Why do WRPG players dislike seeing the other party members get together?

[Val the Moofia Boss]

One of the many things that has baffled me about the WRPG fandom is their seeming dislike of other party members getting into romantic relationships with each other, outside of the protagonist. Why is that? But whining about this in the JRPG community would be insane. People love seeing the other Fire Emblem characters get together, Steiner and Beatrix from FF9, love Olivier and Schera in Trails, Wakka and Lulu from FF10, etc. What's the difference?

[rusty_shackleford]

I cannot say I have ever thought about this.

[Acrux]

Because all video game romances are stupid.

[rusty_shackleford]

Because all video game romances are stupid.

I liked companions that had relations(romantic or otherwise) in BG1, it made you have to think about party composition.

[Oyster Sauce]

Garrus deserved better

[Tangerine]

Global southerners like @Trickster are not the average WRPG fan.

[Norfleet]

Wasn't there only one deranged person who ranted crazily about this?

[J1M]

Maybe the difference is that in a WRPG you create an avatar that represents yourself, and in a JRPG all of the characters are predefined, like watching a TV show?

Speculation: Characters entering relations that are not explicitly facilitated by the player in a WRPG might feel like subversion of the power fantasy for the female audience.

[Tangerine]

Speculation: Characters entering relations that are not explicitly facilitated by the player in a WRPG might feel like subversion of the power fantasy for the female audience.

Foids get really mad when characters in TV shows they have no avatars in also get together in a way they don't approve. This includes Japanese cartoons.

[Vlajdimir Ermenović]

I loved the romance with Panam Palmer in Cyberpunk, because she's basically a human Carmelita. And unlike the real thing you actually get to see her naked.

[maidenhaver]

Its because wrpgs are often played as self-inserts, so foids and **** want to stop chad companions from breeding by being pests.

[J1M]

I actually do find it odd that we don't see more 'matchmaker' gameplay to go along with 'playersexual' companions in Bioware and Bioware-adjacent RPGs. It's obviously something the female audience would love and it is another way to double down on the romance gameplay.

[Cipher]

because she's basically a human Carmelita.

What is this? Google turned out strange results that only left me more confused. Is it a dessert?

[ThulsaDoomer]

Since WRPG's tended to stay away from the high school drama those pesky Japs seem to love, they had no reason to include this. Frankly, as party leader, I would be livid having to deal with relationship drama, there's a hundred other things to focus on and that isn't remotely fun or engaging. It's ******* miserable in real life, why would I want to simulate it? The only reason I'd care to see it is it having some plot relevance, much as you would see in a film, otherwise I'd begin shooting HRT and installing 400 mods for the Sims 4.

[Roguey]

"Sit in your **** chair and watch these characters get together."

[TKVNC]

I guess it's because the asians live in hiveminds where they're individually quite irrelevant.

The anglo world view is to take a gun and forcibly subdue the world.

Why would any anglo want to have their control taken away?

That is your simple answer.

[Demonic Fate]

It's only one degenerate that obsesses about that ****, don't mind him.

"Sit in your **** chair and watch these characters get together."

It's only one two degenerates that obsess about that ****, don't mind them.

[Lhynn]

One of the many things that has baffled me about the WRPG fandom is their seeming dislike of other party members getting into romantic relationships with each other

Im not too keen on romances, particularly in western games, every new release I find myself hating the execution more and more. That said I enjoyed the "romances" in ATOM.
Anyway, there are several ways this can take place.

The first and most obvious one is watching a possibly romantic companion flirt and get it on with another character. For example Aerie and Hare Dalis. I dont think this is cool, first because it clashes with the idea of romantic love. Second, because being forced to read party members romantic interactions has to be the worst thing you could ever subject a man to (Other than taking an active role in it).

The second one is where theres already a marriage, this one is fine for the most part. I thought Khalid and Jaheira being married gave them an interesting dynamic and made the party feel more alive. From the mechanics side, I liked the implications of having to have both of them in the team, or having to get one killed.

The third one is where theres an existent relationship and the PC is brought in. For example Octavia and Regongar. This can be fine or it can be sick, depending on how its handled. I honestly thought kingmaker handled it in the worst way possible.

The fourth one is where you help a character get on with another. The example here is Parvati in outer worlds, and holy ****, even while not playing the ******* game I can tell you Id rather my balls get diped into acid than spend time playing match maker. This shits disgusting, holy ****.

End of the day human relationships and their dynamics can be very interesting narrative tools. Like not only the idea of romance, but friendship, brotherhood, hatred, family, etc. And there are ways to handle them that can enhance the whole game but it is often the case that they get completely ignored or handled poorly. I really wish we got more of the others, which are infinitely more interesting than romances, but then again, most romances are vapid **** these days, so maybe doing away with all human relationships is the right move.

[Algol]

I don't understand why so many get involved with video game romance **** nowadays. Perhaps it's the increased graphical fidelity of games nowadays turning **** into coomer central. Imagine people talking this way about Fallout 1 and 2 sprite-based characters back in the day. It would have been seen as ludicrious.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Wasn't there only one deranged person who ranted crazily about this?

Just today:

"Larian's main focus for Divinity is 'to see how far we can push the diversity of companions' so intra-NPC relationships can feel more natural and complex"

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/laria ... d-complex/

[ThulsaDoomer]

I guess it's because the asians live in hiveminds where they're individually quite irrelevant.

The anglo world view is to take a gun and forcibly subdue the world.

Why would any anglo want to have their control taken away?

That is your simple answer.

I wonder why cuckoldry had to be pushed so hard by the **** in Porn and general media, almost as if it's entirely against the very concept of marriage and our right to fend off anyone who intends to lust after our property.

I am not against the concept of romance, I've already provided my opinion on that numerous times here, but that should be reserved for the player only, because it's under your direct control and experience. This loses all meaning having it play out outside of your control, there is no possible way it would be worth doing beyond satisfying sick feminine desires. When your dominant audience is men, you design content for men. Men want to dominate their relationships, to take care of those under their authority, and while you can allude that every other man in whatever setting is doing the same, no man wants to actually see that beyond his own experience.

[Acrux]

Wasn't there only one deranged person who ranted crazily about this?

Just today:

"Larian's main focus for Divinity is 'to see how far we can push the diversity of companions' so intra-NPC relationships can feel more natural and complex"

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/laria ... d-complex/

But that's different from your original statement. The angry reactions are in response to the "diversity" (aka faggotry, trannyism, etc.) that they plan to include. It's not anger about party members having relationships.

(Also, just a reminder that all video game romances are dumb.)

[WhiteShark]

I agree with the hypothesis that men generally do not care about nor want to see intraparty romances between companions, but I further hypothesize that the customizable party leader typical of WRPGs gives the player a sense of ownership over the whole party, and a male companion romancing a female companion in the party might violate that. And again, if they can all be potentially romanced, even if it require multiple playthroughs to achieve, then there is a sense in which they really do all belong to the PC. In real life, one can't go back and try every option, so he must make his choice and forgo the rest, but video games don't have that restriction, and hence no possibility must be abandoned. In other words, if an emotionally invested player romanced companion A on playthrough 1 and companion B on playthrough 2 (or intends to), then seeing A or B take up with anyone else might feel deeply unpleasant.

[J1M]

I guess it's because the asians live in hiveminds where they're individually quite irrelevant.

The anglo world view is to take a gun and forcibly subdue the world.

Why would any anglo want to have their control taken away?

That is your simple answer.

I wonder why cuckoldry had to be pushed so hard by the **** in Porn and general media, almost as if it's entirely against the very concept of marriage and our right to fend off anyone who intends to lust after our property.

I am not against the concept of romance, I've already provided my opinion on that numerous times here, but that should be reserved for the player only, because it's under your direct control and experience. This loses all meaning having it play out outside of your control, there is no possible way it would be worth doing beyond satisfying sick feminine desires. When your dominant audience is men, you design content for men. Men want to dominate their relationships, to take care of those under their authority, and while you can allude that every other man in whatever setting is doing the same, no man wants to actually see that beyond his own experience.

Let's take your points as a given. Why not have more games where creating an arranged marriage is part of that male experience and paternal responsibility?

[ThulsaDoomer]

Let's take your points as a given. Why not have more games where creating an arranged marriage is part of that male experience and paternal responsibility?

Seems better suited for Grand Strategy games where lineage and paternal links are part of Empire building. I could see it being used in an RPG context as perhaps using a female companion to arrange a political marriage and mend a schism with a faction, something like that. Or an RPG that focuses on lineage. These would be very specific use cases that would ultimately benefit the player in some form to take that kind of risk and move the story along. This was all very normal in the past, so I wouldn't mind seeing a game tackle the subject matter, but it has to be done tastefully, which we can eliminate as a possibility in this current time. We'll be seeing more Larian romances and less classical romance, which usually reinforced the values of family and kin more than mere lust.

[Lich]

One of the many things that has baffled me about the WRPG fandom is their seeming dislike of other party members getting into romantic relationships with each other, outside of the protagonist. Why is that? But whining about this in the JRPG community would be insane. People love seeing the other Fire Emblem characters get together, Steiner and Beatrix from FF9, love Olivier and Schera in Trails, Wakka and Lulu from FF10, etc. What's the difference?

This is approaching NTR.

[Ranselknulf]

Quick Poll:

How many people like to watch other characters romance each other.

[Oyster Sauce]

t.

[Lhynn]

t.

******!

[Demonic Fate]

Teenagers and losers fall desperately in love with every decently-looking woman that doesn't behave too horribly towards them. And in the worst cases, even with the ones who do.

That's why they see the female half of the average RPG party as their private harem, and the idea that they might not romance one of them feels like a personal failure. They prize female validation above all else and cannot imagine saying "nah, not worth it". Classic scarcity mentality.

A normal man will typically be up for a roll in the hay with almost any hot chick, but he doesn't have scarcity mentality and will still recognize that some of them would be pretty bad girlfriends/wives and not worth the trouble. He will still try to get the pussy if possible, but not at the price of getting chained up to the wrong woman.

Since most videogames will try to have a range of personalities, a normal man will often find that some of his female companions are appealing while others fall in the above category. Assuming he's already juggling 1-3 women he likes and would like to shack up with, he'll be either indifferent or glad if a buddy takes the ones he doesn't care for off his hands. Might want to warn the buddy depending on whether the girl is just flawed or actually bad news, but that's it.