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Prince of Wales

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  1. Prince of Wales
    I'm surprised this is still kicking. Clearly the only thing to match the passion of promancers is that of antimancers. But seriously, what is the problem with romance, as in, the concept itself? It's a priceless source of storytelling ideas, even if the implementation is lacking more often than not. I don't think they would necessarily be a bad thing as long as they weren't Bioware-like. I can see exactly the kind of crowd that would attract. It's not the promancers that I'm worried about (most of them are merely very enthusiastic about something, and there are worse sins to be had) but the social justice warriors. I shudder to think of it. Maybe you're right
  2. Prince of Wales
    Good. There's been enough discrimination against people with hazel eyes. I don't deny it, but again — not my type of thing. I like games that have i) a compelling story, ii) dynamic gameplay, and/or iii) the possibility to customize the main character in a significant way. Lots of combat doesn't do anything for me, by itself. Not even lots of really good combat. I just remembered. IWD is the same place from The Dark Elf novels, right?
  3. Prince of Wales
    but BG II is also dungeon crawling. only it has filler quests in between dungeons in the first half of the game Maybe so, but if more recent BioWare games are anything to go by, I would expect BG2 to have more dialogue? I have been given to understand IWD is only dungeon crawling, and that's where the problem comes from.
  4. Prince of Wales
    I admit I haven't played either of those games. They were before my time, so to say. But what I've heard of Icewind Dale doesn't make it sound appealing at all. Dungeon crawling is really not my thing. I am more inclined to take a makeshift story and makeshift characters over what most games have these days, e.g. nothing at all. That's a big part of the reason why I can enjoy BioWare games and the Starcraft II campaigns. To be honest, my own approach to roleplaying games is largely inconsistent. I've heard The Witcher 2 has storytelling that puts BioWare to shame, but I couldn't get into the game because I find Geralt (I think the "g" stands for Generic) boring as a brick. BioWare games, on the other hand, have character customization, so even if their characters may not be great, mine have a chance at it. However, I really enjoyed Deus Ex: Human Revolution, even though it had a fixed protagonist. I guess I just found it a more dynamic game, and its premise was interesting enough to get me hooked where The Witcher 2 didn't. And maybe this is just a matter of perception, but Jensen felt like more of his personality was left to the player, not only through dialogue but also gameplay. So that's why I like the cheesy, cliche, unoriginal BioWare games but can't get into IWD or TW.
  5. Prince of Wales
    Then you lack imagination. And some basic mythological knowledge.
  6. Prince of Wales
    I think your comparison is off. (Or actually, NWN_babaYaga's comparison. But he's completely wrong anyway.) There aren't really any real world adventurers like the ones in fantasy stories. Fantasy stories have always been influenced by epic poems and the like. It just doesn't work to say "an adventurer is like a crusader". An adventurer is like a Greek hero, if anything. And yes, they thought about romance all the time! Ulysses wanted to get back to his wife. Perseus romanced Andromeda. Orpheus went to the underworld to save Eurydice. And so on and so on. But this romance was also part of their main storyline. Anyway. Don't compare adventurers to crusaders, it won't work. Oh, I agree. I was merely questioning the realism argument. The idea that a band of dragonslayers couldn't possibly be thinking about getting laid is hilarious. Saying crusaders were as chaste as the crosses they were named after would suggest, even more so. On the other matter, I'm not sure what I dread the most. Poorly written romance sidequests are bad, but a forced love interest in a RPG? I didn't get far in TW2 because I kept wondering why did I have to stand that redheaded bore. Although admittedly, having to stand that albino bore was even worse.
  7. Prince of Wales
    I don't think the divide between consensual and non-consensual sex was as great or clearly defined before the concept of human rights took hold like, two or three centuries ago, tops? ETA: I apologize for the double post. It's kind of hard to multi-quote on a phone.
  8. Prince of Wales
    Actually, it would seem one common secondary motivation for early settlers of the New World was getting native girls in the sack (the primary motivation would have been wealth). I have no doubt crusaders wouldn't have missed a chance with those exotic Arab women. What do you think went on when a city was sacked? And that's hardly the only way they could have gotten it. Getting laid is one of the oldest, strongest, most basic drives of the human race. It kind of has to, for it to has gotten this far. If you look at human history, you will see it pretty much anywhere, especially when it comes to adventurers Way to romanticize rape.Did I? I was rather aiming for the opposite. My point is that real world "adventurers" were selfish jerks who were in it for the booty (gained mostly through theft) and the other kind of booty, often gained without the other party's consent, yes.
  9. Prince of Wales
    Actually, it would seem one common secondary motivation for early settlers of the New World was getting native girls in the sack (the primary motivation would have been wealth). I have no doubt crusaders wouldn't have missed a chance with those exotic Arab women. What do you think went on when a city was sacked? And that's hardly the only way they could have gotten it. Getting laid is one of the oldest, strongest, most basic drives of the human race. It kind of has to, for it to has gotten this far. If you look at human history, you will see it pretty much anywhere, especially when it comes to adventurers
  10. Prince of Wales
    Hard to tell. Funny, I haven't heard a lot of romance talk with regards to DA2 or ME3. People rarely seem to talk about those games for anything other than remember how bad they were.
  11. Prince of Wales
    Interestingly enough, expressing a character's sexuality has nothing to do with romance, and I have no idea why people bring the former as an argument in favor of the presence of the latter.
  12. Prince of Wales
    For most of my life I lived in a communist country where they just wouldn't stop droning about it. I'd say I'm fairly familiar with the "opposing side's claim". No offense, but I remain skeptical, to put it mildly.
  13. Prince of Wales
    Using increased emphasis on romances as a sign if their "decline" is a but curcukar, IMO, since that emphasis is placed there mostly by media/snarky gamers. For example, I don't think a romance has been morecore to a Bioware story than Bastila was in Kotor... Me2 has a wrong type of emphasis on romance in the npc stories due to locking out character interaction and progression outside romances, but it's something they did pick up on and fix for me3. Truly, the whole "BioWare focuses too much on romances" is more than a bit of hyperbole. Romances are still a tiny, optional part of every game, and arguably their presence isn't any larger than it used to. Hell, some people who work at BioWare have expressed frustration that their fans won't shut up about it and bring it up in every situation, instead of, you know, focusing on other parts of the game. There is much legitimate criticism to throw at BioWare. Their romances being cliche, cheesy and fan service is one of them. Their romances being the focus of the game, not so much.
  14. Prince of Wales
    Wait, people are still expecting originality from BioWare? Oh, you poor things That's like going to a Transformers film expecting more than flashy special effects and eye candy. I don't think BioWare's characters are meant to be deep or complex or original or anything of the sort. They're just supposed to be endearing, in a rather simplistic way. You either set your expectations low and try to enjoy it for what it is, or just drop the whole thing and go looking for something else. Both are equally valid approaches.
  15. Prince of Wales
    Meh. Never seen the appeal myself. I am picky enough about my friends that I don't have that many or that big of a gap between how much I like them. In what would a "bromance" be different from a friendship? My previous experiences with the phenomena in video games ended up with me being forced to stick close to characters I didn't care much about, so I feel rather... skeptical about the notion and the cheesiness usually attached to it. Ah, but romantic love is just like platonic love, only with an extra layer of sex! What's not to like? ETA: Unless we're talking video games. Then romantic love is just like platonic love, but with higher chances of taking a deep cheese dip.
  16. Prince of Wales
    To be fair, there is roleplaying potential in the general concept of "romances". The implementation is usually terrible, but that doesn't mean the basic premise has no value from a storytelling and roleplaying standpoint. I don't think "romances" are intrinsically any worse (or better) than friendships or any other type of relationship, despite failing to hit the mark much more often. I'd be more inclined to blame that tendency to the writers and they're preconceived notion of what "romance" should be like rather than the concept itself. It's hardly a video game only problem, by the way. And it's not just good writers who fall for it, really. To me that Chris Avellone interview where he was questioned on the topic actually suggests in a really ironic way that he himself is affected by the same attitude.
  17. Prince of Wales
    Massive wealth inequality, poverty, huge incarceration rates (especially for minorities), sexism, racism, slavery, child-labour, exploitation of the third world, imperialist wars... Its all still there. I will never understand why this is a problem. It seems to me it just stems from general pettiness and envy: "I don't want to be filthy rich, I want everyone to be filthy poor!". Which is what the "dictatorship of the proletariat" is all about, really. Making everyone equally miserable is the only way you can make everyone equal at all. And it even fails to do that. It's a flawed concept. It shows a remarkable lack of understanding of human nature. Communism, collectivism, equality of opportunity and similar concepts would only work in a world where humans were ants. It would be incredibly intellectually dishonest to compare the Soviet Union in its supposed "glory days" to your standard modern Western liberal democracy. At its time of greatest successes it was attempting rapid industrialisation, undergoing and recovering from a famine, prepping for a war with a major fascist state, fighting a world war with a fascist state and then recovering and re-industrialising after said war (in which it bore most of the damage). It'd be tough to live through that no matter what the political system. But here's the thing: you're measuring a system's viability by its accomplishments in the international arena. I examine its desirability from what it offers to or detracts from the individual. And while totalitarian systems may be effective when you're trying to become a world power, they do so at the expense of their citizens.
  18. Prince of Wales
    Is that joke still funny? Was that ever remotely true? Or is it just in the US? Americans. taking vol serious, about anything, is what is funny. don't be that guy. is not your fault, 'cause chances are you don't know better, but vol reason is not necessarily human reason. HA! Good Fun! Don't worry, it didn't go over my head. Which is why I wondered whether that joke was still funny. Not upset. Just curious. Honest.
  19. Prince of Wales
    A few things: Meaningful, deep interactions are not restricted to romance. That your character cannot engage in romantic interactions with companions doesn't mean he/she won't be able to express his/her sexuality and/or emotions in different ways. Being unable to form long term relationships does not make someone asexual.
  20. Prince of Wales
    Is that joke still funny? Was that ever remotely true? Or is it just in the US? Americans.
  21. Prince of Wales
    By the late 80's the "mainstream left" had already been in disarray for decades. Throughout the Stalin era the Soviet Union represented a successful alternative model that was rapidly rising and showing signs of actually surpassing both the U.S and Britain. Successful does not equal desirable. After all, success means different things for different people.
  22. Prince of Wales
    .... whut? In other words, love/romance is just a subset of both friendship and sexuality that combines aspects of the two, as far as I'm concerned.
  23. Prince of Wales
    Love is a subjective concept. It is about whatever you want it to be. For me, it's just that section of the Venn diagram where friendship and sexuality overlap. No need to come up with grandiose definitions.
  24. Prince of Wales
    That is the issue. Well written romances can be great, but most of the ones you find these days in any form of media are passable at best. It's hardly a video game only problem. You see it in novels, in movies, in TV shows, in comic books, and pretty much any and every storytelling medium... ...and personally I believe this is one of the main reasons why. Love is awfully overrated. Or maybe it is better to say it is so often given strange definitions that come stuffed with cheese. Victorians weren't satisfied just with ruining fairies and fairy tales, no, they had to come up with this "romantic love" nonsense and curse their descendants to a hell of terrible storytelling. Oh, well.
  25. Prince of Wales
    I don't think whether you are "impressed" or not by your run of the mill romance plots has anything to do with your actual life situation. Stereotypes are mere generalizations, and those are rarely right. I doubt it has anything to do with who gets the most attention either. Quality is quite a subjective concept. And that's the thing, right? While I find romances in any storytelling media to have an annoying tendency to fall into cheesiness, cliches, poor writing, and similar curses... Well, let's just say some people have taken quite a liking to cheese, hmm?
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