4 ms·

That's actually not how I read and perceive most of the negative reviews - sure, people are complaining about the SJW and gender politics content on the sidelin

by c0l0 11y ago

That's actually not how I read and perceive most of the negative reviews - sure, people are complaining about the SJW and gender politics content on the sidelines; yet the most substantial criticism complains about the poor writing, a series of critical bugs that render the multiplayer modes unplayable, and a very awkward graphics style, thanks to some kind of upscaling/post-effects filter they use to make avatars look more, er, "smooth", or something. I've been a total Infinity Engine games addict for most of my adolescent and adult life (I'm born in 1985, and played several hundreds, if not a few thousands, of hours of Baldur's Gate (et al.) in my life, mostly in multiplayer sessions with my cousin and friends from school, often spanning the afternoons and evenings of several weeks at a time). I was VERY much looking forward to new content for what is perhaps the most influential computer game I know and cherish, and I was pretty stoked after watching the official trailer last week. However, because of the flak it received over the last few days, I decided to watch a "Let's Play" video on Youtube instead of just blindly buying it. I witnessed about half an hour of gameplay and story development, and, sadly, that was enough to make it completely clear to me that this add-on doesn't live up to its ancestors' brilliance, and that I won't be buying it. The dialouge feels somewhere between forced and cringe-worthy, and the world Beamdog puts your party in seems like a rather badly thought-out scenario from the get-go (one of your companions from the real BG saga explains to you why you are there and what you'll have to do in the very first dungeon/map in such a poor manner that hearing Imoen's original voice actress speak those lines actually made my heart sink a fair bit...). It seems to me that it's just a rather bad game, at least compared to its predecessors, and that the developers try to use the Gamergate/SJW-trolls' whining and bashing as grounds to cover that up.

Pfhreak 11y ago
> That's actually not how I read and perceive most of the negative reviews - sure, people are complaining about the SJW and gender politics content on the sidelines Looking through some reviews myself, it did seem like there were about (very roughly) 25% of reviews that explicitly mentioned SJW or gender politics as a reason to give the game a review of 0/10. Even if that's not most of the reviews, it does strike me as high enough to comment on.
mcphage 11y ago
> That's actually not how I read and perceive most of the negative reviews If you wanted to complain about the gender politics, and didn't want to be immediately dismissed, you'd find something else to complain about, and just magnify your complaints.
- dogma1138 11y ago
  Not really the expac is utter grabbage in it's current state regardless of the SJW stuff, I've pre-ordered it and I didn't even get to that part (and didn't even knew it existed till today) because I didn't wanted to ruin the good memories I had of BG1 and BG2. That said I understand why people dislike the "transgender story" It just seems utterly out of touch with the rest of the game It doesn't impact the story, there isn't some interesting content behind it it's just there as a "BTW I'm a transgender" if they cared so much why not actually make a side quest about this that would actually flesh it out? This is almost as absurd as Dragon Age 3 being hailed as "SJW" (not in a negative sense) dream while The Witcher 3 was criticized for "sexualizing women" while utterly ignoring the fact that The Witcher 3 not only has 3 fully fleshed out and very strong main female characters and as well as many more strong female supporting roles it also tackled various issues from homosexuality to general racism and prosecution in quite deep, meaningful and impactful ways while DA3 was shallow and in your face about it.
  - nrinaudo 11y ago
    Relevant: https://www.facebook.com/ed.greenwood.142/posts/10156746522575453?pnref=story https://www.facebook.com/ed.greenwood.142/posts/101567465225... Essentially, you may feel it's out of touch with the rest of the game, but it's definitely in line with the universe in which the game takes place. Magic items that change your gender as part of the official rulebook, mages that must swap gender as part of their training, inter-species sex and cross-breeding... how does a transgender character not fit in that universe?

by c0l0 11y ago

Pfhreak 11y ago

> That's actually not how I read and perceive most of the negative reviews - sure, people are complaining about the SJW and gender politics content on the sidelines Looking through some reviews myself, it did seem like there were about (very roughly) 25% of reviews that explicitly mentioned SJW or gender politics as a reason to give the game a review of 0/10. Even if that's not most of the reviews, it does strike me as high enough to comment on.

mcphage 11y ago

> That's actually not how I read and perceive most of the negative reviews If you wanted to complain about the gender politics, and didn't want to be immediately dismissed, you'd find something else to complain about, and just magnify your complaints.

dogma1138 11y ago
Not really the expac is utter grabbage in it's current state regardless of the SJW stuff, I've pre-ordered it and I didn't even get to that part (and didn't even knew it existed till today) because I didn't wanted to ruin the good memories I had of BG1 and BG2. That said I understand why people dislike the "transgender story" It just seems utterly out of touch with the rest of the game It doesn't impact the story, there isn't some interesting content behind it it's just there as a "BTW I'm a transgender" if they cared so much why not actually make a side quest about this that would actually flesh it out? This is almost as absurd as Dragon Age 3 being hailed as "SJW" (not in a negative sense) dream while The Witcher 3 was criticized for "sexualizing women" while utterly ignoring the fact that The Witcher 3 not only has 3 fully fleshed out and very strong main female characters and as well as many more strong female supporting roles it also tackled various issues from homosexuality to general racism and prosecution in quite deep, meaningful and impactful ways while DA3 was shallow and in your face about it.
- nrinaudo 11y ago
  Relevant: https://www.facebook.com/ed.greenwood.142/posts/10156746522575453?pnref=story https://www.facebook.com/ed.greenwood.142/posts/101567465225... Essentially, you may feel it's out of touch with the rest of the game, but it's definitely in line with the universe in which the game takes place. Magic items that change your gender as part of the official rulebook, mages that must swap gender as part of their training, inter-species sex and cross-breeding... how does a transgender character not fit in that universe?