Romance in gaming

[Autumnflame]

This has probably been done for the 13000th upteen time but anywho.

I for one enjoy a well ploted romance within a game. not just 2 chars meeting and bonking.

a nicely developed romantic subplot. woven into the main story to help with immersion.

Final fantasy series is probably one of the best examples having a romantic theme eveident some where with.

Games such a Mass Effect, Jade empire. FF 7,8,9,10 all did passibly and i enjoyed the eventual developmentation of the realtionship.

So are gamers secretly romantics at heart. do we love romance as much a the next person as long as were carving our way though hordes of enemies with out interest beside us looking spectacular and dispatching enemies in the most alluring manner.


or am i just a sap

 

[Galletea]

I like the addition of romance when it's done well. The final fantasy series did it fairly well, as did the Metal Gear series.
Most other games don't, it's usually forced and comes across as an irritation. The good romance storylines are the ones that don't detract from the plot but add more depth to the characters.
I'm a romantic when it suits me. I hate stand alone romance in any genre though.

 

[curlycrouton]

I liked the "connection" between Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance.

 

[Arcticflame]

Gamers are a wide variety of people, so no we aren't all secretly romantics at heart, however with a large proportion of gamers being teenage boys, a lot of us enjoy the "2 chars meeting and bonking" which you don't seem to enjoy.

I just find most romances awkward in games. I don't mind romance told around my character as part of a plot, but romance involving the character I play I rather dislike.

 

[Willwillwritehiswill]

As long as it doesn't feel shoehorned into the game it's alrignt. Not every game needs one, that's for sure.

 

[Umwerfer]

I liked the "connection" between Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance.

Now that is epic; Gordon hasn't even spoken to her yet!

 

[curlycrouton]

I liked the "connection" between Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance.

Now that is epic; Gordon hasn't even spoken to her yet!

Lucky bastard. I wish that happened to me.

 

[Alex_P]

Now that is epic; Gordon hasn't even spoken to her yet!

In the movie Conan the Barbarian, Conan says all of five words to his beloved throughout the entire film. (In case you're wondering: "You're not a guard" and "No".)

That's more words than Gordon, granted. But they also fuck. And then she kinda comes back from the dead to save him. So, not bad for five words.

-- Alex

 

[Silver]

I liked the "connection" between Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance.

Now that is epic; Gordon hasn't even spoken to her yet!

I maintain that Gordon is a mute and uses sign-language. Not to defend Valve's annoyingly stupid decision, but because I love the image of Gordon using sign language over radios and in the middle of firefights.

 

[Umwerfer]

I liked the "connection" between Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance.

Now that is epic; Gordon hasn't even spoken to her yet!

I maintain that Gordon is a mute and uses sign-language. Not to defend Valve's annoyingly stupid decision, but because I love the image of Gordon using sign language over radios and in the middle of firefights.

Perhaps, but then again; Maybe we're talking the animalistic charm the average MIT graduate possesses? Which, it appears, is a force to be reckoned with xD

 

[InvisibleMilk]

Romance in Games helps me immerse and It quickly makes me attach to certain characters in the story.
Which can send me on a blood-driven, drug-fuel mass murder.
In my Fallout 3 game, they killed Clover.
So, I killed everyone in Paradise Falls.
EDIT: I was on Jet, Med-X, Vodka, Pyscho, Mentats, Rad-X, and, uh, more Jet.

 

[Scorched_Cascade]

I liked the "connection" between Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance.

Now that is epic; Gordon hasn't even spoken to her yet!

I maintain that Gordon is a mute and uses sign-language. Not to defend Valve's annoyingly stupid decision, but because I love the image of Gordon using sign language over radios and in the middle of firefights.

Perhaps, but then again; Maybe we're talking the animalistic charm the average MIT graduate possesses? Which, it appears, is a force to be reckoned with xD

My theory is half life 2 takes place in the mind of some asylum inmate long thought a vegatable by the staff there. The world in his mind is some sort of psychodrama through which he deals with such issues as xenophobia, homicide, betrayal and death of a close friend [./random derailment]

As for the topic? As previously said Romance can be beautiful in a game but not everyone needs a romance plot; paticularly powerful examples of a plot done right can be found in FF7 and FF10. The Mass Effect romance plot felt a little forced to me basically your character just parots back what the female/male intrest says occasionally saying things along the lines of "wow I think your great" and rather than finding this creepy the intrest decides to sleep with them.

Edit I guess what Im saying here is that romance subplots dont work when you give the player control of the dialogue actions and make the main character supposed to represent the player as opposed to them being a seperate character in their own right e.g Tidus.

 

[sirdanrhodes]

Half Life is the only game to this well, you could tell Alyx loves Gordon, and that Eli clearly cares for his daughter, and treats Gordon like his own.

 

[Scorched_Cascade]

Half Life is the only game to this well, you could tell Alyx loves Gordon, and that Eli clearly cares for his daughter, and treats Gordon like his own.

Yes but you have no idea how Gordon responds to these characters; for all we know he could hate Eli and the story with Alyx could be more one of unrequited love rather than romance.

 

[Goldeneye103X2]

If done really well it can make a difference. One of the reasons i like the starfox series is because of the relationship between fox and krystal. I also like the relationship between welkin and alicia in valkyria chronicles.

 

[sirdanrhodes]

Half Life is the only game to this well, you could tell Alyx loves Gordon, and that Eli clearly cares for his daughter, and treats Gordon like his own.

Yes but you have no idea how Gordon responds to these characters; for all we know he could hate Eli and the story with Alyx could be more one of unrequited love rather than romance.

Well, if this is true, then at least he shuts up and just accepts the love he wouldn't want, rather than just attacking them with a crowbar!

 

[gregatron08]

In the movie Conan the Barbarian, Conan says all of five words to his beloved throughout the entire film. (In case you're wondering: "You're not a guard" and "No".)



-- Alex

That's more words than I said to my ex

i don't like to interrupt

(sorry had to get that one before someone else did)

 

[Undead Dragon King]

I'll totally agree with romance being shoehorned into most games. I love it in most RPG's when you spark up a romance with a party member when you only communicate using a selected line. It sounds like your love interest is having one of those Shakespearean monologues as she falls madly in love with you, while you've never said a word to her actually (a la Gordon Freeman).

Go ahead and say I have no imagination for that sort of thing. I still think a monologue romance is funny as shit.

There are two exceptions to this RPG romance rule of mine. First off is Mass Effect. The romances were shitty and unnessary, shoehorned in for all the girlfriendless nerds. However, YOU COULD HOLD A CONVERSATION! It was such a breath of fresh air that I suspended my disbelief at the horrible writing for the dialogue.

The second exception is Knights of the Old Republic. Although it's true to form as a monologue romance, it also affects the climax (excuse the pun) of the story, and it was well written.

 

[TheDean]

This has probably been done for the 13000th upteen time but anywho.

I for one enjoy a well ploted romance within a game. not just 2 chars meeting and bonking.

a nicely developed romantic subplot. woven into the main story to help with immersion.

Final fantasy series is probably one of the best examples having a romantic theme eveident some where with.

Games such a Mass Effect, Jade empire. FF 7,8,9,10 all did passibly and i enjoyed the eventual developmentation of the realtionship.

So are gamers secretly romantics at heart. do we love romance as much a the next person as long as were carving our way though hordes of enemies with out interest beside us looking spectacular and dispatching enemies in the most alluring manner.


or am i just a sap

I hate the romantic subplot. It breaks games. There was a good one in Mass Effect, but i didn't enjoy it because the slow build bored me, i wanted ot get straight to the sex. Instead of a romantic plot, they should include hot chick wearing very little who you eventually get to bang at the end.

 

[wewontdie11]

I consider myself a bit of a story orientated gamer at times so when a game does romance well I think it's great. It helps me assess the mindset of the characters and understand them a little better, maybe even empathise with them, which I feel is a very valuable trait in an industry awash with shallow prefaces of protagonists.

On the other hand when love interests are done wrong they really do suck balls. And unfortunately most of the time, games appear to have their yappers full of testicles. There is no reason why love stories should be compulsory in a game, and just shoe-horning one in at the last minute to make the more lonely gamers out there feel loved is a pathetic and weak idea. When no time is spent on romantic aspects of games your supposed squeeze ends up just getting on your nerves and you cease to care about them anymore (that is if you ever did in the first place). There is nothing wrong with just having the main character as a total heartless lonely bastard if it means I don't have to put up with some ill thought out wench popping up at random intervals to instigate another awkward section of sappy dialogue.