I always cringe at romance in video games. It just feels like such a sad fantasy fulfilment. Why would I want to pretend like I have a girlfriend in a virtual world? I'd rather just work on finding one IRL. I find the false sense of companionship so soul corroding. Willingly entering into a LARP relationship, that you know is entirely scripted, you know the bounds of it, and you know you can never escape it. Why put that in, in the name of "role playing"? The vast majority of games, including mass effect, have no roleplaying whatsoever.