Don't Get Me Wrong, I'm Glad Larian Doesn't Abandon BG3 And Continue Making New Patches And Adding New

A kiss in Bloomington Park

I see this confusion time and time again, despite explanations that personality matters a great deal to many players and not just looks. Garrus was written as a character first, not tailored to what people think women want. And this isn't a knock on the other romances either. People loved them because of their personality just as much too. The point being is that our reasons, despite the tendency for "critics" cheapening our love for this character as some shallow freak fetish, are just as based on the bonds developed over time.

It's funny; Garrus' romance is a pretty good summation of what demisexuality is. He wasn't physically attracted to Shepard by his own admission, but his respect and admiration makes him able and willing to explore a romantic side of it with her until he does develop a physical attraction to her in ME3. In fact, you literally can't romance him if you deliberately kept him off the team in ME1. No history, no bond, no romance.

He's brash, but respectful. He's reckless but wants to do good. He's stubborn but listens if Shepard disagrees. He has strong opinions and isn't afraid to voice them, but that's never harmed the friendship he can have with Shepard.

He's one of the first teammates there for Shepard she can trust when she had woken up alone and struggling in an organization she does not trust.

It's a little disappointing that we have to repeatedly say, the personality matters in our attraction to a character. Especially if we're particularly struggling to feel sexual attraction at a glance.

Do you think Mass Effect's character writers deserves more recognition for how they managed to turn an entire generation of people sexually and/or romantically and/or aesthetically attracted to someone who is essentially a featherless spacebird?

No because they did it entirely by accident, tried to placate the confusing requests by female fans to make him romanceable but because that was not something they planned for they were still writing him primarily removed from being a romance partner and were more focused on writing him as the "best friend" character to MShep (not realising this is EXACTLY why the female players (as well as gay players) liked him) and by Mass Effect 3 they just threw up their hands and went "WELL HELL! YOU GUYS LIKE HIM SO MUCH YOU GET ALL THE ROMANCE THEN!!!"

Garrus' writing as a romance was a perfect storm of factors, many completely out of the writers' control that even they themselves completely missed until their players POINTED IT OUT TO THEM. Garrus is lightning in a bottle of unplanned factors, incredible voice performance, the writers willing to comply to player feedback, and the symbiotic relationship Bioware had with their fans and players.

Garrus is an incredibly well written character in his own right, that's WHY he's such a good romance option and the best one Bioware has ever had. But a part of this was luck, chance, and willingness to adapt his character to what a subsection of fans wanted.

Proof further by every single romance Bioware has since written with the INTENT of making them exactly what their female players want, never hit the same way Garrus did. And speaking personally, none of their other romance characters in any of their games scratches the same itch.

Also "Featherless Spacebird" means nothing to me because my "sexual attraction" level is lower than 0. It's not DESPITE him looking like that. It's BECAUSE he looks like that. Not because I find him physically attractive, but because he does not resemble something I am supposed to be physically attracted to in any way shape or form.

I like the way Garrus looks because he's Garrus. And because I like Garrus it means I like the way the turians look.

The caveat of "essentially being a featherless space bird" implies that "haha isn't it CRAZY gamers would be attracted to THAT???"

no.

His personality, voice, performance, and writing is wonderful. Why WOULDN'T players be attracted to that?

One of my favourite things is getting to see Chinese students trying to learn English at school finally being able to shake English speakers and yell "WHY IS YOUR LANGIAGE LIKE THIS????"

i didn't have "i'm broken" teenage asexual angst i had "i'm literally being the only reasonable one about this concept and the rest of you are behaving like fucking freaks" perception issues

For those wondering what that looks like. It was made by a Syracuse University professor Sam Van Aken, who grafted several stone fruits together to create these trees. It takes approximately 8 years for the tree to grow and produce fruits for those with money to burn and buy one. (Corrections welcomed by anyone who wants to add more).

Me giving the highest compliment I can think of: "You're like the tree of 40 fruits!"

Fans: I can't stand Halsin because he's racist to Drow!

Me: I see. Quick question, who's your favorite character?

Fan 1: Shadowheart, who hates all Githyanki, of course!

Fan 2: Lae'zel, who hates all non-Gith, of course!

Fan 3: Astarion, who hates all gnomes, of course!

Fan 4: Minthara, who hates all surface elves, of course!

Me: ...... I see.

Oak father preserve you.

Grab prints here.

https://stopproject2025comic.org/

Actually, you know what's disappointing? I was kinda looking forward to the idea of getting to share common interests with the next generation instead of having that gap in understanding with my own parents. It wasn't just about mom thinking I'm getting into Satanic stuff because I liked Pokémon (seriously, cute little critters was Satanic to her?!), it was not having that chance to bond with them on a hobby.

Sad thing is, I think I kinda get it with how prevalent creeps are on the internet, trying to hit on minors and not taking the hint. And you know what, I'm sick to death of seeing those actual assholes harassing teens and sending offensive images.

But that's not the message a lot of us older fans are getting. Instead, it's like dealing with the resurrection of Prudishness all over again, gatekeeping What Is Acceptable for Adults.

It's a shame, because there's a chance for actual understanding and camaraderie there, because the rules for harassment and offensive imagery is something both older and younger fans can agree upon. It doesn't have an age requirement because it's expected of everyone. Someone pestering you for nudes? Give us a heads up and we'll report this ass and call them out. Someone being inappropriate regarding actual minors? Hell, we'll help boot them.

It seems to be when it involves fiction and art work that the alarm bells are going. Thing is, fiction is a different animal, not something you can peg a person by what they create. Sure, there's going to be stuff I never want to see and that's where the filtering is required instead of raising alarms. If it's happening to a fictional character, it's a filter. If it's happening to a real person, then it's a report.

“Ew you’re an adult why are you in fandom” Kid, if being mocked for fandom shit wasn’t enough to stop me when I was an actual 15 year old, hearing it from a 15 year old when I’m 30 is genuinely hilarious

It's also not about them being human, because Kasumi, Miranda and Jack don't get slapped with the boring label.

We never do get to explore the flaws with Kaidan's racism sadly.

CONFESSION:

I've come to believe that every alien squadmate in Mass Effect would be considered boring , hated or liked a lot less if they were human. Many people in the fandom seem to like the alien characters because they are alien and dislike the humans just for being humans. Whether a character is an alien or one of the so called 'boring' humans people love to hate, if they are evil and have done horrific things I'm going to hate them. I'm not going to automatically love alien characters just because they are not human.