SO AWESOME THAT HORSES AREN'T GOOD ENOUGH, THEY HAVE TO REIDE BEARS!!!
Really? That's not what Tolkien says...
Really? That's not what Tolkien says...
Tolkien isn't exactly a good source on anything to do with romance.
Wait a minute.... what's happened to this thread? Isn't it supposed to be on a topic?
Wait a minute.... what's happened to this thread? Isn't it supposed to be on a topic?
On romance:
Players should have the choice about this, and it should be reflected in their empathy stats. If you want to get laid, go on dates etc, then keep your empathy stats high. If you want all the cyberlimbs you can get, then you shouldn't be able to establish relationships. I wouldn't promote romance between the characters of the game (if they are fixed) as other stories and games can do this well. If you need to include such content, make the romance a part of the storyline which unfolds, but does not involve the player has one half of the relationship. (unless they have high enough empathy stats and want to get in there...)
Players should have the choice about this, and it should be reflected in their empathy stats. If you want to get laid, go on dates etc, then keep your empathy stats high. If you want all the cyberlimbs you can get, then you shouldn't be able to establish relationships. I wouldn't promote romance between the characters of the game (if they are fixed) as other stories and games can do this well. If you need to include such content, make the romance a part of the storyline which unfolds, but does not involve the player has one half of the relationship. (unless they have high enough empathy stats and want to get in there...)
I dont give a sht if my character has a romantic connection with a npc in the game or not, I don't see any benefit less it was for the plot or something like in DX .
But I think picking up sluts and perhaps have them follow you around maybe back to your crib would be cool. This would be a good feature for a charisma perk.
But I think picking up sluts and perhaps have them follow you around maybe back to your crib would be cool. This would be a good feature for a charisma perk.
or a girl, your choice mate.
Your just after the augmented gag reflex modifier
MOD: OK, we've crossed some boundaries here, and it's getting pretty offensive. Get back on topic please.
I feel that most of you seem to be more concerned with sex, rather than exploring how relationships would be like in a Cyberpunk world. I know that this game is being made by the same people who made the Witcher, which approaches sex in a rather immature way, but I expect A LOT more from Cyberpunk if they intend to explore this topic.
I'm just going to leave this here.
I'm just going to leave this here.
You say it's Immature, then you cite Extra Credits.....?
They are a fucking joke.
They are a fucking joke.
Hey, It's extremely difficult to find gaming commentary without constant swearing and clearly biased opinions. Please direct me elsewhere if you know where to find something better.
If no one wants to approach this topic rationally, then I think the developers shouldn't waste resources on it. The game will suffer for it. Sales might not, but the game will.
Opinions on Romance differ, gag-reflexes notwithstanding.
It's a pretty touchy subject, and not just the exploitation aspect. Some found the romances in Mass Effect cloying and shallow, others loved them.
I treat them as different kinds of quests in-game. The further down the questline you go, often the more interesting the story becomes. It's highly unlikely my -personal- tastes in a woman are going to be catered to, unless they digitally import my wife, so it's more the chance to read/play through the developers idea of a love story.
This contrasts a certain amount with those who want to shoot and stab and steal, as well as those whose idea of romance in fiction tends to the highly-sexualized.
Tough balancing act.
I enjoyed Witcher 1's relationship plots and found the sex cards pleasant but crass. Witcher 2 wasn't really about romance very much, being a revenge/pursuit story.
In an open-world game where you create your own character, CDPR will have their hands full.
It's a pretty touchy subject, and not just the exploitation aspect. Some found the romances in Mass Effect cloying and shallow, others loved them.
I treat them as different kinds of quests in-game. The further down the questline you go, often the more interesting the story becomes. It's highly unlikely my -personal- tastes in a woman are going to be catered to, unless they digitally import my wife, so it's more the chance to read/play through the developers idea of a love story.
This contrasts a certain amount with those who want to shoot and stab and steal, as well as those whose idea of romance in fiction tends to the highly-sexualized.
Tough balancing act.
I enjoyed Witcher 1's relationship plots and found the sex cards pleasant but crass. Witcher 2 wasn't really about romance very much, being a revenge/pursuit story.
In an open-world game where you create your own character, CDPR will have their hands full.
Oh no, you diint.
Okay, I wanted to reply to a couple of posts in this thread, but I don't want to start anymore fires for db to put out.
On topic: whatever romance or love interest or fuck buddy options are available in the game, they should all revolve around meaningful storytelling which is impacted by player decisions.
Okay, I don't agree with Deadbolt_Don in that sex in TW is treated in an immature way, I think it's just casual, that Geralt is a ladykiller, which is a kind of character I don't particularly enjoy, but in TW I did, oddly enough. I think sex in TW at least had the women not be subjugated by Geralt's unstoppable sexuality, but choosing themselves to do it with Geralt. What's wrong about that? And the trading cards which were not tradeable, although they could be checked (all be it out of any kind of gallery)... I don't think they're that bad, really. It's not implied that they physically exist, Geralt didn't take pics of these girls with an arcane phone then uploaded it to the witchernet. They're not hunt trophies, these women still have their heads on their shoulders, we never boast about them... they're just "memories" of the people Geralt has slept with, it's not a bad deed of "the patriarchy", isn't Sex in the City all about this?
But I disagree even more with slimgrin about Extra Creditz, I don't see how they're a fucking joke nor what problem you have with them/their program. I've found myself disagreeing with some of their episodes but still they provide thoughtful entertainment, tangential learning... I wished we had more of that when it comes to gaming channels on the internet and less let's plays, angry-or-should-I-say-incapable-of-enjoying-anything reviewers, etc.
I have never seen romance or sex in any video game that was handled well. It always either comes across as shallow, melodramatic, or just plain forced. Hell the relationship between Nico Bellic and his fat worthless cousin, was not only more moving than anything else in that game, it was more moving and believable than any of the relationships I have seen which actuaslly try to focus on such things.... AND I BLOODY HATED ROMAN....
Relationships beyond just a quick fuck and forget are special because they require intimacy. They require a connection to the other person. And that can't happen if you don't like the other person. In a video game, where the protagonist is a pre-written character with pre-staged love interest, you have a disconnect that you don't have in film or literature, in that you supposedly get to control their actions and decisions... yet you have little to know choice in who you are in a relationship with. So while in a movie or novel, where you have no choice and can accept for whatever reason that the hero would be in a relationship with the woman, even if you don't care for her, even if you think she is actually repulsive, or annoying, or just plain fucking stupid. So Johnny Clebbitz is married to the meth whore, Nico Bellic dates insipidly vapid and shallow bitches, a stuck up judgemental bitch, or an FBI informant so obvious you see it coming the first time she opens her mouth. And these are annoying enough on their own. In a game where you create your own character, it's much worse.
Then there is the other side of the scale, in that very few of these relationships have any real impact on the game whatsoever, often once you "date them" they are never seen again (sleeping dogs girlfriends), or at least there is no further story that can be pulled from them (fallout), even more often you never see them again in the game. When they are part of the larger story, you have little no zero input in how it plays out.
For relationships to work in video games, particularly ones like this, where you create your own character, who you get involved with needs to be a choice... and not just a choice between A,B,or C from the storyline.... You need to be able to flirt with any women (or man) you meet, sure they can turn you down, but maybe they won't.... Now in game mechanics this could just be as simple as "on a successful seduction roll you get a phone number" which activates a random personality, and this personality is the one that plays out one of the "Romance storyline" in your game. If you decide you don't like them, or if they decide they don't like you, you can break up, or she can get killed, whatever.... the romance storyline is put on hold, until you find someone else, then it resumes... And of course this option applies to the women the story introduces you too as well. Those women (or men) could have special stories and pre-set personalities beyond the normal romance storyline running in the background, influenced by their role in the actual story of the game and their personalities.
What I am trying to get at is, it drives me crazy to be tied down to a shrill harpy in the game, with no choice in how the relationship plays out or a choice to go after someone more well adjuster, someone with similar or complimentary interests, or even just someo0ne you find more attractive. It also drives me nuts when the relationships are hollow and pointless, you can't call them up to pal around with, or hang out at your place, or if they are a pro themselves come join you on jobs...
Tolkien is way over-rated.... he was a great plotter, he was a great character creater, he was a great world builder.... but the man couldn't tell a story for shit....
He would spend pages detailing the grass on some bloody field in the middle of the Twat's hollow, or tell you the complete history of some dwarf in some mountain... but when you get to end of the ridiculously long and drawn out books, when you get to the climactic battle you been slogging your way through them to reach, it's over in like a bloody paragraph. That's shitty storytelling. And don't tell me it's not about the fighting, because the entirety of the books lead up to it. But it's not just that battle that is zipped through, every bloody battle, every fricking action scene, everything that could provide the least amount of excitement, is dealt with ridiculously quickly, so Tolkien can wax on like a little girl about Tom Bombadil and his ass-tastic unicorns and rainbows and other useless inconsequential bullshit.
There aren't a lot of cases where you can say the movies are better than the books they were base4d off of... in this case however, the movies are so much better that the scale is off the charts...
And the extra credits guys... twats...
Relationships beyond just a quick fuck and forget are special because they require intimacy. They require a connection to the other person. And that can't happen if you don't like the other person. In a video game, where the protagonist is a pre-written character with pre-staged love interest, you have a disconnect that you don't have in film or literature, in that you supposedly get to control their actions and decisions... yet you have little to know choice in who you are in a relationship with. So while in a movie or novel, where you have no choice and can accept for whatever reason that the hero would be in a relationship with the woman, even if you don't care for her, even if you think she is actually repulsive, or annoying, or just plain fucking stupid. So Johnny Clebbitz is married to the meth whore, Nico Bellic dates insipidly vapid and shallow bitches, a stuck up judgemental bitch, or an FBI informant so obvious you see it coming the first time she opens her mouth. And these are annoying enough on their own. In a game where you create your own character, it's much worse.
Then there is the other side of the scale, in that very few of these relationships have any real impact on the game whatsoever, often once you "date them" they are never seen again (sleeping dogs girlfriends), or at least there is no further story that can be pulled from them (fallout), even more often you never see them again in the game. When they are part of the larger story, you have little no zero input in how it plays out.
For relationships to work in video games, particularly ones like this, where you create your own character, who you get involved with needs to be a choice... and not just a choice between A,B,or C from the storyline.... You need to be able to flirt with any women (or man) you meet, sure they can turn you down, but maybe they won't.... Now in game mechanics this could just be as simple as "on a successful seduction roll you get a phone number" which activates a random personality, and this personality is the one that plays out one of the "Romance storyline" in your game. If you decide you don't like them, or if they decide they don't like you, you can break up, or she can get killed, whatever.... the romance storyline is put on hold, until you find someone else, then it resumes... And of course this option applies to the women the story introduces you too as well. Those women (or men) could have special stories and pre-set personalities beyond the normal romance storyline running in the background, influenced by their role in the actual story of the game and their personalities.
What I am trying to get at is, it drives me crazy to be tied down to a shrill harpy in the game, with no choice in how the relationship plays out or a choice to go after someone more well adjuster, someone with similar or complimentary interests, or even just someo0ne you find more attractive. It also drives me nuts when the relationships are hollow and pointless, you can't call them up to pal around with, or hang out at your place, or if they are a pro themselves come join you on jobs...
Tolkien is way over-rated.... he was a great plotter, he was a great character creater, he was a great world builder.... but the man couldn't tell a story for shit....
He would spend pages detailing the grass on some bloody field in the middle of the Twat's hollow, or tell you the complete history of some dwarf in some mountain... but when you get to end of the ridiculously long and drawn out books, when you get to the climactic battle you been slogging your way through them to reach, it's over in like a bloody paragraph. That's shitty storytelling. And don't tell me it's not about the fighting, because the entirety of the books lead up to it. But it's not just that battle that is zipped through, every bloody battle, every fricking action scene, everything that could provide the least amount of excitement, is dealt with ridiculously quickly, so Tolkien can wax on like a little girl about Tom Bombadil and his ass-tastic unicorns and rainbows and other useless inconsequential bullshit.
There aren't a lot of cases where you can say the movies are better than the books they were base4d off of... in this case however, the movies are so much better that the scale is off the charts...
And the extra credits guys... twats...
So far this seems like the most workable way to include romances in the game that I have read. My only problem with it is that it could seem a bit cookie cutter for the people who are not directly involved in the story after a while. Even if you have multiple stories for 'the person off the street', when you go through it enough you will hit repeats. I would, if I had to choose one or the other, prefer a well written romance to 'unlimited' choice in romance.
Well, the truth of the matter is, it's Cyberpunk, not Cybergush.... romance really isn't the focus. Not saying it shouldn't be there, but it shoudln't be the main focus of the game... doing it in this way will let you have yor cake, even if its a smaller cake, and eat it too.