BruceVC

So? None of the characters are real, and if your suggestion is that we should cater MORE to the mostly men that will not pay attention to her backstory nor even finish the game.... You really seem to be giving this impression, however. I, as a gamer, disagree. At which point, who's responsibility is it for not looking deeper? If you want to go full on social justice warrior, how many people have judged us for our geeky hobbies without looking deeper. In high school I loved video games and basketball... I would suspect it's no surprise that the basketball player was the more visible character for my peers. Why is this different "because we're real people" and at what point is it a moment of self-reflection. Even if a character reads as "the one who likes sex," part of me just straight up reverts to: "So what?" As you find my defense "it's a part of her character" weak, I have to admit I find the "she isn't a real person" not particularly compelling either. What you have said to me is that "A woman that likes to, and wants to have sex, is still just the superficial character and accomplishes nothing. Since she's not a real person, " So, how does one add a character that likes to, and wants to have sex? I'm not even thinking for men or for women. Isabella didn't work for you, that's going to happen which . Should we not write her for the people that DO like her character, and did involve her backstory? Again, it comes back to: should we NOT add game content simply because some people may superficially gloss over it? If so, isn't that exactly why we hang out on Obsidian's message boards, because we want them to make games that are not glossed over and explore things that many people couldn't be arsed with? Well said Alan, I agree 100 % QFT !!!

I'll admit, Ryan Gosling is definitely sexy. Yes he is good looking and charismatic. Nothing wrong with being honest

Kaine I am going to vouch for this game, that should be enough for you to confirm the quality? No. Difficult crowd, okay I'll wait till I play the game before I give it a ringing endorsement

Kaine I am going to vouch for this game, that should be enough for you to confirm the quality?

You've raised a good point and worth discussing. Namibia and Botswana are in a different league to Zimbabwe. In fact they are examples of the future of Africa and how it can achieve its full potential both economically and socially. The points you mentioned are important from an African perspective as they encourage foreign investment and this is something that all countries in Africa need. Another main difference between those countries and Zim is that those countries governments haven't stayed in power by being anti-Western and anti-European. In fact they have generally made the right decisions for there countries not for political expediency but rather what would benefit them in the long term economically. In Africa certain social challengers are ubiquitous, like the redistribution of more land to black Africans. But how African governments handle these issues are very important to how the world perceives those governments. Namibia and Botswana haven't made local Europeans feel unwelcome and have consistently positioned there importance in rebuilding and improving there respective economies. So in summary both Namibia and Botswana are doing really well for themselves and in my opinion are exactly how certain other African countries should be governing themselves

I watched the video from TheBadComedian and although it's blatantly obvious he is indeed a very bad comedian, he has a lot of valid points. I haven't played it myself, but it seems CoH2 is roughly equal to a game about WW2 from a British perspective which only features planning an invasion of Narvik, bombing civilians in Germany to smithereens and sending underequipped colonial troops to their death. He showed some points of the game which were definitely ahistorical, and more which were decidedly mendacious. Especially the misplaced Vasilevsky quote made me cringe. One point he tried to make against the game which I don't agree on was the summary execution of Polish partisans with an implied conservative political allegiance. I am absolutely certain that the Soviet Union would do anything in their power to eliminate counter-revolutionary guerillas in own as well as occupied lands. Furthermore, Soviet penal battalions were probably very awful, unlike what he says in the video. I find due to your excellent understanding of history it is difficult to dispute what you say

Yeah he does have a certain look to him

Just remember, you lose a party member and they are gone forever. You will have to replace them with a NPC from the Adventurers Hall and they wont have banter/quests/personality. Holy Smoke Gfted1, you sure know how to make me worried. I could potentially lose someone I would be Romancing !!!! And that would be a crisis of monumental proportions And wouldn't that make the playthrough more memorable and powerful? Well it would make my choices and the combat more significant, so yes there is that advantage @ Others I'm old school, I prefer the thought of anyone I Romance to be alive. The thought of necrophilia would be boring....dead boring actually

Just remember, you lose a party member and they are gone forever. You will have to replace them with a NPC from the Adventurers Hall and they wont have banter/quests/personality. Holy Smoke Gfted1, you sure know how to make me worried. I could potentially lose someone I would be Romancing !!!! And that would be a crisis of monumental proportions

*wraps the tentacles of optimism around you* *drags you deep into the muck of anticipation* Funny That's how I remember DA, no real death unless the whole party is defeated. But are you sure you can't die in PE, that concerns me IIRC, death in PE only occurs with certain option boxes checked, otherwise you take a knee except in cases of a TPW. I know Ironman offers permadeath and only 1 save that will self delete but I think the one setting down from that (Trial of Iron?) also offers death but you can reload. There is no resurrection magic in PE so death is permanent. Okay thanks, I just want the combat to have a level of risk apart from where the whole party has to die. So in PE I'll probably play with certain settings to get the optimum balance of challange vs enjoyment

That's how I remember DA, no real death unless the whole party is defeated. But are you sure you can't die in PE, that concerns me

Depends what is meant by hot. For me it's more about facial expression than visible skin, or something about a pose. I do find forearms/arms extra sexy, so those Avenger posters of Hawkeye were nice. Also, not too "buffed" and needz to look at least close to 30. Not into the "really young" look. lol...Cillian Murphy. Yeah, he's an odd duck - often "creepy" but on the other hand, kinda hot on-screen, because of the intense gaze. I don't net-surf for random "handsome dudes" at all, and I'm not going to start now, so all I'd have is famous people references. But... Depends what is meant by hot. For me it's more about facial expression than visible skin, or something about a pose. I do find forearms/arms extra sexy, so those Avenger posters of Hawkeye were nice. Also, not too "buffed" and needz to look at least close to 30. Not into the "really young" look. lol...Cillian Murphy. Yeah, he's an odd duck - often "creepy" but on the other hand, kinda hot on-screen, because of the intense gaze. I don't net-surf for random "handsome dudes" at all, and I'm not going to start now, so all I'd have is famous people references. But... Personally I am also interested in what you and other ladies on the forum consider are attractive guys. Obviously men and women would see this differently but it will be insightful nonetheless

Tale when someone like you gets positive about a game it bodes well for the game as I believe you can influence others in the right way as your opinion is respected. I tend to be positive about most games so my view doesn't carry the same credibility as yours

That is really good news. I don't want auto-resurrect or health regeneration unless I sleep. I hope they include that as a feature

I support this thread for any member that wants to see cute or interesting men Also there is nothing wrong with wanting to improve your image as a man so we may get some good tips Good call Oby

Wow, people still sunbath? You guys haven't heard of melanoma. In countries that have loads of sun, like South Africa, most people just don't sunbath anymore.

Are you not worried about running into something similar to the Abominable Snowman? I have it on good authority the snowman is terrified of running into Woldan. Nep you funny

Here's the thing though: she is not a real person, so "because she wants to be" is not a real reason. I get that they gave her motivation and backstory and she's a modern (medieval) independent woman in control of her sexuality, but the reality - like, in the real world, reality - is that she is a video game character. And as a video game character, in a game played mostly by men, many of whom will never finish the game or pay much attention to her backstory, she is a scantily-clad woman who has big boobs and talks about having sex A LOT. I am not saying such a character should not exist or cannot exist, and I am not saying there was not an honest attempt to write her intelligently. But, fundamentally, you can't get around the fact that her function in the game is more sexual object for the player than sexual being. She reads to the player as "the one with the boobs who likes sex." Bioware is trying to have their cake and eat it too with this character by subverting expectations - but those expectations are never actually subverted. She basically still *is* that superficial character the player imagined. You can tell the player "Well, but it's HER wanting sex, not you" but this is meaningless in a game where you essentially control the outcome. All of the potential romantic partners in any Bioware game "want" the player to the same degree as any other - that is, to the degree the player selects the "heart" dialogue choice. This idea could work, maybe, in a game where you didn't have one single PC avatar and you were controlling (or not controlling) all of the characters equally. But in the traditional Bioware cRPG formula, Isabela still reads (to me at least) as a pretty awful presence in the game. YMMV This is a very good post, and one that sums up my objections to the character nicely (full disclosure: I never finished DA2). The other thing that bothers me about this standard defense of her character is even if we grant she is a liberated free spirit or whatever, she simply talks about sex too much. I mean, she talks about it all the time. This isn't a woman who is comfortable with her sexuality -- as written, she comes across as completely crazy and irritating with the constant sex talk. That part of her personality was completely oversold by the writer(s). Isabella is not a believable portrayal of a woman who is comfortable with her sexuality, or simply even a woman who just likes sex. She comes across as a sex-crazed lunatic with an annoying habit of making almost every conversation about sex. It's ridiculous. Also, I think it is disingenuous for BioWare (or any other company) to point to the legitimately disgusting behavior of some people who have a problem with LGBT folks, and use these clowns to dismiss every criticism of DA2 as grounded in bigotry. The average age of a gamer in the US is over 30 years of age. Most people who play these games are adults, not stupid teenagers trolling on the internet. And like most adults of my generation, a good chunk of these people have absolutely no issue with LGBT people, and many of us take very seriously issues like civil rights, bullying, and discrimination against LGBTs. And that's just the US -- what about all other places where BioWare sells their games? Are we supposed to believe that every Frenchie who disliked DA2 did so because he or she is secretly a closeted homophobe? Absurd. So when someone points out that hey, maybe spend less time on making every flavor of romance with your oversexed characters and more time developing decent maps and enemy AI, you might want to listen. I don't give a flying eff who I screw -- or who you allow me or anyone else to screw -- in a video game. Really, I don't. Throw it all in there! But please don't do it and point to yourselves as "pushing the boundaries" and expect that kind of social justice cred to erase the fact that you churned out a crap game in 18 months. You make some good points but I don't agree with your assessment of Isabela. I found her character to be very believable. She oozed self-confidence and had clear objectives. She also supported other ladies in the party. I also only remember having sex with her near the end of the game after I had built a relationship with her. So I fail to see how this made her a "sex-crazed lunatic"

Are you not worried about running into something similar to the Abominable Snowman?

Welcome to my world. Mmmm, I can't see how starting the game as some sort of insect would be exciting or how it would make sense in the context of an RPG Sorry guys but that's a really bad idea

Thanks for the tip, I didn't realize those books have been translated. I am on the last book of "The Malazan Book of the Fallen", the Crippled God by Steven Erikson Once I am complete I'll start on the translated Witcher series

Interesting but I do think Breaking Bad is superior What about Walking Dead?

Sorry Alan, but this sounds like the EA 'party line' when criticized. A pure deflection. "We got voted worst company in America because of homophobes!". It took two awards in a row to get a whimper of an admission that maybe there was a little more to the 'awards' than just being pro-LGBT. I would not have reacted to your post if you had simply said "in part" rather than "in large part". Here's a bold and novel thought for you: the BSN forum is so divided because BioWare decided that the passionate fans they had were not numerous enough to feed their new artificially bloated budget and increasing shareholder appetite, so the best thing to do was to ditch those fans and start making the sort of games that those fans specifically came to BioWare in the first place to avoid (ie games like 95% of AAA releases these days). BW made a ton of other changes to the RPG and the BioWare trademark formula in ME3 and DA2 that I find it simply wonderous that you single out LGBT as the 'largest' issue you think your fans have. If you truly believe that homophobes have nothing better to do than A) playing a game they despise because it deals with gay themes and B) spending years on the developer's official forum trolling about it ... then I am truly at a loss for words. I spent years on the BSN before and after DA2. All I can say is - I thought the forums pre-DA2 tidbit leak were among the more civilized on the interweb. Up until 2011 people derided 'Biodrones' because whenever you said anything bad about the game on the BSN, you'd be set upon by a swarm of rabid, indoctrinated fanboys. Notice how hardly anyone is using that term any more, or if they are they're very occasional gamers that last played something in 2010. Feel free to think that your drones have mostly buzzed off "in large part" dut to LGBT support. Wow you really have a low opinion of BSN? Its funny I have never been attacked or verbally insulted on BSN. It may be because I have the same posting style that I have on these forums and I find people to be civil and keen to provide feedback when you are equally polite. Also I absolutely support the inclusive nature around the way Bioware has tried to include all types of relationships in there games. And I also feel that bigotry is a reason for some of the discourse on BSN. Some people use surreptitious means to "stimulate debate" but in fact they are bigots and enjoy hijacking debates and see topics get disrupted

I have started watching Mad Men for the first time and of course its well worth all the accolades it received. Its fascinating to see the blatant level of sexism that was prevalent and institutionalized in the 1960's and also how everyone smokes. Its great to see how society has progressed

He is just posting some suggestions, no need to be so critical I like the concept of waking up in brothel as then the chance of PE including some sort Romance implementation is more likely But for me Planescape has done the whole " who are you and what is your purpose on this earth" to a level it would be difficult to surpass I would prefer to know who I am but I have this nuanced epic quest that forces you to make hard choices with consequences