Weekly Poll 12/10/18 - Romance

[Nithing]

Torn between 1 and 2. On one hand, you don't want it to be too simple and become one dimensional. On the other hand, the idea of, "Wooing someone correctly" seems a bit absurd. Unfortunately, romances in video games often boil down to checklists of varying length.

3. Because, I think romance lines are generally more of an extra or a story telling aid, not a mechanic like hacking.
"I like this person but their reflexes are exactly 1 point too low for my love."

7. This seems like a no-brainer. Pretty much only Bethesda games with player-sexual NPCs these days, right?

Didn't pick 8 or 9, though I'm erring towards 9 with the assumption that, as in The Witcher games, these scenes can be skipped so no one is forced to watch them.

I think CDPR should use "romance" as the Developers of the role playing game suggested as a tool too advance a story.

Would be really cool of romances were more than just window dressing.

 

[sv3672]

I may remember wrong, but were a number of points not already confirmed by developers? I recall 7 in particular being confirmed, but also that it will be more or less similar to the Witcher games. So, it seems to be a given that both simple and a smaller number of complex will be included, and that there will likely be explicit scenes within the limits of the "M" rating, except maybe for generic encounters like prostitutes (I can see fade to black being preferred to reused animations like in The Witcher 3). What seems to be doubtful is if character stats are going to matter, if the Witcher series is anything to go by, then important story branches depend only on dialogue choices that are always available, but this could change in Cyberpunk.

 

[Keith_Latondress]

It depends on what type of romance are we talking about, one-night-stands or true romance?

If it's one night stands I think there still should be some limitations on how free you could romance someone. While it's fun screwing around with different people everyday, NPC should still have preferences to make them more human-like and not feel like lifeless hunk of meat (or metal).

This would be an exact opposite of what Cyberpunk would be y'know being free and all, but people like you and me should have different tastes at how they view others.

If it's true romance just do it like W3. There has to be main romance characters backed by the plot, and some additional oddball options with quirkier personality while staying true to the story.

Also harem option? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

the best way to do this is to break the NPC down in to R&K selection theory . so the NPC is either R selected or they are K selected.

R selected people are like rabbits they only live in the now and only care about Quantity. rabbits don't care if other rabbits die and have many offspring that they don't invest in. rabbits only care about what serves there needs right now.

K selected People are like Wolves. To the Wolf the pack matters, The Wolf cares about Quality . The Wolf is careful in choosing the right mate, they Invest heavily in there offspring and if it is defective it is abandoned. K selected people will plan there futures and delay gratification.

If i had to guess the distribution of R&K to a population would be most likely be 70% to 80% would be R selected. at least that's how it seems to me ( and thats being optimistic , being pessimistic its more like 90% R selected.) .

"Always keep company with wolves because rabbits are nothing but scum!"

Post automatically merged: Dec 10, 2018

And sure its possible too be a mix of R&K after all us human beings are complex . it is possible for a person to be K selected in there business practices and still be R selected in their mating habits.

 

[KakitaTatsumaru]

2: Because depth is what makes roleplay interesting.
5: Because it's the logical things to do.
7: Because having everyone playersexual is what makes it bland in Bethesda games and is just bad writing.

 

[Sardukhar]

7: Because having everyone playersexual is what makes it bland in Bethesda games and is just bad writing.

I just thought I'd say, I love this word, playersexual. So perfect. I dunno if it's yours, Kak, but it's a great way to describe this very gamey idea.

 

[Snowflakez]

2, 3, 7, and 9. Don't want stats impacting romantic relationships with NPCs at all.

 

[Nithing]

I'm not sure the poll and title are cohesive with this murder hobo thread.

 

[Sardukhar]

They aren't.

Topic: Romance.

Don't want to see any more conversation about what does or does not turn player characters into "murder hoboes" or how their tabletop group is or isn't flawed or their GM is or isn't a troll.

 

[Sardukhar]

A romance option I would like?

Your partner dumps you. In the case of a one-night stand, they kick you out. This might be automatic, because they don't like long-term, or stats/choice derived.

In a longer-term relationship, I'd really like to have your choices ( affected by stats if possible) determine if you stay together during the game or not.

 

[Rawls]

Your partner dumps you.

It would be unexpected if you do everything "right" and still get dumped at the end.

Spoiler: TW3 Spoilers

I guess this kinda happens with Shani & Canterella at the end of Hearts of Stone in TW3, so it wouldn't be totally unheard of.

 

[metalmaniac21]

Yet it's nigh impossible to write romances into gameplay. GTA 4 devs tried it and Nico's relationships didn't go anywhere due to how artificialgamey friendos are and how much of characters progression and chemistry writers provided for each such relationship with each girl (zero). Except for one that 'tutorial' girl who actually was allowed to be written into the story but it didn't go well, to say spoiler-free.

 

[Snowflakez]

It would be unexpected if you do everything "right" and still get dumped at the end.

Spoiler: TW3 Spoilers

I guess this kinda happens with Shani & Canterella at the end of Hearts of Stone in TW3, so it wouldn't be totally unheard of.

Yeah. I know this topic was essentially shut down earlier, but it's relevant here.

It would be like the DM screwing you just for the sake of screwing you. If you develop a relationship with an NPC all game, and don't screw it up, I don't see any value in making them dump the player.

 

[Rawls]

I know this topic was essentially shut down earlier, but it's relevant here.

Well whether or not NPCs should able to end relationships I think is on topic, just not the off topic argument about PnP GMs. If one wants to make the argument that providing incentives for players to progress relationships without punishing them, there are ways to do it without derailing the thread. You just did it! Have a redpoint.

 

[Snowflakez]

Well whether or not NPCs should able to end relationships I think is on topic, just not the off topic argument about PnP GMs. If one wants to make the argument that providing incentives for players to progress relationships without punishing them, there are ways to do it without derailing the thread. You just did it! Have a redpoint.

Ah, fair enough. I don't remember what was said exactly, but I was definitely aiming to draw a correlation between the two.

CDPR is not the type of DM that has historically done that, though, so I'm not concerned. They seem to value letting players advance and keep their relationships with NPCs, while also challenging them from time to time.

 

[Sardukhar]

Well...hm.


Gotta tell you guys, doing it "right" and getting it dumped is absolutely realistic. As many of you no doubt know.

Probably because the definition of doing it right varies.

Also, as a Gm who prefers SLA Industries, Warhammer FRP, Call of Cthulhu and Cpunk ( that's the order I've been running recently), I kind of am that GM.

My players still seem to have fun, but, yeah, life is Just Not Fair. It's actually in the GM section of the CPunk Corebook to not be fair.

 

[Snowflakez]

Well...hm.


Gotta tell you guys, doing it "right" and getting it dumped is absolutely realistic. As many of you no doubt know.

Probably because the definition of doing it right varies.

Also, as a Gm who prefers SLA Industries, Warhammer FRP, Call of Cthulhu and Cpunk ( that's the order I've been running recently), I kind of am that GM.

My players still seem to have fun, but, yeah, life is Just Not Fair. It's actually in the GM section of the CPunk Corebook to not be fair.

That's fine, I'm not judging how you run your games, and as you and other mods have made abundantly clear, it's not particularly relevant to this thread. I've had DMs that are like that and DMs that are not like that.

No, life is not fair. But it's not not fair just for the sake of not being fair, or to teach them darned whippersnappers a lesson. There is a reason behind many (all?) things in life. Break-ups and the end of relationships are usually one of them. Rarely does a relationship end because someone gets a wild hair up their arse. *shrug* Your mileage may vary.

Developing a relationship with an NPC (A romantic one, even) throughout the entire game, and then they dump you because "thems the breaks," well... Forgive me if I find that a bit forced.

 

[Sardukhar]

Developing a relationship with an NPC (A romantic one, even) throughout the entire game, and then they dump you because "thems the breaks," well... Forgive me if I find that a bit forced.

Well, it feels a bit Cyberpunk, is the point. Love Is Cruel.

 

[Snowflakez]

Well, it feels a bit Cyberpunk, is the point. Love Is Cruel.

Yeah, I don't agree, but that's fine.

 

[KakitaTatsumaru]

Yeah. I know this topic was essentially shut down earlier, but it's relevant here.

It would be like the DM screwing you just for the sake of screwing you. If you develop a relationship with an NPC all game, and don't screw it up, I don't see any value in making them dump the player.

Unless you devellop a relationship with ALL NPC, then:

 

[sv3672]

Developing a relationship with an NPC (A romantic one, even) throughout the entire game, and then they dump you because "thems the breaks," well... Forgive me if I find that a bit forced.

The Witcher series does have that, at least between the games, relationships developed in the previous game are broken or put on hold. Although this may be related to the difficulty of making decisions carry over to sequels, but if future Cyberpunk games continued V's story (doubtful), it would be an issue again. And some relationships are just written to be short term, and limited to a specific quest line or "chapter" of a game. It can be realistic for NPCs to part ways with the protagonist for their own reasons.