"No Brothels to be in DA4" as per Mark Darrah Tweet.

Part of the flaw I see in the argument that the resources that would go to the brothel - that really is a trapping without much in the way of substance, I fully admit - would go to something more important is that accepting it requires me to have faith that Bioware not using those resources on making a brothel on something that is 1; actually important and substantive, which is by no means for certain, and 2; that I'll personally enjoy.

Bioware's fully capable of using those resources to create something important to the plot that I'm going to hate. It could be a ten minute scene of Solas' aggrandizement for all I know. It could be a Cole or Vivienne cameo for all I know. It could be fifty more NPC's to gush how we're the reincarnation of Tevinter mage-Andraste come to save them from the dread qunari and put the elves back in their place and how it's so wonderful that we're not allowed to show any human flaws or vices in front of people because we're beholden to the expectations and idolation of others, and how our opinions and intentions don't matter because history and folklore will distort our legend into whatever they want it to be to make us mean whatever they want us to mean so we don't actually have any power to change anything and how order and the status quo are great and how slavery's ultimately a necessary evil that we just have to put up with because chaos and disorder are unacceptable and only gradual change rather than and drastic, radical action can accomplish anything and god knows I can go on with this for another ten thousand words.

As nonsense and pointless as a brothel may be, it's an aspect of the game that I'll know I'll get some cheap, superficial enjoyment out of. The hypothetical substance that Bioware may or may not be using those resources to put into the game has every chance in the world - I would say a majority chance - of pissing me off.

And I'm just supposed to take it on faith that they're going to do something good with it when the one game they didn't include a brothel in is the one with the most stuff that annoyed me to the point that upon reflection I've grown to actively dislike the game after really enjoying it the first time around?

Like I said at the start, the brothel thing isn't a deal breaker for me. I see it as indicative of things I don't like but maybe it'll be entirely inconsequential. But, and I've been saying this a lot lately, I do not have any reason to believe that Bioware is actually going to take the resources that hypothetically would have gone to a brothel and put them towards something I'll personally enjoy. Maybe others will enjoy it and more power to them. But until Bioware proves me wrong - and to repeat myself again, the onus is on them to do so rather on me to believe they will - I'm going lament the loss of a known quantity that, however shallow and superficial, I would have in all likelyhood enjoyed at the expense of an unknown quantity that I in all probability will not enjoy.

I can't help this funny image of people trying to fake-screw in mocap spandex suits.

I think — hope — most people can do fine with Aidan Gillen out of the picture.

At any rate, my expectations are a lot lower than yours. Bioware will never go as far as you described, and I would not even call that a fault. They don't go that far with anything else, and such an approach would be inconsistent with the tone of their games. It's just not what they do, nor what they're peddling. Asking for more is like going to a Chinese restaurant looking for Indian food, then complaining the meal isn't spicy enough.

I don't care whether brothels make it in or not. I just didn't think they added anything of value to DA:O or DA2 and don't believe there's any good reason why they must be in. My concern is not with realism, much less with the much toted "grittiness," but with narrative. I don't mind brothels being lighthearted or humorous, as long as they provide something substantive.
Alright, let me put it like this: if you want the game to let you play a promiscuous character, aren't there much better ways to go about it than dropping some fake money in exchange for a fade-to-black and a bad pun? You argue that you don't expect Bioware to do better. But so far this thread has been all about what we would want to be in the game, not so much what we expect. Would you really take a DA:O style brothel over any of the better alternatives, plenty of which are feasible?

Dragon Age has been dark and gritty. Especially compared to other AAA games on the market. I get that you dont think it goes far enough, but I don't get why that means they shouldn't try. All or nothing is an ultimatum. And ultimatums are for the close-minded.

Having a campy, fantasy themed brothel is no more disrespectful for your hooker friends than BWs campy, fantasy church, their sugar-coated depiction of midieval warefare, or the campy way they show relationships/love/sex.

When you take the game too seriously, is probably when you should stop playing. We don't play Dragon Age to see the plight of the sex industry anymore than we play it to see the evils of organized religion. We actually play it escape all that.

Sure, I would like some of the better alternatives. But the question at hand isn't as straight forward as the exchange between a brothel and a better alternative to the benefits provided by a brothel. The question at hand is an exchange between a brothel and a limited selection out of a practically infinite array of possible things that Bioware could replace a brothel with. That isn't even pessimism & dissatisfaction with what I perceive as Bioware's direction with the series at that point; that's just playing the odds that out of all the possible things they could use the resources that would have gone to a brothel on, it is exceedingly unlikely that they'll use them on anything I would have personally chosen as an alternative in this situation.

Brothels or DA4 probably won't matter since Bioware is likely the next developer company in EAs kill list

Midnight Tea really needs attention, instead of just ignore what in her mind is the same comments she reads in every thread, keeps mentioning and confronting people.

Hilarious. xD

Visceral's situation wasn't one like Bioware's. BW's support studio was absorbed by EA Motive, but they're still chugging along with at least three projects.

Why are so many people confident that Anthem will flop? I'm not expecting everybody to see half-full glasses everywhere, but all that incessant doomsaying goes nowhere.

Just making an educated guess based on the fate of recent looter shooters like Destiny and Division, plus BWs history with open worlds help me to reach my conclusion too

It's entirely possible I'm wrong. The games do play off of feeding off of addiction and that isn't something that's easily kicked. It's why you couldn't pay me to play one of them.

Still, can't say as I have a particular dog in the fight. If Anthem fails I expect them to rush out DA4 a head of schedule to recoup losses rather than shuttle the studio all together.

Well, like I mentioned - Visceral's situation seems to be different from Bioware's. Bioware is a much bigger studio, first and foremost, with Bioware Austin maintaining an active SW MMO game and Edmonton working on two different projects simultaneously, with one not only revealed, but us knowing when it's going to be released.

From what we know Visceral was only focusing on one, and it's not beyond the realm of possibility that the development may have been bumpier than we're being led to believe. Worse still, it's a Star Wars title, so the license holder may have made demands from EA about what the game should be or when it should be released. I don't think people understand that this is not just EA that has a say in here. They did sign that deal with Disney to produce a number of Star Wars games after all. Bioware is safe in a sense that their Star Wars game is already up and running and keeps getting new expansions.

I've merely expressed my opinions and gave appropriate amount of reasons for it that go way beyond "it's my opinion, so consider yours imposed on", while you're just following me around and throwing ad hominems or making ridiculous claims of a crusade.

I'm not sure why you'd single me out other than either spite or... well... my opinion not matching yours and you being very offended by it. I also wouldn't be surprised if you've had a different account that I chose to blacklist and now you're just trying to rile me up. You even sound familiar.

Welp, there's an easy solution for this. Have fun howling at the moon and being utterly ignored.