Best and worst portrayal of romance you have seen in a game
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yeah I played after the credits rolled. that's why it's the worstlithium.jelly said:
He undid the ENTIRE GAME'S WORK just to save that crazy *****
they were in love for no reason (not an uncommon practice in games) but the prince destroyed the world to save her.
that's worse than what's-his-name and what's-her-face in Alone in the Dark
I clicked on this thread thinking it would be the one place where nobody could possibly hate-monger against Halo... then I realised your post was satire.BreakfastMan said:
But I disagree with the people saying Mass Effect's romances are good. I find them rushed and unconvincing, myself. About 4 conversations with your chosen interest = SEX AND LOVE FOREVER! Excellent games, but I stopped caring about the romance after I screwed Miranda and realised how pointless it had all been.
And seriously, the engine room?
So basically, I've never played a game with a properly good romance.
I have a soft spot for Squall/Rinoa. Seriously, I know it gets a lot of shit, and I'm probably going to get a lot of shit for this but it melts my heart every damn time. I don't care if it's badly written, forced, improbable and unrealistic, there's just something about it.
I'm also impressed by the one you have with Viconia in Baldur's Gate 2. The way she starts as a cold hearted outsider who slowly and unsteadily warms up to you. It's so rare to see a romance in a game that isn't straight forward, that goes down a rocky, occasionally messed up dialog tree that gives you a hundred reasons to call it off before you eventually, maybe get a happy ending. It really feels as a natural way to flesh out and progress her character, as opposed to a romance thrown in just for the heck of it. In comparison, Mass Effect looks like a huge step backwards (and Mass Effect is still better than most other games out there)
The worst one I've played is by far Juno Eclipse and Starkiller in The Force Unleashed. It's a f*cking joke! They barely exchange a line dialog throughout the entire game (I played the Wii version, I think it's a little more fleshed out in the next-gen version, but I can't imagine it making much difference)! Then when the last level comes around, suddenly he decides he's in love with her and kisses her before jumping from the ship. It's like they though "Heck! Everybody knows the lead character is going to fall in love with his sexy pilot, we don't need to write anything!". Inexcusable! Just... GAAAAAH!
I'm also impressed by the one you have with Viconia in Baldur's Gate 2. The way she starts as a cold hearted outsider who slowly and unsteadily warms up to you. It's so rare to see a romance in a game that isn't straight forward, that goes down a rocky, occasionally messed up dialog tree that gives you a hundred reasons to call it off before you eventually, maybe get a happy ending. It really feels as a natural way to flesh out and progress her character, as opposed to a romance thrown in just for the heck of it. In comparison, Mass Effect looks like a huge step backwards (and Mass Effect is still better than most other games out there)
The worst one I've played is by far Juno Eclipse and Starkiller in The Force Unleashed. It's a f*cking joke! They barely exchange a line dialog throughout the entire game (I played the Wii version, I think it's a little more fleshed out in the next-gen version, but I can't imagine it making much difference)! Then when the last level comes around, suddenly he decides he's in love with her and kisses her before jumping from the ship. It's like they though "Heck! Everybody knows the lead character is going to fall in love with his sexy pilot, we don't need to write anything!". Inexcusable! Just... GAAAAAH!
Best is probably Big Boss and the Boss in MGS3. Not necessarily romance but emotional nonetheless.
Worst? Dom and Maria. Christ, that was just bad. Was kinda glad when we found out what happened so he'd shut the fuck up about her.
Worst? Dom and Maria. Christ, that was just bad. Was kinda glad when we found out what happened so he'd shut the fuck up about her.
Neither did Beckett, but that didn't stop things from happening!Vault101 said:
Let's see, how about a list for worst:
-Tales of Symphonia 2 (among everything else in the game)
-Chaos Legion (this is more because cutscene exist practically separate from the gameplay... or reality in general as most made no fucking sense)
-Most Zelda games (I'm not trying to troll here, but honestly the love part is handled... well... really badly. And it's not always Zelda that's the love interest in question.)
-Gears 2 (Marcus and Anya, not Dom and his wife. The wife thing I could actually somewhat believe. These two have a romance that makes you wonder if you've skipped over a game.)
-Kingdom Hearts (like mentioned by someone else, the romance seems to be turned on and off like a kid discovering a light switch for the first time. And then according to the fans, if two characters look at each other, they are madly in love.)
-Fable (never have a played a game where people fell in love with me for farting)
-Assassin's Creed, Ezio tales (now to be fair, the chemistry is often just fine, it's just that most of the stories drop off suddenly. Perhaps, like Altair, whose entire romance takes place offscreen and we just get the results, his will be resolved in another ancestor's tale. However, there is one romance that ends up well told, if not well for Ezio, but it comes in the game after the one it's introduced in, and it's told in fragments)
-Heavy Rain (while I expected those two characters to get together, I still feel like they jumped the gun. Especially given the immediately proceeding events)
-The Force Unleashed (I could tell George Lucas was involved here)
-Metroid Other M (how could I let THIS go by?)
-inFAMOUS (this almost feels really uncomfortable to watch. I always got the feeling that Trish is almost always in the wrong, and seems to enjoy pushing around Cole. Cole also seems a bit overly hung up on Trish, whereas she was more than happy to believe that Cole was a terrorist who purposely killed her sister, whom Cole seemed to regard as a friend. If you go "light side" she eventually forgives you, but by that point you've had to disregard a lot of survival instincts in a city cut off to the outside world to appease her, though to be fair "dark side" Cole is a bit more of dick than necessary, and there's no middle ground. It's kind of like watching a friend in a bad relationship that you don't want to really confront about for various reasons, but you feel you need to intervene somehow)
Best romance
-Both Team Ico games (though they use a lot of subtext, and the second game's could have not been a romance at all, but rather a family or just the main character going against what he saw as wrong traditions. Point is, how you interpret it makes it either good or bad)
-The Darkness (you have to work at it though, sacrificing your own time to be with Jenny rather than getting hung up on revenge. Rather fitting in a narrative way)
-Dragon Age and Mass Effect (this is mostly due to the characters feeling more like real people than anything else. There are exceptions here though)
-Enslaved (begins out with Trip placing the headband on Monkey for two reasons. 1. She needed someone to guide her through some dangerous environments, and had to be able to depend that her safety was the top priority so they wouldn't run or save themselves. He was the only human for hundreds of miles 2. She'd abandoned him before, so he wouldn't likely do it if he were in a good mood, and be very, very pissed if he were in a bad one. The travels together made it so they both had to depend on each other to survive, slowly evolving the chemistry, as Monkey began to slowly grow attached to her)
Hell yes, that is the romance I thought of first when I read this thread title as my "worst". I wanted Lulu dammit, she is awesome. I was actually more interested in the dynamic between Lulu and Wakka than Yuna or Tidus at all. Tidus straight up annoyed the piss out of me and Yuna was a cool concept but way too "innocented" out. Yuna is Japanese garbage character design in personality.pulse2 said:Is it okay if I admit FF10's romance annoyed me? I just found the whole thing a little cheezy to say the least. I much preferred the romance development in all the games prior to 10
Best is tough. I suspect the thread is littered with Portal. (I haven't read past this quote) But I would go ahead and mark Shadow of the Collossus I guess as the best for me. Not so much in the relationship part as the chick is dead in pretty much the whole game but more the "portrayal of romance" as the thread indicates. Both in the sense of generalizing romance and how one feels on an emotional level of romance.
Hmm... This one is pretty tough for me, seeing as how I don't play a lot of story heavy games. Actually, picking a best is far easier for me than picking a worst. My favourite romance between two characters in a video game is Anju and Kafei from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. I really cared about what happened to those two, and doing their extremely time consuming side quest was extremely worth it. Even if they do only get to share a few minutes together before the world ends, it's worth the payoff. Thankfully they get together during the end credits if you finish their quest, so you don't need to feel too bad that you have to turn the clock back straight away.
As for worst... hmm... I'm sure I'll get flak for this, but I didn't like the relationship between Clair and Professor Layton. They were cute together, but because of Clair we saw Layton's more emotional side, and that's a side of Layton I don't really care to see. Layton is cool like Willy Wonka or Mr. Miyagi, so seeing him get all emotional sort of breaks his coolness. Also, he looked unbelievably creepy when he cried.
But I guess that's not so much a bad romance as it is a bad effect of one. I guess the worst handled romance would be Fox and Krystal. God those two were horrible together.
Edit: Oh snap! How could I forget Sonic the Hedgehog and Elise?
As for worst... hmm... I'm sure I'll get flak for this, but I didn't like the relationship between Clair and Professor Layton. They were cute together, but because of Clair we saw Layton's more emotional side, and that's a side of Layton I don't really care to see. Layton is cool like Willy Wonka or Mr. Miyagi, so seeing him get all emotional sort of breaks his coolness. Also, he looked unbelievably creepy when he cried.
But I guess that's not so much a bad romance as it is a bad effect of one. I guess the worst handled romance would be Fox and Krystal. God those two were horrible together.
Edit: Oh snap! How could I forget Sonic the Hedgehog and Elise?
you are all wrong about the worst. it is definetely, without a doubt in my mind, THE SIMS. think about it, all you gotta do for it is talk for a long ass time, then hug for a long ass time, until you finally kiss for a long ass time. and dont worry about finding a topic (s)he doesnt wanna talk about, cuz they arent that complex!
I almost put sims as the best because at least they purposely make it comical. And it is actually based on reality to a degree. Most games don't and yet it still ends up in the comical section. Had I not wedged SoC into the technicalities of the thread, Sims probably would have been my best simply because alot of games just fall straight in to the "bad" category.Kitteh said:
Both the best and worst for me come from the same game, Indigo Prophecy.
I loved the relationship between Tyler and Samantha, it just felt really natural to me.
It may not be the worst, but I really disliked the
romance. It came out of nowhere and it just made me facepalm.
I loved the relationship between Tyler and Samantha, it just felt really natural to me.
It may not be the worst, but I really disliked the
Lucas and Carla
Really? Personally, I'm shocked at how little crap the Cortana/MC love interest stuff that Halo's 2 and 3 did has taken.OhJohnNo said:
Then again, I suppose you have to be at least slightly invested in Halo for that specific thing to spring up at you, and since most of the people here who bash Halo aren't...
I can't really choose just one couple as the absolute best or worst, so I'll just make a list for each.
Best:
Valkyria Chronicles: Welkin and Alicia
Final Fantasy IX: Zidane and Garnet
Sly Cooper series: Sly and Carmelita
Mass Effect: Shepard and Tali
Worst:
Star Wars TFU: Starkiller and Juno Coren.
Sonic series: Sonic and Amy.
Also have you forgotten this scene?
Best:
Valkyria Chronicles: Welkin and Alicia
Final Fantasy IX: Zidane and Garnet
Sly Cooper series: Sly and Carmelita
Mass Effect: Shepard and Tali
Worst:
Star Wars TFU: Starkiller and Juno Coren.
Sonic series: Sonic and Amy.
To be fair, he knew where Kairi was, while on the other hand, he had no idea where Riku was up until that point.Screamarie said:
Also have you forgotten this scene?
That was actually just supopsed to be poking fun, one. Two, Sora had no clue where Kairi was in KH1.scorptatious said:
I can easily name a horrible romance portrayal, Final Fantasy VIII, ugh, Squall is just SO awkward around anyone, it was like watching Star Wars Episode II again.
best romantic portrayal has to be Travis and Silvias romance throughout the No More Heroes series, I mean sure, he just wanted to bed her and she was a crazy *****, but it was REAL, travis wasnt bullshitting compliments or dancing around the bush, and by the end he did care, but in a odd way, Silvia wasnt INFATUATED at first sight and was constantly conflicted and confused on whether or not she like travis. thats more real than any romance I have seen.
best romantic portrayal has to be Travis and Silvias romance throughout the No More Heroes series, I mean sure, he just wanted to bed her and she was a crazy *****, but it was REAL, travis wasnt bullshitting compliments or dancing around the bush, and by the end he did care, but in a odd way, Silvia wasnt INFATUATED at first sight and was constantly conflicted and confused on whether or not she like travis. thats more real than any romance I have seen.
1. Ah, I see. I just hear so much about the controversy surrounding Riku and Kairi (See what I did there?) I had to give my opinion on the matter.Screamarie said:
2. He did know where she was in KH2.
Looking back, I do remember being rather confused seeing Sora's reaction to seeing Riku again. XD
I totally agree with this. It was a huge "WTF?!" moment for me when that happened, especially since it took place immediately afterLadette said:
Tiffany died.
The reasons that most game romances don't mesh well with me are because they're either A: forced upon us because it seems nowadays that every game HAS to have a romance (or romances) as a rule, or B: they're poorly written & executed (i.e., the couples are either already established when the game starts (and already suck most of the time) and we're stuck with them, or they pop up completely out of left field and make us cringe in embarrassment).
For Heavy Rain, I liked Ethan/Madison very much despite the suddenness. It seemed to me that Quantic Dream took some notes on the Indigo Prophecy upset and improved things a bit. While I can see the points against the E/M pairing, it felt natural enough for me. People who are thrown together in extremely traumatic situations can build bonds fairly quickly. *shrug* It wasn't the best I've seen, but it was decent. Definitely better than
Lucas and Carla screwing (and breeding!) like rabbits only a day or so after Tiffany bit the dust.
Off the top of my head, James/Mary from Silent Hill 2 and Isaac/Nicole from Dead Space 2 are on my Best list. The complexities of both relationships were written very well and they just sucked me in from start to finish. They felt raw, tangible and real.
Besides Indigo Prophecy (and anything from Sierra besides Half-Life 2) on my Worst list is Final Fantasy VIII. Sorry, but watching Squall and Rinoa fart around for FOUR game discs reminded me of one of those silly "I like you, do you like me? Circle Y or N!" notes from grade school. I thought that Squall was the kind of passive-aggressive dick that parents everywhere dread their daughter bringing home, and that Rinoa had no other reason to live but her "LURVE" for Prince Emo. Watching the "romance" play out made me actually turn into Squall ("........") until my brain jump-started again so I could turn the game off forever.