Thirith on 29/6/2009 at 11:26
So far I've enjoyed every Obsidian game I played - except Neverwinter Nights 2, which I felt was one of the most generic D&D adventures (especially in terms of characters) in a long time. Mask of the Betrayer was a massive improvement IMO and one of the best D&D games since Planescape Torment.
Dresden on 27/7/2009 at 11:26
Quote Posted by denisv
Awesome. That's exactly what I look for in a game.
I think they should just be honest with themselves and start making the hentai games they really want to make.
Does anyone really care about branching romances anymore? If they want to make a romance subplot, I think I'd rather just have a specific thoughtful one instead of a few that seem tacked on. BG2's were kind of nice though I guess.
Koki on 27/7/2009 at 12:24
This raises a question, does anyone even care about romances in RPGs? Yeah yeah, lesbian alien sex in Mass Effect, but seriously, how can you have any kind of... emotional involvement in something like that. This shit probably only works on people who cared about Companion Cube.
nicked on 27/7/2009 at 12:35
One day, relationships in games will probably be interesting and meaningful. But we're still at the stage where "relationship" means either entirely scripted dialogue simulating a relationship regardless of player involvement (Half-Life 2's Alyx) or multiple-choice dialogue trees (most RPG romances). Either way it becomes a boring chore that takes you out of the game or appears about as exciting as escort missions to the average gamer.
A good first step would be to have a tangible gameplay benefit to being in a relationship with someone.
Eventually, some kind of truly reactive AI (like they have when showing off a computer that can simulate a human IM conversation) with non-dialogue-tree-based simulated conversations would make for a real interesting challenge.
Not just Baldur's Gate 2-style:
"I'm Jaheira. My husband's dead. Wah wah wah!"
a) There, there, it's ok. Want to sit on my lap?
b) Shut the fuck up you whinging bitch.
Dresden on 27/7/2009 at 19:55
I'm probably going to get crap for saying this, but I think some of the Final Fantasy games do romance plots very well. Locke/Celes and Zidane/Garnet were good.
Sulphur on 27/7/2009 at 20:03
Quote Posted by Koki
This raises a question, does anyone even care about romances in RPGs? Yeah yeah, lesbian alien sex in Mass Effect, but seriously, how can you have any kind of... emotional involvement in something like that.
Wait a minute. After all these years you drop a clunker like that.
Did you just that say you'd like it if a game involves you at an emotional level? And I mean beyond just plain old frustration, fury and happy happy joy joy "you win!" instagratification?
WAHT
june gloom on 27/7/2009 at 20:07
Quote Posted by Dresden
I'm probably going to get crap for saying this, but I think some of the Final Fantasy games do romance plots very well. Locke/Celes and Zidane/Garnet were good.
I agree. Incidentally those two are both from two of the three FF games I enjoy.
Koki on 28/7/2009 at 11:27
Quote Posted by Sulphur
Did you just that say you'd like it if a game involves you at an emotional level?
No.
Not romantically, anyway.
Falling for a nonexistant character is SO gay
Sulphur on 28/7/2009 at 18:49
Who's talking about falling for? Emotional involvement doesn't mean you have to fall in love with a character, it's about being able to relate to circumstances and characters at an emotional level.
And falling for non-existent characters isn't gay, it's just... (
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/magazine/26FOB-2DLove-t.html) Japanese.
