Dragon Age 2 Lead Writer Blasts Homophobic Fan

[bushwhacker2k]

Are there any actual homophobic people who actually wake up at night sweating and terrified of a homosexual person?

It seems like most of the time they're just prejudiced.

Just wanted to say: Fear =/= Phobia.

 

[Tiewing]

To be honest I think these "romances" in Dragon Age and even Mass Effect for that matter, are really pointless and weak story wise. DA2 presented a perfect opportunity to take the romance plots to the next level since it covers a 10 year course. I mean hello, I could have easily married and perhaps even had children with one of my companions, just think how deep and dynamic the story could have gotten then.

 

[Aureliano]

Perhaps the problem is not so much that there are too many homosexual possibilities in DA2, but that it doesn't really ring true that it works EXACTLY the same no matter what your character's sex is. Not to say this is good or bad, but a lot of ladies are much happier to make out with another girl at a party than with a guy, but are also much more likely to marry a guy than a girl.

What this would mean is that IRL Isabella might be perfectly happy to first-base it with femHawke all night but not be ready for a relationship. Anders might be more comfortable watching the game every Friday for a year with manHawke IRL before gettin' down to gay business. The idealization of sexual equality is not progressive, it just avoids people complaining that the portrayals of sex in games are unfair.

Life, and sex, are unfair.

 

[Composer]

this man is an idiot
only way i stopped anders from leaving was to hit on him
he thus replied" dont tease me. youve made it clear were just friends"
then everything was right with the world an i kept my cleric =D

 

[Sonic Doctor]

The flirting dialogue options with Merrill start appearing around her Act 2 companion quest, as I recall. I figure she's harder to approach because she's so shy.

A warning, though: Merrill's act 3 companion quest is currently non-functioning. It starts off with a huge spoiler for how it's going to end, and then it only has a chance of actually working. We're waiting for BioWare to release a patch.

Well I think I am near the end of Act 2, I have two Qunari main quests and I have to find one more item for the herbalist quest, the Dalish creature thing in Sundermount, which I can't seem to find and nobody has any dialogue options to tell me where it is. Will things open up more for Act 2 if I do one of those main quests? Because I haven't even gotten any kind of companion quest for Merrill in Act 2 so far, which I found weird because everybody else had a companion quest of some sort right away after the Deep Roads, except Merrill.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Isabela: A grab bag of STD's if ever there was one.

Didn't you get the dialogue between her and Anders? She gets those nasty things removed by magic healing, no worries. If only the real world had such healing capabilities.

 

[DeathWyrmNexus]

Isabela: A grab bag of STD's if ever there was one.

Didn't you get the dialogue between her and Anders? She gets those nasty things removed by magic healing, no worries. If only the real world had such healing capabilities.

I never heard that one and wiki doesn't have it either. I pretty much always carry Isabella and Anders in my party. Where did you hear it? I am curious about it now.

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

So he is sufficiently perturbed by being hit on by a virtual homosexual that he feels the game doesn't cater to him? That sounds like latent homophobia to me.

with Isabella and Merrill it seems like they weren't even going for an option most males will like

What's this all about? Since when was there a concept of a woman "most males will like"? Or rather, this concept is incompatible with making a nuanced and interesting character.

Also, Merrill is considered exotic now? She has a Welsh accent, and Wales is the least exotic part of the least exotic country in the entire world.
(I kid, I kid)

Isabela: A grab bag of STD's if ever there was one.

Didn't you get the dialogue between her and Anders? She gets those nasty things removed by magic healing, no worries. If only the real world had such healing capabilities.

I never heard that one and wiki doesn't have it either. I pretty much always carry Isabella and Anders in my party. Where did you hear it? I am curious about it now.

It's at one of the points when you visit Anders, as I recall. Isabella is just leaving as you arrive.

 

[DementedSheep]

?neglecting the straight, male gamer?? you have Merrill and Isabela!
I never got the problem with being hit on by the same gender anyway. So a guy hits on you, turn him down the same way you would if it was a girl you are not interested in. Not a big deal.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

*Snip*

I never heard that one and wiki doesn't have it either. I pretty much always carry Isabella and Anders in my party. Where did you hear it? I am curious about it now.

Well, I was ninja'd by somebody else, but yeah, it happens not long after the Deep Roads expedition. When Act 2 started there were many small companion conversation quests that appeared immediately. I went to see Anders after seeing a few other party members and when I got to Anders' clinic, Isabella was talking to Anders about curing STDs, and then she walks out when you come in the room.

 

[Swny Nerdgasm]

Ok as a straight male gamer, I agree this guy is an idiot, don't like that Anders hits on you? Just tell him no, also on a side note, any other straight male gamers slept with Zevran when you had the chance?

 

[Terminal Blue]

My problem isn't with the possibility of homosexual relationships, but that I couldn't turn down Anders without getting rivalry points. Is adding "I just like you as a friend" too much to ask? Not that I wasn't flattered.

If/when girls do that to you, does it make you warm to them?

It's worth noting that Ladyhawkes can't turn down Anders without getting rivalry points either. Are you basically asking for a special hetero getout clause which allows you to turn people down without making them feel bad or influencing their perception of you?

Because that certainly doesn't exist in real life..

You forgot that the complaint was actually a bit racist too with its "only exotic options of women." I am still shaking my head at that. My wife and I found and still find Isabella to be very lovely. Her skin tone never occurred to me as a negative but apparently it did to the original OP.

I'm going to be very charitable and suggest he might have meant 'exotic' in the sense of 'unconventional'.

It's interesting because she basically has 'white' facial features with dark skin. I'd imagine based on that that she's meant to be mixed race, or perhaps of an ethnicity which doesn't exist in the real world. Still, I really don't see how the original complaint might construe her blackness as 'unattractive', because it literally is just her skin tone.

Actually, going through the game I'm starting to warm to her. I found her character a really offensive 'promiscuous' stereotype at first, but she does start to flesh out as the story progresses.

 

[Jimmybobjr]

The Fact that everone except for Varric ended up hitting on me creeped me out.

As a Strait Male, i really found it creepy, and im not the only one. My friend, who played the game, was confused and thought the programing was screwed up, and the game thought his character was actiualy female.

 

[secretsantaone]

To be honest, he almost has a point. I get putting in a homosexual option, but making every single romance-able character bisexual was just stupid. The percentage of bisexual people compared to straight people is astronomically small, making them seem unrealistic in a way.

 

[DeathWyrmNexus]

My problem isn't with the possibility of homosexual relationships, but that I couldn't turn down Anders without getting rivalry points. Is adding "I just like you as a friend" too much to ask? Not that I wasn't flattered.

If/when girls do that to you, does it make you warm to them?

It's worth noting that Ladyhawkes can't turn down Anders without getting rivalry points either. Are you basically asking for a special hetero getout clause which allows you to turn people down without making them feel bad or influencing their perception of you?

Because that certainly doesn't exist in real life..

You forgot that the complaint was actually a bit racist too with its "only exotic options of women." I am still shaking my head at that. My wife and I found and still find Isabella to be very lovely. Her skin tone never occurred to me as a negative but apparently it did to the original OP.

I'm going to be very charitable and suggest he might have meant 'exotic' in the sense of 'unconventional'.

It's interesting because she basically has 'white' facial features with dark skin. I'd imagine based on that that she's meant to be mixed race, or perhaps of an ethnicity which doesn't exist in the real world. Still, I really don't see how the original complaint might construe her blackness as 'unattractive', because it literally is just her skin tone.

Actually, going through the game I'm starting to warm to her. I found her character a really offensive 'promiscuous' stereotype at first, but she does start to flesh out as the story progresses.

I've found that Bioware's promiscuous characters tend to have a more satisfying conclusion to their romances. I'm also a pervert so I can get along with them more so perhaps I am biased. As for the exotic comment, I could only conclude that he had issue with her color when he mentioned Isabella in the exotic category. The whole "slutty chic" isn't exactly exotic, I've seen at least three in every town I've ever gone to. So while I applaud your charity, I can't share it.

And yes, Isabella is love. Her and Varric are my favorite characters. Oddly enough, I like all the characters. I dig Fenris because I actually understand him but fucked up with my female mage so she didn't get to romance him properly. Oh well, when I play my female rogue, I plan to give Anders a reason to smile. XD

 

[Twilight_guy]

And then Bioware did thoroughly prove the poster to be a dick and have his head up his ass and lo was there much celebration at the silliness made unto the poster and it was good.

Good for the guys at Bioware to stick up for there own self but also as making a game that touches onto other groups and ideas then the standard group. Representing other groups can only make a game stronger and diversify gaming as a whole.

 

[cryofpaine]

You know, it doesn't actually say whether or not he plays a male character. My guess is he's just upset because the romance is actually about the relationship, and not about seeing two naked people going at it. Especially two naked women. Any bets his top search request is "Dragon Age 2 nude mod".

Come on dude, it's a game, one meant to be enjoyed by more than 18-30 year old white males. And if you don't like the flirting, here's a news flash for you genius - don't pick the option with the heart. You can be nice to them without being a tease.

 

[gring]

Well, while I'm NOT defending the guys homophobia, I DO agree that the straight mans romancing options were extreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemely poor in DA2. As a straight guy, my options are either a toothpick-sized elf who uses blood magic, and a skanky rogue who sleeps with everybody. whoopy. As a "good" warrior, both of these people aren't my characters type, so I just skipped romance altogether.

Also, I didn't have any problems w/ anders hitting on me, didn't mind the Rival points either, cause stuff like that is only natural. You get hit on, you deny them, they will feel bummed, same goes when you hit on someone else and you get denied. It was kind of out of left field though... I remember I was like "oh cool anders wants to talk to me? ya, lets see what my old buddy is up too! maybe im gonna go on an epic quest!" ...only to get hit on, didn't really expect it, but after a couple minutes I started to laugh.

I just think that not only the romance was done poorly, almost the rest of the entire game was poorly done and have actually stopped playing the game, im about 40 hours in and could NOT play anymore. after a while, seeing the same area's over and over again since from hour 2 to hour 40 gets OLD. like angry joe said "this game is SLAVERY!" as the only way to play it is by playing it like a checklist. WHAT HAPPENED TO GOING ON AN EPIC QUEST!? very disappointed with the entire game (except combat which is great (except for the combat animations which I cant stomach (why? because if someone fought like they did, they would get their asses kicked so hard because fighting like a "cool guy" makes you vulnerable in real combat)), but for me, gameplay isn't everything), and ill get a lot of hate over this, but I'm done w/ bioware because they can't seem to think for themselves anymore.

also, "no homo" option is just silly though, grow up bud.

 

[cryofpaine]

Actually, going through the game I'm starting to warm to her. I found her character a really offensive 'promiscuous' stereotype at first, but she does start to flesh out as the story progresses.

I've found that Bioware's promiscuous characters tend to have a more satisfying conclusion to their romances.

If you look at their "slutty" characters (Jack, Moregain, Isabella) they all are really vulnerable, and use their sexuality as a shield. Moregain (I don't know if that's how you spell her name) had a literal witch for a mother who never showed her any love. Jack was taken as a kid and experimented on. Isabella had a jerk for a husband that abused her. So part of their romances are overcoming that, getting past those shields, and forging a deeper connection with them.

 

[Toeys]

As a straight guy, i acknowledge that this is a RPG, and that whatever choice i make is roleplay and not who i am. It's not me having sex with whatever race/sex in the game, it's my character. Anything else is a complete misunderstanding of the concept of RPGs.