Games with the best love story?

[lemonhoney]

Forget graphics and gameplay and all that for just a second. Which games (mainly RPGs, I suppose) have the best/most interesting/deepest love story between two characters? It doesn't necessarily have to be between the main character and his/her love interest.

[EvilElitest]

A lot of JRPG make this claim, but in reality the story is actally uninteresting. That being said, ToS is great, so is FF VI, and some of teh fire emblem games

the RPG master race of games WRPGs, we have both Baldur's gate, the NWNII expansion pack, Warcraft III, jade empire, Torment (really, the total winner) and FATAL.....just kidding
from
EE

[Poison_Fish]

Lunar 2 had a cute little love story. For PS1.

[Swordguy]

Bible Black.

:smallamused:

[Poison_Fish]

Bible Black.

:smallamused:

Gahsafkjlkaser

err.. yes, <_<.

[Eakin]

Lunar 2 had a cute little love story. For PS1.

Seconded. Both the Lunar games, actually, were quite good. Both at this and a number of other things even if they were both a little cliche.

I would actually disagree with FF6 though. Most of the character growth pretty much stopped once you hit the World of Ruin.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Agreed on the Lunar games. A bit cliché, but definitely d'awww-inducing.


I actually liked the CHARNAME/Viconia romance in Baldur's Gate II, at least compared to other mainstream CRPG love plots. It suffered silly implementation like every other time Bioware tries this, but it was decently written (except for the epilogue, which is only good if you do not think about it for more than a few seconds (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FridgeLogic)) and interesting. Perhaps I have a thing for tragic pasts and people that become hilarious bitches because of them.

All the other romance threads in BioWare games tended to suck, though. Although KOTOR has one redeeming factor in the CHARNAME/Bastila romance: after seeing the prequel trilogy, it was extremely gratifying to be able to turn someone back from the Dark Side with The Power Of Love (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThePowerOfLove).


Hmm, what else...Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance had a few good ones, out of a ton of possible options due to the support conversation system. I laughed my ass off at the conclusion of the Rhys/Mia thread, personally, and want to go back and try with some of the other sets of characters.

[Sotextli]

Speaking of Fire Emblem, there's also some, ahem... heavily implied man-on-man attraction between Soren and Ike. Some would claim that they're just really, really good buddies. I prefer to think otherwise, but hey, that's just me.

[Amotis]

Shadow of Colossus.

No seriously. Think about it as a love story, it's awesome (well it's an awesome game anyway, but still).

[Paragon Badger]

Speaking of Fire Emblem, there's also some, ahem... heavily implied man-on-man attraction between Soren and Ike. Some would claim that they're just really, really good buddies. I prefer to think otherwise, but hey, that's just me.

Heterosexual life partners?


Shadow of Colossus.

No seriously. Think about it as a love story, it's awesome (well it's an awesome game anyway, but still).

It is rather touching, the main character's devotion.

Also, pretty much any Final Fantasy, though X's love story is the best, I think.

FF8's entire story was based on love, but that...well....... let's not talk about how well that worked out. :smallsigh:

[Amotis]

It is rather touching, the main character's devotion.

And that Mono (the chick) was sacrificed because of her destiny (something bad, I assume). Wander(the main guy) then blindly kills and falls; becoming a monster himself. Being instructed by Dormin, who then possess him. So the whole thing is not only going against the grain of some spiritual tradition that talks about bad things that will happen (which is really dark and foreboding not just for Wander's fate but her's and the child/demon thing), but is like an elaborate trick (whether Wander knows what Dormin is going on about but doesn't care or just is blindly ignorant to it, I'm not sure) that is powered by his obsession/love that eventually brings out a fall that might even bring down Mono. It's freaky yet...still a love story.

[Tengu]

Doods, I finished SoC yesterday. Now you have me pondering how great of a game was that, again. Although I'm not sure didn't I like Ico slightly more.

Though I think the best love story was still in FF6. From the games I played at least.

[Closet_Skeleton]

I don't know about Bioware games, I never got any romances in Baldurs Gate or KotOR and had to replay Jade Empire several times to get one. I would say that their love stories are really bad since you yell at your love interest once and that's it, you're single forever.

Oh maybe I'm just an heartless unromantic bastard.

[Tengu]

You're not a bastard, romance options in Bioware's games tend to be horrible. I didn't reach it but have heard it's good in Torment (which is an awesome game so that's to be expected), and haven't played KotOR or Jade Empire, but in NWN2 romance is very boring and lacks any emotions, while in BG2 you have the drawback of all choices being awful - give me Mazzy, goshdangit!

[Terraoblivion]

Torment was made by Black Isle and not Bioware though, so it doesn't count as an exception to them making bad romances. Also despite playing through the game several times i never learned any romance, except for the one in the past and that one you learn about in the Mortuary right at the beginning.

[Tirian]

I agree that the romantic subplots in Baldur's Gate 2 had nothing to do with love. That was just the game giving you little pellets of bonus story every time you chose between "Yes dear" and "FAIL".

I also think that, among the Squenix games, FFX stands alone. It's the FMV that does it, I think. Yuna was far from my favorite character, but when Tidus did his rant in Home (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzC5Tq_HU2Q) (spoilertastic, if you don't know the story yet), he sold me on the love story. Maybe the previous FF games work if you go into it sympathetic to one romantic pairing or another, but it's pretty much a chore if you don't like the glyphs and text or either Aerith or Tifa, y'know?

To throw another game into the mix, I liked the relationship between the Prince and Fara in the Prince of Persia series.

[Joran]

Well people covered most of the ones I was thinking: Prince/Farah, Wander/Mono, Tidus/Yuna.

However, I liked Baldur's Gate II when I was romancing Aerie, the emotionally damaged elf. Haer'Dalis and I almost came to blows over her ;)

[Corlindale]

FF8's entire story was based on love, but that...well....... let's not talk about how well that worked out.

It might have been a combination of it being the first FF I ever played, and the fact that I was 13 years old at the time and had started feeling indefinable romantic longings myself, but I was completely captivated by the love story in FFVIII (and the game as a whole, still the FF I have played the most). Especially the dance scene, the sad tale of Laguna and Julia, the ending and "Eyes on Me"..oh, the memories. Looking back, I guess I recognize the many confusions and inconsistencies that seem to jar every one else about FFVIII's story, but I was totally oblivious to all that back then.

I actually got Baldur's Gate II simultaneously, and kind of fell in love with Aerie. I don't think it had much to do with the dialogue itself, but rather the musical theme for the romance. To this day I regard that little piece of music as one of the most romantic melodies I know, for some odd reason.

Final Fantasy IX almost deserves a reward for "Most hilarious love story". The love-letter mixup ranks among my greatest laugh-out-loud moments in gaming history.

[SurlySeraph]

You're not a bastard, romance options in Bioware's games tend to be horrible. I didn't reach it but have heard it's good in Torment (which is an awesome game so that's to be expected), and haven't played KotOR or Jade Empire, but in NWN2 romance is very boring and lacks any emotions, while in BG2 you have the drawback of all choices being awful - give me Mazzy, goshdangit!

I think there's a mod for that...

There are a bunch of different mods people have created adding new romances into the games. I know they have ones for Haer'dalis, Nalia, and *shiver* Imoen. Note to the unaware: Imoen is
technically your character's half-sister. And someone also made a romance mod for the Throne of Bhaal expansion pack, involving Sarevok, your evil half-brother who was the villain of the first game. Ick.

[Breltar]

The original NWN game had some pretty interesting romance between Aribeth and the mage.

[GolemsVoice]

AQUANOX 2! I just finished the game 8and you will later see me opening a thread to mourn it's passing).
For spoiler reasons, I will keep the story bits as shallow as possible.
After his grandmother's death, the now family-less Wiiliam Drake, the main character, sets out on a journey to find adventure. Just a few days after he left his home, his freighter is caught by pirates, and he soon finds out that they are searching for some kind of treasure. He later on falls in love with a Angelina, a crewmember, which is really cute to see because William behaves the way we maybe all behaved with our first love, that is: dumb and shy.
As the game progresses, Angelina "dies" because of the prophecy for the treasure says that only a man who suffers greatly will find the "Angel's Tears", and some crewmembers want to make William suffer by making him believe Angelina died. But in the end, they get together again, as Angelina breaks her vow to let you suffer and returns, thereby saving your life.
What is great in this romance is that William, that is, you, behaves just like a normal person would possibly do, and that you really feel his loss, and share his joy. It really makes you happy, at least it made me happy, to see them together.

[two_fishes]

The first Monkey Island.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Note to the unaware: Imoen is
technically your character's half-sister. And someone also made a romance mod for the Throne of Bhaal expansion pack, involving Sarevok, your evil half-brother who was the villain of the first game. Ick.Some people don't count
relations via godly bloodas actual familial relationships. Viconia actually points this out in Throne of Baal, but she doesn't really count, being even more screwed up in the head than most drow. It's still the fandom's reasoning. Now, I think they work better as a brother/sister relationship regardless of blood, personally.

Yes, I just spoilered the twist for a ten-year-old game. Deal.

Now, Sarevok...he's a No just because of all the bloody murderizing he does.

[Albub]

Team Fortress 2. The depth of devotion the heavy feels towards Sacha is just heart wrenching. Sometimes he even stows Sacha away the instant before he dies so that you can't even pry Sacha from his cold, dead hands.

[Cubey]

Team Fortress 2. The depth of devotion the heavy feels towards Sacha is just heart wrenching. Sometimes he even stows Sacha away the instant before he dies so that you can't even pry Sacha from his cold, dead hands.

But... I thought Heavy is in love with Medic! What's that, a love triangle?!

[Eldritch_Ent]

Aquaria, (A nice indie PC title) has some great love stuff going on.

Also, before someone else does this joke, "I wanna be the guy".

[Albub]

But... I thought Heavy is in love with Medic! What's that, a love triangle?!

I'm not sure about that one... I think he's just very close friends with the medic.

[Cubey]

Obviously, you didn't see the ending to one of Yahtzee's videos. Then, you'd know. A really touching love story that, with a sad, sad ending.
Anyway, I wish Team Fortress' romantic relationships ended at that. However, in truth it is much more complicated...

Heavy really likes Sasha, but he likes Medic too. Sasha has no opinions because it's a gun, but Medic's feelings are torn between Heavy and Pyro. Pyro seems to be aware of the triangle, but the only thing he said about it was "mmmhmmhmmhuhm!". That's not very conclusive.
At the same time, Soldier bears manly, platonic feelings towards both Demoman and Engineer (camaraderie of arms and all that) - the first notices and shares the feeling but is afraid to come out of the closet, the second doesn't notice due to his sadomasochistic love/hate relationship with Spy. Sniper is a bit too cold for everyone else's tastes, but also surprisingly has a real girlfriend. According to her, he likes to do it from afar.
And Scout? He doesn't want to get involved in any permanent relationship, he just runs around and "bonks" people.*


* With his baseball bat. Don't be a such a perv/yaoi fangirl!

[Jube]

Personally I adored the love subquests in BG II.

One thing they do better than every single other game ever invented (besides Hentai and dating sims <.<) is actually give you a choice. I didn't really like Aerie so I mostly went with Viconia or Jaheria (Or both <.<). Both of which had really interesting romances and well, a lot of character development through them.

Help Viconia redeem herself and change who she wants to be in the world, stop her from being alone and miserable/angry. Help Jaheria move on from her tragic loss of her husband and keep her from breaking when her very friends/comrade's turning against her. Aerie had a bit but well, compared to those two she was a bit of a whigner honestly. Nice enough but not my style. But then I know a lott'a people really liked her, thus the choice, very well implemented imo.

Then again compared to BG I all the characters had ridiculously tragic live, it was suprisingly grimdark! Minsc lost his witch, Imoen and you were tortured constantly, Jaheria's husband was killed (Infront of Imoen), you lose your freaking soul! Hell, great game, great story but o.O!

Planescape you can kind'a get something with Annah, I don't remember if FFG was an option but I do know the romance was very very minor. No more than a kiss. No real choice and it wasn't horribly important.

KoTOR I you were railroaded into Bastilla who I abhored. It was kind'a fun on Dark side I guess but it was all so juvenile and silly, makes sense since Jedi aren't meant to have relationships but bleh bleh bleh. I much prefered the KoTOR II ones because once again you actually got some choice, still they weren't really complete and you couldn't go anywhere with them so not so good!

That said RE: SotC

I don't think it's fair to say Domin tricked Wander, he was warned from the very beginning that there would be a price to pay for his wish and there's no way Wander could have noticed that he was slowly getting more and more of Domin's essence inside him.

Then at the end, despite being free Domin kept his word and ressurected Mono while also using his powers to keep Wander alive after he got sealed. It seems very unlikely a sealing spell would purify Wander afterall, seems more likely that Domin kept him alive and the sealing purified him back to a baby.

[Amotis]

That said RE: SotC
I don't think it's fair to say Domin tricked Wander, he was warned from the very beginning that there would be a price to pay for his wish and there's no way Wander could have noticed that he was slowly getting more and more of Domin's essence inside him.

Then at the end, despite being free Domin kept his word and ressurected Mono while also using his powers to keep Wander alive after he got sealed. It seems very unlikely a sealing spell would purify Wander afterall, seems more likely that Domin kept him alive and the sealing purified him back to a baby.

Hmm, so you're saying the baby is Wander? Interesting. Makes it almost incestuous/Oedipal complex-like. I do admit that Wander must of known something was up but I think his devotion/blindness just pushed it back in his mind or he thought his own sacrifice was worth Mono's rebirth. Just part of his devotion, I suppose, but I don't really see a conscious decision to choose between himself and her, it's just pure devotion. I also think Domin must of known that Wander was the perfect candidate with his love-is-blind complex thingy and possibly even knowing Mono's foreboding destiny as well. Maybe a nice evil side-effect, I suppose.

[Cubey]

I'll make it spoiler-free: playing Ico reveals some of what exactly happened in SotC, and the other way around. Hint: Ico was an earlier game but takes place later in time. Much later.

[poleboy]

FF VI:

Warning: Massive spoilers!

The game shows you a lot of different angles on love and what it means to different people. Examples:

Locke and Rachel's story:
Bittersweet and beautiful. I think it was very well thought out with the Phoneix materia as a nice symbol of the "rebirth" of Locke as he finally puts the past to rest. Learning to let go is hard.

Terra and the orphaned kids:
It's about motherly love, obviously. But it also serves to teach her what it means to be human: To care for other people. This ties in nicely with the rest of her story (origins and so on...)

Cyan:
Also about letting go. Cyan is apparently determined to live the rest of his life as a widower, avenging the murder of his family when the opportunity presents itself. You have to literally fight his own negative emotions in order for him to finally put the matter to rest.

Edgar & Sabin:
Brotherly/family love. I think the whole story was absolutely heartbreaking. The big brother shouldering the responsibility of society out of a sense of duty, while the younger brother goes his own way, leading to bitterness and years of separation.

Relm & Strago:
Family again. Not a very interesting story, but then again I always felt those two characters were kinda slapped on and only served as a support cast for the whole Terra's origins subplot.

Celes:
Perhaps one of the most complex characters in the love department. Cid is the only one she cares for in the slightest to begin with, but she eventually learns to open up to others as she observes their behavior, helping her realize what kind of person she wants to be.

Shadow:
Abandonment/love gone wrong. You only get bits and pieces of her story, but it's obvious that she was abandoned/betrayed at some point and hides any feeling she may have. Relm plays a nice little cameo here.

Also, note how casual/random love is often punished or ridiculed:
- Terra's complete inability to understand Edgar's attempts at wooing her.
- Celes' initial dismissal of Locke's interest.
- Shadow's reactions against anyone trying to get close to her.
- Cyan's reaction to floozies (priceless :smallbiggrin:)
- Setzer getting tricked by the Maria standin.

There's probably more, but that's all I can remember off the top of my head. Simply the best and most extensive representation of love in any videogame ever. Period.

[Jube]

Hmm, so you're saying the baby is Wander? Interesting. Makes it almost incestuous/Oedipal complex-like. I do admit that Wander must of known something was up but I think his devotion/blindness just pushed it back in his mind or he thought his own sacrifice was worth Mono's rebirth. Just part of his devotion, I suppose, but I don't really see a conscious decision to choose between himself and her, it's just pure devotion. I also think Domin must of known that Wander was the perfect candidate with his love-is-blind complex thingy and possibly even knowing Mono's foreboding destiny as well. Maybe a nice evil side-effect, I suppose.


You can tell the Baby is Wander because it has the horns he gained throughout the quest, Domin's influence most likely. We can tell what happens later with Wander and Mono when Ico happens, seeing as Ico is Wander's descendant. I kind'a just hope he keeps his memories when he grows up, so we can avoid the Incest thing a little...

I think you do Domin a disservice by calling him evil though, were he truely evil would he have "Borrowed" Wander's body rather than possesing it? It's a pretty big difference. That and he kept his word by ressurecting Mono and went above all that to ressurect Wander. We know Wanda and Mono survive and have a family/kids/generations and it seems very unlikely that the spell the Priest cast at the end would hold Domin forever (Were it so simply why bother with the 16 aspects?) so we know Domin doesn't interfere with them.

Really the only thing that indicates that he's evil at all is that he's black and the Priest (Who was likely part of what sacrificed Mono) says so. Really it seems like a fueding religion thing, doesn't the starting place seem like it's set up to Worship something? Domin perhaps... I think Domin just wanted to be free, he gambled everything on Wander being able to do it and he rewarded Wander well when he was done.

The Price he paid was that part of Domin's essence would forever be in Wander, even when purified. Which of course is an important part of Ico, since that's the essence/power the Witch wants (Or so I believe at least), all the Horned boys she's taken must be Wanders decendants...

[Nerd-o-rama]

FF VI:

Warning: Massive spoilers!

The game shows you a lot of different angles on love and what it means to different people. Examples:

Locke and Rachel's story:
Bittersweet and beautiful. I think it was very well thought out with the Phoneix materia as a nice symbol of the "rebirth" of Locke as he finally puts the past to rest. Learning to let go is hard.

Terra and the orphaned kids:
It's about motherly love, obviously. But it also serves to teach her what it means to be human: To care for other people. This ties in nicely with the rest of her story (origins and so on...)

Cyan:
Also about letting go. Cyan is apparently determined to live the rest of his life as a widower, avenging the murder of his family when the opportunity presents itself. You have to literally fight his own negative emotions in order for him to finally put the matter to rest.

Edgar & Sabin:
Brotherly/family love. I think the whole story was absolutely heartbreaking. The big brother shouldering the responsibility of society out of a sense of duty, while the younger brother goes his own way, leading to bitterness and years of separation.

Relm & Strago:
Family again. Not a very interesting story, but then again I always felt those two characters were kinda slapped on and only served as a support cast for the whole Terra's origins subplot.

Celes:
Perhaps one of the most complex characters in the love department. Cid is the only one she cares for in the slightest to begin with, but she eventually learns to open up to others as she observes their behavior, helping her realize what kind of person she wants to be.

Shadow:
Abandonment/love gone wrong. You only get bits and pieces of her story, but it's obvious that she was abandoned/betrayed at some point and hides any feeling she may have. Relm plays a nice little cameo here.

Also, note how casual/random love is often punished or ridiculed:
- Terra's complete inability to understand Edgar's attempts at wooing her.
- Celes' initial dismissal of Locke's interest.
- Shadow's reactions against anyone trying to get close to her.
- Cyan's reaction to floozies (priceless :smallbiggrin:)
- Setzer getting tricked by the Maria standin.

There's probably more, but that's all I can remember off the top of my head. Simply the best and most extensive representation of love in any videogame ever. Period.
I agree with all that except for your subscription to the wild "Shadow is female" theory. That's just confusion over a poorly-made dialog tree (the line is used in conversations referring to Shadow or Relm, either of whom could have been in that spot). Shadow is very obviously
Clyde
and I'm not really sure how this rumor keeps persisting.

[Om]

Max Payne II. Now there's a real love story

[Closet_Skeleton]

You're not a bastard, romance options in Bioware's games tend to be horrible.

Well, at most you've scratched off 1 reason that might make me a bastard, which is good enough.


but in NWN2 romance is very boring and lacks any emotions, while in BG2 you have the drawback of all choices being awful - give me Mazzy, goshdangit!

Every romance in BG 2 was with an elf. Maybe Bioware was just doing a Take That to their geek target audience.


Torment was made by Black Isle and not Bioware though, so it doesn't count as an exception to them making bad romances.

Also, NWN 2 was Obsidian.


Max Payne II. Now there's a real love story

Lust and angst does not a love story make.

[Zovc]

One thing they do better than every single other game ever invented (besides Hentai and dating sims <.<) is actually give you a choice.

Persona 3 has a fair ammount of choice in it... Although it is arguably a dating sim.

[Om]

Lust and angst does not a love story make.Its a manly love story. Dark, violent, and deliciously noir

[Tengu]

Its a manly love story. Dark, violent, and deliciously noir

The most manly piece of fiction I've seen so far is anything but dark.

[poleboy]

Nerd-o-rama:
You're probably right. I seemed to recall party members refering to Shadow as her at some point, but I could be wrong. I haven't played the game in years.

[tyckspoon]

Persona 3 has a fair ammount of choice in it... Although it is arguably a dating sim.

The mechanics also encourage you to date as many of the girls as you can fit into your schedule, which kind of dilutes the impact of any one girl's romance. Some of the fanbase is hoping Persona 4 will allow a friendship/romance path choice so you don't have to be such a jerk about it.