"No sex please, I'm Gaming!"

[FrankatronX]

Hi there.

I have noticed that there seems to be a rising trend in forced romantic interest in games these days.
It's kinda creepy.
I tried to not have Shepard have any relationship with any of the characters in Mass Effect (but one example, I'm not picking on Mass Effect or its dev's but it's an at hand example) even going so far as to have to stop Liara from throwing herself at Shepard. I began to feel harassed by the games not so subtle romance "option".
Because it's not much of an option if one is just there ready for you by default which was how it felt by the end of the game.
I don't like these romantic stories in games anymore, there was a time when it was cute and novel (I even began to revel in "romancing" hard to romance characters and yes I am completely aware of how creepy that is) Now I find myself kinda finished with these simplistic romance plots. It's not realistic or satisfying and it's turning me off games I would otherwise play.
I'm probably in the minority here but I can't abide it. It seems too trashy to me.

What do you think?

 

[dyre]

Different developers/games seem to have different approaches

Bioware: Here are a bunch of unsubtle, oversimplified, mediocre romances. Just routinely stop by between each mission to say things your partner wants to hear and perhaps shower him/her with gifts, and eventually you'll be rewarded with a hilariously awkward PG-13 sex scene!
...
Does anyone remember how wonderfully well-written and touching the Baldur's Gate 2 romances were? No isometric sex scenes necessary, just good character development and a natural (sometimes even rocky) progression in a relationship. What happened, Bioware?

Bethesda: Do a quest for the NPC, then ask them to marry. Now you have a useless NPC sitting around your house, ready to interrupt you every time you run into your house to drop off loot / pick up supplies!

CD Projekt: Witcher 1: Fuck everyone you see, but hey, at least the sex is slightly less awkward.
Witcher 2: You're friends with benefits with Triss. Don't like it? Well, give her a rose and you can be lovers
To be honest, I liked Witcher 2's take on romance. You're in an established relationship and are too busy to be going after other women. None of that "the world is your harem" attitude found in so many other RPGs. Plus, I like Triss' character and had no problem getting into a roleplaying state of mind in which I very much wanted to rescue her and kick Letho's ass.

Peter Molyneux: Haven't played the Fable series so I don't know how it works in that game. Can anyone fill me in?
edit: I've been suitably informed. Thanks all!

Overall I agree with you. Bioware romances are meh, an amusing sideshow at best. I don't know why Bethesda even bothers. I like the Witcher 2 as it deemphasizes the "chase" and concentrates more on the friendship/relationship.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Well, there's the problem... These "romances" are not about romance, but about getting to the money shot. That moment where all that talk finally pays off, and you get into his/her pants/panties.

Bioware is ofcourse the king with this. Even going as far as having a character who is allergic to everything, take off her helmet so you can make out with her. A kiss could put her in the hospital, but fuck it, let's do it anyway. We can't create a relationship without consummation, right?

The best relationships in games are the ones that are not romantic, because then it won't be specifically designed to build up to the sex scene.

 

[sanquin]

To be fair, unless you want to talk to everyone to get all the dialogue I don't believe mass effect's romance gets 'forced' on you. As, unless you do the right dialogue with 'romance'-available characters, you won't get those options as far as I know.

 

[Clowndoe]

Peter Molyneux: Haven't played the Fable series so I don't know how it works in that game. Can anyone fill me in?

IIRC the first one was basically the same as the Elder Scrolls in terms of getting married.

Also, here's one I liked: Mount and Blade. "Romance" in that game is a mix of reciting poetry to women and showing off on the tournament field while simultaneously getting her dad to think you're a bad enough dude to marry his daughter. Who cares about the girl though? You're really just trying to get an "in" on that royal family. And that's all great, because that's Medieval politics and Medieval romance to a tee.

As a funny (I think) story, I once DMed a Shadowrun campaign where one of the players was the self-proclaimed leader who could only act according to RPG hero tropes. As a result, he took the privilege of acting as though he was in a relationship with the girl in the party after talking a few times. When she explained to him that agreeing with her once between every mission doesn't make her want to do it, he replied "What do you mean this isn't Mass Effect?" Good times.

 

[Maximum Bert]

Agreed about Bioware being horrible with this well from KOTR onwards anyway I never experienced the Baldurs gate ones because I could never enjoy the games. Some do romances great though Valkyria Chronicles did a great job imo not just with romances but in other areas such as handling the effects of war both good and bad as well as racism human weapons of mass destruction and how people can change in situations and handle loss. Katawa Shoujo was also pretty good oh and Disgaea strangely enough theres no sex in Valkyria Chronicles or Disgaea though just romances.

There musty be someone who has done it worse than Bioware but I cant think of any they just seem to handle it in a really creepy way.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Peter Molyneux: Haven't played the Fable series so I don't know how it works in that game. Can anyone fill me in?

IIRC the first one was basically the same as the Elder Scrolls in terms of getting married.

Except you have the option of wooing someone by farting at them, which makes it a million times better (The amount of gifts/gratitude you had to show someone you wanted to marry also took a lot more effort than Skyrim, although spouses were equally pointless, and had the most awkwardly humourous blacked out sex scenes imaginable.

 

[Asita]

Peter Molyneux: Haven't played the Fable series so I don't know how it works in that game. Can anyone fill me in?

Based on Fable 1? Become suitably famous and start performing emotes (dance, make faces, show off) in front of people (gifts also work if you have a specific NPC you decide to court) until the hearts above their heads change color, at which point they're receptive to receiving a wedding ring. Buy a house and you can marry the NPC. Note: 99.9% of the NPCs you can romance are background characters so don't expect much characterization (and the singular exception only has characterization for the duration of her quest chain). After wedding them, repeat the process (sans wedding ring and house) in the bedroom of your home to bed them. Repeat as desired on both counts (you can have as many spouses as houses, one per town).

 

[Zhukov]

To be honest, I liked Witcher 2's take on romance. You're in an established relationship and are too busy to be going after other women. None of that "the world is your harem" attitude found in so many other RPGs.

Methinks your memory is severely faulty.

Just off the top of my head, I can remember three different women other than Triss who throw themselves at Geralt in TW2, not counting prostitutes. And yes, you can have sex with all of them in one playthrough.

 

[FootloosePhoenix]

Huh, at first I thought this thread would be about how many of us have chosen/would choose video games over intercourse at any given time. Anyway.

I can't speak to this issue too much, since The Witcher and Mass Effect series seem to be the biggest perpetrators of what you're talking about and I've played neither, but I will say I don't mind a decently written romance subplot in a video game. In fact it can be great and add substance, characterization and overall strengthen the main plot threads. I would argue the first inFamous utilizes the relationship between Cole and Trish pretty well, humanizing the protagonist (by far, Cole always shows the most emotion regarding Trish) and lending a little more weight to the good/evil decision that is the cornerstone of the franchise. It's certainly not perfect and I have a fair share of criticism for it, Trish's behaviour at points in particular, but the game's story would lack if it weren't there at all, I feel. Final Fantasy X is another example of this, as cheesy as some may find it.

But I realize both of the examples I listed are completely scripted and thus not quite what you're talking about. I would hypothesize that it's when games have many different romantic options that the interactions become less meaningful simply because the developers are spreading themselves thin. Of course there are going to be exceptions; Persona 4 did very well with having each relationship (Social Link) you pursue be involving and consequential, romantic or not, and I'm sure everyone can think of a cringe-worthy or at the very least least tacked-on romantic subplot in a linear-story game. Also a good romance is just difficult to write. There's no need to write-off the whole thing because it can be executed terribly.

Though in the end I can't help but agree with what I take as your main point; if a game is touting all these different choices of who to woo, having the option to avoid it altogether should be included as well. That's something that bothered me about Persona 3, much as I love that game; it was a REQUIREMENT in every female Social Link (little girl at the shrine excluded, thankfully) to become their boyfriend. You can choose not to bang them in the end, but it still sucked that you essentially had to be a cheating dick if you wanted to experience many of the Social Links. I'm glad this wasn't the case in Persona 4.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

To be honest, I liked Witcher 2's take on romance. You're in an established relationship and are too busy to be going after other women. None of that "the world is your harem" attitude found in so many other RPGs.

Methinks your memory is severely faulty.

Just off the top of my head, I can remember three different women other than Triss who throw themselves at Geralt in TW2, not counting prostitutes. And yes, you can have sex with all of them in one playthrough.

Really? I thought that you could only get Ves by taking Roche's path, and you could only bone the elf lady by taking Iorveths?

 

[Zhukov]

To be honest, I liked Witcher 2's take on romance. You're in an established relationship and are too busy to be going after other women. None of that "the world is your harem" attitude found in so many other RPGs.

Methinks your memory is severely faulty.

Just off the top of my head, I can remember three different women other than Triss who throw themselves at Geralt in TW2, not counting prostitutes. And yes, you can have sex with all of them in one playthrough.

Really? I thought that you could only get Ves by taking Roche's path, and you could only bone the elf lady by taking Iorveths?

Yeah, actually, I think that's right.

There's also the random demon lady though.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

To be honest, I liked Witcher 2's take on romance. You're in an established relationship and are too busy to be going after other women. None of that "the world is your harem" attitude found in so many other RPGs.

Methinks your memory is severely faulty.

Just off the top of my head, I can remember three different women other than Triss who throw themselves at Geralt in TW2, not counting prostitutes. And yes, you can have sex with all of them in one playthrough.

Really? I thought that you could only get Ves by taking Roche's path, and you could only bone the elf lady by taking Iorveths?

Yeah, actually, I think that's right.

There's also the random demon lady though.

I must have missed that one. Was that the witch that you give the locket from the prologue (with the idiot who took a bet to fight without armor) to?

 

[Zhukov]

To be honest, I liked Witcher 2's take on romance. You're in an established relationship and are too busy to be going after other women. None of that "the world is your harem" attitude found in so many other RPGs.

Methinks your memory is severely faulty.

Just off the top of my head, I can remember three different women other than Triss who throw themselves at Geralt in TW2, not counting prostitutes. And yes, you can have sex with all of them in one playthrough.

Really? I thought that you could only get Ves by taking Roche's path, and you could only bone the elf lady by taking Iorveths?

Yeah, actually, I think that's right.

There's also the random demon lady though.

I must have missed that one. Was that the witch that you give the locket from the prologue (with the idiot who took a bet to fight without armor) to?

Nnnnno... no idea what you're referring to there. Clearly the memories are getting fuzzy.

It was in the second act on Iorceth's path. Some sidequest that ends with being propositioned by a decidedly female demon.

 

[The Lunatic]

I really never understood the point of making your characters fuck in a video game.

Especially in the current implementation where it's basically a quest reward.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Peter Molyneux: Haven't played the Fable series so I don't know how it works in that game. Can anyone fill me in?

Fable 1 - I don't remember...probably extremely similar to Fable 2 but I don't remember there being condoms.

Fable 2 - Do things that people like until people are in love with you (perform emotes until they have hearts over their head). Buy/find condoms. Chat up your chosen NPC one-on-one. Take them to bed and enjoy sex (you don't have to use the condom...you will only have a baby if you are married to the person you are boning)

Fable 3 - kind of like Fable 2 only you have to do fetch-quests for people who you want to befriend or indeed, bone.

---

I don't care too much for romance/love in games. If there's an achievement or trophy for it I will end up unlocking it but for the most part I don't really invest in it. For the most part anyway...I was annoyed I couldn't keep up my romance with Liara in between the Mass Effect trilogy.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

To be honest, I liked Witcher 2's take on romance. You're in an established relationship and are too busy to be going after other women. None of that "the world is your harem" attitude found in so many other RPGs.

Methinks your memory is severely faulty.

Just off the top of my head, I can remember three different women other than Triss who throw themselves at Geralt in TW2, not counting prostitutes. And yes, you can have sex with all of them in one playthrough.

Really? I thought that you could only get Ves by taking Roche's path, and you could only bone the elf lady by taking Iorveths?

Yeah, actually, I think that's right.

There's also the random demon lady though.

I must have missed that one. Was that the witch that you give the locket from the prologue (with the idiot who took a bet to fight without armor) to?

Nnnnno... no idea what you're referring to there. Clearly the memories are getting fuzzy.

It was in the second act on Iorceth's path. Some sidequest that ends with being propositioned by a decidedly female demon.

It's been a while since I've played Iorveth's path. I was thinking of the quest you get if you take the magic pendant from the guy in the prologue before the siege. You can then take it to a witch outside of Flotsam and get a quest from her.

 

[dyre]

To be honest, I liked Witcher 2's take on romance. You're in an established relationship and are too busy to be going after other women. None of that "the world is your harem" attitude found in so many other RPGs.

Methinks your memory is severely faulty.

Just off the top of my head, I can remember three different women other than Triss who throw themselves at Geralt in TW2, not counting prostitutes. And yes, you can have sex with all of them in one playthrough.

Hmm, I think you're exaggerating. On Roche's path, there's only Ves, but I declined out of loyalty to Triss. I agree that particular "romance" felt a little odd, but then, Roche's path is inferior in general.

On Iorveth's path, you get the succubus, but she's a succubus; her existence revolves around seducing men. In any case, it's a one night stand, no romance involved. I think there's also some random elf who wants to "reward" you for saving her back in Flotsam.

And IIRC none of the prostitutes actually offer to have sex with you; you might be confusing this from Witcher 1.

What I meant by the "world is your harem" attitude is that a lot of games seem to function like the "harem" genre in anime, which is basically the protagonist surrounded by a bunch of girls who are implied to be romantically interested in him (yeah, I know. Japan.). It's sort of a ridiculous escapist fantasy that Bioware games often imitate, in which a great number of your companions are clearly attracted to you and you are encouraged to pursue multiple romantic relations until the game finally forces you to choose one or two. I found that refreshingly absent in The Witcher 2. Sure, a few people might be interested in having sex with Geralt (partly because he's exotic) but people generally aren't interested in any long term romantic relations with him.

I guess I just find the "some people might want to have sex with you but your lifestyle really does not accommodate long term relationships" attitude more palatable than the "everyone is in love with you, so while you're out saving the world, romance three people at once" attitude.

 

[dyre]

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Emote based romances, no risk of pregnancy unless married, one spouse per town?? I'm sold!