Minorities in Games

[deanb]

Did Mass Effect 2 have any homosexual option? I'm having a brain fart right now. And that kiss with Liara doesn't count.

 

You can go for a date with the secretary lass.

But nope. Male shepard can bang Tali, jack and Miranda. Female can bang Jake(?), Garrus and Thane(I think. At least I'd be sure Grunt is out of the question, or at least Mordins sexual expertise)

[RadiantViper]

Did Mass Effect 2 have any homosexual option? I'm having a brain fart right now. And that kiss with Liara doesn't count.

 

A human female (Kelly) and two Asaris are available 'minor' romance options - they're not as full fledged at straight romances (Kelly only gets one real scene IIRC), and they don't get you the 'Paramour' achievement either.

[brida]

http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=9026170

 

What I wonder is if Dragon Age 2 will let you have Hawker as a gay character.

DA:O was quite open with adding a gay character, but that fits their 'first person narrative'. Hawke is a pre-built n fleshed out character, Commander Shepard style, and like ME2 they're aiming for a huge audience again so might go back to the 'PG-13 let's shy away from controversy' dealy all over again.

 

There was one blog covering it that did question if they're just adding in Zevran to check the box, but they don't actually want much to do with the whole gay character relationship stuff. Also lol at the comment about wanting to make the scenes different, instead of just using same anim, different models. Cos that's exactly what they did with DA:O.

 

I know the two games are made by separate studios, but is there absolutely no inter-studio communication between the two? Very much the left hand not knowing what the right is doing.

I've wondered that, actually. There are so many similarities between games from different studios that you'd think that they do communicate. Maybe they have agreements/rules, though? 'Bioware games have these signature Bioware features'

[Mister Jack]

I had a male Shepard, but I totally would have banged the crap out of Garrus.

 

I'm kidding.

 

Mostly.

 

Alas, Garrus is firmly established as a hetero character.

[c hoertjes]

That's ME2, not ME3.

 

Huh?

(I assume since the rest are now talking Persona 4 that that comment is directed at me)

Yes it was. I know all about the lack of homosexuality in ME2, I've put way too many hours into the game. I thought your earlier post was a hint at ME3. But I will be seriously pissed if I bought Lair of the Shadow Broker pretty much b/c of Liara, and won't be able to continue that relationship.

[RadiantViper]

I had a male Shepard, but I totally would have banged the crap out of Garrus.

 

I'm kidding.

 

Mostly.

 

Alas, Garrus is firmly established as a hetero character.

 

My male Shep wouldn't be able to choose between Tali and Garrus ... both please

 

Yes it was. I know all about the lack of homosexuality in ME2, I've put way too many hours into the game. I thought your earlier post was a hint at ME3. But I will be seriously pissed if I bought Lair of the Shadow Broker pretty much b/c of Liara, and won't be able to continue that relationship.

 

As I already said, in-game Asari relationships are not technically lesbian. You can (sorta) romance an Asari in ME2 as either a male or female.

[Mister Jack]

Yes, I gotta tell ya, passing up Tali to stay faithful to Liara, even though she became a practical psychopath, was a very hard decision. If I don't get some huge payoff in ME3 for my loyalty, I'ma be pissed. For reals, y'all. But now I'm getting off-topic.

 

I notice this is all mostly about RPGs so far. How about other genres? Homosexual characters could work there too, couldn't they?

[deanb]

That's ME2, not ME3.

 

Huh?

(I assume since the rest are now talking Persona 4 that that comment is directed at me)

Yes it was. I know all about the lack of homosexuality in ME2, I've put way too many hours into the game. I thought your earlier post was a hint at ME3. But I will be seriously pissed if I bought Lair of the Shadow Broker pretty much b/c of Liara, and won't be able to continue that relationship.

 

Nope, we were still talking ME2 at the time. And I very much doubt they'll change their stance on ME3 too. It's still aiming for the 'PG-13' bracket, it's still the third person narrative, and it still seems like Bioware is confused on it's stance of gay relationships in games. But we'll get a more firm grounding on that with DA2. Also upto now all ME3 has is a trailer and synopsis. I feel it'll be a while before they discuss relationships again.

[TheForgetfulBrain]

How about Persona 4?

 

I never finished the game due to my saves being wiped out, but where I was in it I hadn't quite figured out if Kanji was in the closet or he finally just admitted there were some softer aspects to him, and that was all there was to it.

 

I really wanted him to turn out to be actually gay though - seemed like it would have been another bold and mature move on the part of Atlus.

They imply he is confused, not that he is gay. So at the end of that arc he decides that he's not actually gay, he just wants to be accepted and some such and not fulfilling traditional male roles made that difficult (ie being manly etc)

 

I was a bit dissapointed with that, if only because they'd just decide oh no I do actually like girls instead of leaving it ambiguous--maybe i like both? etc

 

That's a bummer. I think they were on the cusp of doing something really great there.

[Mr. GOH!]

Did Mass Effect 2 have any homosexual option? I'm having a brain fart right now. And that kiss with Liara doesn't count.

 

You can go for a date with the secretary lass.

But nope. Male shepard can bang Tali, jack and Miranda. Female can bang Jake(?), Garrus and Thane(I think. At least I'd be sure Grunt is out of the question, or at least Mordins sexual expertise)

 

I like how femShep has a wider range of species options; she's a better follower of that old "Captain Kirk will fuck any alien trope." Then again, Kirk never slept with something so alien as a turian. They look so... spiky and weird. Uncomfortale to say the least. Turians just look like a species that have spines or spines in their penises is all I'm saying.

[deanb]

Doesn't mordin imply as much?

[StrifeROKs]

I think any stereotype or prejudice is negative.

I would just like to point out that Cole wasn't a stereotype. My point was that the character is loosely based off the voice actor. His personality and background are based off a real person. He isn't based off of any stereotype, he's based off a real person. You're the one saying they are stereotypes, which is negative.

 

 

Also does anyone remember the Ballad of Gay Tone? The main character is a hispanic who works for a gay club owner. His coworkers are black and asian. I'm not saying that everyone was portrayed in the best light, but it was a pretty diverse cast.

[Mr. GOH!]

Doesn't mordin imply as much?

 

Not that I recall, but maybe.

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

I think any stereotype or prejudice is negative.

I would just like to point out that Cole wasn't a stereotype. My point was that the character is loosely based off the voice actor. His personality and background are based off a real person. He isn't based off of any stereotype, he's based off a real person. You're the one saying they are stereotypes, which is negative.

 

You don't think the casting is half the problem?

[StrifeROKs]

Im just saying youre turning it into a stereotype when it doesnt need to be

[brida]

Did Mass Effect 2 have any homosexual option? I'm having a brain fart right now. And that kiss with Liara doesn't count.

 

You can go for a date with the secretary lass.

But nope. Male shepard can bang Tali, jack and Miranda. Female can bang Jake(?), Garrus and Thane(I think. At least I'd be sure Grunt is out of the question, or at least Mordins sexual expertise)

 

I like how femShep has a wider range of species options; she's a better follower of that old "Captain Kirk will fuck any alien trope." Then again, Kirk never slept with something so alien as a turian. They look so... spiky and weird. Uncomfortale to say the least. Turians just look like a species that have spines or spines in their penises is all I'm saying.

Because only femshep could find the inner beauty more important?

 

/sigh

 

a male miranda/morrigan for me to both gawk at and be interested in would just...just...i don't even know. i'd forgive them for their transgressions

[Strangelove]

I thought we already had a Mass Effect thread.......

[StrifeROKs]

I thought we already had a Mass Effect thread.......

[Showmeyomoves!]

Sazh: Dude carries a FF chicken around with him. Maybe not the best choice. However his character does get fleshed out quite well and he's one of the better characters in that game. You get quite sympathetic with his plight.

 

I agree for the most part. He was the best character in a game full of terrible, terrible characters. I didn't feel there was any stereotyping going on, which was good. He was also the only character in that game that wasn't a drama queen... Oh, until he had that mental breakdown and almost killed Vanille (I kept pushing R2 to fire my gun but it didn't work). Yeah, I gave up on the story at that point. Terrible, terrible writing all around.

 

In closing, I'll leave you with a gem I found on GameTrailers regarding FFXIII:

 

"Ugh. Why does every game nowadays have to have a black person?"

 

[Outkastprince]

I understand that white characters has been a fact of life in terms of gaming, I don't really care too much. I'm always shock when I do see minorities in a game. Like in Fallout: New Vegas when I took down a Legion solider and saw that he was black, caught me off guard, which is weird cause it's 2011 and something like that isn't suppose to be weird.

 

Many games are fixing the minorities problem though, like Mass Effect 2, Fable, and a few others.

 

Off topic, but anyone watched Merlin the tv series? There's only two black people in the entire series, and they are brothers and sisters.

[deanb]

For Merlin it's time period it shouldn't really be surprising. In fact any at all.

(Also UK has a pretty low black population, so it's actually probably fitting with the national average)

[Outkastprince]

For Merlin it's time period it shouldn't really be surprising. In fact any at all.

(Also UK has a pretty low black population, so it's actually probably fitting with the national average)

True, it does make sense. I thought it was interesting that they made an important character (Guinevere) a black character, and the only one for almost two seasons on the show.

 

On a side note, she's hot.

[Commander Shepard]

 

Oh Street Fighter, because whenever you think of an African American fighter, how can you not think of Mike Tyson (insert Punch Out joke here)

[brida]

Oh man..actually, I'm surprised that SF doesn't catch as much flak as some other games do. Some stuff is just soooo damn blatant.

[Mister Jack]

Stealing is bad, Shep.