TheChris92

Apparently 9 potential party members and 3 non-combat support characters à la Traynor and that guy who's name I can't remember but who kept going on and on about his husband in ME3. His name was....

I'm gonna throw my thoughts into the whole romance debacle and by the time I've posted people will already talk about something else so my apologies. Had to rewrite the whole damn thing... Anyway -- On one hand I agree with mute on the other with Bruce. Gonna quote something meshugger said in the previous thread There's no question I'm a fan of these movies because they do what they do and they do it right. The underlying problem with romances in BioWare games is that they aren't treated as 'romances' at all but more on par with wish-fulfilling.-sexually-frustrated-pants-on-dry-humping-fantasy, where love is as an alien concept as 'subtlety'. It's as awful as your average Hugh Grant-film. There isn't a mutual attraction between 2 individuals, because it still has to remember it's a game where the central focus is not relationships, as a result the power of the relationship is entirely in the player's hands. Because the impression is that Western RPGs tends to go for a much less linear approach to both gamplay and storytelling, which is where the challenge of implementation lies. I'd go as far to say that some of the BioWare romances feel as shameless as HBO's approach to nudity -- Like it's only there to satisfy the status quo. It feels so token and about as complex as Branston Pickles. Love, however, is something I'd like to see. It's uncompromising, and it can hurt as much as it can bring joy. The movie Adele's Life showcases this with an unforgiving edge, wild fantasies of the heart and mind are what take flight from the sometimes disappointing and imperfect realities of life. -- Spike Jonze's Her, puts things into a broader perspective by asking the question of which relationships are most important, the things that draws us to other people and why we crave it, and physical comsumation doesn't matter in order to achieve emotional gratification. Eternal Sunshine makes the argument that imperfection, imbalance, miscommunication; these are the parts that make and eventually break a relationship, but there is always hope, and it functions as a tool for us to complete ourselves, we search for the things that we lack in our partners, so we can become whole. All of this is easier within the film medium, because there you have tighter frames to work with the concept of a relationship between 2 people. I'd argue that games haven't been able to do that yet but that shouldn't mean there's no room for trying. The closest thing games have come to this point would be with Atlus' Persona games & a game called Catherine (which is essentially based around the difficulties of a relationship). The central focus in the former is dungeon crawling and building relationships, that is to say, relationships that can be either end up being mutual respect for people, friendship or love. Some of these relationships aren't really necessarily out of friendship but rather a shared understanding between individuals world outlook. I like that approach as it feels level-headed without resorting to personalized amalgamation of what we see typical Hollywood flicks, listen to in songs, read about in novels The games' reaches for a niche appeal, but I like how aesthetically real they feel,, I just don't see it working for BioWare when their top priority will never be 'love' or 'romance' or even crafting a plot based around the impetus of commitment. Heck there are other games build around love and or relationships, like Shadow of the Colossus, Castlevania, FF 8,9 & 10 (before it totally sold out with X-2) and even one of my favorite games of all time Silent Hill 2 -- Though here they function as a vehicle to drive the plot and they become necessary for character progression and even story. Basically I'm in agreement with Mute that the romances feel unnecessary and preposterous without any larger depth placed into them. On the other hand I agree with Bruce that showcasing 'love' with a serious approach would be a welcome gesture. Games after all have grown up and so has gamers, right?

I like this review more though http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/9083-The-Elder-Scrolls-Online-We-Can-MMO-Too

Or that you can't romance the furry NPC unless you go on a quest to turn yourself into a werewolf. Possibilities are endless. Do you really think they would include some kind of Werewolf Romance? I doubt it...there more than enough options and excitement around humanoid Romance I can't wait to develop more meaningful and complex relationships in an RPG this makes one wonder why you have interest in the bioware romances... is a virtual oxymoron-- meaningful bioware romance. by definition, an optional game romance that is both insular and discreet has rather harsh limits on how meaningful it may be. HA! Good Fun! Gromnir surly you realize that Romance adds to a deeper connection with party members in a RPG , this has been irrefutably proven. You do know this right? Well yeah... in the Persona games, though argue that those games are better written, and the supposed romances are actually written as 'love between 2 people' starting from friendly terms to, possibly, something deeper as opposed to goofy soft-core-angsty-drama-pants-on-dry-humopng-extravangza in BioWare gaymes. If the romances in BioWare games didn't come off as token as they have then I'd probably start appreciating them.

So if the "Iron Bull" (goodness that's a stupid name) is 'romanceable' does that mean the 'pants-on-dry-humping' will involve the protag wearing armor and helmet to boot for the intercourse routine?

I always thought Triss Merigiold was really hot No doubt, I just don't like the character all that much. But yeah

Given Bioware's supposed emphasis on characters, character appearance and the desire to have these games span over decades all the while keeping large chunks of the cast I'd have thought it natural to show the time progression between each game via the aging of cast members. Guess fappableness trumps that. It's almost as if time has no bearing if DA2 is anything to go by which apparently takes place in a time period over 10 years. I don't think many people noticed untill someone in the game actually said "It's been a year since we etc..". Go figure.

That's Leliana? Could have fooled me. She's starting to look upsettingly a lot like Triss Merigold. Jesus and his Apostles at the Last Supper? It's the Last-But-One-Supper. All this pic needs is a conjurer, kangaroo and a mariachi band.

Yeah! Where's my licensed music, EA? Where's my Marilyn Manson or 30 Seconds to Mars or Lin-KIN Park, screaming their ears out, huh?!

I like how game trailers nowadays are basically cinematic trailers, that are about as accurately representative of the game's content as someone performing LOTR with finger puppets at a Game of Thrones screening. When Varric spewed his one-liners I could have mistaken it for a Hollywood production. The little amount of gameplay was disappointing. Sure, it looks very nice but so do a lot games before we actually see how it plays. There's promise to say the least.

Well - what about the classics like David Lynch's Eraserhead? If not that, have you watched any Alejandro Jodorowsky films? El Topo and Santa Sangre are pretty good; Holy Mountain certainly has a cult following but I've never been as satisfied by it as others are. If you like dark comedies at all, you could do worse than cult film The Ruling Class with Peter O'Toole. Pretty much seen everything from Lynch. I like a lot of his films but some of them are a bit too pretentious. I like art-films, that chooses to place emphasis on aesthetics, symbolism, characters, etc over blindly trying to appeal to the mass market, or at the very least offers a unique twist on genre film like Eternal Sunshine, Her, Mr Nobody etc. And I definitely do like dark/black comedies, as it is my type of comedy, the sort of twisted satire-with a slice of life to it and usually featured in some of my favorite films like Fargo, Lebowski, Snatch, American Psycho etc. I know Alejandro. I'll check him out. Cult films are interesting as well because they usually carry the things I love in films Anyway, I'm starting to spin things off topic. Wish we had a movie recommendation thread now, heh x)

Dead Man's Shoes by Shane Meadows, best revenge flick i've ever seen. Excellent - One I actually haven't heard of. Much obliged!

I'll definitely let you know.

What's with the 'ugh'? Anyway, no it's a Terry Gilliam film I still would love to see. Definitely looking into it.

Steam isn't that great anyway to be honest. Most of the games they release are untested, possibly non-functioning copies, filled with DRM. If anything, they should release it on Gog.com even if it could hardly be judged a Good Old Game, but neither can Witcher 2 I'd say. EDIT: Apologies for that being off-topic there As for the actual trailer. I am mortified over BioWare's insistence of having to bring back certain characters again and again instead of exploring new territory, otherwise it looks rather nice and quite Dark Soulish in its gameplay but that's fine. If anything it can be a plus to take some inspiration from other games, just make sure it doesn't cover the entire apple tree.

If anybody got any recommendations to some underrated movie gems, or ones that are quite out of the ordinary like most of Spike Jonze's films or anything by Charlie Kaufmann I'd like to hear some. Got plenty of films to dig into right now, but I've been searching for films outside the spotlight, possibly contenders for Cannes that didn't get enough recognition or indies. There are a lot of fascinating pieces of cinema outside of Hollywood.

So, . If there's one thing I like about Evangelion then it would have to be psychological part of it, and its post-modern legacy. It's the kind of anime I've spend a lot of time trying to sort out. What is it about exactly? Like say Lynch's Mulholland Drive, which is actually a plus from my end. It had its issues though.

Definitely look like they took a page out of Dark Souls book with the boxart.

That sounds about right

For the love of all that is holy -- Gog.com please get a hold of Grim Fandango. I. Want. It. So. Much.

Not really gaming news-per-se, but recently BioWare made the decision to crackdown on groups that so much as even remotely talk about anything non-BioWare related, so they can create a 'NON-TOXIC-COMMUNITY'. The place is basically a totalitarian-forum now so I'll probably immigrate here full time.

I expect no Monty Python references now after the sheer amount of times the Inquisition joke has been done to death on their forums.

I don't know but your post just seems to me some indirect way to get some kind of rape example into an RPG and have a way to justify it. Like when you say "that the girl having deliberately broken several taboos before the rape" I know RPG can contain mature topics but any example in any game where the developers try to position the rape as " the victim may have deserved it" I would find highly offensive and unacceptable. And the reality is no gaming studio would position rape in such a way You missed my point entirely. In order to have an interesting conflict, you have to both parties feeling justified for their actions. After all it, is all up to the player on what to do in that situation and the consequences those actions provide. In no way did i insinuate that the developers were pro-rape. It is all in your head. I never said you said that? But why would you want to have a subject like rape in an RPG where there is chance if not done properly, and since I know you don't place much credence in deep and meaningful writing in RPG as you mentioned around your view on Romance (well I think you said that ), it would lead to an unintentional trivializing of this serious social issue Love however, would be great in an RPG though, think of the interaction that would be at par of "The Eternal Sunshine and the Spotless Mind", "Lost in Translation" or "Her". I'd love that.

I do love the campaign Thom Yorke lead with In Rainbows. Pay what you like. The best part is that it ended up being among the most commerically succesful of their albums despite many people chose not to pay anything -- Massive respect to their DRM-free policy for King of Limbs as well. To celebrate