Actually. Sometimes it is. The actual problem is that you're trying to figure it out at all. If you're trying to engineer the perfect product, it will always be a shit game. Good games come from passionate developers who have an idea, not from board meetings and focus groups.
this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2025
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I know it's anecdotal, but among my students (12-18 y/o), dating sims are extremely popular. Probably the most popular genre after battle royal games. I would definitely consider dating sims romance games.
Dating sims are generally not played by heterosexual boys on Playstation or Xbox.
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Half-assed sex scenes (no pun intended) are probably worse than ones that are well done.
I still think a lot about one of the beats in a DA:I romance. But like... all the ones from DA:O were kind of bad. But also the one I played in DA:V was so PG-13 and sterile it wasn't any fun at all.
all the ones from DA:O
You underestimate the power of my crush on Morrigan.
I think that you can just give them gifts until they're horny for you is like the quintessential example of poorly done video game romance.
To be fair, the DLC that added the absurd +50 approval gifts was an optional download released on April 1st. The gifts system as shipped by the vanilla game was not too bad, and was not enough to make a companion swoon over you single-handedly. At least I don't think so. That being said, I can't pretend DA:O is the height of dating sims or anything, either.
I'll admit my fondness was more about her character being interesting and I don't remember much of the mechanical aspects of the way the game handled relationships.
Wait isn't that basically how it works in Stardew Valley too?
I never got far in stardew, so maybe?
SIGNALIS is a game about romance and I loved it, it is one of my favorite relatively recently released games.
Maybe you're doing it wrong?
If they want sex they'll go to pornhub
Some people prefer multiplayer games.
This feels like such a non issue because games and movies these days have basically zero sex appeal or romance
It was a pleasant surprise that you could romance people in BG3
And a major disappointment you couldn't romance in Cyberpunk and the romance in Outer Worlds felt so half assed. Romance can be a great part of a game.
You can romance in Cyberpunk, but the romances have gender preferences. Judi and River will only romance women, Kerry and the other one I've never actually met will only romance men.
Really? Fair enough, I don't recall there being any options to romance anyone when I played, but I must have just missed it. I remember the forced gay scene, which, like, fine, but I'm not gay, so it would have been cool to get at least one chance with a girl, lol, but it never seemed to come up no matter what I did with female companions in tow.
Panam is the other romancable character. If you do her entire side story (which is quite good) and choose the right options throughout, you'll have the option to romance her near the end of the game. She's only attracted to characters with a masculine body.
The romances in general are very easy to screw up. You lock yourself out of several right at character creation unfortunately. Here's what you need for character creation to get each romance:
Judy: Feminine voice and body Kerry: Masculine voice and body River: Feminine body Panam: Masculine body
As long as you meet the requirements, you can romance 2 people in vanilla, though there's something at the end of the game that requires you to pick one of them
You also need to do their side missions, but you meet each of them in the course of the main story. There's also 4 romantic encounters that sadly don't go anywhere serious.
You can get it on with Meredith Stout, the militech lady who threatens you near the start of the game. If you don't insult her, you can get another mission from her in act 2. There's also 3 encounters that can happen, but those are potential story spoilers
I really hate when game devs don't make all characters opportunistically bisexual.
Remember when all those internet duds were mad that Dragon Age 2 was "sHoVinG tHe gAy aGeNdA dOwN oUr tHroAts!!!!!" because the NPCs would romance the PC regardless of gender? And they absolutely lost their shit that Anders might express interest and, if you're not interested, you'd have to politely turn him down once?
Those are the worst sort of people and I frankly wish them ill.
Agreed. Give me my Judy, Panam, and River harem damn it!
I thought you said Outer Wilds.
It's always been this way.... Are people finally realizing that fan service is cringe?
This came up, I want to say last year? In regards to movies and TV shows as well.
Aha - 2023:
https://www.npr.org/2023/10/25/1208435267/sex-teens-tv-movies
"Looking for 'nomance': Study finds teens want less sex in their TV and movies"
This is where I've found myself, too. It's not that I am prudish or against the inclusion of sex scenes in shows and movies—I think some of them are pretty well done—but we're at the point where it feels like a lot of media are just adding in sex scenes for the spectacle of it without it serving any particular purpose for narrative development or characterization.
I mean, the Marvel stuff has all been gigantic and proves you don't need sex scenes. In fact, the one Marvel movie with a sex scene (Eternals) did the worst.
I don't think the mere existence of a popular franchise (made primarily for kids at that) which happens to lack sex scenes is related to the trend being acknowledged here, though.
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That's because OPs article is citing the second annual Teens and Screens report from the UCLA Center for Scholars and Storytellers. Your NPR article from 2023 is citing the first annual Teens and Screens report.
That makes sense then!