----Oh, boy. Okay...
A) I speak mostly for myself and the information I read from others. I will not or ever will speak for the majority or minority, just me.
B) I will see disagreements and will be expected, going to get ugly.
C) I like making lists and this may be long so bare with me just a bit.
D) Touching the "create your hero" RPG, not the "hero already made" RPG though they may mingle a little.---
I am here to explain why I believe this is wanted as well as why not many people will admit that they want a dating-sim. I have seen threads of "relationships" in RPG's poke on the subject of relationships many times with no clear "statement" of what they are after. Just information thrown around on why it is bad instead of what can be done to make it believable or realistic. So here I go with my thread.....
Okay, I've seen a large number of threads stating how, "X developer can't do relationships well in my RPGs.". This is actually pretty damn true. Though such responses come mostly from RPG's that have the "create your hero" option. Now what the "relationships" usually play out in these RPG's is the staple of Talking, gifts, talking, sex, and more talking. This isn't really bad, but a extremely basic look at a real life relationship. Now what type of game really has a deeper look at a relationship whether the "player" likes it or not are Dating-Sims (The good ones).
In general, dating-sims usually consist of 2D females/males with text to depict actions done by the player and actions done by the 2D female/male relation. With RPG's already being voice acted in the majority and texting being in the minority, as well as the actions being visible, the dating-sim game-play doesn't really change but evolve. A well known "english" dating sim is SimGirls (though it does contain a sex scene you still have to work for it) and for Japanese is a game like Love Plus. Though these games are heavily text based with actions rarely to never actually shown on the screen, seeing the action is more of a "technical" preference over being the status quo. (that is the best word to describe it at the top of my head)
How would it work in an RPG? Simple actually, instead of every action being portrayed as "text", we will see the love interest move around or react to our "choice" of our protagonist's/hero's personal action. Wanna take your love relation on a romantic date? Well, there may be a restaurant or location your heard of while playing the game that would fit the bill. Does your love interest like to fight? Why not take'em to a bar nearby or to a dangerous location so you guys could have a good time with your blood lust. Gifts can be gotten through encounters with an NPC that may know where to get that rare item your relation may fancy, thus you work to find/get it instead of buying it from a merchant or random drop. The relation may even become ill from a random attack, thus you can either take the love relation in your party at a disadvantage or leave them out of the party until you get them to a doctor. This could branch off into even more paths, but that is a whole other thread to talk about.
Why would the dating-sim be looked upon as disgust? Simple, in most cases it is well...unique. The very idea that a player should take a personal interest into a fictional character is regarded as a "taboo". The less "real" they look the less you should care. Though "a" main goal for most game developers is to have the player actually care for what they do in the game and who they do it too. If you don't care about the characters in a game, than you wouldn't really play it often or at all. Though it is more "okay" to care for a movie character than a video game one. Even though one is just as fake/unrealistic as the other, but I place that under preference than "taboo". I am just saying that it is okay to care for any fictional character as long as you can distinguish between reality and fiction. Love the person/thing, but don't believe it will actually love you back. It's such a thin line most of the time though, it's more of a "gut feeling" than moral value.
So there you go. It is alot to read and to be honest, it's been in the back of my mind for a very long time. Whether you agree or disagree...well I hope you just read it all instead of skimming... Though skimming will happen.
p.s. My apologies, I should of also said that I know that games like persona have a dating sim in it. I am just saying that when people say they want an RPG with a better relationship "plot" that they are thinking of a dating-sim mini game without realizing it.
A) I speak mostly for myself and the information I read from others. I will not or ever will speak for the majority or minority, just me.
B) I will see disagreements and will be expected, going to get ugly.
C) I like making lists and this may be long so bare with me just a bit.
D) Touching the "create your hero" RPG, not the "hero already made" RPG though they may mingle a little.---
I am here to explain why I believe this is wanted as well as why not many people will admit that they want a dating-sim. I have seen threads of "relationships" in RPG's poke on the subject of relationships many times with no clear "statement" of what they are after. Just information thrown around on why it is bad instead of what can be done to make it believable or realistic. So here I go with my thread.....
Okay, I've seen a large number of threads stating how, "X developer can't do relationships well in my RPGs.". This is actually pretty damn true. Though such responses come mostly from RPG's that have the "create your hero" option. Now what the "relationships" usually play out in these RPG's is the staple of Talking, gifts, talking, sex, and more talking. This isn't really bad, but a extremely basic look at a real life relationship. Now what type of game really has a deeper look at a relationship whether the "player" likes it or not are Dating-Sims (The good ones).
In general, dating-sims usually consist of 2D females/males with text to depict actions done by the player and actions done by the 2D female/male relation. With RPG's already being voice acted in the majority and texting being in the minority, as well as the actions being visible, the dating-sim game-play doesn't really change but evolve. A well known "english" dating sim is SimGirls (though it does contain a sex scene you still have to work for it) and for Japanese is a game like Love Plus. Though these games are heavily text based with actions rarely to never actually shown on the screen, seeing the action is more of a "technical" preference over being the status quo. (that is the best word to describe it at the top of my head)
How would it work in an RPG? Simple actually, instead of every action being portrayed as "text", we will see the love interest move around or react to our "choice" of our protagonist's/hero's personal action. Wanna take your love relation on a romantic date? Well, there may be a restaurant or location your heard of while playing the game that would fit the bill. Does your love interest like to fight? Why not take'em to a bar nearby or to a dangerous location so you guys could have a good time with your blood lust. Gifts can be gotten through encounters with an NPC that may know where to get that rare item your relation may fancy, thus you work to find/get it instead of buying it from a merchant or random drop. The relation may even become ill from a random attack, thus you can either take the love relation in your party at a disadvantage or leave them out of the party until you get them to a doctor. This could branch off into even more paths, but that is a whole other thread to talk about.
Why would the dating-sim be looked upon as disgust? Simple, in most cases it is well...unique. The very idea that a player should take a personal interest into a fictional character is regarded as a "taboo". The less "real" they look the less you should care. Though "a" main goal for most game developers is to have the player actually care for what they do in the game and who they do it too. If you don't care about the characters in a game, than you wouldn't really play it often or at all. Though it is more "okay" to care for a movie character than a video game one. Even though one is just as fake/unrealistic as the other, but I place that under preference than "taboo". I am just saying that it is okay to care for any fictional character as long as you can distinguish between reality and fiction. Love the person/thing, but don't believe it will actually love you back. It's such a thin line most of the time though, it's more of a "gut feeling" than moral value.
So there you go. It is alot to read and to be honest, it's been in the back of my mind for a very long time. Whether you agree or disagree...well I hope you just read it all instead of skimming... Though skimming will happen.
Okay. To add a romance into DA:O, even this late in life span, is so easy and with a cheap budget for Bioware that you would be surprised on how effective my ideas are. Lets use 2 love interests in DA:O as the examples, Leliana and Morrigan.
Okay, we All know that Leliana loves Andraste's Grace. We only know this after we find the flower out in the wild. Now after hearing some NPC couples talking in the background you find out there is a small field with beautiful white flowers. Make sure Leliana is in your party, open map, travel to patch and "Voila!" brownie points with Leliana by finding her a lovely field filled with Andraste's Grace. Now if you want even more personal information with just the 2 of you. Make sure Leliana is in your party, go to the field and now you have a personal location just for the two of you. Now all the dialogue in the camp would be switched to be said at the private location. To spice things up, considering it IS a blight, darkspawn may "randomly" invade the location when it is the two of you. Successfully fight them off and you get more brownie points. Fail and see her a bit depressed each time you try to talk with her at camp. To add to the failure, you could see the field start to decay because you were pushed back. Remember that "Dead rose" story Leliana told you about? Yeah, it's more visual now. Copypasta a landscape used before, add white flowers and well, a budget deep romance.
Morrigan. She LOVES jewelry. Not because they are expensive, but because she loves their beauty. After finding out her love for jewelry, *nudge*nudge*wink*, a jewelry store opens up in either Denerim or Orzammar. Walk in with Morrigan in your party and get treated by a female jeweler. After some tease talk of morrigan being the protagonists lover a piece of jewelry catches the eye of Morrigan. Just enough for the jeweler to notice. After pushing her in the back area to have her try it out, a necklace, they both walk back with the new necklace piece being worn and the hero decides if he should buy it...of course it is pretty damn pricey, maybe 50g-100g. You buy it and are thanked the same way morrigan usually gives her thanks, a very Tsundere kind of way. You don't get it and you just embarrassed morrigan and yourself infront of the jeweler, wait a go, you also lose some brownie points. Again, you wouldn't be there unless you wanted to. Again, copypasta the jewelry story, like we havn't seen that many times and got used to it. Dialogue for her could still be at camp since it is "far" away enough from everyone. Also, if your love is high enough, Morrigan may where the necklace "publicly" when going to other locations.
See, simple and cheap, but enough is just added in to make it surprisingly deep.
Okay, we All know that Leliana loves Andraste's Grace. We only know this after we find the flower out in the wild. Now after hearing some NPC couples talking in the background you find out there is a small field with beautiful white flowers. Make sure Leliana is in your party, open map, travel to patch and "Voila!" brownie points with Leliana by finding her a lovely field filled with Andraste's Grace. Now if you want even more personal information with just the 2 of you. Make sure Leliana is in your party, go to the field and now you have a personal location just for the two of you. Now all the dialogue in the camp would be switched to be said at the private location. To spice things up, considering it IS a blight, darkspawn may "randomly" invade the location when it is the two of you. Successfully fight them off and you get more brownie points. Fail and see her a bit depressed each time you try to talk with her at camp. To add to the failure, you could see the field start to decay because you were pushed back. Remember that "Dead rose" story Leliana told you about? Yeah, it's more visual now. Copypasta a landscape used before, add white flowers and well, a budget deep romance.
Morrigan. She LOVES jewelry. Not because they are expensive, but because she loves their beauty. After finding out her love for jewelry, *nudge*nudge*wink*, a jewelry store opens up in either Denerim or Orzammar. Walk in with Morrigan in your party and get treated by a female jeweler. After some tease talk of morrigan being the protagonists lover a piece of jewelry catches the eye of Morrigan. Just enough for the jeweler to notice. After pushing her in the back area to have her try it out, a necklace, they both walk back with the new necklace piece being worn and the hero decides if he should buy it...of course it is pretty damn pricey, maybe 50g-100g. You buy it and are thanked the same way morrigan usually gives her thanks, a very Tsundere kind of way. You don't get it and you just embarrassed morrigan and yourself infront of the jeweler, wait a go, you also lose some brownie points. Again, you wouldn't be there unless you wanted to. Again, copypasta the jewelry story, like we havn't seen that many times and got used to it. Dialogue for her could still be at camp since it is "far" away enough from everyone. Also, if your love is high enough, Morrigan may where the necklace "publicly" when going to other locations.
See, simple and cheap, but enough is just added in to make it surprisingly deep.
p.s. My apologies, I should of also said that I know that games like persona have a dating sim in it. I am just saying that when people say they want an RPG with a better relationship "plot" that they are thinking of a dating-sim mini game without realizing it.
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