Romance

[Varana]

Also, I get the distinct impression that people get all nostalgic about BG2.

People constantly complained about Aerie's and esp. Anomen's romances back in the day, and they all had their serious shortcomings (and were very prone to minigaming them - I still remember giving extensive advice on CLUAConsole:GetGlobal("Lovetalk","LOCALS") to troubleshoot romances).

They weren't just as cringy as DA:O gift mechanic but still, I fear they wouldn't really be met with exstatic praise if Obsidian transposed them to PoE2. ;D

[Strange_Trees]

Also, I get the distinct impression that people get all nostalgic about BG2.

 

Yeah... I cringe a little every time someone points to BG2 like it's some shining beacon of how to properly write a video game romance. Even if the content of the writing itself was decent, the implementations were kind of garbage.

 

The variety sucked. Men can either choose the innocent girl-next-door, the bad-girl, or the milf. Women get... that one obnoxious guy. Maybe. Only if you don't mouth off at him when he's being insufferable.

 

Not to mention the only way to change a characters ending is to at some point play hide-the-hotdog. Nothing else between meeting a character and the end of the game will effect their potential story outcome, and that just seems like lazy writing to me. Not to mention that the character-development basically stops at a certain point if you're not romancing them. I remember when mentioning one of them in a "Least favorite character" type thread you'd be guaranteed to get some protest along the lines of "But if you romanced them you would know..." and I'm like NO STOP IRRELEVANT my experiences with a character are valid whether my character boned them or not.

[Perzyn]

I'm late, but I'll add my 3 cents anyway.

I am not terribly enthusiastic about romances. Especially not in the more modern games, where they seem to be more like a necessary element to check off from the list, rather than something devs and writers felt would improve the story. And this is why I don't understand why some people seem to try and pressure Obsidian into adding romances.

 

Lets just look at some more recent Bioware games. They all have romances, but the romances themselves are nothing to really write home about. Some are moderately interesting or enjoyable, but they basically boil down to always choosing the nice dialogue options (or downright simplified to being marked with a "Romance" icon). That is not much of a story to follow.

 

If at any point the good folks at Obsidian decide that they can achieve something interesting by adding the romance I'll be all for it. But looking specifically for the opportunity to add it, because community demands it? That'd only make the result worse.

[Faerunner]

 

 

The variety sucked. Men can either choose the innocent girl-next-door, the bad-girl, or the milf. Women get... that one obnoxious guy. Maybe. Only if you don't mouth off at him when he's being insufferable.

 

 

And only as long as you're a thin, sexy human or elf, not a short, fugly gnome, dwarf, or husky half-orc.

 

I'm late, but I'll add my 3 cents anyway.

 

I am not terribly enthusiastic about romances. Especially not in the more modern games, where they seem to be more like a necessary element to check off from the list, rather than something devs and writers felt would improve the story. And this is why I don't understand why some people seem to try and pressure Obsidian into adding romances.

 

Lets just look at some more recent Bioware games. They all have romances, but the romances themselves are nothing to really write home about. Some are moderately interesting or enjoyable, but they basically boil down to always choosing the nice dialogue options (or downright simplified to being marked with a "Romance" icon). That is not much of a story to follow.

 

Dude, try romancing Solas as a female Lavellan in Dragon Age Inquisition and its Trespasser DLC, and tell me that doesn't enhance the overall story.

 

 

If at any point the good folks at Obsidian decide that they can achieve something interesting by adding the romance I'll be all for it. But looking specifically for the opportunity to add it, because community demands it? That'd only make the result worse.

 

You could say that about literally any game feature, yet people make requests all the time. If "pressuring" (or just asking) video game designers for a feature they'd like to see always results in a lacklustre product, then we might as well not make any requests, discussions, or forum posts at all. In fact, they might as well just shut down the update and feedback forums and just surprise us with whatever game they felt like making on the release date, instead of constantly updating us about how the game is coming and asking us for ongoing feedback to make the best product possible.

 

Also, I'm just going to say if someone is not really into romance in the first place, nothing short of the next coming of Shakespeare is going to make them happy. And that's fine. Not all video game features are for everyone. Personally, I think multiclassing sounds like more trouble than it's worth, but I don't go into the multiclassing forums and say, "Yeah, unless they make it absolutely flawless (like, no glitches or balancing issues or anything), I don't think they should do it at all."

 

Some people love romances so much that literally any romance is good to them. Others like romances well enough that even an average or mediocre one will still please them. People who don't tend to like it or outright refuse to touch it? Well, literally nothing the creators write will please them (since perfect, deep, flawless, epic love stories are all but impossible to write for video games--and what's more, different types of romances appeal to different people, so there's no way they can make one that pleases everyone anyway), so why forgo an entire feature that will make one part of the fanbase happy, just because another part of the fanbase that was never going to be on board anyway said "ew"?

[Baramos]

Also, I'm just going to say if someone is not really into romance in the first place, nothing short of the next coming of Shakespeare is going to make them happy. And that's fine. Not all video game features are for everyone. Personally, I think multiclassing sounds like more trouble than it's worth, but I don't go into the multiclassing forums and say, "Yeah, unless they make it absolutely flawless (like, no glitches or balancing issues or anything), I don't think they should do it at all."

Sounds like you're upset some people don't romance in the game. They have the right to tell the developers it's not something they want in the game, unless it's done well and not Bioware style.

 

But hey just like they can complain about Romance you can complain about multi-classing too! Heck a ton of people complained about Berath's Blessing. The whole point of the forums is to give feedback. You just have to accept some people won't want the same things you do.

[Strange_Trees]

 

And only as long as you're a thin, sexy human or elf, not a short, fugly gnome, dwarf, or husky half-orc.

 

Nothing wrong with having preferences.

 

 

You could say that about literally any game feature, yet people make requests all the time. If "pressuring" (or just asking) video game designers for a feature they'd like to see always results in a lacklustre product, then we might as well not make any requests, discussions, or forum posts at all. In fact, they might as well just shut down the update and feedback forums and just surprise us with whatever game they felt like making on the release date, instead of constantly updating us about how the game is coming and asking us for ongoing feedback to make the best product possible.

 

Eh, not really a fair comparison.  Developers have their own vision for what they want their game to be, and fan feedback helps them improve that within that scope, but expanding the scope into something no one is really excited about or cares for is going to reflect poorly in the final product.

 

 

Also, I'm just going to say if someone is not really into romance in the first place, nothing short of the next coming of Shakespeare is going to make them happy. And that's fine. Not all video game features are for everyone. Personally, I think multiclassing sounds like more trouble than it's worth, but I don't go into the multiclassing forums and say, "Yeah, unless they make it absolutely flawless (like, no glitches or balancing issues or anything), I don't think they should do it at all."

 

I like romance fine, but I recognize that implementing it within a game without a set protagonist is either going to take up a massive amount of the writing time/budget, or it's going to be something so thin and poorly done that it detracts from the rest of the quality (hilarious memories of Skyrim's marriage system which apparently they didn't care enough about to prevent corpses from spawning in the chapel and offending your guests) , in which case why bother? The answer from Obsidian has generally been that if they did romances, they would want to hold them to a very high standard, which within their current means they simply don't have the time and money for. I'm sure if they ever get to that point they'll write some amazing romances, but until then I'm sure they'd rather they focus on the aspects they want and can finish to their satisfaction.

[Leeuwenhart]

Dude... if we get sll those options we are looking at massive romance bloat.

 

Just pick 2. Boy girl. And if youre lucky and you got the combo... you find out. If not ... tough. As long as it FITS THE NARRATIVE.

 

Not 8 companions getting together all falling in love with you... its not The Bachelor

[Leeuwenhart]

Banging all the time on the ship.

 

Pillars of Eternity lol..

 

8 companions to romance...

Halfway down the story... deadfire baby. Im sorry.

 

By eothas! Let this be reborn and rise as the morning sun!

 

Why you got 3 dawnstars down there?

[Bobby Null]

[Leeuwenhart]

Hahahahahahahaha

[Leeuwenhart]

Voyage of Fabio

[Leeuwenhart]

Watcher:"I'll grab you by the horns!"

 

Godlike companion:"But they're very sensitive"

Edited February 14, 2017 by Leeuwenhart

[Leeuwenhart]

Death Godlike: "Look at me when we're in bed"

 

Watcher: "But baby... your face.. is a cancerous growth..."

 

Death Godlike: "But its also a g-spot"

 

Paka tow wowwwwwww

 

Watcher: "Oooh reeaaaalllyyy" (@_~)

[Leeuwenhart]

 

 

 

Ee-oh-oh-oh-oh! Ee-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!

Caught in a bad romance

Ee-oh-oh-oh-oh! Ee-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!

Caught in a bad romance

 

Rah rah ah-ah-ah!

Ro mah ro-mah-mah

Ee Oo Tha-sa-sa!

Want your bad romance

 

 

XD

[injurai]

Wow this page. Leeuwenhart I hope romance is announced tomorrow for your sake.

[Rorschach]

Wow this page. Leeuwenhart I hope romance is announced tomorrow for your sake.

I hope it isn't announced. For his sake, too.

 

The variety sucked. Men can either choose the innocent girl-next-door, the bad-girl, or the milf. Women get... that one obnoxious guy. Maybe. Only if you don't mouth off at him when he's being insufferable.

 

And only as long as you're a thin, sexy human or elf, not a short, fugly gnome, dwarf, or husky half-orc.

 

Physcal appearence plays a big role in romantic relationships, whether you want to accept it or not. I don't see anything bad with the companions having preferences. It's better than they just liking you for almost anything like in ME. Oh, and all of them were elfs or humans.

Edited February 14, 2017 by Rorschach

[Perzyn]

 

 

Dude, try romancing Solas as a female Lavellan in Dragon Age Inquisition and its Trespasser DLC, and tell me that doesn't enhance the overall story.

 

I will take your word for it. But that's the thing - sometimes the romances are good. For one romance that I can name (despite hating the mechanics behind party relations in the Dragon Age: Origins) that had reasonably interesting impact on the story in that series is the Morrigan in Origins. But the general trend towards having a romance because that's what people expect isn't something I agree with.

 

I stand by my orginal opinion, that crowbaring the romance into the story is putting the cart before the horse.

Edited February 14, 2017 by Perzyn

[anameforobsidian]

Honestly, after PE2 is done, I wouldn't mind another game in the same engine that has more JRPGish sentiments.  That means way more party members, romance that's not optional and frequently tragic, and a more linear story.  It's the opposite of what Obsidian's used to, but it might be a good way to stretch themselves.  I actually frequently like romance in jrpgs; it's wrpgs where it gets weird.

Edited February 14, 2017 by anameforobsidian

[BillyCorgan]

I have not read the whole subject, sorry... but, on the other hand i do not understand that there is always this subject that comes back ...

Ask for a good story, good characters etc ... yes, but "romance" ... is it so important? I do not want to play "sims" or something ...

[Notshauna]

The impact of gift giving in DA:O is one of the things I think is most exaggerated when people talk about that game, especially in regards to romance. They made the VERY unfortunate decision of releasing a DLC that included spammable gifts that produce insane approval, which lead to the reputation of people giving cakes for sex. The few significant gifts are almost all extremely personal and/or thoughtful, and are less about bribery with material goods. But overall I think the mistake was that gifts were far too numerous, which despite the system being designed in a way to severely hamper the effects of burying companions in gifts, it doesn't ever stop making them have an effect. So despite the fact that spamming gifts is punished and utterly unnecessary there isn't anything from stopping you from giving Morrigan enough dog bones until she dogs your bone.

 

It's a broken and abusable system and there is official DLC that completely defeats the purpose of it, but I don't think that means the system is bad in theory. In practice it needs a lot of work, and while gifts do come back in Dragon Age 2, generic ones do not, so instead it's just those thoughtful, personal gifts. Of course Dragon Age 2's romances have their own bag of issues, but that's another story.

[zered]

Death Godlike: "Look at me when we're in bed"

 

Watcher: "But baby... your face.. is a cancerous growth..."

 

Death Godlike: "But its also a g-spot"

 

Paka tow wowwwwwww

 

Watcher: "Oooh reeaaaalllyyy" (@_~)

 

I just spit my coffee thank you very much.

 

 

As to romances, eh I am really on the fence with this one. I think that such plots and arcs can indeed enrich the story. At the same time I see some random scenes from DA:I and ugh

[Archaven]

They should not put in romance. When they put in they will have to be as inclusive as possible else they'll get the blame. So what we end up getting is one of each and all being half arsed. Straight, gay, lesbian, transgendered. What BioWare did was even worst. Female has way more options on romance than male in Inquisition. BioWare pruposely to be on the bias side and it's genuine why they have gone SJW. so screw them

Edited February 14, 2017 by Archaven

[Messier-31]

Obsidian did the best thing possible with romance in the very beginning of PoE1:

 

Calisca: What are you plannin' to do?

Watcher: I want to find someone and fall in love, tee hee!

Calisca: Nope, Chuck Testa.

[Leeuwenhart]

Calisca the vessel...

 

 

Would still hit that

[injurai]

Calisca was basic.