The Jimquisition: Fallout 4's S.P.E.C.I.A.L Relationships
Fallout 4 does something very S.P.E.C.I.A.L with its relationships. It's not every day a "AAA" videogame gets something right, much less something that so personally resonates with your ol' pal Jim Sterling.
So, let's talk about the companion system of Fallout 4, and the thing it allows that makes it one of the more surprisingly progressive things a big-budget mainstream game's ever done.
Fallout 4's S.P.E.C.I.A.L Relationships (The Jimquisition) (YouTube)
Comments (11)
Yo Jim-- I'm happy for you I'ma let you finish, but polyamory requires the knowledge and consent of all parties involved. Do your partners even acknowledge the fact that you're in more than one relationship? If you think that the developers intended for you to be able to roleplay your sexuality with no limitations, that is a gross misinterpretation. After all, your character is forced into the identity of a middle-class heterosexual whose spouse was just murdered in front of them. If anything, this is just a combination of lazily implemented relationships and bad storytelling yielding an accidental LGBT-friendly side-effect. Real LGBT roleplaying support can be modded into the game eventually, though, so that's cool.
You seem to be suggesting that other developers prevent players from having simultaneous independent bisexual relationships purely out of bigotry or fear of retaliation by bigots. Isn't it possible that having those kinds of relationships doesn't make sense in the context of the story? As to your point about Jim understanding that he's been pandered to for most of his life: Isn't this just another instance of him being pandered to? In this case, I think the developers were playing it safe and trying not to piss anyone off. It's obvious from the story that the game was written with heterosexual monogamous people in mind, and the option for polyamory and homosexuality was tacked on like a band-aid to appease that demographic. That's assuming it was intentional at all.
Well there you go! Never knew that Jim was non-monogamous. One of my all-time favourite episodes!
Hell yeah. Loved this episode. Already plan on getting the game very soon, and knowing that relationships are more "fluid" makes me even more excited to play. You rock, Jim. :)
I'm afraid to watch for fear of spoilers. Even gameplay spoiling -_-
In the name of "realism", I hope there are some romance characters that would be upset by other lovers. Just as some folks would be fine, there would be some folks against it. Just as some characters should be fine with cannibalism and other characters not.
Pounding it... :D
You just sold me on this game. I was going to wait for a price drop, but now I'm going to buy the damn thing immediately.
All we need now is the inclusion of Pogs as currency to replace nuka cola bottle caps and this will win "Game of the Year" XD
Mods.
I'm reminded of that quote by JK Rowling when she was asked by a fan "How was I supposed to know Dumbledore was gay? I never saw him that way." To which she responded, "Maybe that's because gay people just look like...people?" The point was that, in general, we're all just people. Our differences are vastly outweighed by our similarities across the board, and that's a pretty important and good thing to always keep in mind. That's why, frankly, I think just including something with no comments and no questions and no concerns attached is probably the *most* progressive thing you can do. It doesn't preclude anyone's choices, it doesn't challenge anyone's morals, and it doesn't make, say, being gay or polyamorous a very obvious "other" thing. It just makes it a part of, and a reality of, life on Earth. Something real people encounter and make their own decisions about (and sometimes grapple with). A role-playing game allowing you to actually play realistic roles? What craziness :P.