Mature ESRB rating

[TheUsernamelessOne]

Look, bloody violence, war crimes, rape (including blatant mind rape as an at-will power available to the heroes), child abuse, genocide, racism, mass infanticide, all of those things are acceptable. But don't you dare ****ing use potty language.

 

I'm sorry, but the mass infanticide really pushes this one beyond the pale. There's a piece of dialogue where a character blithely informs you that the people of a city have taken to nicknaming their babies "buoys" because so many of them end up floating in the bay. They do it without swearing, but if you want to disturb and offend someone with language, that's how you do it. Dropping the c-word suddenly seems pretty tame by comparison.

[Althernai]

How many times have you seen a word that is not acceptable on American television used in dialog? I'm trying to think of a single instance and failing so they're certainly not very common.

[ArmoredBlvr]

"Eternity aims to recapture the magic, imagination, depth, and nostalgia of classic RPG's that we enjoyed making - and playing. At Obsidian, we have the people responsible for many of those classic games and we want to bring those games back… and that’s why we’re here - we need your help to make it a reality!" 

 

I bought those games when they were first released, back in the day when you actually had to go to a store and buy a disk, the box was as big as a dictionary, and I did not remember any of the NPC's having to use the F word, from Sarevok to Keldorn Firecam.

 

Hello Kitty and the attack of the rainbow unicorns, down the hall and to the left....I know, I have already heard it. 

[Cantousent]

I don't mind profanity as long as it fits the NPC and the setting. When it's thrown in as some way to prove how 'mature' the game is, it can actually be laughable. Some of the profanity in PoE is certainly part of the characterization, but some of it is offputting to me also. Overall, I don't think it's overdone, though. I mean, language for most of us is something we tailor to the situation and the company. If I'm alone and I accidently drip oil onto the garage floor, I'm going to curse up a storm. If I'm around the sisters of the Sacred Heart, I'm probably going to grunt and think dark thoughts to myself while smiling as best I can at them. I just figure the people in the game don't actually care about niceties what with all the things going on in town.

[Zwiebelchen]

 

EDIT:  After reviewing the ESRB description it almost looks like they added the word just to get an M rating.  About everything else could have been T.

 

 

Wouldn't be the first game to do that...

 

On the other hand, I doubt this would have gotten the T-rating. Simply because there are several quests in this game that subject rape, child abuse, mass murderer, etc.

Edited March 31, 2015 by Zwiebelchen

[ArmoredBlvr]

I don't mind profanity as long as it fits the NPC and the setting. When it's thrown in as some way to prove how 'mature' the game is, it can actually be laughable. Some of the profanity in PoE is certainly part of the characterization, but some of it is offputting to me also. Overall, I don't think it's overdone, though. I mean, language for most of us is something we tailor to the situation and the company. If I'm alone and I accidently drip oil onto the garage floor, I'm going to curse up a storm. If I'm around the sisters of the Sacred Heart, I'm probably going to grunt and think dark thoughts to myself while smiling as best I can at them. I just figure the people in the game don't actually care about niceties what with all the things going on in town.

That is true, so when you're releasing a game to the public, for widespread use to those who purchase it, you're not in a room by yourself, you're sharing that room with your entire player base. Granted, I should have expected something with the ESRB rating, but I agree some is offputting, and appears to be shameless shock value.

 

Many RPG games have a path where the player can choose to be heroic or evil, Baldur's Gate & Icewind Dale are included, but again, some of the evil choices in this game are excessively vile and unspeakable, and leads me to my next statement, what's next? How will POE handle their expansion packs and sequels?        

[Monte Carlo]

I love swear words, cussing and cursing. Nonetheless, I think fantasy RPGs work perfectly well with or without them.

[Gallenger]

People cursed all the time.  It's a human thing, if you like to exist in a happy little sanitized bubble, don't ever look at Roman poetry - ever.  It will scar you.  You'll never be the same. 

 

it's funny that anybody would say "well you know the thing that killed it for me was the swearing"  there is a lot of genuinely horrible **** happening in this game - from mass killings, rapes, torture, perverse medical experiments, people being hung from trees en masse, people being burned alive on the regular - that was the thing that surprised me the most as BG1 in particular and the rest of the non-torment games were not nearly so grim.  Not to mention the deeds the protagonist is able to perpetrate lol. 

 

I can definitely see how the M rating came in there - not to mention the sex and drug use lol. 

Edited March 31, 2015 by Gallenger

[Darji]

 

 

I prefer FUBAR myself.

 

I don't hear F-bombs a lot in games, but when I do my wife points it out to me.  Honestly I miss it most of the time ... which is kinda sad really as I don't talk like that in RL at all.  I agree though that in some situations it fits.  If a man is being torn in half by some creature, and he's not a minister, a few colorful words may come out of his mouth (along with a lot of blood).  But when everything in the game has to use F*** as an adjective, adverb, etc. it's a little much (movie Wolf of Wall Street comes to mind).  Granted I understand some people actually talk like that, but I would also never want to be around someone that does.  Being able to avoid them in a game would be nice since it really isn't necessary.

 

I'm quite curious if your wife doesn't point it out for you when you get a critical strike on an enemy and his body is cut in pieces tumbling across the screen, or when you use one of your character's necromantic/demonic powers to raise zombies/demons to do your bidding, or simply go Dirty Harry on everyone you encounter deciding who should live and who shouldn't. Because really, the double morality on this topic is astonishing.

 

I said something similar in a previous post, but it feels like for some people being a video-game gives them charte blanque to commit all manner of sociopath and homicidal deeds without really minding it, but man, spelling out a well fitting "f***" now and then, that's clearly stepping over the line.

 

 

Well she doesn't sit and watch me game as that would bore her to death.  But she can hear.  I use headphones when I can, but my son's new kitten ... well that didn't end well ... for the headphones.

 

The biggest double standard I've had in games is that you can murder at will but flash a tit and it's suddenly a Mature game.  Though I'll admit NA games are starting to get a little better about this.

 

EDIT:  After reviewing the ESRB description it almost looks like they added the word just to get an M rating.  About everything else could have been T.

 

 Use of drugs and alcohol as well as dark topics like rape will never get you away with a Teen Rating. The believe that this game would have gotten a T without the swearing is really laughable.

 

But yeah As Long you dont force it on other but instead mod it^ is totally fine to do it so if it makes you happy be happy^^

Edited March 31, 2015 by Darji

[Vi.king]

I never understood why americans are such sissys about swearing. ITS JUST A WORD

[dirigible]

Something to consider: How many of us were children when we first played Baldur's Gate? I was 9 years old when it came out...

 

Now how many of us would let our children play PoE? Durance alone would make me pretty leery of letting anyone under 15 play the game. The hardcore CRPG genre is making a comeback, but I'm not sure it's very accessible to anyone except adults.

 

OP, the game is pretty hard mature. There's a fair number of f-bombs, lots and lots of violence (of course), and some fairly disturbing writing.

Edited March 31, 2015 by dirigible

[Gallenger]

My 7 year old refers to this sort of game as a "stupid sky-camera" game - so I think I'm safe in not having to tell him the content is too mature for him - kids these days just want their brainless skyrim adventures lol.   And that game is pretty tame for the most part - unless you go to manipulating corpses into precarious situations. 

[Valmy]

My favorite part of Skyrim was when a bloody Civil War was resolved by the generals fighting each other to the death for no apparent reason. Now see that is how Cromwell should have beheaded King Charles.

Edited March 31, 2015 by Valmy

[Althernai]

Something to consider: How many of us were children when we first played Baldur's Gate? I was 9 years old when it came out...

 

Now how many of us would let our children play PoE? Durance alone would make me pretty leery of letting anyone under 15 play the game. The hardcore CRPG genre is making a comeback, but I'm not sure it's very accessible to anyone except adults.

I'm not sure that the old games were any more suitable for children. The one I remember best is Baldur's Gate 2. It literally starts with the protagonist and company being tortured for no apparent reason. In the same starting dungeon, you find the clone of a woman who was created to be the stand-in for the torturer's former lover (and you have no choice except to kill her) as well as nearly dead people trapped in glass jars (again, the best thing you can do for them is kill them). At the very first inn after escaping from the dungeon, you can encounter infidelity, drug addiction, cruelty to animals, slavery, gladiatorial combat and, naturally, several flavors of murder -- and this is not the darkest material in the game by far.

[Mungri]

How about considering that this game is mature for more than just the adult language?

[Mashiki]

I'm not sure that the old games were any more suitable for children. The one I remember best is Baldur's Gate 2. It literally starts with the protagonist and company being tortured for no apparent reason. In the same starting dungeon, you find the clone of a woman who was created to be the stand-in for the torturer's former lover (and you have no choice except to kill her) as well as nearly dead people trapped in glass jars (again, the best thing you can do for them is kill them). At the very first inn after escaping from the dungeon, you can encounter infidelity, drug addiction, cruelty to animals, slavery, gladiatorial combat and, naturally, several flavors of murder -- and this is not the darkest material in the game by far.

 

 

You're right, they weren't.  I bought the games for myself, but I was always more mature than my age, I could also strongly distinguish fiction and non-fiction easily.  I used to watch horror movies with all the gore, killing and everything else because at the tender age of 4, when my parents asked me what I thought of them I responded "they're cartoons for adults."   That probably has to do with the fact my parents taught and instilled the differences to me.  This is going back oh 31 years now, kids these days(I live in an area where it's becoming gentrified as the old folks move out and new parents move in), don't seem to grasp this at all.  Their parents are also not as strict, or explain things to them so it makes sense.

 

The world be a changin' but it sure doesn't seem like the best in some cases.

[Rosveen]

Something to consider: How many of us were children when we first played Baldur's Gate? I was 9 years old when it came out...

I played GTA when I was about 8, my cousin showed it to me. I don't remember much, but I maintain this was the root of my love for free-roam open world games (which fully blossomed four years later when I discovered Morrowind). Unfortunately, I didn't have similar experiences with Baldur's Gate, which I played many years after its initial release - and it took me three tries to get into it because it was so dated. Look at me now, throwing all my money at Pillars and Torment. 

 

Pillars of Eternity is mature because of its themes and character stories, not superficial features like gore and profanity (which are handled quite well nonetheless, all swearing I saw fit into the setting and wasn't there just for the sake of looking "mature").

[ArmoredBlvr]

I never understood why americans are such sissys about swearing. ITS JUST A WORD

Words carry meaning, the F word is really an acronym if you want to get right down to it, but vile all the well.

 

Developers (i imagine) try to cater to the majority of their target audience, having NPC dialog sprinkled with strong profanity makes me wonder who they were catering to, of course I'm just speculating here, and not trying to put words any any Dev's mouth.  

[ArmoredBlvr]

I remember the subject matter in the opening sequence of BG II, but never found it over the line, even when I got the quest to go with the Paladins to kill the vampires, it was not over the line. 

 

But POE, there are sequences that, IMHO, were purposely harsh. I know this stuff happens, it's still happening, just watch the news, but do we really need to drag it into our entertainment?

 

There are games to play and enjoy, and there are games to stay away from, I hope POE does not enter the "stay away" mode  

[Landak]

It says a lot about American society if this game is considered mature because of the word "****" as opposed to the casual references to the death and slaughter of hundreds of thousands, the subjugation of the poor (and women), the wars of religious intolerance and a generally accurate depiction of quite a lot of man's least attractive traits. There's a tree with corpses swinging in the wind in the first town you come across, for gods' sake! The whole main plot is about essentially exploiting the souls of the weak!

 

Don't get me wrong; PoE is really, truly excellent -- it just happens to be darker than obsidian. 

 

To answer the OP's question, no, swearing doesn't actually feature very often   .

[ArmoredBlvr]

It says a lot about American society if this game is considered mature because of the word "****" as opposed to the casual references to the death and slaughter of hundreds of thousands, the subjugation of the poor (and women), the wars of religious intolerance and a generally accurate depiction of quite a lot of man's least attractive traits. There's a tree with corpses swinging in the wind in the first town you come across, for gods' sake! The whole main plot is about essentially exploiting the souls of the weak!

 

Don't get me wrong; PoE is really, truly excellent -- it just happens to be darker than obsidian. 

 

To answer the OP's question, no, swearing doesn't actually feature very often   .

Yes, you are right Landak, I had remarked on the profanity before the overall shade of the game was made apparent by my gameplay. 

[bmardiney]

First of all, this game looks awesome. I really, really, really, want to give Obsidian my money for this game. It's made me start a new game of Baldur's Gate 2 just to scratch the isometric rpg itch I've been having recently.

 

Now, I'm probably in the minority asking about this, but it's a concern that will determine whether or not I'll buy this game.

 

So: based on the Mature ESRB, how prevalent is the (stronger) profanity in this game?

 

The ESRB summary says:

 

 

The word “f**k” appears in dialogue.

 

 So, is that one instance? Is there only one dialogue where it appears? How often is it used? I guess we won't really know until the full game is out. 

 

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate more "mature" writing and themes. I don't mind "lore based profanity". But I recently bought Shadowrun:Dragonfall, and the (more explicit) profanity occurred so often that it was immersion breaking and annoying, and unfortunately Steam doesn't offer refunds. However, I recently learned that GOG offers refunds, so I can certainly try it out.

How is profanity "immersion breaking" when the universe's own continuity supports heavy profanity? Perhaps you don't understand what "immersion" actually means.

 

So if you just happened to be turned of by depictions of violence, and you played a game whose universe was all about heavy violence (think a game made by Quentin Tarentino), would you call the violence "immersion breaking"?

[bmardiney]

I remember the subject matter in the opening sequence of BG II, but never found it over the line, even when I got the quest to go with the Paladins to kill the vampires, it was not over the line. 

 

But POE, there are sequences that, IMHO, were purposely harsh. I know this stuff happens, it's still happening, just watch the news, but do we really need to drag it into our entertainment?

 

There are games to play and enjoy, and there are games to stay away from, I hope POE does not enter the "stay away" mode  

To me, I don't care what "tools" an artist uses to "paint" with (violence, profanity, sexuality, etc). I only care what the message of the art is.

 

For instance, a game where violence and sex and drugs and even death are used in a message that celebrates life, I'll probably love it. But if another game uses dialogue and cooperation and group hugs in service to a message of nihilism or misanthropy, I'll hate it.

 

When you care more about the colors of paint being used rather than WHAT'S being painted, you're missing the point of art.

Edited March 31, 2015 by bmardiney

[ArmoredBlvr]

 

First of all, this game looks awesome. I really, really, really, want to give Obsidian my money for this game. It's made me start a new game of Baldur's Gate 2 just to scratch the isometric rpg itch I've been having recently.

 

Now, I'm probably in the minority asking about this, but it's a concern that will determine whether or not I'll buy this game.

 

So: based on the Mature ESRB, how prevalent is the (stronger) profanity in this game?

 

The ESRB summary says:

 

 

The word “f**k” appears in dialogue.

 

 So, is that one instance? Is there only one dialogue where it appears? How often is it used? I guess we won't really know until the full game is out. 

 

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate more "mature" writing and themes. I don't mind "lore based profanity". But I recently bought Shadowrun:Dragonfall, and the (more explicit) profanity occurred so often that it was immersion breaking and annoying, and unfortunately Steam doesn't offer refunds. However, I recently learned that GOG offers refunds, so I can certainly try it out.

How is profanity "immersion breaking" when the universe's own continuity supports heavy profanity? Perhaps you don't understand what "immersion" actually means.

 

So if you just happened to be turned of by depictions of violence, and you played a game whose universe was all about heavy violence (think a game made by Quentin Tarentino), would you call the violence "immersion breaking"?

 

Their are always going to be a way to argue each point on this issue, but it does not change the fact that some people just don't want to see it or hear it, but at the same time still want to play masterpiece games like POE, it comes down to the decisions the dev's make into the level of content, thus the ESRB system to mark those decisions. I'm speculating those decisions are based upon what would make the game the most successful.

 

I would love to play Dragon Age, but just can't stomach all the excessive blood splatter and gore, but I'm sure EA saw it as a great selling point, the sales of that franchise may have proven them right. 

[Althernai]

I remember the subject matter in the opening sequence of BG II, but never found it over the line, even when I got the quest to go with the Paladins to kill the vampires, it was not over the line. 

 

But POE, there are sequences that, IMHO, were purposely harsh. I know this stuff happens, it's still happening, just watch the news, but do we really need to drag it into our entertainment?

Yes, for two reasons. First, much of the appeal of the BG series and PoE and similar games is that they're version of our world where the laws of nature are somewhat different, but human beings (and other creatures of similar intelligence) are more or less the same. They're not significantly darker, but nor are they lighter so there must be some nastiness somewhere along the lines of what you hear on the news, but modified to account for the different laws of nature. Second, the premise of all of these games is that you are the Adventurer. You travel to dangerous places where mere mortals (not armed with the all-powerful Save-Load spell) fear to tread, you do battle with various critters and you foil the plans of various evildoers. The very nature of this premise requires you to encounter unpleasantness at a much higher rate than the typical dweller of either our world or the worlds of the games.