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Do you think love can bloom, even on a battlefield? (Greatest Video Game Romances)

Cactuar

Cactuar

Banned
Nov 30, 2018
5,878


Is it Otacon and Sniper Wolf? Unrequited love is love, nonetheless.

Laugh all you want at his misfortune, our favorite otaku asks perhaps the most poignant question ever posed in a video game: Can love bloom anytime, anywhere, even when you least expect it?

It's a question I heard in 1998, and still sticks with me today. In Otacon's case, it happened in an instant. In the snowy fields of Alaska's Fox Archipelago aka "Shadow Moses" when Otacon caught wind of a deadly FOXHOUND assassin who took his breath away. He didn't plan for it. It just happened at the most inopportune time, in the most inopportune place.

It is with that in mind that I pose the question, where else in video games can we find these magical moments. The greatest romances ever told via processing power.

(Obviously dating sims focus on this solely so I'm sure you could name 50 of those, but we're looking at love stories told in popular gaming)

We start with the obvious, Mario and Peach. A classic. But is there love, you might ask? There must be, 35 years and he's still running after her.

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Drake and Elena (Uncharted) have a magical love story. One of the best. I think this might get my vote.

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Geralt and Yen (The Witcher 3) is incredible. The quest "The Last Wish" was so masterfully done, especially if you made the (incorrect) decision to turn Yennefer down in favor of Triss. Such a crestfallen look on her Yenn's face.

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I put the story of Chloe and Max (Life is Strange) extremely high on my list. These two are so fucking in love you can literally...well, let's just say you can literally do some crazy shit to keep the love going.

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So Era, what say you?
 
Chasing

Chasing

The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
10,684
Amber Heard sucks, but this?

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This is that quote, literally.

Sadly not a game, but the one thing my mind immediately jumped to, when I was watching the movie.
 
Weiss

Weiss

User requested ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
64,265
Nailmaster Sheo and the Nailsmith from Hollow Knight

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Love my fat old gay bugs

I really cannot think of too many.
 
Rotobit

Rotobit

Editor at Nintendo Wire
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
10,196
Honestly they should have just made Otacon and Snake canon by MGS4. As for Otacon and Sniper Wolf, that was basically Mega Ultra Stockholm Syndrome.

I always thought Link and Zelda in Skyward Sword was very cute.

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Mr.Fletcher

Mr.Fletcher

Member
Nov 18, 2017
9,490
UK
Rotobit said:
Honestly they should have just made Otacon and Snake canon by MGS4. As for Otacon and Sniper Wolf, that was basically Mega Ultra Stockholm Syndrome.

I always thought Link and Zelda in Skyward Sword was very cute.

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For all of Skyward Sword's flaws, it's one of the few Zelda games that actually makes the pair interesting to watch together.
 
Fisty

Fisty

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,204
Absolutely it can, even if you are constantly shitting your pants because you don't have any nanomachines to purify the water you drink

Chasing said:
Amber Heard sucks, but this?

tumblr_inline_pmdngoWESG1vhue9h_540.gifv


This is that quote, literally.

Sadly not a game, but the one thing my mind immediately jumped to, when I was watching the movie.
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Imagine how impactful that scene would have been if the actors shared even a sliver of onscreen chemistry
 

Deleted member 30544

User Requested Account Closure
Banned
Nov 3, 2017
5,215
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Say what you want about the game, it has the best love story in any FF ever.


MGS was great, until MGS4 ruined it and (literally) shitted all over it.
 
ciddative

ciddative

Member
Apr 5, 2018
4,618
None of the ones in OP are good romances (although that Uncharted 4 scene was sweet).

The best game romance is The Darkness

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That whole scene was magic, the little touches, gestures, stuff they didn't need to create, but they did. Just a glorious, mundane, perfectly pedestrian moment which surrounded me like a blanket
 
FinalArcadia

FinalArcadia

Member
Nov 4, 2020
1,793
USA
It may not be "canon" canon, but Snake/Otacon is legitimately one of my favorite couples in gaming. And honestly, it felt pretty close to canon by MGS4.

As far as actual canonical romances go, Tidus/Yuna is great and the best Final Fantasy couple for sure. Nero/Kyrie from DMC are also cute. I'm not sure if Luther and Kara were romantically a family by the end of the good ending for them in Detroit: Become Human or if it was more just a found family kind of thing with them and Alice, but I thought the two of them were cute together too.
 
Phellps

Phellps

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,799
Hard disagree on putting The Witcher 3 there. None of the available romance options are very good because they're all made to objectify the women to pander to their heterosexual male audience, but Yennefer's romance is possibly the worst. It's textbook toxic relationship that the authors really thought was quirky and charming, but is just obviously toxic.
 
DNAbro

DNAbro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
25,867
After just finishing it, the main romance in The House in Fata Morgana is by faaaaaaaaar the best romance I have seen in a video game. It's not even close.
 
Rainy

Rainy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,621
FFX is my favorite game ever, so I'll put forward Yuna and Tidus, I like their romance a lot.
 
Richter1887

Richter1887

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
39,146
ciddative said:
None of the ones in OP are good romances (although that Uncharted 4 scene was sweet).

The best game romance is The Darkness

jackie_and_jennie-1.jpg


That whole scene was magic, the little touches, gestures, stuff they didn't need to create, but they did. Just a glorious, mundane, perfectly pedestrian moment which surrounded me like a blanket
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Yeah this. It was so cool how you could watch the entire "To Kill a Mockingbird" like this as well. It a nice touch and let us live the moment.
 
OP
OP
Cactuar

Cactuar

Banned
Nov 30, 2018
5,878
Rotobit said:
Honestly they should have just made Otacon and Snake canon by MGS4.
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FinalArcadia said:
It may not be "canon" canon, but Snake/Otacon is legitimately one of my favorite couples in gaming. And honestly, it felt pretty close to canon by MGS4.
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So you're saying love did in fact bloom on the battlefield, it just happened to be between one Dr. Hal Emmerich and Solid Snake.

Transistor said:
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Red and the Transistor
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Oh, is that your namesake?
 
Pennybags

Pennybags

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,618
Wasn't a fan of the gameplay but the folks behind Haven seem to have achieved their goal of portraying a healthy and committed relationship.

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Acquiescence

Acquiescence

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
10,257
Lake Titicaca
George and Nico - Broken Sword 1
Shepard and Jack - Mass Effect 2
Kiryu and Kaoru - Yakuza 2
Squall and Rinoa - FFVIII
Max and Mona - Max Payne 2

Those are some of my favs.
 
lvl 99 Pixel

lvl 99 Pixel

Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,639
Do you mean greatest as in healthy and realistic or greatest as in memorable and iconic? I don't feel games have been particularly good at depicting the former.
 
Damn Silly

Damn Silly

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,187
Max and Chloe are great, obviously, but also Life Is Strange: Before the Storm is basically whirlwind teen romance the game and it's the best, Chloe and Rachel should be there as well (no, I won't choose).

The "stage" scene, and the scenes immediately before and after are the best romantic scenes in games, and I won't hear a word otherwise.
 
Aaronrules380

Aaronrules380

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
22,427
texhnolyze said:
Sometime, romance is not only portrayed by simple words like "Hey, I love you". Their journey, their story, and how they reach the end, it's the romance.
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Literally the only characters Ike shows anything remotely resembling romantic interest in are Soren and Ranulf. There's a reason many people think he was written as gay and they were just afraid to actually commit for whatever reason (And before you bring up Priam, the writer behind the radiance games had nothing to do with him)

NOt to mention radiant dawn gives Elincia a romantic ending with Geoffery, but not Ike
 
Don Fluffles

Don Fluffles

Member
Oct 28, 2017
7,054
It's been discussed to hell and back but still a spoiler.
Undyne and Alphys are great together.
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RedStep

RedStep

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
2,649
Wolfenstein and The Darkness are tops for me. I also appreciate the relationship between Marcus and Anya (and Dom and Maria) in the Gears games, but those are most glimpsed and referenced in terms of grief instead of seen.
 

TwinBahamut

Member
Jun 8, 2018
1,360
Aaronrules380 said:
Why are you picturing Ike and Elincia when Ike has shown absolutely zero romantic interest in her whatsoever in the radiance games?
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Yeah...

I agree with the sentiment that Fire Emblem has some good romances, but Ike and Elincia is not quite that kind of a story. It is better to describe that one as Elincia falling for Ike across Path of Radiance, later realizing her feelings are unrequited (particularly when Ike abandons his title as a lord), and then spending her story in Radiant Dawn trying to recover from that heartbreak and find a new source of strength and stability for herself. And the ending to that is Ike coming in to save her in her darkest hour, proving that, despite the fact that he doesn't love her, he is still a friend and ally she can always depend on. It isn't a straightforward romantic story, but it is still a good story.

As far as Fire Emblem romances go, I've always been more partial to Eirika and Seth, Eliwood and Ninian, or Chrom and female Robin.

And I am glad someone already mentioned Fei and Elly from Xenogears.
 
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Shrikey

Shrikey

Member
Oct 27, 2017
669
Human Resources said:
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wolfenstein
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truth

That's probably the most surprising aspect of the Machinegames Wolfensteins. The love story was beautiful. Cliché, for sure. But heartfelt and genuinely tender.

I'd say you guys are doing Ellie and Dina quite a disservice, tho. Or Ellie and Riley for that matter.

And I actually thought the love story in Before the Storm was better than in Life is Strange. Though both are good.
 
petethepanda

petethepanda

Saw the truth behind the copied door
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,178
chicago
The House in Fata Morgana is number one with a bullet, but that exact Wolfenstein gif popped into my head alongside it. That series has such an odd warmth to it.

Life is Strange: Before the Storm (mostly episode 2) is up there as well.
 
IonMagus

IonMagus

Member
Feb 18, 2021
1,579
Tiz and Agnes of Bravely Default
The way how their two dominant Instruments (that are used in their separate Character Themes) are combined in their "couple" Theme is just beautiful



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