I see no need to include romance into TES. Even more so because I don't have faith that gamesas would do it properly. They should rather spend their resources on improving other aspects of the game.

Where's the rest of the no romance crowd due to issues of it's just not worth the resources? Have we really became this tired of such topics appearing?

For my input, ignoring resource issues, having a mate really does limit the amount of free time one can have, even if it involves saving the world or doing jobs for a guild. Having been sick for a week has strained a lot of my relationships IRL, even when I did make an effort to spend time with my GF. I can only imagine how much worse it'll be when the PC has to take trips to dangerous caves/dungeons/etc for days on end, with a chance of being flayed alive. Not to mention there's the part about being the hero, or doing shady jobs. Having a relationship with someone is quite time consuming, along with adventuring and being the hero. What if you were an assassin of the Dark Brotherhood? Good luck trying to find a stable relationship with that. Need to save the world? Good luck, you'll at best spend a few hours with the significant other, while taking weekly trips away from home killing or searching for things. And definitely forget grinding out guild quests, they'll take too much time away from your significant other.

What about bringing them along with you? You sure it's a good idea to bring your girl/guy friend adventuring with you in the "dungeon of no return"? Bringing the SO is a complete endangerment to them, even if they can fight.

How about they don't mind you being away for so long? Then you begin to make it shallow and just not worth it. It'll be superficial at best.

I'm fine with the idea, as long as I don't have to call in the morning.

Then that's not really a relationship. For one to work, there has to be a good amount of communication. If such things weren't there, then the relationship becomes shallow, and something I'd consider a waste of good resources that could have been used elsewhere.

I just don't see the point of adding it when the development resources can be devoted to much better things. I mean, if Bethesda reaches a point where they're sitting in their chairs saying "Well guys... we've created hundreds of unique quests, dozens of miles of terrain to explore, hundreds upon hundreds of varied dungeons, and squashed all of the bugs we can find... what now?," then yes, I would like to see a romance option. Though I'd rather them just release it then. But until the actual game itself is perfected, I don't see any reason to add it in.

But, if they have the resources, then sure, why not. But then you have to deal with the fact that most games don't really do romance right. It isn't about getting into an NPCs pants, but most games, even Bioware's games, act like romance=six. In Dragon Age, you really don't have to do much to woo a NPC besides say the right things and give them lots of the type of gift they like. Most normal people, men and women, wont have six with you just because you give them nice things. Of course I emphasize the word most. If Bethesda wants to do romance, I want to see them implement a romance system, not a six system.



:wavey:

But where's the numbers on the poll!? All I can tell is that they think BW's six system = romance. Come on people, really? six=/=romance, and a realistic romance would require lots of hours spending time with your partner at all times. You can't just wander off and carelessly do faction quests, it takes a lot of time, commitment, and communication to make it somewhat realistic. For most people, it'll be too tedious and not worth it. Better to just find a RL significant other.

Nonononononononono. No romance for me thanks. I prefer my romances in my linear party based RPGs like Mass Effect and Dragon Age where you actually form deep connections to the characters, rather than the "open world system" (a la Fable) where you do absolutely nothing with a faceless random.

It simply won't work, like what was already said, something like this will either be amazingly deep and realistic, or an utter mess from the real thing. The chances are that something like this will turn out really bad for a game like TES, lets look at the reasons why:

Many people are getting this idea and supporting it from past games such as Fable and Dragon Age, let me state clearly that i find fable's system of 'romance' to be completely unrealistic and i view it in the 'utter mess' category. Dragon Age is possibly the best game i have seen to date that effectively implements a romancing system, aside from the flaw in the very shallow method of doing it (gifting) the speech options are actually quite good, i had to think about how Morrigan feels when attempting to romance her and what type of character i had to be to really be with Morrigan. Up until the point when you start gifting them the system worked rather well, but that won't work for the TES games simply because of the difference in mechanics, while Dragon Age was a party game with romanceable options all being fighting veterans of your level, TES has rarely any companions because the game wasn't meant to be played that way. Thus the idea of adventuring with your romances is very difficult as the protagonist in TES stories is in some way special to every other character in the game, they are destined to be the ones that perform the legendary feats. And as someone (hellmouth?) pointed out before you can't just leave your mate to go dungeon-diving or doing guild jobs, even Maglir from the fighter's guild refused to continue work because he was worried about leaving his wife and kids.

I see romance options as extremely difficult to implement because of the complications involved in making such things when you look at the general game mechanics of TES games, however should it be implemented in an effective and believable manner, then i would give my most heart-felt congratulations to Todd and co. for the feat.

This
I'd like to see it done if it was done well but theres a lot of other things I'd like to see done that I'd give a higher priority
I fear if included it would be like in The Witcher, soft porm for adolescent males

I'm not really sure about romances, if added, I imagine something along the lines of fable 2 romances, it can technically be done to anyone. A wife could be a nice thing to add to the house, and if they did the political drama right, it could have interesting consequences based on your spouses gender/race/status/alignment.

While not specifically opposed to the concept of romantic elements in computer games, I can imagine no way in which this could be executed in a way, and to a level of quality which would suit a TES game. So lets say no.

Frankly, as has been pointed out; the 'best' Bioware has done has been gamey and superficial for the most part - and that is with their advantage of a character largely determined by the authors of the game's fiction and dialog. Sure you choose ruthless or diplomatic choices, but the creators have Shepard/the Warden's dialog options narrowed down, and a framework of personality and character traits to base their relationships on. They're still pretty trash when you come down to it, even with those significant advantages over the gamesas/TES blank slate character-based writing.

I played through Fable 2 twice, and the so-called relationship with your so-called family was a bloody joke. I don't think gamesas could, or even should, ever learn anything from Lionhead. Fable 2 was 'okay' at best in my experience - and particularly lacking in making you care about anybody but the dog (if you're a dog person to begin with).

In sum: No.

I belive romance is a non-starter for the type of game gamesas makes.

There should be romance in elder scrolls 5. Every single person in the game should be available and the relationships should be as realistic as possible.

When you experience it through the mods that have really done it well, such as A Drow Story, The White Wolf of Lokken Mountain, and even through companions such as Calvia and Gatanas, you see how the way it is handled is far from what many imagine it could be. These companions and mods with a romantic aspect or flavor develop over time, as in life, offer an interesting and often humorous feeling to traveling with someone that will protect as well as snog you.

After watching how it was handled in Dragon Age, it didn't deter from the story or the feel of the game one bit. So, if essence, it can enrich the game play.

When I first played Morrowind, even with the few mods that were available at the time, my thoughts were exactly the same as above, that after adventuring or risking my backside for the world at large, it would be nice to come home, share the bounty of the day, and just experience the feeling of winding down until the next adventure taken. That was the draw and appeal to such mods as Children of Morrowind/Family to adopt walking hand in hand with The Ascadian Rose Cottage. You come home to Minette and the children and the way they were scripted, the interaction was far from flat and uninteresting. The kids, act as kids do. Minette would wax from the issue of being a nanny, to reminding you as a character that were it not for you, they'd be unsafe. That little emotional drama makes one feel that the arrows, blows, and lives one must take are worth it. Unless of course, one's character taste is more one who just lives for the carnage, then such nuances are of no consequence.

Sometimes, I think too often the mention of Romance always conjures immediate intimate or sixual moments. Many of the Romantic mods are so far away from that, especially ones like A Witchgirl Adventure, or The White Wolf of Lokken Mountain.
Besides, the general, relevant sixual mods of Morrowind are already handled quite well through MCA, with its Courtesans and companions. Few would argue that reading from a courtesan "Well! The conquering hero of Red Mountain! For 200 Septims, I'll let you conquer me for the night." isn't funny as Hell. In a fantasy sense, I'd imagine a tavern tumbler to act just like that. Also, to balance the true Lothario, whomever scripted MCA companion jealousy with direct affront and cessation of intimacy was a genius. There was no warning, none at all, but it was refreshing to see a judgement call placed on a character's action. So in a sense, any romance, if handled with care and well thought out responses or features, could be wholly entertaining.

Dear Bethesda:

The Sims is the best selling PC game series of all time... what do they have that you don't?
The ability to form digital relationships and the ability to move chairs, tables, and pictures.

Romance: maybe...

More interactive NPC relationships: Definitely

Romance specifically isn't what we need. A number of NPCs that are highly interactive and responsive is what TES V needs. Bioware's companions are all (mostly) interesting, including those who are not romanceable. TES doesn't necessarily need companions like Bioware's games, but it would be great to have responsive characters who can influence and be influenced by the main character.

This isn't high on my list of additions for TES V, but if it is done well, I say fine.

That's just a general improvement on dialog and interaction. And allows for me freedom. No wife/husband/GF/BF to chain one down for periods of time when there is world saving to do instead of relationship saving.

I want more interesting and non-generic NPC's, not a nagging wife.

Agreed. No nagging spouses, no corny dialog.

No romance. Not interested in a dating sim.

Would rather have resources put into gameplay mechanics and creative quests.

Bethesda's motto for the TES games is "Live another life in another world". Living a life does include relationships and I would like to see that aspect included in the next game, in one form or the other. I think role-playing immersion would greatly benefit.

YES! Include romance please.

The goal of any great game should be immersion, like the poster above me stated. I didnt know that I could be so obsessed with a game until Dragon Age came out. Finally, for once, I felt like I was doing a quest and saving the world for something much more "real" - a relationship (I will quickly throw in that they did a great job with having bisixual NPCs). The relationships built up with time, every camp I got to visit them and hear their thoughts, and eventually it culminated with a pretty great six scene for a video game. The voice acting (and the diversity of voices) in that game was very professional and again, something I've never experienced in a game.

Of course, Dragon Age is NOT TES. First thing I thought of when I played it was "why can't I travel to the middle of the map to explore things?". TES does an amazing job with a free-form RPG, but now I see that it (and most games) are lacking in a proper romance system.

Also, almost every book and every movie contain a romantic plot, why not games?

If it detracts from development time, that's fine - Oblivion had so much "boring" (for a lack of a better word) land that was of no use, I'd rather them make the worlds smaller, but filled with content. Quality over quantity.

Honestly, I have been wanting ingame marriage since Morrowind. I mean with Oblivion I bought a house and I'm like, "now what?". Fable lets us get married, why not Elder Scrolls? After all, isn't the Hero supposed to always get the girl in the end?

To elaborate, I would like to see allusions to relationships and love as a part of quests. A man sees his wife with another lover and asks you to kill him - an arranged marriage occurs between the children of two powerful artistocratic families which detest one another - maybe even some hinted prostitution, like with Morrowind's House of Earthly Delights. These things will help give society a darker undertone in TES V, and show that NPCs aren't as pure and incorruptible as they appear to be in Oblivion. These sorts of quests and other relationship strife among NPCs would help make their world seem much more real and much less idealistic.

At the same time, relationships of any sort would generally just be awkward on the player character. You've seen how it's done. Unless you're playing as a specific person with a specific backgrond/identity, it just doesn't work. A cheesy rendezvous at night, a few quick flirtatious conversations, it may be realistic for the NPC to love you, but I don't see how a human being could ever grow attached to an NPC that well, at least to the point where it can be realistically expressed in the game.

I recall that you can romance Ahnassi, a female Khajiit, in Morrowind. I've yet to do the quest since it's not available to female characters.

No, I find it rather stupid..Why do you want them to waste time thinking up some dumb romance system when they could be spending that time making the already epic Elder Scrolls system even better? Its not like we will actually be getting laid...so who cares...I dont really see how you could possibly make it interesting enough without putting a ridiculous amount of effort into it, and even then it would still be stupid because its not REAL...Real life is for relationships...Not video games...If anything make it possible to hook up..and thats it.