I am totally eating my words after having finished VERSUS books 1 & 2. It was delightful to see some of the ROs relationships with eachother blossom, and it definitely added to their characters and in conclusion - my friendships with them. Except Lady V…she can eat it. ;p
So I guess while it does annoy me sometimes, I can also appreciate/see the value in when (in some stories) other ro’s pair up…and it does make them seem more “real”, actually. Hmmmm. I still dont want to watch any of Unit Bravo fall in love with someone else though hahaha #AdmittedlyPetty
I’m not against it, but it does tend to narrow my RO choices down to whoever is either not being pursued by other characters, or to one that is actively flirtating/pursuing the MC exclusively… I’m not sure why exactly. I like slow burn romances, and I’m also demiromantic, so I suppose that tends to be just what I prefer in fiction.
I guess I would suggest to authors thinking about adding side romances between RO’s/NPC’s, would be just to consider including at least one option who isn’t in one?
Am I the only one who sees a massive problem with this? If this was describing a real life relationship, I’d be horrified. It’s basically “if I can’t have you, no one can” with an extra dose of exceptionalism.
It strikes me as misguided, mostly due to the fact that the main characters of most COGs are nobodies – blank slates – so, theoretically, your MC could be anyone.
I don’t exactly understand the point about blank slates here, but I don’t agree with your first point on account of the fact this ISN’T real life. This is not about “if I can’t have you, no one can”, but about a tale of “soulmates” / “destiny”, which gets destroyed if the RO can have another romance.
It’s a different way of percieving the idea of ROs. This is also the very reason I almost never do more than one romance in games like that.
It’s my opinion that the belief in soulmates does more harm than good. It traps people into relationships that are harmful to them (“I can’t leave him – I’ll never find someone else who understands me”). It makes people close themselves off to opportunities (“She’s nice, but she’s not The One”). And it stops them from moving on after loss. The word “soulmates” is a pretty shell over a horrifying concept of a world where who you love isn’t up to you, where you are a slave to unfathomable cosmic forces, where you don’t have agency over your life. Some people like relinquishing control and wishing on the stars. I think it’s terrifying.
The truth is that there are hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of compatible people who will bring you the same joy as any other.
Weeell… and this is why the person who asked wanted opinions
Different people think about these things in ways that are sooo different from one another that two people like you and me are like aliens to one another, in that aspect. It’s always good to hear different opinions
Though I want to mention I don’t have that opinion about soulmates in real life. That’s what fiction is for.
@will I’m not sure if that is an accurate comparison. Belief in soulmates or not, what you describe sounds alot more like people with something else going on. I’ve met plenty of people who believed in soulmates that knew it was a simple matter of “well, guess they weren’t the one” and moved on.
As for this, yes and no. Yes as its not a throught process I share but more important I feel it is a bit possessive BUT also no because its completely understandable imo as putting yourself in the place of your character and its easy to form attachments to characters through your bonds in the gameplay.
And this statement goes a long way in his arguement. Its not like Konoi is going around romancing everyone while being like “you’re mine and mine alone”
Personally, I love seeing my people happy with one a other. Like, I’ll remeber the good times with each RO but if I’m not with them then honestly it makes me so happy to see them get to be happy together rather than alone and waiting on MC
If you have time, please sit and read at your discretion, thank you.
Is understandable than the reader can create attachments with the cast but that leads to possession and also obsession, to me than a RO romance another npc it’s fine by me, yet is easy to feel than is just to fill an theorical hole, but in other cases feel just fine when there some level of deepness, not necessarily complex to make it work.
An good example is the relationship develop of Astrid and Leon on Keeper of the sun and moon, isn’t very big as a whole, but what is into it, I felt very organic, and sure some readers/players saw that a mile away when they first met, which Thalia also say in the very beginning like a self-aware message of the author, but ironically there’s a juxtaposition, the previous mention siren had a broken relationship unnamed in the first part and show a bit in the second, and Kol as well have a relation with a very minor character.
I personally kinda adverse with romance by those reasons, like they give way much importance to the Ros than the story as a whole, not all are like that, but is hard not to feel that way… Wayhaven is a prime example in If games and not trying to be offensive, just an observation and shouldn’t be take personally, I’m just being honest, this part of a story shouldn’t never shadowing the story, and only be a part where lies character development of the characters involved only, but there lies in a very personal perspective or so I believe, stoles te development of other characters and don’t saw them grow up and surpass their hardships, and friendship and trust not be enough to show this, only because a intimate relationship ‘love’, but I understand that is necessary in favor of replay value (or more personal approach some would say)
And I reiterate, I’m not attacking or try to offend anyone, is just how I saw it and I try to be the most objective and respectful possible, thanks for reading.
I think people are reading a little too into things if they take someone saying, “I don’t particularly care to read about this fictional character someone invented with their mind dating another invented fictional character” to mean that person is definitely going to abuse a real human being in a real relationship they may or may not even be interested in having
Rejection, especially in romantic relationships, are part of the human condition. Let’s be honest. They suck, no one likes them, no one wants to go through them, and sometimes people have a hard time accepting them.
On the one hand, I can see where people are coming from when they say they’re turned off from an RO or two if they get involved with each other. It’s basically a form of rejection. In theory, why would you want to settle for someone who treated you like a second option? Again that statement I just made depends heavily on the context, IMO, and isn’t meant to be a broad sweeping statement that applies for every single situation.
Maybe it just wasn’t place, right time. Or any number of reasons.
On the other hand, I can see where people don’t care (or are happy) if ROs get together for reasons that relate to real life. If a relationship is happy and healthy and the people are good to each other, why wouldn’t you want to celebrate them getting together? And yeah, it’s not always that simple. Maybe you had feelings for one of them at another time, but how you move forward is up to you.
Generally in IF, I typically see the formula of “MC doesn’t show interest in A, therefore A isn’t even considered an option” to translate into A not being a second option since A was not an option to start with.
Ah, I was lookimg at it more from a ranking perspectice where the MC is always at the top as lomg as they meet the romance qualifications then whoever they might with if the MC doesn’t romance them is placed second to the MC.
Not sure about psychoanalyzing them for it, but I do generally agree with @will that I find it weird to be upset about characters getting with people other than the MC. I think it’s reasonable that in an alternate timeline where you didn’t romance character X the difference in choices results in a different world where X and Y get together instead. Something about butterflies and chaos, life finds a way and all that.
I’ve voiced my feelings on this topic before, I believe. I do not like it when ROs hook up with other characters. Well, let me rephrase that–for paths I intend to play and go through the trouble of creating an MC (I don’t self insert and I don’t use the same MC for all paths), it irritates me (and whatever character I created for a path) to see the RO hooking up with someone else. Granted, it’s kind of like having AUs, but there’s something about it that still grates because it breaks reader immersion to see it happen (and leaves me feeling like I made an MC that ruins the “true” path for the RO the author intended).
That said…
I also feel that, when it’s done, not only does having a RO fall in love with someone else detract from the game and its replayability, but it also adds nothing positive. It wastes valuable narrative that could’ve otherwise been used to expand the story for the MC (perhaps friendship with that RO, or a side quest with them). I really don’t play games so I can read about a romance that has absolutely nothing to do with the MC or the MC’s journey–if I want that, I’ll go read a book. So either put more effort into the MC’s relationship with the chosen RO or into a friendship with the possible LI that wasn’t chosen. If the author is that married to getting the ROs paired off with others, then let it be a choice for the reader to help that along (or not) as a friend to the LI or don’t bother with it. Personally, I think there are better plots to have the MC and “not” RO party members pursue instead.
Alternative: let the player choose the name of the LI for the “not chosen” LI. Then they can plug their other MC’s name into it and immersion flows between playthroughs. Easy enough to do.
All that said, in the game I’ve started, one romance option is actually a poly with two people who are together but looking for the third (it’s a soulmate sitch and they aren’t human and have their own thing that’d take too long to explain). In that case, it’s either going to be the MC being the third or they never get their third onscreen/in the game.
well, all of the opinions are really important to me, i’ts really interessing. I was also really surprised to find out that autors that i like made part on this topic. You guys are amazing! Thank you very much!. All of the comments made me rethink a lot of things.
I think you have a really good Point here. While I do not care at all, If an RO teams Up with another char, the idea of reading more friendship scenes is absolutely great. Since we rarely get such scenes, it is something I like to see more often.
So, for those who dislike ROs being paired with someone else, would having a choice to let it happen or prevent/encourage the pairing be a good middle ground?
What do you feel about ‘successfully getting them together’ being an achievement?
It was delightful to see some of the ROs relationships with eachother blossom, and it definitely added to their characters and in conclusion - my friendships with them. Except Lady V…she can eat it. ;p
