Let's Play Jade Empire!

Yeah game's weird about the s/s romances. You have to turn down the o/s options before they'll work :( and woe betide you don't turn them down fast enough. =/

That sort of thing was still fairly new ground in video games in 2005. They'd tried it previously in KotOR with Juhani and were forced to cut it back. Making the same-sex romance paths more difficult to activate was probably a concession made in order to be able to include them at all - after all, even as late as 2011 BioWare's had a vocal minority of entitled idiot straight male fans pitching fits about the fact that (barring DLC) Dragon Age II had an equal number of possible romances whether the player preferred to play male, female, straight, or gay. Not more romances for female and gay players - just equally as many.

It's always been such a strange thing that a company known for such mature and well written games has such an immature and frankly idiotic fanbase.

I think it has to do with the sample size. When you get enough people you always end up with a fairly representative indicator of the population, and the vocal morons are always the ones making themselves heard. I wasn't speaking out anywhere that I thought it was fine with the variety depending on people's preferences (albeit I would have welcomed a certain mage was less PUSHY), for instance, because I thought that was just understood.

I had to play half-game twice to romance Silky Fox. Other than turning Sky down, if you at some point don't pick some questions in the right order, you're screwed up forever. and as a woman I had less options to flirt with her, so no way to fix it.
That's how much I love you, Silky Fox.

I thought that as well - since JE works a bit like the ME series, where you have to watch your back all the time if you didn't want to romance someone, because they really want to romance you. But ME really had some stupid dialogue choice. And FemShep gets screwed up. So much for equality, ME team.

Kotor had issues mostly because of Lucas Art, from what I gather about what happened with Atton in Kotor 2. Other than with people being idiots, I mean.

I read about that - the "Straight Male Gamer" post was everywhere at the time, along with most of the others - it was kinda stupid.
Especially the "but it's not realistic!" part. Considering the Dragon Age universe approach towards sexuality and sex, I'm not sure why people were even arguing about it.

(All things considered, I'm kinda fine with Anders hitting on you, but why Hawke didn't have a gentle option to turn him down?)

It's the lack of an option to tell him in a nice way you're not interested I'd like. It doesn't matter these days because I Rival him anyway, but it was legitimately uncomfortable the first time because I was pre-conditioned to wanting to brefriend everyone from other games, and then the game gives me two flirt options or a Rivalry +15 option.

And this is the story of how I romanced Anders the first playthrough without even meeting anyone else before deciding. Really could have been programmed better.

And I never romanced Silk Fox because I had to turn Sky down to do it or alternatively Dawn Star. That's how squishy I am. I can't break up with fictional people.

Yeah, see, I never had that experience with ME at all. I've heard people talk about being ninja-romanced by ME characters, especially in ME1, so I know it happens, but hearing it always confuses me because the dialogue options that lead to romance flags always seem very clear to me and opportunities to head off an unwanted romance equally clear.

The only issue I ever had in that direction was Shepard always sounding like she's trying to mack on Jacob when I try to have a friendly conversation with him, and his "no new personal dialogue line" sounding like he's assuming she's hitting on him, which happens no matter what you do.

That happened with Jacob a lot and I reeeeaaally got worried the first time because I couldn't remember having done ANYTHING to toss his flag on. I can say for a male Shepard who wasn't romancing anyone because I wasn't going to cheat on Ashley a combination of being nice to Miranda, Tali and Jack and not being flagged for romance lead to EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM putting moves on my Shepard after their loyalty missions. In a ROW. It was even weirder and creepier to me because I had decidedly not had that happen to my female Shepard who also non-manced for the sake of Kaidan (all I got was Garrus looping his dialogue where you can initiate romance at the end). I do remember thinking by the time Tali started suggesting we link suits that this was getting uncomfortable.

I haven't yet been bothered to play a male Shepard in ME2 so I haven't run into that; female Shepard definitely didn't have any such problem with Garrus/Thane/Jacob (aside from, you know, the already-mentioned standing issue with Jacob, which I consider a separate thing).

It's certainly an interesting comparison.

I had the same problem with Anders too, and it sounds worse when you're playing as femHawke. I'm not sure why. But it feels like I'm rejecting him as a person while my Hawke (male or female) is just not into him. So I had to pick the sarcastic choice to save the day.

(And is worse when you actually romance him and it turns up that he took that seriously, so now I feel like a jerk if I flirt with him without meaning it.)

Liara. Just saying. First time I talked with her with my male!gay!Shepard I immediately triggered her romance. I had to reload and then I avoided her like hell all game and now my character is hostile to asari - except for Samara and Liara's father, they're awesome.
And not hitting on him.
Once Kaidan ninjamanced me but Ashley was my BFF, so there wasn't really a problem. Virmire solves everything.
(But I hate when he says "I didn't know you liked women..." FOR GOD'S SAKE, SHEPARD IS NOT INTO YOU ANYMORE. YOU.)

But yeah, I also had that thing happening with Jack, Miranda and Tali - but the final romance flags were pretty clear, so I just picked the "No thanks" options and run into the lab. This is why Mordins spends a lot of time letting down Shepard gently. And why I love Jack's "what the hell do you want" dialogue.
Tali talking about suits was kinda fine, becaus she's far less pushy than Liara - I romanced you once and I'm done with you forever, go away - and it does sounds like a conversation two close friends could have.
Liara is just...kinda creepy if not romanced. And not good enough if romanced.
Then again, I felt like I was romancing Miranda even when I was playing as FemShep - let me love you, Miranda!

I usually recognize the romance options, but sometimes I really don't know what triggered them, so I have to stop talking with a character - like Garrus or Thane - because I'm not sure about what I should pick, so I go for the neutral option and end everything.
It's frustating.

/nothing to add to this discussion

Now I want a krapfen.

And then Evil Fuzzy made the entire thread hungry! :D

...damn, all I have at my desk is some M&M's.

I'd share my chocolate fondants, but I ate them already.

I have only ice lolly and no intention to go out and buy something else.
...at least I still have a strawberry one?

I've got a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit. It's really good. :D

I've never been ninjamanced myself, but my ex always ends up with at least one unwanted love interest when he plays Bioware games. He still hasn't finished Mass Effect 2 because he has Jack, Miranda, and Tali bugging him to make a choice.

Yeah I remember debating with some whiners about "no the male LI being available to males to doesn't mean he's "ruined forever" or a "fake LI"." so many facepalms.

Yeah Antiqua I know your pain. My poor OP Ming got locked out of Sky's romance because he refused to use the rude turn downs on the girls and the nicer "I'm not interested" options don't come up til you're nearly leaving the city =/

I mostly argued about the "it's not realistic" part and "It's a subjective sexuality!" (No, not really) and "Anders liked women in Awakening - Justice turned him gay!" (They should sell these games with a pamplet about sexual orientation.)
I don't even get what a "fake LI" means.
The "character ruined!" happens in every fandom, so nothing new about that.

Yeah, you have to plan who you talk to and when before doing anything. On the bright side, Sky didn't eat you! ...but he actually became 12 feet tall.

You know, being American, I had no idea what an ice lolly was until I found one in Lego Lord of the Rings....

Oooh, it's a popsickle...

Oh hey, it's every forum discussion on Kaidan since Mass Effect 3 came out.

They really should. Gah I hate debating how DA2's LIs aren't all bad just because they're available to both genders.

Me neither.

LOL sadly.

Yeah that just made me O_o so I just use Ming. Least then it's not as ridculous as if I was using Sheng or something.

Yup. I mean seriously I just -_- no people don't have to talk about how much they're bisexual to be...you know bisexual. But whateves.

...why there is an ice lolly in Lego Lord of the Rings? And... a snake toy? A fancy umbrella? It's so cute!
(I'm trying to use BE only, so I won't make a mess in the english exam. And ice lolly it's a funny name XD)

I kinda find funny when people are, like "THIS MAN HIT ON ME ):".
Welcome to the world.
Other than that, the entire thing is just annoying.

This too.

You know, I'm ok with the above considering there's a bow that shoots carrots...

And a giant quill you can use as a sword! yeah, I got it on sale over Steam the other day~

That first option is perfect.

It is a very good one. I went with the third option, however, because it was what I actually said out loud when Kang said the line at the top of the screenshot.

And because of Meiyi's hilariously woeful expression.

The first line does seem more the comically serious stoic, so I usually go with the third, too.

Yes, the face has a say there.

The third line is perfect.

Lustful Lao! Lustful Lao!

Ah, Lao. Yes. He is... something.

I had a character humour him once for as long as possible. It was quite the experience.

I'm sorry, Sky, but that slaver's expressions are great. Especially his 8) face right before Meiyi kills him.

He does have quite the... range of emoticons.

And I'd forgotten how much I like Sky. He's an interesting break from the usual love interests in that while he has baggage it's not entirely toxic all over and he's pretty well-adjusted.

And a snappy dresser.

Even after all these years, I find the name Chandler Ling way too amusing. Meiyi should've taken that slaver's hat after she killed him.

Why would you find... oh.

OH.

Friends. Now I get it. *Yes, I seriously only got it now, and yes, I first played the game around five years ago. Quick witted, I am not.*

I had a marathon of Friends last year and I got it only because you got it first.