[DoctorEldritch]

Hello Legion Gamers!

February, the month of Romance and Friendship, is gaining steam, and here is one of the first topics of the month: Friendship and Romance in Games!

This is a somewhat complex subject, so I want to try and tackle it from a few different sides. When it comes to romance and friendship, personally, I divide games into ones where you need to cultivate those yourself and those where they are already existing. But this is my approach, please do share if you have a different outlook on the matter.

To give an example, games like Mass Effect or Dragon Age or Fallout, or even the latest Yakuza: Like a Dragon give a player a group of party members to lead, and through quests and reactions, and dialogues the player can then deepen the friendship and, at times, romance some of those characters, so the player gets to go through the process of romance as well. Does not have to be party members, either, for example, Stardew Valley let players befriend and romance many NPCs. Not to mention that there are numerous dating sim games where the whole gameplay is built around the concept of romance building.

And then there are games where friendship and romance either pre-exist or develop regardless of the choices of the player. Nathan Drake and Sully from Uncharted will be friends no matter what the player does, or Alphen and Shionne from the Tales of Arise will fall in love as the player moves through the story.

So in each of these categories, a separate game exists for me. And here are my picks:

For the best player-build Friendships, I want to go with Sims 4. Romantic stories need more plot, but as far as making friends goes, Sims can simulate that in amusing ways.

And for Romance, I want to go with Witcher 3. I know it only has 2 romance options, but the lore and depth make up for it, I want to say. Spoilers for Witcher 3 ending and Blood and Wine:

As for friendship and love games where the relationship is predetermined, for friendship, my choice is Sam and Max, Freelance Police. That whacky sense of humor and chaotic universe appeals to me.

And for the predetermined Romance, I'd go for Guybrush and Elane from Monkey Island:

Huh, it seems when I have no control over it, I prefer relationships to have more of a humorous element to them.

But these are my top picks. What about you, got any good games on your mind?

[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch Second Life may be a game you can have the best of both worlds. Do you agree? 😊

[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot To be honest, I have not played it and am not even sure what it is exactly. Something to do with VR?

[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch Second Life is an inclusive haven of self-expression. Whether you seek to share your story or connect with other people who are going through similar experiences as you.

With thousands of virtual experiences and communities, you'll never run out of places to explore and people to meet. Music clubs, roleplaying communities, virtual cinemas and more. Second Life is always wonderful, sometimes weird, and 100% wow-worthy.

[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot It is interesting, maybe something to look into, it could be something like that awards ceremony we held in our Minecraft Legion Hall last year.

I wonder, though, if it is a proper "game" or more like a virtual chat room or a format of social media platform.

[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch the game has a bit of everything.

Here's a short video of some content you can find in Second Life.

[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot I hope you'll not hold it against me, but the impression I got aligns well with how the author of this video describes the experience at 1:20: "This just feels weird. And wrong. And strange."

But you brought up an interesting subject that I did not think about initially: there are massively multiplayer games where you can make friends with real people while in-game (our Game Nights work like that, too). But those are friendships between real people in a gaming world, and I was only thinking of friendships and romances that there "plot-written" in the game by game devs. I did not think about friendship or romance with real people at all.

[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch There's nothing to hold against you and I also agree with the author. 😂

I just thought I'll share Second Life with you and show how far developers would go these days with games.

I'll also rather stick with "plot written" friendships and romances. It seems much healthier.

[Saka]

When thinking about predetermined friendships in games, this one came to my mind:



You slowly gather a small team of friends to save the world and at the same time build friendships between nations.

[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot Second Life definitely deserves an "honorable mention".

The majority of "plot-written" friendships and romances are, indeed, healthier, as they should be. But the games allow to explore some issues on the level where other forms of media cannot, so there is a small number of games that deal with such concepts as toxic friendships or abusive relationships, as well.

There are not many of them, but it is an interesting and new approach to exploring and discussing such problems. Last Call comes, to mind, for example:

So even when relationships portrayed are not as healthy, they can still be worthwhile and interesting to explore in a game. And there are always plenty of lighter more proper friendships in games, too.