Think about it for a moment. Typically, you spend something like 30 to 60 hours in game in the first playthrough. Usually less in subsequent playthroughs. Game world time passes quite a bit faster than real world time, so that 30 to 60 hours of play time can translate into months or even years. Typically, most games today do have enough time (in the game) for a lasting romantic bond to develop.

But how do you present that to someone in the 30 to 60 hours of real world time the game is being played? It will be about four or five conversations and two quests.

I would be all for romances ONLY IF and I really mean ONLY IF certain things are done.
1. Be able to break up. Weither thru violence, words, or whatever. Don't make them essential, don't have anyone essential whatsoever.
2. They leave you and snatch all or some of ur stuff if u are gone to long. Examples-u don't come back to the place in 2 weeks, u don't talk to them in 2 weeks, etc. u want relationships, well there u go. Most people in their right mind ain't gonna stay in a relationship where they are ignored. U want romance, well u can, but don't expect it to last if u don't commit.
3. They have an allowance. Every week they take such and such amount from ur currency. Certain partners will require a small amount and then there are the gold diggers or people who are used to a certain lifestyle and will want to continue the same lifestyle.
4. They have to be able to nag. U come by the house maybe once a week and give her a simple "hello" and go to sleep, dump ur stuff, and then head out for the next adventure, they need to start nagging you. Even have them eventually wake u up during ur sleep or eventually get to the point u can't even sleep or rest or wait near ur home until u spend some time with them.
5. Have messy breakups. U don't spend enough time with them, they haven't gotten their allotted allowance for some time, etc etc, then u should get a chance encounter with said partner as they are yelling and screaming at you. Have them start throwing things. Like if they are in process of leaving, that gear they took with them, they should start throwing the stuff at you. Mass amount of scrap metal and u have dressed ur place up to how u like it, to bad. Ur place is gonna be a mess with scrap metal being thrown everywhere. Lord help u if u stockpiled a bunch of grenades hehe. Also any companions should not help you in this situation even if u attack them, instead have them back away and say stuff like " dayum, um I'm gonna head down to the bar while u sort things out" or " well ya did have it coming" or "I'll them them off ur hands" etc etc.

Give us that and I will preach to have romances in games and maybe just maybe, we will get less people asking for romance in "adventure exploring games". Just maybe. I'd be happy either way.

Well gee, should we take them out to dinner every week also? The ideas are good and (unfortunately) more realistic, but we are talking about a game here. Do I really want to spend 1 hour of every 5 hours of game time catering to my spouse instead of adventuring?

Wow. Uhm... So much drama. If my wastelander falls in love, it will be with someone who will share her adventures and carry her own weight, not a bat[censored] crazy nagging housewife leeching money off of her. But to each their own.

Yes I believe so and let eat a single food and drink item once each day. Come home and see them flailing about drunk or if there's any thing that mutates you, see them become mutated etc.
2 reasons why I came up with said list.
1. Having a relationship in a game where we basically sleep wherever we can and explore and walk many miles battling mutations and raiders, having a relationship and it working due to those conditions don't make very much sense at all to me. Yes I know relationships in games basically boil down to ego stroking, but if we are gonna complain about fo3 not having any food sources or a scientist who can fix a robot that's outside her specialization that a whole room of BoS people are, then we gotta have a reason why our "ego stroking" npc is staying with us. Same as companions, we expect them to leave or turn on us if we do certain things, why do we have a double standard for romance options?
2. A vast majority of romances "end" progressively style after we have done the steps and had our fade to black moment. Once we get them to "fall in love with us"....that's it. There ours and the interaction ends unless we head cannon the rest. This would be an ingame mechanic to keep the player invested in the relationship after all the dialogue and "romance steps" have been completed.


Also this applys to the way skyrim had their marriages. Where the person stayed at home and gave u money or gifts each week but could totally be ignored for ingame years!!!!! and nothing at all happens.

This is the wasteland, where a whole town will break out guns and bats and hunt u down and kill you if u accidently pick up a fork and even if u throw the fork down will still come after you but after 3 days will totally forget about everything u done (murdered half the town) and welcome u back with open arms.

I wouldnt want The mother of my children to be anywhere but behind 6 meters of concrete and guarded by a highly aggressive securitron. My companions Are all expendable. She wouldnt be. And in a World where Stepping on a rusty Spike smeared with human faeces could mean death, Id be fine with The nagging IF she was safe.

Remember that you Are basically The superhuman SAS/LLRP from Hell in this game. Chances are she wouldnt be.

I can undestand that, but my wastelander doesn't have or want any children. Well, at least that's my vision. If the leaks are true... Well, if all the leaks are true, I probably won't be playing this game, so it doesn't matter.

That's what I hate about the leak. I prefer a optional love interest not one to be thrown on me.

I can work with marriage and VO, even though I'd prefer not to. It's the predefined male protagonist, however unlikely, that I'm worried about.

Yeah, that seems kind of weird, and not something Bethesda would do. Still, if the leak is correct then you can play as a female post-MQ.

Nop....

....nop, nop, nop.

Only if there is six involved.

Someone who tells you that the Sisterhood of Steel is their favorite faction in Fallout.

Hah. Maybe it'll be a [censored] roleplaying game, but at least they'll score points for bravely introducing a transgender protagonist. Unless we really are an android so it doesn't matter... No, I think I'm going to keep my faith in Bethesda and good old character creation until proven otherwise.

From a purely commercial perspective, there are an awful lot of people who do enjoy spending a lot of time "picking out the right curtains" - or the Fallout equivalent, of fitting out their hovel/house/fortress-of-doom to be just the way they want it. Hence all the alternative home mods, mods for moving clutter around, display cabinets for trophies and the like

And this is why any romance options would have to be entirely optional, or include (in effect) fellow adventuring companions.

Catering for the players who want an NPC partner based at the player home is reasonably straightforward. They could fulfil a game function much as spouses did in Skyrim - provide additional income by running the player's estate, perhaps take all the excess loot and sell it for the player (slightly lower payoff, more convenience), give a temporary stat boost when the player rests at their home base, possibly act as a sort of notice-board providing random quests (a bit like the inkeeper rumours in Skyrim).

Making an NPC romance partner to accompany the player might be more difficult. They'd have to be distinguished in gameplay terms from hired hands or temporary quest companions. One way this might be done is to make hired hands likely to turn tail and run if the player gets into a fight above a certain difficulty level, or even (depending on the NPC's faction membership) switch sides and turn on the player. Temporary quest companions could be much more likely to hang back and act defensively (why did they hire the player if not to do the dirty work for them?), or to go charging ahead impetuously with the player unable to tell them otherwise.

A romance-interest adventuring companion could be set to never betray, never run, and fight aggressively or defensively as directed by the player. That would give them a different feel to other companions, and have a practical combat role. They could also provide the player a small constant stat boost, and a reputation boost with any faction the romance-NPC is a member of or has a good rep with.

Could have the player and partner both androids / cyborgs and have cut scenes with the sound of trash cans banging together.

I'd say no, it's not Bethesda's forte. Heck, it's not exactly Obsidian's forte either.

I would really like some form of romance/marriage option in Fallout 4 so long as its handled better than Skyrim's system. The thought of marrying someone and raising a family in a land has harsh and unforgiving as Skyrim was a really intriguing concept but it could have been handled a lot better. I loved having Yosilda as my wife, but the fact that all you had to do was get her a Mammoth tusk and then wear the Amulet of Mara in order to marry her was ridiculous. I want to form actual bonds through quest lines and make it feel more natural. I'd also like same six options again too.

I am going to tentatively say no.

Just out of curiosity, it was mentioned that you could do quests & have relationships with Red Lucy and Sarah Weintraub in FONV. Were there any men?

disclaimer: No I am not a SJW, just curious if any one knows.

You could do it with one or two men in NV iirc, but I dont think any of them had the kind of quests attached to them like Lucy and Sarah did.

Okay thanks.

edit: spoiler

I would like to say DA:i's method of engaging with characters, traveling with them, and doing loyalty/personal quests is the right direction. However, something more immediate to the franchise would be FNV's companion building. It all relied on the character following you, and you triggering different dialogue from conversation you have with other NPCs or simply visiting a location. It feels a lot more fluid and scales well based on how much a character has done within the game world.

Bethesda would need to step away from quantity and approach the potential followers with quality.

I don't believe so. Its been years since I played New Vegas, so I could be wrong on that. I believe you could meet and have six with a gay male prosttute, but that's the closest thing I can think of.

Also, simply asking a question like that, or even wanting same six relationships in general, doesn't make you a SJW. People who think you are solely based on that don't know what a SJW actually is.

EDIT: Looks like by the time I posted this, someone already answered. Sorry about that lol.

Pretty much a universal mantra being chanted by anyone listening to Mjoll talk about an enemy "soiling his armor" when she attacked them. (You hear this tale about every 5 minutes.....) BGS is capable of it, I thought Serana (appeared in a DLC) was a big step in the right direction, though still needing further refinement.