The romance in Jade Empire also seemed to be forced. You were always in love, so there was no need to create the romance. Yet the object of your romance is hesitant and refuses to acknowledge the romance for no apparent reason. They simply say to wait.
After an arbitrary period of time, they magically acknowledge said relationship and you kiss. It was all really silly.
RPGs can be interacative stories with all the depth of any other story. Yet romance is poorly represented. I remember when Squaresoft said that FFVIII was going to be this huge romance, and it really wasn't.