I haven't gotten around to playing The Witcher, but I really enjoyed Dragon Age Origins, and while I never finished Inquisition due to graphical limitations on my sad, old computer, it was fun while it lasted. Has anyone played Dragon's Dogma? I had way more fun with that game than I should have, but something about it--despite it being a mess--really captivated me.
Yeah, the first two games got a lot of (well deserved) flak from the Western gaming press for how they depicted women. Part of it is related to Slavic cultural views and presentation, like KaTrian mentioned, and part of it is that sexism is part of the setting in much the same way as it's part of A Song of Ice and Fire. The third game does a way better job of pruning the former and making it clear that the latter isn't right.
Yeah, certain female character tropes endure in video games. Personally I’m not all that bothered by them but that kind of aesthetics aren’t my thing either.
No, the third game does very much not tone down that element. The women in the game are still constantly degraded and act as if their place is to look pretty and be subservient to men, the parts where you play as Ciri turn everyone in the world into a raving misogynist, and the game still carries on with the whole "Witchers are supposed reviled by everyone, yet women constantly want to jump Geralt" act. Witcher 3 does not step back from its shallow "male power fantasy" storytelling in the slightest.
Yeah, no, this is outright wrong. There's a massive increase in the amount of agency for female characters, as well as a pretty heavy critique of toxic masculinity in the form of The Red Baron and Hjalmar An Craite. In contrast, Ceres An Craite is literally willing to defy hundreds of years of tradition to do what she thinks is right and: Spoiler: Spoiler yes, she is, because the patriarchal power structures of Skellige lead to war with Nilfguard and the Skellige loses real hard. Beyond that, there's also Tamara Strenger, who escapes her abusive family, joins a normally all-male group of Witch Hunters, and then goes to fight the Crones to get her mother back. Beyond that, you've got Triss being a major leader of the mage resistance, the blacksmith in Velen being a story explicitly about stereotyping. Then, you're wrong about the Ciri sections as well. Cutting out section one because it's her fighting wolves. Section 2 has her talking relatively amicably with the Baron's men (but they do act out of line, but are already established misogynists, same with the Baron as well, but the characters in the world are pretty explicitly misogynistic as stated before, which is shown not to be a good thing), section 3has her meeting up with Whoreson Junior and Dandelion (the former is most definitely an established misogynist, the later a womaniser, though one that clearly respects Ciri's boundaries and is not interested in interacting with her that way). Section 4 has her talking to literally one dude who has a crush on her, but still does nothing to her, and section 5 is a reference to Snow White were the Dwarfs seem more confused than anything. As for being reviled, did you listen to any of the dialogue of the people you walked by? There's literally a whole class of female NPC implied to be prostitutes that call you an ugly freak. The only people willing to "jump Geralt" are ones that he's already known and been in a relationship with, people trying to manipulate Geralt, one woman on Skellige who's listened to a prophetess, and people in the in-game brothel. Both succubi, the literally historical sex demons, say "not interested", and then there's the mass of other female characters I can name. The game even punishes you for Spoiler: spoiler again trying to be with both Triss and Yennefer, a pretty explicit "these people are not subservient to your whim", though it does cause some issues in that I know people with pollyrelationships who were disapointed by it. . Spoiler: Legitimate Criticisms that are spoilers You actually didn't even mention the most legitimate criticism which is the scene involving Ves, or the fact the prostitute's whoreson junior kills are effectively props used for shock value, the same for the attack on Prisicilla.
No, it very much does tone it down. Some act as if they're supposed to be subservient, but that's because that's the dominant cultural view in the Northern Realms. Others are actively rebelling against that view (Tamara, for example), and the view itself is presented as a bad thing in 3. Skellige has quite different, though not really progressive, views on gender roles. On the one hand, free Skelliger women have a fair bit of latitude (many fight, the noblewomen are given respect similar to that of their male peers). But captives are treated as objects, the isles have never had a ruling queen, and the king's wife is expected to kill herself in a practice similar to suttee if he dies before her. The only raving misogynists you encounter as Ciri that I can recall are Whoreson Junior's gang, which is hardly surprising given that they're criminals working for a woman-hating boss. Most of the other enemies you deal with as Ciri are Aen Elle elves; I don't think they even have understandable subtitles. Otherwise everyone you deal with is pretty polite, even the Bloody Baron and his men who are misogynistic in their dealings with the peasants of Velen, but never act that way toward you. It really doesn't. You've got Yennefer and Triss, who are Geralt's previously established lovers and are mutually exclusive. You have Keira Metz, who 1) seems to have carried a bit of a torch for Geralt since they met back during the timeframe of the books and 2) is using him to get what she wants. You have Cantarella, who seems more morbidly curious than anything. And you have Jutta, with her prophecy and vow related reasons. The latter three require you to complete quests in certain ways for it to even be possible. The two expansion packs introduce one potential sexual encounter apiece, but those would be Shani, another of the "previous lovers" category, and Spoiler Syanna , who only does anything with Geralt because he's the only man on hand at the time. All told, it's substantially less than the earlier games, and with far less contrived reasoning. As for the whole "Witchers are reviled" thing, that sentiment seems mostly confined to superstitious country folk and the uneducated. None of the previously mentioned women fit into those categories.
Oh right, I forgot, all criticism of Witcher 3 is Wrong and misogyny totally isn't a negative trait. Even if you can list off all the ways the female playable character's interactions with other characters amount to "being an object".
Well, technically we're all objects. I, personally, am made of meat. I started replaying Bioshock: Infinite and Neverwinter Nights.
Yennefer deciding to work with Nilfguard to find Ciri, Keira Metz working with Geralt to find the elf's laboratory and then using him as a tool to get the cure to a plague. Tamara Strenger converting to a new faith. I can keep going if you like? And misogyny is a negative trait, I didn't say it wasn't, but there's a difference between portraying misogyny and actually being it. Beyond that, I didn't say all criticism was wrong, just explicitly yours, followed by three legitimate ones. It's very clear from this conversation, and the one where you claimed there were characters worse than King " I'm going to genocide all the mages" Radovid, that you either haven't played the game and are repeating things told to you by others, or went in with such a massive bias against it that your willing to ignore to key story details to fit your own preconceived points.
Strawmen do you no credit. There's plenty to criticize, as with most other games. Misogyny is definitely, repeatedly depicted as a negative trait, but it's only actively directed at Ciri during the section with Whoreson's gang. Who you make mincemeat of, because street thugs stand no chance against the Lady of Space and Time. Ciri's interactions with the core characters (Geralt, Yennefer, Triss, Dandelion, Zoltan, and the other witchers) amount to far more than being just an object. The same is true with more minor characters like the little girl from the swamp and even the Baron. It's true that many of the more antagonistic characters treat her like an object, but that's the point. A recurring theme of the books is how many actors only care about her because of her claim to the Cintran throne, her blood, or her powers; Ciri is attached to Geralt et al because they actually respect her as a person and consider her desires. This theme is carried over into Wild Hunt. And if you make choices that treat Ciri--your adoptive daughter, basically--like an object, things don't go well for you. At all.
Witcher 3's good endings amount to being a neglectful, abusive parent because of writers who think that empathy and kindness getting you screwed over for no reason is "good writing". But much like the disgusting attitudes towards women rife in the game, somehow I think Witcher fans can't acknowledge that, either.
Lol, what? The only way you get the good endings is by showing Ciri empathy and kindness and respect. Can you actually find an example of anything that requires you to be a neglectful, abusive parent in the good endings? (Spoiler tag it for the benefit of others, of course.) Because the only things I can think of that even come close to that lead to the worst ending. We've already dealt with this before: you don't get screwed over for "no reason". You get screwed over because you missed a detail and made a poor decision.
Yep, there is nothing wrong with a game where protecting a woman against drunken, rapacious men is declared the wrong choice because you were never told the woman believes her neighbours have a right to beat her mercilessly. This is the kind of writing you're defending.
This doesn't occur. Certainly not as you've described it. There's an incident where you can disperse some men harassing an elf and after they leave she says that she wishes you hadn't intervened because the next time this happens, the harassment is going to be worse. That's as close as I can recall to what you're describing. A link to the quest: https://witcher.fandom.com/wiki/Racists_of_Novigrad Edit: there's also an incident where you come across what looks like a man menacing a prostitute, but it turns out they're just roleplaying and you've killed the mood. That first one isn't you getting screwed over or the wrong choice or anything; this is pointing out that acting with good intentions can have unintended consequences. Those consequences aren't stated to necessarily come to pass, but they might happen. Rather like in KOTOR II, where it's pointed out that giving money to a beggar might lead to him getting mugged later. I'm still waiting for how the choices that lead to the good endings require you to be an "abusive, neglectful" parent. Curious you didn't address that point.
Since it was mentioned above, I'll be playing that masterpiece of a Star Wars game with the restored content mod. Been ages since I sat down and enjoyed it.
Double-ish post... My friend gave me his copy of God Of War for the PS4. Heard it's better than the original. Well, I've heard its the best one yet, so I'll be playing that tonight.
So many games to play not enough hours in the day. Recently got a PC copy of New Vegas, Lisa, Stanly`s Parable, and The Beginners guide. Thank you Steam sale. Need to show the PS3 some love to soon hate to see the old boy gather dust.
Picked up Ace Combat 7. I greatly enjoyed Ace Combat 4 & 5 back on the PS2 and so far this is scratching exactly the same itch. It's basically Top Gun with less pointless testosterone and many, many more pointless cutscenes that seem to relate only tangentially to the events of the missions. The story is enjoyably absurd and sentimental in a way that I shall dub "Kojima-esque". But the action is rock solid. Don't expect a hardcore flight sim, it's much more arcade-y, you will shoot so many missiles, perhaps all the missiles, and everything will blow up real good. But that's my jam. Pro tip, use expert controls. It's not hard mode, despite the name. Just a better way to play this.
Rome: Total War, baby. It may have been released in 2004, but it still has the second best campaign in the franchise, and hands down the best multiplayer. Tournaments every few months, great guys on the server, and it's only $10 in the Steam Store. It needs more players, so come check it out.
Been playing Mass Effect Andronema I know it got a lot of a bad rep and I`m not very far but it seems alright. Not as good as the trilogy but, ehh.
Currently working my way through Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna the Golden Country. So far so good, but haven't unlocked any new blades yet, which was one of the best things about the main game.
Haven't played a game since my last post, but, my Youtube recommended me this video, Gotta love Skyrim.
