BioWare Didn't Expect Mass Effect Fans' Love for Favorite Characters

gamerant.com:

The Mass Effect games let players take on the role of Commander Shepard, a known military figure throughout the galaxy who is tasked with saving it from destruction. While the original trilogy gives fans plenty of action and a compelling narrative to keep them going, if they play their cards right with a few dialogue options, Mass Effect can also land the player with a partner. Romance options are a key part of Mass Effect and other BioWare titles, but developers didn't plan on including some of the options players can choose from in the sci-fi action series.

This comes from former Mass Effect Lead Writer Drew Karpyshyn, who in a Reddit AMA revealed that the team at BioWare was «blindsided» by the love fans had for certain characters. Particularly, he was surprised to know that so many players of the first Mass Effect wanted Garrus to be a romance option in the second game. While Garrus is a beloved character in Mass Effect, his appearance doesn't initially resemble something that might be considered attractive to humans. His reptilian features and alien proportions would understandably lead Karpyshyn and his team to perhaps leave Garrus out of the romance possibilities.

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However, once fans had spoken, Karpyshyn was sure that their demands would be met. «Once we saw what fans wanted, we decided to deliver!» he said in the Reddit AMA. Even without understanding the appeal of a Garrus romance, many fans were glad to see that it was added into the game. For many fans, it is the best romance in the trilogy and has produced plenty of pieces of Mass Effect fan art as a result.

Another character that Karpyshyn was surprised to see fan love for was Tali,