I think the main issue with Secret ROs is the fact that it can give a false expectation or impression. Some people can get a bit ornery if the character they think is romanceable turns out not to be or if it’s a character they had zero interest in. And of course, others will immediately look for a guide anyway so the Secret RO isn’t really all that secret.
That being said, announcing who the ROs are doesn’t mean you actually have to write down every little bit of info about them. I’m personally fond of just the name of the character and if they’re romanceable with maybe a little bit of info about their initial opinion of the MC or their first meeting. Just enough so people can associate who’s romanceable and who’s just a regular NPC. But I am pretty biased and torn between not wanting to spoil plot and wanting to share everything with readers.
I will be honest friends, I do not really care for the “strong masucline woman” type romance as much as I used to (the brown tomboy who wants to play soccer and video games with you, the girlboss working at HR who wants you to eat her out in the supply closet, the warrior princess who could bench you, etc.). I would not say that I am completely put off by them, they can still provide an interesting relationship and spicy lewd things, but the whole act of obsessing and slobbering over them like some people do just comes off as pathetic. Ironically enough this whole thing started when I got rid of my porn addiction and addressed the mommy issues I had so maybe the people who kept telling me that those types were maladaptive were onto something.
Also I still do not get polyamory. You have two choices, either shack up in a monogamous relationship or play the field and never committ. Both are valid and both have their pros and cons but I have NEVER seen a case where you mix the two and the relationship has not gone to complete shit. You cant have your cake and eat it too.
Wearing my moderator hat: I moved the above post from the ROs you dislike thread, since it feels like the other thread is more about specific characters that people “love to hate”.
Without my moderator hat on: I know a bunch of polyamorous people and they’re very happy, so
I also don’t love the idea that masculine women characters are maladaptive (if I’m reading that comment right?) nor, as I’ve seen a few times recently, that feminine men are lesser-than masculine men - let’s enjoy gender conforming characters while letting the gender nonconforming ones exist in peace, shall we?
oh no, you misunderstand me. its not the act of liking them that’s maladaptive, it’s the act of obsessing over them that is. if you look at a gymgirl thats pretty toned and think “damn shes cute” and move on with your life thats fine. but if you go “AWOOGA HUMINA HUMINA GYM MOMMY WITH BIG MILKY THIGHS THAT CAN CRUSH MY SKULL” and then spend the next 5 minutes going over your gentle femdom fantasies with her, you have to admit thats not healthy behavior. idk, it kinda feels subversive to the whole “accept people for who they are” thing cuz you’re looking at them more as a porn category than an actual person. and Im not signaling myself out because I was guilty of this exact kind of stuff, Im just being aware of it.
ig the people that are happy with it exist. whenever I see one (both irl and online) it always ended in a complete shitshow. even had a couple people who experimented with it tell me to “not get into it, its the worst”.
What other people do in their romantic endeavors shouldn’t concern you, the only romantic life you should be concerned about is yours and yours alone. Besides this thread is about things you aren’t a fan of in games, not in real life.
I feel like it’s necessary to add that some poly relationships are just more like two people in a “couple” (so like three or more people who are all in one relationship together), not an actual open relationship, which is my ideal even if I don’t think I could have the energy for it.
As a reader, I whole heartedly agree. I don’t think I’ve ever really seen a good pod in writing as it always seems to end up being a love triangle. Either the MC is the focal point with the others not having interest in each other or it feels like the MC is invading someone else’s relationship. I’ve played through poly routes in games just because I want to see how things play out but it just makes me feel super awkward most of the time.
That being said, in real life you actually can have your cake and eat it too… it just takes a lot of work. Like. A ridiculous, far more than a monogamous relationship amount of work. I’m one of the folks who has experimented with being poly in the past (not a true pod though as my gf was not interested in my spouse) but between college, family and my pre-existing relationship, I didn’t really have the time or energy to give my gf what she needed.
You know, now that I think about it. I don’t really like the love at first sight trope. I mean, I get the lust at first sight thing but the whole ‘immediately knew you were the one’ thing kind of bugs me. I know it’s a way of helping establish a character falling in love because there is a constraint in having to write from point A to point B as quickly as possible but it always seemed strange. Like the MC shows up from out of nowhere and suddenly Character A is hopelessly drawn to them without knowing anything about the MC. What if my MC is a serial killer?
I just thought of WIP where MC is fuckin attractive serial killer. One of the ROs is already obsessed with them and the other is a friendly therapist who trying to figure them out xD
Yeah I dislike it, or rather the one time I’d like it(most of it comes off as creepy anyhow) which would be like a magic setting or time travel I don’t see it at all. At least then we’d have excuses like, “you’re the one I’m supposed to be with” or “the only way can be happy”
Which although still can be creepy lot more fun and dramatic.
The latter would have need a bit more in a choice game since the author would be presuming for you, so maybe sudden possession/amnesia mixed in. At least the former you can treat more one way for drama.
Most of the time when I see it nowadays it usually is because one was gonna attack the other or something.
I read a VN where the MC knew in advance that they and [RO of choice] would become a happy couple because the MC could see the future. Twist: they only saw one bit of the future, several years from the present, and, uh, it turns out a lot can happen in the meantime.
It’s just me, or lately “Choose a side in a grey and gray setting” is becoming more “Choose the unlikable a$$°0! you endure the most”?
Phrasing: I’ve the impression that many authors (CoG included) tend to focus on the “unpleasant” shade of the character/faction, but forget to write what make them appealing, or they just write some cheap trope and then forget about that.
I usually don’t have “no exceptions” disliked things, considering there’s almost always some situation I can think of where the element is necessary and/or wouldn’t bother me, but here’s one that I absolutely DESPISE with a burning passion, enough that it’s actually something that makes me abandon an IF (which I almost never do.); greyed out choices.
SPECIFICALLY greyed out choices when it comes to roleplaying and personality. There’s never any good reason for my stoic MC to be physically unable to show emotion at any point in time ever. It’s unnecessary and forces the MC to be one-note. It doesn’t bother me when it’s used for skill checks (Ie; the choice to use electricity powers is greyed out because your MC doesn’t have that power,) or when it’s information-wise (Ie; a choice talking about an NPC you haven’t met, or information you haven’t found out,) but greying out something just because the MC doesn’t have enough Kind Person Points is something I hate.
Fallen Hero has a (so far), very good poly between Ortega, Argent and the MC. There is estabilished interest from Argent on Ortega, and vice-versa. It was really refreshing to see a poly that didnt turn out like a love triangle.
There’s one developing in a game called Vendetta that’s looking interesting. Basically, two RO’s who’re friends (childhood along with mc) decide to pre-emptively join forces against the others if you show interest in both.
@Dark_Stalker
When it’s done like that, it’s a little different. Especially on the possessive side of things (I do like yandere/possessive/obsessive stories so there could be something said for that) but I just don’t like it when it’s done as just a regular love-at-first-sight kind of thing. Where it’s assumed both the MC and the RO fell in love immediately. I prefer the drama of the amnesia/time travel/magic/whatever (yeah… I like the possessive/yandere stories so long as it doesn’t force me into a Stockholm syndrome kind of route).
@Tarlonniel
That actually sounds like it would be a lot of fun. Just the whole assumption thing that backfires later. lol
@KV1_DESEMPREGADO
Well, I think that’s gonna go on my list of things to play once I’m done writing B:C as it would be a nice change of pace.
@Graceful-Not
I hear you on that. I always thought it was weird to have greyed out choices because to me, it feels like I’m being punished for not having that stat/skill. If I can’t do it, I don’t want to see it. It also makes it fun when I play through a game a second time and suddenly there is a new option I didn’t see before because my character is different.
Not saying that it’s not a valid way of writing an IF, just not my general preference.
On the other hand, I like to see those choices. I like to know that if I replay this game I’ll have those other options. It makes me more likely to replay the game than if I didn’t know they existed and just had to hope there was new content there, and it also informs my decisionmaking in replays to let me know where the new stuff might be.
The more I see the trope, the more it starts to annoy me: marine army terms for space armies and combat. It has bugged me in Warhammer, it miffs me in Gundam and Gundam-likes, but only when you actually try to translate such works you fall headfirst into the realisation they blatantly do not work. It’s space! Why do we use marine terms if ships move and act in incredibly different manner compared to a normal Earthian sea? Why do we get titles straight out of marine books? We have aviation! We have space forces! It’s so annoying to constantly see this.
