Support NeoGAF

[Aquamarine]

It's not just adding dialogue.

They would have to completely redo the entire interaction tree for these characters. Then, there's the fact that the redo would impact people who have already played through those compactions social interactions. Then, there's picking who's a gay and who's not going to be a gay. Then, there's the full voice acting each of these characters along with animations. Clusterfuck.

The game really did a lot of cool things when it comes to individual story lines and making the game feel cinematic. However, it's set up more as a single player experience rather than an MMO due to the incredible difficulty in adding content to what's already been created, and of course making more unique content.

This.

It's much easier and much more cost-efficient to "themepark" new content (segregate it), instead of trying to re-design existing content to try and fit it in.

I'm sure this was purely a business decision on EA BioWare's part. They probably thought any backlash wouldn't really impact the game's sales at the end of the day.

 

[APZonerunner]

Why couldn't you choose "I'm here for you"? That doesn't sound flirty to me at all. I don't know what happens after you choose that option, but presented with those options, I wouldn't suddenly think that I'm being forced into a relationship or something. Also, even BioWare games tend to have fairly obvious trigger options for relationships.

With Cortez I think the point at which you enter into the relationship is fairly well telegraphed, though there is one bit where he's crying and the Paragon interrupt is to give a rather... friendly hug, quite early on. That begins to trigger the rest, even. I can see why someone trying to be a nice guy might do that easily.

DA had men throwing themselves at Hawke though, it was quite... er, aggressive about it.

 

[Rokal]

Is there anything more embarassing in all of gaming then how Bioware handles this stuff in their games?

The reactions in this thread?

 

[balladofwindfishes]

I don't think people realize just how much money this game cost.

I think they need to weight the costs better. How much do they stand to loose not adding any gay relations? How much do they stand to gain from adding gay relations to one planet? How much do they stand to lose from potential PR problems from the latter decision?

Seems they didn't quite think the entire costs out, especially the potential negative PR of having gay relations set aside to one planet. During brainstorming, didn't they realize that looked really, really bad?

I don't like to blame the customer for being uninformed. It's not really the customer's job to know how much something costs. On the surface, this looks terrible. And I'd really only expect the average person to know the information at the surface.
It's up to Bioware and EA to figure that out and plan accordingly, and if they weren't able to afford to do something all the way (or enough to not cause controversy) then maybe they shouldn't do it.

I understand they don't have the money. But it's pretty obvious what people were going to criticize this addition about, and they really needed to plan accordingly.

 

[B-Dex]

It wouldn't have been hard to add a few gay npcs to the other planets. Even if they are just bar patrons you can get flirty with. Would have helped alleviate this mess they created by segregating all of the new gay npcs to one planet.

 

[Veezy]

I think they need to weight the costs better. How much do they stand to loose not adding any gay relations? How much do they stand to gain from adding gay relations to one planet? How much do they stand to lose from potential PR problems from the latter decision?

Seems they didn't quite think the entire costs out, especially the potential negative PR of having gay relations set aside to one planet. During brainstorming, didn't they realize that looked really, really bad?

I don't like to blame the customer for being uninformed. It's not really the customer's job to know how much something costs. On the surface, this looks terrible. And I'd really only expect the average person to know the information at the surface.
It's up to Bioware and EA to figure that out and plan accordingly, and if they weren't able to afford to do something all the way (or enough to not cause controversy) then maybe they shouldn't do it.

I understand they don't have the money. But it's pretty obvious what people were going to criticize this addition about, and they really needed to plan accordingly.

And what they did was the right decision. New content added to the game that allows one to pursue a relationship with the same sex, should you desire. The majority of people complaining have zero idea exactly how romance even works in this game, much less the fact that despite how similar to WoW this game is, the story mode isn't anything like WoW.

If you think this minor PR blunder, if you can even call it that (it's really more of a "good job gaming journalism for jumping on a bandwagon and not reporting shit correctly... again" blunder), would cost more than redoing an ENTIRE companion's storyline to ham fist some non-heterosexuality into a character (which, IMHO, is more offensive to LGBT community as your adjusting a character's sexuality on a whim, thus making their sexuality not even a part of who they are as a character, which isn't how human beings operate), you don't understand the costs associated with this game.

They did the right thing. It was reported wrong. The effect on subscribers will be negligible.

It wouldn't have been hard to add a few gay npcs to the other planets. Even if they are just bar patrons you can get flirty with. Would have helped alleviate this mess they created by segregating all of the new gay npcs to one planet.

That's not how romance works in the game. For every character you can [Flirt] with there's quests associated. Whole chains worth. Sometimes, those quests and dialogue options are influenced by previous dialogue options, including characters you may have/have not romanced. In this game, they attempted to make romance something you have to pursue and push for. Hell, many of the people in the world are simply back ground and you can't interact with them.

Also, to me, that seems kinda dickish to homosexuals and the relationships they (and straight people) get involved in. "Here ya go, know you guys have wanted a fleshed out story with the same sex, so here Gay Greedo the Green. Buy him a drink and he'll rub you down!" added as an afterthought doesn't really fit the description of a SGR. As opposed to, say "here's this character you have to spend several hours of game time engaging with in order for them to be attracted to you on this new planet you've never been to before." One is a character solely defined by their interest in sex. The other, can be fleshed out to be a character, that happens to be gay and grows to be attracted to the PC.

 

[HarryDemeanor]

Is there anything more embarassing in all of gaming then how Bioware handles this stuff in their games?

I don't know. The last thread and this one are pretty embarrassing.

 

[BattleMonkey]

It wouldn't have been hard to add a few gay npcs to the other planets. Even if they are just bar patrons you can get flirty with. Would have helped alleviate this mess they created by segregating all of the new gay npcs to one planet.

Then suddenly omg gay relationships are only one time flings you pick up at a seedy bar!

I think they need to weight the costs better. How much do they stand to loose not adding any gay relations? How much do they stand to gain from adding gay relations to one planet? How much do they stand to lose from potential PR problems from the latter decision?

Seems they didn't quite think the entire costs out, especially the potential negative PR of having gay relations set aside to one planet. During brainstorming, didn't they realize that looked really, really bad?

I don't like to blame the customer for being uninformed. It's not really the customer's job to know how much something costs. On the surface, this looks terrible. And I'd really only expect the average person to know the information at the surface.
It's up to Bioware and EA to figure that out and plan accordingly, and if they weren't able to afford to do something all the way (or enough to not cause controversy) then maybe they shouldn't do it.

I understand they don't have the money. But it's pretty obvious what people were going to criticize this addition about, and they really needed to plan accordingly.

I doubt any of this is going to matter one bit to the bottom line, it's going to just ruffle some feathers on message boards with people overreacting.... like here! This was announced over 2 weeks ago and no one cared till one website created a sensationalist article about it suddenly that other sites are now picking up on. No one cared till yesterday?

They are tossing a bone towards some of their fans and even have promised more is in the works, but bunch of people (most of which don't even play the game) are acting outraged over nonsense.

They have clearly stated this is just the start of much more work to be done in this department, and they were outright upfront about it to it's playerbase. But the rest of the internet is "zomg they are making a gay concentration camp planet" ignoring that this is just a start. Disregarding the gay community who does play the game is not an option and at least they are trying instead of not doing anything because it's "hard"

 

[ezekielpacman]

I see no difference between this and, say, not being able to fly in Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms in WOW (pre Cataclysm or whatever expansion sorted it) - i.e. a whole lot of hassle to adapt things.

Yet because it mentions the gays, everyone is outraged.

 

[Lime]

Therein lays the problem, at least from a financial/business standpoint. In an effort to bring sexual equality to games to accommodate a relatively small portion of the population (Gallup Polls indicate 3.4% of the American population is homosexual – obviously this number is debatable) you inevitably upset a portion of the remainder of the population.

Example: let’s round up significantly and say that 10% of the population is homosexual or transgender, that leaves 90% heterosexual. It makes more sense to build a game that sells to 90% than 10%. However, without doubt, a large portion of the 90% is likely not offended by the 10% and is tolerant of differing lifestyles. But even if 25% of the 90% take offence to the 10%, you’ve lost a larger portion of the overall game sales than if you’d just not accommodated the 10% in the first place. It’s a fucked up situation which ultimately leads (as evident in this thread) to bickering on boths sides.

What's the solution...? There is none. People are going to bitch on boths sides regardless.

Only bigoted heterosexuals would bitch about offering sexual equality.

 

[Daedardus]

I see no difference between this and, say, not being able to fly in Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms in WOW (pre Cataclysm or whatever expansion sorted it) - i.e. a whole lot of hassle to adapt things.

Yet because it mentions the gays, everyone is outraged.

Because not being able to fly is often debated in heated civil right discussions in the world we actually live in?

 

[Aeana]

Therein lays the problem, at least from a financial/business standpoint. In an effort to bring sexual equality to games to accommodate a relatively small portion of the population (Gallup Polls indicate 3.4% of the American population is homosexual – obviously this number is debatable) you inevitably upset a portion of the remainder of the population.

Example: let’s round up significantly and say that 10% of the population is homosexual or transgender, that leaves 90% heterosexual. It makes more sense to build a game that sells to 90% than 10%. However, without doubt, a large portion of the 90% is likely not offended by the 10% and is tolerant of differing lifestyles. But even if 25% of the 90% take offence to the 10%, you’ve lost a larger portion of the overall game sales than if you’d just not accommodated the 10% in the first place. It’s a fucked up situation which ultimately leads (as evident in this thread) to bickering on boths sides.

What's the solution...? There is none. People are going to bitch on boths sides regardless.

The solution is pretty clear to me. Continued exposure to something eventually leads to less discomfort with it. That's how things work. So the solution is to continue including things like this in games, on TV, etc. until people become more used to it and never bend to demands for hiding this aspect of our society, and then the portion of people who have a problem with it will shrink over time. It may hurt business in the short term, but it'll help it in the long term.

 

[Kosma]

Who is surprised Bioware conjured yet another fuck up? Its not surprise they fuck up anymore. More like a rule.

-Dragon Age 2 copy paste design
-ME3 ending
-Swotr

This is a new level op being stupid though, chick a fil style or whatever that sandwich business name was.

 

[Beerman462]

Segregating all the gays to one planet? Sounds like a GoP plan to colonize Mars.

 

[Kosma]

Then suddenly omg gay relationships are only one time flings you pick up at a seedy bar!



I doubt any of this is going to matter one bit to the bottom line, it's going to just ruffle some feathers on message boards with people overreacting.... like here! This was announced over 2 weeks ago and no one cared till one website created a sensationalist article about it suddenly that other sites are now picking up on. No one cared till yesterday?

They are tossing a bone towards some of their fans and even have promised more is in the works, but bunch of people (most of which don't even play the game) are acting outraged over nonsense.

They have clearly stated this is just the start of much more work to be done in this department, and they were outright upfront about it to it's playerbase. But the rest of the internet is "zomg they are making a gay concentration camp planet" ignoring that this is just a start. Disregarding the gay community who does play the game is not an option and at least they are trying instead of not doing anything because it's "hard"

Yeah how did that work out for other companies being called out in the media anbout their bigotry?

 

[speculawyer]

Pay 2 Gay? LOL.

 

[Necron]

Bioware can't catch a break...

 

[jediyoshi]

I see no difference between this and, say, not being able to fly in Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms in WOW (pre Cataclysm or whatever expansion sorted it) - i.e. a whole lot of hassle to adapt things.

Yet because it mentions the gays, everyone is outraged.

Right. If this were being addressed as the logistical/technical gameplay feature it is outside of the context of them gays.. actually people would already go back to not caring because it's SWTOR. It just makes for such a juicy headline because people like to interpret some kind of intent behind their decision.

 

[Bisnic]

Who is surprised Bioware conjured yet another fuck up? Its not surprise they fuck up anymore. More like a rule.

-Dragon Age 2 copy paste design
-ME3 ending
-Swotr

They didn't fuck up with this last one. People just get easily outraged with anything they do that is slightly out of the ordinary. It just happened that their expansion's planet came out at the same time as their introduction to gay romance and it was impossible to implement it everywhere else on time and also due to how costly and time consuming it may be. If this expansion was for another MMO, nobody would give a shit, or at least it wouldn't be overblown like it is right now.

I wouldn't be surprised that if DA3 and ME4 happen to have something that doesn't please everyone(which they will of course), no matter what it is, people will focus on it and say Bioware fucked up again. This is just the way Bioware threads are these days.

 

[Beerman462]

So the company that put homosexual relationships in Mass Effect 3 is now somehow bigoted?

 

[BurnOutBrighter]

Haha. So it IS "gay for pay".

 

[BattleMonkey]

Yeah how did that work out for other companies being called out in the media anbout their bigotry?

They are bigots because they are starting to work on adding sgr options that players have been asking for? They have clearly stated several times that this is just the start of the adding this to the game.

They had to add it to pve content and this is the first real pve content expansion for the game, so they are starting here and have more in the works with new companions to come in future content.

 

[spons]

A gay planet is as much as a parody on homosexuality as a certain movie that has been going around the internet for some time now.

 

[Schweinehund]

?

They didn't have an obligation to put in same sex romances. Running a microtransaction based mmo isn't a non profit operation. My guess is with the game's current state this was the most feasible option, and it is new content no matter what gender orientation it is.

#biowarecantwin

 

[BurnOutBrighter]

Tut tut, BioWare. I thought you knew that "how it looks" is just as important as "what it is".

 

[ezekielpacman]

Because not being able to fly is often debated in heated civil right discussions in the world we actually live in?

That is irrelevant though. They've explained the reason as being down to limitations (especially valid considering how hard the game tanked), yet due to the nature of the subject matter reasons have conveniently been thrown under the bus. Flying gryphons, ubiquitous gays - limitations denied us them both.

Maybe they shouldn't have bothered at all, but putting it on one planet seems pretty cool in lieu of omitting it altogether.

 

[Tacitus_]

Unbelievable. MMO adds a requested feature in a paid expansion. And just because said feature is gay relationships, people on both sides of the issue spew irrational hate at the devs for daring to implement said feature. One side hating on them implementing it at all and the other hating them for daring to ask money for new content.

 

[LQX]

Chewbacca's need love too Bioware.

 

[Burai]

Oh, EA, why did you get so greedy?

KOTOR III wouldn't have suffered from any of this nonsense.

 

[dragonbane]

Now, i wanted to comfort the poor guy without flirting with him, but knowing the usual approach of Bioware with their romances, i had to tell him to get over it. =/ This is the kind of dialogue where a neutral option would have been nice Bioware!

Yup the same thing happened to me. I really liked Cortez as a character but I knew if I was too "nice" to him the Bioware mechanic would trigger a sexual relationship response.

Yep, some people actually got all their romance options blocked by him by complete accident, just because they wanted to have a little fun without taking it too far lol
Watch this for some hilarity:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saj7FhxPEjI#t=4m17s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FzeQ4Ww3XE#t=7m34s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq9owZbTapE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmL_lxfWEio#t=4m40s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItIE27n7wtQ#t=5m13s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMOmjFMOdho#t=3m15s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTGd67lQUjs#t=0m40s


Javik: "You and the human pilot are...joined?" lol

 

[Rapstah]

Yep, some people actually got all their romance options blocked by him by complete accident, just because they wanted to have a little fun without taking it too far lol
Watch this for some hilarity:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saj7FhxPEjI#t=4m17s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FzeQ4Ww3XE#t=7m34s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq9owZbTapE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmL_lxfWEio#t=4m40s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItIE27n7wtQ#t=5m13s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMOmjFMOdho#t=3m15s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTGd67lQUjs#t=0m40s


Javik: "You and the human pilot are...joined?" lol

Oh my god (Youtube comments, last video):

Mass Effect 3 is a game based on Commander Shepard's efforts to convince his crew that he is 'totally NOT gay' and that 'he was just drunk'

Because that is literally what that guy is doing. I was just messing around, I didn't mean that!

 

[antitrop]

The reactions in this thread?

Ya, I missed this thread at its inception, but going back to Page 1 I can't believe what I'm reading here.

So must unjustified BioWare hate, in this instance. As if they have some kind of agenda.

 

[BabeSlayer]

Yep, some people actually got all their romance options blocked by him by complete accident, just because they wanted to have a little fun without taking it too far lol
Watch this for some hilarity:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saj7FhxPEjI#t=4m17s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FzeQ4Ww3XE#t=7m34s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq9owZbTapE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmL_lxfWEio#t=4m40s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItIE27n7wtQ#t=5m13s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMOmjFMOdho#t=3m15s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTGd67lQUjs#t=0m40s


Javik: "You and the human pilot are...joined?" lol

haven't LOL'd so hard in a long time. Guys laugh kills me.

 

[dragonbane]

haven't LOL'd so hard in a long time. Guys laugh kills me.

Haha. Literally the best laugh I ever heard from a LPer. Here is an amazing video, where a fan dubbed his commentary over the Joker. Sooo good at times:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOxag5fBgsU

 

[BeesEight]

What exactly would that entail? Literally not mentioning it as a bullet point? This is a topic that gets huge amounts of discussion on their forum, of course they're going to directly address it at some capacity.

My point was mostly directed at the quoted poster. I don't think BioWare approaches the inclusion of romance options as a binary "will this net us more money or not" market breakdown.

I dunno, i just didn't trust their romance system.

But maybe you're right, even if i always choose the renegade option with him, when i eventually see him at the Citadel's bar, i still have the option to tell him how sexy i am or some shit like that. :lol

From my experience with their romance system you generally have to be continually nice to NPCs and their last games I played there was a very obvious point where you could pursue a romance option. Their earlier works were more prone to "accidental romances" but definitely by Dragon Age if you were getting in someone's cot you either had to be extraordinarily dense or actively pursuing it.

(Though there were some pretty hilarious threads on the BioWare forums of "angry" players who were "tricked" into sex by Zevran.)

 

[DocSeuss]

Veezy's update makes perfect sense, but my assumption, based on experience, is that those gay romances will be poorly written.

If there is an outrage, presumably it should be directed at how Bioware consistently makes gay relationships look really stupid (the only not-stupid relationship I can think of was that one dude in Mass Effect 3, but that wasn't playable).

From my experience with their romance system you generally have to be continually nice to NPCs and their last games I played there was a very obvious point where you could pursue a romance option. Their earlier works were more prone to "accidental romances" but definitely by Dragon Age if you were getting in someone's cot you either had to be extraordinarily dense or actively pursuing it.

(Though there were some pretty hilarious threads on the BioWare forums of "angry" players who were "tricked" into sex by Zevran.)

I took a knife that fixes mirrors (WHAT?) from elfgirl in Dragon Age 2, maxing out her angry meter... so somehow we had sex, rather than her leaving my party (WHICH WAS MY GOAL).

I almost had sex with Insaneguy when Bioware decided to give me two <3 options and one homophobic option. The game seemed to really, really want me to have sex with Anders, because it was either "yes, let's bang," or "oh god, ew, gay people, amirite!?" I think it was trying to say "no reasonable person would say no," but judging by the hearts sitting next to the other options, it was going to end in sex.

Despite hating the elfgirl's guts, I somehow felt responsible for her, and oddly, desirous to gigglesquee glomp her. So I picked the homophobic option, not because I wanted to, but because it was the only option that prevented me from cheating on the elf whose head I was determined to nom on. Or something. I don't really know. Bioware's writing has magical powers.

I figured that since I was already a mass murderer in video games, selecting a homophobic choice didn't really reflect all much on me, especially since I was personally angry at Bioware for somehow putting me in the situation. It did feel weird, since I was playing as a Paragon, but then I remembered that the game's writing was batshit insane. I think some Bioware writer must really be into Yaoi or something, and was so desperate to make this occur in everyone's game, that he/she/it made that situation occur because they figured everyone would be too nice--too invested in the story and their character--to pick the homophobic option.

Well, fuck you, Bioware. When I get mad at games, I pick the stupidest possible dialog bits. I'm not invested enough to care about what I'm saying is socially acceptable or not. I pick the dumbest options possible because it makes me feel like I'm spiting idiotic writers. I also picked the "I want to be a dragon" dialog.

I guess what I'm saying is that accidental sex in Bioware games is definitely possible, either because they're bad writers or horrible ones. I'm still not sure.

 

[Kunan]

Is it only one new planet for the expo, explaining why it's all done for one planet? I find no reason to think that Bioware of all companies has some anti-gay agenda.

Either way, this title (and the articles it contained) gave me a great laugh. Free-to-gay is my new favorite gaming term.

 

[HarryDemeanor]

Is it only one new planet for the expo, explaining why it's all done for one planet? I find no reason to think that Bioware of all companies has some anti-gay agenda.

Either way, this title (and the articles it contained) gave me a great laugh. Free-to-gay is my new favorite gaming term.

It's only one new planet.

 

[Kunan]

It's only one new planet.

That makes this backlash over the 'gay ghetto' planet even more hilarious.

 

[BeesEight]

I guess what I'm saying is that accidental sex in Bioware games is definitely possible, either because they're bad writers or horrible ones. I'm still not sure.

Oh wow, that's pretty funny. Well, I guess Dragon Age 2 was shit mountain in more ways than one. The games where you really had to work for your romances were Jade Empire, KotOR, Dragon Age 1, Mass Effect and Baldur's Gate. I stopped playing after those but from my experience it was pretty hard to accidentally a romance with your companions.

Granted, they had other problems like the only options sometimes being romance or total asshole but this is BioWare we're talking about.

 

[HK-47]

Oh wow, that's pretty funny. Well, I guess Dragon Age 2 was shit mountain in more ways than one. The games where you really had to work for your romances were Jade Empire, KotOR, Dragon Age 1, Mass Effect and Baldur's Gate. I stopped playing after those but from my experience it was pretty hard to accidentally a romance with your companions.

Granted, they had other problems like the only options sometimes being romance or total asshole but this is BioWare we're talking about.

You barely worked for your romances in any of those games.

 

[BeesEight]

You barely worked for your romances in any of those games.

Well, it wasn't a sudden "I love you hero, let's bang!"

And, actually, some of them were work. Jaheira and (lesbian) Silk Fox I remember requiring some finicky requirements.

 

[B-Dex]

Then suddenly omg gay relationships are only one time flings you pick up at a seedy bar!

But that's what these new ones are? They aren't companions. It isn't much different if they have a quest for you or not.

 

[Replicant]

On top of that, Bioware's forums are also ablaze with the fury of those Star Wars fans who feel that homosexuality has no place in the fictitious universe, calling for a return to intergalactic family values, albeit ones which are happy to allow inter-species coupling, genocide and the ruthless pursuit of absolute power at any cost.

I love this. Those hypocritical bigots sound really ridiculous when it comes to their warped perspective.

As for the gay planet thing, I don't think Bioware/EA was purposely being bigoted. They're just not thinking/planning far ahead (as per usual) and a bit opportunistic and lazy in providing the solution to the request. Not a grave sin in my book.

Just do it better next time Bioware/EA. And don't listen to the bigots and just include same-sex characters right from the beginning.

 

[DocSeuss]

Oh wow, that's pretty funny. Well, I guess Dragon Age 2 was shit mountain in more ways than one. The games where you really had to work for your romances were Jade Empire, KotOR, Dragon Age 1, Mass Effect and Baldur's Gate. I stopped playing after those but from my experience it was pretty hard to accidentally a romance with your companions.

Granted, they had other problems like the only options sometimes being romance or total asshole but this is BioWare we're talking about.

I don't think I've ever not had to max out a meter in the games. It's just that in Dragon Age 2, even maxing "Rivalry" leads to sex. It's like you can't not have sex in their games.

In a time where everyone should be fairly puritanical (on account of their society being fairly agrarian and far more class-restricted, and such societies having a tendency not to be quite so free about sex since people tended to die a bit more easily, so culture emphasized making as many babies as humanly possible), the way Dragon Age games handle things like sex and whatnot just seems downright... well, it's like they're sticking anachronistic values in a world that wouldn't support them. Granted, I'm not an anthropologist, but I have studied a tad about things just to help me with my fiction. If players ran across any promiscuous characters at all (regardless of orientation), those characters are more likely to be from the nobility class that doesn't have to worry much about survival since other people are doing it for them. Of course, that's where obsession with heirs comes into play, so you'd still have people trying to make as many babies as possible, meaning lots of heterosexual relationships.

Now I'm thinking how I could pretty much single-handedly write a more interesting approach to Denerim than anything Bioware did.

 

[Patryn]

I don't think I've ever not had to max out a meter in the games. It's just that in Dragon Age 2, even maxing "Rivalry" leads to sex. It's like you can't not have sex in their games.

In a time where everyone should be fairly puritanical (on account of their society being fairly agrarian and far more class-restricted, and such societies having a tendency not to be quite so free about sex since people tended to die a bit more easily, so culture emphasized making as many babies as humanly possible), the way Dragon Age games handle things like sex and whatnot just seems downright... well, it's like they're sticking anachronistic values in a world that wouldn't support them. Granted, I'm not an anthropologist, but I have studied a tad about things just to help me with my fiction. If players ran across any promiscuous characters at all (regardless of orientation), those characters are more likely to be from the nobility class that doesn't have to worry much about survival since other people are doing it for them. Of course, that's where obsession with heirs comes into play, so you'd still have people trying to make as many babies as possible, meaning lots of heterosexual relationships.

Now I'm thinking how I could pretty much single-handedly write a more interesting approach to Denerim than anything Bioware did.

The Rivalry thing was likely because of how people liked to have Morrigan in DA in their party, but she was all "Let's kick all the puppies!" and if you did nice things, she got pissed. So they wanted to create a system where you could do stuff to piss off your companion and you'd still get some bonuses.

As far as I know, it's impossible to make party members leave in DA2, unlike in DA1.

And I'll admit that I've reevealuated Anders and his dialogue choices and seeming railroading of romance after I read something David Gaidar wrote, pointing out that Isabela does the same thing to female Hawkes, but nobody has a problem with that.