Hey, all. I just wanted to put my specific complaints about the game's romances somewhere.
To begin with, I have literally zero complaints about Judy's romance. It's incredibly good; she's a lovable character - one of my absolute favorites from the game - and I think her romance and the pacing were done fairly well, too. I also think they dealt with her sexuality well, in that it's clear from early on that she loves Evelyn, and she had a past relationship with Maiko, etc. If there was ever a solid argument for CD Projekt Red to make about gender locking romances to make sexualities feel more 'authentic', Judy definitely is a good reference point for that argument.
The rest of what I'm about to say is pretty critical, though. I'll go over the other three options critically, and then some other things.
Panam is incredibly annoying for most of the game. She's blatantly just toxic, childish and... I don't know, dumb? It's not quite the right word, but it's the easiest one to attribute to her. She's so brash and incapable of thinking of any consequences for her actions, and while normally that could be an interesting character flaw, she's really irritating to me. Still, she kinda grew on me, but I think that was more the Aldecaldos than her.
Another thing about Panam is that her romance is incredibly forced onto you. I hate to use this word, but it felt like pandering. Hell, a lot of the sexual things in this game felt like that. I already know what some people are going to say -- the majority of the players will be straight dudes, the writers had their vision, whatever -- but if you objectively compare her romance to others, hers was WAY more integrated into the game and the quests. There are at least half a dozen opportunities to flirt with her and be lewd or romantic with her, whereas all of the other options get one chance to flirt at the very end of their questline. Panam on the other hand is basically constantly asking you to bang in some way, which is pretty irritating and bothersome. It was aggressive.
Moving onto River: I don't even know what to say. I like him, but he is literally completely removed from the main story. He has a fairly short quest-line that's pretty interesting, but it's so cut out of everything else that it's clear he was a total afterthought. Everything is also completely platonic until the literal last second/scene, which is more proof that he was an afterthought. Still, I do like him, so he's not a terrible option. I'll put him at #2 after Judy.
The absolute worst romance is Kerry. There are a few reasons why he's such a bad option, and I'll list them numerically.
1. He's an old man. Like, really. Every other option is in their 20s or 30s, and gay guys get a fuckin' 80 year old. I get that he mostly looks young, but it's kind of insulting, honestly. I'd also say he's the least attractive of the options, even though he's a solid silverfox.
2. His romance doesn't feel right. Hell, his plotline also feels like a weird afterthought that they just kinda put in to check the box of having another LGBT romance. I love two of his quests, but at best I get bro vibes from him; like a fun rocker friend to hang around with. I feel absolutely zero chemistry between him and V, which is the only romance I felt that way with. And considering I'm a gay guy, I should be feeling more chemistry with him. Instead, as I said in another thread, when I got to the end of my campaign and woke up with him in my apartment, I was literally like: oh god, I don't want to have to spend my last six months alive with you.
3. This is a personal gripe; the way his sexuality is treated in the story. While Judy's is treated pretty well, Kerry's is literally an object of constant ridicule. People are constantly making gay jokes about him; Johnny cooooonstantly makes him out to be some degenerate and makes fun of his gayness in every other dialogue line about him. It's honestly really homophobic. I'm not someone who calls homophobia easily, either, but the way Kerry's sexuality is treated - as an object of ridicule - is pretty absurd. It's really, really bad, and I'm honestly amazed that it's not incited a controversy.
As for closing comments: Johnny being a straight guy obviously did skew the romance scenes to be pretty heterosexual. Alt's scene was pretty saucy, and there's also his Rogue romance, though that's a bit more... uh, we'll call it tender. Then, male V's also get Meredith as an option. So -- yes, there are blatantly way more heterosexual scenes in the game, specifically for male V.
Normally, I literally would not care, but it was specifically stated that this wouldn't be the case... and again, I wouldn't care, but when the only option for gay men is Kerry, who is by far the worst, and for straight women it's River, who is literally irrelevant... yeah. I just wish the devs did better in that one respect. That's all.
To begin with, I have literally zero complaints about Judy's romance. It's incredibly good; she's a lovable character - one of my absolute favorites from the game - and I think her romance and the pacing were done fairly well, too. I also think they dealt with her sexuality well, in that it's clear from early on that she loves Evelyn, and she had a past relationship with Maiko, etc. If there was ever a solid argument for CD Projekt Red to make about gender locking romances to make sexualities feel more 'authentic', Judy definitely is a good reference point for that argument.
The rest of what I'm about to say is pretty critical, though. I'll go over the other three options critically, and then some other things.
Panam is incredibly annoying for most of the game. She's blatantly just toxic, childish and... I don't know, dumb? It's not quite the right word, but it's the easiest one to attribute to her. She's so brash and incapable of thinking of any consequences for her actions, and while normally that could be an interesting character flaw, she's really irritating to me. Still, she kinda grew on me, but I think that was more the Aldecaldos than her.
Another thing about Panam is that her romance is incredibly forced onto you. I hate to use this word, but it felt like pandering. Hell, a lot of the sexual things in this game felt like that. I already know what some people are going to say -- the majority of the players will be straight dudes, the writers had their vision, whatever -- but if you objectively compare her romance to others, hers was WAY more integrated into the game and the quests. There are at least half a dozen opportunities to flirt with her and be lewd or romantic with her, whereas all of the other options get one chance to flirt at the very end of their questline. Panam on the other hand is basically constantly asking you to bang in some way, which is pretty irritating and bothersome. It was aggressive.
Moving onto River: I don't even know what to say. I like him, but he is literally completely removed from the main story. He has a fairly short quest-line that's pretty interesting, but it's so cut out of everything else that it's clear he was a total afterthought. Everything is also completely platonic until the literal last second/scene, which is more proof that he was an afterthought. Still, I do like him, so he's not a terrible option. I'll put him at #2 after Judy.
The absolute worst romance is Kerry. There are a few reasons why he's such a bad option, and I'll list them numerically.
1. He's an old man. Like, really. Every other option is in their 20s or 30s, and gay guys get a fuckin' 80 year old. I get that he mostly looks young, but it's kind of insulting, honestly. I'd also say he's the least attractive of the options, even though he's a solid silverfox.
2. His romance doesn't feel right. Hell, his plotline also feels like a weird afterthought that they just kinda put in to check the box of having another LGBT romance. I love two of his quests, but at best I get bro vibes from him; like a fun rocker friend to hang around with. I feel absolutely zero chemistry between him and V, which is the only romance I felt that way with. And considering I'm a gay guy, I should be feeling more chemistry with him. Instead, as I said in another thread, when I got to the end of my campaign and woke up with him in my apartment, I was literally like: oh god, I don't want to have to spend my last six months alive with you.
3. This is a personal gripe; the way his sexuality is treated in the story. While Judy's is treated pretty well, Kerry's is literally an object of constant ridicule. People are constantly making gay jokes about him; Johnny cooooonstantly makes him out to be some degenerate and makes fun of his gayness in every other dialogue line about him. It's honestly really homophobic. I'm not someone who calls homophobia easily, either, but the way Kerry's sexuality is treated - as an object of ridicule - is pretty absurd. It's really, really bad, and I'm honestly amazed that it's not incited a controversy.
As for closing comments: Johnny being a straight guy obviously did skew the romance scenes to be pretty heterosexual. Alt's scene was pretty saucy, and there's also his Rogue romance, though that's a bit more... uh, we'll call it tender. Then, male V's also get Meredith as an option. So -- yes, there are blatantly way more heterosexual scenes in the game, specifically for male V.
Normally, I literally would not care, but it was specifically stated that this wouldn't be the case... and again, I wouldn't care, but when the only option for gay men is Kerry, who is by far the worst, and for straight women it's River, who is literally irrelevant... yeah. I just wish the devs did better in that one respect. That's all.
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