This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
The Tambourine Man: Cut the link to the classic controller comic. I... just couldn't see why it was here.
Jerrik: Moved this here
- It's also pretty clueless where gender is concerend: the character creation screen claims that the sexes are pretty much treated equally in Fereldern, but the female warden is constantly reminded that she would have been one of very few women of the wardens even if they'd survived ostagar, Anora's father has a stronger claim to the throne than she herself has, werewolves and Golems get a male physique and voice regardless of gender, the chantry is ruled exclusively by women as a rule, and to top it of, the whole game runs on a healthy dose of The Smurfette Principle
As a counter to the claims made here: 1. Grey Wardens have their own reasons not to recruit too many female Wardens, i.e. to cut down on the chances of anyone suffering a Fate Worse than Death. 2. The claim that Anora's father has a stronger claim to the throne than her is completely untrue, or did you miss the part where he had to have her secretly locked up so he could continue to rule in her name? 3. Golems are explicitly genderless, they look like big, crude statues, and Shale still sounds like a female. With the werewolves it probably has something to do with the curse being created by a when a (female) spirit was bound to the body of a male wolf (which was pointed out as being important for some reason, though I don't remember why). 4. I have no idea why having the church made up women is an Unfortunate Implication. 5. There are female soldiers. There are female knights. There are female nobles. The person in charge of the country is a woman. The church is made up entirely of women. Around half your party members are female. So where, exactly, does The Smurfette Principle come into play?
- Look, Dragon Age is a great game, but when the character screen states that men and women are treated equally and we have to findour own justifications for them, it is a problem. 1. It's not just the Grey wardens either, remember that Alistair mentioned female soldiers overall when you meet him, not to mention that Duncan has no qualms at all about recruiting a female PC, and we never get an explanation why she gets recruited when obviously no ther woman was. 2. I admist that it was a clumsy wording, but the fact still stands; he claimed power over the whole nation on the grounds of being her father, and noone questions it until the Warden does, well into the game 3. Golems are certainly genderless, but not sexless. While her voice is gender neuttal, Shale has broad shoulders with huge muscles and a small waist,a silhouette that immediately signals a man in our society. the werewolves have simply no excuse at all. If the spirit that cursed them had to have both a male and female side, why wouln't they? If the in game answer would be that the ferocious nature belongs to men, that is something that anyone with a basic knowledge of nature would recognise as false. 4. the only instance where the church is headed by a man, it is in fact a violent cult. 5. Because one of these factors are part of the landscape and the other is part of the gameplay. Look at any of the stories that are going to matter in the next game; we have Loghain, Calen, Duncan, Teagan, Eamon, Irving, Greagoir, Zathrian, Harrowmount, the four Aeducans, and Alistair. On the women's side, we have Anora, Isolde, Morrigan, Branka, possibly Wynne if the warden doesn't get credit for the tower, and the new keeper after Zathrian. You get a maximum of three woman in any given story, it seems.
- related to this is its view of sexuality; the only same sex couple shown in the story is a lesbian one, the two bisexual characters both seem to have a preference for women over men, and while Girl on Girl Is Hot often comes up, its counterpart is nowhere to be seen. Then there's the fact that while you at least can have a same sex romance, the option doesn't exist with the characters who are actually relevant to the main plot.
1. The only same sex couple is a lesbian one? What about Wade and Herren? A same sex couple that is not a lesbian one. 2. So what? 3. Girl on Girl Is Hot is only brought up by one guy in an optional conversation, not "all the time". 4. Really? That's an Unfortunate Implication now? That there are bisexual characters, and the plot doesn't revolve around them? ( Which ignores that your character can be gay/lesbian/bi, and the plot will still completely revolve around you)
- Wade and Herren certainly act camp, but that aside, nothing in their dialogue gives them away as anything but colleagues, and I have thus far failed to get any other closure on their relationship, but if you have a source on it, I'm not going to protest that one. 4. That is the definition of Unfortunate implications; probably not intentional, but people react to it anyway. Mind you, that these are the only charactes, apart from Sten, that don't have any grounding in any of the four plots. They can be taken out without having any effect on the stories, which gives the impression of being there only for the relationship aspect of the game. Overall, there is simply no question that the game was mage for, and by straight men.
Most of this stuff is either A. incorrect or B. is really nothing important and has been exaggerated until it seems important. None of it qualifies as Unfortunate Implications.
- Mimimurlough; To say something is incorrect is one thing, but to say that complaints about (hetero)sexism are unimportant, I take offence to. Dragon Age is a good game, and it may not be much worse than other games on the gender and sexuality field, but that doesn't mean that we should act as if there was no (hetero)sexism in it.
