[General Discussion] A... different character

As far as homosexual relationships in video games go, the only ones I've played are Fable and Jade Empire, and both weren't "fixed"--the choice was up to the player. Jade Empire...oh man. I'd heard about the M/M relationship possibility (F/F too), so I started out with Furious Ming and pretty much buttered up to Sky as much I as possibly could. Yet, STILL nothing. There was a person on the JE forums that finally tracked down a surefire way of getting it, which ended up being something pretty difficult. I don't know if it was purposefully difficult, but I would've never figured it out on my own without constant replaying. Also, the "special scene at the end" is censored; instead of showing a fulfledged kiss a la the M/F and vice versa relationships, it fades to black. Plus that quirky grin... Didn't like that too much.

About Shenmue, I remember in the second game where, after beating Izumi, she gets this slightly needy look in her face and asks Ryo if he'd like to come over to her place. When he turned her down without a second glance, I laughed.

Anyway, I agree with what sadikyo said. I know that more and more people are becoming open towards homosexuality (or maybe not? I don't know any statistics or whatever), but there are still a good lot of folks not too privy to that sort of thing.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by guyinrubbersuit

Avenging your father's death is far more important than sex. In Ryo's defense, he really didn't have any male companions beyond getting his ass handed to him (no pun intended) from martial artists.

I guess I neglected the actual plot, what with spending all my time playing the arcade games and buying capsule toys. Lame humor aside, I think that attitude of his was something I really liked about his character. No sappy romantics that a lot of games and movies throw at you. Man, I want Shenmue III...


Back on topic, I remember people questioning about having the possibility of a gay PC (romance choice) in the KOTOR series, and LucasArts/Obsidian/someone stating that such a thing would never happen. But I think that's more akin to how they (whoever that is) don't want to relate Star Wars to homosexuality, akin to how they didn't want the general public to know that Ewan McGregor was in the movie Velvet Goldmine. Makes me a little sad.

Anyway, I too wouldn't mind playing as a gay main character in a game. In fact, I'd like to see it happen, but, as has been stated, there are a lot of issues with the whole thing. There are a lot of kids playing video games, and while it probably won't skyrocket a game's rating to M when it's really a T, there are a lot of people who "don't want to expose their children to it", or would make it into some great big controversy, etc.

There's nowhere I can't reach.