Romance?

[Bos_hybrid]

I would be surprised if there is anything more to the 'romance' then a one night stand.

[Londonboy]

well i hope in the game i can bring the girls to my house then chuck them off the balcony and see there body splatter all over the pavement

[alanschu]

[Jaesun]

*sigh* no gay male romance.

 

IIRC if you avoid the romances, you do get an Achievement for it. I guess that will just have to do.

[Maria Caliban]

I enjoyed the Jaheira one in BG, but really the romances are all kinda silly. Though IMO the best ones were the BG2 ones, but perhaps that's because of the scope of the game?

 

Viconia was the best romance in BG2.

 

*sigh* no gay male romance.

 

The only way you're going to get a gay romance is if you convince yourself Michael Thorton is a very butch woman.

Edited July 21, 2009 by Maria Caliban

[Jaesun]

*sigh* no gay male romance.

 

The only way you're going to get a gay romance is if you convince yourself Michael Thorton is a very butch woman.

 

hahaha!

[Aristes]

I've actually heard that Viconia's romance was a good one. Of course, I didn't like any of the romances and I doubt Viconia's would have been different. I do like the idea of redemption, which was what one of my buddies described to me as the central theme to the romance between his Paladin and the drow. Still, I just think the romances are an awful waste of time. There's virtually never been a time I haven't thought that I'd rather see valuable time spent elsewhere in development. Even Indigo Prophecy, where the romance is central to the game, didn't do more than annoy me. The sole exception is PS:T for the reasons I've already stated. First and foremost among those reasons is the fact that PS:T didn't have real romances. If the time scale and situations warranted a true romance, I'd think that was great. Hell, I can certainly accept that, having survived several battles and being strung out and wound up you might end up having sex with one of the NPCs, but out and out falling in love? If they manage to do one right, I'll eat crow in this very thread.

 

Upshot is, sex in games like this makes a hell of a lot more sense than love.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

From the ESRB rating summery:

 

 

...In one scene, the central character has (implied) sex with a female villain: The villain is shown in underwear and climbs on top of the central character and mounts him; sexual activity is never depicted as the scene fades to black...

 

 

[Aristes]

Hey, it would have to try hard to be one-up the Witcher. See, I basically thought all the sex in that was a waste of time also, although they turned it into a minigame which makes it slightly more interesting. Kind of like real life when you're younger! lol

[Hell Kitty]

So the issue is that the scene fades to black and you don't get to see the characters having sex?

[gamerguy845]

wow, I just checked these boards after a month and my topic is still on the front page! And what does horses from Shadow of Collosus and Baldur's Gate have anything to do with AP

[Aristes]

If you're discussing romances in games, it's probably appropriate to discuss romances as handled by other games, you yutz!

 

I could bring up the Max Payne romance with Mona Sax. I think that was well done within the story. I mean, I had to laugh at the gun pointing romance, but I think that was the point.

 

The Max Payne romance, where it's developed over two games, has hardly any physical contact, and touches more on the emotional side and how it affects the PC is actually well done and it took me three runs to think of it in terms of this thread. I didn't really think of it as a romance per se, more of part and parcel of the PC's story. That's probably why I enjoyed it and why I didn't tie it into my overarching view of in-game romances. Of course, Max Payne 1 and 2 aren't cRPGs, so that's another reason, I'm sure.

 

So we have the spectrum. If the game series goes on over a couple of titles, and if the hints of romance start early and develop slowly, I might not hate another in game romance. Otherwise, just give me the sex option. At least I can ignore that. I don't need to experience my sexual contact in a video game, thank you kindly. (I wish I had a tongue in cheek grin icon right now)

[Maria Caliban]

The idea that people only fall in love after spending months to years of getting to know one another doesn

[Aristes]

Wangsting. heh Odious term if I've ever seen one.

 

Anyhow, I don't doubt that someone can fall in love very quickly. In some form or another, I suppose folks can 'fall in love' immediately. I'd certainly expect the exact nature of that love to be different after eight or eleven years than after one month. On the other hand, is the love of your friends who 'fell in love' immediately only to have the relationship end within a couple of months somehow inferior? Sure, we can pull out all sorts of fun pop culture/counter culture terms, but I don't really want to butcher the idea of love with glib remarks sprinkled with tv trope jargon. I don't want to belittle brief and fiery love or long and stable love or even long and fiery love.

 

I've seen plenty of movies where two characters fell madly in love in an extremely short period of time and ended the movie in a happy relationship. Often the implication is that the couples live happily ever after. I really enjoyed Groundhog Day, but Rita didn't really know Phil all that well and yet they end the show talking about renting before they buy a home in Punxsutawney. Frasier is one of my all time favorite TV shows and Niles falls immediately in love with Daphne. By the end of the seventh season, they're confess their mutual love. By the end of the ninth season, they're married. I guess that's like a love at first sight that lasts for eleven years example in television. Let's make a break from comedy, Romeo and Juliet didn't exactly know each other for very long before the boy fell madly in love and then won the fair maiden's love in return. Tragedy ensues. See, I'm not a cold hearted bastard who doesn't believe in love or even love 'at first sight.'

 

So, what's my beef? I've hated virtually every computer game romance I've seen. I hate the way they're depicted. I hate the way they unfold. In cRPGs, because the player must have 'complete control' *tries to stop his uncontrollable laughter* these romances must be available for some while being fairly transparent or at least avoidable to others. That does not make for a compelling romance. Yeah, I don't tend to watch romantic movies, although I'll watch a romantic comedy with the wife and enjoy it just fine. However, I don't have anything against romances per se. I just don't want them in my computer games. I tell you what, though, I'm nothing if not flexible in my views. All I need to do is see it done well and I'll be all about coming clean to say I was wrong. That's what I was trying to do with the whole Max Payne thing. Yeah, it had it's shortcomings, but I thought romance fit the story very well and the design team did a good job with it. So, I have two games where the romances didn't make me grit my teeth.

 

In terms of the sexual revolution idea, I guess that's fair enough. *shrug* Have a female witcher with absocompletelystupidlutely 'romances' with men. Make a female main character in a title that uses sex as a mini-game. Why should men be the only ones designers depict as intemperate and incontinent?

[SupaSEGA]

Alpha Protocol just confirmed to have nudity and sex: http://www.seganerds.com/2009/07/25/alpha-...nudity-and-sex/