Dragon Age: Inquisition has blown away the high expectations placed on it, achieving near-perfect review scores and presenting gamers with an intriguing plot and captivating gameplay. It has successfully righted the ship, so to speak, after the disappointing Dragon Age 2.
It’s no secret that BioWare has a tradition in allowing any player’s sexuality to surface within the confines of the game, which has been a staple of the Dragon Age series to date. The recent posting of the romance scene between the protagonist and Iron Bull (Freddie Prinze Jr.), a one-eyed Qunari mercenary with a fitting name, has caught the attention of more than just hardcore gamers this week – for a multitude of reasons.
BioWare has been one of the biggest champions for LGBQT gameplay, with both Mass Effect and Dragon Age promoting that strong characters don’t have to take traditional gender roles. The Dragon Age titles have always allowed players to choose their protagonist’s sexuality, whether it is straight, queer, bisexual, or pansexual. Such a decision doesn’t have an impact on the actual gameplay, but helps the story develop in a way that is inclusive for all gamers.
The Inquisition cutscene in question is clearly intended to be a humorous break from the gameplay, and features an almost sitcom-esque situation where the two romantically-involved players are interrupted a multitude of times, and some creative camerawork barely keeps Iron Bull’s, er, weapon, out of sight. The player then has the option to reaffirm their commitment to Iron Bull, and the scene eventually ends with some cheesy romance and heartfelt stares. The ending basically could have been any cheesy ’80s rom-com.
The voice of bull is Freddy Prinze Jr., who also took the role of James Vega in BioWare’s Mass Effect series (which, it turns out, makes a quick appearance in Dragon Age: Inquisition). There were plenty of fans hopeful that Vega would have been a romance-capable character in Mass Effect, so perhaps this was BioWare’s way of making amends.
Unfortunately, the mass-sharing of the video has revealed plenty of outrage over the cutscene, with gamers angry that such an option is even included. It’s evident some people weren’t aware of Bioware’s open-minded character choices, and took offense to what is an otherwise hilarious and well-written scene. Of course, those gamers can just choose to not romance Iron Bull, which avoids the issue entirely – no harm done. The title is ranked as Mature Only by the ESRB, so those complaining about kids seeing it have missed the point.
At the end of the day, it’s simply the funniest romance scene BioWare has ever crafted and we can’t think of any other game that’s done better. For those enjoying the scene, we encourage you to play the video and place this window in the background, followed by this one.
Dragon Age: Inquisition is currently available for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC, PS3 and PS4.
Follow John Jacques on Twitter @Makelevi.
TAGS: BioWare, Dragon Age, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Electronic Arts, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
‘Dragon Age: Inquisition’ Features The Funniest Video Game Sex Scene
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