Dragon Age II: What are rivalry romances?

I haven't gotten the game yet but after looking into it a bit, the terms "friendly" and "rivalry" romance kept coming up. I was curious as to what a rivalry romance was (assuming a friendly romance was a relatively normal relationship with all the great mushi emotional stuff).



My guess is that a rivalry romance would be kind of a love-hate thing or a very passionate and aggressive relationship. Like yelling at eachother and sort of out of no where shove the other against a wall and start a round of aggressive snogging. :D



If you've played the game, please tell me if I've come anywhere close to hitting the mark. :3



Thanks in advance, mates!!! =3=Dragon Age II: What are rivalry romances?
In the game you can either gain an eventual full "friend" or "rival" status with each individual party member, depending on the speech options you choose when talking to them or the things that you accept/do when they're in your party. If you want to rivalmance (rival romance) one of the characters in the game, you have to gain rival points with them (similar to disapproval points in the first game) by disagreeing with them on certain subjects, being plain horrible to them or doing something they disagree with. But whenever the heart symbol appears during a conversation with the character you want to be in a romance with, you choose that option no matter what, this progresses the relationship. There are differences in the cutscenes and conversations depending on which romance route you take (rival or friendship). If you want to you could search Youtube for the rival and friend romances, you'll be able to watch videos that compare the differences, if you want to that is.



I've probably made it sound more complicated than it actually is, it's a lot more simpler to understand when you're playing the game. But yeah, in my opinion I prefer the rivalmance route, it definitely a lot more fun.