Realism and romance options

As far as being rejected on the basis of looks is concerned, it’s pretty realistic. But if you ask me how good that would be in a game, it’s not a great idea.

You can however create other motives behind the breakups and rejections not based on the MC’s looks but rather their behaviour or actions.

It’s also a great idea if having a certain characteristic ‘lowers’ your chances with a certain RO. (Judey doesn’t typically like blondes.)

Also, it’s a real challenge to pull off this breakup mechanic based on a number ROs.

So anyways, I’d like to see what you come up with. Best of Luck!

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This!

As I said in my earlier post I think everyone has their preferences, but I think they would be able to able to overlook a few stuff if someone doesn’t 100%ly matches their preferences appearences wise but they are fun to coverse with, spend time with, they have a lot in common, sex is uh… good(? idk what’s the right word here) with them etc.

For example if I were looking for a gf on a dating site as preference I would state that I’m looking for someone around my age (kinda basic I guess), but since I know I often find it easier to speak to or spend time with older people I wouldn’t straight out reject a woman who is like 10 years or so older than me.

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If you haven’t played A Midsummer Nights Dream you might want to give it a look.

Oh wait, I remember earlier you already mentioned you did. So, how about that Rusty Knight?

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I did a playtrough where my MC ended up with the Maroon Knight… But it was a one time thing just out of curiousity, the problem there is that they are also locked to be of the opposite gender as the MC. Also the description made me imagine someone closer to their 50s so that’s a bit too much age difference between the MC and him even for me.

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Personally I have the mcs looks influence the people you meets starting relationship with them. An an example, a human woman in my wip reacts more positively to a human mc with the same red hair color as her, while receiving an orc mc less well because of orcs not so stellar reputation. A halfling male likes more uncommon and mythical traits in an mc like purple eyes while being bored by more regular and common traits. But they both can be made to like or dislike the mc by your choices.

I just go for your looks effecting how much the people you encounter like you at first and let your choices dictate whether they begin to like you more and more over time. This is rather similar to real life where you see someone and like them more or less based on how attractive they are to you, and begin to form a bigger opinion on them by their personality as we can’t physically see people’s personalities at first glance and so realism also supports this method.

So far I haven’t gotten any complaints about this way of writing so I think it is a good way.

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How do you feel about the romance options being able to break up with the main character whenever they want?

I have a few occurrences in my game where the character you’re romancing will inevitably break things off regardless of your decisions (a no-win situation). The character breaks up with you mostly for their own reasons over things you can’t control. I didn’t want every relationship to end happily (considering how many there are), and sometimes in real life you don’t have any control either.

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That romance does not ending with the relationship become official.

I’ve looked around a bit and can’t seem to find any answers (or vague answers at best) to a few very specific questions, which are: how would one write a non gender specific RO that has a defined sexuality? Is it possible without tons and tons of coding? Would people be interested in a RO that you pick the gender of that has a defined sexuality? (for example, an RO that can be male, female, or non binary but only likes the same gender as themself?) Do people find it more interesting/realistic if the RO you’re interested in has feelings for someone else but develops feelings for the MC? Are people most intrigued by RO’s that have defined sexualities?

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Some people like them and some don’t.

For the people who liked ROs with defined sexualities, one of the reasons is that it helps ground the character. Make them more realistic since IRL people have sexual orientations that are pretty rigid for the most part.

I don’t know how well the gender choice and sexuality locked option would be received. Honestly, I imagine a lot of how these decisions will be received will depend on your execution. If you do a good job, then the audience probably won’t have any complaints.

IMO defined sexualities have their pros and cons. The most significant pro for defined sexualities is that it probably allows you to focus on creating the character and then developing said character for a particular kind of relationship (gay, straight, bisexual, etc.).

The largest con would be that it can alienate your audience. One of the reasons for isolation can be the character’s personality.

For instance, I never romanced Josephine or Sera in DA:I despite being a lesbian. Yes, there were two options for me but they weren’t great options. I ended up hating Sera from the ‘go’ and Josephine’s romance route was hindered by the fact that she wasn’t a party member.

If you do go for locked sexualities, I’d recommend to have characters who are bisexual or pansexual, besides just having a token gay man or lesbian woman, in case the token characters’ personalities aren’t appealing to those audiences/readers.

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Thank you! I agree that it can alienate some players and I want to be able to appeal to most readers (I know no one can please everyone), it just got me thinking because I see a lot of posters saying they prefer an RO with a similar sexual orientation to them, I thought that maybe one option for a gender flip-able character being strictly attracted to a same sex MC would be something new, but as I read your comment I realized that “player-sexual” characters is the biggest inclusion option.

Side note: I agree 100% with you on DA:I, I’ve tried to romance both Sera and Josephine but ended up going for either a party member or a character with more to them (in Sera’s case)

Thanks again for your viewpoint, it’s very much appreciated

I personally prefer varying sexualities, but do agree that it can lead to alienation in your player-base. If you do have varying sexualities, you may consider making sure it’s spread out so everyone roughly has the same amount of options (even if ultimately those options may not personally appeal to them). Like having 1 RO available for a gay MC and 3 for a straight MC would be… bad.

That is why people do gravitate towards having an all bi/pan cast when they’re aiming for inclusivity, but what I personally dislike with that route is that it can very easily fall into the player-sexual trope, or it can feel like straight romances retooled for gay people where gender just becomes a non-issue entirely—which isn’t necessarily bad in some settings but often does overlook how us queer folk act and handle our relationships.

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