The date options..

[TalonSilver.7628]

Why couldn't they include a normal woman as a date option? You get a man, a they/them and a furry..

 

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

uhm.. canach also falls on the anthropomorphpic spectrum (being a living plant), and definitely isn't a normal man, so i'm not sure what the point you were trying to make here is.

Edited May 24, 2023 by SoftFootpaws.9134

[Arc.8247]

It was incredibly awkward to play trough this and i wished i could have avoided it entirely.

The whole story was subpar in this episode and that just ruined it entirely for me.

[Tom.8029]

I would think you’d go for a female Tengu, Ayumi, considering your account name is Talonsilver. 

[KindredPhoenyx.8976]

I think the options bothered me less than the blatant "partner" part.

Idk maybe it's just the cynic in me and I'm looking into this too much, but I'm concerned picking one of these isn't just a temporary thing and they're going to do the weird route of picking NPCs for you to ship with.

Edited May 25, 2023 by Darkness.3942

[Stadsport.8714]

No, you get a salad, a human, and a bird. In Tyria, all of them are normal. We cast spells and fly around on dragons here. You may want to adjust your definition of "normal."

Besides, it's a light-hearted story segment, not a dating sim. In fact, even in the context of the story it's not a real date. You're also given options to be flirtatious with your imaginary pretend date, or keep it strictly business. 

Also, outside of Tyria, someone like Yao is also normal, and probably prefers to be referred to as a "person." 

[eldrevo.1746]

Well, races and genders aside, we get a third plane character we've had like 3 lines of dialogue over the last third of EOD story, a token character that feels awkwardly shoehorned into any scene they are in (despite the efforts to build the Gyala story with them in the center) and finally a character of an older cast, although one of the most controversial. 

I was totally okay picking someone 'inappropriate' to how I see my character's romantic preferences (considering the genre restrictions of the game) and thankfully the story had an option to keep the distance and not make it weird... But even then, I feel like there could be a lot of better options from the perspective of our story and acquaintances as the Commander.

[Kalavier.1097]

17 minutes ago, eldrevo.1746 said:

Well, races and genders aside, we get a third plane character we've had like 3 lines of dialogue over the last third of EOD story, a token character that feels awkwardly shoehorned into any scene they are in (despite the efforts to build the Gyala story with them in the center) and finally a character of an older cast, although one of the most controversial. 

I was totally okay picking someone 'inappropriate' to how I see my character's romantic preferences (considering the genre restrictions of the game) and thankfully the story had an option to keep the distance and not make it weird... But even then, I feel like there could be a lot of better options from the perspective of our story and acquaintances as the Commander.

It's brought up that those three are actively available/not busy that night, which is why they were chosen by Taimi and Gorrik.

[Batalix.2873]

Us gay boys and straight women didn't get a human male either, so why are you whining? None of the options were normative, unless we want to make the argument that the whole point was normalizing Yao.

Edited June 5, 2023 by Batalix.2873

[eldrevo.1746]

9 minutes ago, Kalavier.1097 said:

It's brought up that those three are actively available/not busy that night, which is why they were chosen by Taimi and Gorrik.

Excuses ex machina.

We don't even have a "Thanks but no" option.

[Kalavier.1097]

1 minute ago, eldrevo.1746 said:

Excuses ex machina.

We don't even have a "Thanks but no" option.

It's a friendly social gathering, not a romantic date or anything implying your preferences. 

"excuses" It's literally the story. They picked three people from your list of contacts that actually live in Kaineng city or Arborstone.

[idpersona.3810]

On 5/24/2023 at 4:38 PM, TalonSilver.7628 said:

Why couldn't they include a normal woman as a date option? You get a man, a they/them and a furry..

 

I honestly can't believe there are multiple posts complaining about this. Just don't go on a date then. Invite someone and hang out and don't flirt. Can't help but shake my head.

[Toraseishin.1932]

Take Canach on a date just so you can describe everything that happened "right in front of my salad??!"
The nerve! The drama of it all! /faint

[Luthan.5236]

It is nice that they try to include the "they" and some other races. Though a bit weird with the choices. But it is limited by the story I guess. Would have preferred if they had limited themselves to the main races that are playable. But there is not enough.

Canach made the most sense to me. He looks elegantly clothed. (With the white clothes he reminds of Lorne from the series Angel lol.) And we know him for pretty long. The other choices ...

well if Mai Trin at least were alive ...
with the other two we do not really have enough history. I'd rather have had Jory and Kas  as their own couple and Gorrik + Taime as the other 2 to chose from lol.

[Omega.6801]

And that is why you should skip the romance part in games like this and keep it in the head canon of the players. Either do all options, which ends up in a list that can be as long as it wants without actually having all and everything on it, or don't do it at all.

Also, what others said, you can keep it as a friendship thing.
Also also, referring to Yao as a "they/them" rather than person shows what this OP is actually about. You don't have to get behind this bandwagon, you don't have to understand the non-binary experience, but they're still, you know, human beings like yourself, i.e. "person" is perfectly fine to say.

[Gop.8713]

To me the options felt as one-note as the "blonde/brunette/redhead" choice I would have been given in an rpg from the eighties. Even more true once I discovered that all toons were given the same choices. I can roleplay some gender or sexuality ambiguity but can I at least get someone from the same species? Are there a lot of inter-species relationships in tyria that I just missed up until now? I can recall some humans lusting after a norn in dr but other than that idk . . .

 

This felt like the worst story point since I was forced to join the shining blade back in ls3 . . .

[Okhu.7948]

Ayumi is so underused I thought she was the intern at the start of End of Dragons. And not a Tengu I never remember interacting with at all.

[Justforvisit.3709]

I would have liked an "Uhm thanks but no thanks, you guys have fun"-Option.....

[Danikat.8537]

I picked Yao and there were options throughout to keep it completely platonic, no flirting from either them or my character, we were just there as friends to support Rama.

Which is part of why I picked Yao, I don't think my character would be interested in any of the options as a romantic partner, I suspect Canach would be flirting (which as well as being awkward could overshadow the actual couples) and my character barely knows Ayumi and she wasn't involved in the preceeding events. Yao was there and I think would appreciate the down-time and wrapping things up and would understand the context.
 

On 5/25/2023 at 3:33 PM, Kalavier.1097 said:

It's brought up that those three are actively available/not busy that night, which is why they were chosen by Taimi and Gorrik.

I interpreted that as Anet's way of indicating that this is nothing serious and not supposed to be indicative of your characters' romatic preferences, just a one-off choice.

[Kalavier.1097]

2 hours ago, Danikat.8537 said:

I interpreted that as Anet's way of indicating that this is nothing serious and not supposed to be indicative of your characters' romatic preferences, just a one-off choice.

Canach was fairly flirty/show off. Ayumi I've heard has some good flirts and is kinda nerdy/nice in the conversation.

And yeah, agree. It was fairly obvious given how they presented it. "Here is three friends of ours who are available right now, So you aren't the odd one out of the group." Not "Who do you like the best romantically?"

[Fueki.4753]

Having three bad partner options (yes, I still despise the new Canach that lost all of his previous personality), is not the worst part of the dinner.

Not having any options to behave respectful towards the restaurant felt terrible.

And that none of the NPCs knew how to behave appropriately in a restaurant didn't exactly help making this story step respectable.

Edited May 28, 2023 by Fueki.4753

[AliamRationem.5172]

On 5/24/2023 at 5:55 PM, SoftFootpaws.9134 said:

uhm.. canach also falls on the anthropomorphpic spectrum (being a living plant), and definitely isn't a normal man, so i'm not sure what the point you were trying to make here is.

The carrot or the stick?

[Farohna.6247]

On 5/25/2023 at 9:48 AM, Kalavier.1097 said:

It's a friendly social gathering, not a romantic date or anything implying your preferences. 

"excuses" It's literally the story. They picked three people from your list of contacts that actually live in Kaineng city or Arborstone.

Exactly this.  It's taking a friend, having some laughs and winks at the "date".  None of you have ever joked with a friend or taken one as your plus one anywhere and made it humorous?  They needed some friends for dinner who lived locally,  you can make what you want of it.  My charr loved dinner with Canach, it was hilarious!

[Gaiawolf.8261]

27 minutes ago, Farohna.6247 said:

Exactly this.  It's taking a friend, having some laughs and winks at the "date".  None of you have ever joked with a friend or taken one as your plus one anywhere and made it humorous?  They needed some friends for dinner who lived locally,  you can make what you want of it.  My charr loved dinner with Canach, it was hilarious!

You do realize this is a video game and not real life, right? Of course every stereotypical gamer is going to latch onto any possible in game romance and ship it as an OTP. It's what they do. Asking them not to is like asking a cat not to devise an evil plan to kill you, just in case Ain't gonna happen. 

That said, Canach is often hilarious and rarely disappoints. 

[Farohna.6247]

23 minutes ago, Gaiawolf.8261 said:

You do realize this is a video game and not real life, right? Of course every stereotypical gamer is going to latch onto any possible in game romance and ship it as an OTP. It's what they do. Asking them not to is like asking a cat not to devise an evil plan to kill you, just in case Ain't gonna happen. 

That said, Canach is often hilarious and rarely disappoints. 

Reverse that statement....you do realize this IS a game, and that people are disgruntled with the choices in a GAME, when OP's post feels like another Anet agenda complaint.  A "normal woman" as an option would have been fine as well, but it was inviting a friend not a love interest for the Commander.  I guess I fall into the category of non-stereotypical gamer then as I saw it as a humorously awkward situation for the Commander to find a date and see who they came up with, and non romantic just amusing.  

Also that's rubbish about cats.  They're wonderfully quirky little personalities and also make fine dinner dates.