New replicas, camouflages, sometimes even full-fledged events. Valentine’s Day, of course, is not the most popular holiday, but sometimes developers even bother with it. (which is worth only Crimson Days in Destiny)
And it made me think about how things work with love relationships in games in general? And, if so, look, then things are, in fact, not as good as we would like. But let’s talk about everything in order.

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The script in games did not immediately reach the level of cinema (hello Uncle Carmack with his most famous quote, which has been sucked on so many times that it makes you sick). Most often, the “love line” in games was used as one of the standard motivations. Well, you know, this classic version, when the main character’s princess/bride/love of his life was stolen from him (underline or add as necessary) and now he needs to destroy an army of bandits/aliens, etc.d., or go through all the dangerous levels, like in Super Meat Boy. And all this was presented, like any other similar plot, as a rule, in a few lines of text, which no one read anyway.

This was a time when real plots were only found in RPGs like Final Fantasy and the like. (and not always) And other games, as a rule, didn’t even try, and if they tried, they didn’t really have expressive means, so it didn’t really make sense.

But time passed, technology grew and the drama in games improved accordingly. We began to have full-fledged characters and full-fledged love lines. Screenwriters used them
about the same as in movies and TV series. Sometimes love lines were somewhere in the background and developed in parallel. For example, as in Prince of Persia, where in parts 1 and 3 of the trilogy the Prince has an adventure with the Indian princess Farah and at this time they fall in love with each other. Sometimes romances, and especially failed romances, are used as a character development tool. For example, like in Max Payne 2, where the tragedy of the love story with Mona Sax once again emphasizes the mood of the entire series, or in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, where we were told the love story of Ezio and Christina in side missions in order to better let us feel what Ezio went through and what kind of life he lost because of the Templars.

Well, of course, no https://7-sultans-casino.uk/ one canceled the option with motivation. My favorite example is the first The Darkness, where we were shown an ordinary little scene in which the main character’s girlfriend
congratulates him on his birthday, and after a while we are shown how the main villain kills her.

There are stories where the love line is simply there for some script purposes, there are stories that are completely tied to the love line, for example, Final Fantasy 8 and, let’s be honest, Life is Strange. And so on and so forth. But now I’m trying to boil it all down to the fact that it’s all really bullshit. It seems to me that the games that deserve the most attention are those that introduce the main element into love lines that distinguishes games from any other form of art – interactivity!

Yes, compared to all the options mentioned above, this seems like something incredibly cool. We may associate ourselves with the main character and the writers try hard to make us fall in love with the same characters as the main character, but when everything you do for the main character is limited to, for example, fighting, and the main character does everything else for you, you in any case always feel that you are observing the story rather than participating in it yourself. But when you are forced to make your own decisions, and at the same time not only fight, but also talk, especially considering that you have a chance of failure, the immersion is noticeably stronger.

And everyone also has different tastes. If you don’t like the type of girl of the main character, no matter how long they show you their beautiful love story, you won’t be 100% imbued with it, but here, as in real life, you can choose for yourself.

BUT! As always, there are a few “buts”. These games, however, are not without some serious shortcomings.

The smallest of them is still a general sketchiness. Have you noticed how the choice between Yennefer and Triss in The Witcher 3 is very similar to the choice between Morrigan and Lelliana and Dragon Age: Origins, it in turn is similar to the choice between Catherine and Katherine from the game Catherine, or the choice between Tifa and Iris in Final Fantasy 7, or the choice between Viconia and Airy from Baldur’s Gate 2, and so on for a very, very long time. And for girls it’s the same: the choice between Carth and Johani in KoTOR, between Alistair and Zevran in the same Dragon Age, etc.d. I can’t give so many examples offhand here, unfortunately.

The point is that it is always a choice between the same types. There is always on the one hand someone who personifies kindness, some naivety, stability, simplicity and has a rather gentle character, and on the other, more often than not, a Libra person with a strong, strong-willed, sometimes very complex character, with non-standard behavior or appearance, absolutely not naive, sometimes cynical, etc.d., Using the example of the same Lilliana and Morrigan, it seems to me that it is quite obvious what I’m talking about. Of course, if the screenwriter is a good one, then everything is not always so simple, but nevertheless. Moreover, returning to The Witcher 3, there the character of Triss was even changed once again in order to fit everything into the above-mentioned framework. But we can even make a separate video about how the developers raped Triss as a character all these years.

I don’t want to pretend to be picky now, I understand that, most likely, this is exactly what Gotham needs now, but for me personally, as a person who has played a sufficient number of such games in my life, all this sketchiness is always visible to the naked eye. And I think that now you will too, if you weren’t able to see it before.

But, in addition to the sketchiness of the choice, we also have the sketchiness of the process itself. Only YOU always choose. The process is always one-way. I don’t remember a single time when a character tried to start a relationship with a player. But if you think about it, this opens up a gigantic bunch of possibilities.

Imagine that with your actions or judgments you can not only earn approval points, but also make the character fall in love with you, and in this case it will be he who will make the first step, not you. And what happens if the player refuses him? Will he accept this calmly, or will he become as active as possible and try to win your love with his heroism or another character trait, or will he get angry with you and generally leave / go over to the side of the enemy? And how will all this affect how everyone else treats you?? Think about how gigantic this potential is.

In addition, we always see the same stage of a relationship: its beginning. With the exception of only one game that I remembered, we never see, for example, the parting stage, and this is also important. The game, by the way, is called Mass Effect 3. If in part 1 you had a relationship, for example, with Liara, and in the 2nd already with someone else, in the 3rd, where Liara again becomes part of your
team, you can talk to her about this topic and either come to the conclusion that you should remain friends or get back together. Perhaps the only thing that is NOT degrading in Bioware games now is romantic relationships.

What do you think? Games still have room to grow and they definitely need to do it? Or are you happy with everything as is?? Or do you even think that love lines in games are absolutely unnecessary??
I wish you to celebrate Valentine’s Day not only with the mothers of your opponents!