# Games where you romance characters?



## Strawbellies (Jul 14, 2016)

Since someone started a Harvest Moon thread, I was just wondering but..
Usually when games let you romance a partner, my interest is immediately piqued.. I just love the romance genre.
Anyone else into games like this?

I don't limit myself to otome/dating sim games.
Hence, I really love the Harvest Moon series.. but also more of a dating sim like Tokimeki Memorial and it's sequels! Then of course, Stardew Valley but I think that's a given with Harvest Moon, lol. 

But I also really love Dragon Age: Origins, where the romance aspect brought me into it first.. and I was so surprised how great it really was, wow. Alistair.. <3

I just finished this Visual Novel called "The Royal Trap" and tried this other game called Amnesia: Memories but I wasn't really fond of that either. There's of course, Skyrim but romance wasn't really the a big part of that game.. not that that game wasn't amazing, because it is. I'm in the middle of giving Starry Sky and Storm Lover Kai a try. 
CAN'T FORGET HATOFUL BOYFRIEND, KEK

I think such a big part of the appeal of it to me is just characterization, which maybe really helps making the game so much more.. submersive? With games like this, the focus are on the characters, and when characters are more.. relatable and complex.. it feels more organic and intimate -- and who doesn't like that?

Orrr I'm just a lonely romantist person, heh.

Though of course, some stuff I don't like; Diabolik Lovers just isn't for me... or Brother's Conflict.. 
And I've had my eye on Mass Effect and Fire Emblem: Birthright is priority with my budget.

What about you? You into this? What do you think the appeal is?  Got suggestions?


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## apharel (Jul 15, 2016)

If you like jRPGs, the Persona games and Trails of Cold Steel (underrated but EXCELLENT game!) has "social link" dynamics that you level up during your free periods. Maxing a social link with heroines in ToCs and with the opposite sex in the Persona series sometimes has romantic implications.

I'm fine with social links and romancing in games since it keeps my mind off of grinding and other boring stuff. However, when Sony has trophies for maxing all social links, the completionist in me gets really stressed out trying to play as efficiently as possible in as few play-throughs as possible. ;______;

The bad thing about Trails of Cold Steel is that you can't be a girl, and therefor you cannot get a husbando. You can bromance though. :c


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## Stalfos (Jul 15, 2016)

First game to come to mind is Riviera for the GBA (it's also on PSP and Wonderswan). It's a nice little RPG that features som romancing.


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## SilkSpectre (Jul 15, 2016)

Sakura Wars or Persona games.


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## visibleghost (Jul 15, 2016)

i'm not really into romancing nps in games tbh, but i did it in stardew valley because i wantef to see what it was like. it was okiedokie, i'm not rly going to start playibg a ton of dating games tho


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## ellarella (Jul 15, 2016)

since you liked Dragon Age: Origins (one of my favorite games too!), you should definitely give the Mass Effect series a shot. it's by the same company (BioWare), and has very well-written romances.

since you mention Amnesia: Memories, you could also give the rest of the otome games on steam a look here.

here's some other games off the top of my head with female-romancing-male romances:


Icewind Dale 1+2 with the NPC project modpacks
Baldur's Gate 2 (though the dude, Anomen, is not particularily well-liked)
Knights of the Old Republic (Carth, though he suffers the same problem as Anomen), Knights of the Old Republic 2 (Atton Rand, though he's more of a flirt)
Neverwinter Nights: Horde of the Underdark (Valen), Neverwinter Nights 2 (Casavir), Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer (Gann)


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## Strawbellies (Jul 15, 2016)

ellarella said:


> since you liked Dragon Age: Origins (one of my favorite games too!), you should definitely give the Mass Effect series a shot. it's by the same company (BioWare), and has very well-written romances.
> 
> since you mention Amnesia: Memories, you could also give the rest of the otome games on steam a look here.
> 
> ...



Wow, I've never heard of these before! I'll give it a look, thanks.
And yessss, Origins was amazing.. but powering through DA2 right now isn't so fun. Or as fun.. 
I'm excited to play Mass Effect! And the otome games on Steam haven't been so great for me.. Well, the ones that do look good cost an arm and a leg so it's isn't exactly up my alley right now.


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## N a t (Jul 15, 2016)

Fallout 4's romances weren't anything amazing, but I thought it was cute and fun romancing characters like Paladin Danse and Hancock, etc. The FO4 characters are just fun to interact with imo.


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## AquaStrudel (Jul 15, 2016)

The first games I think of are Persona 3 and 4. As apharel said, dating sim aspects are incorporated into the gameplay and can get romantic, depending on what you decide to say. I love those games, and I do suggest you try them out <3


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## radical6 (Jul 15, 2016)

The rest of the dragon age series has top notch romances. Dorian especially comes to my mind for Inquisition. I reccomend picking up DA2 and DA:I because the romances are great stories back there.

Stardew Valley also comes to mind.
Rune Factory 4 has romance options similar to Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley as well.


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## Acruoxil (Jul 16, 2016)

Yeah, I absolutely love romance mechanics in games. They're just as good if they're part of the story, like in Uncharted.

You're absolutely going to love the Persona series, specifically Persona 3 and 4(I recommend getting Golden if you have a Vita). The latter has social link and optional romance elements with your female friends and you can get intimate with them. It's my favorite game of all time, I loved it so much.

Besides that I've played Akiba's Trip: Undead and Undressed which doesn't have dating elements but you can choose to go on missions with a specific female every time and there are suggestive dialogue options, through which you can ultimately get a romance ending with your fave girl.

That being said I'd love to play any similar games so I'm open for recommendations, all I've been playing so far is Overwatch, Assassin's Creed and a couple other aggressive games


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## MayorJudyOfZootopia (Jul 16, 2016)

Fire Emblem... (I think idk much about the series)


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## Strawbellies (Jul 17, 2016)

kallie said:


> The rest of the dragon age series has top notch romances. Dorian especially comes to my mind for Inquisition. I reccomend picking up DA2 and DA:I because the romances are great stories back there.
> 
> Stardew Valley also comes to mind.
> Rune Factory 4 has romance options similar to Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley as well.



Yes! I love DA and Stardew Valley! But getting through DA2 is so hard.. @__@

I've heard of Rune Factory, I'll add it to my list. Thanks!​​
- - - Post Merge - - -



Aerate said:


> Yeah, I absolutely love romance mechanics in games. They're just as good if they're part of the story, like in Uncharted.
> 
> You're absolutely going to love the Persona series, specifically Persona 3 and 4(I recommend getting Golden if you have a Vita). The latter has social link and optional romance elements with your female friends and you can get intimate with them. It's my favorite game of all time, I loved it so much.
> 
> ...



Ooooh man I used to LOVE Assassin's Creed. I had played all of them and was all hype for AC:3.. and felt so disappointed.

I've played all of them up to Black Flag. Just can't go back.

In terms of recs, I'd suggst.. maybe Uncharted? If you want to go back and try other old games, Prototype. Infamous? Mirror's Edge? Of course, Skyrim, Fallout, Witcher.. Or maybe even League of Legends but thats a hole I never want any of my friends to go down, personally, lol.

But I mean... if you're willing to try something different, with a story, I always want to suggest Transistor. The gameplay might not be up your alley though. ​​


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## Acruoxil (Jul 17, 2016)

Strawbellies said:


> Yes! I love DA and Stardew Valley! But getting through DA2 is so hard.. @__@
> 
> I've heard of Rune Factory, I'll add it to my list. Thanks!​​
> - - - Post Merge - - -
> ...



Haha yeah Assassin's Creed is amazing. I've played all of them except Unity, kinda skipped out on it after hearing the reviews. Syndicate was great though. I'm actually replaying Assassin's Creed IV again right now! Bought it on the PS4 again, it's my fave AC game.

I've played the first three Uncharted game and platinumed the second one. I have the 4th one but I haven't started it yet cuz exams! I plan on getting Infamous and Mirror's Edge sometime haha. Same goes for Witcher! I tried Fallout twice but I stopped playing in the middle every time. They were too tedious for me, the gameplay wasn't as engaging. And lol I'm a Dota player, I tried League but didn't like it much because of how slow paced and tedious it was compared to Dota haha.

I have Transistor as well! Haven't got around to playing it yet though  Thank you so much lol, you reminded me to get around to playing/getting a couple games. (':

Do you have any JRPG or Visual Novel recommendations with romance?


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## Bcat (Dec 13, 2019)

I enjoy games like this, because they ease my crippling loneliness.


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## KnoxUK (Dec 13, 2019)

It's cute and develops the characters/world building more, however it's funny to see if you can meme it and romance all characters at the same time.


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## MrMister5555 (Dec 16, 2019)

The only game I've played with romance was Stardew Valley. Which I really enjoyed in that game. I wouldn't mind seeing it more RPG's and such. Actually I just rememberd, Fable. I played that and it technically has a romance aspect sort of. You can get married. It's so bland though and has almost no substance or story.


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## Mokuren (Dec 16, 2019)

I really love the romance aspect in games! And oh yeah Alistair from dragon age or Cullen grom Inquisition! <3 And I can only say go for mass effect!  Bioware had some really good games even if they are going down right now ;o; I hope they will make at least a good DA 4. 

Besides that I love the harvest moon franchise (now story of seasons) and rune factory. My time at portia is also pretty neat. You can marry there as well!


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## Bizhiins (Dec 21, 2019)

Harvest moon was definitely mine as well, since the game is based around courting someone for marriage and they started get so many options in the newer games.
I remember I started playing Magical Melody when I was a teen and I decided to court Kurt. I got such a big crush on him in real life that when he started showing feelings for me I got real romantic in real life!! I was like _Kurt marry meee._
I still feel that way about the newer games, although I didn?t actually find someone I liked as much in TOT/AP (playing as a girl) so in Animal Parade I ended up marrying Ignis. I def think it peaked at Magical Melody for me.
Although something I wish happened was that girls could marry and court girls instead of guys. I know that?s a touchy subject for some, but personally I loved playing as a girl and they?re much cuter in my opinion. I think the girl characters you can court are so much cuter too and I wish they could change that about the game. I know you can court Jamie when playing as a girl in Magical Melody, but I didn?t like that the game ended after you marry her.


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## Qiun (Dec 21, 2019)

Hello all, i'm Qiun! Just wondering how comes no one mention Rune Factory, there is 3 of them so far, with 4 coming out next year, I think.


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## joey ^_^ (Dec 22, 2019)

I was really into rune factory 4 because of the romance aspect! i wanted to marry clorica so my cooking skill was very very Very well practiced and i went out into the forest to kill apple monsters to make her apple pie for several weeks until i found out you could plant trees sdlkfjskldjf but like yeah i like romancing characters in games! it gives you more motivation to do stuff that you probably wouldn't have bothered to do if you were just focusing on the main quest? and you end up having fun and enjoying it because it makes them happy wow kind of like being in love irl <3

i've heard of the romance bits of stardew valley and i really want to get into it someday! though i'm not sure i can handle only being able to talk to someone once in a day huhu i love attention and reading dialogue

as for otome games... the only one that has my heart is mystic messenger! *dreamy sigh* thank u chertiz for my life and especially thank u for my wife jaehee <3 <3 <3


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## Bizhiins (Jan 19, 2020)

So lately I?ve been playing Horizon: Zero Dawn and it?s definitely not a romance-based game, but a lot of characters in the game basically flirt and fall in love with the main character Aloy. Aloy is a strong, fit, and beautiful redhead who is basically a machine killing bada$$. She has an important mission to complete and brushes off any advances, but this isn?t without a horde of main characters, both men and women, lusting after her. One of them is a king and offers to have her live in his palace with him, which she coldly rejects. I don?t think it would have been a good idea to include romance in the game, but I think it?s super fun to see her being flirted with all the time and brush it off with no issue. I have a few crushes in the game. And there?s a lot of fan art of people fantasizing about Aloy getting with one of those characters (here?s one in spoilers)



Spoiler


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## MapleCake (Jan 21, 2020)

If no one has mentioned it, I would like to suggest My Time at Portia. I think it's underrated and no one talks about it enough!
You focus on uncovering the mystery and history surrounding the town of Portia and fighting off monster bosses and sleuths, all while working in the workshop you inherited from your dad.
You forage and mine for resources to build and craft items to enhance your game life, to bring up your social points with citizens, and to advance in the storyline. Meanwhile, when you have the time, you can befriend and date as many people as you like, before finally marrying.
Each person has their own benefits after marriage and overall just a really cute rpg game. You can also raise children with your spouse!
Please check it out.


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## therandompuppy (Jun 26, 2020)

A favorite of mine has been dream daddy!


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