I know such barmaids in real life. Annoying little creatures...
Love? I don't know, it just screams boring at me. Going extreme and wishing for [censored] violence orgies ending in genocide - like a "true" (stereotypic) viking - on the other hand... Fun No I'm exaggerating of course, but I think a love story would have limiting reach considering the audience (in general). It was stressful enough juggling around the girlfriends in GTA SA, and from what I could gather, "love" wasn't really part of those stories - as expected from Rockstar.

So unless it has extreme humor, advlt humor, connected to it, just drop it and spend time on cool stuff instead.

as has been said before The Witcher did romance perfectly! It knew the confines of its own game and setting and played to it, making a fun and immersive experience based on comedy and the dark setting. The problem is were trying to shove a square block in a round hole (double entendre anyone?) romance simply doesn't fit and there is no sense shoehorning a half baked feature into a game just to tack it onto the box and say "look romance!"

All I'd like to see is some flirting in the dialogue options when the NPC likes you. That would add more depth to their character.

Eh.. a romance in a single player RPG? So basically dating the computer..?

Seems a little funny to me and it's certainly not something I would want in this series, ever.

Incredible... simply incredible. It never cease to amaze me how incredible narrow minded some people on this forum is. You just had to insult everyone who dosn't share your opinion, didn't you? Do you feel better now? Everyone is entitled to their opinion ofcause but don't make a fool of anyone who dosn't share your view.

Wow, a bunch of closed-minded whiners in here.

Romance in video games?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALHAuuq5bxM

It doesn't really matter. The modders are going to add this content pretty quickly anyway. :wink_smile:

Not all people have access to mods. Also, i have never used mods so i might be mistaken but from what i have heard it dosn't exactly sound like that is the kind of "romance" i want in TES.

Eh, sleeping with nearly every women that'll talk to Geralt didn't do it with me, but I got the impression he's a guy who likes to get laid and not be tied down.

I would like interesting companions with their own little storyline to follow.

Doesn't need to be as heavy-handed as Bioware stuff, and should be ignorable and not part of the main quest, but I have difficulty seeing any problem with making companions that have some depth, and don't just follow you aimlessly and help you fight. I mean, that's not particularly believable... companions should have motivations. Romance could be a great motivation, though it's by no means the only option.

More than 'romance companions', though, I'd like to see more romance and meaningful relationships between NPCs in the world around me. Couples in Oblivion felt so sterile, just random people who shared a house.

However, there's no reason why it should be degraded like that. The fact that it so often is just suggests that game developers don't bother hiring people who can actually write - a rather sad condemnation of a genre where story-telling is the whole point. The fact that it's rarely been done well before doesn't mean it can't be done. It is, after all, little more than writing good dialogue and decent characterisation that fits in with the imaginary world. Even if Bethesda's writers aren't up to the job (or aren't allowed to be) that doesn't mean that it is impossible.

Incidentally, a romance doesn't have to involve six at all, and can even be more touching as a result.


Just because Elder Scrolls games haven't had companions before doesn't mean they never could. Perhaps solitary adventuring is so much a defining characteristic of these games that there is no possibility of including them - but it'd be sad if Bethesda became so fossilised by their image of what Elder Scrolls is that they couldn't change or innovate.


Nah. Read the lore. Romance in Skyrim is when she decides you've made quite enough money for her and hack you to pieces with her battleaxe - or poisons you - or casts a spell of amnesia on you, and sends you off to muck out the pigs. This is Tamriel !


Hard to do without access to good voice actors. Unless you're confused between romance and porm.

I don't want romance for my PC

As long as it's not a central aspect of the story I don't care if romance options for your character is put in the game, but I would rather it wasn't.

Actually, I don't want romances in this game.... but I don't want lack of romances either.

To explain, here's what I think: when I had Butch and Charon with me in Fallout 3, there were dim and vague hints at a romance (especially in the way Butch speaks to a female player character). But my imagination filled the blanks.
The same thing with New Vegas (which is an Obsidian game, but still has Bethesda's supervision so it counts), were it's my imagination that created most of the romance subplot in the game even if the game itself threw you a bone to do so (Black Widow perk on Benny for example).

So, for Skyrim, I'd like the game to -not- have an evident romance subplot like other rpg have. But, I would like it to improve the hints at romances. I'd like to know for sure that my character is romancing this other character, but to not get long dialogue expositions about it.

Thing about romance in games is that it has to be well made to actually feel real and not just something added on with duck tape. The character has to be 3 dimensional, not just good/evil and lawful/chaotic, they need depth, they need to act like a person with feelings and they need to stick around you so you grow attached about that character.

Fable fails with this over and over again due to the fact that the devs can't seem to realize that the character has to be interesting and unique, not just random NPC #587. Sure you can romance people in that game but why would you do it? You don't care about that character, that character is not important to the story or you, he/she just sits at home.

Bioware on the other hand have understood this and got some very interesting romance subplots in their games (Leliana and Tali for example, I'm sure people that have played their games can come up with other examples). Most of their characters (not just the love interests) are interesting, they have depth, personality, likes and dislikes etc. They also stick around with you, they're always there for you.

My point is: yes, include romance in the TES games but ONLY if it's well made and feels natural. If they don't include it then no problem, that's not the reason I play TES games (or video games in general), I play them because I can explore this huge, living, breathing world and live out my own adventure.

Heh, I always thought the romance with Neeshka in Neverwinternights 2 was far better than the one with Elanee - even though it wasn't written as an explicit romance .

You got my point! XD

I discovered that a subtle undertone of romance, in an rpg, is usually more interesting than an explicit and fully written romance subplot. So this is what I'd like Skyrim to do.
Butch only saying "if you wanna get closer, you just have to say it, girl" and nothing else, was already worth a whole romance subplot. I just need these hints, and since each Bethesda games is a step forward from the previous one, I'm expecting the romantic elements of Skyrim to be handled even better.

Oh calm down, it was just a joke.
But honestly, I would prefer not having romantic relationships in the game. The idea just seems extremely silly to me, and there's no way it can really be done right.

For one, there's the matter of how they're going to make it work.
They can make it so that any NPC will be your lover, but how will that work? They're going to have to record different lines for all the different races and sixes that way. Those are lines and effort that would be better spent on quest dialogue.
They can also make it so that only a select few NPCs fall in love with me, but what's the fun in that? The game's choosing what I like for me, and is basically pigeonholing me to just a few options.

These just raise more questions, such as:
What if I play a gay or bisixual character? How will dialogue work then? Are all the people you can fall in love with bisixual so that this can work no matter how you play? That just seems unrealistic to me.
How will romance work? What do you accomplish by getting an NPC to fall in love with you? Does the NPC buy you things, or have six with you?
How do you court an NPC into falling for you without making it seem like a cheesy minigame?

Of course, there's the matter of making the romances seem remotely believable in game. All the games I've played that have some sort of NPC + PC romance just seemed ridiculously contrived and lame after hearing the same lines over and over or going through the same rituals to keep the romance going.

If there is romance, I'd rather have something subtle and non-intrusive. Maybe a few unique dialogue options with NPCs, but nothing so overt as living in the NPCs house or having to get them gifts or going on lame dates.

I suppose that quests involving the NPC can work if they're done well by being tied into a faction or having some sort of plot twist (kinda like how GTA: IV had that one girlfriend who ended up being one of the feds). Of course, twists can be adapted to fit a fantasy setting like Skyrim.
^I think that if this is done, maybe a select number of unique NPCs can be used.

I that case my character, although male, engaged in plenty of romance in the previous games. See.. we've got romance already.

I've got it make a desele house type place but make it so the dancers are being held their by some corrupt pompos guy and you can free them afterward each one wants to thank you but you can either tell them all they need to get out before he finds out or tell one of them to meet you someplace afterward at X location blank days from then.(that 1 person of your choice could become a close friend or a servant at your house you give them a home they clean your mansion/shack)

however if you dont want that you tell them all Blank settelment is just starting and needs people to help build/live at after so many weeks of game time the settlement either gets finished or if you didnt check up on them they all died in some attack.

Just an idea its cheesy I know but offering those 2 ways to complete it makes completionists happy and those who do/don't want romance can pursue 1 of 2 options regarding the dancers fate.


god its so cheesy it could always be dlc but whatever I came up with it in hindsite its sorta dumb but its more of a foundation for a possible way to incorporate romance into the game and could potentially add enough of each race/six to make everyone happy.

Sorry its the best idea I got so far.

Dr. Jones, Dr. Jones! No time for love!

So true...

With my pet dog furry? Hell yes.

...Wait what?

*breaks the door down*
No-one start a Tali discussion! Just don't! I'm sick of hearing about her... :banghead: