130°

Dragon Age: Inquisition Lead Writer Defends In-Game Romance, Equality

J Station X writes

"BioWare are hardly strangers to controversy (the Mass Effect 3 ending, anyone?) but rather than staying away from it, like the shy development team in the corner, they are more than happy to embrace it, with open arms and open hearts because often, the BioWare choices that cause the most flack are the ones that matter.

This is according to David Gaider, the lead writer of their upcoming title, Dragon Age: Inquisition, discussing in-game romances, and he not so much kicks the hornet’s nest as he does punts it out the stadium. Read what he has to say after the break."

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jstationx.com
KingKelloggTheWH3743d ago

Characters should be wrote to make sense in the world and under the circumstances they are in, making them all Bi is simply lazy and poor writing( as Da2 pretty much was).

bessy673743d ago

Totally agree. It was so dumb that you could romance anyone in DA2 regardless of gender, and it was also pretty dumb that in ME3 Kaiden was suddenly bi. If they want to make certain characters bi/homosexual go for it, just please don't take the easy way out and make them all bi.

KingKelloggTheWH3743d ago

Exactly, it is just poor/lazy writing and it damages the world and characters as a whole.

Roccetarius3742d ago

Anders was a pretty terrible example in DA2, and i still dislike what they did to him. I agree with you about it being lazy and poor, and i don't really expect much from the ressurected Bioware.

KingKelloggTheWH3742d ago

They ruined Anders, that poor man..

Baka-akaB3743d ago (Edited 3743d ago )

Instead of caring so much about bi-sex option (wich yet i dont mind , except when you switch mid course an established characters' sexuality) ... how about writing better romance and flirting dialogues , if you want it as part of the gameplay ?

I cringed a lot when even with an otherwise great and interesting character like Morrigan , it was so easy to get into her pants , and all the dialogues read like cheap softcore porn and fanfic in DAO .

And it got even worse in DA2 .

uncharted563742d ago

I think you don't quite understand the character of Morrigon. There was a reason why Morrigon's dialogue were slutty and hateful for a reason. Morrigon considered love and friendship a weakness. Don't want to spoil but if u have played the witch of the wild dlc and romanced morrigon the ending sequence itself will show you how her character changed throughout the game.

Baka-akaB3742d ago (Edited 3742d ago )

I think you didnt get my point actually . Most of the romances of dragon age goes through some softcore fanfic phase , and is badly written in a way quite at odd imo with the rest of the plot and its quality . That's what i'm truly complaining about , not that Morrigan is "easy" because she initially dont feel much of love .

It's very mediocre compared to what you could see in even MAss effect of past bioware titles like Baldur and Kotor .

FRAKISTAN3743d ago

I don't why you guys have to specially mention that you have nothing against being bi, its ok if you don't like bi. i certainly don't like it and don' want it to be in any game

blackmanone3743d ago (Edited 3743d ago )

Obvious bigot sees nothing wrong with being an obvious bigot? Sounds about right.

bessy673743d ago (Edited 3743d ago )

I hate this mentality nowadays that if you don't agree with the liberal point of view your opinion is now wrong. The people who think like that are the bigots since they refuse to accept different viewpoints.

Baka-akaB3743d ago (Edited 3743d ago )

Because i dont mind when it's not done wrong . I'm not interested by gay scenarios , but as long as i can entirely miss and avoid those , i'm fine .

Turning Kaiden out of the blue into a bi just because they were missing options and didnt feel like adding new ones is wrong .

Ander in DA2 too was badly handled . You couldnt even ignore it and only ignitiate the flirting like with more characters of any sexual inclination , he was basically coming strong at you , and downright harrassing you .

The most ridiculous part being that if you refused to make your moves on Ander then you basically are receiving rivalry points .

Sure aggressive people do exists .. but who need that kind of realism and grievance in a game , for a supposedly optional part of a rpg ?

PS : Of course Ander was a d*ck and a morons about mages the whole game too , and his plot makes no sense , but that's another issue

SpideySpeakz3743d ago

There's absolutely nothing wrong with being Bi, because it's just a way of lifestyle. I'm not bi, but I respect other people's choice to be homosexual/bi, because it doesn't affect my way of life at all. As for video games, bi/homosexual characters are a plus because it gives more realism and dynamics to the story.

For example, I liked the way Samantha in ME3 (who is gay) turned you down if you was a male. It's a very interesting game mechanic, and hope I see more of that in DA3

Redempteur3743d ago (Edited 3743d ago )

“[He] can easily imagine a time when the romances in [Dragon Age: Inquisition] are revealed (whether that will be before or after release, [he has] no idea). There will be an inevitable reaction from people who are disappointed they couldn’t romance someone with their character of choice, and some of them will rant at length as to how they were only deprived of said romance because of some agenda.”

You know it's alright if you can't romance anyone.
Some game tried with mitiged sucess. But if you provide a satisfactory arc for the option availables, i'd bet you anything you won't have much complains. Heck dragon age could age only 2 possible romances i'd take it if both choices and both arcs are well-done and meaningfull.

Bioware your fans are not looking at quantity but quality

Ogygian3742d ago

Romances are great in Bioware games and add tremendous depth.

As for the homosexuality, I'm all for having one major character and maybe a side character who are romanceable for each gender, but it's important to note that only around 1 in 20 people are homosexual IRL, so making the number of options equal for both genders wouldn't be realistic, and I'd actually argue that it would be unfair on heterosexual players.

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130°

BioWare Could be Working on More than Just Dragon Age Dreadwolf and Mass Effect 4

Earlier this year, BioWare was hit with layoffs as part of a downsizing of parent company Electronic Arts, but fans have been reassured that the next Mass Effect game hasn’t been impacted. Likewise, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf’s development is still churning along, with BioWare putting it at the forefront of its focus and rumors suggesting that it could launch sometime later this year. Fans might be getting another look at the long-in-development Dragon Age: Dreadwolf at the Summer Game Fest in June.

If the recently posted job offering for a temporary development manager is any indication, BioWare could have yet another surprise up its sleeve for when Mass Effect 4 and Dragon Age: Dreadwolf are nearing completion. This mystery BioWare video game could truly be anything, from another spin-off of its two major properties to something entirely new. All there is to go on at the moment is a vague mention in the job posting, and it might still be some time before BioWare is ready to confirm any new games in its pipeline.

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gamerant.com
just_looken22d ago

So a studio that spent years on anthem then this dragon age thing is now also working on another ip along with mass effect,

You think they would be worried that there brand has been on 3 major screw ups

Dragon age 3 launched broken with the frostbite engine yes its a good game but you can see in the late game how rough it was

anthem......

Mass effect 4 well that dev team was fired so yeah.....

They should make sure this new dragon age is a goat instead of putting more work on the table

bababooiy21d ago

Bioware today is like 150 poeple i dont see how they are seemingly working on all these projects at the same time.

Michiel198921d ago

Inquisition wasn't broken, it just had some flaws and on the contrary it also had some strengths. If you call inquisition a major screw up then idk what to say.

That said with what happened to the study since then and now, I'm not really confident that their next game will be any good.

just_looken21d ago

If you played it fully to get plat like me back in its novemeber launch window you had that castle with empty area's endgame missions not there or working and a mp that was made around loot box grind like the mass effect mp.

Its hard to explain to those that played it years later after they tossed out the dlc/patch's

Michiel198921d ago

entitled much? I played it at launch too. Why you even platted it if it was a "major screw up"?
It was good enough for you to sink 100 hours in but also a complete fuckup at the same time, make up your mind.
So either you like shitty games or you're just talking out of your ass.

RaidenBlack21d ago

Well just wanna say, Archetype Entertainment is the new BioWare, composed of mainly ex-BioWare vets.
And they're developing Exodus (starring Matthew McConaughey), a new sci-fi RPG (spiritual successor to Mass Effect, dare I say?)

CantThinkOfAUsername21d ago

I hope it's a single player game with Anthem's gameplay mechanics.

Becuzisaid21d ago

They're owned by EA. What makes you think that they wouldn't publish for PS5? Shoot, if your fridge could connect to your bank account EA would try to release it for that if they could!

Double_O_Revan21d ago

How about they focus on those games and not over extend themselves? We don't need another Anthem.

Becuzisaid21d ago

Bioware died after Inquisition (some would even argue after ME3). They are no longer the same company.

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220°

EA Hopes to Use Generative AI to Drive Monetization and Make Development 30% More Efficient

Today Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson provided a look into his ideas for the use of generative AI in the company's development processes.

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techraptor.net
thorstein47d ago

I wonder what the next buzz word they'll slap in front of AI to make it sound exciting next? "Generative" as if it's creating its own content. Lol.

Cacabunga47d ago

EA is already dying a painful death..

peppeaccardo47d ago

i have a better idea .. why the whole exec team doesn't get replaced by chat bots ?

just_looken47d ago

Though i agree the ai thing is already in other forms of media there have been ai translations/scripts/voice over and even full ai commercials aired on tv. Ubisoft has created a ai game creator story/vo/music except the building of the game

The new unreal engine has auto terrain creation tools

In the world of greed in which it is winning without any major blow back ai is our future.

everyone want's biden dead on the mic or a criminal instead of a woman and now we are getting ai everything because no one will stop watching/playing ai created media.

GamerRN47d ago

Maybe they should just focus on making good games?

Just a thought...

Kiryu199246d ago

Exactly EA are just pure evil. When they are beating Bank of America to be voted the worst company to work for that’s saying a lot

Good thing I don’t buy their games day one and wait for deep deep sale years after launch (the select few games I am actually interested in)

Gaming is making so much money yet the greed of these companies is never ending

CEO’s and people on board making millions yet cutting jobs to those who are actually making the products

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 46d ago
Knightofelemia47d ago (Edited 47d ago )

EA is still a shady shitty company even with or without the help of Skynet. All they will use AI for is new ways to milk loot boxes and come up with the same sports title with a different year on the label. They are one company I truly do hate with a passion. They single handedly ruined some great franchise with their death touch. ME, Dead Space, Alice Returns, Dante's Inferno.

Stuart575647d ago

EA layoffs followed by 'Generative AI to Drive Monetization'

I knew it. Wonder what AI salary looks like? Nothing.

ChasterMies47d ago

I having a feeling that most of the layoffs in the industry are based on the idea that AI will do the same job for less.

DarXyde46d ago

Very likely, yes.

Made worse by the fact that the execs aren't changing their compensations.

My deepest fear at this point is that we are now in the capitalism endgame.

At this point, we really should just burn AI to the ground. Executives cannot be trusted to do the right thing.
How are those people expected to support families if everything gets automated?

Barlos47d ago (Edited 47d ago )

And take away creativity, and people's jobs as we've been seeing. Got it.

No thanks. I want my games created by people, not AI.

CobraKai47d ago

Exactly. If or when games start becoming more AI than people, im done with gaming. AI and companies like EA can suck donkey d***k.

just_looken47d ago

Though i agree remember this is no ps3/360 era were we got up to 3 games in one generation from on developer like gears/halo/bioware/sony/ms

The people today are pro esg/sweet baby for the most part AAA gaming is imploding right now.

We should be stepping back re evaluate everything as a whole this year xmen 97 written/directed by a woman that is nuts and its also being made by a group reshaping bodies to be less sexual like wtf. A dam famous cartoon from the 90's is being rebuilt with millions spent to be worse in everyway.

Gaming/movies/tv shows made today are worse than what we had 7years ago ai won't change this but that ai is also being made by these groups so either way we are screwed.
https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Eonjay46d ago

Don't be of afraid of women. Sexy characters in games and movies still exist. Got my Stellar Blade on preorder!!! Everything all the time doesn't need to be sexual...that's stupid, childish and dull.

Chocoburger47d ago (Edited 47d ago )

EA doesn't want to lose their title of worst gaming company ever, always trying their best to remain the champs!
What's sad is that they have so much potential to be a decent publisher.

SSX Tricky / SSX 3
Def Jam Vendetta / Fight for New York
NBA Street
NFL Steet
Mirror's Edge
Bad Company
Burnout 3 / 4 / 5

Remember when EA used to be awesome? It's all over with now. Unpolished, if not out-right broken games these days. Endless monetization and gambling in their sports games, and let's not forget wasting hours of your life trying to unlock characters or equipment using "surprise boxes!"

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80°

EA And Sony Layoffs, Entertainment News And More Skewedcast

Gareth, Justin, and JoeyZ look at Layoff news for EA and Sony and reasons behind the downturn in the industry and more.