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The best love stories in gaming

eyeball_kid said:
You don't believe me, as in you never played Catherine, or you don't agree?

The whole game is about love and relationships and making choices within that context. It's one of the few games that treats love between two people as an adult concept and not a YA novel.
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I've played Catherine, though not to completion, I'm aware of what happens throughout the rest of the game though. I agree that the game does have some interesting things to say, but I find it hard to agree that a narrative that reduces it's two women to reductive stereotypes (One, an uptight "ball-and-chain". The other, a
literal succubus
) and then allows the player character, an insensitive and immature man-child, to have whichever one of them he wants at the end, (or stay single and
blast off to space, because women just hold us back, right? :/
) is a great example of a love story. It's a really reductive and male-centric exploration of romance, in my eyes.
 
The Last of Us (not sure if that counts but Ellie and Joel's relationship is as strong as any I've seen in gaming)

If we're strictly talking romantic here, Gone Home takes the cake for me (S+L Forever)
 
Femshep & Garrus is cute.

They also got the best romance scene in the Citadel DLC.

shepard_and_garrus__first_date_tango_by_captbuck98-d5xban7.jpg
Click to expand...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-rcEf-ThHA
 
Inferno313 said:
I've played Catherine, though not to completion, I'm aware of what happens throughout the rest of the game though. I agree that the game does have some interesting things to say, but I find it hard to agree that a narrative that reduces it's two women to reductive stereotypes (One, an uptight "ball-and-chain". The other, a
literal succubus
) and then allows the player character, an insensitive and immature man-child, to have whichever one of them he wants at the end, (or stay single and
blast off to space, because women just hold us back, right? :/
) is a great example of a love story. It's a really reductive and male-centric exploration of romance, in my eyes.
Click to expand...

Catherine isn't a romance story as most of the games listed in here are, it's a story about two people who were/are in love and in a relationship. A story about a guy who is not sure he's really ready for a long-term commitment in a relationship that's starting to fray, and then someone new appears. I don't see it as reductive or male-centric; this is a situation that plenty of people, both men and women, deal with.

You call the MC an "insensitive and immature man-child". I'm not sure I agree, but what does that have to do with the validity of the story? Catherine is a very human (and also not) story about people who are flawed and struggling to find meaning and order in their lives and how love fits into that. I'd much rather have flawed characters than perfect archetypes.
 
If VNs count, I'd like to cast another vote for Steins Gate and Katawa Shoujo. Both of them do romance in a way that feels pretty believable, and not in the typical "here are a guy and a girl in a game, now they eventually fall in love because this game was supposed to have a romantic subplot" way.

Steins Gate was neat because the
main character doesn't even realize that he fell for the girl until long after the fact, because he was so wrapped up in the other shit in the game. The way their relationship works and how they click together makes a lot of sense. They both work well for each other because each one is the perfect catalyst to help the other get out of their own head. The way this is realized and the way the relationship is portrayed in the final events of the game all comes across as very likeable, especially because both characters drop their respective bullshit as soon as they realize it's time to be serious with each other.

I didn't do all the routes in Katawa Shoujo, but I really liked Emi's route because of the way the main character grew to like her.
It wasn't any big event that made him fall for her, but the scenes where he always watched the look on her face as she ran, then later realized how purely beautiful it looked to him struck me as a very natural way of falling for someone.

I thought Catherine was a pretty good portrayal of things. I wouldn't call the main character a manchild. Many people start dating someone without thinking too far ahead, and the realization that the person you're dating might become your wife does come with a flurry of confusion and mixed feelings that I think a lot of guys can relate to. That whole "oh wait shit, I'm going to have to grow up and think about this" transition that the main character goes through was very believable, I think. The game definitely does play on the whole "do you stick with the steady girl, or do you want to go on a fling with the fresh, new girl?" angle, but that's actually a subject that I think a lot of people can relate to.

I've had discussions about this stuff with my wife before, too (we played the game together). The temptation to have a fun fling is always there for anyone in a relationship. It's normal to feel attracted to other people. Part of having a long-term relationship is recognizing that attraction for what it is, and not acting on those thoughts because of your commitment to your partner. This is something that applies to anyone in any long-term relationship, and is a part of growing up. IMO, Catherine addresses this topic in a very mature way. And of course, it lets you play out either scenario of that decision because it also knows it's a game and not real life.
 
Replaying the Mass Effect Series and I have romanced Tali in 2. Her romance/ reasons for falling for Shepard (well I'm a paragon) are incredibly sweet.
 
Why are people asking if visual novels count? Of course they count. They're games.

Shannon and George in Umineko

Heavy spoilers:
Just kidding. The best love story is Battler and Beatrice. Playing through a second time it's almost like a different story.
 
It's already been said a few times in here, but I love the Yen/Geralt relationship.

Not because it's full of fun puns and cute scenes, but because it was diffetrent than other games. Where every game focuses on a relationship just starting or the end of a relationship being a macguffin, this instead focused on a rockier relationship, where you struggled a bit to keep it together. It was past the honeymoon phase.
 
Hyoukokun said:
Lufia 2. Maxim and Selan. Spoilers for most of that game:
Their story is unusual for showing the complete arc of their romance. They meet, fall in love (leading Maxim to dump his then-girlfriend, Tia), get married, and have a child - all while the broader plot of the game progresses around them. And at the end, they both choose to sacrifice themselves - Selan to save Maxim, and then Maxim to save their child.
It probably wouldn't be noteworthy outside of a video game, but it still goes places that few other games have since attempted.
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Co-signed. I really like how they don't go overboard with it, even despite being a central point of the game. Very classy.
 
Ian and the protagonist in Coming Out On Top (the other romance options are great, too, but my personal fav is Ian :p). Putting it in a spoiler tag because the screen is from the ending scene and I couldn't find any other good screens of the two together but it doesn't really spoil too much. Just the obvious, really.

Y0CPnBo.png
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Also (from the same game), the protagonist and
his gold fish
LOL - NSFW:

th4ZUZR.jpg
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I've sadly never encountered a really believable romance subplot in any game I've ever played. They're either really contrived or two-dimensional

I think it's one of the most daunting challenges in the medium
 
Man, some of these are some real bad love stories you guys.

DOWN said:
WOLFENSTEIN The New Order
wolfenstein-theneworder2.jpg
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Actually, other than some damseling, this one is pretty good! (So far anyway, haven't finished the game)

Here's the one that always got me, especially as a kid:
latest
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Final Fantasy IX! Actually, I liked X's a lot too despite having a lot of problems with that game!
 
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