For a game with no Romance...

[Koven]

a lot of these conversations and "friendships" sure do sound like they wanna bang Hunter pretty badly. Felt like I was playing Baldur's Gate 3 for a moment there.

[wpegg]

I think it's more that games like Dragon age and Baldur's gate 3 have trivialised romance to the extent that people seem to think it involves giving someone a box of chocolates and having 4 conversations spread over a week.

[Starmender]

Yeah, a lot of conversations are very flirty and most of hang-outs/havens feel like a date. Makes me think that there were plans for romance at least at some point in development, but they got scrubbed later for some reason. Quite disappointing.

[Koven]

I mean, Gale... er, Dr. Strange invited me stargazing and sat hip-to-hip with me under the starts having a deep conversation. I've never hung out with my bros or even my female friends that close. I could be the weird one, obviously, but it seemed very intimate. Almost all of one-on-one encounters so far have kind of felt more like flirting with strong infatuation vibes. The exceptions have been Spider-Man and Blade and mostly Iron Man so far. But I'm still early in the game. Blade is clearly hot for Captain Marvel, so that's probably why he's not "interested" in me. But she seems clearly down to clown with Hunter, and Hunter has a lot of very "we can just bang" vibes in his conversational tone.

Again, probably just me. But it really feels like Romance was originally in the cards for this game.

[Yorik]

This is literally a dating game. It has all of the mechanics that dating games have, the only thing missing is actually having sex with anybody.

[wpegg]

Originally posted by Yorik:

This is literally a dating game. It has all of the mechanics that dating games have, the only thing missing is actually having sex with anybody.

In this game you sit meditating with a half vampire, discuss how he killed his mentor and console him with the fact you're going to kill your mum.

What kind of dates do you go on?

[Yorik]

Originally posted by wpegg:

Originally posted by Yorik:

This is literally a dating game. It has all of the mechanics that dating games have, the only thing missing is actually having sex with anybody.

In this game you sit meditating with a half vampire, discuss how he killed his mentor and console him with the fact you're going to kill your mum.

What kind of dates do you go on?

You also make his heart meter go up, give him gifts, and look forward to his texts the morning after about how much fun he had with you and asking you to meet up again.

[Stj.Srex]

Originally posted by Yorik:

Originally posted by wpegg:

In this game you sit meditating with a half vampire, discuss how he killed his mentor and console him with the fact you're going to kill your mum.

What kind of dates do you go on?

You also make his heart meter go up, give him gifts, and look forward to his texts the morning after about how much fun he had with you and asking you to meet up again.

I guess someone never got any gift in their life and its jealous because MC giving these like they are free and he cant get any,

[wpegg]

Originally posted by Yorik:

You also make his heart meter go up, give him gifts, and look forward to his texts the morning after about how much fun he had with you and asking you to meet up again.

Honestly, none of those relate to dates as far as I'm concerned either. Not if you look beyond cheap american teen dramas. This whole obsession some people seem to have with "it being a dating sim" is quite frankly a bit wierd. Not only is it obviously inaccurate, it's also an odd thing to get hung up on. I mean, they actually had romance elements to Dragon Age, Mass Effect, etc. and nobody really cared. It feels like people are looking for something to criticise and are really having to stretch.

[Koven]

I think the reason people are saying it's like a dating sim is because so many dating sims have similar mechanics and "roleplaying options." And again, some things that the characters do are more friend-like. Blade is a good example of a friendship in the game so far. But taking someone to a special place feels like a "date" to me. You have a lot of friends here. Why can I only take one of them to a special walk for some alone time? And they often reveal things that are emotional on a level you might share with a romantic partner.

I won't go so far as to say this is a dating sim, but I can see the connection. And maybe it's the voice acting (which isn't always great, to be fair) but the male Hunter certainly seems to give off a quiet confidence in his replies that traditionally we hear/see in "leading male sex symbol" roles. He's the hero, don't get me wrong. He should sound confident. But the ways that Nico and Magik have sort of opened up to him, both inviting them to their bedrooms to listen to some music together, or watching a movie with just the two of them, having quiet alone time just the two of them, etc. Just feels a little different of an experience than I've ever had with my friends (with exception to watching a movie).

Either way, I don't see the harm in it if it had the actual Romance. I guess because of the established lores and characters in the universe that it would have been more difficult to make that happen.

[Starmender]

Originally posted by wpegg:

Honestly, none of those relate to dates as far as I'm concerned either. Not if you look beyond cheap american teen dramas. This whole obsession some people seem to have with "it being a dating sim" is quite frankly a bit wierd. Not only is it obviously inaccurate, it's also an odd thing to get hung up on. I mean, they actually had romance elements to Dragon Age, Mass Effect, etc. and nobody really cared. It feels like people are looking for something to criticise and are really having to stretch.

Um.. why would anyone care about romance in DA or ME? Romance options are ALWAYS welcomed, especially in RPGs. And no one's criticizing Midnight Suns for having romance, it's quite the opposite if anything. It's so weird to have all those interactions with companions that are way more romantic in nature than anything DA or ME had to offer, and have them not lead anywhere.

[ChaosKhan]

Originally posted by wpegg:

Originally posted by Yorik:

You also make his heart meter go up, give him gifts, and look forward to his texts the morning after about how much fun he had with you and asking you to meet up again.

Honestly, none of those relate to dates as far as I'm concerned either. Not if you look beyond cheap american teen dramas. This whole obsession some people seem to have with "it being a dating sim" is quite frankly a bit wierd. Not only is it obviously inaccurate, it's also an odd thing to get hung up on. I mean, they actually had romance elements to Dragon Age, Mass Effect, etc. and nobody really cared. It feels like people are looking for something to criticise and are really having to stretch.

Please don't compare Mass Effect and Dragon Age to the likes of BG3 or MMS. In Bioware titles, you actually had to work for the affection and the romance targets even had some kind of sexual preferences. Shepard and the Grey Warden were actually human beings and not some gender boundary crossing manifestations of every romance targets wet dreams.

[wpegg]

Originally posted by ChaosKhan:

Please don't compare Mass Effect and Dragon Age to the likes of BG3 or MMS.

I wasn't really comparing them, just stating some games where there were romance elements. A comparison would involve actually aligning properties of the games and drawing conclusions on the relative merits.

Originally posted by ChaosKhan:

In Bioware titles, you actually had to work for the affection and the romance targets even had some kind of sexual preferences. Shepard and the Grey Warden were actually human beings and not some gender boundary crossing manifestations of every romance targets wet dreams.

Like this ^^.

You might want to be careful drawing such comparisons, there are some very oddly entitled people on this forum that will object to it.

[JC]

Originally posted by Koven:

I think the reason people are saying it's like a dating sim is because so many dating sims have similar mechanics and "roleplaying options." And again, some things that the characters do are more friend-like. Blade is a good example of a friendship in the game so far. But taking someone to a special place feels like a "date" to me. You have a lot of friends here. Why can I only take one of them to a special walk for some alone time? And they often reveal things that are emotional on a level you might share with a romantic partner.

Do people just not go hang out with people in real life anymore? go on a walk, sit and play a game, have a drink? There isn't anything that they do in any of the hang out sessions I've seen that i haven't done myself in real life with friends, heck even married ones and i'm certainly not dating my married friends.

Sure you can go sit and watch ocean on a date. You can also go watch the ocean with a friend, go for a few hours and your bound to talk about something personal. I don't know why people are acting like this is something abnormal.


As for gifts, people give gifts to close friends all the time, even not so close. Like taking a friend out to eat for their birthday, or giving them something for the holiday. Seams totally legit/normal to me.

[Koven]

Originally posted by JC:

Originally posted by Koven:

I think the reason people are saying it's like a dating sim is because so many dating sims have similar mechanics and "roleplaying options." And again, some things that the characters do are more friend-like. Blade is a good example of a friendship in the game so far. But taking someone to a special place feels like a "date" to me. You have a lot of friends here. Why can I only take one of them to a special walk for some alone time? And they often reveal things that are emotional on a level you might share with a romantic partner.

Do people just not go hang out with people in real life anymore? go on a walk, sit and play a game, have a drink? There isn't anything that they do in any of the hang out sessions I've seen that i haven't done myself in real life with friends, heck even married ones and i'm certainly not dating my married friends.

Sure you can go sit and watch ocean on a date. You can also go watch the ocean with a friend, go for a few hours and your bound to talk about something personal. I don't know why people are acting like this is something abnormal.


As for gifts, people give gifts to close friends all the time, even not so close. Like taking a friend out to eat for their birthday, or giving them something for the holiday. Seams totally legit/normal to me.

Well, I can only speak for my experiences. I was a big "player" when I was younger; basically looking to bang any girl I found attractive. A LOT of the situations with some of the characters are very similar to my experiences when "dating" members of the opposite sex. If a girl invited just me (from a group of friends/colleagues) back to her room to "listen to music", then we were likely not really there to just listen to music. This happens with both Magik and Nico. If a girl invited only me from our group to get in the hot tub (or the private grotto) like Danvers does, it usually meant she wanted some personal attention in a romantic way. Hell, Danvers even wants to take you on an island getaway together, just the two of you.

So yeah, I can see all of these situations as just being "friendly" things "friends" do together. Absolutely. And in the context of the real world where you're not surrounded by all of your other friends all of the time in a very small space, where you have a common area that you can all do stuff as a group, I can see it differently.

My issue is just how I relate it to my own personal life. Even some of the ways Hunter replies (or can reply), the questions he asks, and the things he says feel like he's wanting to either be more intimate or is at least receptive to the other person's intimacy.

I'm in my mid 40s and I have a handful of close male friends and two close female friends. I'm married, so I don't count my wife. First, I would literally NEVER do some of the things that Hunter and the women do together with my female friends alone. I also wouldn't go to what I would consider a romantic ocean overlook like he does with Spider-Man or sit hip-to-hip with someone under the stars like he does with Strange.

Now, the relationship with Blade is very bro-friendly and doesn't come off as romantic at all. Same with Tony. Strange comes off as a little more sensitive, and I have had a more open, sensitive friend who was kind of like that, so I can see it. Robbie feels more like he needs a dad or a big brother.

Maybe if my Hunter was female I wouldn't even see it the same way from the female NPCs. But inviting someone to a special place that they "love", just the two of you, seems like a date to me. I would never ask my female friends to a secluded midnight stroll through some enchanted forest for some alone time. And I've known them a LOT longer than Hunter has known anyone except Agatha and Sara.

It's just my opinion, of course. I think we all see things through the lenses of our pasts and our own personalities.

[Yorik]

Originally posted by wpegg:

Originally posted by Yorik:

You also make his heart meter go up, give him gifts, and look forward to his texts the morning after about how much fun he had with you and asking you to meet up again.

Honestly, none of those relate to dates as far as I'm concerned either. Not if you look beyond cheap american teen dramas. This whole obsession some people seem to have with "it being a dating sim" is quite frankly a bit wierd. Not only is it obviously inaccurate, it's also an odd thing to get hung up on. I mean, they actually had romance elements to Dragon Age, Mass Effect, etc. and nobody really cared. It feels like people are looking for something to criticise and are really having to stretch.

Romance sim is a genre of video game. The point isn't that you're actually romantically dating the characters, it's that all of the mechanics in the abbey are ripped directly from the dating sim genre down to the day night cycles. I was going to say except for the exploration parts, but even some actual dating sims have mechanics where every day there are certain parts of the town or whatever you can explore and pick up items and see scripted encounters and stuff, I've seen that before.