Dragon Age - E3 Impressions @ Gamespot, Shacknews
 

Here are two impression articles for Dragon Age on the X360. Let's hit GameSpot first, who don't appear convinced by the control scheme:
On the the other hand, Shacknews liked the control scheme but didn't take to the apparent sex-first marketing trip:
More information.

If I want to have sex I prefer to do it in person… I'm not a sex thirsting teenager any more. This game is really marketed to a teen audience, it seems. Hopefully Mike Laidlaws long sex presentation means it is like it is for most guys in real life: a lot of talk and not much happening (and when it happens it's over way too quickly) ;)

I was always taught that Slow and Steady is the way to go!!!! :)

At a certain age that is the only way to go ;)

I think their marketing has seriously miscued lately (does BioWare or EA drive this level of marketing?). It's low-brow, appeals to the wrong audience and, frankly, feels a little desperate. I don't know that they have any reason to be desperate (I rather like most of the other gameplay related stuff I've seen) but it feels desperate.

The Witcher is probably more titillating but the marketing stayed firmly on point: choices and consequences and a more interactive action combat system.

If they keep this up they may well draw the game to the attention of a different market - as they obviously want to - who will then rubbish the game as slow and old-school. That word of mouth will hurt and who knows if their real audience will still be with them.

Talk about real gameplay, BioWare.

Hear hear. One of the cardinal rules of marketing is to know your customers. Trying to market motor scooters to cattle ranchers won't work and will only make you look stupid, as well as wasting a lot of money.

Completely agree with the both posts above, though following this game´s marketing is quite a lolmine.
I´m not sure if the author was sarcastic or not, but all the talk about moral choices in the GameSpot article was rather gold.

I hope they´ve implemented hard on difficulty for more seasoned gamers.
Just keep it up, Bioware!

I agree that this is getting weird. It seems like something subscribed from the top, so I'd assume EA is the driving force here. Some of the early talk sounded quite promising, but the current drive makes me more cautious.

On a side note: its a bit remarkable so that they openly sell the sex bit, after all the hubub regarding earlier videogames with this "feature" - is that a side effect of the Obabma presidency? :)

I loled :lol: sorry :blush:

New target audience ? "Mature" game for a younger audience ?
It's time for me to begin to shake my head.

Ten minute presentation about sex in the game? Sounds interesting. I wonder if they got the idea from witcher.

It is important that a game designed with the PC in mind (as far as we know) works well with console systems. Otherwise companies might completely give up on that concept.

What's the big deal, here? Though from what I read, the romance simulation doesn't sound particularly realistic -- for example, showering a woman with gifts is not really a good way to start a romance and more likely to hurt your chances with her, at least in my experience -- it is obviously valid to devote a segment of the presentation to a topic many people are very much interested in. As long as this is not the sole focus of the game, who can blame them if it helps sales?

Also, I admit it: I much prefer seeing a bare breasted woman in a computer game than having a more physically accurate simulation of someone's innards flying around my ears, which seemed to be the focus of developers for the past decade or so. They just shouldn't make the mistake of thinking that this virtual sex idea will suffice to sell their game to the crowd of 16 year olds; finding free pictures of naked women on the net is not really that difficult nowadays. And even the kids will probably appreciate the more cerebral entertainment that pleases their older (in both senses) target audience.

Edit: actually, the more criticism they earn for all this virtual sex and heavy metal stuff, the happier their marketing department will be in all likelyhood.

Difference is of course that in game you get to know the "characters". You become familiar with them and you can interact with them. So ingame sex might be more than just pictures in the net or words in a book.

Even the best fantasy like martin's has sex so why not rpgs. Theres a pen&paper rpg book about the subject even. "Sex in rpgs" or somthing.

No sex, no money from me. Why?
It's not that I can't live without it in the game, however…

FO1 & FO2 - awsome (sex included)
FO3 - I hate that game (and there is no sex)

Gothic2 - awsome (there is actually a sex cutscene)
Gothic3 - failure (and again, no sex)

Jade Empire, Mass Effect, The Witcher - all awsome (and all have sex included)
Jade Empire 2, Mass Effect 2, The Witcher 2 - not released yet but I wander if we'll see some sex inside

Ok, there are also BG1 and Torment with no sex but awsome game, however there is BG2 with sex. Drakensang? Again no sex, but I love that game for some reason.

So… In a way… Although it's not a common rule… This is just a prejudice of mine based on those few titles… Absence of ingame sex could mean that the game is utter crap and not worth buying at all. Perhaps a sex in a game means that developers actually worked hard on the game to make it good? That's what I think.

It might, but it never is. I honestly can't think of a game where the sex wasn't either cringe-inducing or of the fade-to-black variety.

True, unfortunately, and it does sound like the cringe-factor will be high in Dragon Age, but in general they seem to be getting better at it: for example, the two romance options in The Witcher were handled relatively well in my opinion.

(You could say that the sex was of the fade-to-black variety in The Witcher, too, but I just assume that we are talking about the whole romance, the idea and emotions behind the sex, not the physical act of copulation ;))

Both, actually. And yeah, I think The Witcher did the romance bit rather well. I thought the sex cards were rather silly originally, but perhaps they have a kind of tongue-in-cheek camp appeal.

(For an example that's *both* cringe-inducing *and* fade-to-black, see NWN2 OC.)

Sex with keyboard and mouse is boring. Will they sell a new physical interface with the game?

I think wired had an article about that like 10 years ago. Now we have all these new motion sensors and stuff who knows what we could do. It would be a superb casual hit. Top10 product.

Gothic 2 had sex? Where?

Here, for example.

(Edit: Fire Mage version.)

My expectations are now lower. It's not that I'm opposed to sex or romance in these games. It's that I would prefer that they be trivial.

What it boils down to is I don't trust a developer to simulate intimacy in a way that makes sense to me. Putting the emphasis on it by making decisions pertaining to it an integral or even pivotal part of the experience doesn't sound good to me.

When Mike Laidlaw referred to the intimacy in the game, one of the writers practically threw up in his mouth. I would call that a bad sign.

Both romance and the physical act? No blurred screen? My first reaction was "not likely", but considering cinema, where sex scenes became en vogue even for 'high brow' movies, it does not seem that unlikely anymore. Am I a prude when I think that considering the age of people who obtain computer games, this might be a bit too much?

Agreed about the sex cards; sounded like an odd idea at first, but in retrospect, I kinda liked it. Never understood the criticism, though; you can easily see similarly explicit paintings in an art museum.

Considering past Bioware games, the romance in Dragon Age will most likely be optional.

Yup, that falls squarely in the "cringe-inducing" category.

What about the example Bioware provided, the one talked about in these articles? I'm assuming it was chosen as an example of what players can expect.

Guess it depends on the definition of optional. A min/max player would definitely run the romance just for the few magic points it gets a party member. Maybe having sex will give you a charisma bonus or whatever, but does that make it an integral or even pivotal part of the game? Debatable, in my opinion. (If the game is any good, there will be other, much more relevant things to do.)

You can choose to have a romance or not in any & all Bioware games, it is up to you. However, unlike other companies, Bioware have found the perfect way to attract female gamers by making romance options available in their games.

The pivotal part of the game, DA: Origins, is not to have sex; it is to save the world from this thing called the Blight. You can then choose to have a romantic interest that may or may not lead to you having sex in the game.

If someone buys the game thinking it is going to be a sex-simulator, they will be greatly disappointed; other games or sites for this sort of thing there are on this new fangled thing called the internet….

On a more general note, my hopes for this game, DA: Origins, actually went a little up when I watched this hands-on demo, especially since it featured some of the most intriguing dialogue, I have seen in a crpg for a very long time.

I have nothing against sex in a game. It's just that it tends to become rather… well dull to be honest. If the porn industry makes a better job of made-up sex the gaming industry seriously needs to improve… ;)

My point is that some things games do good and others not. To live out a fantasy of being an awesome magic-slinging mage is usually pretty well done. To have a relationship and have sex is usually worthlessly and inadequately done. I can't cast spells in real life, but I can have sex, so I prefer if they focus on the parts where real life can't beat them. Of course it would be very interesting if they managed to actually pull it of and create something interesting.

Its optional and besides according to the BioWare developers you will have needed to spend 30 hours building up the relationship to get to that point.

I like romance/sex options in the game. Its not a dealbreaker if the game doesn't have it but I always enjoyed games more who gives me this option.

I see your point, of course, but the very fact that Bioware is emphasizing it makes me think it's a significant part of the game, even if it's "optional." Unless I missed it, they didn't describe any potential benefits from choosing not to pursue any of the sexual or romantic angles. If there are none, then what kind of option is that, really?

Choosing never to experience certain parts of a game isn't that much different from choosing never to experience any of it at all. Buy it or not -- your option. Call me crazy, but I tend to lean toward buying games I want to experience.

Not that I'd call this a deal breaker, but it does lower my expectations for the game.

I liked the relationships in bg2..so I quess I will enjoy the romances in DA :)