So why are you on the Siege of Dragonspear forum arguing about it instead of avoiding it? I don't like driving games, but you don't find me on the Burnout message boards asking why they haven't made a tactical RPG with fourth-wall breaking humour because that's what I think people really want... If Baldur's Gate isn't the right game for you, that's cool man - it's a shame because it's an awesome series and I'd love more people to enjoy it, but please don't get mad because other people like it when you don't.
Because I own the other BG:EE games (as well as the classics,) and I am curious about Dragonspear (which I have not yet bought.) I have been redirected to here by a Reddit post. Maybe Dragonspear is a good game in other aspects, but breaking immersion/the forth wall is a relic that should have been left in the past.
I do not like breaking immersion/forth wall in my RPG, and I want that be known. I do not want to let people like you to drown out people like me, and mislead Beamdog into thinking everyone likes breaking immersion/forth wall. I am not okay with it. I tolerated it over a decade ago because it was the norm back then, but I am not any more because I have experienced better. I'd rather Beamdog not do it again in their future titles. Go find other ways to humor without breaking immersion/the forth way.
"I find the controversy ridiculous. Yes, we have a transgendered character. I know a number of transgendered people and they are genuine, wonderful humans. Yes, we also have a character who cracks a joke about ethics. The original Baldur’s Gate had a whole sequence about the Bob Newhart show. If this generates controversy it makes a sad statement about the world we live in. As for my post on the forums, I merely asked people who were enjoying the game to share their positive feedback. I know our fans can become engrossed in their enjoyment and I really don’t want potential fans to miss out on the series because of protest reviews by small minded individuals.
As for Amber’s interview, I also believe in strong female characters and I feel she did an excellent job bringing dimension and interest to Safana with her writing in Siege of Dragonspear. Her “Too bad” comment, I chalk up to a long day of interviews, having personally done such interviews."
"I find the controversy ridiculous. Yes, we have a transgendered character. I know a number of transgendered people and they are genuine, wonderful humans. Yes, we also have a character who cracks a joke about ethics. The original Baldur’s Gate had a whole sequence about the Bob Newhart show. If this generates controversy it makes a sad statement about the world we live in. As for my post on the forums, I merely asked people who were enjoying the game to share their positive feedback. I know our fans can become engrossed in their enjoyment and I really don’t want potential fans to miss out on the series because of protest reviews by small minded individuals.
As for Amber’s interview, I also believe in strong female characters and I feel she did an excellent job bringing dimension and interest to Safana with her writing in Siege of Dragonspear. Her “Too bad” comment, I chalk up to a long day of interviews, having personally done such interviews."
He isn't listening to the issues people have at all. This is going to get worse.
Saying small-minded isn't very diplomatic, but I appreciate the honesty of his response. I'm very much inclined to agree - the joke isn't unpleasant or cruel, just a bit silly, and I don't even know why people dislike the transgender character so much.
"Xzar: Smiles, everyone, smiles! (squeaky, squirrel'ish voice) This is like some great fantasy!" "Xzar: I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds!" (this requires a bit more culture, but it's well known) "Edwin: I do not understand this... 'mouse magic' that makes me do thine bidding." "Jaheira (when clicked): Yes, oh omnipresent authority figure?" "Well-Adjusted Al: Hi, I'm Well-Adjusted Al, and my prices are sensible. I used to be called Crazy Al, but therapy has convinced me that selling plate armour for 3 gold pieces and a small duck was no way to get ahead in business."
I do not like breaking immersion/forth wall in my RPG, and I want my vocie be heard. I do not want to let people like you to drown out people like me, and mislead Beamdog into thinking everyone likes breaking immersion/forth wall. I am not okay with it. I tolerated it over a decade ago because it was the norm back then, but I am not any more because I have experienced better. I'd rather Beamdog not do it again in their future titles.
Not everyone likes fourth-wall breaking humour dude, I understand that, and that's cool. Your voice isn't being drowned out - you're just not advancing a very good argument, which looks even worse when you admit you haven't actually played the game in question. Give it a go, then tell everyone if you think it really ruins the game. You might be pleasantly surprised, or if it doesn't change your mind, you might be able to make a good argument to support your position.
The problem is, right now, you're just being negative. You're just crapping on a well-loved game series by claiming the fourth-wall breaking humour is out of place, when for a lot of people that's something they enjoy about the series (or welcome as occasional relief from the darker themes of the game), but you haven't even played it.
My biggest problem with this SJW debate is that Beamdog changed the original content in order to push forward their political views. To everyone who is saying that this is about people hating on gays and LGTBQ, you are either intentionally lying and distorting our criticism or you are just not willing to listen to what people are saying. I personally couldn't care less about Beamdog creating new LGTBQ characters in the game as long as they don't touch the original material and as long as they are written in such a way that it makes sense. A character immediately revealing their sexuality upon meeting you is bad writing. Period! Changing Jaheira and Safana based on your own political views is extremely condescending, preachy and disrespectful towards fans of the original characters! PERIOD! Why do SJWs always misrepresent this perfectly valid and rational criticism as hatred towards LGTBQ? Why cant we have an honest discussion about these issues without strawmen and ad hominems?
I bought the game on Steam and I was planning to buy 10 more copies for my friends who never played it in order to support this game. This is how much BG means to me! Now I am seriously considering to do a refund. And if anyone here says that I just hate women, or that this is about my dislike of the LGTBQ, I will seriously tell you to go f.... yourself!
Bottom line: I do not want my medieval fantasy RPG to ever mention transgender, or gamergate, or Donald Trump, or Feel the Bern, or Kim Kardashian, or Taytay's girl squad, or DC or Marvel superheroes, or the hook-up culture on Tinder, or Fifty Shades of Gay, or modern social justice politics, or anything that is so completely out of place in a medieval fantasy setting. It is not funny or endearing. It is breaking immersion, contrived and annyong.
People... people..... can we have less facts please. They have no place in this discussion.
This debate is not governed by facts, but by hyperbole.
Do people not realise beamdog have RUINED Baldurs Gate with the addition of this one character, and that one line. They have RUINED this legendary game franchise. They have undermined the institution of marriage. They have questioned my personal sexuality. They have added to the moral decay of the world. This one character, and this one line, have absolutely RUINED my complete enjoyment of the game, and I won't ever be able to play it again! BEAMDOG ARE LITERALLY.... (****add own hyperbolic expletive here*****).
So yes, can we please have more people telling us all how much Beamdog have ruined ABSOLUTELY everything. Can we please have more of the 'THIS IS DISGUSTING and I WILL NEVER PLAY ANY BEAMDOG GAME EVER AGAIN' posts.
And can we please have more people telling us what is and isn't acceptable in a fantasy setting. Yes, there might well be dragons. But please, I DON'T want any characters called Calvin in my game. I mean... c'mon, men called Calvin have no place in a made up world!*
And remember people, the one golden rule. No facts please, just hyperbole.
Bottom line: I do not want my medieval fantasy RPG to mention transgender, or gamergate, or Donald Trump, or Feel the Bern, or Kim Kardashian, or Jennifer Lawrence, or Taylor Swift's girl squad, or DC or Marvel superheroes, or Fifty Shades of Gay, or modern social justice politics, or anything that is so completely out of place in a medieval fantasy setting. It is not funny or endearing. It is breaking immersion, contrived and annyong.
The Song of Ice and Fire is also fantasy. Imagine George R.R. Martin decides to throw in some references to Donald Trump or SNL, just for fun or humor.
I personally don't give a damn, but one should realize that outside the liberal part of the US/Canada and western-Europe there isn't a lot of acceptance towards the LGBT community. Outside these liberal 'havens' people probably wouldn't even have noticed these lines if it wasn't for all the controversy/publicity that this got.
Now beamdog has a reputation problem with their future products. Don't get me wrong, I think you're on the right side of the issue, but as many have pointed out, this is a verrry touchy subject for some. One that you probably don't want anything to do with as a business. Probably every large corporate business has LGBT people as employees/staff but there's a reason you hardly ever see any of those touching on social issues. Taking a stance on such issues might increase customer loyalty on one side of the isle, but greatly decrease sales on the other side of it.
So, yes it's overblown, but you guys should have known.
It is not funny or endearing. It is breaking immersion, contrived and annyong.
To you. I feel a bit bad because your other posts suggest you never picked up on the immersion-breaking humour in the original games, but if you had, you might not have been so surprised that it's in SoD too. There's room for both 100% serious fantasy works, like Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings, 100% comic fantasy works, like Discworld (the success of that series would indicate that there is definitely a market for some comedy in fantasy), and for works that are somewhere inbetween, like Baldur's Gate (and a lot of other video games - Diablo was mostly played straight, but they did put a cow level on D2).
Now beamdog has a reputation problem with their future products.
It's not Beamdog who has a reputation problem, it's the world in which we live has a reputation problem. The world is always right, but sometimes righteousness hides itself in a more... broad parts of the world, and we can't notice it. Beamdog is fine, world is fine, a few hundred of people who think they ARE the world are mistaken.
I personally don't give a damn, but one should realize that outside the liberal part of the US/Canada and western-Europe there isn't a lot of acceptance towards the LGBT community. Outside these liberal 'havens' people probably wouldn't even have noticed these lines if it wasn't for all the controversy/publicity that this got.
Now beamdog has a reputation problem with their future products. Don't get me wrong, I think you're on the right side of the issue, but as many have pointed out, this is a verrry touchy subject for some. One that you probably don't want anything to do with as a business. Probably every large corporate business has LGBT people as employees/staff but there's a reason you hardly ever see any of those touching on social issues. Taking a stance on such issues might increase customer loyalty on one side of the isle, but greatly decrease sales on the other side of it.
So, yes it's overblown, but you guys should have known.
I tend to disagree. This will do more harm to LGTBQ rights than good. People are getting annoyed with this propaganda being shoved down our throats. That is why I think Beamdog and the rest of SJWs are on the wrong side on this issue, and history will remember them as modifiers of art and proponents of propaganda. This debate has nothing to do with LGTBQ rights. It has to do with politics trying to be shoved into games and hobbies by forcefully changing already established pieces of art and pushing politics into them. How anyone can support this or call it right side is beyond me.
The Song of Ice and Fire is also fantasy. Imagine George R.R. Martin decides to throw in some references to Donald Trump or SNL, just for fun or humor.
Yet it has characters who regularly struggle with gender politics and identity issues.
I personally don't give a damn, but one should realize that outside the liberal part of the US/Canada and western-Europe there isn't a lot of acceptance towards the LGBT community. Outside these liberal 'havens' people probably wouldn't even have noticed these lines if it wasn't for all the controversy/publicity that this got.
Now beamdog has a reputation problem with their future products. Don't get me wrong, I think you're on the right side of the issue, but as many have pointed out, this is a verrry touchy subject for some. One that you probably don't want anything to do with as a business. Probably every large corporate business has LGBT people as employees/staff but there's a reason you hardly ever see any of those touching on social issues. Taking a stance on such issues might increase customer loyalty on one side of the isle, but greatly decrease sales on the other side of it.
So, yes it's overblown, but you guys should have known.
I tend to disagree. This will do more harm to LGTBQ rights than good. People are getting annoyed with this propaganda being shoved down our throats. That is why I think Beamdog and the rest of SJWs are on the wrong side on this issue, and history will remember them as modifiers of art and proponents of propaganda. This debate has nothing to do with LGTBQ rights. It has to do with politics trying to be shoved into games and hobbies by forcefully changing already established pieces of art and pushing politics into them. How anyone can support this or call it right side is beyond me.
Excellent quotient of hyperbole there.
1. That one character and one line is propaganda thats being shoved down our throats. 2. Beamdog is part of the SJW movement. 3. Beamdog are proponents of propaganda. 4. This one character and one line is all about pushing politics into Siege of Dragonspear.
The Song of Ice and Fire is also fantasy. Imagine George R.R. Martin decides to throw in some references to Donald Trump or SNL, just for fun or humor.
Yet it has characters who regularly struggle with gender politics and identity issues.
The problem is not that BG now has some new characters who struggle with gender politics and identity issues. That all can be part of the fantasy setting. My problem is that they changed original characters like Jaheira and Safana, and that the writer seems to think that these two characters were written in a sexist way, which makes me worried about the changes. I dont want a neutered Jaheira, nor do I want Safana to lose her seductress way with men.
That is preachy, disrespectful to the original material and condescending to the fans. Imagine someone changing Master Chief from Halo and making him into a completely different character. People will get upset. Why this is such a surprise to Beamdog is beyond me.
Furthermore they decided to get involved into a political battle over art by clearly taking pro-SJW side that is openly anti-gamers. Why is anyone surprised now when gamers responded?
"nor do I want Safana to lose her seductress way with men."
@RedKnight have you actually played SoD? She IS the game's femme fatale, with any interaction she has with charname, other party members and external dialogues.
There is nothing anti-gamers whatsoever unless you believe that gamers are obliged to hate everything that is different to them.
Jaheira and Safana are both still as you remember. Safana is still constantly playing the seductress, she just has aspects to her personality beyond that one-note concept. Same with Jaheira she's still bossy and angry but its more clear because she's worried about you doing dumb things rather than her just being a jerk.
I personally don't give a damn, but one should realize that outside the liberal part of the US/Canada and western-Europe there isn't a lot of acceptance towards the LGBT community. Outside these liberal 'havens' people probably wouldn't even have noticed these lines if it wasn't for all the controversy/publicity that this got.
Now beamdog has a reputation problem with their future products. Don't get me wrong, I think you're on the right side of the issue, but as many have pointed out, this is a verrry touchy subject for some. One that you probably don't want anything to do with as a business. Probably every large corporate business has LGBT people as employees/staff but there's a reason you hardly ever see any of those touching on social issues. Taking a stance on such issues might increase customer loyalty on one side of the isle, but greatly decrease sales on the other side of it.
So, yes it's overblown, but you guys should have known.
I tend to disagree. This will do more harm to LGTBQ rights than good. People are getting annoyed with this propaganda being shoved down our throats. That is why I think Beamdog and the rest of SJWs are on the wrong side on this issue, and history will remember them as modifiers of art and proponents of propaganda. This debate has nothing to do with LGTBQ rights. It has to do with politics trying to be shoved into games and hobbies by forcefully changing already established pieces of art and pushing politics into them. How anyone can support this or call it right side is beyond me.
Excellent quotient of hyperbole there.
1. That one character and one line is propaganda thats being shoved down our throats. 2. Beamdog is part of the SJW movement. 3. Beamdog are proponents of propaganda. 4. This one character and one line is all about pushing politics into Siege of Dragonspear.
Everyone, keep up the good work!
Well, your SJW apologetics are another example how SJWs lack any common sense.
1. We know Jaheira and Safana were rewritten, so we know that your comment about 1 character and 1 line is bullshit. 2. Beamdog took a cheap jab at GamerGate, so with that they pretty much said where they stand on this issue. Also their writer came out and publicly said she is proud that she is an SJW and that she hopes she will make many more SJW games. 3. Yes, SJWs are by default proponents of propaganda as evidenced by games they create. 4. We already established that its not just 1 line and 1 character.
"I find the controversy ridiculous. Yes, we have a transgendered character. I know a number of transgendered people and they are genuine, wonderful humans. Yes, we also have a character who cracks a joke about ethics. The original Baldur’s Gate had a whole sequence about the Bob Newhart show. If this generates controversy it makes a sad statement about the world we live in. As for my post on the forums, I merely asked people who were enjoying the game to share their positive feedback. I know our fans can become engrossed in their enjoyment and I really don’t want potential fans to miss out on the series because of protest reviews by small minded individuals.
As for Amber’s interview, I also believe in strong female characters and I feel she did an excellent job bringing dimension and interest to Safana with her writing in Siege of Dragonspear. Her “Too bad” comment, I chalk up to a long day of interviews, having personally done such interviews."
He isn't listening to the issues people have at all. This is going to get worse.
Saying small-minded isn't very diplomatic, but I appreciate the honesty of his response. I'm very much inclined to agree - the joke isn't unpleasant or cruel, just a bit silly, and I don't even know why people dislike the transgender character so much.
No one really dislikes the integration of a trans character. People dislike how this character was integrated....
Because this character is used as a token character to push some stupid politic agenda. It is not even integrated well. The only reason this character is in there like that is because the "writer" did want to include a trans character which is being used to sent a political message. Not even enough this NPC gets also protected by the game. No threats, no "evil" choices.
Just cool interesting story, tell me more, or cool interesting story goodbye. This character is not a living human being this character is more like a information flyer.
There is nothing anti-gamers whatsoever unless you believe that gamers are obliged to hate everything that is different to them.
Jaheira and Safana are both still as you remember. Safana is still constantly playing the seductress, she just has aspects to her personality beyond that one-note concept. Same with Jaheira she's still bossy and angry but its more clear because she's worried about you doing dumb things rather than her just being a jerk.
Well, I seriously hope this is true, because I want to support this game so much! Despite the jab at GG and all that. But I have bad experiences with SJW products and I saw how horrible the writing was with that transgender character when she all of a sudden just introduced herself with revealing her sexuality to complete strangers. It felt like fan fiction where the whole character is reduced to sexual orientation and I immediately started panicking as to what did they do to my Jaheira and Safana. Writer's comment how the original BG was full of sexism and how original Jaheira and Safana were written in a sexist way also made me panic. Hopefully you are right... Can anyone else verify?
Reminder that the idea of "sending a political message" is absurd. Literally everything is political. Saving orphans from an orphanage instead of encouraging them to get out themselves. Getting positive reputation points for refusing money. Being considered a good person for arresting or trying to reform a criminal instead of executing them. All of these are political viewpoints that the game is encouraging.
Has anyone here actually read the negative Steam reviews? At the time of writing, the large majority of them are directed at the bugs, broken multiplayer, and amateurish writing - not the Trans Cleric and similar stuff. The negativity about the LGBT stuff only surfaced after Oster made this plea.
I think this whole issue was cooked up to get a mass of people to leave positive reviews by telling them that a few players were complaining purely about the Trans Cleric. I had no idea about any of the LGBT stuff until I came to this thread - and I was directed here by a link in a Steam review!
This whole incident appears to have been a clever strategy to get positive reviews that has backfired horribly, and now there are people complaining extensively about the LGBT content.
Although I will say that I'm not enthused to hear that the lead writer has a feminist agenda. Not really a problem for me, whatever floats your boat. But please don't force it into a classic game series, if you didn't like the previous games' content then work on something else, don't try and right the 'wrongs' of the past.
The strangest debate possible, seriously. And the only one to blame here is the Beamdog, sadly. Why on Earth they had to justify fleshing out character like Safana with lengthy explanation about "wrong representation of women in the game". "Safana was not developed enough in the original game and we added some layers to the character" - here, all truth, no agenda, no modern issuers in the fantasy game, everything reasonably justified. As of transgender character - what? Everyone suddenly forgot about that belt changing gender with hilarious comments from every character if you put it on them? Why is it even a subject of discussion?
For some reason people feel the need to explain every move the make with political correctness as a driving force for that move.
Has anyone here actually read the negative Steam reviews? At the time of writing, the large majority of them are directed at the bugs, broken multiplayer, and amateurish writing - not the Trans Cleric and similar stuff. The negativity about the LGBT stuff only surfaced after Oster made this plea.
So we're just dealing with flat-out lies now? Is that where we're at? Because those GOG and Steam reviews, and the forum threads here, are time-stamped. There's a very clear chain of events, and no amount of tin foil theory is going to change how it actually went down.
Reminder that the idea of "sending a political message" is absurd. Literally everything is political. Saving orphans from an orphanage instead of encouraging them to get out themselves. Getting positive reputation points for refusing money. Being considered a good person for arresting or trying to reform a criminal instead of executing them. All of these are political viewpoints that the game is encouraging.
Its one thing to send a political message by creating new content that fits the original feel and tone, and its completely something different when you take original content and start changing it to better represent your own political agenda. I mean, what is next? Will they make Minsc gay to push forward gay rights? Jesus... i better not give Beamdog any ideas. Yikes.
Comments
I do not like breaking immersion/forth wall in my RPG, and I want that be known. I do not want to let people like you to drown out people like me, and mislead Beamdog into thinking everyone likes breaking immersion/forth wall. I am not okay with it. I tolerated it over a decade ago because it was the norm back then, but I am not any more because I have experienced better. I'd rather Beamdog not do it again in their future titles. Go find other ways to humor without breaking immersion/the forth way.
He isn't listening to the issues people have at all. This is going to get worse.
Just look here:
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Baldur's_Gate_series
Breaking the fourth walls is just on SoD, uh?
"Xzar: Smiles, everyone, smiles! (squeaky, squirrel'ish voice) This is like some great fantasy!"
"Xzar: I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds!" (this requires a bit more culture, but it's well known)
"Edwin: I do not understand this... 'mouse magic' that makes me do thine bidding."
"Jaheira (when clicked): Yes, oh omnipresent authority figure?"
"Well-Adjusted Al: Hi, I'm Well-Adjusted Al, and my prices are sensible. I used to be called Crazy Al, but therapy has convinced me that selling plate armour for 3 gold pieces and a small duck was no way to get ahead in business."
And I wasn't even 1/5 through the page..
EDIT: and how to forget http://baldursgate.wikia.com/wiki/Larry,_Darryl_&_Darryl I was too young and didn't know english at the time, so I couldn't understand this one - but it's definitely "breaking the fourth wall".
The problem is, right now, you're just being negative. You're just crapping on a well-loved game series by claiming the fourth-wall breaking humour is out of place, when for a lot of people that's something they enjoy about the series (or welcome as occasional relief from the darker themes of the game), but you haven't even played it.
I bought the game on Steam and I was planning to buy 10 more copies for my friends who never played it in order to support this game. This is how much BG means to me! Now I am seriously considering to do a refund. And if anyone here says that I just hate women, or that this is about my dislike of the LGTBQ, I will seriously tell you to go f.... yourself!
This debate is not governed by facts, but by hyperbole.
Do people not realise beamdog have RUINED Baldurs Gate with the addition of this one character, and that one line. They have RUINED this legendary game franchise. They have undermined the institution of marriage. They have questioned my personal sexuality. They have added to the moral decay of the world. This one character, and this one line, have absolutely RUINED my complete enjoyment of the game, and I won't ever be able to play it again! BEAMDOG ARE LITERALLY.... (****add own hyperbolic expletive here*****).
So yes, can we please have more people telling us all how much Beamdog have ruined ABSOLUTELY everything. Can we please have more of the 'THIS IS DISGUSTING and I WILL NEVER PLAY ANY BEAMDOG GAME EVER AGAIN' posts.
And can we please have more people telling us what is and isn't acceptable in a fantasy setting. Yes, there might well be dragons. But please, I DON'T want any characters called Calvin in my game. I mean... c'mon, men called Calvin have no place in a made up world!*
And remember people, the one golden rule. No facts please, just hyperbole.
(*apologies to anyone called Calvin)
Now beamdog has a reputation problem with their future products. Don't get me wrong, I think you're on the right side of the issue, but as many have pointed out, this is a verrry touchy subject for some. One that you probably don't want anything to do with as a business. Probably every large corporate business has LGBT people as employees/staff but there's a reason you hardly ever see any of those touching on social issues. Taking a stance on such issues might increase customer loyalty on one side of the isle, but greatly decrease sales on the other side of it.
So, yes it's overblown, but you guys should have known.
1. That one character and one line is propaganda thats being shoved down our throats.
2. Beamdog is part of the SJW movement.
3. Beamdog are proponents of propaganda.
4. This one character and one line is all about pushing politics into Siege of Dragonspear.
Everyone, keep up the good work!
That is preachy, disrespectful to the original material and condescending to the fans. Imagine someone changing Master Chief from Halo and making him into a completely different character. People will get upset. Why this is such a surprise to Beamdog is beyond me.
Furthermore they decided to get involved into a political battle over art by clearly taking pro-SJW side that is openly anti-gamers. Why is anyone surprised now when gamers responded?
@RedKnight have you actually played SoD? She IS the game's femme fatale, with any interaction she has with charname, other party members and external dialogues.
Jaheira and Safana are both still as you remember. Safana is still constantly playing the seductress, she just has aspects to her personality beyond that one-note concept. Same with Jaheira she's still bossy and angry but its more clear because she's worried about you doing dumb things rather than her just being a jerk.
1. We know Jaheira and Safana were rewritten, so we know that your comment about 1 character and 1 line is bullshit.
2. Beamdog took a cheap jab at GamerGate, so with that they pretty much said where they stand on this issue. Also their writer came out and publicly said she is proud that she is an SJW and that she hopes she will make many more SJW games.
3. Yes, SJWs are by default proponents of propaganda as evidenced by games they create.
4. We already established that its not just 1 line and 1 character.
But good job at practicing sophistry.
No one really dislikes the integration of a trans character. People dislike how this character was integrated....
Because this character is used as a token character to push some stupid politic agenda. It is not even integrated well. The only reason this character is in there like that is because the "writer" did want to include a trans character which is being used to sent a political message. Not even enough this NPC gets also protected by the game. No threats, no "evil" choices.
Just cool interesting story, tell me more, or cool interesting story goodbye. This character is not a living human being this character is more like a information flyer.
Also WTF is this? Really?
Has anyone here actually read the negative Steam reviews? At the time of writing, the large majority of them are directed at the bugs, broken multiplayer, and amateurish writing - not the Trans Cleric and similar stuff.
The negativity about the LGBT stuff only surfaced after Oster made this plea.
I think this whole issue was cooked up to get a mass of people to leave positive reviews by telling them that a few players were complaining purely about the Trans Cleric. I had no idea about any of the LGBT stuff until I came to this thread - and I was directed here by a link in a Steam review!
This whole incident appears to have been a clever strategy to get positive reviews that has backfired horribly, and now there are people complaining extensively about the LGBT content.
Although I will say that I'm not enthused to hear that the lead writer has a feminist agenda. Not really a problem for me, whatever floats your boat. But please don't force it into a classic game series, if you didn't like the previous games' content then work on something else, don't try and right the 'wrongs' of the past.
As of transgender character - what? Everyone suddenly forgot about that belt changing gender with hilarious comments from every character if you put it on them? Why is it even a subject of discussion?
For some reason people feel the need to explain every move the make with political correctness as a driving force for that move.