Kids

[Calax]

This may sound odd but would anyone want to see a sequel to a game where you had romance options, have your romancee come back and say "You know, you're a daddy now" (assuming the PC is male)?

 

I personally would just like to see it because it's different, and shows more consequence than just "oh hay, you can go out and sleep with anything that moves and be perfectly fine!"

[Oner]

Yes, depending on the game and whether I decided to use condom or not.

[Monte Carlo]

It would be more fun in an Aliens CRPG. Obviously, with you as the Alien.

 

:: Cue face-sucker & stomach bursting mini-games ::

[GreasyDogMeat]

This thread reminds of Baldur's Gate when you are in the church district and a woman accuses you of fathering her child and demands child support even though your character would have been far too young to impregnate a woman (if you are playing as human that is).

[HoonDing]

Isn't this possible in Fable 2?

[Hurlshort]

I always wanted an MMO where you play and level a character, then retire that character and start a new one as the child of the retiree. You get bonuses and such on the child. Seemed like it would be a neat mechanic.

 

I also wanted to have aging implemented, meaning the more hours you put in, the older you get. Eventually you reach a peak and your skills start to decline, making retirement a good choice.

[mkreku]

There is a feature called bloodlines in the MUD Medievia. You and another (maxxed out) player gets a child together, and if that child becomes maxxed out (level 124 currently), the parents receive bonuses. And then that child of yours can have their own kids too and it's the same procedure again, I think up to the fourth generation. It's actually quite cool.

[Tigranes]

BG2 had an inventory item, your baby from Aerie and you. I never romanced Aerie because she's a whiny annoying sack of whine, so I don't know if that made it into the game.

 

I'd rather see romances that were done halfway decently instead of the softcore crap we get now, so if babies are involved in that, sure, why not?

[Calax]

Isn't this possible in Fable 2?

Kinda, what put it in my mind was Alpha Protocol, where Thorton is running around as captain super spy and secksing up the ladies, no mention of protection is made but I'd guess that given the heat of the moment a for a few of em he wasn't exactly being the most careful of partners. I was thinking that reguardless of the choice of protection or not, in the sequel you'd have to contact her for whatever reason and she sees you and basically says "You..." and then you have to smooth out the daddy issues, and decide to either go deeper into the relationship or make it just a one night stand that you're paying for the results or whatever.

 

Fable two was just to basic for what I'm thinking of.

[HoonDing]

That wouldn't be very in line with the spy theme, imo. Look at how many chicks James Bond bedded over the years, without consequence. And then when he actually got married, his wife immediately got blown away by Blofeld.

 

Similar things happened to Bauer & Bourne.

[Calax]

Thing about Bond is that he might have a dozen bastards he doesn't know about because the girls either die, or just disappear after a week. And while games are an escape, you could probably have a few cute scenes where he either does his best to squirm out of parenthood, or mans up and plays dad. It'd add more depth to the relationships (unless done... horribly) and bring a bit of maturity to the entire thing. It might also actually send a message to gamers that your actions have far reaching consequences that aren't necessarily world shattering to the general public.

[Gorth]

The latest EUIII expansion introduced "Dynasties". You better ensure your succession or your country might go down the drain due to instability and succession wars. Grab a serving wench if necessary, illegitimate heirs are better than no heirs

[Calax]

Also I was thinking, in Mass Effect Asari can basically reproduce on demand. I thought that when Liara decided to play snuggle bunny with you before the final mission, she basically was almost guaranteed to have a little Shepard running around because from everything I've seen, Asarii don't require a bodily fluid exchange to create little ones. And yet there isn't even a throw away line about any kid or anything relating to that coupling beyond a passionate kiss when they meet back up in ME2.

[HoonDing]

I suddenly got vibes of Indiana Jones & Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

[Orogun01]

Actually ME would enrich itself from something like that, even though is fictional you have a personal reason to save the universe. But it would ruin the new romances so scratch that BW, even though you should feel some real consequences to cheating.

[Nemo0071]

I always wanted an MMO where you play and level a character, then retire that character and start a new one as the child of the retiree. You get bonuses and such on the child. Seemed like it would be a neat mechanic.

Torchlight (it's a decent Diablo clone, in case you don't know) had this ancestor/descendant mechanic (after your first playthrough, iirc), altough it felt more like a trial of a new idea rather than a well-implemented mechanic.

 

And while games are an escape, you could probably have a few cute scenes where he either does his best to squirm out of parenthood, or mans up and plays dad.

About playing dad; I remember reading Heavy Rain had this "rocking the baby to sleep" mini-game/cut-scene thingy, and that it was quite enjoyable, even for a computer game.

 

 

Both cases go to show they're doable in certain contexts.

[Calax]

I always wanted an MMO where you play and level a character, then retire that character and start a new one as the child of the retiree. You get bonuses and such on the child. Seemed like it would be a neat mechanic.

Torchlight (it's a decent Diablo clone, in case you don't know) had this ancestor/descendant mechanic (after your first playthrough, iirc), altough it felt more like a trial of a new idea rather than a well-implemented mechanic.

 

And while games are an escape, you could probably have a few cute scenes where he either does his best to squirm out of parenthood, or mans up and plays dad.

About playing dad; I remember reading Heavy Rain had this "rocking the baby to sleep" mini-game/cut-scene thingy, and that it was quite enjoyable, even for a computer game.

 

 

Both cases go to show they're doable in certain contexts.

Yeah, in order to basically pull it off you'd need to go through and make sure that there HAD to be at least one romance option, and then figure out a way to work that into the second game, or have a time skip. But still, it'd offer a bit more meat to a romance than a one night stand that was probably due to an adrenalin rush (after the "high" it's often noted that couples get down and do it)

[Nemo0071]

I haven't played the Mass Effect games (yet) but don't they have this "continuous" story? Even the option to continue your save/character from the previous game? (Correct me if I'm wrong.)

 

If the child mechanic doesn't work in this series, I don't know where it can. Although I don't know the timeline of the games, maybe they're each one day...

[Calax]

I haven't played the Mass Effect games (yet) but don't they have this "continuous" story? Even the option to continue your save/character from the previous game? (Correct me if I'm wrong.)

 

If the child mechanic doesn't work in this series, I don't know where it can. Although I don't know the timeline of the games, maybe they're each one day...

Well, ME does have the contiguous story. You load up from the previous game into the next one. There is a 2 year gap between games that they could mess with. So mini-shep (assuming either Mommy Liara or Male Shep) would be a toddler if he did exist.

 

And given how things have been going in the romances I've unlocked in ME, It feels like the ones from the first games were more entangling (Except for Jack, but she seems like she'd be perfectly fine in a polygamous situation) than in the second (where the sex just felt like "oh, you exhausted all the dialogue options with this member of the opposite gender, here, have pg sex").

 

And in Alpha Protocol, you can get REALLY entangled with one person in particular, and can boff a few others. Looking at their personalities, one wouldn't keep the kid, one would probably weigh her options financially and emotionally, and a third would leverage her swelling belly into all sorts of benefits. Assuming that they survive that is.

 

If I were writing ME2 and wanted to have this in there? I'd have Liara become a parent, and have a scene where she's talking harsh to an informant, then she "hangs up" and walks over to a crib when she notices shepard... or something. AP2 I don't really wanna get into because of spoiler territory.

[Bos_hybrid]

I haven't played the Mass Effect games (yet) but don't they have this "continuous" story? Even the option to continue your save/character from the previous game? (Correct me if I'm wrong.)

 

If the child mechanic doesn't work in this series, I don't know where it can. Although I don't know the timeline of the games, maybe they're each one day...

 

No, just no. I don't want to see Tali/Shep offspring running around the Normandy in a bubble.

[Orogun01]

I haven't played the Mass Effect games (yet) but don't they have this "continuous" story? Even the option to continue your save/character from the previous game? (Correct me if I'm wrong.)

 

If the child mechanic doesn't work in this series, I don't know where it can. Although I don't know the timeline of the games, maybe they're each one day...

Well, ME does have the contiguous story. You load up from the previous game into the next one. There is a 2 year gap between games that they could mess with. So mini-shep (assuming either Mommy Liara or Male Shep) would be a toddler if he did exist.

 

And given how things have been going in the romances I've unlocked in ME, It feels like the ones from the first games were more entangling (Except for Jack, but she seems like she'd be perfectly fine in a polygamous situation) than in the second (where the sex just felt like "oh, you exhausted all the dialogue options with this member of the opposite gender, here, have pg sex").

 

And in Alpha Protocol, you can get REALLY entangled with one person in particular, and can boff a few others. Looking at their personalities, one wouldn't keep the kid, one would probably weigh her options financially and emotionally, and a third would leverage her swelling belly into all sorts of benefits. Assuming that they survive that is.

 

If I were writing ME2 and wanted to have this in there? I'd have Liara become a parent, and have a scene where she's talking harsh to an informant, then she "hangs up" and walks over to a crib when she notices shepard... or something. AP2 I don't really wanna get into because of spoiler territory.

Considering that ME romance's option was at the Normandy beginning ME2, they should had plenty of times to procreate. It feels like a missed opportunity for both: deepening the romantic bond ( to which there wasn't much motivation to stay loyal) and just an awesome moment in gaming where you find out you have a kid.

IMO, BW didn't want to make the player feel bad about cheating on their "spouse" and so that they are able to fully explore the romance options in ME2 to which the majority of the dialog was committed. Seriously how do you go from 3 options to 9?

[Niten_Ryu]

Daddies huh ?

 

Genghis Khan is direct ancestor for about 8% of the males alive today in greater asia area. Player characters are usually several times more powerful then our busy mongol leader. Every game world would turn into Bhaalspawn saga

[deganawida]

BG2 had an inventory item, your baby from Aerie and you. I never romanced Aerie because she's a whiny annoying sack of whine, so I don't know if that made it into the game.

 

It did. Was rather touching, too, with Jaheira serving as the midwife. The Aerie romance was much better in ToB than in BG2, and it was reflected in the game, as her actual recorded battlecries changed.

[Nemo0071]

It feels like a missed opportunity for both: deepening the romantic bond ( to which there wasn't much motivation to stay loyal) and just an awesome moment in gaming where you find out you have a kid.

That would indeed be awesome.

 

Isn't the whole point of this "continuous game/char/save system" to deliver a much deeper experience and far-reaching consequences? I'll definitely play the whole trilogy at some point, but I'm already curious as to what other "opportunities" they missed.

[Amentep]

Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom used a kids mechanic; the story was broken into three chapters, at the end of one chapter who you romanced would marry and time would cut and the kid would be the protagonist of the second part and the grandkid the protagonist of the third. In this way it made some of your choices matter (I seem to recall each generation had two marriage possibilities and the kid's stats depend on who is picked) as you made your way through the plot.

 

I think for most games a kid isn't going to add anything to the story or to gameplay (and probably be used as a resource sink).

 

I would not be surprised if the end of ME3 gives the possibility of a kid for romantic partners in that game.