Major part? No because that sounds compulsory. Both mass effect 1/2 and Baldurs gate Shadows of Amn did this well. Romance was optional and interesting, but it's up to you to decide if you like someone.
thats right. Its more fun to choose the girls that you want and not the one that the game says you should like.
Romance is an integral part of a story like this. You Must have it. As has been said before, the story is about saving yourself, and in a world where everything from morals to gender is fluid you need to have something very human to ground you and to distinguish you as human instead of an insane kill bot running around terrorizing everything. I agree that the idea of every boy and girl out there trying to get into my characters pants is off putting (though not as much as some people seem to think.) that in no way means I don't want there to be a romantic subplot.
Excluding recent Bioware games (good games "mostly" I remind you), there are many fantastic ways to incorporate romance as an integral part of the game. One method I saw in Alpha Protocol was that the romance options were your handlers. Now it could have been handled better, (I don't like that the LI's were achievements and I would have preferred that it it took more to win them over.) I did like that the very act of romancing them did have an active effect on game play. Choose to woo over one lady and she is your handler this mission instead of sneaky mc. sneakerpants, and you roll into the next stage on an APC shooting everyone in site. Pretty fun.
Excluding recent Bioware games (good games "mostly" I remind you), there are many fantastic ways to incorporate romance as an integral part of the game. One method I saw in Alpha Protocol was that the romance options were your handlers. Now it could have been handled better, (I don't like that the LI's were achievements and I would have preferred that it it took more to win them over.) I did like that the very act of romancing them did have an active effect on game play. Choose to woo over one lady and she is your handler this mission instead of sneaky mc. sneakerpants, and you roll into the next stage on an APC shooting everyone in site. Pretty fun.
Mmmph. If you say so.
I don't think you Must Have romance for the story to be good. Lord of the Rings was pretty much totally lacking in romance, ( unless you count Sam and Frodo, heh) and it was a fine trilogy of books.
Nor do I think romance is an essential part of being human. It's a great part, maybe the best part, but you can be a human being without being romantically involved ever. The Internet itself is testimony to the achievements of such people. Grin.
There is a good amount of romance/love in Lord of the Rings, and not just the movies. Now Tolkien didn't make much use of female characters, but as is in most stories of war many warriors dream and are motivated by the love of a woman "back home". Romance/love/lust these are all very integral parts of being human. So is Anger, death, suffering ect. These are all basic components of the human condition.
Romance\relationships in the games are difficult topics. I mean - I'd love to experience something close to Planescape: Torment. Thinking of characters like they're real persons, because in the game world they are. But open-world (sandbox, whatever) game can not deliver such feelings with the same system - just look at Fallout: New Vegas.
What worked for me was system used in Vampire: Bloodlines. You met characters with their own lives pretty much independent on how you feel about them, somewhere in the back they have their lives.
So I can imagine something similar. Maybe with pieces of Alpha Protocol and Max Payne 2. From
VtM:B character's individuality and independence on you, preference system from Alpha Protocol, and some kind of rare involvement in your missions\quests, so they wouldn't mess with gameplay same way as in Max Payne 2 (I mean - Mona was pretty mystery chick, she bumped into Max while she was on her mission, but they never really met, once you controlled Max).
Bioware's childish way to deliver romantic feelings for some NPCs never really worked for me. In Mass Effect it did, but that's exception because of games unusual structure (three parts, importing everything you did etc.). Plus the way characters are like addicted to sniffing my butt-gas - still behind me, no personal lives, just me and nothing else - scary. Think about it, would you really like to date slaves (not talking about sleeping with them - that's different story)?
What worked for me was system used in Vampire: Bloodlines. You met characters with their own lives pretty much independent on how you feel about them, somewhere in the back they have their lives.
So I can imagine something similar. Maybe with pieces of Alpha Protocol and Max Payne 2. From
VtM:B character's individuality and independence on you, preference system from Alpha Protocol, and some kind of rare involvement in your missions\quests, so they wouldn't mess with gameplay same way as in Max Payne 2 (I mean - Mona was pretty mystery chick, she bumped into Max while she was on her mission, but they never really met, once you controlled Max).
Bioware's childish way to deliver romantic feelings for some NPCs never really worked for me. In Mass Effect it did, but that's exception because of games unusual structure (three parts, importing everything you did etc.). Plus the way characters are like addicted to sniffing my butt-gas - still behind me, no personal lives, just me and nothing else - scary. Think about it, would you really like to date slaves (not talking about sleeping with them - that's different story)?
Samwise and Frodo romanced the shit out of each other.... so did Gimli and Legolass.
Gimli and Legolas. SO hawt. and convenient - they didn't have to think of the little woman back home, she was right there! Yeah, not a lot of romance in TloR and nor was there intended to be - it was a war epic written by a veteran. Minimal swooning. I'm fine with CP 2020 not having any romance, but I'd prefer if it had something well-written and adult, yeah.
will be intersting to see how open the game is with romance, i mean like Mass Effect.
man+woman
man+man
woman+woman
transsexual or.....robots....
i think everyone should choose the one he wants just as how it should be in the real world
man+woman
man+man
woman+woman
transsexual or.....robots....
i think everyone should choose the one he wants just as how it should be in the real world
But it's not. And personally I don't think Cyberpunk 2077 should aim at bringing to full life any political or social agendas of today. Especially utopian ones like this.
Instead I hope the game takes our current social or political issues and uses itself as a magnifying glass...or a distorting mirror and allows us to look at certain issues from a distance.
i never talked about a utopia.....Cyberpunk is the opposite, i meant the choices the player is able to choose, i didnt talked about the society at all...
By utopia I meant this quote from your post:
First of all, I don't think everyone would agree that Mass Effect style of openness for romance options is how it should be in the real world.
Second, the reality is far from it and will still be for quite some time. That's why I called it "utopia".
As long as I'm not stuck with a romantic interest who is only there to be kidnapped/killed. I would much prefer to have a romantic interest who is the one doing the kidnapping/killing, and then I walk in and have to decide whether to join them or put them down as an option. This would be after having had them as a partner for a decent amount of time so that it actually comes as a surprise to the character.
Partners in crime, i like it! I'm a light side, paragon type of player, so it would be nice to effect her decisions.. (If you are good, and did her quest, she is in love and good, if you are bad and did her quest she is in love and bad, didn't do her quest she has her own agenda and likely to betray you, that sounds awesome!)
I'd say to make it an option but nowhere in the realm of 'mandatory'--I'd be slightly uncomfortable with it if I had to deal with it in game. I wouldn't be interested in it per say, but I know there's people out there that are. Put it in, but don't make it a priority. Unless you're playing a pimp fixer, I guess.
There should be the option of course, I trust they know how to write good adult relationships just fine.
It would be nice if you could influence your love interests decisions.. If your love interest is an evil character, you should be able to turn them to good and vice versa.
It's different to influence someone's decisions than to influence someone's character & personality.
I'm rather against the latter. I want NPCs to have their own characters & motivations rather than the main protagonist being the-one-and-only surrounded by attention seekers ready to change their personalities on main protag's whim.
Not mentioning that changing your loved one's character doesn't happen in real life too often.