I’m really exciting about some great romance gamebooks I have ideas for…but I have two games I am working on now… 
but I love the idea of deep characters and relationships and many different ways the relationship can play out!
Ohhh man. Is it strange that I like a good romance in an RPG or fantasy/sci-fi or game, but don’t really like ‘romance novels’? ^_^’ My favorite romance in any game in my memory is the old original Baldur’s Gate series. On the male side, you could carry through a romance with either Aerie or Valeera, (I think were their names) and it was so cool to me at the time because you could carry through to the second game and end up having a child with one (between the games, I think). But it’s still my favorite romance example in a game… not counting Visual Novels. Because they’re kinda -about- romance. XD In a way.
Really though? I think it would be cool to have a CoG with dating-sim-like romance potential. Whenever in the far flung future I finish my first CS game, the second I’ll set up a lot like a dating-sim-RPG. Raise your stats, romance characters, fulfill plot devices… Wildly popular things like that. 
So, yes, very much- a good romance is always a joy, whether or not I enjoy the RO by way of personal preference or not. If it works for the character, it works for me.
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I may be repeating myself. I don’t like characters who exist solely to be your romantic interest, who immediately fall in love with you, and who will just as suddenly never speak to you again if you make a wrong choice.
I like romancing your rival, because generally they’ve been built up to be a character that exists beyond the idea of being a romantic interest. They’ll disagree with you, you may be on opposite sides, which creates tension.
I like banter, I like choosing snarky dialogue options, and I prefer romance options that go along with it and snark right back, as opposed to getting offended at every little thing you say.
I’d rather they disagreed with me than agreed with every single thing I say. Black Magic for instance has that whole scene where they ask you about your dreams and say they’ve got similar ones and it just make me think they were flat and bland. Well at least until I decided that they were completely faking it, trying to turn themselves into my perfect person as opposed to being themselves. And I preferred the later Black Magic who clearly had an agenda, even if they never bothered to tell you what it was. (Black Magic’s such a train wreck.)
Also the characters who probably weren’t intended to be romantic options but are added in due to popular demand tend to be more fleshed out.
I like things to be rocky, not smooth sailing, with obstacles to overcome, and no one is a damsel in distress in need of rescue, or a trophy to be won, or a reward for playing well.
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Out of curiosity, by way of what you’re saying, did you really like Morigan’s character from the Dragon Age series? She seems like the type of romance you’re describing liking.
I think that you might like this game. It’s not very long, but it has all of those things =)
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Romance novels tend to be about JUST romance. Everything in the plot, if there is one, is designed to serve the romance, sometimes in wildly improbable ways. They’re mass-produced and so a ton of them are not very well written; they’re junk food for the hormones. If you’re someone who likes good romance novels, there are communities of people doing nothing but reviewing and promoting the best. (Or the worst, which can also be fun.)
Visual novels, eroge, and video games often balance the romance with something else happening. You have other goals, a day job. It creates more realism, solidifies the setting, and helps define characters other than in terms of their romanceable traits.
I also prefer the latter. It’s totally possible to do romance-only games well, but it’s so much easier to make things interesting when your character also has some other goals.
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I’ve never played Dragon Age. I have read a lot about it and watched some let’s plays.
I don’t actually like the romance genre, which is something I’m not fond of saying because I don’t want it to come across as judgmental when it’s just a matter of taste. I know there can be a tendency to look down on the romance genre, and that can be problematic considering that the majority of the readers are women.
The mainstream romance genre is very hetero-normative. But I’ve tried those sub-genres that aren’t and still not enjoyed them. I strongly dislike romantic comedies, they just make me cringe, despicable people doing despicable things that would be sorted out in five minutes if everybody communicated with each other which of course they won’t.
I don’t like the romance to be the main plot, it can be important but just not, the most important thing. And despite all this I’m still saying I’d like to see more romance games. Admittedly, I’d like to see them in the sci-fi or fantasy genres, coupled with saving the world or exploding stuff or something else awesome.
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Most of my reading was done from my school’s library or one of the nearby public libraries and I’d pretty much head to the YA section for fantasy and sometimes scifi stuff and now the general fiction section b/c I’m an ~adult. But w/ YA, I didn’t like the relationships b/c it was too often “my best friend is in love w/ me but ohhh look hot, mysterious guy who turns out to be a fairy/vampire/pastry-chef.”
Holly Black was the only fairy urban fantasy person I liked b/c for one, sometimes they’re ugly. It’s not always a prince. It can be a troll. He sorta had a beauty & the beast vibe going on at first, but I think that was just like her being “ahh! he’s so ugly” but then he was a sweetheart. There was another (not by her; steampunk series called Hungry City Chronicles) where the main girl is covered in intense face burn scars. It’s not a cute slash across her nose or eyebrow, either. I want more romance about people who aren’t beautiful. There seem to be enough where they’re ugly on the inside, but that’s ok cause they’re pretty.
I think that the post-relationship stuff only works for me if I got to see them come together. I generally am not that interested in married from the start plotlines w/ some exceptions. But I love to see two characters I saw come together (especially if it was not the easiest!) as a more or less happy old couple. I don’t think I’d want that in game, tho, b/c right now, I like to choose. Games w/ only one romance option (especially if it’s compulsory
@FairyGodfeather You should give Dragon Age:Origins a chance if you have time/want to. It’s old so it usually has at least one place selling it for under $10 on Cheap Shark (idk if you care about that; it’s what I care about tho). Though I guess maybe you don’t want to since you’ve seen Let’s Plays. Sten and Shale are the best.
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@Aprilhare There was a bundle with the Dragon Age games recently for cheaper than that, (I think it was 1 and 2 and Mass Effect) but I think I passed on it because I’ve such a long backlog of games that I’ve been meaning to play and just haven’t had the chance as it is. I just want the story, not any of the game mechanics. But thanks for the suggestion.
I like the idea of more mature approaches to romantic relationships, but it sounds -really- hard to implement in a conventional choice game, where everything is about empowering the protagonist and letting the player shape the story. It is rare to see substantial character development in these games, much less a dynamic, evolving relationship. In a game where every major decision leads to multiple story lines, is it even feasible to have that kind of subplot?
Yes and no. I can think of a few ways it could be done: A) Have a game with few major decisions, that reads more like a novel… more like a Visual Novel, all said and done, or choose-your-own-adventure. B) Tie the story together at various ‘connection’ points. Let it branch a bit, but come back together- perhaps scene by scene. C) Take a long-ass time writing the story. XD Nothing is impossible with enough time and diligence!
I am making an -attempt- at character development in my story, but … we’ll see how that goes. I’m only going to say right now that, I want to believe the dream: that it is possible. 
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I’m a fan of the Tales game series and one thing I love about it is that every character’s relationship to other characters is explored in detail. Everyone has different goals, backgrounds, and reactions to the other characters and their circumstances.
What’s also great is that romances are usually hinted at or lightly touched on instead of the focal point. (Tales of Symphonia does have several endings where the protagonist can romance another character but that’s something fairly unique to that title.) Characters flirt with multiple people! Or get close to people they never expected to. A dozen people could play Tales of the Abyss and emerge convinced that different pairings are meant to be, with good logic behind it and nothing necessarily making any one person more right than another. Which I find really cool.
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I feel if there is going to be romance it should be in detail :] and developed well along with the characters. this is what I try to do in my own writing.
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I suppose I’ll bring up a point I feel strongly about.
I am asexual/aromantic but I have never let that stop me from roleplaying characters who are romantic. Romance can be great.
But this reminds me…I often like playing G rated stuff or as a child character because the focus becomes going on an adventure and I am not automatically expected to be interested in characters.
The first CoG I played, it asked you in the first chapter if you were interested in this guy, this girl, or both. I said neither and I meant it…but the game forced me to pick, and from then on romance was breathing down my neck from every potential friend that I wanted to stay a friend.
I still liked it though.
What I wish some devs would rembember is that there are other ways to develop characters. There are things like: friends, family, enemies that deserve scenes and attention. A Mass Effect game had some friendship/etc scenes that I enjoyed.
And yes, it is possible to write a good solo scene of the MC in some thought or danger.
All in all, I do not mind romance and it can be enjoyable roleplaying when well done. But I feel really bad missing out on content when playing a solo MC…
Let’s pretend one chapter of a game is 20 pages. Playing as a romantic MC you get 15 pages worth of events.
…but playing as a nonromantic MC you get…2 pages. And you feel like you missed a lot, because you did.
I just hope for balance. Develop the romances, but also the friendships, the action, the feelings of the MC. I don’t like when I say no to romancing somebody…then never hearing anything from them again. I thought they were your friend? Friends hang out, tell each other issues, fight etc, care about each other just as much if not more than for a romantic partner.
TLDR Romance = cool, but please don’t cut, force or overwhelm content. Consider the solo MC by replacing the romance scenes they would have had with other kinds of scenes…pwease?? :3
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In Monsters of New Haven High, you can play as asexual/aromantic. (Or one or the other, if you don’t choose certain options while you’re dating.) If you tell the game early on you’re uninterested in dating, it hides most flirting and all romance paths. It’s possible to get close to the characters without dating anyone; for every romantic date, there’s also a “friend date” option. It’s taking forever to write, but I’m really enjoying the challenge.
I think people who like romance in their games will appreciate it too; if they like a character but are dating someone else that playthrough, they can still hang out with them. There is slightly different content in dating vs. hanging out, though the mechanics for the outcomes (getting a close friend/ally) are the same. So, people who play entirely romantic or entirely non-romantic are both missing some minor content, but can achieve the same things in-game.
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I heartily agree with everything you just said. I actually didn’t care about BM being forced upon us, since I probably wouldn’t have been able to say no to him anyway. Jury’s situation was hilarious, though I do wish they’d made more allusions to it in the previous games.
I think if someone really wanted to, they could definitely integrate romance well with the COG system. The difficulty isn’t so much with the logistics as it is with the realistic writing and pacing of the relationship. A lot of times, it’s just rushed too much (the shining exception that I know of could be Jury, if it’d been developed more in earlier games).
That’s a great point. I was sort of bummed that in Heroes Rise, me flirting with Black Magic = ‘you totally want to have a one night stand with Black Magic and then date them forever.’ I enjoy playing flirts in games, but I was really gunning for Jenny! I flirted with both of them and unexpectedly started Heroes Project dating Black Magic, which led to an internal scream of 'NooOOOoooOOOooo’ until we could eventually break up.
Speaking for myself: I am currently making a game that is fairly romance centric, because it’s based on Beauty and the Beast. You’re an MC who is in a situation where literally every character in the castle knows their fate is determined, in large part, on whether or not you romance the Beast.
…so if you wind up falling for an enchanted object instead, that’s loaded for them, because reciprocating means they might be shutting the door on their last chance for humanity. Dun dun dun!
But I also very much feel that non-romantic relationships matter, and can sometimes matter more than romantic ones. So while the characters in the game think it’s important that you fall in love with the Beast, love isn’t necessarily just a romantic or sexual thing. Love is a key component in friendships, too. So I’m hoping to subvert that assumption of love being always romantic in one of my endings, making it a True Friendship sort of ending if you will.
Also I’m avoiding sexual scenes because, objects and bestiality. 
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I love romance unless it feels forced.
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Oh… Sorry I didn’t realize this was dead so long… I am extremely tired I woke up a 2 in the morning… 
I’m dead.
-Walls of text describing what people would like in a romantic relationship-
2 years later
This made my day, love ya
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