Romance in Games that you thought was Well Executed

[EmperorSubcutaneous]

People like to complain that the BioWare romances are poorly-written minigames with sex for rewards, but I disagree. At least in the case of female PCs.

Examples:
*Female Warden with Alistair in Dragon Age: Origins - it was very sweet with a lot of playful joking around, and Alistair's vulnerability and embarrassment about being a virgin was something you don't see very often in games. He was a big doofus who wasn't very good at romance but he tried his hardest, and it was a great little story to play through. Not to mention the fact that there were some serious conflicts toward the end, including

Spoiler

possibly losing him from your party if you take on Loghain, or forcing Alistair to sleep with Morrigan while the game makes you watch, or Alistair dying if he doesn't sleep with Morrigan (I think he will always die in that situation because he won't let the Warden deal the killing blow herself), or losing him when he becomes king if you didn't play as a human noble, especially if you arranged a political marriage for him with Anora.

*Female Imperial Agent with Sanju Pyne (an Imperial mole you meet on Balmorra) in SWTOR - Sanju is one of the only truly good people in the Empire. If you're playing a Light Side Imperial Agent, it makes for a very sweet romance. (And your terrible companion NPC Kaliyo points this out and makes fun of you for it.) There wasn't even any sex, it was just a touching little side-story of two compassionate people sharing a few moments of affirmation.

*Female Imperial Agent with Vector Hyllus (a companion NPC who is a Killik Joiner) in SWTOR - a lot of players disliked Vector at first because they said he was creepy and had the personality of a rock, but that's just how he is at first. After living so long with the Killiks and being a part of their hivemind, he is very creepy. But then his bizarre mannerisms quickly become charming (like when he takes 2 hours to eat a ration bar because he's so fascinated with the complex flavor), and the more time you spend together, the more your interactions (combined with his feelings for you) remind him how to be human. He always remains a Joiner, but he slowly grows into a very interesting and relatable character as the story goes on.

 

[Black Reaper]

Saya and Fuminori from the game "Saya no Uta".
Yes, I know what you will say, but I don't care. This game had a giant impact to me when I play it...
Also this romance is so effective, that even you know this is wrong, you want to see the them happy. You know they deserve to die for the horrible things they did, but you don't want this to happen. You don't know why, you just don't.



To a more suitable selection, I will say also Goal and Rufus from the game "Deponia" and "Chaon on Deponia"
Reason? Rufus is a jerk. An egomaniac, irritating, assh*le, jeck, care only for himself. And this is the reason why this make this romance so effective. This romance show to us that even an assh*le like Rufus can change for the better. Sure, it is a Comedy Adventure, but it is affective to me at least. I am waiting the last part, "Goodbye Deponia"
Also Goal have a great ass!!!!

I second the Saya part,bonus point since the game has no happy end

And,even if i haven't played it in a hell of a long time,i remember the Heaven's feel normal end in Fate/stay night was pretty sad

Spoiler: spoilers here

Basically,you are dying for using magic too powerful for your body,and having an awesome fistfight with a ridiculously badass priest,and you don't stop,and eventually you save the world by using more of said magic,but you die in the process
The game then cuts to a scene in which your girl is waiting for you(you promised her you would go see cherry blossoms together)
And she waits,and waits,and waits,and is still waiting for you as an old lady

Another thing i like about the heaven's feel route is that you could kill your girl at any time and save countless lives,but you don't

 

[rosac]

ooh, ooh, I forgot to mention zack and Aeris. That romance was... good. Not quite tidus and yuna level, but still good!

 

[BakedZnake]

Easy kratos & aphrodite, no question about it

 

[acey195]

I would say Tali and Shepard,

Spoiler

She was the main reason for me to choose the red ending(with enough war assets) over the green one. Too bad for Joker though...

 

[chozo_hybrid]

Jackie and Jenny in The Darkness.

In one short, simple scene their relationship is made more believable than 99% of video game romances.

OK, for real: Jackie Estacado and Jenny Romano from the Darkness games. Pretty much the only games in history where the Main Character's love is actually an effective motive for the entire story.

That makes three of us.

I don't know of many other games where you actually do things a couple would do. Not in a way that doesn't seem forced and/or contrived. And in a first person shooter no less.

Add a fourth to that one, I was going to cast my vote on that but was beaten to it.

 

[Varrdy]

I may catch some hate here, but I was seriously a fan of FemShep/Garrus.

I like ManShep/Tali, but the element of Tali crushing on Shepard made it a wee bit Mary/Marty Sueish. Garrus' romance just seemed more natural to me.

I was always an M-Shep / Liara man, myself!

 

[Yokillernick]

The Freedom ending to Catherine. Now that was a fine example of romance.

I second this. Though I think that the True Law (was it?) The one with marriage was the better one. Still Vincent needs to learn to say no.

 

[roastbeefy]

I bought Thomas Was Alone after reading Critical Miss last Friday. Since then I've played though most of the game, enough to say that the romance between Chris and Laura was really good, especially for being between a cube and a rectangle. Laura shares Chris' weakness (He can't jump very high), and offsets it with her bouncing ability. They complement each other both in personality and functionality.

A lot of people have already mentioned Junpei and Chidori from P3, and I definitely agree. When he falls in love with Chidori, Junpei realizes that up until that point, he didn't really have much of a reason to live. She gives him that and, while Junpei doesn't realize it, he does the same for her.

I also really liked the romances in Odin Sphere, though I've yet to finish that game because it's harrrrd. I'll admit that Gwendolyn is basically sold to Oswald to begin with, but that's more a testament to how much of a monster her father is. Oswald doesn't want to force her into anything, because he genuinely loves her, and when Gwendolyn realizes that, and that he's the first person love her unconditionally, she risks her life to save him.

 

[Yokillernick]

And Alice/Luka in Monster Girl Quest.

Please elaborate, what part of that game was even natural to begin with? I played through it and though I could see it coming from the very beginning I was still disturbed by it. You know the snake half bit... *shudders*

 

[Tom_green_day]

Amata and you in Fallout 3. You grew up together and she does kind acts (party) and you help her out, in return she brings up the first example of self-sacrifice and it was obvious she liked you, but had to let you go.

 

[BleedingPride]

Liara. That sexy blue minx.

 

[skywolfblue]

Having just looked up the plot, I have to say that it disgusts me on a very deep level, and frankly I'm appalled that the writers got away with it without criticism.

It's rather disturbing at best and flatout Stockholm Syndrome at worst.

OT: To be honest I can't really think of any good examples. Ico was decent, but I'm not sure that's really romance.

I think you have to play it to get it... Monkey is in no way psychologically tied due to his captivity... and nearly attacks Trip on release... but realises that he also needs help as she did originally... he also realised that she did it due to being vulnerable, and that, due to the events that unfold in the game, he now feels a bit of responsibility towards her! A bit different to the Stockholm Syndrome effect!

Perhaps I do, but my initial concern upon reading it is that the game presumably portrays Trip as a protaganist, and a protaganist that goes around enslaving people is not a protaganist at all.

Having not played it I can only speculate, but my main query is how the game tries to justify that initial event, if at all. And also whether that act actually gets called out for what it is.

Trip isn't really a sadistic captor, instead she's vulnerable and desperate. It's not like stockholm syndrome, because she needs him. It's not a one-way relationship where Monkey glosses over what Trip has done.

Trip admits later on that she knows that enslaving him was wrong. It's kind of an example of good things coming about in the end despite bad actions. So the game does call it out for what it is.

 

[CaptainKoala]

Mass Effect. I genuinely cared for all the characters and what happened to them, especially Liara. I had never experienced feelings like that over a character before, and I initially thought it was kind of creepy until I found that pretty much everyone playing them had felt the same way about the characters.

 

[Saviordd1]

Except, you know, GORDON NEVER FUCKING TALKS! HOW THE HELL DOES ALYX LOVE HIM!

Saving her and the people she cares about from extermination, repeatedly? In a situation where the dating pool isn't precisely massive?

So its supporting a romance where the romantic partners know nothing about each other (well, she doesn't know anything about him) and for all we know have completely different personalities that if they ever did decide to settle down on a headcrab farm would instantly be acidic without the immediate threat of the combine breaking down their door and smashing their faces in. Yes, great romance with a very positive message.

Cliche as it is, the relationship between Freeman and Alyx out of HL2.

It smacks of the whole "young folk in love" theme, primarily form the constant pushings of Vance's father.

I tought it was impressively satisfying.

Except, you know, GORDON NEVER FUCKING TALKS! HOW THE HELL DOES ALYX LOVE HIM!

*cough*
Sorry, personal pet peeve.

OT: Shepard and Liara, it might have been romanticized to all hell (being a space opera and all) but it's the only romance in a game that didn't feel forced or silly (I'm looking at you Witcher 2)

You are now instantly my least favorite person on the escapist ever.

Well sorry, but, come on, heap all the praise you want on half life 2 but that relationship is just not a good one.

 

[Knusper]

In The Walking Dead there's definitely some chemistry suggested between Lee and Carley (if you saved her of course, but really, who didn't?)

There's like one kiss on the cheek, but in a setting of so much despair and death, it means a hell of a lot more than any of the 'romances' in the Mass Effect games.

 

[BrotherRool]

People like to complain that the BioWare romances are poorly-written minigames with sex for rewards, but I disagree. At least in the case of female PCs.

For me(and maybe other people) I think the reason is less the writing itself and more the gameplay mechanic that causes them. I think most people recognise that a lot of good writing goes into the pairings but it's delivered in such a push lever way. It's harder to value that writing when you know that you've picked an objective and are basically just cranking a lever, at the end of which will be a sex scene (I still think people get caught up in the romance, but the cranking level makes the sex seem more like a 'reward' than part of a story). I heard Dragon Age adopted a system more similar to KotoR 2 though? In that case I would have no issue with it.

It's not only Bioware though, The Witcher also feels like cranking a lever for sex, but I suspect that was the goal in this case =D

But other than that I can't think of a game that handles relationships like Bioware do which is probably why it's Biowares reputation. It's kinda similar in Planescape but the important differences are a)The person approaches you sometimes and those interactions are judged and b) the good option can be a little harder to find than top-righting