BruceVC

Yes. That comparison makes the same point as mine did. And I'm not really concerned with arguing the semantics of what is and isn't romance options. So, even though lots of people would say "But that isn't romance," I prefer to simply take an objective look at what can and cannot be done with interpersonal relationships between characters in a story, and go from there. To put it simply, the problem with "romance options" in RPGs, typically, ISN'T that the player is allowed to make decisions that affect emotional attachment and personal relationships with other characters, but that the game completely isolates that as its own sort of minigame. I mean, take the following situation: You arrive in a town and are ushered off to baths and accommodations by rather flirty servants/staff (you and your whole party), and you keep saying "No no, we really must be on our way," and yet they keep insisting you partake of their hospitality. Hey, your characters like all these pleasantries, right? You've been traveling for 3 days, and haven't had a meal like they're offering you in weeks. And, why NOT just go have some fun with willing people who are offering, eh? So, you have the choice of urging everyone to leave, or taking them up on their offer to indulge a bit in food, wine, and company. Annnnnnd it turns out there's actually something horribly wrong there, and it was all an illusion, and now you're imprisoned and they're feeding off your souls (you know, the ole Siren/succubus/seduce-and-feed scenario). And design it such that your decisions actually affect how bad of a situation you find yourself in, or how the story of that town unfolds and/or how you get to handle the situation. Maybe if you urge everyone to stay and enjoy themselves, you fail to get everyone out alive? *shrug*. That situation's totally fine, right? That's just a story, that happens to involve sex/temptation. But, have something just as meaningful/reactive that involves emotions between your characters, and it's suddenly the devil. Now, there could just be a town where you can purely optionally go visit some brothels and stuff, for pretty much no reason except to go "huh huh huh" to yourself or laugh at the funny dialog, and THAT, in comparison to a scenario in which your interaction with the brothel actually affects the unfolding of the story, would be just as crap as the way romance options are usually implemented in games in comparison to how they COULD be implemented in games. Heck, Morrigan in DA:O... even if you're just mean to her the whole time, she comes to you with a proposal to have your baby, because she actually has some kind of agenda for your DNA or something that doesn't even have anything to do with emotional attachment or "romance". Heck, I think even if you "romance" her, she still has the same motivation for wanting to produce a child of yours, and it's not just "Yay, you people who like romance can feel rewarded by achieving child-bearing desires in the person you chose to make fall in love with you! You win the dating sim!" That's about the best point I can make for that. Ignoring, of course, the fact that I don't think anyone still has any idea what the hell the point of her having your child is in relation to the ongoing DA story. OR the fact that, in the expansion, she somehow, unexplainably has your baby even if you don't impregnate her. Which might be explainable... she is magic, ya know... *shrug*. But, the point is, the story uses a pretty romancey thing (sex, impregnation) in a way completely separate from relationship-building mechanics. Good post Lephys, my character would definitely fall for the whole "succubus please rest in the Inn" subterfuge

Choose your battles Nonek, you can't seriously be getting upset around the realism factor of character costumes in a fantasy RPG

That sort of child-like naivety is just adorable. Really? I watch interviews with politicians all the time and that guy has one of the worst perspectives around gay rights I have ever seen. I have seen worse, in Uganda they have just passed a law where they have criminalized homosexual acts. On CNN they interviewed the minister responsible for the legislation around this and during the interview they asked him " how can you pass a law that contradicts the human rights of people and what the African Charter for Human Rights stand for, especially considering the fact Uganda signed up to the AU charter" He responded calmly " he doesn't think gay people have any rights "

I, in contrast, am not. Yeah, the Orlesian fashion not related to the ****ty Felicia Day as Herself Mary Sue Bioware Fangasming Because Felicia Day is in Their Game character was pretty Elizabethan. Agx aren't you a big Cosplayer? What's your opinion on those DA costumes, I want the view of someone I consider an expert

I think Vivienne is smoking hot, I am looking forward to the Romance options around her

We don't know anything about Oby other than the fact he is playing a nationalistic caricature, so if anything the question is too serious for someone who has shown no real inclination to be a member of this community. Its a reasonable question and definitely not "off limits". I also want to understand how far right his social and political allegiances are

Maybe you shouldn't use a pirated version of the game ....... It happens to paid-for versions. For some reason, Origin installs DA:O that is not up to date and won't allow access to all the DLC you paid for. Babaganoosh is correct, patch 1.05 will fix it. Okay, that's interesting information. Thanks

I think those ladies are very pretty

That's an excellent question and one I want to know Oby's answer to

You saved me having to make a post, you have summarized my view 100 %, well done young grasshopper But now I know what Cultist looks like

That was funny, I think its fair to say the AI isn't perfect. But its not enough to detract from the overall enjoyment of the game

FALSE. Unless of course you make romance an out-of-the-blue option after 5 dialogues without any buildup like BioWare. If you want romance you need to pay; * Writer for a full year (say, 10K) * Actual gameplay dev(s) to implent said writing (triggers, script, writing) (another 10K) * If aside from just the writing you want more (say, a quest)... add 30k minimal (for a short one) Total cost; 50k (and as stated, this is a low estimate). Feel free to pay OE that for the romances. I won't stop you... but I doubt you will. I would pledge towards a Romance fund, I promise you I would.

Alright, I gotta stop there, I don't know what's with people on the internet, but trying to justify adding romances in with Science! is just completely silly. It's like the Talimancers who tried to use Science! to find how what their waifu's sweat tasted like. Well we can't seem to get you guys to want Romance through the obvious reasons like deeper interaction with your party members and a more immersive RPG experience so you force us to turn to Science...yes Science will reveal the truth !!!!

Not at all, but I do have an issue with comments that are offensive and derogatory. I'm weird like that ....

Funny thing is he is wasting bandwidth that you feel the need to contribute towards, so please stop wasting bandwidth with your images. The decision may be over but the debate around Romance in RPG is eternal and interesting

Which actually is a pretty terrible statement for a developer that just had his major project paid by those devoted fans he is so easily dismissing now. Statements like this reduce the chance to get money for new projects dignificantly... not becausr of the romance but because of the bland disrespect towadds the fans. If fans pay your project you better listen to their wishes because they are basically your one and only investor.... telling them that you will ignlre them even if they all have the same opinion on a topic seems ... well Hell no, I'd hate to see the day we get fan made games with the amount of idiots about. Don't think about yourself like that Ocelot, I'm confidant you could make a good Mod for PoE

You are going to wait a while, as the devs are not even sure if they are doing a sequel to dishonored next. http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/08/15/dishonored-developer-discusses-next-project Good article, I wish for an Arx Fatalis 2. I am going to buy this game on GOG so I can play it again, I never finished it the first time because back when I played it there was something wrong with the CD and I couldn't get another copy

Of course its a weird place, why do you think Malc lives there? That beer truck is pure genius

"seemingly benevolent Granny Rags" Is this through a Mod when you say you've become Granny Rags?

you seem to assume "Forum Rules" are something universal. Absolutely and I also think that any forum that is in the public domain should have forum rules and etiquette that is enforced. You can't ask some people to do and say the right thing and assume they do it, that's why in some cases we need Moderators.

Majek it seem like you didn't understand the gameplay and design choices of Dishonored, it happens sometimes. There was nothing incongruous about Blink, it was a perfectly acceptable ability to use as an assassin. I used it all the time

That's fine, I'm not going to worry about it then or participate in discussions on RPGCodex because I can see myself getting very annoyed The only reason I raised it was because I was under the impression that RPGCodex was the realm of the hardcore RPG elitists and I assumed that would mean they could conduct themselves in a mature way without being derogatory. I'm also surprised that the Mods there allow people to talk like that, I also doubt they have many female members

Well I have to share something, I have never been to the RPGCodex forums before and I went now for the first time to read the comments around Obsidians decision not to have Romance. All I can say is I'm shocked by the rudeness and bigoted comments from some members. Sexist comments and jokes about rape seem normal there. There are several people on these forums who I respect immensely who are active members there and I know don't think like that but seriously don't the Moderators on RPGCodex enforce forum rules? Or am I being oversensitive....

That's as far as I also got Exactly same happened to me the first time I played the game, stopped playing before finishing the first level as it really didn't seem like much and wondered why the game was so praised. Year or two passed and I continued seeing constant praise until I had to go back to it to see the hell is up with it. Now the game is pretty much in my top 5 games of all times permanently. It really is one of the best games ever and you really should give it another chance unless the genre isn't your thing. That's an interesting post and I'll keep that in mind, but I do think this is about the whole genre enjoyment

Maybe you shouldn't use a pirated version of the game .......