Project Eternity: What type of romance do you want?

DArtagnan said:
Unfortunately, most women respond positively to being given expensive shit.
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This is true. The trick is to find one that prefers useful expensive shit over useless expensive shit. My wife is like that. The gifts I have given her over the past few years included new Dyson vacuum cleaner, spa trips (mainly massages), a weekend at a nice hotel, new rug for the living room, and XBox360 to use as an extender in her art studio. If I had given her a necklace or something, she probably would have pawned it to buy something useful!
 
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Wow people romanced Aerie? All that bleating about her poor wings…omg, just shut up already! #@!! I had some really silly situatiins when the 'aerie music' (all tinkly etc etc) would cue in the most ridiculous situations and she'd start going on about her damn wings. No. I'd be quite happy if 'romance' was left out of games, thank you very much. Yes, I'm a curmudgeon (and I have a t-shirt to prove it!) - so sue me ;-)

Seriously though, I have never been invested in any romantic charcter in a game. Well, notthat I can recall. So nothing memorable at least. Whenever I have 'romanced' anyone it has been to get their 'approval' rating up, better stats (DA etc) and so on...or just to see what 'polygon sex' looked like (hey, enquiring minds want to know).
 
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Unfortunately, some people are also willing to make odd-ball gender biased generalisations without providing any shred of evidence.

Romance for me in RPGs specifically, has been somewhat of a mixed bag. The modern day Bioware romances don't interest me very much. However, call me sentimental if you will, but I rather liked the Ultima VII "Falling in Love" theme and its associated story. There's an almost innocent tone to the whole thing and remembering playing it, reminds me of more care-free times. ;)
 
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When living in a world with half the population being female and keeping my eyes open, I don't need much evidence to point out the obvious.

Like if you said that most men enjoy looking at pretty women - you'd also need to provide evidence, right? :)
 
So what if women like receiving expensive gifts? I'm sure men do as well. The statement is meaningless.

Also, your comparative analogy is stupid, but I'm pretty sure you already knew that. :)
 
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Pessimeister said:
So what if women like receiving expensive gifts? I'm sure men do as well. The statement is meaningless.

Also, your comparative analogy is stupid, but I'm pretty sure you already knew that. :)
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Someone complained that giving expensive shit to women doesn't make it realistic - and I suggested that - unfortunately - it's more efficient than one would think.

While there is an element of humor in that, I also find it very sad. Despite not wanting to believe it - and despite it seeming extremely unfair to women, it's truly my experience that if you give a lot of expensive shit to "most women" - you will get a much more favorable response than most alternatives.

You will note that I don't have that approach myself - but I'm confident it would work in a lot of cases, where I wouldn't want to accept that it would.

The same can be said for women giving a lot of sex to "most men" as a means of smoothing over troubles. Again, not something that would work with me - personally, but it's my experience that it can solve a LOT of problems.

I think your objection is stupid - so I'm not sure what good it would do to come up with a brilliant analogy.
 
I object to the generalisation and use of the word "most". You've certainly not met "most" women in the world in your life-experience, only a small selection. Thus, it's absurd and is not something you can just know and state casually as the truth.
Also, you don't need a brilliant analogy; just an analogous one.

Anyway, I don't wish to derail the thread anymore than it is. ;) Maybe I'm just in a grumpy semantic mood. Romance away people!

Edit:
Please, don't try to misrepresent or make false extrapolations about what I've said. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt though, DArt! ;) Let's just leave it at that. :)
 
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Pessimeister said:
I object to the generalisation and use of the word "most". You've certainly not met "most" women in the world in your life-experience, only a small selection. Thus, it's absurd and is not something you can just know and state casually as the truth.
Also, you don't need a brilliant analogy; just an analogous one.

Anyway, I don't wish to derail the thread anymore than it is. ;) Maybe I'm just in a grumpy semantic mood. Romance away people!
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So, you don't believe you can have a reasonably informed opinion about human nature without having actually met everyone in the world? My opinion is not about individuals - but about obvious patterns that we're all subject to. It's a cultural and genetic thing, nothing more.

Also, it's my opinion and not "objective truth" - and I think I'm entitled to state what I believe to be correct.

It's ok though, I can live with differences of opinion.

That's it for me and derailing here as well.
 
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I'm always amused at discussions like this where nerds wear monocles for not being into such lowbrown thing as romance, because, you know, the rest of the game content is such respectable high culture and surely being into the looting and killing part is something to be proud of. I'm surprised they are able to handle the rest of the entertainment media, with almost all books, tv shows and movies having more romance than those "Bioware love sims".

I remember one Bioware interview where the docs explained how every tester was definitely not interested in the romance if asked, but in reality it was something they put obscene amounts of time and effort into. People don't like to admit they like romance. It doesn't mean they don't.

If the romances and character relationships are not up to par in story-driven RPGs, IMO it means they should put more effort into it, not cut it out. People are interested in people, and characters are what interests the audience. Relationships between characters are an important part of characterization and most importantly a source for drama. Drama is what makes an interesting story. I agree the drama aspect of RPG writing is lacking, and that's why they should work more at it. I would like to see games aim higher as a storytelling medium as well.
 
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I would like to see romances eventually evolve into something like this…

th
 
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Ahh, that image conjures some somewhat related memories JDR. BC Bill was such a fantastic little game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih0YpeeDb7g

It seems so blissfully unaware of how politically incorrect it is, I love it.

Thanks to Azraelack and purpleblob for their spots of humour too.
 
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If they are in, I want to have to make choices with consequences. Both Dragon Age games got the ball rolling on that, and I'd like to see it continue, and evolve to having some real difficult decisions.
 
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Raggie said:
I'm always amused at discussions like this where nerds wear monocles for not being into such lowbrown thing as romance, because, you know, the rest of the game content is such respectable high culture and surely being into the looting and killing part is something to be proud of. I'm surprised they are able to handle the rest of the entertainment media, with almost all books, tv shows and movies having more romance than those "Bioware love sims".
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The problem (for me) is that romance (as well as seeing naked chicks) is something I would much rather experience in real life, while looting dungeons, casting spells, killing orcs and control a diverse group of people in turn based combat is not something I can do in real life.
Romance in games and all kinds of pixelated nudity bores me to tears, and I just can't understand why the digital versions of it is so exciting.
I don't have anything against it if it feels like a natural part of the game, but I can't stand it when it becomes the focus of the game (or mod).
 
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PetrusOctavianus said:
The problem (for me) is that romance (as well as seeing naked chicks) is something I would much rather experience in real life, while looting dungeons, casting spells, killing orcs and control a diverse group of people in turn based combat is not something I can do in real life.
Romance in games and all kinds of pixelated nudity bores me to tears, and I just can't understand why the digital versions of it is so exciting.
I don't have anything against it if it feels like a natural part of the game, but I can't stand it when it becomes the focus of the game (or mod).
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Yes, I largely agree with this.

In response to the "nerd" bashing, I can't think of anything more nerdy than a virtual romance.

Not that it can't aid a good story - but it most certainly doesn't represent the most entertaining material in a computer game.
 
PetrusOctavianus said:
The problem (for me) is that romance (as well as seeing naked chicks) is something I would much rather experience in real life, while looting dungeons, casting spells, killing orcs and control a diverse group of people in turn based combat is not something I can do in real life.
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I'm in a happy relationship myself, and even if I had the chance I wouldn't want to kill anything. Just because you enjoy something in entertainment doesn't mean you want/need the same experiences in reality. Real relationships and real killing is something entirely different from what you see in games, and that's just as well. I understand why some people don't enjoy in-game romances, but I wish people would stop making partronising presumptions about those who do.

I'd also wish people would stop with the claims that games become "about" the romances when they include a romantic optional sidestory. That's just blowing things out of proportion.
 
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DArtagnan said:
In response to the "nerd" bashing, I can't think of anything more nerdy than a virtual romance.
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My purpose is not to make fun of the "nerdiest", on the opposite I find it ridiculous when nerds start making fun of each other for being nerdy. That's just the pot calling the kettle black, we are all nerds here. Smugness over enjoying "correct" entertainment products in a "correct" manner while feeling contempt over those who are being entertained by the "wrong" things is just silly, pointless, and sadly far too common in the RPG community.
 
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Raggie said:
My purpose is not to make fun of the "nerdiest", on the opposite I find it ridiculous when nerds start making fun of each other for being nerdy. That's just the pot calling the kettle black, we are all nerds here. Smugness over enjoying "correct" entertainment products in a "correct" manner while feeling contempt over those who are being entertained by the "wrong" things is just silly, pointless, and sadly far too common in the RPG community.
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I largely agree. Who is it around here who feels that way about romances, though?
 
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