Awful person demands No Homo mode in DA2, awful people on TTLG come out of woodwork

N'Al on 26/3/2011 at 08:26

Quote Posted by Shamelessly stolen from the RPS comments thread

They should add a sliding meter that lets you determine how homosexual you want the game to be.

Something like : “Slightly Gay – Pretty Gay – Totally Queer – Wham’s music video” would do the trick.

Briareos H on 26/3/2011 at 08:31

If there's one thing I find much more profoundly offensive than Duke Nukem Forever's "comforting butt-slapping" or The Witcher's pretty cards (in fact I don't find those offensive at all) it's the way sexualized relationships and sexual acts are portrayed and put literally in your face with a ridiculous FOV and immense amount of zoom in the recent Bioware games. Gives me the creeps everytime I see a screenshot and I didn't know my eyes could roll back so far inside their orbits.

"games are claiming maturity" my arse

Kolya on 26/3/2011 at 09:53

Quote Posted by Koki

TTLG strikes again.

Were you trying to say something?

Ladron De La Noche on 26/3/2011 at 10:03

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLf7-qw875s&NR=1) DA2 Big Slobbering Homo Kiss
I'm at a loss really. What is the benefit of having homosexuality in video games? Is this an option or a requirement in the DA2 game story? I'm not interested in DA2 at all mainly for the terrible (http://www.gamecritics.com/brad-gallaway/dragon-age-ii-review) reviews and this unnecessary addition solidifies my decision not to buy it.

A no homo button? Not at all. How about not promoting homosexuality at all when its not called for.

The lead writer says by his own words in response the Dragon Age series has a large lesbian gamer base. It would be interesting if this gamer base is as large as his imagination.

Eldron on 26/3/2011 at 10:21

Quote Posted by Ladron De La Noche

Fantasy is by definition pretty gay anyway, so it's heterosexuality that's being promoted!
But in all seriousness, what's so bad with one of the characters making a pass at you?, just say no.

Imagine all the heterosexuality all the homosexual gamers have to put up with, boobs all up in their faces, must be sickening.

the only winners are bisexuals.

Koki on 26/3/2011 at 10:25

Quote Posted by Ladron De La Noche

I'm at a loss really. What is the benefit of having homosexuality in video games?

None.

Sulphur on 26/3/2011 at 11:19

Somebody railing at an inclusive approach to sexuality in a video game? You're all giving a ridiculous opinion credence simply by giving it that much attention. It's not like every straight male gamer is clamouring for exclusively hetero unf unfing in DA2 or any other game that allows same-sex relationships (of which there are precious few titles in the first place) anyway.

In any case, DA2 and latter-day Bioware games in general have far more problems regarding their handling of dialogue and relationships. Regarding DA2's companions, I have a sneaky feeling that regardless of the gender you've chosen for Hawke, your overtures with Anders/Isabella/Fenris/whomever will be responded to with almost exactly the same dialogue.

Apart from the cack-handed attempts at 'relationships', Bioware games tend to treat different responses in any given dialogue encounter in the exact same way: even if you choose a hostile, neutral, or friendly tone, 99% of the NPC's dialogue remains exactly the same. The reason Bioware does this is because it's easier to write every encounter as neutral, since you can re-use the same VO for all three possible options. This obviously cuts down on the amount of effort required to write a character, as well as lower VO costs.

Unfortunately, what that boils down to is all that 'choice' given to us about whether to be friendly, passive, or aggressive is an illusion: in the end, the majority of the time the NPC you're speaking to will throw out a one-line response to your chosen approach, and then launch into the exact same over-arching spiel for the rest of the conversation.

Jason Moyer on 26/3/2011 at 11:34

Quote Posted by Kolya

In the comments some people acknowledged the good answer by the dev but still criticise Bioware for the romance feature being very two-dimensional, based on a like/dislike scheme which eventually leads to sex if choosing the obvious options, encouraging "manipulative" answers.

Now I'm not sure how else it should work if you're making a game out of romancing. (People who do that in real life are manipulative as well.) It's the old-school way of gaming romance that consists of picking the right answers to get someone to like you, just as it did since the beginning of computer games. It's cause and effect in a player centric world.

Alpha Protocol and KOTOR2 have romance options that aren't based around saying "u sher r nice n stuff" over and over, which is the way every romance in every Bioware game going back to BG2 has worked. Then again pretty much whenever players think something is impossible to implement into a game narrative/interaction wise there's probably an Obsidian or Black Isle game that's already done it.

The thing that makes Bioware's shitty romances an issue with me is how their romance dialogue is no worse than the rest of their writing. All character interaction in a Bioware title, NPC or otherwise, boils down to "if I'm nice to this person, they'll be nice to me" and "if I'm not nice to this person, they won't be nice to me" when real interactions between human beings aren't nearly so cut and dry.

Were there any references to a romance with Alyx in HL2 aside from a throwaway bit right at the very end of EP2? I'm pretty sure I would have remembered interactive silent first-person face-sitting.

Avalon on 26/3/2011 at 11:44

I encourage a No Homo mode in Dragon Age 2, simply because of how easy it is to be gay in the game compared to being straight.

You give Anders or Fenris 3 or 4 heart responses and suddenly you're seeing all kinds of emotional love scenes. On the other hand, to get with the girls, you have to hound them for half the game to even notice your flirtation.

From that angle, I would say this game definitely tried way, way too hard to appeal to groups like the gays, to the point that they nearly excluded everyone else.

Jason Moyer on 26/3/2011 at 11:51

I think they should remove the options for heterosexual relationships. It's a goddamn role playing game not a christian morality simulator. I have no problems replaying games as innocent-slaughtering bastards, why should I give a fuck about my avatar's sexuality.