Is there a lack of romance in video games?

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TangoUp

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Edited By TangoUp

Poll Is there a lack of romance in video games? (288 votes)

Yes 32%
No 25%
I want more romance in video games than there already is 32%
I want less romance in video games than there already is 11%

This topic came to my mind when I was looking at Konami's survey for the Metal Gear Rising game on their webpage. They asked if there should be more 'romance' in the sequel.

And then I realized, that there is hardly any romance involved in video games nowadays. Most of them are too busy with saving the world type of scenarios. I for one can't recall any games at the moment where romance was the primary driver of the story or had a prominent role in the story. Mass Effect and Halo 4 probably and just a teeny bit in MGS4.

Why is such an obvious story material left out in video games?

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vaiz

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Probably because it's a really difficult element to include in a game's story without it affecting the gameplay on a major level. Either turning things in to escort missions or having unwanted and incompetent AI partners. That's probably why RPG games do romance the best; because A: They're heavily character based in the first place and B: Those characters are part of the gameplay anyway, so romance doesn't get in the way

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TangoUp

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Oh and I forgot Prince Of Persia 2008. It was excellent in using the romance angle.

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morningstar

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No. If it was done right, it could be good. But romances like the ones Bioware has feels like they were written by a 12 year old and are nothing but embarrassing.

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FancySoapsMan

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#4  Edited By FancySoapsMan

What do you mean by romance?

Like a story where a relationship develops between to characters throughout the course of the game?

Or stuff like sex/kissing/etc?

If it's the former then yes. Some of my favorite videogame stories are love stories. If its the latter though, then no.

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BeachThunder

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Well, you're in luck, it looks like there's going to be a heap of Romans in the next Total War game

Ohhh, romance, uh, never mind then...

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bigjeffrey

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No. If it was done right, it could be good. But romances like the ones Bioware has feels like they were written by a 12 year old and are nothing but embarrassing.

There is nothing hotter than awkward stiff video game sex

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colourful_hippie

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No. If it was done right, it could be good. But romances like the ones Bioware has feels like they were written by a 12 year old and are nothing but embarrassing.

Couldn't agree more, but the awkward dialogue and stilted animations are still hilarious to just watch.

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TangoUp

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What do you mean by romance?

Like a story where a relationship develops between to characters throughout the course of the game?

Or stuff like sex/kissing/etc?

If it's the former then yes. Some of my favorite videogame stories are love stories. If its the latter though, then no.

I do mean the former. Which favorite videogames of yours have these kinds of interactions?

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Flappy

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#9  Edited By Flappy

What do you mean by romance?

Like a story where a relationship develops between to characters throughout the course of the game?

Or stuff like sex/kissing/etc?

If it's the former then yes. Some of my favorite videogame stories are love stories. If its the latter though, then no.

This right 'ere sums it up pretty nicely. There's a whole lotta sexin' goin' on, but there ain't a whole lotta romancin'. Most of the romancin' that we find isn't that great either, so it'd be cool if there was quality love being put out.

The more I think about it, most of the romance is found in J-RPGs, Visual Novels, and other things that are usually found overseas. The quality of those can vary wildly.

On the Western front, Bioware has that "casual sex after a couple dialogue choices" category LOCKED DOWN.I'll still play the shit outta DA:Origins, though.

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Juzie

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Games need more subtle romance. More dialogue is unnecessary, I just think we can relate to people in games more if some subtle romance is there. Kind of like The Last of Us did with the father/daughter thing.

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TangoUp

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Mass Effect's romance isn't bad though. The romance with poem reciting Ashley in ME1 was good, romances with Miranda, Tali and Jack feel different in ME2 and there is genuine character development in Miranda's storyline. ME3 was a little weak to be honest.

Awkward pixel sex aside, portrayal of sex scenes isn't inherently bad when you compare it to stuff like Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden etc.

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korwin

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#13  Edited By korwin

Game romances are often broken and stupid. The only one I would even call close to being convincing would be the Nate/Elena pairing in the Uncharted games, purely because it develops more naturally than most over the course of 3 games which allows the arc to fit better (there's also a lot of implied in between games stuff that helps).

Bioware are the fucking worst at that stuff.

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lapsariangiraff

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#14  Edited By lapsariangiraff

I'd love to see more romance in games -- but it'd have to be good. And for that, we'd need to have good writing in games, which is still kind of a rarity right now. The most talented games writers aren't really writing romantic stuff at the moment -- we're still in this father-daughter zeitgeist.

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FancySoapsMan

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@tangoup: The first two Shadow Hearts games come to mind. Without spoiling anything, a big part of the story is a woman that the main character falls in love with.

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ThunderSlash

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Silent Hill 2 focused a ton on James and his relationship with his wife.

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Hunter5024

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There definitely should be more. I don't want to see a romance sub plot crammed into every game, but I'd love to see more games try it out. I think the interactivity of the medium could potentially make it a very interesting theme to explore. Unfortunately I think it's also what makes it so difficult to do, which is why bioware games come across so strangely.

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Castiel

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#18  Edited By Castiel

I wonder why there haven't been more games with relationship stories. Maybe not a romantic game but I enjoyed Catherine because it was a game about relationships and the differences between men and women. Also I just played Valkyria Chronicles and that has a nice love story. Also I sound like a girly girl. I'm gonna go out and punch a hole in the wall and chug beer course that's what a man do right? Right!?!

Some of the Assasin's Creed games also had some good romantic sideplots.

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SamStrife

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#19  Edited By SamStrife

Yeah, there should definitely be more romance in games. I feel the Uncharted series did romance (or at least that kind of relationship) exceptionally well...the scene in 2 where you're running from the gunfire and jump through the window, you can tell how much the characters care for each other in the way they embrace. That right there remains the most powerful display of love in a game for me.

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McGhee

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I would enjoy seeing more of it. It's one of the things I like about Final Fantasy VIII.

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Hamst3r

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Fearbeard

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#22  Edited By Fearbeard

Good romance, yes. Shitty romance, no.

Leave that shit completely out of Metal Gear Solid. The melodrama in MGS 4 was unbearable.

And while a lot of the romance in Bioware games is cringe worthy, my relationship with Tali was extremely rewarding as it developed over the 3 games. Maybe that's because she wasn't a romance option in the first game so when she became one in the second it felt earned as we already had a really tight relationship.

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Whitestripes09

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Ehhh.. romances are a bit cliche enough. Although Uncharted 2 and Catherine seemed to nail it quite well. ll. If they wrote out romances more like those games then I wouldn't see a problem with it.

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RonGalaxy

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What I played of enslaved seemed like it was on the cusp of illustrating a good example of romance in games. The chemistry between the 2 leads (names escape me) was really well executed. Not sure if it actually goes anywhere, or if their relationship remains platonic (didnt beat it, but was very close to the end).

Prince of Persia 08 is another fantastic example

As I think about it, an issue devs may have is properly conveying romance without coming off as male oriented (something that would appeal more towards men than women). The 2 examples above work great because they show the opposite sexes working together to accomplish goals and growing closer because of it.

There's also the fact that romance doesn't sit very well with video game focus groups. Most bro gamers/casual gamers (sought after markets) aren't interested in having romance in their games.

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Ravenlight

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#25  Edited By Ravenlight

If you think there's a lack of romance in games, you're probably playing the wrong game or too many of the right games.

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Darji

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Yes I love romance in games but there are rarely any good ones. And Bioware is terrible in terms of romance or the sex scenes. I admitt that good romance is really hard to do but that is why we need much better writing....

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joshwent

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Don't need any more romance after...

No Caption Provided

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CaLe

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I only like innocent romance that doesn't lead to straight boning. I'm talking My Sassy Girl(kor) style romance, which is probably the most romantic movie I've ever seen and they never even kiss. Boning is the payoff to romance in too many recent cases I can think of. F that lazy bullshizer.

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Darji

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#29  Edited By Darji

@cale: You should watch more jdrama^^ Kdama are kind of tragic at the end for the most part which is rather offputting when someone dies randomly from a car accident in the last 15 minutes of the drama XD

And yeah the persona 4 stuff was kind of cute^^

For example Long Vacation.

Loading Video...

Such a great love drama^^

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CaLe

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@darji: I've watched the K-Drama Winter Sonata and very much enjoyed it. I didn't feel any need to see more of that style after it though, and I heard that many others just imitate it in one way or another. Pride is the only Japanese romance-type drama I've watched, and it wasn't bad either.

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SycoMantis91

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Do you video game? Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Gears of War, Saints Row, GTA IV, Catherine, Halo, Red Dead Redemption, Uncharted, Infamous, Skyrim. Just to name huge titles. They're waning, but they're still there. Often shoehorned in and not memorable at all, but there. I'd definitely like to see more legitimately deep and engaging, not to mention much better written romance. I think the issue nowadays, is that romance gets in the way of ALL TEH GUNZ and the bad movies that pass as AAA titles nowadays.

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SycoMantis91

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@cale said:

I only like innocent romance that doesn't lead to straight boning. I'm talking My Sassy Girl(kor) style romance, which is probably the most romantic movie I've ever seen and they never even kiss. Boning is the payoff to romance in too many recent cases I can think of. F that lazy bullshizer.

I don't think it has to have no sex to be enjoyable, but it has to feel genuine enough and make me care enough about the other person to want to proceed with it.

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falserelic

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See when romance happens you want to be able to sense it. You want to feel the sexual tension in the air, but first you got to build up where those characters care for each other.

Loading Video...

In hopes for one day they can bust all kinds of quality nuts together, all kinds.

(@aegon to answer your question from the thread that got lock. Yes I got the slogan All kinds from the hodgetwins)

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Wuddel

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#34  Edited By Wuddel

@beachthunder said:

Well, you're in luck, it looks like there's going to be a heap of Romans in the next Total War game

Ohhh, romance, uh, never mind then...

Haha, this. I am a sucker for a good love story. Just keep anything japanese away from it. Make it more like a swedish movie, where there is a lot of rain and she dies of cancer in the end or so ...

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sissylion

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The romance options in Bioware games are some of the most fucking uncomfortable things I've ever witnessed, so no, I'd be cool with eliminating that option from video games entirely.

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Darji

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@cale: Pride was pretty good yeah. But that was almost past the golden times of romance drama in Japan. Which is quite sad... Beautiful life is also very good but damn depressing as well. All with the same main actor Kimura Takuya. Basically everything he is in is really good no matter the genre. But there are tons of other great ones as well. But since I have watched over 300 of them I am a bit of a nerd in terms of jdrama/Kdrama XD

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CaLe

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@darji said:

@cale: Basically everything he is in is really good no matter the genre.

Funny you should say that because I watched the anime movie REDLINE recently where he is the voice of the main character and I was surprised at how good he is, especially as someone whose main occupation isn't voice acting. In fact all of the traditional movie/TV actors do great voice work in it. It wouldn't be inaccurate to call it a romance movie either.

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deactivated-5f8ac39b52e76

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While there is enough romance in games, there is certainly not enough well written romance in video games. The best example I can come up with is Triss and Gerald (Witcher), but that does not count as original video game romance. The Morrigan stuff in Dragon Age Origins was pretty good too, mostly because Morrigan was written as sharp, delightfully devious and unpredictable -- just like, you know, a real person.

Old JRPGs had good epic (albeit somewhat kitschy) romances in them, too. I distinctly remember Lufia II (as it was released in Europe) -- marriage, child, kidnapping, the whole shebang. There was a real commitment to that relationship, which I miss in most vidja games these days. I don't know if current JRPGs still offer that.

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CheapPoison

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I was shocked at these poll results.

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Darji

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#40  Edited By Darji
@cale said:

@darji said:

@cale: Basically everything he is in is really good no matter the genre.

Funny you should say that because I watched the anime movie REDLINE recently where he is the voice of the main character and I was surprised at how good he is, especially as someone whose main occupation isn't voice acting. In fact all of the traditional movie/TV actors do great voice work in it. It wouldn't be inaccurate to call it a romance movie either.

Yeah in one of his drama he plays the Japanese prime minister he holds a like 20 minute speech all in one shot with no re-take and it was so well done it was incredible. He is really a great actor now matter what role he plays. The opening song for that Drama was even sung and I think written by Madonna because she really thinks high of his talent^^

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deactivated-630479c20dfaa

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You just have to find the right games. Major block buster games, unless it is a bioware game It is unlikely.

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TobbRobb

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There is a lack of good romance. But meh. At least Catherine was cool, something along those lines I might be ok with. Otherwise I don't feel a need for romance in my gaming.

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deactivated-5985ee6460d86

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To be honest there's a lack of friendship in games in particular a guy and female characters. What I mean by that is that no male lead can be just friends with a female character no they have to be in love all the time and it makes it feel very cheesy. I mean games like last of us or the walking dead(to a certain degree) had to make the female lead a child in order for the main dude not want to bang her. I think games need to evolve from that macho bullshit and just make compelling story's with great gameplay.

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Sinusoidal

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@cale said:

I only like innocent romance that doesn't lead to straight boning. I'm talking My Sassy Girl(kor) style romance, which is probably the most romantic movie I've ever seen and they never even kiss. Boning is the payoff to romance in too many recent cases I can think of. F that lazy bullshizer.

I despise that movie. She's a bordering-on-abusive, yet cute, flat-out bitch for the entire movie, and he refuses to man-up and dump her because of (completely inexplicable) love. Wow, romantic!

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Humanity

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Romance is too risky these days. You don't want to offend anyone by making a female in a videogame the object of affection.

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GnaTSoL

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There's romance but just lazily down like movies. It goes flirtation -> make-out/sex. And that is all.

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CaLe

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#47  Edited By CaLe
@sinusoidal said:

I despise that movie. She's a bordering-on-abusive, yet cute, flat-out bitch for the entire movie, and he refuses to man-up and dump her because of (completely inexplicable) love. Wow, romantic!

You do know she acts like that because she's almost completely broken, right? I mean, she did lose the most important person in her life. He's not sticking around because she's hot, he wants to fix her in some way. That's how I interpreted it at least. It's romantic because it's not selfish, it's giving yourself to a person in a way that defies logic--because love doesn't operate on logic. If he did 'man-up' there wouldn't be any reason to turn it into a movie. It would have been nothing.

(and to be clear, we are talking the Korean version here, not the US one, which I haven't seen)

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Darji

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isn't the sassy girl the one with the rather violent girl on the ouside?^^

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CaLe

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@darji said:

isn't the sassy girl the one with the rather violent girl on the ouside?^^

She doesn't mean die together, either.
She doesn't mean die together, either.
This scene was important.
This scene was important.

She has a few sides to her, and violence might be one of them.

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Deranged

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#50  Edited By Deranged

There's a lack of good romance.