Poll: Do you have any affection for NPC families?

[thejboy88]

It's someting we've seen in a few games here and there. The opportunity to be involved in a romantic relationship with another character.

In some games you even have the option of marrying them, or even having kids with them.

But to those who've played those kinds of games, I ask, do you actually care? Do you harbour any affection whatsoever for these characters? Or is this stuff just something you do because you can?

 

[hazabaza1]

I think the only games I've played that actually had marriage in was the Fable games. My wives were mainly just there to give me free shit tbh.
The idea of marriage gets mentioned sometimes in Mass Effect with Liara and Shepard which was kinda cool I guess.

 

[Goofguy]

If the "significant other" character has depth, sure I care (as much as one would care about a digital character).

Players grow to care about non-romanced characters all the time like Wrex, Alyx or Otacon. Why should a NPC family be less so?

 

[Squilookle]

The only one I can think of is Mafia, where you get married about halfway through, and yes, I had affection for Sarah, as the game showed just enough aspects of her to show she had a real believable presence, and since I already cared so much about Tommy (being so down to Earth and relatable), I cared by default for those he cared so much about.

Especially as by that stage I was so deep into the story that I played Tommy every bit as if I were him. His motivations were always very clear to me, and with the well written story it was quite easy to adopt his needs and goals as my own.

 

[Wayneguard]

In Skyrim, I married Sylgja (the minder lady in Shor's Stone) just to have a house in the Rift and not inside a city cell. It turned out to be the best decision I had made in that game. I started to really roleplay the "hunter feeding his family" kind of thing. I was a stealth archer and I would hunt the deer and bears that are all over the rift and then forge leather armor from the hides. Post-patch, this was a very effective way to level smithing and it helped solidify the RP for me. As it turns out, Sylgja and the other miners work in a mine with respawning frostbite spiders so I was always having to protect them. Compound that with the fact that there is a dragon's peak on the adjacent mountain and the town was always being attacked. Eventually, the blacksmith was killed in a dragon attack and I even got like 100 gold from his will. It was one of the better RP experiences I've had from a game because I was not only immersed in my "family", but the town as well.

 

[Scrustle]

Nope, I never have. Maybe that's why those types of features tend to disturb me slightly. I don't really get what they're going for.

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

DELETED

 

[Jamash]

No, not for romantic relationships, although I have felt affection for NPCs who have a strong bond via friendship, brotherhood or non-immediate family.

I'm only thinking of GTA IV here, but that game and it's expansions I have developed affection for the NPCs that are important to the protagonist you play, e.g Roman, Brucie, Little Jacob, Packie, and Dwayne from GTA IV, Clay, Terry and Jim from The Lost and Damned and Gay Tony, Armando, Henrique and Yusuf Amir from The Ballard or Gay Tony.

I don't quite know what it is about Rockstar games and these characters, but I found it easy to emphasise with the friendships and affection the protagonist feels towards these characters that elevates them above mere NPCs and quest givers.

Maybe it's the lack of strong characterisation and good writing, but I've never played a game in which I've felt as affectionate towards a romantic relationship as I have towards the strong friendships, not even in Red Dead Redemption in which, although I could emphasise with John's motivations and recognise the importance of his family as a concept, when I finally got around to meeting Abigail and Jack, I didn't feel much affection towards them beyond recognising John's own feelings.

Thinking about it, it's probably humour that makes me feel affectionate towards an NPC, because in Fable III I felt more affectionate towards the funny NPCs than I did my own family that I created and had ownership of.

Indeed I actually spent more time interacting and taking ownership of the more amusing NPCs, who you could lead by the hand and who would wait wherever you left them, so I transplanted a lot of the more amusing, more outrageous NPCs by leaving them in the various pubs around Albion, in which they would stay forever and constantly get hilariously drunk.

There's one particular Mercenary voice/personality type who's an absolute riot when they gets drunk, so I made sure each town and bar had one of him in it (and I had a few at the palace to keep the nobles in line).
Also, there's one type of male Auroran NPC who has an amusing one-liner Easter Egg if you go to the effort of taking him from the alcohol free Aurora and leaving him in a pub in Albion, then waiting around to observe his default NPC pub behaviour. He'll go up to the barman and say "A Crocodile Cocktail... and make it snappy!".

 

[PPB]

In some circumstances I can certainly come to care about NPCs (family or not), though whether I would consider this "affection" is debatable. I would argue that it happens more frequently with non-family/romance NPCs because romances and such often feel like tacked on features whereas other NPCs tend to be better integrated in the narrative.

When a character is well-developed and his or her story feels involving, then yes I care about them. In doesn't have to be a full-blown Shakespearean drama, even little things and seemingly unimportant characters can be given sufficient depth to become interesting.

As for spouses and family in particular, the most recent game I've played that allowed this was Skyrim and I can't say I felt much about the potential spouses because they really don't do much at all beyond their regular lines (though Wayneguard's post makes me realise that it should be possible to get something out of it given the investment). I haven't really felt strongly about Mass Effect's and Dragon Age's love interests either, but I did like those from Baldur's Gate. In Mass Effect's case, it might be because it felt more like Shepard's story than "mine". In BG the relationships developed over a longer period of time and felt more real somehow.

 

[Bestival]

Usually end up killing them, so no, no affection.

Pets however, whole different story.

 

[bigfatcarp93]

Fable 1? Yes. Fable 2? Well, as Yahtzee said: "Schitzophrenic hivemind that will vilify you for your crimes one second, and praise your farting prowess the next."

 

[annoyinglizardvoice]

Depends on the characters and how well-written the interaction is.

 

[Scarim Coral]

The only game I have played to had that feature was Fable 1 and yes. In saying so I only did it to make use of that feature, not for showing genuie affection toward the woman who I was going to marry to.

 

[Terminate421]

I would love for Jordis the Sword Maiden to make more Dragonborn babies, even as an Argonian Racial Phyneyology taught me that all races could interbreed.

Then Fox News would attack me for being a sick person for suggesting something like that.

EDIT: Not a furry

 

[Lucem712]

Eh, in all the 'Fable' games, my various spouses were merely there to keep the house from getting dusty.

Though, I found myself caring deeply about the 'Fallout 3' companion Dog meat. Every time I managed to get him killed; I have to curse, kill everyone and then re-load.

 

[this account is gay]

If by affection, you mean even more people to murder, then yes. I have over 15 affections towards them.

 

[Starik20X6]

If it's done well, then yeah sure, I'll get attached to them like I will any other well-realised character.

 

[King of Asgaard]

So far, only two families, Ezio Auditore da Firenze's family in Assassin's Creed 2 and John Marston's in Red Dead Redemption.

 

[unstabLized]

Eh.. Sometimes. Just got Dawnguard today.. well yesterday technically, its 4 AM here, and I

[SPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOILER]

kind of became attached to Serana. She seemed cool, and definitely not annoying. Made her my companion for the quests,and I'm planning on keeping her. Plus, she can turn me into a vampire lord at any time, even if I am with Dawnguard, so it's pretty freaking cool. Yeah I like her. Favourite character so far in Skyrim.

[End spoiler]

Other then that, I remember playing the old COD's, like COD 1, COD 2: Big Red One, etc. and getting really attached to my squad. So if any of them actually died in battle, I actually felt kind of bad.

Not a lot I can remember.