Why do i have to date them?

[Sytolits]

I enjoy the adventure aspect but u know its odd to be dating with these characters. And I mean they REALLY want to hang out with you, u know?

[NightmareHollow]

You don't. It's optional. Unless you're after all the achievements, or you want to fill up the gallery then it's mandatory.

Aquria, Futami and Kawahara just wants people to have absolute freedom to date whichever characters you like.

[Sytolits]

well i'll try again if im board.

[Bl4ck]

Well...it is not entirly optional. In fact you have to grind up the friendship level to be able to "gift" aka eauip your folllwers with gear. You have to date-grind each person you want to equip with new gear to friendship level 4 for weapons and level 5 for armor.
So unless you want your followers run around with their grey quality start gear for the entire playthrough you have to date...including your sisten/cousin.
The friendship level is also increased by having them in your party and esp. when using the "good job" command to push the usage of specific traits (e.g. "Shy" or "Fierce"). Nevertheless, without additional date-grinding it takes a long time from friendship lvl 3 up to 5... a rly long time.
All in all getting a follower to friendship lvl 5 (or even 6) is not difficult, but it may get annoying to date-grind over and over again, for each follower...especially when beeing forced to date your cousin and some followers of questionable age (e.g. Silicia...), just to be able to hand them a better weapon...

[Bl4ck]

Oh and there is another thing: if you take a follower/party member out for a date they enjoy, before going adventuring, they will get a "date buff" (indicated by tiny hearts rising from their head^^) once you are out of town. You can do that with all 3 party members (you are Kirito, you can "pillowtalk" with the entire population including npc and no one cares^^) The buff is strong, but it if it is worth the time needed is questionable. Especially since a follower will lose that buff if they get knocked out and/or when returning to town...

[it's a gabe]

Cuz it's SAO and SAO is an undercover harem franchise.

You can have random NPCs in your party if you want. That shoul minimize all that cuz they don't really want anything. They don't have personality and they're in no way involved with the overarching story, so it's never awkward that all the girls are interested in Kirito when Asuna is supposed to be his actual wife.

[NightmareHollow]

Originally posted by unnecesaurus (ꈍ ꒳ ꈍ✿):

Cuz it's SAO and SAO is an undercover harem franchise.

You can have random NPCs in your party if you want. That shoul minimize all that cuz they don't really want anything. They don't have personality and they're in no way involved with the overarching story, so it's never awkward that all the girls are interested in Kirito when Asuna is supposed to be his actual wife.

No it isn't. canonically, there's only 2 girls with a serious romantic interest with him. everybody else are only interested in him as close friends, nothing more. And the dating elements are for you as the player, not as Kirito

[it's a gabe]

Originally posted by NightmareHollow:

Originally posted by unnecesaurus (ꈍ ꒳ ꈍ✿):

Cuz it's SAO and SAO is an undercover harem franchise.

You can have random NPCs in your party if you want. That shoul minimize all that cuz they don't really want anything. They don't have personality and they're in no way involved with the overarching story, so it's never awkward that all the girls are interested in Kirito when Asuna is supposed to be his actual wife.

No it isn't. canonically, there's only 2 girls with a serious romantic interest with him. everybody else are only interested in him as close friends, nothing more. And the dating elements are for you as the player, not as Kirito

Canonically, this series has way more female characters than male ones. The core cast revolves around Kirito and there's just no way to deny that. It's a harem regardless if he's sleeping with all of them in the official canon. The games are 100% harem, though, regardless if the sleepovers are there for the player, which only makes the fact that most games have Kirito as the PC all the more weird. What's the point of having an established character if none of his defining characteristics are relevant? 🤷🏻‍♂️

At least they're far less creepy in FB. In HR you pretty much force yourself onto NPCs until they agree to sleep with you.

You can calm your jitters now, though. This isn't a battle you can win. To be fair, I can't win it either because both of us are convinced of our beliefs. Nothing you see is gonna change what I think, nor will it change the fact that the harem aspect of the games is there and that most of the core cast is comprised by girls 💁🏻‍♂️

[Drakzen]

Because it is SAO and SAO is all about the Harem wanting to get smashed by Kirito.