UNLOCK ROMANCES

[DjSpyder]

When did I say it wasn't? And I could rip apart other characters if you want. Kerry is bisexual in the lore. Even Talsorian admitted that. But they rationalized that he's gay only in this game because he has unsettled issues with Johnny (R. Talsorian Games. Cyberpunk RED out now! on Twitter: "@hexed_astora @YenFromHR @MTomaszkiewicz Honestly, we still consider Kerry to be bisexual. With male-presenting V vs female-presenting V we suspect Kerry's attraction is deeply rooted into unresolved issues involving Johnny. Male-presenting V fits that particular mold better, to his subconscious." / Twitter ).

So basically, the whole point of Kerry's romance is that he doesn't even focus on V. Just Johnny in his head. How does that even qualify as "romance" content? And this is the ONE choice gays get? This is worse than anything I said about Panam. I just focused on that before because I'm straight. It's bad enough that some of these are awful.. but then they give no options other than one awful choice. It's better to not play the romance stuff at all, for some people. It ends up being the better "option" (if you want to call "nothing" an option).

I think we got off track there, my point is that not everyone thinks they are poorly written. in fact a lot of people who played Female V were disappointed they couldn't hook up with Panam. Which again speaks to the deeper, issue, Unlocking the choices, is not about representation or wanting better writing, its about people wanting exactly what they want, regardless of if or how it fits the world or narrative. Trust me I could go on about things the story left unresolved, or how once you get your sex scene romance = nothing until the credits roll, or how they could have done so much more with the foundation they laid and just fell flat with some of the interpersonal relationships(including non-romantic ones).... But none of that has to do with unlocking gender preference, Again, more options would have been great, deeper impact to the story is also needed, much could be improved on, but negating a characters preference so people can digitally bone the fictional character they like most won't fix any of those things , and would likely piss off an entirely different group of people as past games have shown us.

 

[Fuse_00]

It's not like they'd ever get Keanu again just to add lines and comment on them, like he does Judy, Kerry, etc..

Yeah Keanu is a problem. That is why I'am afraid the game will never be improved from the side of quests, story and such, because they need Keanu for that, and I doubt that their contract with him allows to call him any time for fixes.
That is a bad side of attracting celebrities. You have little power over them for future work.

 

[kthompsen]

I think we got off track there, my point is that not everyone thinks they are poorly written. in fact a lot of people who played Female V were disappointed they couldn't hook up with Panam. Which again speaks to the deeper, issue, Unlocking the choices, is not about representation or wanting better writing, its about people wanting exactly what they want, regardless of if or how it fits the world or narrative. Trust me I could go on about things the story left unresolved, or how once you get your sex scene romance = nothing until the credits roll, or how they could have done so much more with the foundation they laid and just fell flat with some of the interpersonal relationships(including non-romantic ones).... But none of that has to do with unlocking gender preference, Again, more options would have been great, deeper impact to the story is also needed, much could be improved on, but negating a characters preference so people can digitally bone the fictional character they like most won't fix any of those things , and would likely piss off an entirely different group of people as past games have shown us.

Well.. personally, I don't want anything exact. I just think games like this (narrative heavy/choice based) need more archetypes. With romance options, archetypes even on a simplistic level would be an improvement over this. Like the classic "Good girl vs bad girl"/"Good boy vs bad boy" stuff. Some games offer more than that, but they couldn't even be bothered to do that little. I never actually played the Witcher (sorry!), but it seems like everyone talked about Triss vs Yenn.. so they must've had experience with this themselves.

 

[Krul2k]

Yeah Keanu is a problem. That is why I'am afraid the game will never be improved from the side of quests, story and such, because they need Keanu for that, and I doubt that their contract with him allows to call him any time for fixes.
That is a bad side of attracting celebrities. You have little power over them for future work.

No they dont

They can easily release a expansion that expands on the main story much like how the endings are done, you get a notification of point of no return at a specific crossroads and you see the story from a different perspective IE you except Evelyns offer, meet her, dont get shot, no Johnny silverhand, and you experience a different story

On topic my answers simply NO

 

[MLG_Totenstille]

Okay... here's the thing though... None of these are real "Romances" because all you get is some suggestive text and talk but NOTHING after the 1 (ONE!!!) sex/"Romance" scene again!

I mean atleast the Female 3k Eddie JoyToy will kiss my male/female V after Sex EVERY TIME! My characters seem to have more "Romance" with the JoyToy than the Main Story Characters!?!?!

At the Very Least we should be able to say Bye and Give them a Hug/Kiss after going to see them After the ONE SINGLE "Romance" Scene .... I feel like I was just the 100 Eddie JoyToy that they used me Once for and that was it....

Just make the Romance mean something More! Or let me hold a spot on Jig-Jig street so I can earn some extra eddies....

 

[atomowyturysta]

Your poll is like Soviet elections. It lacks opposite option It's like Tea, Coffee or a Cake and the answer are A) Tea B) yes
The hard lock on the romances adds more to the characters in questions. Making every single one a bisexual is stupid and is bad writing. Most people are straight and that won't change. However, the game lacks bisexual romantic interests (Meredith Stout is kind of a joke) I guess, the devs dropped it due the lack of time, I'm pretty sure Takemura was considered such an option as he's bi in the lore. Also Rogue might have been but they decided to restrict that to Johnny spacific quest. And it would be kind of wierd to attempt to nail or scissor a 90+ys old lady...
And it is a story driven RPG. Being upset that you cannot bone some character because of their orientation is kind of beyond childlish. It's like being upset because a charcter in a book or a movie is or isn't straight. I can understand bisexual people, because they can like all the characters, but mostly it is straight males who are butthurt they cannot bone Judy

 

[Simpson3000]

NO, AND THAT THE ONLY CHOICES AVAILABLE IN YOUR POLL IS YOUR PREFERED ONE, TELLS ME EVERYTHING ABOUT YOUR PERSONALITY.

(Usually i dont type everything in capitals but this thread headline somehow gave me the impression its expected here)

 

[Robotic_Onion]

The only character who could possibly be Romanceable by everyone is Kerry. Because he might be Bi. Or atleast I am assuming so because he has a ex wife. But that can be easily explained away by the fact that Kerry does not find Women V attractive or that he did not come out until much later in his life.

Everyone else is Straight or Gay and their is no reason to change it.

 

[CrazyForThatCop]

This is definitely needed. Not being able to romance River properly is a sour spot for me. River (and by extension Panam too) are already heteroflexible, your voice and genitals do not impact the romance. But for me to have River I have to have boobs and a female face. It seems like it would be such little work to at least open those romances to everyone since they're that close.
For reference this is the full River romance with male voice and hanky panky. It just seems like only one little flag needs changing.

 

[Niatka]

No, I wrote that already; sexuality in the game is good like that. No porn, especially not, I hate this.
I am bi-sexual, I always have been, it is not a whim of my thirties or of my release from prison. I find myself in the relationship with Jodie. that's very good, in my opinion.
on the other hand, the pseudo romance with Agent Stout made me laugh a lot. especially for the gift of circumstance;
"Pomp and Circumstance"...

 

[lyin321]

I know (and this topic is good indication ) that the majority of people prefer if their NPCs had set sexuality, but personally, I never minded if all the romanceable people were hero-sexual. I think they can be done well and without an outside knowledge (either playing 2nd game or reading the internet as yourself) you can very well miss that they didn't have a specific sexuality. That being said, I kinda want to go and track these Judy's emails that show that she is a lesbian. I wonder how much meaning we give them because we know she is female V only.

....and this would have been the easy fix, because how little romance options we ended up having. I understand why they are so bad, thus I prefer not to think of them as romances. Maybe the start of such. With how quick-paced the main story ended up being, you barely have time to 'waste' your time on these people, after all

 

[sacred_darling]

Topic-wise, my answer is a NO for all the reasons mentioned above, like this:

Romances should not be changed to cater to anyone's whims. Judy is a lesbian, Panam is straight, River is straight, Kerry is currently uninterested in another hetero relationship.

That's it. That's how people work. If we want writers to write characters as PEOPLE, we have to respect these characters have preferences built into their backstories. Move along.

Second, the fact that romances are cut to just one night is a much bigger problem. Completely agree on this one:

I mean atleast the Female 3k Eddie JoyToy will kiss my male/female V after Sex EVERY TIME! My characters seem to have more "Romance" with the JoyToy than the Main Story Characters!?!?!

Third, if that is as much interaction as we get, they could (should have?!) certainly introduced more options (e.g. I wouldn't mind romancing Vik).

At the same time, the way they divided the characters' preferences is still a bit odd. Just because River is straight or Judy is a lesbian doesn't mean they have to like my particular female V just because she's female. I know this might be too much to ask for, and players probably wouldn't be thrilled about guessing their tastes, but it would be a bit more realistic.

They sort of experimented with LI "body types" and "voice" preferences, but voice as a preference seems a bit far-fetched too. Like, would someone's low/high voice be enough to put you off? I think genitalia preferences would be more of a reason for a relationship not to work out in the end

And the last thing: Panam seems to have much more power than other LIs, which I don't particularly like. She's a driving force in a whole ending. And it makes more sense to leave with the nomads cause your partner is head of the clan rather than just leave with friends (and probably abandon your LI).

 

[wright1978]

Third, if that is as much interaction as we get, they could (should have?!) certainly introduced more options (e.g. I wouldn't mind romancing Vik).

At the same time, the way they divided the characters' preferences is still a bit odd. Just because River is straight or Judy is a lesbian doesn't mean they have to like my particular female V just because she's female. I know this might be too much to ask for, and players probably wouldn't be thrilled about guessing their tastes, but it would be a bit more realistic.

They sort of experimented with LI "body types" and "voice" preferences, but voice as a preference seems a bit far-fetched too. Like, would someone's low/high voice be enough to put you off? I think genitalia preferences would be more of a reason for a relationship not to work out in the end

And the last thing: Panam seems to have much more power than other LIs, which I don't particularly like. She's a driving force in a whole ending. And it makes more sense to leave with the nomads cause your partner is head of the clan rather than just leave with friends (and probably abandon your LI).

My view is more options with less content all round is very bad premise. Equally my preference would be for romances to be open so that most choice is available to player in an artificial setting where their pool of options is strictly limited. I've accepted devs are likely to stick with orientations though as they feel its safer pr wise.

If you start adding multiple other layers of preferences, then you are either going to get virtually no content per romance /vast swathes of people locked out of any romance.

 

[Ayinde_Palmer]

Even that sucks in the end. They'll always have the air of being unintegrated afterthoughts, even if they made them. It's not like they'd ever get Keanu again just to add lines and comment on them, like he does Judy, Kerry, etc..
The whole game is trash by design. The combat, the AI, the story, the lifepaths, the factions, the romances, etc..

Post automatically merged: Feb 9, 2021

When did I say it wasn't? And I could rip apart other characters if you want. Kerry is bisexual in the lore. Even Talsorian admitted that. But they rationalized that he's gay only in this game because he has unsettled issues with Johnny (R. Talsorian Games. Cyberpunk RED out now! on Twitter: "@hexed_astora @YenFromHR @MTomaszkiewicz Honestly, we still consider Kerry to be bisexual. With male-presenting V vs female-presenting V we suspect Kerry's attraction is deeply rooted into unresolved issues involving Johnny. Male-presenting V fits that particular mold better, to his subconscious." / Twitter ).

So basically, the whole point of Kerry's romance is that he doesn't even focus on V. Just Johnny in his head. How does that even qualify as "romance" content? And this is the ONE choice gays get? This is worse than anything I said about Panam. I just focused on that before because I'm straight. It's bad enough that some of these are awful.. but then they give no options other than one awful choice. It's better to not play the romance stuff at all, for some people. It ends up being the better "option" (if you want to call "nothing" an option).

nothing wrong with not doing romance if you don't like someone. Kerry's attraction is based on whatever he wants. There's no requirement to romance a charachter

 

[CrazyForThatCop]

While I fully support set sexualities for characters and would prefer for things to be fixed and added instead of changed (like say with Mass Effect Andromeda which just abandoned its underdeveloped pre-existing m/m) but River and Panam are basically already bi. Since voice and genitalia aren't a factor in their romances. I don't think it's any more unrealistic for V to encounter 2 people in the entire area who are bi than it is for them to encounter 2 people who are ostensibly straight but like both sets of genitals. Changing what face and torso can be used in their romances doesn't really change anything since as I said they are happy to diddle you no matter what you've got under there.

That said I will say that playersexual isn't always off-putting but it's more if you don't think about. A love interest in a game like Dragon Age 2 or Fallout 4 unless otherwise stated in dialogue has a sexuality open to interpretation by the player. They aren't automatically bi. They could be gay, straight or bi depending on the interpretation of the player which adds depth to the world in my opinion and allows each player's personal experiences of a game to become more their own and gives no two people the same experience and stimulates discussion.

 

[Ayinde_Palmer]

While I fully support set sexualities for characters and would prefer for things to be fixed and added instead of changed (like say with Mass Effect Andromeda which just abandoned its underdeveloped pre-existing m/m) but River and Panam are basically already bi. Since voice and genitalia aren't a factor in their romances. I don't think it's any more unrealistic for V to encounter 2 people in the entire area who are bi than it is for them to encounter 2 people who are ostensibly straight but like both sets of genitals. Changing what face and torso can be used in their romances doesn't really change anything since as I said they are happy to diddle you no matter what you've got under there.

That said I will say that playersexual isn't always off-putting but it's more if you don't think about. A love interest in a game like Dragon Age 2 or Fallout 4 unless otherwise stated in dialogue has a sexuality open to interpretation by the player. They aren't automatically bi. They could be gay, straight or bi depending on the interpretation of the player which adds depth to the world in my opinion and allows each player's personal experiences of a game to become more their own and gives no two people the same experience and stimulates discussion.

believable characters have a story, the role play should be limited to player characters. The player shouldn't be able to alter NPCs to fit their desires.

 

[CrazyForThatCop]

believable characters have a story, the role play should be limited to player characters. The player shouldn't be able to alter NPCs to fit their desires.

Is it altering if there's nothing to alter? Things that are not explicit are open to interpretation. Interpreting based on evidence is hardly altering.

Take Paladin Danse in Fallout 4 for example. A character who has no reference to romantic or sexual past and the only example is with the player. Does this mean Danse is bi? Straight? Gay? The answer is up to the player at that point.

The only two other options if we don't do that is to either take only what is stated and never think anything more on it at which point why even bother playing a game with a story at all since that just sounds like a lack of investment to me. Or we expect more in depth writing in games so nothing is possibly left to our imaginations.

 

[KeldornOfLatria]

Well i think i would have preferred them to go the open route when they were building characters/romances, but then on the whole i think the romances are treated as rather an afterthought (unlike TW series) and there's much i wish was different in how they were treated.
As things stand they aren't going to unlock them and i've accepted with that. Just hope we get post ending expansion including LI's to respark interest in the game.

I'm always asking myself, if most people in this forum would react so "defending" if there was a thread asking to "UNLOCK ROMANCES" in the Witcher. To my mind, Geralt and Zoltan or Geralt and Dandelion would be kinda cute. Why not?

 

[Riven-Twain]

I'm always asking myself, if most people in this forum would react so "defending" if there was a thread asking to "UNLOCK ROMANCES" in the Witcher. To my mind, Geralt and Zoltan or Geralt and Dandelion would be kinda cute. Why not?

Historical trivia note: A similar suggestion indeed was made, once, shortly after release. However, at the time, an overwhelming majority of users disliked the idea, since it conflicted with Geralt's established character.

Witcher note ends. Now, back to Cyberpunk.

 

[Ayinde_Palmer]

Is it altering if there's nothing to alter? Things that are not explicit are open to interpretation. Interpreting based on evidence is hardly altering.

Take Paladin Danse in Fallout 4 for example. A character who has no reference to romantic or sexual past and the only example is with the player. Does this mean Danse is bi? Straight? Gay? The answer is up to the player at that point.

The only two other options if we don't do that is to either take only what is stated and never think anything more on it at which point why even bother playing a game with a story at all since that just sounds like a lack of investment to me. Or we expect more in depth writing in games so nothing is possibly left to our imaginations.

what about role playing game suggests the other characters should alter themselves based on the player? Your whole premise essentially boils down to the purpose of the entire game world is to give the player what the player desires. But thats not the purpose of an rpg, the player assumes a role within the framework of the game. Not the game trying to create a world to match the player.


its a fundamentally different design concept. RPG maker is what you would be trying to build.