Bioware writers discuss the same-sex relationships found in Mass Effect

[pkbitchgirl]

http://blog.bioware.com/2012/05/07/same-sex-relationships-in-mass-effect-3/

Sorry, got the right link now, the previous link was to a petition for Garrus m/m DLC

Comments

[baxaronn]

I kind of want to give Patrick Weekes a really big hug after reading that.

I honestly wouldn't have guessed that Samantha's romance plot was written by a straight man, and usually that kind of thing is... "obvious" is a bit of an understatement. I'm really, really glad he approached it from the angle he did, with that awareness of what he didn't want to do.

[themarshal]

I honestly wouldn't have guessed that Samantha's romance plot was written by a straight man, and usually that kind of thing is... "obvious" is a bit of an understatement.

I figured the most telling part was that the romance was started with a shower scene... >.>

[syrenstar]

I figured the most telling part was that the romance was started with a shower scene... >.>

Yep me to. The chess scene could have easily been Sam's version of a date but it's scrapped in favour of a sex scene if you romance her. Very much male thinking.

[baxaronn]

All the romance paths have sex scenes, though. I mean, yeah, it would've been nice to play chess with her too, but I actually thought it was sweet.

Though I was admittedly distracted by the fact that Shepard doesn't take her clothes off, wtf and could have missed something horribly objectifying, IDK.

[tersa]

The Cortez path does not have a sex scene. :/ It has a kiss.

As for the 'not taking her clothes off'...I've heard a RL anecdote for a friend of mine who did exactly that with their girlfriend, so I'm very 'eh, it happens' about it.

[baxaronn]

I honestly find it more problematic that Cortez doesn't have a sex scene (which I wasn't aware of - my only male Shepard has been a Talimancer) than that Traynor does. I was wrong about all paths having a sex scene, even excluding Cortez for a moment, and I apologize for that... but still.

Ugh, I don't know how to articulate anything today. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that I would much rather see a flirty love scene that's maybe a little overly sexualized than see nothing at all because you can't show gay characters getting laid, that would be gay.

[tersa]

I thought I heard that Garrus and Tali didn't get a sex scene, either? Or, are you counting a 'fade to black' as a sex scene? (I wasn't, because when I think 'sex scene', I think about what Liara, Kaidan, and Ashleymancers get pre-Cronos)

[baxaronn]

I get what you're saying, and I guess what I'm trying to get at can be clarified as "all the other human or very human-appearing LIs get a sex scene at one point or another." Tali and Garrus don't get them for pretty much unrelated reasons, like "does anyone really want to see turian junk?" and to preserve the mystery of Tali's appearance (and also "does anyone really want to see quarian junk?").

I'm sorry I'm not making a very coherent argument here. My memory... isn't all that great, and I really should fact check before trying to debate stuff like this. My apologies.

[tersa]

I get where you're coming from, but I guess I don't think it's a fair comparison because I don't think it's right to try to make an exception of Steve by making other exceptions in order to make the argument 'work'.

[pkbitchgirl]

They could have at least had Garrus taken his shirt off instead of devoting resources to a naked Yahg model which has less than two minutes of total screentime.

They could have had Shepard shove Garrus fully-clothed onto the bed before fading to black, but they couldn't even give us that

[wow_a_taffypull]

yep yep yep agree agree

[latin_lunatic]

I'm not even entirely sure Tali and Shep had sex in ME3. If it wasn't for the fact his shirt is off, I would have thought they just kissed.

[littlepunkryo]

Yep. It was painfully obvious, especially when you compare that Steve's sex scene is a fade-to-black but Samantha's is basically set up to be softcore porn. Gee, this game is market up the ass to the dudebros, I wonder why the situations were so different /sarcasm.

[themarshal]

Granted, there ARE scenes with Sam after that which are very touching. But to be forced into something out of Skinemax to get there... The first video I saw of that scene actually had Careless Whisper playing over the shower scene and I actually yelled at my computer because a) it fit so well, and b) what the fuck?

[baxaronn]

I honestly find it more problematic that Cortez doesn't have a sex scene than that Traynor does. It's telling on both sides.

[littlepunkryo]

Yep, yep. Like I adored them both as characters but when you have situations that for all intents and purposes are the same and one of them gets a full-on sex scene while the other gets a hush-hush fade-to-black, it speaks to problematic things at play on multiple levels. As in "lesbians are okay cause it's hot and I like watching and it's all for me but gay dudes aren't something I wanna see because it's gross," imo.