14 DAY TRIAL // BioWare's David Gaider, the lead writer of the upcoming Dragon Age: Inquisition, believes that romances in the games made by the studio are a key part in making the actual characters unforgettable and that the team won't abandon such a mechanic with its future projects, unless it finds something really important.
A lot of BioWare games have featured extensive romance options, as players were able to pursue relationships with different AI-controlled characters of different genders, like in Dragon Age, or even species, like in Mass Effect.
Dragon Age: Inquisition writer David Gaider talked a bit on Tumblr about the idea of romance and how it's a key aspect of any BioWare game.
"To me, the thing that BioWare does best is not story but characters—I think our characters are done to a level that few other games even attempt, with an element of agency that strikes a chord in our players…and romances have been a natural outgrowth of that," he said.
"Sure we could stop, but that would be turning our backs on something we do which almost no-one else does. The question would be: 'why?' And what do we replace it with?"
While Gaider isn't ruling out an idea of a future BioWare game without romances, he emphasizes that the team would need to focus on another, more important feature.
"It’s possible we could answer that question. We’ve made a few games without romances before, and we could do it again. Perhaps, if we made a new IP, we might decide it’s best not to open that particular Pandora’s Box (which, yes, romances have always been) and go with something else."
"But that 'something else' better be something damned good, as there are a lot of people who enjoy that part of our games immensely and who might not be willing to buy into a new series which didn’t have it. Some folks might be eager to write those fans off, but I’m not really sure that BioWare feels the same."
Expect to see quite a lot of different romance options in Dragon Age: Inquisition, especially since players will travel the universe's big world and can choose to come from different backgrounds or races.