Same-sex romances have been part of previous BioWare games, but until now, these romance-option characters could be attracted to a player character of either gender. Mass Effect 3 characters Samatha Traynor and Steve Cortez represent the first time BioWare has written full romances that are exclusively for same-sex characters. Patrick Weekes and Dusty Everman wrote these relationships and talk about their experiences here.

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Soldiers of the Milky Way –

By now it is no secret that the Reaper War has had its share of logistical SNAFUs. It is to the galaxy’s credit that, when we put out the call for volunteers, we were answered by individuals of every species from Citadel, Traverse, and even Terminus space. Unfortunately, the diversity of equipment sources meant our allies ran into hardware and software incompatibilities.

These brave men and women have been fighting beside you and, in doing so, have gone above and beyond normal duty. Because their units were not properly tracked, they fought without pay and sometimes without proper training, equipment, even rations. It is a mark of their character that these warriors took the grave task set before us and stuck it out through sheer determination.

It is time to honor their service. A volunteer task force has fabricated the necessary hardware and is rolling out compatibility software. When these installations are complete, these soldiers will benefit from being properly equipped and combat-ineffective troops will get off the bench. We’ll all have more comrades watching our backs, and we’re now watching theirs.

–Admiral Hackett

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