BioWare: Sex Scenes "Tasteful" in Dragon Age: Inquisition

[Animyr]

Can we stop treating sex as the culmination of a mature adult relationship when in fact it's usually the beginning of one? I think Dragon Age attempted to understand this but never really followed through with the fact that a romantic relationship involves more than just humping.

Yeah, the pacing of the romance arcs always being roughly the same (for every character, in every game the consummation of the relationship is always sexual, always gentle and always the eve before the finale) is another thing they haven't bothered to change up much, if at all.

I actually kind of liked the way (at least in concept) they did the Jack romance in ME2, where they at least allowed the romance arc to go two different ways (and they branched early in the game). Granted it wasn't very in depth, but it's something.

 

[faefrost]

I must be getting old, but more and more I am convinced that the only way to stage a "tasteful sex scene" in a video game is to not do it. Romance is fine, but some elements do really work so much better when they are left to the game players imagination. This is the sort of thing where player immersion and investment in the character is greater the less you tell or worse show them. Let them fill in the blank spaces themselves. It really is better than showing some awkward pixelated quasi porn. Putting sex scenes in video games is like accidentally stumbling in on your parents doing it... when you are 45. It's just embarrassing and awkward for all involved.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

at this point I've actually gotten pretty bored of Western RPG-style romances. Maybe if they differentiated things a little by having CANON love interests and writing story interactions around that I could behind it a bit more, but for now I'm kind of dozing off.

 

[Zeldias]

Tasteful, tasteful, tasteful...When can we just get railed/do the railing!?

But seriously, I thought the DA2 sex scenes were alright because they captured the spirit of the relationship and the character of the NPC being romanced. Just keep on that track and I'm sure it'll be alright.

 

[Abomination]

Frankly, I consider the "sex requires a deep and emotional connection between two people" thing to actually be kinda immature.

It's a remnant of the abstinence sex ed movement. It's moralizing, not actual practical information.

I think the whole relationship between Jack and Sheppard during ME2 was probably the most mature relationship we've seen out of Bioware. I mean, sure, she was seriously damaged goods and nuttier than squirrel shit at that point in time but it was a "mature" depiction of two folks in that setting.

 

[Animyr]

Mass Effect 3 citadel DLC understood that you can have really intimate moments between characters that are not sex.

Yeah, freaking finally. I mean, you can only have sex with so many characters. How are the others going to make an impact? Sure, we could have someone like Zaeed or Oghren who have bombastic or memorable personalities, but how do you have them meaningfully interact with the player, be something more then badass henchmen who occasionally ask you to fix their personal problems like they're Italian villagers and you're the godfather? Alas, Bioware seems to have trouble answering that question sometimes.

If they're going to keep the idea of having "romance" as a static, recurring institution in character interaction, Bioware should at least add bromances (sismances?) and mentor/student relationships or something.

at this point I've actually gotten pretty bored of Western RPG-style romances. Maybe if they differentiated things a little by having CANON love interests and writing story interactions around that I could behind it a bit more, but for now I'm kind of dozing off.

I'm waiting for videogame writing and acting to reach the point where a triple-A studio makes an rpg that's more like a character study, not an action adventure. Some suburban guy with a wife and kids whose marriage is falling apart, or something, and the player has to figure out how to save it (or if they even want to). That's probably a ways off, though.

 

[Icehearted]

"I can behead a guy and it's no problem but GOD HELP US IF WE SEE A NIPPLE" comment #203,976,473.

It's obvious sex sells, it's obvious the concept of relationships and sexuality in another entertainment medium is important enough that they aren't dumping it entirely, but why is a mature approach so fucking impossible? Why is it that they worry so much about a censoring a game that isn't meant for anyone that shouldn't be capable of deciding if e-breasts are offensive? What kind of fucked up minds are behind the T-Teen rating when people bleed from their butts and eyes until they die and AO if there's more than 3 seconds of pubic area simulation?

I honestly wish they'd release a few mainstream games with full hardcore sex in them just to give the general pubic an idea of what pornographic content really is (read= nothing from BioWare, EVER), then maybe we can stop having these radicalized nonsensical overreactions to simulated nipples on polygonal breasts, or for that matter a virtual boner (of course even Hollywood is largely afraid of the penis).

 

[Mycroft Holmes]

I don't give a damn what the sex scenes are if they don't return gameplay back to "Origins"!

They aren't. Go watch the hour gameplay video. They actually play mostly in a close up more over the shoulder way like Mass Effect. That doesn't necessarily mean it's worse or that playing on higher levels wont require the top down strategy control mode(which they have brought back.) But its definitely changed quite a bit from DAO.

My theory is that they decided to dial back on the sex scenes - hence the characters still wearing their underwear - after the uproar about the ones in the first Mass Effect.

What uproar? Literally the only thing that I remember happening at all was Fox news having a hernia, which is something that improves sales as it generates increased interest and free advertising to anyone who was remotely interested in the first place. It was like a half second of liara/femshep butt. No one who bought Mass Effect freaked out over it, except maybe to be disappointed that they didn't get to see more.

 

[Grabehn]

Is it just me, or for a while now the only news I get from Bioware are either "Hey look! our game's not going to be as shitty!" or the usual "Hey, we have sex sccenes!". Is that something that improves the overall experience of the game or something?

 

[fozzy360]

In a game that's centered on magic, dragons, prophecies, and all sorts of genre goodies, "tasteful" sex scenes is really last on my list of features I'm excited for (not to say that I'm excited about Inquisition).

Seriously, Bioware, there's no need to tell the world that your sex scenes look better than before. That's just...odd.

 

[Paradoxrifts]

Sex scenes can be fucked up in many ways. They can even be "tasteful" and still horribly out of place like the Witcher pin up cards.

I absolutely loved the Witcher pin-up cards. There is a rich, rewarding role-playing experience that can be had guiding Geralt of Rivia through the Witcher series. And if that's not your thing then you can always play Geralt of Manwhoria. It was a tacit acknowledgement of people who were playing the game primarily as a game instead of playing the game as if it were an unfolding story.

You do remember gameplay right? It's what other RPG developers try to squeeze in between the cut scenes and dialogue options.

 

[unacomn]

Remember when Bioware used to talk about things like how the spell system worked, or how the layered combat was? You know, instead of "Yeah, you get to pork everyone, but it's tasteful"

I think that habit died about 6 years ago.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Don't worry bioware, this is something the modding community handles already when it comes to dragon age games (not so much for mass effect to my knowledge).

http://girlplaysgame.com/2013/08/02/dragon-age-31-mods-you-never-knew-you-needed/
Check the romance mods for a taster

....

This makes me want to re-buy Dragon Age: Origins on the PC just to try out those mods. They look incredible!

Thank you for this link. I'm keeping this and... seriously considering rebuying the game just for the mods.

Do mods work with the Steam version? I assume so, but I should probably make sure before I drop any cash on this.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

That seems to imply there will be no interracial Dwarf-Qnari scat scenes. My potential interest in this game is at an all time low.

 

[Khrowley]

My reaction upon reading the article:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n5E7feJHw0

The very least I say is they handled it better than Square Enix did with saying that Lightning's boobs will jiggle in-game and you can changer her outfit in order to enhance that "feature." Seriously if you're going to use sex/sex-appeal as a major selling point for anything you just aren't trying enough to have interesting characters and story arcs.

 

[ThunderCavalier]

BioWare seems to write awesome characters up until the part they get naked.

Then it gets stupid.

That's what I find to be a recurring trend.

 

[gyrobot_v1legacy]

Speaking of WRPG sex scenes, I hope Drakengard 3 has Bioware style sex scenes. I find the country who developed Eroge and sometimes have H-Manga Artists do character designs there are few if any optional sex scenes (the last I know of is Atlus)