Do you enjoy games with multiple romance options?

[Ava Elzbieta]

MasochisticMuse, while I never imagined romance would be included in video games back in the Frogger days, I can't really imagine games without it now. Adding romantic options not only offers more depth of gameplay, but god help me I become much more engrossed in the character and the universe the game's set in when there is one. I find myself enjoying games with romance options much more than games without them, often replaying them many more times than I otherwise would. While it's a trend that could easily be overdone, the games I feel do it well (ironically the games you mentioned, Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins) do it so well I'd readily switch places with an in-game character just to have a chance with at that romance.

 

[grammarye]

I too would like to see a tad more effort required in the process - ME2 was just ridiculous; though equally Jaheira in BG2 was plain masochism in my opinion.

Bastila was a spoilt cow, and not only that she was a clone of Aribeth, also a spoilt cow, which made the plot surrounding her blatantly obvious.

Well you're entitled to your opinion of course; though having not played through NWN I can't easily comment on the latter. Then again, that we disagree hardly matters.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

It does add som Oomph to the game...

 

[MasterChief892039]

I do know that Mass Effect failed at it for me.

Agreed, the romance options in Mass Effect felt very shallow for this reason:

It's especially bad in Mass Effect 2 where if you even try to be friendly it's seen as romance, there's no 'I just want to be friends' option, it's tits or gtfo.

I wanted to talk to Jack because she seemed like an interesting character, but after a couple conversations I hit a dead end because I was female and apparently no sex = no story with Jack.

Also, this may sound shallow, but Mass Effect's romance failed for me on a very basic level - I'm a heterosexual female and the male romance options just weren't attractive. Jacob was decent looking but he had the personality of a rock, which left only two aliens.

I have to say, I'm jealous of you men. When you get female alien romances, you get something like the asari - big tits, exotic skin textures and pleasing faces. What do women get in the way of alien romance? Freaky eyes and dripping mandibles. Just what I look for in a man, lol.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

DA: O Morrigan ftw. She was the most enjoyable romance option within games imo.

I can only hope that at some point in Dragon Age 2 we stumble over Morrigan's decomposing corpse and are given the option of kicking it a few times (For roleplaying reasons). What a terrible, terrible person she was.

Anyway yeah, I like multiple romance options. Problem is most games these days tend to outright shove it in your face regardless of whether you 'want' to do something like that or not. It's especially bad in Mass Effect 2 where if you even try to be friendly it's seen as romance, there's no 'I just want to be friends' option, it's tits or gtfo.

Think Bioware had the formula down best in Baldur's Gate 2, where the romance were not only entirely optional to such a degree you could go the entire game without a single line of romance-related dialogue, but tricky as well. Meaning you had to be more than just a nice guy who choose the right replies, you genuinely had to think things through as it was entirely possible for each character to leave you permanently should you not play your cards right. That appeals to me, I like the option of failure. But as a result rather than just a sex cutscene (If I wanted porn I'd google it!) success would instead have an impact on both characters involved as well as the story itself with long-lasting consequences. It was even possible for some other characters in your group, completely independent of you the player, to have their own relationships. It made the group feel more alive, rather than just a collection of sidekicks.

What I *don't* like are romance where half an hour and a few dialogue tree after meeting a character you're already sexing them up and saying how much you love one another. It's silly and its juvenile. I'd much prefer a latent one where it's all merely talk leading up to those infamous words 'I love you' right before the end. You know; Romance. It makes for good storytelling. Certainly better than 'tehee I'm the only girl in your group, and although I act all snobbish its really just an act because I'm like totally in love with the hero gorgeous whatevers, because he's like the hero, tehee'.

Eug.

heheh i remember in BG2 Throne of Bhaal with Aerie having a baby in the middle of a Fight !!! XD

 

[MasterChief892039]

...you know, I frequently play and review games where multiple romance options are the entire point, but I guess romantic visual novels and dating sims aren't what you were talking about.

Haha, no, that's not what I was talking about. However, that's still a form of game romance and therefore I think shouldn't be completely ruled out of the discussion.

 

[The Madman]

I wanted to talk to Jack because she seemed like an interesting character, but after a couple conversations I hit a dead end because I was female and apparently no sex = no story with Jack.

Also, this may sound shallow, but Mass Effect's romance failed for me on a very basic level, because I'm a heterosexual female and the male romance options just weren't attractive. Jacob was decent looking but he had the personality of a rock, which left only two aliens.

I have to say, I'm jealous of you men. When you get female alien romances, you get something like the asari - big tits, exotic skin textures and pleasing faces. What do women get in the way of alien romance? Freaky eyes and dripping mandibles. Just what I look for in a man, lol.

Yeah, even in Baldur's Gate 2 the romance options for women was restricted to an annoying twit named Anomen, who's sole redeeming value was that it was possible to completely ruin his life before dumping him.

There's without doubt a male bias in these things.

At least Mass Effect 2 had Garrus, true he's an ugly bug alien, but he was a solid character which everyone liked myself included. And Liara was annoying and boring as hell anyway, she's exactly the sort of character I most hate; the sort that swoons over the hero and dreamily falls in love for no explicable reason beyond 'he's the hero'. Tali was much the same, I really don't see why either are so popular in these forums. Besides, for all we know Tali has dripping mandibles herself under that helmet, hell, I actually hope she does if only for the sake of knowing the expression on all the Tali fans faces when it's revealed!

There are exceptions to the guy rule though, amazingly enough: The Female romance options in Kotor 2 are waaaaay better and more elaborate than those for male characters, and of Mask of the Betrayer's guy/girl options the guy was by far the more interesting character while the girl was exactly the sort of vapid twit I lament above.

Baldur's Gate 2 also despite only having Anomen as a default option, actually has a thriving community that at one point was determined to fix that gender imbalance. Haven't tried any of them myself, but apparently quite of a few of the new mod characters are really well done.

 

[soilent]

I thought this thread was about internet hentai games...

so umm..... Only when tits are given for the effort put in.

 

[Vrach]

DA: O Morrigan ftw. She was the most enjoyable romance option within games imo.

I can only hope that at some point in Dragon Age 2 we stumble over Morrigan's decomposing corpse and are given the option of kicking it a few times (For roleplaying reasons). What a terrible, terrible person she was.

Really? Why?

Spoiler: Warning, near-end spoiler

She saved your life "in return" for sex. What more could you want from a woman!
Seriously though, I think she's just a cultist, not an evil character, although it is ofc left as a gray area.

Outside the ending, throughout the game she's just awesome. She just hates wasting time on irrelevant stuff when there's more important things to work on, which makes sense for a cynical character. In fact I'd go as far as to say she was pretty much the most realistic character in the game, not painted in black and white but instead had a proper characterization.

 

[Nixzilla]

i do like multiple romance options but if they force us into one that girl better be just as bad ass as yuna

 

[The Madman]

Really? Why?

Spoiler: Warning, near-end spoiler

She saved your life "in return" for sex. What more could you want from a woman!
Seriously though, I think she's just a cultist, not an evil character, although it is ofc left as a gray area.

Outside the ending, throughout the game she's just awesome. She just hates wasting time on irrelevant stuff when there's more important things to work on, which makes sense for a cynical character. In fact I'd go as far as to say she was pretty much the most realistic character in the game, not painted in black and white but instead had a proper characterization.

There's a thin line between being simply cynical, and being a downright cruel hearted evil *****. Morrigan crossed that line long before you ever meet her and kept on going.

Thoughout the game if you do anything remotely good she'll complain and make bitter comments about it, regardless of reason or logic. For example when in Recliffe you're asked to help the town, if you accept she'll throw an outright hissy fit. Why? There's no reason not to, you're a Grey Warden, helping the town is a logical part of trying to gain allies for your cause especially seeing as it's the best way to gain access to Redcliffe castle, which is absolutely essential to you. And yet she's crying about it and wants to leave potentially hundreds of people to die even when, cynically speaking, helping them at least serves your purposes and would provide allies. SO WHY? That's not just being cynical, that's being downright evil, corrupt, and uncaring to such a degree it's inhuman. And that's hardly the only example of this behavior either!

Bluntly put if she were a real person she'd be diagnosed as a psychopath within an instant of walking into a psychologists office. She lacks empathy for anyone but herself, it's displayed time and time again.

As for what she does at the end, that's purely selfish. Deny her, go on, and you'll see her true purposes as she storms off on you. Again, WHY? If she truly gave a shit she could at least offer to aid you, but no, if you don't fall into her careful plans then you're of no use and she leaves even if it means the death of you and everyone else without her help. She tries to play you, throughout the entire game when she's not kicking puppies or pushing nuns into burning orphanages, she's outright manipulating you.

And I hate that!

 

[Vrach]

snip

Hmmm, frankly, I don't remember her complaining about anything that made sense. Saving the village in particular didn't bother her, the part where she complained was

Spoiler

when I was promising to save the blacksmith's daughter. Now, frankly, it made sense, world's coming apart, a village is going to get zombierushed and you're going for saving one person, it's quite stupid. However, as I knew how the game worked in itself, I knew the daughter would just be right on the way to doing everything else, so it wouldn't be a waste of time and would result in better equipped village... but can't really complain at a game character for not recognizing that

As far as I remember, she always went for the self serving options, something she was never hiding. Yes, it's bitchy, but also quite realistic, which I enjoyed, I'm not saying that I as a person would associate with someone like that IRL, but in the game, it's enjoyable seeing a realistic character made, even if she is a ***** - most bitchy characters designed in games are always way over the top or only like that cause they were very hurt by a guy or some bullshit like that, Morrigan on the other hand was a character that made sense, whether you liked it or not.

Note however, that you didn't like her as a character. I did, so I was quite friendly with her, in part of which you could see that while she was self serving, she wasn't inhuman. I didn't have a problem helping her at the end as it served us both and frankly I didn't believe she'd do something evil with it, just

Spoiler

as she said, raise an old God the way she saw fitting. Old Gods aren't inherently evil, they're just corrupted by the Darkspawn. She was obviously willing to kill that kind of creature, so I don't see her raising another evil one, the way I saw it was that she just wanted to keep that race of dragons alive by keeping at least one safe from the corruption of the Darkspawn, partly because it seemed to be part of her beliefs/religion. Of course I'm guessing she wanted power, but frankly I was just gonna slay one of those assholes at the height of it's power and corruption so even in the worst case scenario, I don't see her doing anything worse with it, if doing anything evil at all.

 

[tomtom94]

Well, Let's Meow Meow was a great and very pleasurable game to play...

The inclusion of only a single romance option for the main character...it doesn't kill the immersion for me, in that romance is usually only present during cutscenes.
Never really played a 'proper' game with optional subplots...alas.

 

[Cyan.]

Personally i feel no attachment to any character outside my in game persona, and even then, my in game persona tends to be a detached fantasy persona. An evil, mega cool, beard toting manly man.

I think romance in games is kinda stupid - Im the kind of person who distances himself from a game. Its not real, and i feel no relation or compassion whatsoever. The only time i engage in an act is if it pleases me in some ironic or humorous way....

Like marrying a gay black man with a giant handlebar moustache in fable 2.... Or decapitating someone in Fallout 3, and carrying around his head like a hand puppet, rubbing it all over the faces of his oblivious wife and children.

Both not things i would do in real life....

But i have a girlfriend in real life and while i like my girlfriend, a virtual romance is about as engaging for me as a "riding the tram to work in the morning" simulator...

I play video games so i can escape reality for a while. So i can boot up crackdown, fill a skip full of dead grandmas and throw it at police cars.
So, at the end of the day, i only take the "romantic" option if it is somehow pleasing to my blackened sense of humor.

I cant be the only one like this can i?

 

[Meggiepants]

I appreciate the choice, I just with they were handled a bit better. Like you can only get involved with people you actually spend time with outside of the party/ship.

Pretty much all Irridium said.

I loved Dragon Age, and the romances. But I hated how tilted the game was toward romancing the other party members. All you have to do to get Zevran and Alistair in a ***** fight over you is to talk to both of them.

You should have to go out of your way to get your party members to romance you. That way, people who don't want to romance in a game like that aren't constantly harassed by NPCs complaining that they aren't getting enough attention. I'm looking at you GTAIV!

But I do like it when I have choices. Sometimes I prefer a different character than the romantic lead. I don't want to be forced to go to a moon lit lake with Yuna and have a little water dance, or whatever the hell we were doing in there, when Rikku is an adorable spunky little spitfire.

 

[Cosmic Naginata]

I would'nt mind seeing a heart sprite or something in certain dialogue options to indicate that you're being flirty to the npc and they will register it. Better yet i'd like to control their reaction so the player controls the nature of all relationships between all the important characters.

 

[Quionic7]

I'm going to revive this thread because I like zombies.

Personally I love the romances in all of BioWare games (although, unfortunately, their games left me with high expectations for RPGs so I can't get into mediocre games like Fallout or Elder Scrolls), they're fun and different. Unlike those idiotic games that either force a romance I don't want or it's a shooter (which are a dime a dozen). Just my opinion.