Interesting Links for 19-08-2016

[andrewducker]

Plans for 2,000 homes at Edinburgh Marina receive full approval (tags: edinburgh housing construction trams ) All Olympic 100m winners compared in one race (tags: visualisation race olympics history ) US ready to 'hand over' the internet's naming system (tags: internet names usa ) Uber and Volvo partner up, robot ride-sharing starts this summer

Comments

[lilchiva]

In the 90's it was basically the only place for "gay wizards". The problem, of course, is that it was mostly striaght women writing this. So, there were no lesbians. And, the hot gay sex was really quite tame, when compared to actual hot gay sex.

Ya know, it was like this:



This would be the series that, for many, epitomises the genre.

[fub]

Oh wow, that cover! Emo guy hugging a white horse with huge eyelashes...
Take a look at the art preview for the new Blue Rose edition to see stuff that rivals that cover.

Looking at the story of the demise of the genre, it seems like it wasn't that good but it scratched particular itches. And then when media came along that also catered to those tastes, it sort of evaporated as it lost it's audience.
But I do think that the themes are not dead -- not by a long shot. If you look at Bioware games like Mass Effect or Dragon Age, there's lots of emotion and romance (and yes, gay sex if you want it), but the world themes are a bit more grim...

[lilchiva]

My goodness. Yes, I am replaying the Mass Effect series in my 'video game allotment" as we speak. This is that; yes. I think you have just answered the "why" of Bioware's enduring appeal.

It's like the creatives at EA/Bioware read all these books and then decided to make games out of them. Nearly all of their titles are like that and I love them. Check out Jade Empire, if you haven't. It's old and cheap. But, it really holds up as these sorts of games go. I assume you are also familiar with The Witcher series as well? I haven't played them all the way. But, from what I have they are excellent.

As for the demise of the genre, well it really depends. Some of those stories were great. But, I was also a teenager, while most of this was happening. And, in terms of media, this is an era where people still got excited about bisexual trell (sp) innuendo on DS9. This was the era where Zena and Gabrielle were about as gay as things got. Clive Barker's Imagica was ground breaking shit. These days most of this looks more than a little childish. And, there are significantly more options. That PDF is spot on.

Tangentially and back to your KS reference, do you like AGE over D20? Do you see it replacing it? Or, is it just a new modular system, among potentially many others?

[fub]

The Witcher doesn't really let you customize your character -- there's a lot of 'male gaze' in there too. The fanbase for Bioware games is both male and female, but the fanbase for The Witcher is predominantly male, from what I understand. But it does have consequences to the choices you make as a player, so it has that in common with the Bioware games.

I am reading through the Dragon Age RPG rulebook, which also uses the AGE system, but I haven't played it. So I'm not sure how it holds up in action. Surely D20 is the big player in RPGs, what with Pathfinder and Dungeons & Dragons. You could play nothing other than a D20 system and not get bored -- which is in fact what a lot of RPG players do. I've run D&D 5th edition games, and while I don't actively dislike the system, it's merely okayish. But nothing is going to displace D20 as the dominant player, and certainly not AGE because it's too niche.

[lilchiva]

Re: Witcher. I think most RPGs are a bit male gazy. Generally, that's only an issue when it goes to outright mysogny. ie your mission is "beat a hooker". But, that might be why I get bored with them and find most of the stories sophmoric. I thought the Witcher was excellent. But, I haven't finished it. I haven't finished Sleeping Dogs either. I like Rockstar games but the last one I finished was Bully. Bully came out a looong time ago. I haven't finished a GTA since GTA III. But, I have messed around in them.

Bioware I have always liked because you don't have to have a romance and you don't have to be "good'. And, even your early choices effect the game. They use trigger points better than most games. I don't play FPS, as I get seasick. But, I understand Fallout does similar stuff with their game.

But, truly, If I am honest, I think its because they match the tone of so many fantasy adventures from my teenage years.

Re AGE: I have heard a ton of hype about and I have been very curious. But, again, I don't think I've gotten into an RPG since Shadow Run was a thing. Anyway, thanks for your opinion.