I’d be a lot happier if they wanted to come along. I love the idea of a power couple having epic adventures together, watching each other’s backs in battle and tending each other’s wounds afterwards. There’s so much dramatic potential.
If there was a question over whether or not the RO would be safe/capable, that would probably make me less likely to romance that character in the first place.
@poison_Mara : YOU GO GIRL! seriously , that is so funny! lol
ahem anyway…
I personally would let my loved one decide for herself . danger or no danger , it isn’t my call . No amount of ‘its my true love’ will change that , cose…hello…they are grown up peoples .
I took Liara in mass effect everywhere with me . Quarian shot at us ? check ! reaper beam shot at us ? check ! she hated not coming with us to the suicide mission and she probably was going bonker waiting if we gonna ever come back…
Nope , in a game …I take the love of my life with me . This whole ‘stay at home! I want you safe!’’ is nonsense…if you have ennemy…they get to them anyway .
If I love someone, then I trust him to make such life decisions for himself. It would not be my choice.
I should inform him of the risks, and could advise either way accordingly, but I should respect and appeciate his choice.
Granted, if he actually asks my advice, that would be a different matter, and would be a way to present such a choice without sacrificing the other character’s autonomy.
It depends on the following factors:
Can they defend themselves?
How strong is whatever it is I’m about to fight?
How strong am I, as an MC in this scenario?
What other roles do they play?
If the idea is to take the fight to a super-powered being who wants to kill us and for some reason is our equal or nemesis or rival and the RO is a normal person who can defend themselves but is just normal, they get to stay home. Not just because they could get themselves killed but they could also be distracting in a fight or cause the MC in question to hold back their powers (if particularly destructive). If I’m going into a suicide mission or just a tough situation where people are likely to die, I’d rather have companions I don’t care that much about. (I did not play Choice of Rebel but I am thinking about the usual end-game fights in video games).
If they have their own job to do while I do mine, but they still wanna come along, then it depends on how strategic or important said job is, as well.
If we’re adventurers and it’s routine mission no. 5, sure come along.
It depends mainly on why I am going on a dangerous deployment or into a perilous situation in the first place. However if there is no pressing need for my significant other to come along, I would rather they not. Maybe it is selfish of me to expect them to be in (relative) safety worrying about me but how is putting them in the line of fire any different? Do I want the love of my life to be shot at just so that they can be by my side? Hell no. If given the choice I would never want to place them in unnecessary danger regardless of the situation. Realistically not matter how badass any individual may be, a single stray round is more than enough to end you. There is no guarantee of survival in any high stakes mission. This is not a buddy cop movie. Imagine asking them to go with you to storm Normandy or to fight in Stalingrad. Odds are both of us die. Better at least one of us survives, especially if we have children. If I bite it, I bite it. At least my significant other can pick up the pieces, carry on and find love with someone else.
Also speaking from a command perspective, it is not always a good idea to put lovers in the same unit, let alone formation. We get distracted and distraction is often fatal on the battlefield. Also imagine if your CO and one of their captains are involved romantically. Can you really trust the CO to be completely impartial and dispassionate? We are only people and the doubt alone is enough to impact unit cohesion. You will hear the griping on the scuttlebutt no matter how fair the CO tries to be. “Hey 4th Coy always gets the juiciest deployments. Guess what? The OC and CO are snogging.” Basically I do not want my significant other to ever suffer an injury because they were worrying if I had taken a round to the noggin.
And if you think hearing that one of your loved ones is dead is a traumatic event, imagine seeing them die instead. Witnessing someone you love being turned into chunky salsa by high calibre fire or an artillery shell is likely equally if not more traumatic a scene.
yeah,I understand that but your love one is not your slave to obey all your commands and be jailed in a golden cage. For me all the “protection” 99,9% means possession. Like you’re mine , you will remain in this trophy case while i do all i please.
Nobody can say to another adult what they can go or do except by law enforcement. So FORCE is still force even if is for love
A lot of people can tell another adult what they can and can’t do. Commanding officers, managers…superiors in general. They have a vision on how it’s supposed to go to achieve something as easily and efficiently as possible. Vision which can be put in danger if not everyone is in this with 100% focus.
Of course, people could fight harder if the lives of their loved ones are in danger, but @Gary raises a good question. What if they’re in the same team and the MC is leading? Can you be impartial enough to go on even if the next action puts the RO in danger? What if you had to choose between a squad and an RO? A very determined person might know what to do, but a lot of people would falter. Even a split second could put a whole operation in jeopardy.
I would bring someone I know who can defend themselves. Exactly why in choice of rebels my mc leaves romanced Breden behind and takes Kalt with her cause she’s too scared that Breden will die due to low-level combat skills.
God of Was 201? Shapes the answer
Do they need supervision? Do you have anyone else there to offer them support? Are you coming back?
while I can agree to an extent with @Gary , remember that the question wasn’t boxed for military or battelfield or even reality . it was a general question which I’m assuming touch pretty much a virtual reality like games .
We arent talking about real life here . Hell…in real life , I wouldnt even let my gf near my family…
If we want to go with the militar thing…is right leave an asset behind just because of the commander (MC) feelings? If the lover is a skilled warrior, or a capable strategist, or a healer, or whatever, it would be better having they with us where they can be of use and the MC can keep an eye on them, than at home.
They can because a LAW ALLOWS that . Not because Commanders own their troops. It is an important distinction. Out of strict rules of command even if my lover is Patton he could go command his dog. We aren’t talk here about a military general command a soldier. We are talking about Two or more people in a relationship. Relationship is never OWNERSHIP. Means a equality and a consent. So nobody could force his her their lover. You could say remain in home all you want. But your lover could go at he she they pleases. And i think more Cog should recognize that.
Well in which case, would not the entire discussion boil down to “whichever option gives the most pluses?”. 
I do agree that it is framed based on a game but the crux of the question is the emotions of the player. Without any such investment, then it is simply a logistical issue. Is the love interest a powerful unit or provide bonuses? If so, bring along.
I do think that the military is the closest thing we can get to most video game lifestyles. There is a high element of danger in most but in real life and in the modern age we can hardly live the murder hobo lifestyle of the typical RPG adventurer. 
you did make laugh with the ‘nogging’…seriously…‘nogging’ hahahahahahaha 
well , we were talking in general . In general , I think peoples should be free to bring whoever they want…and Logic shouldn’t get in the way say ‘what?! you took liara ! She gonna get SHot!!! you are a monsterrrrrr!’’ …
yes yes , you made us feel guilty lol you bad bad lol
but if you want to go technical and strategist then the question change .
That is if you’re a meta gamer. I am a role-player. I don’t care pluses or statistics. What care is what my character will do in role? and How his her they lover will act. So strategy is just numbers. For me the importance is on the dialogue and what choices I have. I love when Cog characters don’t follow my commands because that character has other ideas. I mean I could want x go with me but if x don’t want x should say goodbye looser
Yes, that is why I noted that the player must have sufficient emotional investment to care about the characters. Otherwise they are just a block of stats. Unless the story is engaging enough for me to care about the NPCs, it boils down to combat effectiveness.
I think an even hand about CoG choices would be good. If it is perfectly in character for that person to act that way, sure. Asking the rough and tough badass warrior to stay behind? No way in hell they are going to agree to that. Asking the fragile civilian to stay behind? There is a good chance that they will. However if poorly handled it can be read as railroading by the author. If the choices do not matter, then offering one to the player is just a game of one step Morton’s Fork. Personally I think this works best as a set piece scene where the MC and their love interest get into a fight if you try to ask them to stay as opposed to a more touching scene if you ask them to come along if they are the type of person for whom such a reaction is warranted.
I wholeheartedly agree with this. (I understand why some would not of course.)
In cog games specifically a game that is heavily reliant on stats and resource management is simply frustrating to play due to the inherent layout of cog and save system.
It’s not very intuitive to have to reload a save(or restart) and click through 20 pages of text just to get to your desired choices again.
I feel like opening an excel spreadsheet would be more efficient. 
Especially if the story is weak in terms of character interaction and intrinsic motivation. (Where you actually enjoy playing it and not just clamoring for he end state)
I think Choice of Rebel did it right. I was forced to choose between stats and character beliefs in a very natural way that weaves itself into the story quite neatly.
I have no that problem because I don’t see stats. I see My character skills. Number doesn’t exist for me in same way. I see oh , Mara due her background and life has this skills and is bad in that. And also she is ruthless or protective. Normally there is no stat saying Sarcastic or Pragmatic or Bitch… However, in base her role and choices I know what she is. Do I choose in base of that even if choice is “bad” in base of math operations . I don’t play Math the game.
So for me, The doubt is not numerical value. Is Did Mara trust that character. Did she hate it? What she would do. I totally think in a non canon play Take Breden with me BECAUSE I DON’T TRUST HER… i want kill her away in xaos land. When one forget numbers and game is a masterpiece like @Havenstone game (Yeah Havie I critized hard and harsh years ago. But hell you did a great job) Stuff happens organically like real life.
Assuming in a futuristic world torn by war , when both we and our love one need to go for scavenging everyday, i do think it will be better to bring the partner along, and train him/her some survival skill along the way, if they are not good with it already… leaving them behind expose danger to them as much as bringing them anyway…
I always want them with me, but mostly 'cause I’m always perversely hoping for a tragic ending that has one of us dying in the other’s arms.