The Official Romance Thread

[Lephys]

@Amentep,

 

The binaryness of those choices sucks. It's often between "Eww! No! Not in a MILLION years!" and "OMG! I LUV U 4EVZ!!!"

 

It'd be nice, just using the exact same scenario as an example, if you could actually choose between "Look, I don't hate you or anything, but I'm just not really after that" and "Never in a million years!", along with maybe a couple of in-favor-of-a-relationship-attempt options. Not just one, single track that you can either move forward or backward on.

 

As for the rest, though, I very much agree.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Lephys

[Chairchucker]

@Amentep,

 

The binaryness of those choices sucks. It's often between "Eww! No! Not in a MILLION years!" and "OMG! I LUV U 4EVZ!!!"

 

 

Yeah basically.

 

Although personally, the choice in recent gaming memory that REALLY irked me, was the Dragon Age: Origins choice of either:

 

a. Execute a man who has surrendered to me. (And I'd already set a precedent of never executing anyone, so really, could Alistair have been too surprised when I chose the only other option available to me of..)

b. Recruit him to my team. (Which isn't a romance related option but is another example of when binary choices are annoying.)

[Namutree]

I recently watched the Gamescom demo. I'm thinking of adding Sassy as a romance-able companion; with a different portrait hopefully. Anyone think that's a good idea? Now this may come as a shock, but if I add Sassy; she will have a sassy attitude. 

 

If I do add her though there is a 90% chance I won't actually name her Sassy as that sounds a bit silly, but the name gave me inspiration for her personality. That'll make for an interesting romance.

[Amentep]

@Amentep,

 

The binaryness of those choices sucks. It's often between "Eww! No! Not in a MILLION years!" and "OMG! I LUV U 4EVZ!!!"

 

It'd be nice, just using the exact same scenario as an example, if you could actually choose between "Look, I don't hate you or anything, but I'm just not really after that" and "Never in a million years!", along with maybe a couple of in-favor-of-a-relationship-attempt options. Not just one, single track that you can either move forward or backward on.

 

As for the rest, though, I very much agree.

 

I don't disagree.  The problem with the current way that many choices (and I think Bioware has been particularly bad at this but so have many others) are binary is a problem; the more choices that have nuanced reactions the better.  But I'd also argue outcomes shouldn't be binary either, and that's also another problem. 

 

Its even worse when you're given two to three choices but what choice you make is irrelevant, the game is going to force a situation on you.  At least in the case of the romances you can end it or accept it rather than be railroaded into it.

[Mihura]

Well I have two questions not sure if they were address before. First let me say that I enjoy romances in games but it is not a feature that it breaks or make the game for me, it is nice to have and I love bioware games for it too.

 

My question is, this going to be like New Vegas, where you can flirt but it depends of the gender with some NPC? like having the cherchez la femme for example.

And if so is there flirt or romance between companions? because that would kinda cool.  

 

[Amentep]

Well I have two questions not sure if they were address before. First let me say that I enjoy romances in games but it is not a feature that it breaks or make the game for me, it is nice to have and I love bioware games for it too.

 

My question is, this going to be like New Vegas, where you can flirt but it depends of the gender with some NPC? like having the cherchez la femme for example.

 

And if so is there flirt or romance between companions? because that would kinda cool.

Officially there is no romance in PoE. The developers have promised interesting and reactive NPCs with their own stories and motives, but none of them will have a romantic sequence with the PC.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Amentep

[Lephys]

@Amentep,

 

Yeah, I know what you mean about the outcome. I didn't state it or anything, but the binary choice to which I was referring was more so the player's choice between outcomes (what ultimate options are actually available to you). But, it would obviously still be dumb to have 5 outcomes, but only 2 actual in-the-moment choices. So... both.

 

But, yeah, that's the thing. I mean, quests are the same way. They tend to be lamest when they're just "either do this, or don't do this." But, when you get "I need my crops to stop dying," and you can either immunize his crops against the problem, OR go cut out the root of the problem, OR acquire him some land elsewhere so that he isn't affected by the problem, etc... That's a lot more interesting, from the player's perspective. There's a lot more to do, a lot more things affecting what you can or cannot do, etc. And a lot more specifics to the various outcomes, even though "the farmer gets to stop having dying crops" is always a common aspect of all the positive outcomes, that's doesn't make them all the same outcome.

 

I'd really like to see that applied to romances. They're always very linearly designed. "If you do this, this, or this, you get + points. If you don't do those things at key places, you either miss out on points, or you lose points depending on what you didn't do. OR, if you do bad things, you lose out on points. After every so often, the points = new love level."

 

It's SO basic. Then, someone like Bioware dresses it all up with full voice-acting and current-gen graphics. The core is still just a piddly love-o-meter, with options to increase it strewn throughout the game.

[Prince of Wales]

No.

 

But all of them are romance. And that's much better.

I'm surprised this is still kicking. Clearly the only thing to match the passion of promancers is that of antimancers.

 

But seriously, what is the problem with romance, as in, the concept itself? It's a priceless source of storytelling ideas, even if the implementation is lacking more often than not.

 

I don't think they would necessarily be a bad thing as long as they weren't Bioware-like. I can see exactly the kind of crowd that would attract. It's not the promancers that I'm worried about (most of them are merely very enthusiastic about something, and there are worse sins to be had) but the social justice warriors.

 

I shudder to think of it. Maybe you're right 

[Maviarab]

Surprisingly, only just registered to use the forums (and yes...the romance thread is my first post lol).

 

Read a lot of the old thread, and a lot of this one....usual same banter in all these kind of threads.  The antimancers, will not know what the hell I am on about.  The promancers will:

 

One word to prove they can and do work when written correctly. 

 

Viconia.

[Mihura]

 

Well I have two questions not sure if they were address before. First let me say that I enjoy romances in games but it is not a feature that it breaks or make the game for me, it is nice to have and I love bioware games for it too.

 

My question is, this going to be like New Vegas, where you can flirt but it depends of the gender with some NPC? like having the cherchez la femme for example.

 

And if so is there flirt or romance between companions? because that would kinda cool.

Officially there is no romance in PoE. The developers have promised interesting and reactive NPCs with their own stories and motives, but none of them will have a romantic sequence with the PC.

 

 

Hum but I am not asking that, I am cool with no romance for the PC but companions A with companion E could be cool. Also have the possibility to flirt to get information or something else, just like on New Vegas with cherchez la femme. 

 

My point is not, "is there sex or romantic scenes in a long run relationship" but the occasional flirt and joke. I mean I can be role playing a scoundrel type of person. So are people saying there in no dialogue that touches a more flirty character, not even at it's base level? Like one time with that npc that would not let u pass the castle doors?

Edited August 16, 2014 by Mihura

[Lephys]

That would be great! . Play as a heartbreaker. You romance everyone, without really romancing anyone.

[Chairchucker]

It's not the promancers that I'm worried about (most of them are merely very enthusiastic about something, and there are worse sins to be had) but the social justice warriors.

 

I shudder to think of it. Maybe you're right 

...what? I don't get it.

[Stun]

Surprisingly, only just registered to use the forums (and yes...the romance thread is my first post lol).

 

Read a lot of the old thread, and a lot of this one....usual same banter in all these kind of threads.  The antimancers, will not know what the hell I am on about.  The promancers will:

 

One word to prove they can and do work when written correctly. 

 

Viconia.

I find that citing BG2's romances to conclude that Romances can work in video games a little... faulty, shall we say?

 

BG2 has an all-or-nothing system. Meaning, either you're Romancing an NPC, or else that NPC is nothing but an empty shell with a few flavor-lines. There's no in between. BG2 does not have friendships. The result is that someone who's seeking to find any sort of narrative depth with an NPC has no choice but to engage in a romance with that NPC and then say: See? Look how deep and satisfying the Viconia and Jaheira romances are!

 

I wonder if anyone would still see the Viconia romance as any good (or even see it as a romance), if the actual affection aspects weren't there (getting to sleep with her. Having her say she loves you at the tree of life)

 

I *liked* Viconia's character. She was fairly well written and decently paced. But I did not like the "lets go to bed", or "lets cuddle" parts of her dialogue, which frankly, were the only things that kept it from just being a well written friendship.

[Mihura]

 

It's not the promancers that I'm worried about (most of them are merely very enthusiastic about something, and there are worse sins to be had) but the social justice warriors.

 

I shudder to think of it. Maybe you're right 

...what? I don't get it.

 

 

I hope this is not about the non-straight romances or companions because Obsidian already did this.

[SnarkyArky]

My sentiment against romance in video games is that a lot of developers just don't do anything interesting with it except typical stuff we have come to expect from Hollywood movies. Love and relationships is one of the most important things to a human and should not be half-assed. This would mean that a lot of time and effort would have to go into it. If the developers think other aspects if their game is more important then I rather have no romance before something that would ultimately be dull because it wasn't given the time it needed.

[dragonwanderer]

I like romances in videogames. I admit most of them are a bit cheesy but I don't mind. I think some kind of "romance" is always necessary to make a characters more believable in interaction with others (except a priest maybe who is one with god anyway xD). Just base friendship, companionship or enimosty is ok but what really defines characters the most is what they value or hate the most thus the need of some kind of expresion of those two things with some kind of action or at least few worlds that are more personal that average dialogue.

[Lephys]

I *liked* Viconia's character. She was fairly well written and decently paced. But I did not like the "lets go to bed", or "lets cuddle" parts of her dialogue, which frankly, were the only things that kept it from just being a well written friendship.

Not that it's mandatory to strip those types of things from any game you put it in, but a well-done romance really should resemble a well-written friendship. The two have a lot in common, really.

 

But, that, and a lot of stuff can take place "off-stage." If you're a developer, and your idea of putting in a romance is taking your already well-written character and just tossing in love-making and cuddling stuff, then you shouldn't "put in romance" at that point.

[PieSnatcher]

No, no, no Lephys. That is impossible. Romance has never been, nor ever shall it be, successfully linked with friendship. All Romance ever does is show up to the RPG party uninvited and burn the house down. It tries to endear itself to the other party-goers with juvenile antics but ultimately, the only people satisfied are the half-wits that enjoy rolling around in the ashes of what could have been a pretty sick party. Thanks, Romance.

[PrimeJunta]

It's not the promancers that I'm worried about (most of them are merely very enthusiastic about something, and there are worse sins to be had) but the social justice warriors

 

What is it about us that frightens you so?

[Stun]

^It's the gun that the guy in your avatar is holding.

[Darkpriest]

 

I *liked* Viconia's character. She was fairly well written and decently paced. But I did not like the "lets go to bed", or "lets cuddle" parts of her dialogue, which frankly, were the only things that kept it from just being a well written friendship.

Not that it's mandatory to strip those types of things from any game you put it in, but a well-done romance really should resemble a well-written friendship. The two have a lot in common, really.

 

But, that, and a lot of stuff can take place "off-stage." If you're a developer, and your idea of putting in a romance is taking your already well-written character and just tossing in love-making and cuddling stuff, then you shouldn't "put in romance" at that point.

 

 

Well you can have a whole "romance" off stage too, in your head for example....

 

to me there is no compromise... it's either done good with a lot of dialogs and NPCs having their preferences (so no to a human female banging every race in the multiverse, just because a player can be any race) and most likely influenced by character's stats (someone might love those charismatic people, sometimes someone might love the intelligent or strong, but really, would you ever date someone repulsive, because he spoke some cheap one liner a couple of times?)

 

If you want your character to have a romance with some NPC, work for it and adapt to their preferences and not just pick 3 lines and bang the NPC of your choice...

[BruceVC]

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2014/08/19/sex-romance-and-dragon-age-inquisitions-improved-relationships

 

Guys it looks like Bioware will be implementing many of  the Romance suggestions we have discussed and also have acknowledged past issues, like the " I'm giving you a present, lets have sex"

 

This is good news

Edited August 21, 2014 by BruceVC

[Lillyhime]

I read on Cullen's VA twitter feed that Cullen is gonna sing to female inquisitors.. That makes me giddy. :3!

 

I am so excited for DA:I... When they extended the release date I nearly cried. Ha. ;__;

 

But back on topic.. I actually hope not all of the companion dialogue is voiced in PoE (I don't even know if we have any voiced lines??) that way if a certain character seems perfect for a romantic arc it wouldn't seem out of place to have a ton of un-voiced dialogue. 

[BruceVC]

I read on Cullen's VA twitter feed that Cullen is gonna sing to female inquisitors.. That makes me giddy. :3!

 

I am so excited for DA:I... When they extended the release date I nearly cried. Ha. ;__;

 

 

 

That's cute

 

I like to see ardent fans

[LeBurns]

I was following both this game and Divinity Original Sin.  Then I learned that PoE didn’t have romance and I stopped following it.  (Well also learned the game had guns which I just despise in the fantasy CRPG).  DOS said they did have romance, then I bought into the Beta when it went on sale, then just before the game came out they said the game didn’t have romance.  And technically it doesn’t.  All you get is a few lines of dialog if your two PC’s liked each other enough.  (Still a great game though)

 

Yeah I was disappointed to say the least.  Heck even the proposed harlot turns out not being what you think she is.  I thought we’d at least get a ‘fade to black’ scene like the old FO games or KotOR.  But no.

 

So while waiting on the next patch for DOS (it’s supposed to add some new companions) I thought I’d check this game again, and I see it’s still in the same position as it was before.  Basically they’re letting us gripe, but are not going to do anything about it.  Bottom line it just sounds like no one wants to put the effort into writing a romance these days other than BioWare.  What really seems odd in this case is that this is a game that is at least partially fan funded, yet the fans don’t get what they want.  Personally I like having the deeper relationships with companions as it just ties the whole game together better.  Seriously just makes me want to play BG2 all over again.