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Gender of the Baldur's Gate Protagonist

[Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,675
edited February 2013 in Archive (General Discussion)
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  1. Gender of the Baldur's Gate Protagonist133 votes
    1. I think the protagonist would be male.
      47.37%
    2. I think the protagonist would be female.
      18.05%
    3. I do not care either way.
      34.59%
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Comments

  • FafnirFafnir Member Posts: 232
    Male, because of the canon romance ratio.
  • karnor00karnor00 Member Posts: 680
    edited February 2013
    Fafnir said:

    Male, because of the canon romance ratio.

    Expecially when you factor in that Anomen counts as -1 for a romance option. So it's 3 for male protagonists vs -1 for female protagonists.

    I guess if you factor in the new romance options it changes a bit. Dorn counts for both sides, but low level monks are so bad that it's a further -1 for female protagonists, bringing the total score to 5 for male protagonists vs -1 for female protagonists.
  • MordeusMordeus Member Posts: 460
    I want to break ranks and say female but for some reason a female protagonist traveling alongside Imoen is giving me Xena Warrior Princess visions.

    I wonder if it would be possible to write from a gender neutral perspective, where the protagonist assumes an alias and conceals its' appearance from everyone bar Imoen.
  • DjimmyDjimmy Member Posts: 749
    As everybody, I have my own vision about the Protagonist. In my eyes, more fitting choice would be male. I would love a book(or more) to be written about the Bhaalspawn saga that is not rushed as the ones that already came out.
  • OzzyBotkinsOzzyBotkins Member Posts: 396
    The book was one of the worst I ever read
    Phil Athans is the the " ED Wood " of fanasty novels
  • FafnirFafnir Member Posts: 232
    edited February 2013
    Mordeus said:

    I want to break ranks and say female but for some reason a female protagonist traveling alongside Imoen is giving me Xena Warrior Princess visions.

    I wonder if it would be possible to write from a gender neutral perspective, where the protagonist assumes an alias and conceals its' appearance from everyone bar Imoen.

    Vaarsuvius for protagonist! It's too bad elves can't specialize in invocation.
  • DJKajuruDJKajuru Member Posts: 3,300
    I believe it would be a male character so there would be a nice contrast between him, Imoen and Jaheira.
  • O_BruceO_Bruce Member Posts: 2,790
    Male, Female, in the end it really doesn't matter. BG novels may be much more canon than games, but Abdel Adrian was a really badly written character and I won't consider him as a protagonist of the Baldur's Gate series. Ever.
  • Lord_TansheronLord_Tansheron Member Posts: 4,212
    Male, because BG was made over 15 years ago and the idea of a smart, powerful woman leading an epic quest was just not quite in the realm of possibilities.

    Glad things have changed now. Mostly thanks to better graphics, which allow for plenty of fan-service cleavage in all its glory. Finally women can play a leading role in video games!

    Oh wait... -_-
  • EudaemoniumEudaemonium Member Posts: 3,199
    edited February 2013
    I think the main character should be female, because the one true romance is clearly Anomen. Think about it, the lack of choice is clearly representative of a canonical plotline.

    EDIT: I should probably highlight that the latter comment was sarcasm.
    Post edited by Eudaemonium on
  • AstafasAstafas Member Posts: 448
    I think the protagonist *should* be female. I think it *would* be male though.
  • SniiiimonSniiiimon Member Posts: 153
    What @Astafas said. But hey at least we can all enjoy Abdel Adrian, right? No?
  • KidCarnivalKidCarnival Member Posts: 3,747
    Assuming it is actually well written, I can see both. Anomen being the only romance option does actually make a good case for being linear/canon, but now we have to factor in Dorn and Rasaad (in BG2, he won't be low level sucky and become a valid NPC option, so "no-one uses him" doesn't count anymore when the actual romance begins).
    However, I'm not a big fan of romance, so that should not influence anything. I'd rather read a book about an epic adventure, fireforged friendships and such. Not every story has to be a love story.
  • EudaemoniumEudaemonium Member Posts: 3,199
    Every story is a love story, the narrative weaving its way through the tribulations of the greatest literary couples, like Frodo and Samwise.
  • shawneshawne Member Posts: 3,239
    It would be male, but that speaks more to the inherent biases of the D&D sub-genre than anything. It should be female, because there aren't nearly enough decent fantasy stories (or video games, for that matter) with women protagonists.
  • WilburWilbur Member Posts: 1,173
    A male protagonist just feels a little more right to me. He has a crush on Imoen until... you know.
  • DrugarDrugar Member Posts: 1,566
    I've played with a male and female charname several times and the female version felt better to me, preferably a rogue or Wizard/Sorcerer.
    Don't know why exactly, but it felt appropriate.
  • CalmarCalmar Member Posts: 688
    The quests and dialogue options to me seemed to imply that Charname would be male. Also the very limited amount of romance options for girls.

    I think that's acceptable for a game from the late 20th century that draws upon the fantasy style of the 90s, where there, I think, wasn't much female interest in fantasy games or roleplaying games in general, I guess. What I find weird, however, is when new series of today, as Jalily already said, tend towards male canonical main characters.
  • FrozenCellsFrozenCells Member Posts: 385
    Don't care as long as it's well written but I also agree with what @shawne said.
  • MillardkillmooreMillardkillmoore Member Posts: 150
    I think I'd prefer a female protagonist, but that's mostly for the spotlight that would be put on Anomen. In my opinion, he has more depth and gets more character development than any other party member in the series.

    In the end, anyone is better than Abdel.
  • shawneshawne Member Posts: 3,239
    @Calmar: To be fair, BioWare has come a long way since the days of "Baldur's Gate" - the "Dragon Age" and "Mass Effect" games are very well-balanced in terms of gender representation, in that not only do female PCs have equal romance options but the world doesn't really treat female characters differently in the vein of "whoa, you're a girl!" (seriously, to hell with Anomen).
  • IecerintIecerint Member Posts: 431
    I think a story with a female would be more interesting.
  • ReadingRamboReadingRambo Member Posts: 598
    edited February 2013
    I would lean toward male for a single reason: irenicus. Irenicus steals your soul (a male), while stealing immys for his sister (a female). I'm not saying souls are gender-incompatible, it just adds a nice brother-sister theme.

    That being said, I've enjoyed games books and movies with female protagonists. A female protagonist that first springs to mind that i loved was female Hawke in dragon age II. I loved the voice acting. I ended up roleplaying her like Imoen; mischevious and sarcastic but with a good heart and nature.
  • MokonaMokona Member Posts: 89
    Start off male, get the girdle of gender change, and then have a male love interest.
  • toanwrathtoanwrath Member Posts: 621
    I agree that some fantasy novels would be better with a female protagonist, and that there aren't enough female protagonists. Because Baldur's Gate is a "choose your own adventure" I have trouble asks with a novelization (ugh Abdel Adrian....) That said, hypothetically, this story does not particularly strike me as either female or male centered, so I can't say what I think the protagonist WOULD be, and I don't have a particular preference.
    Baldurs gate 2 MAYBE leans towards male a bit (more romance options, Imoen is the tortured hinted at sexually abused female while the main character was not necessarily sexually abused). Regardless, I could see it either way.

    Again, Abdel Adrian...interesting idea, IMO horrible execution.
  • Son_of_ImoenSon_of_Imoen Member Posts: 1,806
    My opinion is more of a 'the protagonist Should be female', just to break with the tradition most canonical heroes are male. And we need a good strong female protagonist without a cleavage.

    As for romance: I'd like the Bhaalspawn story to focus on what it's like to slowly discover you're the child of a god of Murder. And romance has no necessary part in the story. A female Bhaalspawn story without (Anomen) romance is perfectly feasible, to my opinion. I always like friendship paths more than romance paths in-game (well, except for Gavin maybe).
  • the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018
    by and large those types of books are written for the "Target" market. At the end of the day, there are significantly more male video RPG and D&D fans than there are women. And with that having been said, the writer is going to try and have the reader 'Identify' with the protagonist. Hence Male.

    For me, it makes very little difference. I would enjoy a well written novel of the series regardless of who the protagonist was.

    Oh, one other thing, "If" the protagonist were a woman, chances are they would end up being either an Archer or a Sorceress. Why-o-why don't fantasy writers think that woman can be just as killer with a sword as a guy? Just look at Xena. Join the twenty-first century already. :::getting off soap box now::::
  • MillardkillmooreMillardkillmoore Member Posts: 150
    the_spyder said:


    Oh, one other thing, "If" the protagonist were a woman, chances are they would end up being either an Archer or a Sorceress. Why-o-why don't fantasy writers think that woman can be just as killer with a sword as a guy? Just look at Xena. Join the twenty-first century already. :::getting off soap box now::::

    This.

    I'd love to see a female protagonist as a Paladin, Fighter, or even Barbarian.
  • NifftNifft Member Posts: 1,065
    I've heard enough about the novels to be firmly against ANY future attempts to pin down CHARNAME.

    Know what could make cool and useful fiction? Stories about the OTHER Bhallspawn, either NPCs which get chunked by CHARNAME or just random other Bhaalspawn, male or female, who go about their lives until they meet one of the Five.
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