C'mon people, you talk like (b)romances are exclusive only to Bioware.

Arcanum did it right. Hell some might say that even Obsidian in Alpha Protocol/KOTOR2.

@View PostCharlemagne19

Agreed. It does not need to be an epitome of cheesball to make it work. Sorta. :vaultboy:

Atton Rand and my heavily bearded Jedi were probably the biggest bros in the broverse in KOTOR2. Atton Rand was what Carth from the first one should of been, which is a lovable sarcastic jerk, not a big whiner.

My experience with romances in games dates back to the first KOTOR now that I think about it, wasn't a big PC gamer so I wasn't really on the curve of RPG's that featured that kind of thing. I remember the romance options in KOTOR1 and 2 being alright.

Anyway to be on topic, would I want it for Fallout? If Obsidian ever does another Fallout I wouldn't be upset if they took a crack at it since I think they have some pretty good writers on staff. But in the rpg's I've played the romance angle isn't really the most nuanced thing. I'd hate it to turn out to be "Proceed through the dialogue tress picking the least mean options possible, agree with everything she/he says, find her/him something shiny, agree with her/him on everything in a pivotal story moment, sleep with her/him, hit it and quit it and find someone new. You heartless cad." I think that's something that can cheapen romance options in rpg's is that sometimes you can go through the shebang in one go. I unwittingly did this in one rpg, where I romanced somebody in about an hour after starting and in the next hour she wanted to see me in her tent for "relaxation"

I just think in most current rpg's romance options are just really, really hard to get right. It either goes too fast, takes too long, or you can somehow game it and just cheapen the affect the developers might have intended. Romance options seem to be a tricky thing to do, especially in an open world rpg like fallout I'd imagine.

So yeah I wouldn't mind it being added but I also think Fallout could also easily survive without it.

I should also get in on Alpha Protocol at some point, I have that sitting in a stack and was intrigued with what I''ve seen.

gets more like sims with each passing thread.

In Fallout 2, you could knock up Mr. Bishop's wife or daughter, and there was an ending that talked about the offspring's life. Fallout 2 also let your character become a porm star if you wanted.

Given that Fallout already has six scenes with prosttutes, and extramarital affairs, I don't feel like the "morals" objection to a romantic subplot carries much water. First off, parents who are concerned about a game's morals really shouldn't be buying Fallout for their kids. But any parents who are willing to buy Fallout now aren't going to be put off by the inclusion of a romantic subplot that culminates in an attached relationship.

I like your idea of including an optional romance subplot for any or several followers. That keeps the romance aspect secondary, where it doesn't have to bother anyone who doesn't want to play it. But it helps solve the objection raised by another poster that limiting it to only one follower seems artificial. I also like the idea of tying it to a perk or something, like Wild Wasteland. Basically as an option that players can turn off if they don't want it.

You could bang a prosttute in Fallout 3. She was in megaton, and worked for the Irish barkeep guy.

I don't count that as being with a prosttute. She does not even change out of her clothing. Just sleeps next to you.

I'm yet to see Romance work in a game... So I'm a sceptic.

I really would hate to see comments on the game though if players were encouraged to have a romatic relationship with say.... Moira Brown.

Oh people have already modded it I'm sure. Boiled down to it, fans for games with romances can be HUGELY annoying - though.

Over at Bioware's forums (God, yes, there's actually some crossover) you get 100 page threads on "Romance for Tali in Mass Effect 2"

Has anyone here read much Cormac McCarthy? Or seen his movies? I'm thinking of "No Country for Old Men" and "The Road." McCarthy is reputed to be a Gnostic, and his books reflect Gnostic themes. NCfOM are similar in that they convey these themes. The settings are different, but similar in the respect that they both involve worlds steeped in evil. The narrator in NCfOM is a decent man who can't comprehend the violence arising from the cross-border drug trade in the early 80's. And the whole world of "The Road" is ablaze with unspeakable evil.

What makes the stories so compelling is how McCarthy contrasts these settings to the love which drives each of the narrators. In NCfOM, the narrator finds his only solace from evil with his wife, with whom he shares a deep, abiding love. In "The Road," the only thing justifying the narrator's ongoing existence is his love for his son. Both stories moved audiences deeply, and both drew the strength of their emotional punch from the juxtaposition of love in a world overtaken by evil.

It's easy to see the parallel in both of these worlds to the world of Fallout. And these models show how a romantic subplot could add narrative power to the Fallout story. In a world overtaken by evil, isn't love that much more precious?

I'll grant, this approach will have more appeal to advlt gamers than to gamers who might lack the maturity to appreciate narrative nuance. But for me, what settles the question is that it's possible to include this in the game without overwhelming the game. Just like banging prosttutes doesn't define the whole of the Fallout experience, neither does the existence of one or two romantic opportunities have to define the whole Fallout experience.

NCfOM demonstrates how easily a romantic element can be implemented into a story, while still maintaining the story's overall "action and adventure" character, too.

Scene is different from sound, sound is still something that is tolerable, but a scene?

God and hell no.

@Bar- It really doesn't matter what a parent thinks of Fallout. It's an M rated game, which means legally, kid's can only obtain it if parents buy it for their kids. If Fallout included detailed six scenes, and some soccer mom is angry little Timmy saw six, then the fault lies in her bad parenting for being an idiot and buying her little 10 year old an MATURE rated game, and not expecting, ya know, MATURE content.

I don't know what people see in BioWare romance sub plots... I find them incredibly awkward, and the dialogue cringe-worthy. Fortunately this amounts to at least some entertainment value; the dialogue is often so bad that it's funny.

Bioware can handle it, its a trademark for most of their games, But Fallout?, no, and the Straight, and both lisbian and Gay marriage in Fallout 2 doesnt count, since that you dont do too much to convince her/him

It leaves a lot to imagine, but, she's still a prosttute.

Don't get me started on the Tail-ban and their love for a space chicken.


Anyways I agree with Col. Martyr though if the game is rated M for mature then legally the developers of said game shouldn't worry about what they put in the game as long as it make the game better

Okay, but the point is that a romantic subplot wouldn't require a graphic six scene either. There's no reason a romantic subplot would require the game to extend the boundaries set by its previous six scenes. The bottom line is, the morals objection to a romantic subplot has no merit.

In my opinion, the Modoc marriage in Fallout 2 is an example of how it shouldn't be done. The shotgun wedding wasn't really entertaining beyond its novelty, and you ended up with a worthless follower who you quickly got rid of one way or another. By contrast, the followers in New Vegas had interesting personalities, and you ended up getting emotionally involved in their stories. My argument is that the depth of the RP would be improved if with one or more of those characters there was a romance subplot.

Oddly, I actually think Fallout 2 DID have a romance subplot. The Bishop family women had potential beyond merely six.

Mrs. Bishop, honestly, was a woman you could persuade to leave her husband and begin a new life.

(Why I prefer her as the father of the Chosen One's baby)

Angela Bishop is kind of tragic because you murder her father.

I'd like to say 'yes' to romance in Fallout, but videogame romances are always horrible in my experience; fist-eatingly bad dialogue, embarassed-sounding voice actors, the creepy team america six scenes...

I have enough problems with the six noises after the screen fades to black. Who really benefits from those?

"I have enough problems with the six noises after the screen fades to black. Who really benefits from those? "

heheheh



Is it just me or just once do others's secretly yearn for during said racey fade to black heavy breathing six moments to hear the a voice whisper.

" you are not doing it right" or " Well you can't help that but we will work with it" or the ever popular "was that it"


Maybe its just me

If romance interferes with me blowing trhings up or shooting peoplez, then take it out

In Fallout 2 you could get married doesn't that count?

I'd be fine with romance options but Fallout is fine without them.