Well, I wasn't implying that they become a servant, but as you mentioned earlier, if they have to make a trek from town to town to their shop everyday, that wouldn't works so well either, would it?

Well, hopefully shop owners actually have something useful to buy in Skyrim. In Oblivion I found most of my stuff from dungeon diving. So if anything, maybe the spouse's business skyrockets with all the unique wears you bring home.

That would actually be amazing if you can help your merchant spouse to be more successful by supplying them with certain kinds of goods (for example, lumber, arrrows, wooden shields, etc., if wood is scarce in town).

But ultimately if they are "successful," what does that really mean? They just have a bigger pool of gold to help you unload all your junk loot?

I'm also wondering about this. I hope so as it wouldn't be hard for them to implement if they're already doing hetero marriage. I want my female to marry another female since I'm gay in real life.

Well, since you're partnered up with a business owner, if you expect your spouse to give discounts on buying wears from them, I would assume they'd expect the same in return. 'Cause economics wise, if they give you discounts and buy all your wears from you at full price, they won't be in business for too long. Maybe they let you use some of their store display space to sell your own goods on consignment/ for a commission? That way you get the price you want and they get a cut of the deal.

Or a bigger wealth to share in the resources for those looking for divorce?

Bootysweat WHY OH WHY DID YOU LEAVE GOLDEN SAINTS, DREMORA AND MAZKAN OFF THE LIST THIS TIME/??!!!! AHHH!!!! PUT THEM BACK, PUT THEM BACK, NO LIST LIKE THIS IS COMPLETE WITHOUT THEM!!!!

My standing opinion on this matter:

I've heard the clamour on both sides. But, if I may, allow me to give a brief explanation as to why the relationships, occupations, and other features that are "non-essential" to the main quest.

The much floated word is Immersion. But, an equally apt phrase might be that these things aid in providing an Immersive and Viable Alternate Reaility.

All games offer a type of escapism. But the RPG, more than the typical adventure game, more than the typical film or even the typical novel, has the intention of offering a VIABLE and highly INTERACTIVE escapism. It offers an alternate reaility, where the player takes on a role more akin to what he or she might want to be but hasn't the means to be in real life: a powerful wizard, a mighty warrior, an expert thief, a professional assasin, a vastly wealthy Baron/Baroness with hordes of warriors at his or her disposal etc. It will also often offer a world/time that the player wants to live in or at least visit, but that is not accessible in their everyday world.

And the more realistic the social social features (friendships, plausible reations in conversation, plausible reactions to events, feats, deeds, status etc., romances, affairs, marraiges, occupations, negotiation, allegiances etc. etc. etc.) the more immersive the alternate reality becomes.

The noise about these features not "adding" to the overall story, aside from being erroneous, misses the point. All of these features are things that help MAKE a story. Certainly they help enormously in making a player's story more unique AND more verisimilitudinous. More realistic, in the level of immersion.

"But I can do these things in real life," or "But its not supposed to be like my regular life! I don't want cars in it!" are arguments that also, COMPLETELY MISS THE POINT. . . they also MISUNDERSTAND the intent. The game becomes a more viable escapism by becoming more viable; more "life-like". This does not mean the game becomes identical to your actual, everyday life. It means that THE IN GAME EXPERIENCE WILL BE MORE CONVINCINGLY THOROUGH, INCREASINGLY PLAYING AS THOUGH YOU WERE ACTUALLY A PERSON LIVING IN THAT GAME WORLD, AND FULLY ABLE TO EXIST AND INTERACT THEREIN" if you so choose, of course.

The thorough RPG allows for the player to escape, during their spare time, into an alternate reality, where they exist as a mighty warrior or warlock, not just hacking and slashing their way through a series of quests, puzzles, and plot points, but interacting with the world and being interacted with by the denizens of the gameworld. The relationships aren't about making friends and lovers in a game as if you didn't have them in real life. It is about ideals not present in your real life. You may BE married in your own life. But in game, you are a warlock, married to three Elf Princessess, living in a high tower overlooking Markath. Or whatever alternative it is that you have an interest in.

The more RPGs follow this example, and the better Skyrim and the Elder Scrolls that follow manage this, the more immersive they will be, and the more they will appeal to gamers. . . some of whom may well end up lost in them.

And of course, if you truly have no interest in such things, they remain optional. You can walk right past them and hack, slash and riddle solve your way to the end of the main quest just as you would have 20 years ago playing Link The Legend of Zelda.

I hope to god Skyrim is six scene free.
Any news on wether or not that's gonna happen?

I'm sure it is, They wouldn't do something like that in TES.
Maybe a scene where he lays her down or something but not that.

I spot a lie, and I hear you fapping.. ... ... ...

LOL sure, why not? bliviongate: :wub:

Hey, since we're talking about the whole romance thing.... do we know if we can romance any random npc (like in Fable - ugh, terrible decision), or if there is a small limited amount of romanceable npc to choose from (which would probably mean a much better subplot!)?

It was reported in the September 2011 PSM3 magazine that there are a limited number of NPCs we can romance, and perhaps fewer that are open to marriage

Well that sounds promising!! I knew they wouldn't go the superboring Fable way!

I am one to embrace the whole concept of romance in video games and no it's not because as some would describe "I am a loser" I just think it makes the world more believable. Just imagine our world with no romance or marriage or anything of the sort. Yeah pretty stupid right? Besides the fact that they are completely optional they are like personal stories that help you define the type of person your character is.
Like maybe my warrior type character is a proud....erm well...warrior (haha) and he gets betrothed to a beautiful wife whom he loves very much.
On the other hand my assassin type char has no need for relationships and is complete'y abstinent since he views romance and physical relations as distractions from his job and thinks they dull your senses.

I completely agree - it adds some additional layer of depth to the interaction with NPCs and some details that make the world a bit more believable.

I am kind of curious, is it 100% confirmed, that we can only pursue relationships with certain Npcs ? Or is there some sort of persuasion mini-game or generic quest generation that will make any npc join us to our party and eventually fall in love (if you do even more stuff for the respected npc) ?

I personally would love to see this marriage option for generic npcs too, as i wouldnt need to change an existing companion or create one from scratch then and add all those scripts and dialogue again. When i get the game, i just want some generic npc to join my adventure when i wake up in that cell. I want to build up a relationship with that generic npc and if what i read so far is true, these generic companions might even be quite interactive as the radiant ai and radiant story ai should help out here greatly...

Yes, it's been confirmed in the Sept 2011 PSM3 article.

Also, one of the journalists who played the QuakeCon demo encountered a woman named Sigrid who told him, "I'm spoken for, so don't get any ideas!" (Although TBH, that dialogue suggests perhaps some sort of quest to woo her.)

No more persuasion mini-game in Skyrim.

Instead we have FO3-style dialogue options that get unlocked if your Speechcraft skill is high enough, or based on certain other skills, perks, or if you have completed certain quests related to that NPC.