Sex doesn't work in art.

[opus132]

I think this is really what rubs most people the wrong way. It's not just the "gay" stuff, it's the fact everybody is horny and flirty out of nowhere and regardless of their character.

People who play games like this want to be engrossed in the story, they want to feel they are living out their favored fantasy novel. They want to feel like they are directly experiencing what Frodo did in Lord of the Rings and so on.

Remember how sad your relationship with Dak'kon was, or how tragic the Deionarra backstory was in Torment? Remember feeling sympathy for Kelrdon, or having feeling of camaraderie for Kivan despite BG1 having very scant NPC interactions, just going by the portrait and the voice acting?

Now imagine if all those characters tried to have sex with you the second you met them. Just random "wink wink" sex innuendos or lustful stares. Imagine the second you meet Minsc he wants to jump in your pants.

I don't see how you can call this art. If Tolkien did this in his books he would be called an hack.

[Cuendillar]

And yet "A Song of Ice and Fire" is ludicrously successful, beloved, and well regarded. (even if it wont ever get finished)
Turns out people like different things. You hate it, and clearly *many* thousands absolutely love it. Such is the way of things.

[K.I.L.E.R]

Originally posted by Cuendillar:

"A Song of Ice and Fire"

You can't really compare that writing to what is in this game. Books in general tend to tell far better stories than video games.

[Elrodeus]

Originally posted by opus132:

I don't see how you can call this art. If Tolkien did this in his books he would be called an hack.

First of all, Baldur's Gate 3 is not telling the same kind of story that Tolkien did so I'm not going to engage in that aspect. LotR is and always will be amazing.

To make the claim that sex doesn't work in art is preposterous though. In many ways, art wouldn't exist without sex as some of the strongest feelings that a human can have is that of both love and lust.

In both art and fantasy we want to revel in our feelings and in our imagination and both of those things are enhanced (not degraded) by our feelings of love and lust.

I honestly don't believe I can stress enough how absolutely fundamentally wrong it is to believe that "Sex doesn't work in art." Especially when you try to adapt this notion to art and poetry for example something like Romeo and Juliet.

[Wintermute]

It does work, both in art in general and in videogames as well. It just needs to be well-written to not look like porn fanfiction of a horny teenager. If I ever want to indulge in low-quality smut, there are other places for that. And better games for the purpose.

[giganova]

Sounds like someone needs to explore art more thoroughly...

[Cuendillar]

Originally posted by Kruno Saho:

Originally posted by Cuendillar:

"A Song of Ice and Fire"

You can't really compare that writing to what is in this game. Books in general tend to tell far better stories than video games.

They're the one that used Tolkien as their example.
The statement was "Sex doesn't work in art" Not "this game is written like a teen fiction novel" Which it is

[robilar5500]

Might want to have a chat with that pesky dude Picasso.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3016482152

[Mesond]

Some people are more upfront and direct. Like the gith. Others talk more. Like Shadowheart. The vampire went "Yuck" with me at first. Though I could engage if I wanted.

It seems realistic to me.

[Cooperal]

Games have tons and tons and tons of artistic merit, but be careful to not forget that it is a commercial entertainment product before anything else. Same with your movies, with your TV shows, even with your music. They can only continue to exist with money, and it is universally agreed that sex sells.

[Zouls]

Hentai is art and nothing you can say will make me think otherwise

[opus132]

Originally posted by Baijiu:

prudish american are going absolutely insane over this game

I'm Italian.

And this has nothing to do with being prudish, but it's about shoving low grade fan fiction level garbage in a game that was supposed to be loftier than this.

[Dreaming Prince]

Originally posted by robilar5500:

Might want to have a chat with that pesky dude Picasso.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3016482152

he was talking about art..

[opus132]

Originally posted by Cooperal:

Games have tons and tons and tons of artistic merit, but be careful to not forget that it is a commercial entertainment product before anything else. Same with your movies, with your TV shows, even with your music. They can only continue to exist with money, and it is universally agreed that sex sells.

Is that why they keep making games with ugly as sin female characters?

[PinkPanther]

"Sex doesn't work in art."

Spotted the guy who got bad marks in art.... or just didn't pay attention.

Very ignorant

[Kai]

Originally posted by opus132:

I think this is really what rubs most people the wrong way. It's not just the "gay" stuff, it's the fact everybody is horny and flirty out of nowhere and regardless of their character.

People who play games like this want to be engrossed in the story, they want to feel they are living out their favored fantasy novel. They want to feel like they are directly experiencing what Frodo did in Lord of the Rings and so on.

Remember how sad your relationship with Dak'kon was, or how tragic the Deionarra backstory was in Torment? Remember feeling sympathy for Kelrdon, or having feeling of camaraderie for Kivan despite BG1 having very scant NPC interactions, just going by the portrait and the voice acting?

Now imagine if all those characters tried to have sex with you the second you met them. Just random "wink wink" sex innuendos or lustful stares. Imagine the second you meet Minsc he wants to jump in your pants.

I don't see how you can call this art. If Tolkien did this in his books he would be called an hack.

If someone wanted porn they'd look specifically for it.

I specifically don't use any of the conversation dialogues in camp other than what is logical to the game's quest system, and if the party member isn't useful I'll find a way to be rid of them, because they are just data.