Larian Studios Forums General Chat RPG Chat an all-new rpg adventure

Is it me? I got the impression that there is no female choice in the char. creation. But perhaps I am wrong <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/think.gif" alt="" />

The witcher was a guy <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />.

Nah, it's basic heroic fantasy. The writing is weird but as I said earlier, I have no idea if it was made on purpose.

Yep, same here, Luc. I only saw one female - as NPC => Kristina. Seems a male game for me, so far. Specially considering how Kristina is designed.
Kiya

the very fact that it uses an enhanced version of the aurora engine tells us something. it was "lent" to them by bioware. and when bioware is in the picture somewhat, i feel there's something special about it. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

it originally started as a fan-made module, it seems. now with bioware's backing, it may/can be better. too bad it doesn't cater to females gamers in the sense that there's no playable female character. who knows, they might change that but will that jeopardise the intended storyline?

Doesn't mean anything. Day of Defeat was backed by Valve.

Jurak: the storyline's so-so. As I said, it's based on books and I read the books.
Your basic heroic fantasy-fairytale but a tad dirty. There was this part with Snowhite and 7 evil dwarves. I HIGHLY doubt the fine women of this forum would've liked that.

could she take revenge?
Kiya <curious>

Pitty because from what I have seen from the screenshots, the graphics are pretty ok.

I would like to see a version of Snowhite with a man in her place and seven female dwarves. That would be interesting <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin1.gif" alt="" />

She was weak and devastated. It was a while I read the book. IIRC the Witcher killed the dwarves.

Lucretia: *whiny* I'll have nightmares!
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" />

One of the sadder things I watched in the fantasy CRPG community was the gradual decrease of variety among Ultima avatars as the series moved onwards from male/female of various races to nothing but a white, blonde-haired male Caucasian in Ultima IX. Hopefully, these developers will add enough to make it more balanced. If not, they may eventually discover that roughly half their potential audience isn't interested in playing their game.

Being a white caucasian, I don't see the problem in that. If the developers have to make only ONE hero, it would be a white caucasian because most games are made for the USA market. Many RPGs give you the possibility to customize your skin/hair/cloth colours anyway.

True <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" /> this angered me from U8 on terribly. I wanted my female ava from U7 back. Not taking both genders and restricting themselves to one type is indeed a take-back. I bought U8+9, but never finished them - I couldn't identify myself with my ava.
Kiya

During a severe (and almost hostile) discussion about gender roles in Gothic I at a German board, I was pondering on whether the fact that developing studios are mostly consisting of male members has any impact on what's being developed.

This does not only include the (as it seems to me, I might be wrong) preferring of male chars (for role-playing), but also the use of clichés of women in games, or even the perception pattern of men in general (which I think might differ sometimes in some points, for example because women are - as it seems to me - rather fond of socializing (the Sims) than men. Another point would be the skin colour of the char : I wish there would also generally be more choices (we see in <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> for example only one dark-coloured man - maybe that's just typical to Rivellon, I don't know, but what it this was vice versa ?)

I think you raise some very good points. Traditionally, developers at game companies have been male; very few in the past were female. This often skewed the presentation of both female figures (who were objectified as the Other, needing rescuing, etc) and males (who were rivals to the PC). Personally, I feel that CRPGs which required traveling in a party were better in this respect, at least when the CRPG atmosphere amounted to more than just a thin layer. (In games like Might and Magic or Wizardry, for all their brillance, the environment was very thin, indeed.) Although the PC in Planescape: Torment was male, it was required by the plot, and the spiritually strongest character in the game, a party member, was female.

But by and large, I would agree with you that CRPGs have been male preserves thanks to the limited perspective of their developers--game developers never being noted under any context for extremely broad cultural experiences. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> Perhaps this also explains why so many CRPGs feel less like authentic environments than they do like revisits to the LotR, with plenty of combat opportunities.

When I started playing RPGS I had this question in my mind. Why developers find it so difficult to fantasize that a woman saves the world? Well the answer I know now depends on many things and mainly that the developers have as a market target male gamers. But then again one question rises : Why do they think that women do not play RPGS? I face this everytime I go to buy a game and the -usually- male salesman looks at me like am from another planet. They usually ask me if I want them to wrap the game as a present. I enjoy very much the moment that I tell them that the game is for me. They have that strange look. A mixture of panic and doubt. Then they try to suggest me some other rpgs and when it happens to be games that I have already played, ah... this is the time for the great laughs! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ROFL.gif" alt="" /> This scene, apart from the pleasant side, means a lot I think.

Oh, fun. Have you ever read the retelling of Snow White by Neil Gaiman? In it, the queen is the victim, and Snow is a vampire. Prince Charming woke her up by committing the equivalent of necrophilia.

During my Morrowind days I was on a bus once going into town, i was reading a paper and whistling the Morrowind theme tune. Little did I know there were some Morrowind players also on the bus who must have recognised the music, they came and sat by me and were curious how I knew that music, when I told them that I played the game they couldn't believe it. Girls don't play Rpgs do they? they asked. Now these lads were only about 14/15 or so and were completely shocked. When I explained that on the Morrowind forum they did a poll to see how many female players there were, the results were pretty outstanding, I think it was around 30%, and these were just the players that had registered on the forums. They were very much impressed when I told them I had also played Gothic, Arx Fatalis (no female char available) amongst others. They had no idea females played these sort of games, they learnt something new that day.

There are far more female game players than people realise. So when Neverwinter and DD came along with female chars to play I was very pleased. I do believe game companys are coming round to the fact that there are ladies who like to wield a sword/bow whatever and kill every baddie that crosses their path. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/badsmile2.gif" alt="" /> The latest Sacred game has 2 female chars that are quite interesting to play.

Lucretia, I have yet to get a funny look when buying a game, i think they are too interested in taking my money.

Marie <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />

No, I haven't. As much as I like Gaiman (one of my 3 all time favorite writers), I still haven't read much of his books. Intend to buy Smoke & Mirrors soon.

@Marie
Yes that thought crossed my mind too <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />

@Lucretia : <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ROFL.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ROFL.gif" alt="" />