Bioware needs to revert years of work

hentropy

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Feb 25, 2012
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I love all these hypothetical stories people come up with- that the publishers were the ones who shoehorned non-straightness in because it is trending on Twitter or something. If that were the case then we'd have a lot more gays in games outside of just Bioware games and the occasional indie.

It never occurs to them that writers do it because they want these characters in the game. That they may have had to fight and scrap with the publishers just to get someone like Krem in the game. That it might have HAD to be FtM because the opposite would make some players feel uncomfortable. Judging from what we know about Bioware writers and EA, I'd put money on that rather than the opposite. Or that EA has generally let Bioware do what they want at this point, which seems the most likely. That (gasp!) Bioware might actually have gay or other orientations on staff writing the game.

I'm totally opposed to tokenism, but you can usually spot tokenism a mile away. Caricatures that usually pushed to the side or even dies when things get going. Creating fully-fleshed out characters that are not defined by their sexuality but who still have a sexuality is generally what people are looking for.

I'm open to the idea that not all games really need sexuality or romance. However, Bioware games are meant to be epic at least on some scale with lots of character interaction, and adults in those situations probably would get romantically and/or sexually entangled.

Whether or not Bioware does it well, that's a matter of taste. Romance is probably the most explored genre in history, and there's not much you can do to break new ground or be original. In ME1/DAO I would say it was sub-optimal, and the following games were average. However, with what experience I have with DAI (romancing Josephine), it's a good bit better, with romance subplots getting more involved and complex, and decisions having to be made.

Leliana is also suggested to have been in an asexual romantic relationship with the Divine, which I also found quite refreshing. As someone who can identify with that, it's nice to see a recognition that such relationships do exist.
 

PinkiePyro

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as far as i am conserend Bioware is doing fine if anyone needs to reflect its ubisoft they are quickly going down the path EA is on and that is not a good thing
 

lapan

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The problem aren't the companions themselves, it's the move to making those games more of a romance sim than an rpg
 

KingStoph

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I kind of agree.

"Here are some companions you can be friends with and fight alongside!" is great.

but there has been far too much focus on
"... AND YOU CAN HAVE SEX WITH THEM! SOME OF THEM ARE EVEN STRAIT!!"

Ive nothing against in game relationships, but when the build-up to your game has a big focus on who can bang who, it just makes me think is this an RPG or a dating sim?? and i think their video at VGA kind of prooves the point with the topless bloke walking about in the background, yeh it was a joke, and i laffed with my face. but there is no denying that there is lots of truth there.
 

KingDragonlord

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Jul 22, 2012
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TT Kairen said:
KingDragonlord said:
Like suddenly its revealed "Oh sure COMMON people can have sex with whoever they want, but NOBLES hate dem gays so now we get to have a story about the oppressions gay people face."

Then there's the strange asspull about Qunari apparently just declare women as men when they want to be warriors. Iron Bull acts like its no big deal where Sten couldn't even begin to reconcile the concept of a female warrior in his head.
Actually it's pretty clearly stated, even in Origins, nobles are expected to take a hetero partner for largely political reasons, have hiers, and continue the family lineage. Sometimes the partners have an agreement (if applicable) that they can take homosexual partners on the side to have some sort of release and be able to live with themselves. The fact that it's more taboo (even then it's implied that the same arrangement as in Ferelden or Orlais is possible, Dorian just wants no part of it) in Tevinter isn't an ass-pull because we know very little about Tevinter in the first place. It's establishing that precedent, not changing it.

As for the Qunari thing, that isn't how it works at all. You don't get to "want" to be a Warrior. You're made a Warrior by your bosses. For women, it is not a possible job to be assigned. However, if you are transgendered, let's say FtM, then female jobs close off to you, while male ones open up. Sten wasn't able to work it out because you were a female character living as a female. He (correctly) treated you as your gender identity first. If you had been FtM transgendered, he'd simply have treated you as a man with no thought behind it, and thus had no question about your warrior-ness.
Thats what Iron Bull says to Krem but thats not what he says to Cassandra. He tells her that if a woman really wants it that badly, she can be a warrior and from now on she's considered a guy because role is everything. Its not just about transgender people. Role is everything. Sorry for the delay in replying but it took quite a bit of playing to stumble across the quote again since the wiki isn't up to speed yet. And I forgot which forum I was having this discussion in.
 

NemotheElvenPanda

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Aug 29, 2012
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Shame that Jim left the escapist, he made a video that encapsulates on how ridiculous some of these arguments are against more LGBT characters in Bioware games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGeXzM13TY0
 

sataricon

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Oct 7, 2014
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Bioware just need better writers.
Writing gay characters or straight ones isn't the problem.
The problem is that the writing stinks and too much ham fisted points that it makes you wonder what happened to them on the last 4 years or so.

But is suppose they have their fans because they sell.