Do you like romance in your games?

[Wolf Kanno]

Now some genres almost beg for it, but others could probably live without it. Do you like romance in your games? Which ones are your favorites?

[Fynn]

Romance is fine but I also don’t need it. Not every game has to have a romance in there to be fulfilled. I usually prefer pre-scripted romances written into the main game over romance options, since while I like the occasional “choose your own ideal romantic partner” kind of escapism, I find romances that are actually woven into the story to be much better. Xenogears is a great example of what I’m talking about, since after stripping away all the fluff, it’s just a damn compelling love story at its core. I’ve also always liked how unorthodox FFIV was about it by not only giving us a love triangle during a time when they still weren’t that present in games, but we also don’t see the beginning of the relationship and are instead dropped into it after it’s already been established.

As for picking your love interest, I like how Persona does it. Also have a soft spot for how it was done in Baldur’s Gate, though I can’t really comment how it was done in later WRPGs like Dragon Age. One game that kind of marries the two approaches is the Witcher 3. It gives you a choice, but at the same time both romance options are very much baked into the narrative. And I have mixed feelings about that. It’s all very compelling and well-written and feels like a step in the right direction for game romances, but it also just shouldn’t exist because Geralt and Yennefer are he official couple and that’s final ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Spuuky]

The problem I have with the Witcher 3 is it basically refused to let me stay single no matter how hard I tried.

I am fine with romance in games, but if you include it, let me completely opt out (unless it's the whole point of the game, I guess, in which case my fault for playing it).

[Fynn]

You can definitely be single by the end of Witcher 3.

[Judge Mandolore Shepard]

When it comes to romance in games, I prefer romance options over forced romance. Speaking of favorite romances, I am going to say my favorites from the Mass Effect series of games. For MShep romance options, my favorite is Tali. For FemShep romance options, my favorite is Garrus. Now for the romance options in Mass Effect Andromeda, here are my favorites. For MRyder romance options, my favorite is Vetra. For FemRyder, I don't have a favorite since I have not played through Mass Effect Andromeda using her yet.

[Spuuky]

You can definitely be single by the end of Witcher 3.By the end, yes, if you really put work into it. I want to tell Yennefer "fuck off, I'm not interested" in minute 1.

[Fynn]

That sounds like “you” problem, sweetie

[krissy]

NO there shouldn't be ANY romance in video games, in fact there should be no PLOT at all in any video GAME

this post brought to you by the pong purity gang

[Spuuky]

That sounds like “you” problem, sweetieNah it's a problem with all Sorcerers and Sorceresses being untrustworthy creatures of self-interest, including Yennefer. If you're going to let me role-play Geralt's choices, let me role-play Geralt's choices. If you aren't, don't.

[Fynn]

Idk man you can let both know you’re not interested pretty early and even if you want to do so, there’s still no denying the fact that at this point Geralt has had history with both women. You can role play Geralt to an extent, but you are still role playing a pre-establishes character. So as much as the player has a say in how Geralt acts, telling both of them to just smurf off from the start would be very much completely out of character for him. It’s the same reason why Geralt just wouldn’t work with male romance options. He’s a character that has been established for a long time, throughout a whole series of books and two other games. Not being able to tell Yen and Triss to go screw themselves from the get go is not a flaw of the romance writing - it’s simply taking into account what choice can be given within what we know of Geralt up to that point.

[Spuuky]

Previously established Geralt will have sex with anything vaguely woman-shaped that moves, yes. And that he can't escape Yennefer no matter how hard he tries because of magic. But that isn't a very satisfying "romance option" and is not an enjoyable portion of an otherwise pretty good game.

[Fynn]

That is a gross misunderstanding of what Geralt was established as but whatever. You’re entitled to feel how you feel about it.

[Del Murder]

I don't mind it as long as it flows well with the plot. In some games the romance option seems tacked on for no reason (Fire Emblem Three Houses for example).

[Spuuky]

Is it your position that Geralt will NOT have sex with absolutely any modestly attractive woman he encounters, then?

And that Geralt is NOT bound to Yennefer by literal magic?

[Del Murder]

I personally had Geralt boff anyone who offered.

[Fynn]

Is it your position that Geralt will NOT have sex with absolutely any modestly attractive woman he encounters, then?

And that Geralt is NOT bound to Yennefer by literal magic?

Have you read the books? Geralt has sex a lot, yes, but it’s nowhere near to the extent the games would have you believe, and whenever he and Yennefer are “on”, he doesn’t sleep with anyone else. There’s also not nearly as many sexual encounters there as there are in the games - that’s just one of those things established in the games.

And no, they’re not in love because of the wish, and that’s an interpretation that solely exists in the games. In the books they fall in love before the wish and the nature of the wish itself is different. The result of it is that their destinies are tied together - Geralt wished for it so that she wouldn’t die at that moment because she’d otherwise be dead. The main result of that is that their lives are linked and one can’t die without the other. They also keep bumping into each other even when they try to stay away, plus this has also linked Yennefer’s destiny to Ciri, since she was destined to Geralt. At no point is romantic love mentioned to be a result of the wish, and it’s clear that the reason they are together is that because throughout the literal decades that the novels span they’ve actually both matured and influenced each other to the point that they really just don’t want to live apart and they’ve both made each other better people. Yennefer literally dies in a futile attempt to save Geralt by the end, which is something beyond what any wish could ever have led to.


As much as I love the games, I can’t help but resent what they did to Geralt and Yennefer’s relationship and how the fandom views it. Triss was introduced as a love interest in 1 - which she never was in the books - because the writers “couldn’t understand why anyone could ever be with such a terrible nag”, which not only makes them seem clueless but also kinda sexist. And then when they finally brought her back in 3, they need to make the two options seem a little closer together in terms of value, so they pretty much just reduced the incredible relationship they had to the wish and made Yen’s relationship to Ciri nearly non-existent. I’m glad they dropped the Yennefer betraying them for the empire plot because that would’ve just been an absolute character betrayal, but shades of that ambition they gave her still longer. Yen never cared about the lodge and their political machinations and in the end she just wanted nothing more than to be with her family. Thankfully, he epilogue scene in Blood and Wine brings that back.

[Spuuky]

I have, in fact, read the books. The ones in which he sleeps with Triss "never a love interest" Merigold, by the way. And at least 5 other people I can name, and probably more than that. Certainly spends to enjoy his time with Fringilla, for instance. I read all the books before I played the games.

Romantic love is never specified to be "part of" the wish, but boy is it hard to not grow attached to someone if you are literally forced together at every turn. I would certainly wonder if someone actually still wanted to be with me if there was absolutely no way they could be free of me no matter what they tried.

I VERY strongly disagree if you thing Yennefer isn't shown to have tremendous ambition (in the game she's in of course, but also in the books).

[Fynn]

Geralt is only mentioned to have slept with Triss in the past. He never does it over the course of the novel. And Yennefer growing out of her ambition is a big part of her arc tbh. As for Fringilla, she’s very clearly a replacement goldfish for Geralt who keeps accidentally calling her Yen.

And yeah, this is basically what I meant when I jokingly said this is a “you” problem, since we just have different takeaways from this story and that’s completely fine :monster:

[Wolf Kanno]

77257

So Raistlin? How about that Lunar? :monster:

[Psychotic]

77257Do you think love can bloom, even on a battlefield? I believe at any time, any place, people can fall in love with each other.

(he's talking about ocelot and your daddy btw snake)

[Wolf Kanno]

87YXRvfMDlM

[Lord Golbez]

Don't really care. It's fine but overdone. There doesn't need to be a romance in every game.

[Raistlin]

77257

So Raistlin? How about that Lunar? :monster:

I know right! Lunar SSSC may be the only favorite JRPG of mine that really revolves around a love story. Most of the rest of my favorites don't. I never really thought about this issue before, but I guess I can like them if they're a well done part of the story, but I don't need them in a game.

[Vyk]

I liked the one in Saints Row 4 where Kenzie punches the boss in the face and jumps on top of him when he tells her he's kinda horny

[maybee]

If the romance is written well and they have good chemistry then yes. If it's so cheesy that Wallace from Wallace and Gromit wants to eat it then no.

[tony123]

It will be interesting how much ps5 games explore romance/sex in games. Last of Us 2 had one of the most explicit sex scenes ever made in a game which to be honest I felt fit in pretty well with the relationship those two characters had. With characters now looking pretty lifelike it is really no surprise that they are starting to put that stuff in games more.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

I agree with most of you. Maybee summed it up one way I'd agree with, but perhaps not just cheesy for me. Even cheesy romance can be fun for me, if it's done right. If it is self-aware cheesy or just "genuinely went for it, but missed it" kind of situation. I can enjoy ridiculous media that is objectively bad if I know the people were genuinely trying their best to make a good story, but not if it's trying to capture that B movie feel on purpose. At least not usually.

If it feels forced, or useless, or hollow in some other way, I ain't buyin' it.

Like most other plots/tropes/whatever, I'll enjoy it if I feel it is done well.