Do you like love and Romance in video games?

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

It really depends.

It really hinges on how the story is for the game and how shoehorned it is presented. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it's crap and the writers should feel bad. I liked it in the Uncharted series and for Borderlands since it can get weird and heartbreaking, but I hated it in Brutal Legend and some JRPGs where it's so over the top I want to puke.

Catherine was the only game where I was totally fine with romance because that's practically the game, and that game went places.

Weird places.

 

[Rip Van Rabbit]

Bro, that stuff is for losers and geeks. I like to smash down 3 dews then wreck some shit with my wikid fps skills. Who has time for sissy things like love and romance when I'm riding the mountain dew high showing noobs who's boss (hint, its me).

BRO!
You slam a Dew after a fistful of delicious 'Ritos. I'm gonna have to report this infraction to the nearest Dudebro Council in your area. I'm afraid your high-five & fistbump privileges will be restricted to 5 per hour.

OT:
Romance has it's place in gaming. It's all a matter of execution, proper context, whether it serves a narrative/character development purpose and of course -- tact.
In fact, I think that the subtleties of romance, dating and love are massively underutilized concepts for enhancing a story in gaming. Then again, I've played so many games where I've slaughtered foes by the dozens...but I can't say the same about navigating the intricacies of another individual partner on an emotional & psychological level. Perhaps that doesn't sound appealing as a spectacle, but it would go a long way to give a game some much needed emotional depth.

For example, take an adventuring party. Let's say you've successfully pursued a relationship with a lady or gentleman of your choosing. During downtime, an argument erupts among your group and you decide to be diplomatic and cool things down on both sides. The rest of the party appreciates this and they might seek out some contacts for the next quest, acquire equipment with their own savings or gain stat boosts when fighting alongside you. Your partner, however, expected you to side with them completely in that moment -- feeling unsupported, they gain some negative debuffs during combat. They might withhold information about a quest or if the relationship devolves from that point forward, there could be an unscripted betrayal. They join the enemy forces and reveal vital information about your parties weaknesses, so the enemies adjust their tactics and equipment to exploit that information. The breakdown of the relationship also has a ripple effect among the party and alliances remain uncertain or fortified depending on your behavior.

I mean, that's a simple example. Probably a programming nightmare when all those variables have to be taken into place for one scenario. But if I can turn into a fucking toilet roll in the new Prey -- I'm pretty sure we can work on developing some character.

 

[McElroy]

Yes. Though it has only gone downhill since God of War did it properly. ;^)

Jk, I don't really mind.

 

[Mcgeezaks]

I don't really care about it irl so I have a hard time caring about it in games.

 

[FalloutJack]

If it's not ham-fisted and poorly done, then sure.

 

[Mahorfeus]

Of course. I'd add the qualifier "if it's done well" there, but honestly it's a bit fuzzy either way. Even in games that "do it well," the romances are generally hit or miss, though that can sometimes have more to do with one's tastes.

I do agree that the concept of making a game out of romance ("affection points," etc.) seems a little disquieting on paper, but in the context of a game, it's almost necessary. As some have already pointed out, more organic romances in games tend to involve a smaller degree of player agency. A well-established player character is more likely to have a better romance than a (sometimes) mute customizable player avatar.

Bioware is the name that inevitably comes up whenever this topic crops up. Plenty of people criticize their games, but as far as I am concerned, at worst they do an "okay" job of presenting romances. At the very least, I think it is something that they tend to improve on. Well, in terms of diversity at least. In terms of writing, again, personal tastes.

 

[Recusant]

I don't even have the patience for it in real life; listen to people ascribing lofty, intellectual motivations to their biochemistry is about as tiresome as things get. Modeling the complex subtleties of any other form of human interaction (save, more-or-less, only violence) would be far more effort than it's worth; there's a reason most games are primarily or exclusively based around killing. Once you factor in cultural differences, it goes from "more effort than it's worth" to "borderline impossible". I suppose if you made a game focusing exclusively around romance (which people are probably doing; I just don't know about it), you could make it work, but other than that, make it cheap, fast and easy, or don't bother.

 

[Sonicron]

I don't know if it's needed, but then technically nothing in video games is, including video games.

As for if I like it? If it's well-written (note: not necessarily realistic!), sure, hit me. Deep down I'm a big fuzzy sap for romance stories (tragedy optional), and there have been a couple of them I enjoyed so much they have become an integral part of my memory of those games - unsurprisingly, the Mass Effect series first and foremost among them.

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

I'm lukewarm to this idea, but if it does service to the story overall, then why not? I have yet to find a game where romance subplot was that memorable, though. I don't really play VNs which are go-to games for people that seek romance in video games, i guess.

I Have never played any game that heavily rely on love/romance yet have Good gameplay and level design.

Can you give some examples? The only games i can think of that rely heavily on romance above other elements are Visual Novels.

 

[balladbird]

Sometimes I do! I don't like romance in "create a character" games, where the main character you're getting into the romance is just a player avatar. It feels weird, artificial, and pandering, and is usually just an excuse for boobs... you don't NEED an excuse for boobs, developers! If you like boobs, just put boobs in there.

What I DO enjoy, are games where all the characters have written personalities, with none being obvious player avatars, and you, the player, have the ability to get them together with whoever as the game goes on. Chalk it up to my inner shipper, but I love gauging which characters have the best chemistry, and trying to steer them together.

Sadly, games that fully realize that ideal are few and far between... in fact, the only game that comes straight to my head that let me ship ANYONE together was Star Ocean 2... decades ago. Still, even just being able to pair up an established main character and side character can be fun.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

I'm not opposed to it, and even if its ham-fisted as balls, I still find quite a few of the BioWare romances in Mass Effect and DragonAge to be rather charming.

It's not a requirement and I don't mark a game down for not having it - aside from New!Tomb Raider, I mean Jesus fucking Christ that was so much shiptease that they didn't pay off: jimmies were fucking rustled - but I appreciate it if its there.

 

[pookie101]

i liked the on again/off again thing my fem shep had with liara in the mass effect series.. i dislike however in bioware games how you can be nice to someone and they end up professing love to you

 

[Bobular]

If it is relevant to the plot and/or done well, FF8[footnote]My favorite FF[/footnote] wouldn't be the same story if it didn't have the romance part, but I don't think the romance was as integral to the story in FF10.

Sames true of the Bioware style games, I liked it in Mass Effect, especially how on my first go through my Shepherds romance with Kaidan was called off in the second game as it just didn't work for between them implying the first games romance was just a heat of the moment, the galaxies about to end sort of thing. It wasn't an important part of the plot but I think it worked well enough. I found the romance in Jade Empire & Dragon Age 1 however to just be completely tacked on and I didn't like it at all.

 

[bluegate]

If it is done properly and is part of, and supports, the narrative, then yes.

If it is done to just please the "muh waifu!" crowd, then no.

 

[happyninja42]

i liked the on again/off again thing my fem shep had with liara in the mass effect series.. i dislike however in bioware games how you can be nice to someone and they end up professing love to you

Same, conversely I also dislike in their games, Dragon Age 2 specifically, how turning someone down makes them really dislike you. Specifically Anders. I remember him hitting on me after I got enough friendly points with him, and I politely turned him down, and got a MASSIVE negative hit. Which, as a straight guy who actually HAS had several gay guys proposition him, I've yet to actually see this reaction in real life, which annoyed me. The actual reaction would've been a bit of awkward backpedaling, and then followed by "No man, it's cool, really, I just don't swing that way." and then the friendship would continue as normal.

If I had picked the "get away from me you fucking freak!" option of turning him down, then sure, I could see the massive negative hit, but a polite decline? Sorry, not buying it.

On average though, they usually do ok with romance stories, even if they are incredibly streamlined and dumbed down. I can usually accept the attraction developing, even if it is on an extremely sped up time table.

Then again, I did meet a girl in college, and we immediately had chemistry with each other. I mean on sight, heavy flirtation, touching, dirty talk, etc. So I guess it's not entirely unrealistic that Shep and (Insert Person) could hook up very quickly.

 

[sageoftruth]

Most of the time, it either interferes with the good parts of the game, or has no effect at all for me, but Witcher 3 managed to make it work and actually enrich the experience as a bonus. The fact that all the love interests are people who already knew Geralt allowed the game to sidestep the awkward "getting to know you" part and jump right into the "we could be a couple" phase of the relationship. As a result, instead of it being about wooing someone, it was another of the game's well-done moral dilemmas, where Geralt has multiple women he's been romantically involved with, who all know each other.
While romance wasn't the main plot, CD Projekt Red did a good job at weaving it into the main plot, rather than making it feel like a side quest.

 

[Kyrian007]

Yes it has a place, however I think it is best used when its a character development tool rather than just a completionist's cheevo or a necessary part of the experience. If it is just flat-out a romance game... well do it however you want, that's the point of the game. But in action or rpg or any game where romance is just a "side" thing... I prefer it to just be something that has no or a subtle benefit that isn't necessary to progress. Skyrim did it well for me. It was for added characterization and role play enrichment and it had no other benefit you couldn't get elsewhere. It was entirely vestigial, yet provided added role play enrichment for those who wanted it.

 

[RanD00M]

It the as with love and romance in any other medium, if it's written in as a central part of the story/plot then I'm fine with it. If it's shoehorned in for no reason other than "look the protagonist has emotions but we're too lazy to have them express it in other ways" then it's shit and the writers should check themselves, for they have wrecked themselves.

 

[conmag9]

In almost every case, no. I've almost never seen it done properly or worth the time to go through with it. It feels empty or artificial and really, really sudden. The only romance I can actually remember liking in a video game was in Bravely Second. Yew and Magnolia's development was gradual, realistic, sweet without being sappy, and most importantly NOT the defining attribute of one or both of their characters. Bookish knight with heart remains bookish knight heart. Enthusiastic demon hunter from the moon remains enthusiastic demon hunter from the moon. They grow as people, but not exclusively (or even primarily) due to one another. It was thoroughly refreshing.

The game's other romances ranged from pretty tolerable to eye-rolling.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

In its current state? No, not at all. Video games, to put it plainly, just suck at romance. Even if you got the best romance writers in the world working on a game, I think the nature of video games themselves ensures that it won't be well-received by most players. This is because, when it all comes down to it, there are really only two ways to depict romance in a video game:

1. The first is what I call the "cinematic" method. Here, romance is essentially forced on the player. The story dictates that the protagonist falls in love with their love interest, and there's nothing they can do about it. Examples include most Final Fantasy games with romance in them. The obvious drawback to this is that player agency is removed and the whole romance can appear tacked-on and unnecessary.

2. The second is what I call the "Bioware" method. Here, romance is essentially something the player can "win" from certain NPCs if they say the "right" things or make the "right" choices. This often comes across as a shallow multiple-choice test with some cheesy dialogue or a cutscene of dry-humping as a reward. It also often involves NPCs the player has only recently met and yet somehow fall head-over-heels for them, which feels incredibly immersion-breaking and too player-centric to me. Sometimes, this whole mechanic can create some really galling gameplay-story segregation. In Dragon Age: Origins, you can increase NPC's "approval" by buying them gifts. And yes, if their "approval" gets high enough, you can romance them. I found this whole mechanic eerily similar to prostitution. Not saying that prostitution itself is a bad thing, but for a game that wanted me to believe that this was "true wuv", that whole thing seriously undermined it.

I can honestly say that I wouldn't mind if no video game ever tried to depict romance ever again. Games just aren't the right medium for it.

This about sums it up actually. The closest I've seen to it being done well was in Mass Effect, while it still amounted to picking the right conversation options and what-not, the actual love making scene didn't come until right before a major mission that could've very well been a suicide mission and therefore the character connection was believable. This would've been even better if the relationship you started in the first game carried over into the second and third game, but of course they didn't do that.