

I’d like to start by saying that I love Valhalla. Gameplay, characters, and the aesthetics of the game are all amazing. There’s really only one thing about the game that bothers me, and I wouldn’t write anything about it except that it’s a frustrating problem that there’s no real excuse for. Simply put the problem is that there are far less male options to romance. In the base game there is only one long term male romance which is not impactful to the story while there are two women who can be romance long term, one of which his story important. On top of that there are two men who will turn you down while no woman will turn you down in romances. Furthermore in the new DLC there are three romance chances, all of which are women making it an even a wider gap between the two gender’s availability. This is actually fairly common in video games but the reason why it bothers me at all with Valhalla is because of what happened with Odyssey. They made a big thing about wanting everyone to feel equal and like they have control over their character but then Valhalla is not equal at all. Including the fact that in Wrath of the Druids Eivor is forced several times to make interested faces at the advances of women without a romance option being chosen. I’m hoping that in some way this can be improved in the second DLC. There is a chance to try to make sure that things are actually equal for all or at least to take it into consideration. It says a lot about this game that this is the only real complaint I have but I believe this game can do better and more to make everyone feel welcome and equal.
@garbo3 Vili was the best man you could romance but there were tons of great male characters that could be romanced, and they just didn't make any of them. Personally Tarben is not a good option to me because I like romances where the characters have things in common and he's a pacifist while you're a warrior. There are plenty of charismatic and interesting men who Eivor has way more in common with. I didn't mind Ciara, I'm sort of used to having my straight female character be forced to be flirted and interested in female NPCs against my will. I played Odyssey after all. Though after Odyssey it strikes me as more frustrating that they did it.
@cell1e I mean Eivor is canon female because her last name is Varrinsdotter, which the last part means daughter. But I'll say that the pessimist side of me says that it feels more like the canon player is a straight man. They have a problem being sure that gay men and straight women are given as many options and their existence considered.
Yeah, they should really look at what those companies do and learn from them.
I've got nothing against Tarben as a character, that's fine, but he's not the right guy for my Eivor and there are no other long term options. My Eivor needs a man she can come back to who understands her lifestyle. Tarben doesn't.
@cell1e Vili would have been a good option, and I've seen plenty of people who were upset that he's not an option if he comes back to Ravensthorpe. If hadn't looked up the romance options and it said he was only temp I probably would have fallen for that hope as well. Personally Hytham was the man who floored me to have not be a romance option. It seemed like low hanging fruit to have him be an option.
One of the best things biowear did in Dragon Age Inquisition was that when you romanced someone you could go back to them and get affection from your chosen partner.
Arguably romance aside Hytham's lack of any real assassin training or teaching of Eivor is surprising. Though for how much they push Randvi forward I was surprised also at how little there was with her as well. An issue with the game is that it's sort of silly that people sit in the same place all day, never sleep, never do anything really. Hytham even had more animations before he gets his building built.
@sam_boo26 The same goes for my Eivor. It's dissapointing that Vili wasn't a long term if he comes back to the settlement and Hytham seemed like the easy romance to pair with the option of Randvi. It just feels like there was less interest in putting effort into the men you can romance and no effort to make it actually equal in number.
@kreutzgang They changed it in that they slapped a label of romance on the option to ask them not to leave as if there had been any romance before, and made a change to dialogue that spells it out like people are dumb that the baby is just to continue the blood line and there's no romantic attachment. And all that was changes only made because people were upset about Kassandra getting with a dude, never saw Alexios mentioned in the discussion. Yeah, the final lost tale was sort of a smack to the face particularly after the changes to the DLC because there's this woman hitting on you, even when you keep choosing nonromance options, and then the quest just has her keep talking like you romanced her. Playing a straight Kassandra that was annoying. It's along the veins of them forcing my straight Eivor to look interested when Ciara makes passes at her or that random woman at the start being auto flirted with. The thing is that if they're going to put in romance options it doesn't seem like it's a lot to ask for the effort. They clearly put in effort for the female romances. Like it's not crazy to ask that gay men and straight women have options if they're going to pretend that's a feature to the game. I wish I could not care but it's not just about AC for me, I just think that they should be pushed to improve like all developers should on this matter.
@cell1e Valhalla could have really benefited from the same things as the Lost tales of Greece but like Tails from Ravensthorpe that are just Eivor helping and interacting with the local people. Or even just including the village people in the festivals they keep running. They made some great mystery quests, just do that in Raventhorpe. I didn't have a problem really feeling a connection with characters but I was left wanting for interactions. If all the important characters, Gunner, Hytham, even Sigurd, got missions like Randvi's I would have been supper happy.
@lemmie88 How is it odd to want equality when they're romances that Ubisoft makes. It's like giving every kid the same number of cookies, not portions. And there's no reason two kids shouldn't be given the same number of cookies. And Randvi is not comparable to Vili. Vili is one arc and is a fling romance at the end of the game while Randvi is met like ten minutes into the game and is there for the entire game and key to major parts of the game, and a long term romance. I would agree that men being romancable seems like an after thought but with how major several of the female characters you can romance are pushed those don't feel like afterthoughts.
An RPG is mainly designated by levels, loot, skills, which Valhalla does have. It's Ubisoft that has made romance, and supposedly freedom of choice in romance, part of their RPG.
@kreutzgang First off what happened with Odyssey is sort of what I want them to avoid here. The entire thing with the second chapter of Legacy of the First blade was a mess and in the end ended up slapping almost everyone in the face. They didn't go back and make an actual romance for the straight pairings and didn't go back and have your character establish any real desire to carry on their bloodline or even wish for a child. But the very fact that they went back to try to change it at all makes the fact they didn't seem to learn from that for valhalla confusing.
Also Dragon Age doesn't have a canon anything so that's not a good example. Elf inquisitor or even Solas romance aren't canon. Dragon Age II is actually the best example of it being done right. There was an even number of romances, either gender could romance either, and all of them were good romances.
@cell1e Vili would have been a good option, and I've seen plenty of people who were upset that he's not an option if he comes back to Ravensthorpe. If hadn't looked up the romance options and it said he was only temp I probably would have fallen for that hope as well. Personally Hytham was the man who floored me to have not be a romance option. It seemed like low hanging fruit to have him be an option.
One of the best things biowear did in Dragon Age Inquisition was that when you romanced someone you could go back to them and get affection from your chosen partner.
Arguably romance aside Hytham's lack of any real assassin training or teaching of Eivor is surprising. Though for how much they push Randvi forward I was surprised also at how little there was with her as well. An issue with the game is that it's sort of silly that people sit in the same place all day, never sleep, never do anything really. Hytham even had more animations before he gets his building built.
@cell1e I mean Eivor is canon female because her last name is Varrinsdotter, which the last part means daughter. But I'll say that the pessimist side of me says that it feels more like the canon player is a straight man. They have a problem being sure that gay men and straight women are given as many options and their existence considered.
Yeah, they should really look at what those companies do and learn from them.
I've got nothing against Tarben as a character, that's fine, but he's not the right guy for my Eivor and there are no other long term options. My Eivor needs a man she can come back to who understands her lifestyle. Tarben doesn't.
@garbo3 Vili was the best man you could romance but there were tons of great male characters that could be romanced, and they just didn't make any of them. Personally Tarben is not a good option to me because I like romances where the characters have things in common and he's a pacifist while you're a warrior. There are plenty of charismatic and interesting men who Eivor has way more in common with. I didn't mind Ciara, I'm sort of used to having my straight female character be forced to be flirted and interested in female NPCs against my will. I played Odyssey after all. Though after Odyssey it strikes me as more frustrating that they did it.
@cell1e Valhalla could have really benefited from the same things as the Lost tales of Greece but like Tails from Ravensthorpe that are just Eivor helping and interacting with the local people. Or even just including the village people in the festivals they keep running. They made some great mystery quests, just do that in Raventhorpe. I didn't have a problem really feeling a connection with characters but I was left wanting for interactions. If all the important characters, Gunner, Hytham, even Sigurd, got missions like Randvi's I would have been supper happy.
@kreutzgang First off what happened with Odyssey is sort of what I want them to avoid here. The entire thing with the second chapter of Legacy of the First blade was a mess and in the end ended up slapping almost everyone in the face. They didn't go back and make an actual romance for the straight pairings and didn't go back and have your character establish any real desire to carry on their bloodline or even wish for a child. But the very fact that they went back to try to change it at all makes the fact they didn't seem to learn from that for valhalla confusing.
Also Dragon Age doesn't have a canon anything so that's not a good example. Elf inquisitor or even Solas romance aren't canon. Dragon Age II is actually the best example of it being done right. There was an even number of romances, either gender could romance either, and all of them were good romances.
@lemmie88 How is it odd to want equality when they're romances that Ubisoft makes. It's like giving every kid the same number of cookies, not portions. And there's no reason two kids shouldn't be given the same number of cookies. And Randvi is not comparable to Vili. Vili is one arc and is a fling romance at the end of the game while Randvi is met like ten minutes into the game and is there for the entire game and key to major parts of the game, and a long term romance. I would agree that men being romancable seems like an after thought but with how major several of the female characters you can romance are pushed those don't feel like afterthoughts.
An RPG is mainly designated by levels, loot, skills, which Valhalla does have. It's Ubisoft that has made romance, and supposedly freedom of choice in romance, part of their RPG.
@kreutzgang They changed it in that they slapped a label of romance on the option to ask them not to leave as if there had been any romance before, and made a change to dialogue that spells it out like people are dumb that the baby is just to continue the blood line and there's no romantic attachment. And all that was changes only made because people were upset about Kassandra getting with a dude, never saw Alexios mentioned in the discussion. Yeah, the final lost tale was sort of a smack to the face particularly after the changes to the DLC because there's this woman hitting on you, even when you keep choosing nonromance options, and then the quest just has her keep talking like you romanced her. Playing a straight Kassandra that was annoying. It's along the veins of them forcing my straight Eivor to look interested when Ciara makes passes at her or that random woman at the start being auto flirted with. The thing is that if they're going to put in romance options it doesn't seem like it's a lot to ask for the effort. They clearly put in effort for the female romances. Like it's not crazy to ask that gay men and straight women have options if they're going to pretend that's a feature to the game. I wish I could not care but it's not just about AC for me, I just think that they should be pushed to improve like all developers should on this matter.
@sam_boo26 The same goes for my Eivor. It's dissapointing that Vili wasn't a long term if he comes back to the settlement and Hytham seemed like the easy romance to pair with the option of Randvi. It just feels like there was less interest in putting effort into the men you can romance and no effort to make it actually equal in number.
@kreutzgang I agree that that's how it feels like it is but just as with Odyssey they state that there is no canon for the sexual preferance of Eivor. They actively changed Odyssey to suit people who were upset at a hetero "romance" in the DLC so it's not that crazy to ask for this game to treat all sexualities as equally if they really mean that they want there not to be a canon sexuality. Also bisexuality still means liking dudes.
I’d like to start by saying that I love Valhalla. Gameplay, characters, and the aesthetics of the game are all amazing. There’s really only one thing about the game that bothers me, and I wouldn’t write anything about it except that it’s a frustrating problem that there’s no real excuse for. Simply put the problem is that there are far less male options to romance. In the base game there is only one long term male romance which is not impactful to the story while there are two women who can be romance long term, one of which his story important. On top of that there are two men who will turn you down while no woman will turn you down in romances. Furthermore in the new DLC there are three romance chances, all of which are women making it an even a wider gap between the two gender’s availability. This is actually fairly common in video games but the reason why it bothers me at all with Valhalla is because of what happened with Odyssey. They made a big thing about wanting everyone to feel equal and like they have control over their character but then Valhalla is not equal at all. Including the fact that in Wrath of the Druids Eivor is forced several times to make interested faces at the advances of women without a romance option being chosen. I’m hoping that in some way this can be improved in the second DLC. There is a chance to try to make sure that things are actually equal for all or at least to take it into consideration. It says a lot about this game that this is the only real complaint I have but I believe this game can do better and more to make everyone feel welcome and equal.