Romance

[ThatUndeadLegacy]

Sadly i would love romance options. 

[Irx]

Never finished PoE1, easily one of the most boring rpgs I ever played.

Not sure why I backed PoE2, probably still hoping for something, especially considering how Tyranny did have some promising changes despite all its shortcomings.

As for romances, I'm unsure about Obsidian writing skills to make anything decent and not a wall of text with no substance and emotions whatsoever.

[JerekKruger]

Sadly i would love romance options. 

 

Nothing sad about that. I'm not a big fan of romance options but I don't begrudge others for wanting them.

[Bercon]

I'd like to see at least some emotional attachment within the party. In PoE it feels like half of the people don't even want to be with your group. Have the devs mentioned if they'll touch this subject in any manner, be that no or yes?

[JerekKruger]

I'd like to see at least some emotional attachment within the party. In PoE it feels like half of the people don't even want to be with your group. Have the devs mentioned if they'll touch this subject in any manner, be that no or yes?

 

Well, they've mentioned that they're extending the reputation system from PoE to include companions' opinions of the Watcher and of each other, and that the way they act towards the Watcher, and each other, will vary based on this. Obviously we won't know the true extent of this until we get a more in depth look at it, but it's a step in the right direction to my mind. It always felt odd that a character like Eder didn't bat an eyelid at the Watcher leading a group of prisoners to the deaths in order to gain personal power, and hopefully this new system will change that sort of thing.

[mothra]

I had an immensely deep emotional connection with the grieving mother although my Watcher thought she was a monster. Traits of a good "villain" imo.

Putting her later into the campaign where I had alot more understanding of my own power, waidwen's llegacy and how it impacted the world helped that.

And all of her "quest" was a wall of text, no problem there.

 

Sagani told me of a world outside of the dyrwood and broadened my horizon.

She somehow mirrored my Watcher's own feelings of setting off on a quest I was unsure of even wanting to complete because of fear, fear of learning things of myself I didn't want to know or fear that all of it is for naught.

 

Eder was a bro, a simpleton with a kind heart who has "seen ****" without being a yes-man.

Durance felt like a mystery and a threat at the same time so I didn't want him to leave my side for a moment so I can watch his every move

 

All of the above qualify in some way as the stepping stones to a deeper connection to someone, a romance without words, love without sex.

I can just fill in the blanks with my own imagination without having the devs put words into my mouth or "kisses" cutscenes that fade to black or even bed gymnastics.

 

Kana, Pallegina, Hiravias, Aloth didn't do that much for me than a little more flavor.

 

I do agree though that some of the motivations of companions for staying through to the end of my story could have been more fleshed out and reactions to decisions or happenings could have been more.

[gibonez]

Why have romance when you have thicc muscled dwarf wenches at the local brothel like the Salty mast.

[LordCrash]

I'd like to see at least some emotional attachment within the party. In PoE it feels like half of the people don't even want to be with your group. Have the devs mentioned if they'll touch this subject in any manner, be that no or yes?

 

There is hope:

 

 

 

I can just fill in the blanks with my own imagination

 

That's the core problem with this whole topic here. PoE is no sandbox game like Skyrim where you just imagine that you'd have an intimate relationship with any of these (female) companions for hire. PoE is like a novel, an extremely story-driven game, with walls and walls of text talking about almost anything and pondering on high-flying philosophical concepts and external stories - while sparing out anything remotely personal and anything that could be considered a statement of mutual affection between important characters (not necessarily romantic) on purpose. It's a question of consistency, you know. If you say that you can fill the blanks with your own imagination they could just reduce the rest of the text to maybe about 10% of the original draft - because the same could be said about EVERY topic in the game, not just about romantic stuff or anything that is on a deeply personal and emotional level.

Edited February 4, 2017 by LordCrash

[Gyges]

Only reason i like romantic subplots is because by their very nature they tend to be exclusive to that playthrough, so there i have another part of a set of choices I'm gonna make in the next run. It encourages more playthroughs.

Edited February 4, 2017 by Gyges

[anameforobsidian]

I'd like to see romances as a 5 million stretch goal. Just to see promancers go: "It will never happen, but it kinda could happen, but it will never happen."

 

They announced horses as a $10m stretch goal (joke in comments).  So let's see.

[Dawnraz0r]

I don't want it, haven't seen any interesting romance in any games before, and besides that it's just an uninteresting topic in fiction for me, I don't read books or watch movies, series or anime focused primarily on romance stories either. It'd be a lot more interesting instead to have that development effort put into the having the companion characters be more reactive to the world, making comments about the places you visit and the consequences of your choices, and this would impact the kind of relationship they have with your main character, whether they become close friends or not really see eye to eye and only be on the party out of convenience instead. Having a deeper notion of camaraderie or divergence being developed along the way would be a lot more immersive for me than romancing some pixels. Something like how the companions occasionally chat with each other in the first game, only a bit more stretched out.

[Bloodshard]

Hay if it is like the fade to black "romance" like in Fallout 2 I would just get a laugh and and just move on.

[injurai]

If romances must be done, hopefully they will done well. A notion I have reservations believing in. I don't really want to see two part members or the pc and a party member with ongoing sexual tension. Bickering because they don't want to show their true feelings, which would be especially annoying if that romance line doesn't take off at all and you had to suffer through their tension. That sort of fickle on-off trope will be tiresome. Nor do I want a milquetoast relationship that is basically written in the stars, and everyone knows two people will be with each other. Really all that needs to be done, is establishing interest between to characters through light and infrequent flirting that is taken well by both people. Stay away from one liners. Real people are bashful and adults (who the party is comprised of) are more forward but coy out of respect if nothing else.

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​If anything, I think romance should occur only between two npcs, not the pc. The two should be wanting find themselves wanting to settle down in a similar fashion, there should be no room for 007-like "hot flings". I want it to be a way of "killing off" party members without killing them off. If they fall and love and settle down, then they won't return in the next game because they are starting a family. You as the pc could interfere if you really want them to stick around for PoE3. Because completing the main narrative, you've basically afforded everyone in the party to go off on their own way, which means you've helped the two love birds survive and they can now retire together. To keep them in the vocation of adventuring you'll have to sabotage that relationship.

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Edited February 5, 2017 by injurai

[Caeyrii]

If romances must be done, hopefully they will done well. 

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You can literally say that about anything that did not exist in a game beforehand.

[injurai]

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If romances must be done, hopefully they will done well. 

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You can literally say that about anything that did not exist in a game beforehand.

 

Yes, but I'm using that platitude as my personal sentiment on the matter, the gist of my post is everything said after that. Plenty of people like romance regardless how it's written. Sure they claim they want it well done. But really they just like the dating sim aspect of roleplaying, and simply want to see a lot of that content. I don't think that has much place in a crpg. Not without detracting more than it adds. Particularly when it's something the PC is pursuing.

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​But, I do think watching a relationship unfold between npcs works fine, because it adds the the realistic dressing of the world. Just that relationship is between two people that aren't you so there shouldn't be a significant amount of game play surrounding it.

[Bloodshard]

 

If romances must be done, hopefully they will done well. 

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You can literally say that about anything that did not exist in a game beforehand.

 

 

Except lock picking mini-games 

[ShadySands]

I want my minigames half assed

[Leferd]

I want my minigames half assed

 

I prefer full assed.

 

[Eumaios]

I think it's perfectly legitimate that the PC doesn't have a deeply 'personal' attachment to all the NPCs. There should be an assortment of motives and desires (romantic, sexual, practical, vengeful, etc.) that lead the NPCs and the PC to join paths. On the other hand, I think joining the party because you've got a vendetta against PC unbeknownst to him counts as 'deeply personal.' I also think that keeping company with someone you detest just because he can get you to the gold is also personal in its own way.

[Leferd]

Best romance in a video game ever. Got everything. Courtship, getting laid, and matrimony.

 

[Faerunner]

 

I'd like to see at least some emotional attachment within the party. In PoE it feels like half of the people don't even want to be with your group. Have the devs mentioned if they'll touch this subject in any manner, be that no or yes?

 

There is hope:

 

 

Half my prayers have been answered! 

 

Still wouldn't mind being able to romance Aloth, but I'm happy this, at least, will be a thing. 

[Strange_Trees]

I wonder if they'll handle it like in Tyranny, where you can make a pass at some of the companions but they turn you down

 

Although I've been giving it some thought, and I really hope that if Obsidian ever does decide to do romances, they never announce it.

 

Because if they do announce it as a feature, it basically reduces it to a stupid mini-game. Also, it basically becomes a spoiler. I mean really, saying "the companions will be romanceable" is a spoiler, much like saying "Yes the companions have personal quests, but they'll all be introduced with a goal that's essentially unreachable because we're exploring thematic things, so when someone asks you to help find out what happened to their dead brother, you'll never actually find out." in the PoE1 pre-release promotions would have been a spoiler as well.

 

Now I'm thinking it would be hilarious if they just said "Yes." but gave no more details ever and let people figure it out themselves, even if there actually wasn't any

[Faerunner]

I wonder if they'll handle it like in Tyranny, where you can make a pass at some of the companions but they turn you down

 

Although I've been giving it some thought, and I really hope that if Obsidian ever does decide to do romances, they never announce it.

 

Because if they do announce it as a feature, it basically reduces it to a stupid mini-game.

 

They've announced multiclassing and subclasses as game features, but that doesn't reduce the whole game to nothing but class mechanics with some stupid, useless story and character stuff on the side. A bunch of people are excited about the whole class stuff--to the point that that's practically all anyone talks about in this forum--but we all know that doesn't mean that's the only thing players care about in the game. (Or, if it is, that happens to be that player's preference, so who cares?) Yeah, some people would be really excited about and/or talk mostly about the romance feature, just like how some people are super excited and mostly only talk about the multiclassing, subclasses, pirate theme, stretch goals, or whatever. The whole game itself isn't reduced just because a game feature happens to be added that many people are a fan of. 

 

 "Also, it basically becomes a spoiler. I mean really, saying "the companions will be romanceable" is a spoiler"

 

They've announced that Eder, Aloth, and Pallegina will be returning companions. Is that not also a spoiler? We could have all played the game and found out for ourselves ("Let's see... nice setting... nice music... hey, that NPC looks familiar--OMG EDER IS BACK??!! :D"), but now we know ahead of time that they'll be in the game. Saying "this companion will be romanceable" is not much different than "this companion will be in the game."

 "Also, it basically becomes a spoiler. I mean really, saying "the companions will be romanceable" is a spoiler"

[Strange_Trees]

"Saying "this companion will be romanceable" is not much different than "this companion will be in the game."

 

Disagree there, it's completely different.

 

Saying "so and so is going to be a possible romance for the player" is more in line with "this is how they're story can potentially be resolved" rather than "they exist in this story". We don't know know the exact details of Edér, Aloth, and Pallegina's returns, only that they're present as characters. It's like reading the blurb on the back of a novel, you may get some names and some general ideas of the plot, but it's not going to tell you how the book is going to end. If the back of the book told you who wins and who dies and who lives happily ever after, the book wouldn't be worth buying in the first place

Edited February 5, 2017 by Sylph_14

[Casper]

i have noting against romance in games as long as it isn't simply tacked on as some kind of plot placeholder. it actually needs depth & solid progression (and not a standalone minigame either)... so, not anything like skyrim. (though for skyrim it actually kind of works... don't ask me why)