Dragon Age: Inquisition Pre-Release Thread

[yes plz]

This is what happens when you cater to emotionally stunted idiots who masturbate to their waifus in vidya gaymes and SJW retards that demand the game has something for every possible combination of gender and sexual orientation.

 

[Lhynn]

Are you having an avatar identity crisis?

 

[nikolokolus]

These posts are pure gold. Its like a window into the mind of pure Cthulian madness.

 

[Caim]

This is what happens when you cater to emotionally stunted idiots who masturbate to their waifus in vidya gaymes and SJW retards that demand the game has something for every possible combination of gender and sexual orientation.

Let's make a count for Dragon Age: Inquisition, shall we?

GENDER (4)
Cis Male
Cis Female
Trans Male
Trans Female

RACE (4)
Human
Elf
Dwarf
Goat

ORIENTATION (5)
Hetero
Homo
Bi
Pan
Acerom

RACIAL ATTRACTION (15)
4 single race
6 double race
4 triple race
1 quad race

VARIABLE (2)
Variable 1
Variable 2

Now, the race thing is difficult for me because I don't know the lore of DA:I. The variable can be either black or white, rich or poor (thinking back to the dwarves from DA:O), wild or gentrified Elf and whatever the quinarians have.

So, for full representation we will need 4*4*5*15*2 party members, for a total of 2400 party members.

Step your game up, Bioware!

 

[Roguey]

Andro women ftw

andro men too I guess but none of them here

 

[Bubbles]

ORIENTATION (3)
Hetero
Homo
Bi

There's also Pan, like Iron Bull, and Acerom (asexual, but not aromantic) like Imoen.

 

[Night Goat]

uncanny resemblance to a codexer. can't remember who. surf solar? dunno. one of the indie/mod devs.

This guy is a Drog alt!

 

[Night Goat]

The first reviews of the romance options are in:

Spoiler

i still can’t believe it. a few hours of crying and rage and i can’t believe. i can’t believe blackwall, who we no nothing about, including who his voice actor, who literally blends into the carpet is an li over vivienne. he is even straight. what bizarro world am i in.

*crying* everyone’s so conflicted on my dash & I desperately want to agree with some of them but then I don’t want the other half to take it the wrong way even though it’s respectful & polite. fudge nuggets

i in no way condone the harassment of the bioware devs but

i am actually so pissed about this like i know bioware is great in that they even offer same sex romance in such a stupidly heteronormative industry but like???

for a company that preaches equality its bullshit that there are not an equal number of same sex/opposite sex li’s

you can excuse it as “realism” all you want, this is a fantasy game where impossible things can happen and the fact that there are more options for straight characters is gross

Bioware Equality: Where you can date substantially more Alien/Fictional races than actual POC. Oh and they’re mainly light skinned fictional races.

complaining abt an LI being straight is absolutely not the same thing as complaining that an LI is gay or bi

do not. compare queer people looking for representation. to the dudebros that actively send us hate. to the people who constantly oppress us.

seriously just stop that is disgusting

Yeah…
While I’m keeping my critical theory knife in the drawer until after I’ve played Inquisition, I have strong doubts about the potential for many unfortunate unintended (or unconscious) racial statements to be made. Same goes for the race-gated Solas romance.

No matter what reasons or excuses the devs give for their decisions to race-gate Cullen and Solas, this is coming from the same company is giving us yet another unfortunate statement about socioeconomic class:

• Lesbian Sera (poor, elven, underclass) and gay Dorian (upperclass Tevinter mage) mirroring the strong economic inequity between lesbian and gay households in north america.

Plus their prior unfortunate statements about ethnicity/race:

• Overtly sexualizing two of the three (DAO+DA2 only) LIs who directly read as non-white (Zevran, Isabela), which mirrors centuries of hurtful real life stereotypes in western culture that overtly sexualize the racialized Other.
• Portraying the LIs who read as non-white at or near the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder: Fenris, Isabela, Zevran.

Not to mention all of the other problematic things so far. The many, many other things. Despite what Bioware does well, their media is often unintentionally insensitive to people who are not cis, white, or straight.

So, no matter what reasons Bioware gives for race-gating Cullen and Solas, late this November my critical theory knife will be sharp and ready.

Let’s get one thing straight before somebody starts showing their ass: I don’t care who is romanceable. It’s a game. That has nothing to do with this. Schmooples could be the only romance in the game, and I wouldn’t care.

What I care about is the fact that there are two romances available to women who prefer women, two romances available to men who prefer men, and 2 gay characters and 2 bi characters up against 4 straight characters.

The world is not divided into “straight” and “not straight.” It’s divided into a wide array of sexual and romantic orientations, ranging from all to nothing. 4 straight and 4 not-straight isn’t equal, so straight fans who want to talk about “equality” can sit right the fuck down. That is heteronormativity on a nauseating level and I’m tired of seeing it here.

And normally, this would piss me off, sure, but it wouldn’t enrage me. This time is has, because Bioware hasn’t just dropped the ball on representation, it’s double-crossed the sizable portion of its fanbase who are LGBTQ+. They use us in marketing. Sure, there hasn’t been an outright “look at all the gays we’ve collected” ad campaign, but when people on the street hear “Bioware” the first thing most of them will think is “LGBT.” That is a very good amount of the press around Bioware; that they respect and care about the LGBTQ+ community. Our presence in their fanbase gets them money and good press.

Despite the fact that they have us to thank for a significant amount of their fucking hype, we get “half and half” heteronormativity, gay men and women have been told to fuck off, and then our own fandom lashes out at us for daring to speak about it. Between the announcements of Solas and Blackwall as straight characters, Bioware has shown how much of a fuck they actually give about the part of their fanbase that has done arguably the most for them. Not a single fuck.

Don’t reduce LGBTQ+ fans’ rightful anger over a lack of adequate representation to “hate” and “hysteria.” No one has said shit about your faves, and this isn’t about Blackwall, Vivienne, Solas, or anyone else. It’s about Bioware pretending they are here for us for as long as we can help their fucking marketing, and then shoving us aside.

The Lack of Understanding I See on my Dash is Appalling
Please do not shit on people who are upset.

Please do not assume people who are upset or venting in their own private space/blogs are also sending hate to developers.

Please feel free to be enthused that the person you were hoping to be LI is, in fact, LI!

Please do not make people feel like ‘bad fans’ or ‘the shitty fandom’ for being upset.

Please do not make false equivalences by making POC exchangeable (but you have Josephine, why are you forgetting about her and being upset about Vivienne?), or by making LGBTQIA+ members exchangeable (1 bi +1 pan + 2 homosexual = 4 gay so it’s even with 4 straight!!)

Please understand this does affect people emotionally and can compound issues they see or deal with in every day life.

Please understand it’s not just about who is LI.

Please understand that ‘story reasons’ can still be problematic reasons.

Please remember that just because you are not upset, does not mean those who are, are ‘overreacting.’

(edit: I adjusted the ‘equation’ to include Iron Bull as pan, not bi, even if the equation is meant to be a gross opinion, as Iron Bull’s sexuality shouldn’t be ignored for the sake of a point)

This is what gets me about them specifying that Iron Bull is pan. A lot of people see that term as more inclusive of different gender identities (I don’t share that belief, but I do understand why some people would be uncomfortable with calling themselves bi and I respect that).

But how the fuck is someone going to be pan in a world that is pretty much entirely void of gender identities outside of male and female. I’m not trying to strip Bull of his orientation (he’s pan, end of story), but for me it all came across as Bioware trying to get more cookies for representation, and it fucking sucks.

The problem is people flaunting the fact that Sera is gay, even going as far to make fan art with her holding a “male tears” mug, while also claiming that characters are not meant to bend to the will of the player. But the second Cassandra was announced as straight, every single fucking person in the fandom denied it. They said, “it’s cannon and no one can stop me” while also destroying people who said that “Sera is cannon straight.” WHILE ALSO saying Gay People don’t get enough representation in games. And I’m not saying that in itself is a problem- video games obviously need a more diverse cast than “token Caucasian male bangs white curvy women.” I’m saying that people who demand for Bioware to make non-player centered characters while simultaneously bashing Bioware for not making enough lgbt characters, but then retaliating by saying “we just want more rep, what’s wrong with that? We’re not overreacting” is the mother-fucking problem.

And if there is a quality about a person that makes me go from “you’re pretty neat” to “I want to destroy every fucking atom in your cunt body with my bare hands” in 0.02 seconds is people who are fucking hypocrites.

This fandom is fucking filled with the shit asshats. I want to physically kill each and every one of them.

tl;dr: If you are a hypocrite I will shit on your grave after I killed you with my bare-fucking hands.

Aroace Blackwall encouraging homoromantic asexual Vivienne to act on her giant crush on biromantic asexual Cassandra.

I am grinning like a fuckin' shark right now. This is what happens when you try to please SJWs, Bioware! Suck it down!

 

[Jaesun]

So some retard on the internet is upset? Amazing.

 

[PhantasmaNL]

This is what happens when you cater to emotionally stunted idiots who masturbate to their waifus in vidya gaymes and SJW retards that demand the game has something for every possible combination of gender and sexual orientation.

Hehe yeah. Ill bet they are regretting entering this snakepit.

It leads to amusing and at the same time frightening reads on the net though. It makes you wonder if building that nuclear shelter is indeed a good option, since the End must be nigh.

I read somewhere that the shoe fetisjists and "those into dead things" are demanding representation too.

Good luck Bioware..

 

[Caim]

I read somewhere that the shoe fetisjists and "those into dead things" are demanding representation too.

Well going by what I've seen of the game so far, DA:I won't be so lively...

 

[Cyberarmy]

Yeah, really did some damage to Cass. WTF

And, still no fuckable dwarf females? WTH And, since there is romance in PE we can't even have fun with the female dwarf ranger in that game. LMAO

Once again, dwarf fanboys get screwed and not in the good way. <>

At least in DA1 and DA2 we had HOT human females to mix with.

We dwarf lovers are a dying breed

 

[Jools]

Yeah, really did some damage to Cass. WTF

And, still no fuckable dwarf females? WTH And, since there is romance in PE we can't even have fun with the female dwarf ranger in that game. LMAO

Once again, dwarf fanboys get screwed and not in the good way. <>

At least in DA1 and DA2 we had HOT human females to mix with.

We dwarf lovers are a dying breed

There, there, listen to this, and everything will be alright.

 

[Sòren]

Let’s get one thing straight before somebody starts showing their ass: I don’t care who is romanceable. It’s a game. That has nothing to do with this. Schmooples could be the only romance in the game, and I wouldn’t care.

What I care about is the fact that there are two romances available to women who prefer women, two romances available to men who prefer men, and 2 gay characters and 2 bi characters up against 4 straight characters.

The world is not divided into “straight” and “not straight.” It’s divided into a wide array of sexual and romantic orientations, ranging from all to nothing. 4 straight and 4 not-straight isn’t equal, so straight fans who want to talk about “equality” can sit right the fuck down. That is heteronormativity on a nauseating level and I’m tired of seeing it here.

And normally, this would piss me off, sure, but it wouldn’t enrage me. This time is has, because Bioware hasn’t just dropped the ball on representation, it’s double-crossed the sizable portion of its fanbase who are LGBTQ+. They use us in marketing. Sure, there hasn’t been an outright “look at all the gays we’ve collected” ad campaign, but when people on the street hear “Bioware” the first thing most of them will think is “LGBT.” That is a very good amount of the press around Bioware; that they respect and care about the LGBTQ+ community. Our presence in their fanbase gets them money and good press.

Despite the fact that they have us to thank for a significant amount of their fucking hype, we get “half and half” heteronormativity, gay men and women have been told to fuck off, and then our own fandom lashes out at us for daring to speak about it. Between the announcements of Solas and Blackwall as straight characters, Bioware has shown how much of a fuck they actually give about the part of their fanbase that has done arguably the most for them. Not a single fuck.

Don’t reduce LGBTQ+ fans’ rightful anger over a lack of adequate representation to “hate” and “hysteria.” No one has said shit about your faves, and this isn’t about Blackwall, Vivienne, Solas, or anyone else. It’s about Bioware pretending they are here for us for as long as we can help their fucking marketing, and then shoving us aside.

this is insane. those people are seriously fucked up.

 

[Stainless Veteran]

Yeah, really did some damage to Cass. WTF

And, still no fuckable dwarf females? WTH And, since there is romance in PE we can't even have fun with the female dwarf ranger in that game. LMAO

Once again, dwarf fanboys get screwed and not in the good way. <>

At least in DA1 and DA2 we had HOT human females to mix with.

We dwarf lovers are a dying breed

 

[Knut]

what the hell? do all of you people live in hefner's mansion and good-lookin simply doesn't cut it for you anymore? cassandra and most of the cast look unreasonably attractive, if nothing else.

on the other hand, watching this thread unknowingly devolve into BSN counterpart is oddly pleasing. please continue...

 

[Lhynn]

what the hell? do all of you people live in hefner's mansion and good-lookin simply doesn't cut it for you anymore? cassandra and most of the cast look unreasonably attractive, if nothing else.

on the other hand, watching this thread unknowingly devolve into BSN counterpart is oddly pleasing. please continue...

Shut up faggot

 

[Knut]

what the hell? do all of you people live in hefner's mansion and good-lookin simply doesn't cut it for you anymore? cassandra and most of the cast look unreasonably attractive, if nothing else.

on the other hand, watching this thread unknowingly devolve into BSN counterpart is oddly pleasing. please continue...

Shut up faggot

 

[Nihiliste]

They were probably better off making comical marilyn manson promo vids to attract CoD bros to their game than they are trying to court this dysfunctional fanbase

 

[Shannow]

what the hell? do all of you people live in hefner's mansion and good-lookin simply doesn't cut it for you anymore? cassandra and most of the cast look unreasonably attractive, if nothing else.

on the other hand, watching this thread unknowingly devolve into BSN counterpart is oddly pleasing. please continue...

"Unknowingly"? I have the feeling we are the refugee-camp for all the people who were too straight for BSN but still wanted to argue about discuss the same retarded shit...

/Edited for clarity

 

[Angthoron]

So I take it this Cassandra character is some kind of returning character from DA2?

 

[Cyberarmy]

So I take it this Cassandra character is some kind of returning character from DA2?

Sort of, we only saw her in cutscenes while she was interrogating Varric.

 

[FuriousGamer87]

what the hell? do all of you people live in hefner's mansion and good-lookin simply doesn't cut it for you anymore? cassandra and most of the cast look unreasonably attractive, if nothing else.

on the other hand, watching this thread unknowingly devolve into BSN counterpart is oddly pleasing. please continue...

"Unknowingly"? I have the feeling we are the refugee-camp for all the people who were too straight for BSN but still wanted to argue about the same retarded shit...

Argue? I thought like always, we are all having fun watching the trainwreck which is this game development and the drama pertains to it.
The only arguments here is when biodrones came in and put out a laughable weak defense and over how bad this game going to be.

 

[Angthoron]

So I take it this Cassandra character is some kind of returning character from DA2?

Sort of, we only saw her in cutscenes while she was interrogating Varric.

So, straight female love interest is into BDSM? Sweet.

 

[Goat Vomit]

Well, Dragon Age: Origins was written with mostly Baldur's Gate 2 in mind, but for consoles. Then Lord of the Rings made Fantasy mainstream, then Harry Potter created the mass market teen fantasy adventure, THEN in 2008 Twilight pushed this new genre to unimagined levels of decline. A year later we got Dragon Age II. It showed lurking beneath the veneer of civilized humanity there was an untapped psychic force of overwhelming power hungering to precariously experience romance written to 14-18 year old sensibilities in fantasy-adventure settings. This hunger can't be bartered with. Pleading and reasoning do no good either. It will only rest once it destroys all incline. Our only recourse is to destroy it by a thousand tiny KickStarters.

Basically, Twilight showed the rest of the world what the Japanese entertainment industry discovered decades ago with their Shonen genre, that you can make a gigantic 60-80% market share out of teenagers repressed by real life coming into their hormones.

That's an interesting narrative, I've never read Twilight but isn't a huge thing about those books the whole dark dangerous but oh so emotional vampire and werewolf guys and not transethnic anti-normative otherkind romances? It might have capitalised on the romance buzz but how much it actually influenced the series would be interesting to know. Didn't Gaider mention he loved reading it? How could he? It's an cishet white supremacist abomination that idealises the love between a white cis man and white cis woman. :feminism: Yuck. In spite of the marketing and the creepy fanbase the games didn't have all that much romance content at all, it wasn't at all central. The real meat of the games was the trash encounters and long awkward conversations with exposition dispensers.

The Witcher 3 seems to capitalise on GoT's fantasy popularity resurgence even going so far as hiring Charles Dance (♥) to do VA, but they still got their now slightly less folky tone and it already had that darker fantasy tone since the series start. Both are semi realistic fantasy and quite similar in many ways. In comparison I don't see quite as much likeness between the Twilight and the DA series. I also think BG was much more to the Tolkienesque stuff than DA:O ever was. The Darkspawn were more like fast zombies than greenskinned piggish orcs and the setting was bland but not pseudo-Tolkien bland.