Greetings

So just let me know what you think.

I already made a post about Romance in Fallout 4 but i thought a Poll would make it easier to see how things stand.

Well, you do have a wife if she can come out too, it would be cool. For some reason I would feel a bit guilty cheating on someone. Even in video games, I'm just like that.

Well, like in every RPG, i like the idea of romancing NPC's or companions, but only if done right. Skyrim is a good example of a bad romance system; "He girl, i got this here Amulet of Mara, whana shag?" "Sure!" ------skip to mariage. And dont get me started on how bland mariage itself was in skyrim, you would have more company from a blow up doll.

So yes, romance ok, but please let them put more effort in it then last time

Personally, I enjoy a little romance. I hope the husband/wife survives the events that landed us in the vault, and we can (or not. Choices.) reunite and rekindle what we had. After all, you can design the spouse any way you want. You can create your perfect companion. If you don't like your spouse, they are probably perishable, like most NPC in Fallout. The player can then shack up with a member of the same or opposite six. Not anyone mind you. They should only designate a handful. Interesting ones, of course.

That being said, I wouldn't want it at all if it isn't done decently. six, sure. Give me black out, disturbing sounds in the background, notes detailing our never-shall-we-speak-of-that-thing-you-did-last-night passions. I'll take all that. I don't care to see it, but I'm an advlt, and I can deal. If it's too awkward, I can easily not engage and avoid romance/six at all costs for the remainder of my play-through.

Oh, and no Skyrim romance. If that's their idea, just throw romance out the vault and ash it like the rest of the wasteland.

Honestly, Video game romances are awkward. If they have it in, I would not really care. We are married, but we do not know what happens to our character's spouse, so put me on the fence on this.

I think the option of it... Kinda belongs in an openworld, with as much freedom as this, so sure... why not?

But I most certainly prefer if it isn't toecurlingly embarrassing.

If it's done well, I'm all for it.

There are a few ways it might work. The bereaved player character gradually coming to trust an NPC, and slowly return their affections (would need more work from the player); the sad and lonely one-night stand that over time turns into more; as others have suggested, re-uniting with the misplaced spouse (horribly awkward if he/she turns out to have been an unwitting antagonist ).

Mostly, for it to work right it would have to be taken slowly, and that means it would either have to be

1. tied into the main quest, so that the pacing of the romance could be controlled trough that, or
2. the romance would have to have it's own long questline. Not necessarily a huge number of stages and quest events (although that would help) but at least plausible periods of adventuring together between romance-quest events.

The problem with 1. is that if the player character doesn't meet the romance character until after (or well into) the main quest, that messes it up. Having the romance character more or less forced on the player character right at the start would feel like being strong-armed by Bethesda.

That leaves 2. Would Bethesda be prepared to put that much work into romance? Who knows? But I think they'd have to for it to be right. I hope they do, but I'm not holding my breath

I'm going with No, they won't do it right anyway, although for me, that's only part of the reason for the no.

I'd be fine if the trend of putting romances in games didn't even happen/was removed simply because they seem to be a guaranteed brings out the worst in the playerbase almost on par with the casual/hardcoe player argument. Over the years on assorted forums I've seen bickering over who's a possible romance soon as characters are announced, bickering that a stated romance option doesn't look appealing/attractive enough, wailing over how many romance options are available or not, declarations of censorship over how intimate scenes are portrayed or not, screaming fits over everyone's respective headcanon regarding romance options, personal attacks over someone not liking a particular romance option for whatever reasons, outcries that there should be more romances taking precedent over content such as worldbuilding and gameplay, and people going ballistic over how a romance plays out.

There's also more often than not, romances are poorly written/handled. I know there's going to be some limitations simply because it's a video game no matter what, but so far I've seen them boil down to "I like you, I collected X amount of monster butts for you, let's get it on", to dialog that's pretty creepy/abusive/just messed up rather than romantic. That's not even going into some of the creepier stuff done in mods or posts that make one wonder if the person posting's been hit with a restraining order or stalking charges in real life.

While I know it smacks of "I don't like how someone else is playing the game" and I don't have to partake of romance options, I just feel that for the most part romances at this time are more trouble than they're worth.

With all that said, I have done some romances on occasion in a some games and they really didn't add much if anything to that particular playthrough for me, except for Saints Row 4 which cracks me up every time.

I think yes, it'd be cool if they flesh out the romanceable NPCs enough and have them connect with your character on some sort of benchmark level. Hopefully this is in, and hopefully they do it well. Even if I probably wouldn't utilise the feature often.

Just as long as it's not depressive crap.

Sorry but I'll have to vote no, they won't do it right anyway. When I saw it for the first time in ME, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Talk about cringeworthy. At least in films they're real people, it's like watching two mannequins going at it. Just why.

It's just my opinion though. I know some enjoyed it, I just don't.

I'm not too bothered about it if it's in FO4 though, because it'll be optional.

Voted around a 2.5....... would be nice if they did it right, buuuuuuuut they won't.

As long as it's optional, then yes.

I really hope this is in game. Not for six, cut to black for all I care. But with flirting/romance, a lot of fun dialog opens up. I haven't played Dragon Age, but that scene where they walk in on the main character in bed with another NPC has a lot of hilarious responses. It also adds to the depth of characters, how they react to flirting.

That said, I hope its more complex than Skyrims way of doing it: show you are available, do a quest, get married. A few static comments from that NPC is added, you get some money per day and the ability to get home cooked meals. But if that is to be the only option I'd prefer that they have that rather than having nothing.

If done right I wouldn't mind. If it's done like Skyrim then no.

Only if it expands on companionship. It could be explored through attributing a branch off of it.

Hm. I sort of instinctively feel that just because a bunch of mannerless yahoos can't be civil to each other, that isn't a very good reason for 'not wanting' a feature. If threads about romance (or anything else) look like they're not going to be a civil exchange, I'd just steer clear of them.

And, let's face it, unless you're seeing death threats appearing (as they did during the paid mods debacle) then you're not seeing the worst of the community - not by a long way .

To be honest, the only games I've played where the romances were like that were... um... Skyrim. Maybe I'm playing too many of the wrong (or right?) games .

I suppose the sort of thing that I'd hold up as a good example would be the romance with Jaheira in Balder's Gate 2 - not necessarily in the personality, but in the pacing, the dialogue, and the way it builds. Not perfect, but pretty good. Oh, and the (non-sixual/unconsummated) romance with Neeshka in Neverwinter Nights 2. At least, I saw it as a romance .

But I agree, it is hard to do a romance well, and many game companies either can't be bothered or just don't have writers of sufficient calibre.

But I live in hope

As far as uncivil playerbase goes, I've seen death threats and doxxing happen. And yeah, there's just ignoring the threads but as we've seen here with some topics, the threads tend to breed like roaches and overwhelm other topics. I guess upon reflection my opinion on this aspect is "With how people act, this is why we can't have nice things."

Regarding the romance writing, I've wondered if it's just not a subject that's going to be handled well enough in the video game medium compared to the interactive visual novels. To use Bioware as a convenient example most if not all of us here are familiar with, you have Tali'zorah from Mass Effect who's debut is a glorified info dump on Quarian culture and after her providing the evidence you need on Saren, you can pretty much ignore she exists. Her romance comes out of the blue and does take some creepy angles with her Captain worship and the existing option to have her exiled from the Quarians which some people have proudly posted as doing just so Tali only has their Shepard in her life. Sera from Dragon Age: Inquisition is an abusive relationship (especially if the PC is Dalish) with it going well only if you not only follow her views and not call her out on bs, but if you're Dalish, having to give up everything of family and culture otherwise she not only breaks off the romance but also cuts off any friendship.

I know that the writing can only improve over time with practice, but it feels like some of the writers need to take some supplemental classes first before writing romances.

i chose "nice if done right", i got serious doubts this is even possible under given cirumstances -

take skyrim as a blueprint:

devoid six and nudity, devoid procreation, what more is a "romance" than a companion with cheesy dialogue who can cook for you...?

Nice if done right.
More options are always good in an open-world game, and romance is one way to add some spice to it.
I don't need any six, or even cut-to-black though. All I'd like to see would be a handful of rich, unique characters with the option to marry them, and their relationship to you evolving in such a way that you'd feel ever more attached to them.
Kinda like a really well done companion, though with different options.

I dunno, just not "marriage" as it was in Skyrim. That was horrible.

me neither, as stg that the pc does - see http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1523732-no-shown-six-in-fo4-please/

I wouldn't mind if it was done right, but after seeing Skyrim's way of handling it, I feel like they might as well just ignore romance and focus on other things.

I agree with others here, if they do it right then it could be very cool. I think if they did decide to do something like this though then they should take a good hard look at companions like Vilja or Willow and try to make something similar to what was done wth those. Make it so we actually have to WORK at it, over time, while we are pursuing whatever other goals we feel like pursuing in the game, none of this 'Put on an amulet and get married' nonsense that Skyrim did.