The romance in RPG games eg: Baldurs Gate 3, dragon origins

[End8less]

I'm more of a number crunching fiend when it comes to any kind of RPG, but I do enjoy romance options when given the chance. The only time I do mind is when character quests are tied to romance options and cannot be done without romancing the character, which I think is not really a thing anymore thankfully. I also dislike showing any degree of kindness in the choices = romance attempt older games got going too, I still have flashbacks of accidentally romancing Kaidan in Mass Effect because I was just trying to be nice and straight up leaving him to die to abort the route lmao. Sorry Kaidan I don't hate you but you don't hold a candle to Garrus.

In gen tho, unless it's a nice little plus with some extra context and maybe deeper character understanding, if a huge chunk of the character is behind the romance route with no other options then I'd rather that not be a romance option at all and have the romance baked into the story itself, mainly because personally the reasons I go to an RPG are very different than the ones I got to VNs and Date Sims.

 

[Karoliuxx]

Dragon age origins is what made me a so picky for romances in rpgs in the first place. When i see a interesting new game with a female protagonist or where i can create a character the first thing i google is if there is any romance in it. What i see these days that people are not afraid anymore to show that they want romance in their games and certain devs understand that.

 

[O cha]

Wow, I love Baldur's Gate 3 and Dragon Age: Origins too! I really liked Alistair in Origins, and in BG3… well, I know this is an otome game community, but if I'm being honest, I actually romanced Shadowheart.

I'm a huge self-insert/immersive player, so I usually play as a female MC and romance either Alistair or Shadowheart. I'll definitely have to check out some of the other games people mentioned in the comments too—they sound like a blast!

Hmm… and this is just my personal take, but I feel like Japanese romance games tend to be more clearly divided by target audience (like otome vs. galge), whereas Western RPG romances often feel more player-sexual and designed to appeal to everyone, regardless of the player's gender. Haha.

I really enjoy that aspect of Western games, since they offer a different kind of appeal from Japanese otome games!