AndarianTD wrote...
Since writing a complex, high-quality CRPG romance is one of my goals in developing the Sanctum of the Archmage modules, I've be very interested in feedback from players on this. If you've played a CRPG romance that you thought was well done, what was it and what did you like about it? If you've played the currently available Sanctum modules, what was your reaction (positive or negative), and why?
*Snip*
I've never played the great majority of community-made NWN modules, and I've very little relevant experience as a professional writer to make much of a call on how things work in the games industry, so I'll assume that you're absolutely right there. It'd certainly make sense.
Some factors in making the SP RPG romances I've experienced pretty ghastly, are:
- Reliance on dialogue/speech and visuals, as opposed to description
There are romances that fail miserably in film because of poor acting. Game art -- particularly in the more recent "realistic" style, which either looks real or looks wrong, to my mind, and usually the latter -- sure as hell can't convey enough recognisable emotion to even begin to replace artful use of the English language.
Hordes of the Underdark's romances (and NPC interactions in general) were a huge improvement over the OC's and SoU's in this regard, but still failed due to other factors.
- Romances are seen as separate entities, achievements pursued primarily between significant game events
Romances occur solely in peaceful interaction/dialogue, never during, or as a result of, the circumstances of the RPG's story. Worse, they hinge upon certain conditions being met or things being said, which I think, even if only subconsciously, strikes most of us as unrealistic. (I know this is fantasy, but more than anything else, the emotional responses of characters must be quasi-realistic in even the wildest fantasy settings for us to relate and grow attached to those characters, an essential component of a successful RPG romance.)
For comparison, consider an example from film which I think works well, despite not being exactly deep or complex -
Willow, and its romance between Sorsha and Madmartigan. The first time these characters meet is in a dingy, rowdy tavern, and they are enemies due to Madmartigan trying to protect someone Sorsha is hunting for. He's (poorly) disguised as a woman and when he shoves her away, she sees through his ruse and a fight breaks out; Madmartigan escapes with his companions and Sorsha is left behind, an enemy. Foreshadowing of their romance at this point is achieved with two things; brief dialogue, and the on screen chemistry/eye contact between the two actors (in an RPG, this can be described by a skilled writer; never graphics; I've seen art I could fall in love with, but never 3D game art). The film dialogue is along the lines of,
[disguised as the mother of the child he's protecting, Madmartigan shoves Sorsha away, hard. Sorsha then pulls off her helm angrily]
Madmartigan: "You're... beautiful."
Sorsha: "And you're very strong."
[a fight breaks out between Sorsha's soldiers and Madmartigan and some tavern patrons]
Contrast this introduction to a romance, with an RPG's typical methods - performing a task or recovering an item for the NPC, agreeing to fight by their side, more likely than not in dialogue that takes place not
as a significant story event, but between events. Hooray; I saved the fated infant from the evil soldiers and escaped, then spent 3 minutes in awkward conversation with my future romantic partner, by which time there was no tension and no particular reason to say anything to each other.
Essentially, RPG romances are quests. Everything about them screams this; you can even see it in the way fans discuss the romances on a game's forums. Real romances -- or fantastical, but quasi-realistic romances to which we can relate -- don't work like that, as long as we're talking about romance and not sex or marriages of convenience. The events of our lives and the changes in the world around us can't conveniently be separated from the relationships we form, they're all enmeshed to form a web of circumstances and emotions.
I was going to type a lot more, but this post is already a bit ridiculous. Essentially, I think most commercial RPG romances fail completely when they're quests, achievements and game features, rather than inherent elements of the story. A good romance can't really be contained in one NPC's conversation file; it needs to be entangled in the RPG's story at a fundamental level.
The apparent trend of supporting as many romantic options as possible in RPGs (gay, straight, human, dwarf, good, evil...) exemplifies and confounds this by stripping any real identity from those very NPCs who we're supposed to care most about.
Modifié par B_Harrison, 10 septembre 2010 - 02:31 .