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The best love stories in gaming

The Last of Us is all about it.

Joel's fatherly love for Sarah.

Joel and Tess's platonic love - this is partly what kept Joel alive and he seems to have 'stabilized' into this new life. Tess's death is the moment Joel realizes how dire the situation is and breaks him out of the life he was getting settled in.

Bill's broken love and 'that's only good for one thing - getting you killed.'-outlook serve as a mirror for what Joel would become if he rejected love; an isolated existence where he is purely out to survive, avoiding contact with others.

Henry's brotherly love for Sam and Henry's subsequent suicide at Sam's death serves as a mirror for what would happen if Joel connects with Ellie and something happened to her. This makes Joel realize he can't connect to Ellie, which is why he then wants to drop her off with Tommy as quickly as possible.

After the bandit assault, Tommy also realizes this and offers to take Ellie to protect his brother from self-destruction. Ellie runs away and after catching up, Joel realizes that he is already too connected to Ellie, that he already sees her too much as someone he cares deeply for - too much like a daughter. Joel decides to just push through himself, as leaving Ellie now isn't an option as Ellie is also developing a bond towards him. Ellie also cares deeply for Joel while he is wounded and their bond grows into an almost full-fledged father-daughter relationship by the end of winter.

Also the entirety of Left Behind for the love between Ellie and Riley.
 
reuniting-kafei-and-anju4.jpg


Not central but...
 
Distinct lack of witcher in this thread?

The Triss, Yennefer, Geralt love triangle was pretty well handled if you made the right choices.
 
JusDoIt said:
Samus and Baby.
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I agree with this if not referring to romantic love.
The final fight after the baby saves you provoked the most anger and vengeance response of any game ever for me.

If not, the implied Crono and Marle.
The hug when you rescue Crono was too much for me when I played it the first time. I'm aware the scene happens with Lucca too, but it wasn't as powerful.
 
Gwendolyn & Oswald from Odin Sphere were so adorable. .. Well, pretty much every couple in that game was super cute, I bawled so many ugly tears throughout that whole game lol.
 
Xenoblade Shulk X
Fiora


I mean think about it. Fiora sacrifices her life to save Shulk and was abducted to be used as a shell for a goddess. Put of sheer love to Shulk she manages to win the internal struggle with the Goddess and becomes regains control over her body. On the other side Shulks whole motivation for hus journey up until he meets zer again is to avenge her death. Once he learns the truth he truly embraces both sides of the war and is a key to the peace to come. Also it is a happy ending.
RayearthRob said:
reuniting-kafei-and-anju4.jpg


Not central but...
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Holy crap that was the best 3days spent for me
 
In terms of romance, don't really have a lot to add that people haven't said already - Nate 'n Elena, Geralt 'n Yen, Max 'n Chloe are definitely some of my most memorable couples. I was also really impressed by Telltale's Batman, and the dynamic between Bruce and Selina. They had so much chemistry, and felt 100% like equals.

HStallion said:
tumblr_nq0rjsFDmt1tes8zmo1_540.gif


Love comes in all forms and this one is in the shape of a giant catdogbird
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Yep, new favorite love story of all time! The little giggle/laugh variations the boy does when Trico wants a pet, too, owmyheart. Toriko~.

Llyrwenne said:
The Last of Us is all about it.

--
Click to expand...

Hell yes, TLoU explores love in so many different ways. Fantastic write-up.
 
Red Devil said:
And the best girl won in the end. HAH!
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I don't even think they waited until the end. As soon as Shulk found out that Fiora was still alive, Melia backed off right away and continued her long journey to have her heart broken as many times as possible.

Here's to the curse of being the most useful character in the game.
 
Shovel Knight explores love in a rather subtle manner in the main campaign and more explicitly in the Plague Knight campaign. Either way it's great stuff.

Plague Knight and Mona is also another great one. Having the manifestations of Plague Knight's insecurities towards her be the final boss is a fantastic way to end the game.
 
I genuinely can't think of a single relationship that feels realistic enough or has the nuances of a genuine romantic relationship. I just don't think we're there yet.

Uncharted 4 comes close (Pirate Dinner Table, the chapter sent at home with Elena) but the problem is the game is so full of the crazy adventure stuff that it puts the audience at a stretch to feel grounded
(Elena flies all the way from New Orleans to an uncharted island to save Drake).

Like, that's love but it's love that nobody would ever have to perform, haha.
 
Some silly anime tropes aside, Xenoblade handled its love triangle in a surprisingly mature and sweet way. I expected it to work out quite differently.

FFX was great too, but I'm not sure it was the romance itself or just Yuna being a great character, she's great.

Also not really the same, but Locke's and especially Cyan's conflicts with romance were heart breaking.
 
Auctopus said:
I genuinely can't think of a single relationship that feels realistic enough or has the nuances of a genuine romantic relationship. I just don't think we're there yet.

Uncharted 4 comes close (Pirate Dinner Table, the chapter sent at home with Elena) but the problem is the game is so full of the crazy adventure stuff that it puts the audience at a stretch to feel grounded
(Elena flies all the way from New Orleans to an uncharted island to save Drake).

Like, that's love but it's love that nobody would ever have to perform, haha.
Click to expand...

That's my main issue with most game romances. I think Pandora's Tower comes the closest to creating a nice push and tug relationship through its mechanics as well as its story. And it uses most of its play space quite nicely for the task.
 
Uncharted 4 (Nate and Elena).

Enjoyed them together in Uncharted 1/2, but wasn't a huge fan of how they handled their relationship in 3. However, all the Nate/Elena relationship stuff in Uncharted 4 were the best parts about that game. The fact that they managed to balance a tale exploring the realities of marriage within the confines of an action/adventure shooter, where you're on the quest for a lost pirate city is pretty damn awesome. Sure it requires some suspension of disbelief, they're still killing hundreds of dudes after all, but for what it is I think it works really well.

TLOU and Left Behind

This post it explains it better than I could.
Llyrwenne said:
The Last of Us is all about it.

Joel's fatherly love for Sarah.

Joel and Tess's platonic love - this is partly what kept Joel alive and he seems to have 'stabilized' into this new life. Tess's death is the moment Joel realizes how dire the situation is and breaks him out of the life he was getting settled in.

Bill's broken love and 'that's only good for one thing - getting you killed.'-outlook serve as a mirror for what Joel would become if he rejected love; an isolated existence where he is purely out to survive, avoiding contact with others.

Henry's brotherly love for Sam and Henry's subsequent suicide at Sam's death serves as a mirror for what would happen if Joel connects with Ellie and something happened to her. This makes Joel realize he can't connect to Ellie, which is why he then wants to drop her off with Tommy as quickly as possible.

After the bandit assault, Tommy also realizes this and offers to take Ellie to protect his brother from self-destruction. Ellie runs away and after catching up, Joel realizes that he is already too connected to Ellie, that he already sees her too much as someone he cares deeply for - too much like a daughter. Joel decides to just push through himself, as leaving Ellie now isn't an option as Ellie is also developing a bond towards him. Ellie also cares deeply for Joel while he is wounded and their bond grows into an almost full-fledged father-daughter relationship by the end of winter.

Also the entirety of Left Behind for the love between Ellie and Riley.
Click to expand...

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

ICO, SOTC and TLG

Brothers

RDR (John Marston and Abigail Marston)
 
John Kowalski said:
samme-mejias-image-lair-final-fantasy-viii-squall-rinoa+%252811%2529.png
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I feel like I've been going to bat a lot for this game lately, but this 100%. They don't start out in love or even particularly interested, at least in Squall's case. His growth from a sort of self imposed loner to basically her knight (to borrow a term from the game) is very relatable and believable to me. They seem like real people feeling their way through things perhaps neither was initially prepared for.

It's easily my favorite love story in all of Final Fantasy and maybe all of gaming.
 
Ridley327 said:
I don't even think they waited until the end. As soon as Shulk found out that Fiora was still alive, Melia backed off right away and continued her long journey to have her heart broken as many times as possible.

Here's to the curse of being the most useful character in the game.
Click to expand...

Yeah, best girl won long before the end is more accurate.
 
ZangBa said:
Sora and Riku. He found Kairi and it was business as usual, but Riku? He got on his knees and started crying.
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You just made me so mad.

I am violently reminded of how much I hated that about Kingdom Hearts 2. The way they handled the relationship of the Destiny Island Three ruined that game for me.
 
There's a ton I really enjoyed, but I'm going to throw one out that most people might disagree with; Anya and Blazkowicz in Wolfenstein. It's the only time I've ever seen a triple-A title handle a relationship so appropriately. I wasn't expecting much based on initial development, but as the game went on, it felt more and more real. Anya never really seemed, at least to me, like a hollow person tagged to B.J. just to elevate him; they definitely built her up as a strong character as the game progressed. The weirdest part to me is that the times they had sex never really felt like fodder for a specific demographic like other games often do, it legitimately felt driven by their love for each other. Not to say that the game couldn't have done without the scenes, but the fact that it didn't feel out of place is something to praise, I feel. Not the best love story in games by any means, but one I personally enjoyed.
 
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