Jump to content
  • Sign Up

Add romance to the playable character in story?


Recommended Posts

The stories don't have choices or branches anymore. So you would have to be railroaded into a particular romance, and everyone that doesn't like that romance would be disinterested or put off by it.

 

Would be better to have marriage system in game instead so players could get married and get some kind of boost (xp maybe?) when both are online together.

  • Like 2
  • Confused 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, Danikat.8537 said:

I think it's unlikely they could add enough options to make it work well for a significant number of people and add enough dialogue/screen time for it to be a meaningful relationship for each of those choices.

There would have to be at least 10 options, one for each race/gender, all available for any character to choose of course, but I suspect a significant number of people would want their characters partner to be the same race and would be frustrated if that meant there was only 1 gender option. But I know I'm not the only one who sees my characters as each having a distinct personality, so even with 10 options the chances of finding someone who is a good match for each of them is low, and there would have to be duplicates which I'd find weird.

Then there's the problem of fitting them into the game/story. One option is that romance storylines and interactions are an entirely stand-alone thing, but that means a lot of development time (and voice acting budget) for an optional side activity which many players may never engage in. The other option is that the PC's partner joins Dragon's Watch and is involved in the story, but then you have to write everyone else's dialogue to allow for 10+ different people (or no one) filling the same spot in the conversation, either it has to be very generic and their contributions are always largely meaningless or you get some very complicated dialogue trees which again adds a lot of development work and voice acting budget for an optional extra. Add in the fact that they already have to do that with the player character (their dialogue is often slightly different based on the race, gender, profession, story choices etc.) and I think it would be even more noticeable.

I think it's the kind of thing that works best when it's planned from the start of the game.

 

By that definition the player character in pretty much every RPG or adventure game ever made is not really a hero. They all include side-quests where you're doing all kinds of things, from fighting additional monsters to collecting escaped chickens or watering someone's plants.

If anything I'd argue that willingness to help anyone who needs it and never consider a request beneath them is part of what makes those characters a hero. Can you imagine a Superman comic where he tells someone that just yesterday he saved the Earth from an alien invasion, so he's now far too important to deal with their trivial bank robbery?

Its more about the feel forme. The quests are okay, but often it seems like people don't know the commander. And that is weird for me, because of the fact that we slayed dragons and gods. But on the other Hand, its probaly realistic. Even if i think people like Elon Musk or Barack Obama should be known by everyone, there are always these people who have no clue about whats going on in the World.

 

29 minutes ago, DanAlcedo.3281 said:

It's fine. 🤗

I personally dislike the way that the Commander is portrait as alot weaker then he actually is. 

But I also seen complaints of people going in the exact opposite direction. 

 

It's like in Skyrim when a Bandit thinks he can take on our max level, full geared demi God of a character. 

Doesn't make sense. 

 

Oh, the skyrim events. How i loved them xD.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Celiea.3461 said:

even a hero needs love. 

 

I agree with this. I adore games that give options of romance to my characters---which is why I play games that are centered around such options like the Fable series, Dragon Age games, Fire Emblem, Stardew Valley, Mass Effect series, etc. I haven't come across too many MMOs that offer such options (I've heard Star Wars has it, but that's never been my scene). I highly doubt that ANet is going to introduce romance options for the player-character for a multitude of reasons.

Instead, I would recommend turning your eyes to another game that will have romance options from the beginning once it is released. There's a new community-focused MMO on the horizon called Palia and it'll have a lot of what Guild Wars 2 is lacking that people on the forums ask for. It'll have fully customizable player housing, farming/gardening, and the ability to romance a variety of NPCs in the game. [ Announcement Trailer | About the GameAlpha review ]

It's a nice idea to entertain---romancing NPCs of Tyria like Lord Faren---but again, that's outside the scope of ANet's vision for Guild Wars 2. We're murder hobos. We roam the world killing all the things with no real home to kick our shoes off at.

  • If you give a player romance, they'll ask for marriage to the NPC.
  • If you give a player marriage to their NPC, they'll ask for a home for their new waifu/husbando.
  • If you give the player a home, they'll ask to have a family (children, adopt children).

Again, I'm all for it but I'm also realistic that this just isn't the game for in-game romance. Instead, I'll be hopping on the Palia boat once it is ready to set sail (or I'll go to Ashes of Creation if it comes available before Palia).

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

i think this could be fun, as long as its optional and separated enough from main story. separated as in its not shoved into your face as part  of the story, you wont have to keep dodging advances of characters you arent interested in, and it would not affect on anything going on in the story. besides some minor dialog differences, something along lines of how your commander's species, profession and order can affect on dialog). this way people who dont care could easily just ignore it entirely, and it wont bother their gameplay.

in fact i think time for this would be ripe, considering that commander has gone a full decade without any social life outside of work, and we even have had dialog poking fun of them about being single.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Adding romance options in games always is iffy, even in dating simulators.

Everyone has a different kinds of people they are attracted to or "turned off" by, both physically and mentally.

So Arenanet would either need to spend resources to created thousands potential of "lovers" so most players will find something they can halfway agree with and make it an optional system not tied to any rewards or achievement points, or just don't do such a thing as romance.

It'd rather see Arenanet spend resources on other things. If you want to date pixels, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of other games for that.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think this would be a waste of time when you can already headcanon whatever you want in terms of who the commander is taking to bed. Remember how your personal story and personality dialogue completely transformed the game and made you feel like your choices were meaningful to the narrative? Me neither.

There's also the not-small issue that ArenaNet often seems not to understand basic psychology, let alone the finer points of a romantic relationship without reducing it to buzzwords or memes. There's plenty of downtime between our adventures; just imagine that your commander spends some of it braiding Logan Thackeray's hair or sparring with their wife Caithe. It'll have exactly the same impact an officially-written romance would: None.

  • Like 3
  • Haha 2
  • Confused 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd only want a spouse if they would harvest my home instance for me everyday.

But really, the commander is a homeless wanderer, where is there room in that narrative for a spouse?

And wouldn't the four five races need an extreme number of choices for a romance? You're not limiting it to choices of same race, are you?

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Doubt it will happen entirely for cost reasons. Its why they didn't keep branching stories in general. Its just a lot of what would be optional dialogues, all voice acted by 10 different actors.

 

I love the voice acted protagonist in this game but this comes with limiations (or costs).

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Batel.9206 said:

*Except for Khem Val. I would like to find whoever wanted a Khem Val romance and ask what is wrong with them!?!? 😱

OMG my Sith Inquisitor loves her Khemmy but NOT THAT WAY! 🙉

As much as I love romance content in games, it's not something that I think could be implemented in this game...at least implemented and done well. I'm quite happy with headcanons and fanfiction. You can imagine whatever you want with the NPC's in-game already. 

Edited by DragonMoon.6098
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Fuchslein.8639 said:

Just run trough the world. Your'e charakter is not a typically Hero. Why else do you need to do all the little work for the People?
Yes, in the story, we got recognized, but in OW? Eventually i miss something, but in OW, i don't feel like an Hero, more like an, how can i say this in english? A Man/Woman for everything? People who do anything for little money because they have not learned anything. But of course, we do it because we want to help(and because of game-desing).

I have not really the feeling, that char's in GW2 are Hero's per se. If you understand what I mean.

That happens with every hero/player in every game ever made. Fetch quests and grind. That's called filler content, lol. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Rendalmj.3152 said:

i am completely agree with this my human female alt is very attracted to marjory and i would like to have a storyline to love her and take her home to my home instance

Even when we could get Romance, i don't think your'e dream will ever come true.

I hope i don't need to explain why :).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:

I've seen how Anet writes romance.  I would rather they not.  

Harsh, but I agree. XD For romances in games to work/resonate, you REALLY need a writer who's good at capturing the specific beats and arcs of a love story. ANet's writing team is pretty decent, with occasional spots of greatness or even brilliance, but on the whole I'm not convinced they have the kind of writing range/experience to properly nail a romance story in-game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...