a repetition of what we already knew over and over. I miss Larian 's transparency and how they handled gamers expectations really well.

I think romances are the most difficult thing to do for any game, creating a deeper more intamite story and finding ways to make us feel closer to certain characters, but i think veilguard will do a good job with it as they are making this game quite companion focused so naturally the charcters stories would be one of their main focuses. Ofcourse we wont know for certain until we actually experience each of their stories

I loved the way they did DAI with the different sexualities at the time. But playing the game again after realising I'm a trans man was really weird for me because choosing a male Inquisitor meant I could no longer romance Sera and I could now romance Dorian. So I think having the romance options open for everyone is best. Because other people could transition and find themselves unable to romance their preferred LI, if they had done what they did in DAI. And what about genderfluid people? What if sometimes they want to play as a man and others a woman in DAI? That means they can't always romance the same person.

Your videos are so informative and well-conceived. The option to romance has always been important to me. I think that having more choices is never a bad idea. The fact that you were locked out by gender or sexuality is "real" but is that what we want in a video game? That's just playing "life" in my opinion. We do that every day. Games are supposed to be that escape for us and allow us to experience these worlds to the fullest. I look at it as an option in Veilguard that is now is a long time coming. What I'm more interested in is seeing how the companions I don't romance might pair off. That's going to be super fun to watch.

Make a poll about this pls, I’d love to see what your community thinks about this.

I hope your arm recovers soon! Honestly, I think that more varied sexualities is more realistic, especially when literally every character is from a different faction and ergo a different walk of life, but a group of just pansexuals is not unrealistic either (coming from someone whose friends are almost all bi/pan). I think what was most wrong with DA2 was the rivalry romances actually. They made little sense to me. You could be violent, racist, whatever, and still romance Merrill somehow, which I’ve seen some people call abusive of her and of Hawke’s power/status over her. You can also have a rivalmance with Fenris, and then just sell him into slavery. No one rational or with any sense of morals would give a Hawke like that a chance, so if the companions in DATV’s romances are locked off bc Rook is an asshole, I think all of them being pansexual is fine.

I definitely cycled in and out of agreeing with you on things, but I'm so glad that you mentioned Jaal. I went into ME:A genuinely cranky because the devs had, only hours before, admitted that he was M/F-only. at the time, that made it the fourth Mass Effect game in a row with zero M/M alien options, which was four too many in what many people jokingly refer to as an Alien Dating Sim. Ultimately, Andromeda is my favorite Mass Effect, largely because the rest of the game won me over but being able to do the Jaal romance really helped with that.

You know... However we feel about BioWare and VG, we gotta hand It to then when It comes to taking risks. They do try New stuff. You cant strike Gold every time... Also. WHERE IS MY BLOOD MAGIC Q.Q

I totally agree with you what you said in the video.Thanks for your hard work i know that is not easy for you

BG3s romances were very well made and they're all pan/bi too. But... They're very playersexual and can be accidentally romanced very easily by just being nice to them exactly how it was in DAO. I'm excited for actual pansexual characters who won't be accidentally romanced. I'm pan myself so I love being presented in media more. I love how they do not need player to romance them for them to find love. DAV will be very roleplay open for what we can see so far, like you can make Rook the way you want them to be and romance anyone (or not romance anyone if you wish) without feeling limited at any point. I'm excited to get to explore DAV and its potential, I'm sure it will over take DAI as my most played DA game easily for what we can see so far.

I love the idea of the found family vibe, especially after playing Dawntrail where that has just been the major theme all the way through!

i need a release date like, right now.

You are my favorite KZfaqr

First! I'm looking forward to this level of immersion.

Honestly, I share your feelings on character sexualities in the game. On one hand, yes, having different sexualities is more realistic and allows for stories like Dorian's to be told, but on the other, you bet that many men, myself included, were very upset that we couldn't romance Alistair and Cullen (especially Alistair, goddammit, BioWare), so I think we can concede that, in a world where magic, spirits, gods and other sentient races exist, having an all-pansexual cast of squadmates shouldn't really take anyone out of the experience and gets rid of the frustration of some players not being able to romance characters they liked. I wish Mass Effect did this, you mentioned Jack not being bi/pan, but gay men straight up had no romance options until the third game, and one of those was Kaidan, who had voice files indicating he was meant to be bi since the original game.

I'm so excited to see some of the different romances through different characters. It'll be nice to romance anyone despite gender and lineage. Great video!

Very balanced approach and I think you shared your opinion well, and strongly, while being respectful of other opinions.

Show me more of Lucanis 😏

Hi kala, thank you for your informative video. I have a question do you think the scale of veilguard will be larger than inquisition or any of the previous games.

Hey, that's a great video! I'm new here, but I'll keep an eye out for more content - I still have hope for BioWare and Dragon Age. Oh and I hope you feel better soon! 😊 To the subject at hand: I totally agree that a cast of characters that have a diverse array of romantic and sexual preferences and dislikes makes for better dramatic writing opportunities. I'm replaying DS:I as a female elf Inquisitor solely for romancing Solas and getting to that very specific part of his intriguing character. From what I've read, Solas' writer decided to make him like one very specific type of love interest in order to *[MAJOR INQUISITION SPOILER AHEAD]* not have a "sexually deviant/callous bad guy trope *[END OF SPOILERS]* I totally understand if people want more options, but I will always prefer strong character specific writing for my possible companions. Oh, and yeah: Dorian's scenes with his dad were very powerful stuff! And I also adore Morrigan and Cassandra (I'm not leaving Skyhold without her! Or Solas... or Varric 😂 But I really like most characters, I think Inquisition is one of Bioware's very best!) Stronger friendships sound amazing and well written found family will _never_ not be dear to my heart ❤

Great video (and I hope your hand heals quickly, Kala.) Although I love knowing there will be so many options, I do get how set sexualities for companions can add to their backstories. Interesting conversation. I’m really looking forward to Dragon Age Veilguard. It will be my first DA game - and sadly I don’t have time to go back and play all the previous games. The character creator and romance options in this game look to be really varied and amazing.

"especially Anders" is an understatement 🤣

For me, it has never bothered me when certain characters are gender locked in terms of romance. If I really want to romance that character, I create a character that they will romance. I love having every playthrough be different and experiencing those differences keeps me coming back. It’s why I have played all the DA games and BG3 so much. So, if I am playing as a female human mage, and I want to romance Dorian, I’ll make sure to play as a male character the next go around. It’s never bothered me. That’s just me, though. I love experiencing as much of the games as I can! With the “all the companions are pansexual” debate, I also don’t have a problem with it at all. But I’m a straight lady, so my opinion probably doesn’t or shouldn’t count for much. I can understand the camp saying how they wish there was more of a variety in sexualities, though. Representation is so important and it’s always fulfilling to see oneself reflected in the media we love. I think, however, we should wait to make judgments until we play the game and see how everything shakes out.

I only have one complaint about the romances. I wish they had just one more male RO, to make it an even split. Especially since the typical “blonde British boy” isn’t available this time

Hope your arm will feel better soon.

I was just sad my dwarf inquisitor couldn’t romance scout harding. Now that she is a romance option she will be my first. I just wish there was a templar subclass option

I am guessing that the other companion x companion romances will be Neve X Emmerich and Davrin X Lucanis while Belara has a good chance of being the traitor of the game.

Do we have any idea if we can romance anyone else besides companions? Only 3 male options this time. 😬

I didn't really like the way romance worked in BG3. The characters were WAY too thirsty, and I didn't like how Haslin insisted me being kind to him meant I was romantically interested in him, even though I was already seeing Shadowheart. Frankly, I would have liked to be able to select my character's sexuality in the creator. It would help negate the issue that NPCs are unable to read your body language like they would in real life. As for BioWare games, I know I'm in the minority here, but I'm afraid romance will eventually take too much importance in their games - if it's not the case already. Mordin and Wrex are great characters because they were not written to be too likable. Can BW writers still create those, or does everyone need to be a romance option now? I am not interested in any of the companions, so it will be interesting to see if I can still enjoy the game as much.

Listen, all im asking for is to finally romance Varric. PLEASE bioware 😭💔

Locking characters out of certain romances or experiences is why multiple playthroughs are a thing.

I honestly thought they were going to give us a Tali/Femshep relationship in ME3 after LotSB, because they had her download all this stuff about understanding humans and the self-stimulation attachment being used while I had my femshep.

The next time someone submits a post to my fb group to complain about the sexualities in DAV: I am going to approve it, post a link to this video, and lock the comments. You explained this PERFECTLY, and just linking this would be so much easier than repeating myself lol.

I appreciate your perspective on this-honestly, you put into words a lot of what I was feeling and thinking about it. I do get people's frustrations with this, but like you said, without a larger cast size, it's difficult to do that and provide enough options for everyone to be able to have a significant choice.

i total agree with you about the relationships locking/unlocking, its complicated. like Dorian's story was perfect even if i never got to romance him, but also, it is an RPG and it just seems like it should have the most options. i am worried about the skeleton romance, like, i don't get it, maybe just me. curious if any romance options that aren't companions like Cullen and Josie in Inquisition, i guess the skeleton would count.

Okay I wanted to start this out with I don't know if Liara qualifies as a lesbian romance considering she's an alien but strictly a female alien. So I guess that's neither here nor there. But I do believe that it's okay to have some bisexual characters, some straight characters and some gay characters. I believe that it definitely gives the characters that the player wants to romance, more depth, and the romance that the player chooses obviously chooses it for a reason so it means much that much more to the player when they choose The character that they went to romance for the specific reason like I'm sure most male characters in Mass Effect decided to romance. Miranda, for obvious reasons, just like I'm sure they decided to romance. James if they chose so for obvious reasons I 100% Believe in a vast array of choices in video games, but just like they said about their story in Dragon Age the Veil Gaurd some things are better, left linear and not wide open like the world we had in Inquisition The same should be applied to the romances in my opinion, but I'll still buy this game. I'll still fall in love with it and the characters and the story!

Oh man don’t get me started on Jack in ME2. That drove me nuts.

If ALL of the characters will sleep with you regardless of your gender, then they're player-sexual. This can be compared to Iron Bull in DA:I who is actually pan sexual. Also, you could have romanced Morrigan or Cassandra if you wanted to. Just play a male character. If you want that roleplaying experience of their romance, then roleplay a guy. Because that's part of what their romance entails. I've played a guy to romance Dorian. I've been playing games since before you got the option to play a woman in these kinds of things, so it's not exactly the first time I've been in a romance where the gender didn't match my own. It's not a big deal. I'd rather the characters had personalities and backstories that tied into them as whole, complete people. And that requires them to have a distinct sexuality. I will agree with you that gender locking Solus seemed like a bit much for a character who is so critical to the plot. The race-lock thing, given his history, he seems like the kind of guy who would stick to his own race, at least to me. He tolerates humans and dwarves. He wouldn't sleep with them.

What did they do to Varric ?

EXCUSE ME? YOU CAN ROMANCE HARDING? They forgot she has a potential romance with Sera? At least now with Bianca out of the picture, I can (try to) romance Varric.

This does make me wonder about next Mass Effect as well. Like would they go back to what was before or would they do the pansexual romances again.

I think this is definitely a step in the right direction for these types of RPG games.

if this amazing beautiful modeling characters, effects and background are limited Buget there more talented people and tech working this Dragon Age?

I still dont' understand how this game had such limited resources to be made when Inquisition literally won Game of the year. Its just as popular as the Mass Effect games. If they had put their resources into this game instead of trying to cater to the multiplayer online crowd with Anthem, we would have gotten this game much sooner.

As a bisexual gamer, I’ve always found the concept of “playersexual” to be a bit of a boogeyman that gets applied regardless of if it’s true in the game or not, I’ve seen people say Baldur’s Gate 3’s companions are playersexual, even though the companions flirt with each other and have clearly defined past relationships. I like having choices in games but I also can appreciate a well written gender locked romance (race locked romances are much harder to justify though). The thing is, Dorian’s romance constantly gets held up as an example of a well written romance that centers his sexuality (for good reason) but can you say the same for Blackwall or Tali? It feels like the majority of heterosexual romances are that way because the writers view heterosexuality as the default state for the character, and not a conscious creative decision.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I think BG3 honestly has BioWare scared, after all the success of BG3 is one we won’t see for awhile unless BioWare or someone else gets the lead out of their pants, the companions of BG3 were a huge part of the story, but there was more to them than just their sexualities (which are never actually confirmed in canon, leading players to interpret the characters however they choose) but from what I keep hearing it seems BioWare isn’t learning from this, I don’t want walking sexualities, I want fully realized and fleshed out characters that just so happen to be a certain way, (I’m mostly looking to how Lucanis has been described by his game writer as “a walking Bisexual disaster” rather than anything actually meaningful for his character beyond that) from a roleplaying standpoint the point of playing an RPG is allowing the player to craft the story they want to play, which is where BG3 shines IMO and where BioWare should look to, because the main story, and outcomes, is where BG3 really stands out “oh, you wanna play the hero who saves Baldurs gate? Awesome! Here you go! Oh, you wanna play the Villain who takes over the world? Go have at it then!” Vs most modern RPG’s where all you get to be is the hero, I want the choice to either keep the veil up, or tear it down on my own terms, but I doubt we’re going to get that here… ah sorry I’m rambling 🙂‍↕️ I’m just super nervous about how this is gonna all play out because I worry they’re playing up the companions so much because they don’t have much of a main story to fall back on for replay ability

I had 3 different characters in inquisition as female quarani /iron bull as male elf I started with Josephine and end with Cassandra and human Cassandra I really wanted to romance mage female but there wasn’t an option. I was always shocked when I realized that iron bull romance Dorian

Jack's romance is more complicated because we expect that to be rough. We know for example her dialog can't be the same if she was with fem-shep. As far as I can tell romances for both male-shep or fem-shep were the same. I believe if they did that for Jack, make it common for both male-shep and fem-shep, results would seem off. They would have to make two versions. They may not have had schedule to do that. As for preferences, I agree not every NPC should be a pansexual. That's so unreal. But instead of putting that burden on the writers to choose that should be an option in the character(s) creator. There should also be an option for level of degree, anywhere from open to bigot. That should lead to some very interesting dialog.

Sounds fine, "romance" in a video game has always been a bit a joke anyway, I just hope the characters are well written and interesting.

"Solas only cares about spirits." If that's what you got from interactions with him in the DAI it must be so.

For any game, at the end of the day it IS meant to please the player. Maximizing options as much as possible only makes sense. However, I am a hardliner on Solas for elves/Cullen for mages. For Cullen, he had a giant crush on a mage in Origins, and his whole redemption arc makes MORE sense with a mage than with any other class. If anything, mage-only makes *more* sense, both as his type and because it forces him to face himself. (Admittedly dwarves and qunari aren't usually Chantry fanatics, but neither are Dalish so wtf?) Solas, I view as an elven-and-spirit supremacist. He's putting his race before all others, and he has a special significance to the Dalish. I think only a dead Inquisitor of another race would have a chance with him.

Reading comments about this topic made me conclude that pretty much everyone wasn't happy about romance options, no matter what was their sexual orientation, and thinking about that, I can absolutely see why. The only relationship that I wanted and actually could have was with Liara, and even if it wasn't the best representation of a lesbian relationship, it was the closest thing I could get in a video game at a time. None other romance managed to beat it till this moment. And, even though some people say that sexual orientation isn't everything, it is very important part of someone's experience which affects everything and shapes their life and personality. That being said, making everyone pansexual is quite problematic and very unrealistic, but I would rather choose that, than again being unable to romance the character I truly like (e.g. Morrigan, Casandra, Jack, Dr. T'Perro, etc.). IMO BG3 isn't the best example of video game with good characters or good relationships. Characters were quite childish, unrealistic, irritating and I couldn't really connect with anyone, eventhough I wanted. Bioware is way better in developing these, so let's just hope that they know what they are doing and that they'll bring us great new friends and lovers.

Hopefully Bioware figured out how to make truly black hair which was always an issue in the DA games.

I'm more than OK with them going this route. Most people will only play this game once or twice. Why limit their options? I get the story aspect of a scene like Dorian had with his father... but u can have that same (or very similar) being pan-sexual as well. It's not like it's a default widely held stance lol. I was soo bummed when I found out I couldn't romance Judy on my first Cyberpunk run cause I chose to play as a male. She is easily the best character (IMO). I won't have that issue here.

I hope Lace doesn't pair with Taash if Lace was with the Inquisitor :/ She doesn't have a fully fleshed romance in DA:I, but you can date her if you flirt with her and don't romance anyone else.

I think both things CAN work. Making everyone pansexual and doing limited romances. Nothing will ever be perfect and cannot be and I do not expect it. The most important thing is that the relationships feel natural and that you do not romance someone by accident (it happened before in the past) when you just want to be best buddies.

I think you stated things very well. While I want representation, it will always come at the cost of player agency in an already limited virtual medium. In my case… I’m non-binary, and I typically let people use any pronouns for me, but I’m really not comfortable with femininity, especially as an afab. I can have attraction to certain women, but usually, I don’t. So in Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, I never romance anyone. I spend both games just waiting till I can see Kaidan in 3. And that’s kind of crushing. It’s not like my Shep could go off and find somebody else. There are limited romance options. And even if there was only one added gay option, what if I hated his personality? Being forced to settle unhappily or be alone isn’t exactly a fun or fulfilling story. And when I found out how much lore was hidden in Solas’ romance, I was depressed. Because I did try to romance him the first time I played, but my male character that is what I am comfortable playing with, would never have access to that storyline. And yes, I was happy when I met Dorian and realized he’s amazing. But there’s always going to be a trade off in a limited interactive medium. Do we ask them to engineer more possibilities or more core representation? (Let us not forget, there can still be plenty of representation outside of the companions, too, so the companions’ sexualities do not stop there from being other lovable characters of all sexualities and backgrounds.)

I don't mind pansexual or even player sexual companions if they write it well. BG3 is the best example for this. You just need to focus on writing good characters who have meaningful relevance to the storyline, then a good and believable romance can then follow.

I don't mind that they're all pansexual, or even if they are playersexual, bc as a lesbian I have usually been very limited in my choices. I love Leliana (my favorite romance ever), Isabela, Merrill, Josephine, Liara, Samantha Traynor, Karlach, Shadowheart but I've never had as many options as straight/bi people have. Couldn't romance Bastila in KOTOR, Tali, Cassandra. In AC Odyssey DLC female character would have a baby even if they romanced the female love interest. 🤮 Harvest Moon never having gay relationships. Then all the LGBT shows that get cancelled, and the bury your gays disaster of 2016. Could go on. There were only 2 options in DAI when women who liked men had 4, 6 for bi women. And the only straight romance I could ever bring myself to do is Male Shep/Tali. So if I want to romance a male character, I can just make a husband for him. With only 7 romances (assuming by this point no npc romance), it makes most sense to not limit it. Also sorry for the essay. Thanks for all the vids, you're doing great work!

I think the option of more romances compatibility in video games is great. I'm pretty old school and old fashioned. I'm not against people's choices in life and in video games. I you know it's role-playing. You know I played Mass effect male and female course. I'll always stick to liara whether I'm male or female in a video game, but I'll probably go with my first playthrough the veilguard. I'll probably be human male and have a female romance but I like the idea of you know replayability and Mass effect I had to do multiple saves. I had to go back hours because I chose a romance that I didn't seem to like so I went back and tried it again when I did my first playthrough so it's going to be difficult choice lol for me so I'll have to figure it out as I play the game and get to know the characters

I think you are on point with your opinion. I mean in Inquisition people were disappointed they couldn't romance who they wanted because they had their own preferences, now they doing the opposite so that the we have more options to play the game the way we want to and again people are disappointed. I also think there is no right way to do this, to satisfy everyone and what they are doing now at least gives everyone a chance to create the Rook they want and choose the romance we desire. That said I do think because of the way they made Inquistion, the romancable NPCs felt more real and it gave them more depth, Dorian for example with his storyline was so very well writen so I get why people are a bit disappointed with their choice now but this is really a loose loose situation for Bioware. I mean with only 7 companions, how do you divide this fairly so that no one feels left out and that it still feels like a choice an not like your only option?

I have never understood why people care so much about nudity and sexuality in video games, i love the romancing and bonding between your PC and the companions in bioware games, I could just careless to see there naked bodies. I hope you get to feeling better!

I like the change. Gaming is about escapism for me, and a game letting me escape the limits of physics to use magic but NOT letting me escape the pain and embarrassment of being in love with someone of an incompatible sexuality feels FAR more anti-queer to me (a gay man) than the potential erasure of stories like Dorian's by making everyone pansexual.

I feel like the more we hear about this game, the worse it gets. Weve heard more about romance,nudity, pansexual characters and being thirsty then we have about anything else. It feels like a fanfiction written by a horny teenager. Very little gameplay shown, less skills, less travel companions. But we know so much about romance and if we can be super gay.

I do know some of the race locking was largely to do more with animating the models than the actual characters themselves. Initially, they weren't going to make Bull romanceable by dwarves because of the issue with the models, but someone came up with a solution at the last minute before Inquisition went gold. As for Solas, I think that was a two part reason. Partly to do with his character and how he sees the world, and then how it would be from a narrative perspective. It would have likely been much more difficult narrating the romance to someone playing a human where Solas had to explain elvish things every two to three minutes, compared to an Elvish inky who already knows most of it and can converse with him in Elvish. Probably much more grating on the player. Not to mention tmk, Solas isn't a fan of Qunari. Which also rules them out.

Great video! Thanks P.S As long as the romancing is better then AC: Valhalla lol. That must have been a joke by the devs.. but it wasn’t even funny how bad it was. No but seriously, I think it will be pretty good actually. This video puts my mind at ease, and I’m more excited for DA Veilguard then I was before watching!

Okay thats great but what about combat

I know, I know, it's not what should make or break a game, but romances in RPGs are all-important to me, especially when there are more than one lesbian option (I'm still upset I couldn't romance Tali in ME as F without mods). Can't wait to experience this aspect of Veilguard.

5:45 On this I have to strongly disagree. He definitely cares more than elves "The people" more than anything and everything and while I can't be sure, there are several hints that the first spirits from before the time of creation of the veil were not really that different from elves themselves. Probably souls of those who went for Uthenara. Ofc after the formation of the veils these changed both elves and spirits were changed for good.

Looking forward to this game! My initial reaction to the “all companions are pansexual” is big Meh- 1) feels lazy 2) I really hope it won’t make the whole case thirsty for your Rook as that sucks and feels weird 3) what is wrong with preferences? It gives credibility to the world, not everyone should be into you and that’s ok. I loved to replay DAI as different inquisitors and have a very different story each time. But tbh the most exciting thing is HAIRSTYLES- no more 20 bald caps 🎉

I'm glad the companions are player sexual. The last thing I wanna see is another Cassandra weirdo meltdown about stereotypes and appearances.

I mean no disrespect to anyone... people it's a video Game!!!!, so what are we, you, or anyone else talking about let's all just remember that it's a Video Game.

Don't worry, Mod's are what make things possible.

Not all romances are Zevran or Sera or even Iron Bull. Some are deep as Cassandra, Josephine and Leliana or angsty as Alistair, Fenris or even Blackwall. Few are as well written as Solas romance. For everyone else who's put off by the options hopefully there are brothels. The unparalleled game when it comes to romances even if not as well written is Dragons Dogma.

I am glad bioware did this for people who just play a certain gender or a certain class for me I am different when it comes to dragon age and romances, I romance depends on my characters gender, race, and class. Although doing that can be disappointing when it comes to dwarf characters since dragon age veilguard will be the first dragon age game to have a dwarf companion which is disappointing.

We have to find out if we can edit genitals? That probably means yes, but I don't think there is much to do with it, because it's not important for the rest of the game. I mean, Sera mentioning the shape of the main character pubic hair in Dragon Age 3 shows that such a setting might influence a single line of the game, but similar to Cyberpunk 2077 I assume it's not really important. I care more about what my companions will wear instead about nudity. Still, I like that I have more options than ever to create a nice daelish elf that matches my taste and of course I want to experience how everything works together with my companions ... and maybe Bellara will start to like me 😄

It’s definitely a tough and nuanced thing. I think people getting more options is better, even if making everyone pansexual isn’t quite realistic. It helps you tell the story YOU want to tell, not to mention that giving the rest of the party the opportunity to develop relationships with each other is so freaking cool

I see how some people are upset but I feel like Dragon Age Inquisition was more realistic to real World experiences between sexualities and even just preferences it also kind of made you go back and replay the game over and over again so you can get those different experiences as a woman I played as a woman and romanced the main characters I also played a male character and romance to female characters and male characters also played a female that romance female characters well yes there are some people that don't have a preference they like any gender any race any size shape of any kind of person there are also people that have preferences some people like heavier people some people like thinner people Some people prefer the same race Some people prefer other races it really made you go back and play again its not like you couldnt romance i felt like it was very unique and made me want to play over and over again to see what each romance had to offer.

I do think that everyone being romance-able makes the game less realistic and less role playing having characters having different sexuality is better for role playing might encourage someone like myself to play as a different kinda of character instead of just a straight male and helps with replay ability but people are always gonna romance who they want for me as long as the writing is on point that’s all that matters and BioWare probably does romance better then any other studio based off of their track record I can’t think of one BioWare game that doesn’t have a good romance actually kotor was probably the worst but even then that’s early BioWare and early romance in gaming but in the end the writing and characters themselves will make to break the romance

Hey. Keep it classy! ^.~ Seriously, I can't think of one game that is perfect in the romance department. I give them credit for making the effort. Now that we have 2 companions allowed in the party we're really cutting it close. Maybe that's the reason for some new difficulty settings. I usually balanced out my group with a tank, rogue, healer and my character. Now you can still get the tank, rogue and mage, but you better be healing or whatever does support. Maybe my Rook is looking for that romance. Maybe two interests? That's really making it hard to keep a balanced group. A rogue and two mages.....ouch. Hopefully I'll figure this out or just toss the relationships for friendships and have a well balanced group. Very interested to see how this goes. DA:O Morrigan was the most interesting one. DA2 Merril was a lot of fun. DA:I Cassandra was well done. Who's going to be most popular for DA:V?

If you try to appeal to everyone, you’ll appeal to no one

A lot of stupid takes about Dorian's storyline in the comments here. No, Dorian isn't "just a great character who happened to be gay". Dorian being gay IN CONTEXT OF the homophobic society that is Tevinter's upper crust in absolutely integral to him as a character. If he were not challenged at every point in his life by homophobia, he could have never left the easy cushy life of a pampered slave owner, worshipping his father unquestioningly and taking over his place and his politics. He talks about how when he was a teen he thought he'd manage living stealthily, but it was too suffocating, and he came to understand that just conforming and existing is not truly living, which he later extrapolates on other oppressed people, those that are oppressed in different ways than him. Dorian's decision to improve Tevinter and to never buckle against the pressure of being a pariah are informed by his identity as a gay man, even though that's not all there is to his identity. And yeah, perhaps his story seems a bit heavy handed by today's standard, but it was pretty damn important when the game came out that he wasn't "just a dude who happened to be gay" but a character that explicitly discussed what it is like to be a gay man, to have stealth hookups, to practice plausible deniability with family, to have a disastrous coming out. Do people not remember all the reddit threads of straight men discussing Dorian? And not in the context of "oh Dorian is such a good buddy, it literally doesn't even matter that he's gay, I love him in my party" but thoughtful essays on how Dorian helped them *actually* understand and empathize with gay men? All and all I always prefer a variety of sexualities in characters, because 1. I don't care about self-inserting or role-playing thru an avatar. It's not like, DEVASTATING to me that Cassandra gently let down my fem Inquisitor, and it didn't diminish her character in any way. The main character for me is primarily a camera through which I experience other, more in-depth characters with actual storylines. This is why Hawke is my favorite DA protag -- I love how bold and uncompromising the story is with them. That's why Act 3 when Hawke ends up all alone in an empty house devoid of family, it hits so hard. 2. Romance doesn't constitute end all be all of my immersion or my fantasy. It's not like a godly romance storyline can improve a shitty overall plot, or inconsistent characterization, or tonal whiplash of the main game. Those are the dealbreakers in a big epic narrative RPG, romance really isn't. Like, did the quality and mystery of Solas' romance storyline improve the fact that Corypheus is a really underwhelming villain of the main game? Or the fact that the open world is mismanaged and frustrating? Hell, in the much praised BG3 most people reach Act 3, finish the romance storyline, and start a different character, because the main battle finale is boooooooooring. 3. I say this as a stereotypical slutty bisexual -- most games really don't write multisexuality well. They're not interested in exploring it as they are exploring monosexual identities. The Veilguard promises to have in-depth detailed takes on every character, with their "preferences and temperament" informing their approach to romance, but that remains to be seen, and I remain skeptical. You simply cannot tell me that Neve getting hit on by a woman wouldn't raise some questions/feelings/concerns/flashbacks for her that getting hit on by a man wouldn't. But would BioWare go there? I guess we'll have to see.