Lack Of Nudity in Dragon Age Was Designer's Call

[Therumancer]

For sex scenes I look at say when you hire a prostitute in "Gothic 2"

Unless there's a different version of Gothic 2, that scene was also fully clothed (and awkward as hell) - how would making Dragon Age's sex scenes like Gothic's help?

It's quite possible that I am thinking of a differant game, though I think that's the one. I seem to remember it having breast nudity and while there was a cover in the way some definate thrusting going on.

I simply use that as an example because it didn't resort to a "blackout" or "bad camera angles" type scene, nor improbable placement of undergarmets (that weren't fetish wear). Also consider the game I am referring to is not exactly new.

I guess my point is that you can make a satisfying sex scene without turning the entire game into a hentai type sex farce. Though admittedly if done right you could go as far as porn games do for those scenes, providing people would get over their fear of an "AO" rating. Still my point is that an "M" rated game can go as far as an "R" rated movie. You can do a lot within the M/R rating, it's not like you need to resort to close ups on penetration, C@mshots, and other things to do a good sex scene.

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

For sex scenes I look at say when you hire a prostitute in "Gothic 2"

Unless there's a different version of Gothic 2, that scene was also fully clothed (and awkward as hell) - how would making Dragon Age's sex scenes like Gothic's help?

It's quite possible that I am thinking of a differant game, though I think that's the one. I seem to remember it having breast nudity and while there was a cover in the way some definate thrusting going on.

I simply use that as an example because it didn't resort to a "blackout" or "bad camera angles" type scene, nor improbable placement of undergarmets (that weren't fetish wear). Also consider the game I am referring to is not exactly new.

You are - Gothic 2's sex scene was actually fairly decent given the age of the title and how terrible those scenes tend to be on average, but it most definitely featured improbable underwear throughout.

 

[Mookie_Magnus]

Well, I'm a bit disappointed in BioWare for not using this game as an opportunity to make a statement about the current state of videogame censorship and ratings... Although I'm guessing there might be some sex-scene DLC as a possibility in the future.

 

[Pipotchi]

The first time my character has sex with Morrighan I laughed my arse off. There is a bit where she is straddling him and you can see my character from a 'over her shoulder' perspective and the look on his face is priceless

 

[thiosk]

Hm... Enchanted Underwear of Length +3?

 

[Jandau]

The first time my character has sex with Morrighan I laughed my arse off. There is a bit where she is straddling him and you can see my character from a 'over her shoulder' perspective and the look on his face is priceless

I know exactly what you mean. I suppose it was supposed to be a happy joyful look, but it came out REALLY wierd and creepy, like the main character is thinking to himself "What she doesn't know is that I have Clamidia!"...

 

[Frenger]

Those animations sucked, especially after Mass Effect, but the dialogues leading to ... errr, it, were fun.

Animations as a whole in DA:O were worse than Mass Effect in many respects, even though many other things were better in DA:O

But to be honest, if I wanted hanky-panky, I would play The Witcher(not a bad game, despite the ... well, it got boobies and full-monty on a few occations)

 

[ccesarano]

But the weird movements of the animated figures

Kinda makes you wonder why they chose not to do mo-cap?

Wait, no it doesn't, makes you understand perfectly well why they didn't use mo-cap. Or maybe they did! Those tight suits and them ping pong balls all over must be awkward to deal with.

 

[Godhead]

This is what happens when people do something half-assed. Hey, EA? If you're going to have a game complete with scantily clad sex demons, brothels, and college hookups around the camp fire, then at least put some effort into it and go all the way. DA:O's pseudo-eroticism comes of as something conceived by a committee of prudes and giggling 12 year olds. You want to put this sort of thing in a game? Fine, make it something watchable, like Cinemax after 11pm. Hire a bunch of softcore actors for motion-capture sessions, make some sexy in-game models and be done with. So your game will be shrink wrapped with a sticker that says "Ask For ID". Big deal. You'll sell millions of copies anyway

If you don't have the stones to do it right, then don't do it, period. There are plenty of five-star best-selling games that (wait for it) have ZERO sex in them at all and quite frankly, they're better for it. If you want sexy then go hire a corps of Japanese designers to make you a bunch of hot sex bomb characters with costumes and armor that looks like a goth clothing store put through a tree shredder. Otherwise? Focus on the gameplay instead. It's what makes this game shine, even with the immense drag factor of the terrible sex.

Also, I can do without the following things:

1) VO dialogue with EVERY SHOPKEEPER EVERY TIME. Especially dwarfo and his retard sidekick.
2) Zevran.
3) Having to shuttle between camp and my own private fort. Why don't they just camp IN the fort? For that matter, they can all screw there, too. Ever done it on the hard ground? You'll be missing your bed soon enough, my son

On the last sex-related note, did anyone else notice this game has no spears? No one uses spears, and you certainly can't either. Of course, given everything else, it makes sense that this is the weapon they left out.

PS: You tell me why it's an okay "artistic choice" for me to slaughter a possessed child, but seeing nudity in a brothel where you can buy every hooker in rapid succession isn't?
PPS: Why isn't there a trophy for buying every hooker in the place? Or killing children?

Very nice first post. Welcome to the escapist have a complimentary cookie
[spoiler/]

[/spoiler]

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

While Mass Effect recieved a fair amount of flack for it's sex scene, I would say that it generally acomplished it's goal better than Dragon Age. In either game, the attempt is made to suggest sexual activity is going on without explicitly showing it. The quick cuts from moment to moment are certainly a part of this, but where Mass Effect used low lighting to ensure that little was actually seen, DAO instead opted to leave the clothes on. The result here is, quite simply, that the moment actually becomes comical more than anything. I'm not advocating that they show full frontal nudity (or something even MORE hardcore), but it seems that, if one is going to put the sequence into the game at all, it should be genuine, otherwise simply fade to black for a few moments.

 

[Pimppeter2]

I wonder if they had done this, and it was another hot coffee thing.

Would it have blown the Mewtwo "conterversy" away?

 

[Kuliani]

I agree with them; putting too much detail into the anatomy of the sex scenes completely throws off the roleplaying aspect of the game. The sexual connotation is all that is desired from the designers for that, and that's a damn good reason for making it rated R instead of XXX.

 

[Voltano]

Spoiler: Minor spoilers from the youtube video!

First thought on seeing that scene: *That* is a small tent?!

This now makes me curious that these sex scenes are just tacked on the game to make it sell better. That scene started up as a black-out scene, and I'm guessing also ends with a black-out scene. Somehow I think that could easily just be cut out with some text window saying, "you shared a special moment with each other" and it wouldn't hinder the game much--well, besides not giving anything to the "one-handed gamers".

Plus this news with the underwear makes me even more cynical about the game. The player can make love with a selected few of their party members and prostitutes, but only fully clothed? It seems like they are trying to make a PG version of an NC-17 film to use sex as a means of selling the game.

 

[high_castle]

I find it funny that the person who wrote this article hasn't actually played through the scenes themselves. I've just done the Zevran romance myself, but I actually found it well done. It was artistic without being too graphic (and I don't know about you, but who really wants to see naked animation anyway?) and more intimate than anything else. I think people who don't play BioWare games forget that it's supposed to be about the story/characters first and foremost. These scenes aren't in there for folks to get their rocks off to, they exist as a means to further characterization and the story. In that respect, they accomplish their job quite admirably, and I think sex has been better handled in games like DA:O and Mass Effect than any other title I've played recently.

 

[Undead Dragon King]

Jesus, are you all so deadbrained that you can't use your damned imaginations? There my be underwear, but it leaves VERY little to the imagination. Same with the main char VO. You know what (s)he sounds like from combat VO, so you can easily plant that voice onto the text choice in your mind. Just imagine the lack of underwear in the sex scenes (it's not hard, trust me) and it'll turn out just fine.

/facepalm

 

[Deleted]

Cue Fox complaining about how they're shielding our kids from the trust of nudity instead of showing them how it is.

 

[Nurb]

Sooooo.... brutal decapitations, splashing blood, demon posession and showing splattered gore all over yourself after a fight is fine..

but 3d boobies? "WHOOOOA! lets not show something that might offend someone!" They might as well have removed sex from the game completely because seeing people dry-hump in their undies looks absolutly rediculious.

I think developers are pussies and held to a different standard than more graphic entertainment like the Hostel. They try to present a dark, gritty fantasy world where a wave of evil destruction is about to swoop down and slaughter everything in its path.. but treats sex like they're Disney. You have a big group of people traveling around for months from all over the land.. of COURSE you're going to have some fucking going on. Sex is as much a part of life as violence, but for some reason violence is more acceptable than nekkidness

 

[Nurb]

I'm glad that Bioware still knows what they are doing instead shamelessly promoting the sex scenes or female anatomy like Team Ninja does. For a moment, I thought they were going the same direction with Dragon Age.

how is sex in a game "geeky and sad", even when part of a narrative, but gratuitous gore-fests like GTA or Manhunt are praised for "pushing boundries"

I'm not saying I like meaningless jubblies because companies know it'll appeal to teens, but I'm just pointing this double standard out here