Can you not 'lock in' a romance?

[akaddk]

So, my V is with Judy, all the way up to having completed "I Really Want to Stay at Your House". And yet, it seems as if there is no such thing as a 'locked in' romance because I can't do the meeting with River without him almost fucking proposing (I don't know, I didn't get that far 'cause it felt so icky to never get a basic option to stop what was clearly him pining, like, seriously, just one line that makes it clear V's not interested?).

Does this essentially mean I have to avoid the River encounter (which was sweet until it got icky at the dinner table). Am I choosing the wrong options to close this shit down or is this essentially only intended as a 'date' mission?

Other games with romances tend to have lock-in conditions where other potential partners stop advances or you can shut them down. Is there no such option in 2077 or am I just missing them?

 

[DjSpyder]

You can turn him down on the water tower.... Make it a just friends thing.... Male V plays out almost exactly the same way except there isn't a "Romance Option" at the end, but for the most part the dinner and everything is the same, and female V can tell him she doesn't feel that way on the tower, you can also tell him it was a one-time thing the next morning, I agree there should be a way to more subtly shut things down before needing to make the choice when he flat out tells V how he feels, but that is really the only place to definitively end that romantic pursuit, without failing to complete the quest line. Good news is you still get the gun as a reward whether you sleep with him or not.

But as far as "locking" no romance options are ever locked unless you turn them down or screw them up, hooking up with one character does not affect the ability to pursue any others.

 

[akaddk]

Yeah, I got to the water tower but stopped because pretty much every line up until, "Are you just leading me on?" one is female V pretty much leading him on. Not overtly, mind, but the tone and wording is pretty obviously flirty. I was just hoping there was some dialogue choice/tree, or whatever that I'd missed that clearly shut things down before this 'cause it feels so gross going all the way up to that point on the tower when you finally get the option to turn him down.

 

[Netrunner2go]

like Spyder said you can also go for the one-nightstand after the tower to receive the „f*ck the police“-shirt and shut him down in the following dialog next morning. my V(s) also not into him but I personally like the shirt pretty much (as well as johnnys comments xD )

edit:
this one here: https://cyberpunk.fandom.com/wiki/River's_tank_top
still curious why there seems to be a male version in the gamefiles tho…

 

[DjSpyder]

Maybe at one point all the romanceable characters where "Player Sexual" so they were attracted to whoever the player is and then someone at CDPR thought maybe actually have them have their own preference, and the male version of that shirt is just a left over that was never removed?

 

[Netrunner2go]

Most probably yeah… like the kissing options for the non-LIs as well…

Like female V can try to kiss Kerry on the rooftop and gets a deny but later at the boat there is another option trying to kiss him again…

 

[LeKill3rFou]

Or CDPR simply picked up a "random shirt" which was designed for both gender at first, like most of clothe, to add it to River romance

 

[Netrunner2go]

Or CDPR simply picked up a "random shirt" which was designed for both gender at first, like most of clothe, to add it to River romance

Might also be - even tho the visual & item discription are kinda specific for its current use but who knows ^^

 

[LeKill3rFou]

Might also be - even tho the visual & item discription are kinda specific for its current use but who knows ^^

I don't know, but does MaxTac outfit you get from Judy also have a male version in the game files?
I think it's a little bit more believable that they wrote the characters, the quests first and afterward picked up some items as rewards among all the items designed for the game.

But, agree about Kerry, the interaction on the boat seem quite strange...

 

[Netrunner2go]

does MaxTac outfit you get from Judy also have a male version in the game files?

dunno im consolero like you - just saw the male shirt on the wiki

 

[Kormac67]

Other games with romances tend to have lock-in conditions where other potential partners stop advances

Yeah, and I don't like that.
Choice should be with the player if he wants his game character true or promiscuous.