Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback WOW so Baldur's Gate has gone from fun GAMe to borderline cartoon porn?

This.

That begs a question though - are we locked out of content for refusing to have sex? If so that kind of needs to change.

As someone who usually finds sex scenes in games like this very awkward, my solution would be to ask for less awkward sex scenes instead of complaining that a game meant for adults portrays characters bumping uglies. Optional portrayals at that, since we can skip or entirely avoid them.

By all means, I'm for making it less awkward, but the idea that it somehow "ruined" Baldur's Gate is silly. If an optional scene ruined the whole thing for you, you probably have a less than healthy attitide towards sex and sexualization, and you should be looking inwards to solve that.

Why so? It is natural to share the most intimate stuff with the people you are most intimate with. Why does anything need to change? Even if it was like in your example.

Because believe it or not - people don't need sex to be intimate, and locking content behind sex is not the way to go unless a really good reason for said character is presented.

Believe it or not - all people are different and their perception of intimacy as well. I still don't see how anything NEEDS to be changed based on ...anything?

Edit: also with the approach you suggest the portrayal of sex would be indeed devalued to mere porn and lose all sense of intimacy. Because if there is no content locked behind sex then it is here just for the looks of it
It is now quite the contrary with Astarion showing his scars after the night and Gale sharing his deeper thoughts on Mystra

It's not about what "needs" to be changed, it's about preferences and asking for options 😉

The view on this goes beyond the first post and the circular discussion that has started afterward.
Nuances were brought up after the OP and in other duplicate threads.

Exactly!

Edit: there would be no arguing if people were here just to share preferences though. It is clear that many of us want to promote their sexual agenda here for some reason... I've just caught myself doing the same to an extent time to get out of here...

What needs to be changed is the locking content behind sex because it shouldn't be a mandatory thing. Solves a lot of problems for both sides.

Those that don't want to see sex won't be punished for loosing story content.
Those that want sex will still see it and move on.

All that needs to be added is another dialogue.

NPC: Let's bang, ok?
1. Sure.
2. Let's cuddle by the campfire instead, okay?
3. Uhm, no, what gave you the idea I wanted you all of a sudden?


Simple solution, I think.

Or a fade to black option. You tell Astarion you want to have some fun. Fade to black. Next morning he has no shirt on and important dialogue occurs. Same with Minthara and whoever. Next morning, you wake up and she's already dressed, being an elf who doesn't sleep, and important dialogue ensues. Something to that effect.

As for vulgarity, an option to shut off vulgarity so that when a duergar is talking about Thrynn sucking Nerve, it just doesn't even give that line. Cuts it right out. No subtitles or sound. You could even still have the animations and a subtitle saying that something vulgar is said. Whatever is easiest to implement.

Then people who want to stream the game without breaking TOS can do so, and people like me don't have to listen to or read that crap that makes us not have as much fun with the game.

Or fade to black, this also works, but I am under the impression people here WANT to see the act itself for some reason or another, while others don't. Trying to find a middle ground here

I'm someone who doesn't mind overtly sexual content being in the game at all. Having said that, there are differences between sexual themes and full on graphic sex scenes. I can fully believe that someone would buy this game fully prepared for some vulgarity and even some nudity, but still be made uncomfortable by the full on sex scenes. Especially people who are expecting the game to be in line with the first two of the series. I don't thinknits a matter of being anti sex, just that people aren't on board with the shift for this particular series. I think Dragon Age, a series that has always pushed things a bit more in terms of sex and sexuality could include this sort of thing and have it feel like a more natural advancement, for example.

Right. That's why I said option. Fade to black option that players could select if they don't want to see the junk. Same with vulgarity. An option for me to censor it if I want.

Interesting idea, but not as easy as it sounds. I can't imagine Minthara agreeing to just sit with you around the campfire and break her mental guard. She is a dominant, she does not speak about herself and is always prepared for a fight. The intimate scene with her was the only reason why she let her barrier down, and the player was able to sneak through and see her backstory. But if we are speaking about other characters... maybe it is possible. But taking this approach will require content from ALL scenes to be transferred into campfire talks.

Well, there is so much violence so I do not think censorship of vulgar language is going to change anything with streams. But your situation is really interesting. I have never seen a person who tries to avoid listening to vulgar language in games or films. I, mean, among peers. Especially if it fits duergars well, as you said before.

You can get locked out of content if you say one wrong thing to an NPC. This is an asinine complaint.

Not question to me, but that you would lump BG3 with those ways of entertaining oneself is precisely where I find an issue with it. I generally wouldn't watch those things, maybe with exception of violent films if we talk stuff like Scorsese or Cohen brothers.

I think you are overdoing by putting BG3 aside those things, but I don't think that's an argument in BG3's favour. And considering the IP has history it is fair to expect to be able to play new BG3 game with a nephew - same as one would expect to watch new starwars movie or such.

WTF is your point? Disney films have implied sex. They also have violence. You can talk about death, existential crisis, rape and other stuff in a child friendly way. It is not what BG3 has but how it is presented.

You do teach other people how to art. People pay hundred of thousands of dollars to be tough how to do art. Doing art doesn't shield you from criticism. Making art doesn't mean making whatever hell you want.

Artist is someone who develop his craft to the point of being one of a kind. It's a mastery of a highest level.

An artist can have ideas that people don't comprehend but putting poorly put together cutscenes of digital puppets rubbing against each other is not that.

Making art does mean making whatever the hell you want. Maybe you're talking about commercial art, which isn't meant to be beautiful but marketable. Putting explicit sex into Baldur's Gate is a choice that directly affects its marketability, and so you're giving it a hard time for not being art.

A fade to black option doesn't seem as simple as a toggle, these scenes have actions being performed by the characters, and dialogue options connected to them, that might have an impact on more than just the choreography.

Thats what many people thinks ...
For some (unknown to me) our society have fixated that things that are animated (yup, i mean Jap. Anime) or things that are videogames ... are "meaned for kids" no matter what ESRB, or any other simmilar group that makes ratings say.

I disagree ... as respecfully as i can.
Those things are just media, and can provide any mature content ... as i said earlier, those ratings are there for a reason and if you decide to ignore them (wich you totally can) its on you, when things goes wrong.