Exodus lets you do polyamory, but the Mass Effect-like RPG's companions won't all be happy about it - GamesRadar+

TomAlright, I saw this and had to bring it to you: Exodus lets you do polyamory, but the Mass Effect-like RPG's companions won't all be happy about it. What's going through your head?

CarolYou’re framing that as a feature when it’s really just punishing the player for making choices the writers didn’t vet. It feels less like exploring relationships and more like getting yelled at by a roommate because you brought home another drink. Who exactly suffers here besides my patience?

TomThe "punishment" is the whole point of the game, Carol—choosing one companion always means alienating the others. Your roommate analogy misses that these are scripted characters with actual opinions, not NPCs waiting for a generic reward screen. So the suffering is narrative friction, not bad design.

CarolCalling it "narrative friction" glosses over the fact that your "opinions" are hardcoded grudges, not dynamic reactions. In a power exchange dynamic, consent matters even in fiction; forcing players to manage resentment without clear communication tools turns romance into chore management. Who wins here except the developers who saved money on branching dialogue?

TomSaving money on branching dialogue isn't how they build Mass Effect, so let’s drop that conspiracy theory right now. You want clear communication tools? The game gives you the option to confess everything upfront, which usually backfires spectacularly because these partners value honesty more than convenience. That’s not a bug, it’s the entire character arc you’re trying to skip over.

CarolBackfiring spectacularly sounds like the writers made confession a trap rather than a tool, which contradicts any decent lesson on aftercare where clarity should reduce harm, not increase it. If the only path to honesty ends in blowup, you haven’t created depth, you’ve created a glitchy mechanic disguised as personality. Are we sure the game actually tracks whether those resentments fade, or do they just linger forever like bad karma?

TomI don't know about "glitchy," but tracking fading resentment is exactly what separates a living relationship simulation from a static mood bar. If the anger just sits there permanently, you're not playing a drama, you're managing a spreadsheet of permanent grudges. That's why the writers probably tied it to time-in-game or specific events, otherwise the whole social layer collapses into pure misery.

CarolSpeculating that the writers “probably” fixed the mechanics doesn’t prove anything, Tom—you’re guessing at code you haven’t seen. Until I know if those grudges reset after a certain amount of playtime or stay locked in, the whole “living simulation” argument is just vibes. Show me the actual decay rate before you call it anything but a mood wheel.

TomI can't see the code either, but calling it "just vibes" ignores that every single Mass Effect sequel has shipped with some kind of state persistence for companion trust. If Exodus follows that lineage, the resentment almost certainly decays through shared missions or specific apology scenes, not magic. You're demanding a manual for a system that likely works exactly like the games you grew up on.

CarolComparing Exodus to Mass Effect assumes both games treat companions the same way, but you admitted earlier that Exodus lets you be poly while Mass Effect forces exclusivity—that's a fundamentally different set of rules, not just a "lineage." You're borrowing their mechanics to defend a game that deliberately broke its own mold. Stop projecting legacy systems onto something that might actually work differently.

TomI’m borrowing what I know to fill a gap, but the core issue isn’t the comparison—it’s whether the game respects player agency within those new rules. If being poly is allowed, the companions’ reactions need to feel earned, not just random mood swings triggered by my choices. That’s the line between good storytelling and bad game design.

CarolEarned reactions require visible cause-and-effect, not hidden variables you can’t inspect. If I choose to share time with two partners, does the third one’s anger cool down when I actively spend quality time with them, or does it persist regardless of effort? That distinction determines whether the game rewards emotional labor or just punishes you for existing outside a monogamous script.

TomQuality time cooling off jealousy is basic emotional logic, not some hidden variable trick. If Exodus doesn’t reward that effort, it’s punishing players for the very behavior the game encourages. That’s poor design, full stop.

CarolFull stop is easy when you assume the worst-case scenario, but that ignores the possibility that the game treats jealousy as a narrative arc rather than a stat penalty. Maybe the anger doesn’t dissipate with a few dates; maybe it requires a genuine conflict resolution scene where you address the pain directly, turning the resentment into character development instead of a bug.

TomA conflict resolution scene is the better bet anyway, because a stat that just ticks down feels cheap compared to actually making a partner process their hurt. It turns the mechanic into a moment of real roleplay instead of a waiting room. So yeah, let’s hope they went with the harder route, since that’s the only version worth playing.

CarolHoping for the hard route is fine, but until Exodus proves it handles poly dynamics without breaking companion trust, the game remains a risk. The real test isn’t whether jealousy exists, but whether the system lets you navigate it without feeling guilty for following its own rules. Watch closely if those grudges stick around long enough to ruin the campaign.

TomYou’re stuck on the guilt angle again, which misses that the headline explicitly says the companions “won’t all be happy,” implying the friction is baked into the narrative structure rather than a hidden stat penalty. If the grudge persists despite your best efforts, that’s a design failure to resolve, not a reason to punish the player for choosing the poly path.