Romances

[Tyranicon]

Oh boy, this is my chance to shine.

-realizes I just make shitty porn-

Fuck, nevermind.

 

[Reinhardt]

That said, I do still believe it would be possible to create acceptable (not great) romances in a traditional RPG

No. You can't have passable romances and character creation at the same time.

 

[KafkaBot]

That said, I do still believe it would be possible to create acceptable (not great) romances in a traditional RPG

No. You can't have passable romances and character creation at the same time.

Regardless of how true this is, a RPG doesn't need to have character creation.

 

[Reinhardt]

That said, I do still believe it would be possible to create acceptable (not great) romances in a traditional RPG

No. You can't have passable romances and character creation at the same time.

Regardless of how true this is, a RPG doesn't need to have character creation.

Fuck off

 

[Saark]

No. You can't have passable romances and character creation at the same time.

Yes you can, the MC just shouldn't be one of the people involved.

Fact of the matter is, romances suck in almost all types of art/media these days. It's hard to find a believable lovestory in movies or TV series, most of them are super cringe or simply dont feel like they would actually happen naturally, despite them being able to act it out in person. The last time I felt a movie romance was genuinely believable and "real" was A Star Is Born.
The same applies to videogames, or even literature. Most books that are written these days tend to not evoke the same feelings when they portray romantic interactions, compared to the older classics that weave romance into the narrative much better and more naturally. If there's romance in games that felt somewhat okay, it wasn't in games that released in the last 10-15years. Most of those are just about fulfilling male fantasies about jumping anything that looks hot.

One major issue with romance in videogames in particular, is that very few writers actually bother portraying both sides of the coin. Anything you can romance, you get options to do so with, and any characters that aren't romanceable don't even give you dialogue options to try. Having NPCs you can hit on that deny your advances would create a more believable environment for when you actually succeed with it. I also don't understand why every romance has to be some big quest for love and life-long partnership. You'd think when you're adventuring out in the wilderness for a few weeks or months at a time, that you'd just have a few meaningless flings to meet your physical needs, knowing full well it won't go any further than that. It would even be easier to write, and would make the horny crowd happy. I guess Twitcher kinda did this, but most games still try to shove some epic quest for love in your face and it just doesn't work or make sense when you're simultaneously trying to save the world from eternal darkness.

 

[Endemic]

Well, rescuing the damsel and whacking the bad guy has been a staple of human storytelling for countless generations, often blended with the monomyth. One of the earliest games I played, Prince of Persia, was just that in platformer clothing.

Yes you can, the MC just shouldn't be one of the people involved.

I also think you can have traditional romances fine in RPGs, they either need to be low-key\background characterisation (including the flings you mentioned), or there needs to be proper buildup and relevance (eg if it's a politically relevant marriage deal in the setting). And of course, not every character needs to have one.

Subtext and implication rather than stating everything bluntly is something that's underutilised as well. Along with non-romantic love such as the filial kind, or duty to one's comrade-in-arms/neighbour etc.

 

[Reinhardt]

duty

Yeah, while you can cringe fuck anything that moves rpg games almost never dip into duty or loyalty. I'm tired of murderhobo "adventurers".

 

[Morenatsu.]

morenatsu has best romance!!!

I think a good example for a romance done right is Lunar Silver Star Story.

i agree nall is very yiffable