BruceVC

Funny

Isabela is created as a juxtaposition. Her appearance is meant to illicit a stereotypical reaction. The thing about Isabela, however, is that her presence in the game is much more about female empowerment than female fan service. In fact, she's utilized in a variety of ways to throw the gamer off kilter somewhat. If you listen to Isabela's conversations, she is very much about empowering not only herself, but the other females of the group. She recognizes Merril's naivety, and takes her under her wing. Her and Aveline don't get along at all, but in the end she's still about smacking sense into Aveline for some of the absurd preconceptions and reservations that she has - and does so in her decidedly crude and Isabela sort of way. Yes Isabela fits a common trope, but her creation was done so in a way to challenge the stereotype, as opposed to simply being an attractive woman that exists solely to serve male love interests. She initially rejects Hawke, and ultimately isn't actually interested in any sort of maturing, serious relationship unless you happen to be rivals with her, a position that many gamers are unwilling to take (especially since most assumed Rivalry = bad). In my anecdotal experience, Isabela is typically a character that resonates quite strongly with female gamers actually. First impressions were typically not very favourable, but I think that is why many ended up really enjoying her as a character. At least in the discussions I have had. /shrug That said, I actually agree that BioWare can make much bigger steps in this direction and I hope they continue to do so. I don't doubt that Isabela was used in marketing because of her appearance rather than her character, and stuff like that is much less interesting and I'd like to see us be more bold in the ways that we approach appearance and marketing, rather than falling on the safe and easy tropes. A good post Alan. You have explained the nuances and depth to Isabela's personality and that she isn't what many people at first perceive.

Isabela is created as a juxtaposition. Her appearance is meant to illicit a stereotypical reaction. The thing about Isabela, however, is that her presence in the game is much more about female empowerment than female fan service. In fact, she's utilized in a variety of ways to throw the gamer off kilter somewhat. If you listen to Isabela's conversations, she is very much about empowering not only herself, but the other females of the group. She recognizes Merril's naivety, and takes her under her wing. Her and Aveline don't get along at all, but in the end she's still about smacking sense into Aveline for some of the absurd preconceptions and reservations that she has - and does so in her decidedly crude and Isabela sort of way. Yes Isabela fits a common trope, but her creation was done so in a way to challenge the stereotype, as opposed to simply being an attractive woman that exists solely to serve male love interests. She initially rejects Hawke, and ultimately isn't actually interested in any sort of maturing, serious relationship unless you happen to be rivals with her, a position that many gamers are unwilling to take (especially since most assumed Rivalry = bad). In my anecdotal experience, Isabela is typically a character that resonates quite strongly with female gamers actually. First impressions were typically not very favourable, but I think that is why many ended up really enjoying her as a character. At least in the discussions I have had. /shrug That said, I actually agree that BioWare can make much bigger steps in this direction and I hope they continue to do so. I don't doubt that Isabela was used in marketing because of her appearance rather than her character, and stuff like that is much less interesting and I'd like to see us be more bold in the ways that we approach appearance and marketing, rather than falling on the safe and easy tropes. So its true, you are purposefully making games for the gay/liberal/feminist/hipster crowd. I am sorry you have an issue with Bioware making games that are inclusive of all there fans. I can guarantee you that the majority of there fans are "normal" heterosexual males. But we aren't living in the 1800's and also women can vote now? Not sure if you are aware of that ?

I really don't think you are that eccentric or crazy Hurlshot, is that how you see yourself?

Thanks for the response guys, I guess I'm just use to a business model where developers and publishers want to generate revenue through sales of there products. Obviously this doesn't apply to Console games where its fine for groups of people to play a game without paying for it. But as I mentioned I'm use to the PC gaming business model so the console gaming method of sales is foreign to me

Nonek do you consider me a trusted source? I'll happily review DA3 for you. I am confident that it will provide a worthwhile RPG experience While I appreciate the kind offer sir, i'm not too sure our opinions would be synergistic. However I thank you for the gesture. I was guessing you would say that

Hi GD Where you been?

Most Londoners I know treat them as a complete joke. Ever since they picketed the damn cathedral. They just couldn't be bothered to protest outside the banks. Plus doing so for the length of time they chose makes no statement beyond 'look at us, we have literally nothing better to do.' Walsie once again you and I find common ground in people that irritate us immensely What gets me the most is when they are asked questions similar to " so what do you suggest we do to remove Capitalism" They cannot give you a viable alternative or a suggestion that could be realistically sustainable in anyway. So there demands are just popular rhetoric

No offense but to suggest skipping any book in the series must the worst advice I have ever heard

When are you going to start on the books? I imagine with your 3 month holiday you will have plenty of time. I am keen to find out what you think about them. To be honest there are some people who didn't like them but they seem to be in the minority

I am confident that Morrigan will be as desirable as she was in DA1 when DA3 is released And I agree with Trashman on this one, I don't think she looks that bad in the video?

Go on Hey! When did this thread become an attack on my personal choice of attire?? You guys make me laugh

Why would it need to store everything?Part of the program is direct access to data of services like google/youtube/facebook. You have asked a good question. In order do a proper data audit of someone suspected of being involved in illegal activities Prism would need to look at all primary data sources of a suspect. This would allow the NSA to build a definitive case against someone. These would include emails websites they visited Social Media communication Social media footprint As you know emails and social media communications can be deleted or just doesn't get stored in a typical social media setup, this data is transitory. But once a program like Prism targets you it would keep a record of this data irrespective if you delete it. But this has to be done on a per user basis, no program would have the capacity to capture all this information all the time for every person in the world. But don't think they can't and will do for selective users

Because, just in case it wasn't already on record, the voice actress was an actual French speaker. As for Viconia being overrated. You, sir, ARE WRONG and on the Internet! Alan did you Romance her in BG2 and get to understand her history and reasons for being banished? Like Isabela there were many nuances to her motives and what she wanted. I found her to be fascinating

Explain please, why sexualization ( or big breast size ) of the character so bad? Really i don't understand. What's The Problem Here? In order to understand why people object to it I need to ask you a question. How would you feel if every male character in your party only had a loin cloth to cover there pe***s and there was this massive bulging shape which would indicate a huge pe***s*? Wouldn't you think this was unrealistic and doesn't represent men properly? Honestly would you really be fine with if this is how men are portrayed? But girls really wear such clothes, sexy fantasy girls looks realistic. I agree that this lady looks really attractive but I also understand why people would object to this in a game.

Dunno. I do have a massive bulge indicating my assets, after all, so it's difficult to imagine otherwise. :smug: Seriously though, I don't think guys think that way, in general. Most male game avatars are pretty buff alpha male types, after all. It's not really a subject to generalise in too much though precisely because it is generalisation and characterising half the population a particular way based on sex is not going to be particularly accurate. No doubt there are men who get upset about their depiction (and not in the Men's Rights! sense) and women who really don't care even slightly about ending up playing a guy half the time or having a lot of women be half dressed. If every male party member was depicted with a loincloth and massive bulge I would be offended as I would feel it doesn't accurately represent what men are really like. I would see this as unrealistic and juvenile view of men. I am a man and this is what I feel so I'm sure other men would share my sentiment. I know you recognize this is a subjective debate but I was answering what Oby asked. He asked " what is wrong with massive breasts". The reason I gave is exactly one of the main reasons why many men and women object to the Dragon Crown type female character.

Explain please, why sexualization ( or big breast size ) of the character so bad? Really i don't understand. What's The Problem Here? In order to understand why people object to it I need to ask you a question. How would you feel if every male character in your party only had a loin cloth to cover there pe***s and there was this massive bulging shape which would indicate a huge pe***s*? Wouldn't you think this was unrealistic and doesn't represent men properly? Honestly would you really be fine with if this is how men are portrayed?

React, but in moderation and with the proper research. Shrieking and flailing is hardly the best answer. I'm a proud EU citizen and I see that Chancellor Merkel and other European leaders are reacting, so I'm not sure why I should flail about and shriek. I'm also willing to give the intelligence directors benefit of the doubt. But maybe that's just the lawyer in me speaking, you know, presuming people to be innocent until they're proven guilty and all the other outmoded foundations of the modern world. You do realize that with exabytes of data exchanged each day on the Internet storing all of it would be impractical, right? You claim that ECHELON was intrinsically limited, but ignore the fact that PRISM is intrinsically limited in the exact same way. You need to have criteria and a granularity policy to effectively wade through the millions of gigabytes exchanged on the Internet every single day. That's what amuses me the most about the claims that all of this data is analysed and stored. I'm not sure, but I doubt the NSA is employing a million employees who are going through 2.5 GBs of intercepted data each day just to seek out DISSIDENT THOUGHT to INTERN people in FEMA CAMPS. To be specific Prism allows the monitoring of data, I doubt it stores everything. Logically it would be able to check log files and confirm patterns of internet interest in respect to websites you visit. It would only be able to actively monitor social media conversations once someone is added as a person of interest. But no Social Media provider keeps the conversations of people as there would be too much data. You do get software that can do this but this is only used by certain financial institutions who use tools like Bloomberg chat to make deals. As I mentioned its very feasible once Prism is used to monitor you then your live chats, emails and most other forms of communication can be monitored and analysed

I'm more of a Viconia kind of guy when it comes to evil bitches, but the point was that anything that is over 9 months away is always subject to potential huge changes, on both sides of the screen. Viconia Who isn't a Viconia fan?

Looking forward to "Hurlshot's annual RV trip" thread Yeah, keep us updated Hurlshot. I am also interested in your journey and the events that occur

I am watching the anti-capitalist protesters in London. They are very militant and truculent, I'm glad they don't have any real say in the economic policy decisions of countries.

I agree, an amazing photo

Can I ask a stupid question? I don't own a console so I would appreciate some perspective on this matter. I was watching a review of the new Xbox console and one of the things that have got fans in an uproar is that Microsoft has stated that you can only share games with one friend. While PS4 will allow you to share games with many people. Why is Microsoft being unreasonable? Surly if I buy an Xbox game and play it and someone else wants play the game they need to also purchase it? This is the way it works with PC. I can't give my PC game with the same registration code to a friend as the DRM features will reject it. Microsoft wants to generate revenue and they need to sell multiple copies of games so whats the issue with expecting people to have there own copy of a game? Or am I missing something?

Hi Volo So basically you are saying that CDP is a better company than Bioware? Do you really believe that...why do you think that? Are you sure you mean that. I suppose it may be true but are you sure that's what you mean. Think about it for while? Bioware has released more games so I would say they are more experienced at delivering RPG?

And you think they're incapable of loving each without wanting to act out their sexual desire with each other? Maybe they're just not attracted to each other. Maybe one or both are gay. Maybe they're just not each other's type. Maybe one/both are already attracted to or in a relationship with someone else but still care very deeply enough about each other to feel love. You think men and women are physically and psychologically incapable of loving each other without also being sexually attracted to each other? It's not possible to care about a friend deeply enough to love them without being in love or in lust? Is that what you're saying? No, that's the exact opposite of what I'm saying. Please read for context. Love is love. Whether you feel romantic or sexual attraction on top of it determines whether it's romantic love, sexual love, or platonic love. My issue is you seem to believe that grown people are incapable of loving each other without wanting sex from each other, which I find fallacious. One fictional character is not the one all-encompassing example of what asexuality is. Please educate yourself on real asexual people. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VicXQ7ZAF84 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOiPGqQUV2A Actually, 1 to 100 IS the estimated percentage of asexual people. 1% of the population. That may not seem like much, but add it up and it becomes a lot of people very quickly. Walk into a crowd of a few hundred people and odds are a few of them are asexual. Walk into a city of a few hundred thousand and a few hundred of them are asexual. There are over 300 million people in the United States, which means there are over 3 million estimated asexuals in the United States alone. However, even when you leave out asexuality, not everyone wants to jump the first person they get to know. There are people with naturally low sex drives. There are people who are afraid of love or sex (erotophobia), often due to traumatic experiences. There are people who are just not mentally or emotionally in a place where they want it. There may be people who acknowledge that another person is attractive intellectually but just not be interested in them physically. There are so many other factors besides "We're close + I have a sex drive = I want to have sex with you." Again, I never said that. In fact, I said the opposite of that. I said meaningful platonic relationships are harder to pull off than romantic relationships because there are so many stock romantic lines, situations and formulas that are easy to fall into. It's easy to depict two characters as being deeply attached when there's sexual attraction, love at first sight, etc. It's harder to create situations and conversations that make people believably close without resorting to "they were in love" or "sparks were flying in the air." Therefor, I can see why many people feel that more platonic relationships would benefit to the game, though I don't agree with the extreme belief that romance would hurt it. I believe that the belief that "platonic = deep, romantic = shallow" of other posters is just as incorrect as your belief that "two people who care about each other and have sex drives = they must want to have sex with each other." I find both reasoning to be equally incorrect. A romantic relationship can be deep, a platonic relationship can be shallow, and two characters can love or care about each other deeply without wanting to jump into bed with each other. @ Faerunner I appreciate your posts and the effort you are putting in to explain your point. As you probably gathered I am one of those that expects and wants Romance\Sex in PE. I have mentioned this before but in the interests of you understanding this perspective I am going to summarize my view again Of course we all know that you can have a meaningful relationship without sex but we are talking about a party of people involved in a heroic and epic quest to kill dragons, banish demons and save the world. If there is an attraction and an emotional connection between party members it is highly unlikely that during the many nights of people camping together and facing death on a daily basis people wouldn't have sex. I argue that this absolutely reflects realistic and immersive behaviour and in fact to not expect some sexual conduct is unrealistic People are quite happy and comfortable to have Obsidian implement features where the party members learn multiple spells, explore complex dungeons, travel to exotic lands, go on challenging quests but the thought of them including Romance\Sex is anathema? I don't get this as I question how difficult this would be considering all the other expectations on Obsidian Finally as usual the implementation of Romance\Sex is optional. So if you are opposed to it you don't need to follow this type of plot development. But I don't see why it should be blocked for those that enjoy it? That's my view in summary