Poll: Would this bother you in a JRPG?

[Party^2]

Let's say that you've been playing a JRPG for a long time and you like all of the characters. Early in the game they introduced your first party member and the two characters hit it off very well. About half way through the game though, the player character meets a different party member and engages in a romantic relationship with them. Would it bother you that the character chose this character rather than the first one? Let's say in this instance that both involved party members are the opposite gender to the player character, but there were no implications that the first party member and the player character where romantically interested in each other (So the player was never expected to think they were).

 

[MysticSlayer]

Well, it certainly wouldn't bother me on any ethical level, and I don't see a problem with it from a narrative standpoint. I might be a little disappointed (if that's what you mean), as I very often "root" for the first potential love interest that comes along. I don't do that all the time, but it does happen a lot. Still, even if I felt a tinge of disappointment, it would certainly be over a few minutes later, provided that the relationship developing with the new character isn't absolutely stupid.

 

[TehCookie]

No my reaction would be more along the lines of, "Oh my god! A Japanese company actually had the balls to make an official couple! Holy shit!" If I liked the first character more I know there will be plenty of other gamers fighting over best waifu who agree with me and I'd ignore canon.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

No harm no foul. Though it's more common for you to be able to change party members' 'relationship values' by making them interact more with each other or making dialogue choices, I know from experience that sometimes you find someone you really enjoy as a friend, but you don't want to spend your life with.

Obviously it's never a serious deal breaker unless you're invested in the characters, but if the cast of Bahamut Lagoon were given better graphics, voices and backgrounds in some kind of remake I think a lot of people would be shocked/apalled when the princess chooses to be with the semi-sympathetic bad guy general in favour of the (admittedly silent) protagonist of her own will.

 

[krazykidd]

You mean like Locke and Terra and Celes from final fantasy 6?

Or Cloud and tifa and Aeris from Final fantasy 7?

Or Squall and Quistis and Rinoa from Final fantasy 8?

Nope doesn't bother me. Don't see why it would.

 

[The Wykydtron]

The entirety of Fire Emblem: Awakening IS pairing people up for partnership, you can practically play Cupid and mash two people together in battle until they eventually fall for each other, get an S Rank partnership and become officially OP as fuck together.

The power of love, bitches! This is the hypest anime game! I'm going to pair my female character with Chrom in my second playthrough just to satisfy my curiosity and my god i'm already imagining the onehits that S Rank will do...

However, I will say that if you never paired Chrom with a female at all it seems they just pick one at random because he needs a child for the plot to continue. It came out of nowhere for me, suddenly Sully is confessing to Chrom despite having hardly spoken to him once before. I can't criticize the game for it though because it's my fault I got literally every single female character killed except Sully and Chrom's sister before that point.

Fucking. Archers.

 

[Ratty]

It would only really annoy me if it wound up shoving the character(s) I already liked to the side to make room for a lovey-dovey story with the new one. It's really annoying to realize the writers have said "Ok, done!"[footnote]See: Freya Crescent[/footnote] to your favorite character's arc halfway through the game.

 

[Fappy]

The entirety of Fire Emblem: Awakening IS pairing people up for partnership, you can practically play Cupid and mash two people together in battle until they eventually fall for each other, get an S Rank partnership and become officially OP as fuck together.

The power of love, bitches! This is the hypest anime game! I'm going to pair my female character with Chrom in my second playthrough just to satisfy my curiosity and my god i'm already imagining the onehits that S Rank will do...

However, I will say that if you never paired Chrom with a female at all it seems they just pick one at random because he needs a child for the plot to continue. It came out of nowhere for me, suddenly Sully is confessing to Chrom despite having hardly spoken to him once before. I can't criticize the game for it though because it's my fault I got literally every single female character killed except Sully and Chrom's sister before that point.

Fucking. Archers.

Romancing Chrom with the Avatar is awesome.

Spoiler

The scene where Lucina confronts you and claims she has to kill you to save her father/your husband is heartbreaking T^T

 

[The_Great_Galendo]

Honestly, this sounds rather like something that occurs in Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals, a gem of a JRPG for the SNES. Did it bother me? The first time I played the game, yes (although how much of it was because of the sudden and somewhat abrupt change in romance interests and how much was because the losing girl took off with a very useful item equipped, I'm not quite sure). On subsequent times playing, not so much. The other relationship still comes rather out of left field, and I still felt a bit bad for the girl not chosen, but I admire games (and books, movies, etc.) with the gall to do something a bit different, so on the whole I'm pleased with the event. I just think it could have been executed a bit better. More foreshadowing and no item theft are a must.

 

[Nieroshai]

Final Fantasy 7. Aeris basically forces you to be her boyfriend. After she dies, it's back with Tifa.

 

[lostlambda]

I don't have a problem with this that childhood friend story bit is way over done. Dragon Quest 5 did the same thing with Bianca you meet her first when you both are young then could marry two other girls about half way through.

 

[hckleinman]

This completely depends on the characters in question. What you've described is so broad that I couldn't possibly judge and, if that's your intent, I cannot state a preference. It depends entirely on the writing of the characters.

 

[FPLOON]

Uh... I was going to call "false harem", but other than that... Nope...

I'm pretty sure, through the character dialogue, that it's perfectly normal, no one is going to get jealous one way or another and/or start something they're going to regret later on... *wink* *snickers*

Then again, I have yet to play a true "harem JRPG" that wasn't just an eroge to its core...

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Let's say that you've been playing a JRPG for a long time and you like all of the characters. Early in the game they introduced your first party member and the two characters hit it off very well. About half way through the game though, the player character meets a different party member and engages in a romantic relationship with them. Would it bother you that the character chose this character rather than the first one? Let's say in this instance that both involved party members are the opposite gender to the player character, but there were no implications that the first party member and the player character where romantically interested in each other (So the player was never expected to think they were).

You mean like, say, Final Fantasy 7? You meet Tifa early in the game, then meet Aeris thereafter, and (if you go with the default date) you end up in a romance with Aeris. You meet Aeris earlier than half way through the game, but it is otherwise the format you described.

Oh, and Grandia 1 does that too - the male lead starts off with a female friend (with a crush on him) but he ends up with a different female character later in the game.

... you do bring up a good point, though. Most JRPGs suffer from the "First Girl" trope. For "First Guy" in the case of Xenosaga.

Edit: Oh! And Chrono-Cross if you end up romancing Harley.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

However, I will say that if you never paired Chrom with a female at all it seems they just pick one at random because he needs a child for the plot to continue. It came out of nowhere for me, suddenly Sully is confessing to Chrom despite having hardly spoken to him once before. I can't criticize the game for it though because it's my fault I got literally every single female character killed except Sully and Chrom's sister before that point.

Fucking. Archers.

When I didn't pair Chrom with anyone, he had a baby with some random villager. D:

No, this doesn't particularly bother me. I never get to be romantically involved with anyone I want to be. Unless deliberate romance options are available in the game.

 

[balladbird]

Nope, quite the opposite, actually. I'm huge into shipping... something that still feels weird to say with a straight face, but it is what it is.

I love the romance angle in stories, it's not just a thing I kinda notice but don't really care about like it is with most guys.

Having said that, generally the "first" girl that JRPGs and animes love to put their leads together with is almost always the "virginally pure childhood friend who has had a crush on MC forever but never had the guts to say anything."

I HATE that, from every possible standpoint I loathe the childhood friend romance with every fiber of my being. It's contrived, and it's lazy. Why bother writing out the complicated series of events that result in two people forming a romantic bond? call them childhood friends! Now the girl already has a super deep crush for free, and we just have to wait for the guy to be less of an idiot in the final act!


Honestly, I'd prefer JRPGs just stick with their current trend of letting the players pick the pairings. it's not a question of a JRPG having the "balls" to do it. It's a question of me not trusting the writers to do it worth a damn on their own.

 

[dyre]

I don't understand....maybe because I'm not into JRPGs, but why would that bother someone? Is there some kind of "fall in love with the first available individual of the opposite gender you meet" rule in JRPGs?

Anyway, this seems like a case of "who cares, as long as it's well-written" to me.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Not at all, as long as the relationships made sense. That's actually one of the reasons why I love the second Star Ocean game as much as I do. There's very obviously a relationship that gets put forward at the beginning of the game but if you don't want to go with that one, you don't have to and can completely play it out a different way.