It's actually critical to the main theme: how misguided love for people who are not with us anymore hamper our chance to see all we have right in front of us. With no Dina
or Lev
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Any other game with as good of a depiction of romance as The Last of Us 2?
- Thread starter Samiya
- Start date
Wake me up when something beats this, never knew that Ellie would be such a romantic :P
Also Dina protecting her girl
Speaking as a lesbian who loved Dina and Ellie in the game, did you ever stop to think that maybe gay people are just people? That response sounds aggressive, but seriously. Two young lesbian girls who are falling in love with eachother are going to act like two young people who are falling in love with eachother.
I thought Dina and Ellie was the best realized lesbian relationship I've personally seen in media. I related heavily to Ellie and loved everything about her part of the game.
It is a pretty genuine depiction of human flirting and relationships, without getting shoppy or self-indulgent. The scene
was the cutest and best scene in the game.
I also liked Owen and Abby's on off scenes.
Say what you want about Neil, but he seems to be the only writer in the industry that actually understands how human beings flirt.
Otherwise, cus they've been mentioned a few times in this thread; Biowares are mostly laughabe now that I'm an adult. Some even creepy and wrong, others feel like sexual harrasment. And Witcher 3's is weirdly forgiving to some toxic behaviour from the women. Geralt has no self respect with half the shit Yennefer pulls.
I'll give a shout out o Borderlands 3's DLC (that presumably no one played) set entirely about a gay wedding whih was pretty good and commits.
Also Life is Strange Before the Storm.
Red Dead 2 also had a pretty good story in it about characters in relationships. John and Abigail, Arthur and... Whatever her name was.
of then dancing with baby JJ
I also liked Owen and Abby's on off scenes.
Say what you want about Neil, but he seems to be the only writer in the industry that actually understands how human beings flirt.
Otherwise, cus they've been mentioned a few times in this thread; Biowares are mostly laughabe now that I'm an adult. Some even creepy and wrong, others feel like sexual harrasment. And Witcher 3's is weirdly forgiving to some toxic behaviour from the women. Geralt has no self respect with half the shit Yennefer pulls.
I'll give a shout out o Borderlands 3's DLC (that presumably no one played) set entirely about a gay wedding whih was pretty good and commits.
Also Life is Strange Before the Storm.
Red Dead 2 also had a pretty good story in it about characters in relationships. John and Abigail, Arthur and... Whatever her name was.
Newsflash: Gay couples aren't very different from straight couples.
So perfect, to think I actually missed it on my first playthrough
Have you played Florence? An arthouse game about the ups and downs of love without any dialogue but more evocative and relatable. It's on every platform, and playable in one sitting so very accessible.Video games often don't have particularly good depictions of romantic relationships. Usually characters do not ever display affect for other characters (I blame men being uncomfortable at showing feelings), but when games actually do represent loving relationships, they're often not very well-written and they usually happen off-screen or prior to the actual game events. When we finally do get some type of romantic relationship, it is often just stroking the player's ego as some sort of benevolent Jesus like Mass Effect or Persona, where the other characters simply fall for the player-character and praise them to high heaven. In a sense, video games either are too shy to even address romance or they are childish by portraying love as some sort of instrumentalized power fantasy.
In this sense, I thought The Last of Us 2 was pretty groundbreaking. While playing it, I was incredibly invested in the relationship between Dina and Ellie. Their affection for one another was incredibly well-realized, passionate, and also with ups and downs. Their love for each other was the emotional core to the game's plot and made everything in the game matter. Their interactions depending on the context was very natural, organic, and believable. I do not think any other game has gotten close to having such a well-realized portrayal of romance and love be part of a game, but maybe I'm misremembering?
The only other games that I come to think of that represent love and romance between characters somewhat decently or impressive are:
- House in Fata Morgana
- The Darkness
- Uncharted
- Last of Us: Left Behind
- Life is Strange
- Max Payne 2
- Silent Hill 2 (somewhat)
Then you have the romance RPGs where unfortunately the relationship seems more like an algorithmic slot machine that congratulate the player when doing the right things:
- Mass Effect / KOTOR / Dragon Age
- Persona
- Witcher 2 and 3
- Skyrim
You also have the Quantic Dream / David Cage games and those are just awkward and god-awful, so I hope no one mentions those.
Looking at the list above, I really think TLOU2 is a landmark when it comes to depiction of a romance. Is there any other game that actually portrays it as well as the one we saw with Dina and Ellie?
It's insane that's missable.
I do think that the game starting off the way it did for the sake of how they wanted to handle flashbacks was kind of jarring at first. But if you saw the E3 demo, you get the context you needed for their first kiss.
Their relationship was what stuck with me after the game.
Kind of embarrassed to say the next day after finishing it there was a pit in my stomach sort of felt like I had gone through a breakup.
No I understand stakes. The dialogue was bad.
It felt like a high school play because that's what it was. Just so happened this stage was a bleeding edge motion capture set.
And to me that's...fine. Most video games don't have good stories to begin with, so I can really single this one out for being
kind of lame. At the very least, it has representation, which is pretty fucking cool. But not as ice cold as the core romantic
relationship of the story. Once again, no game does it well so I can't single thing one out. They tried but...shrug?
Actually surprised to see it took so long for someone to say it. Love is equal for everybody, and that line of thought was unacceptable.
... sounds like normal couple banter to me? That's basically me and my SO all the time. :P
Writing is probably the least important part when depicting romance, anyway. It's all in the body language, expressions, and physical contact, and TLOU2 absolutely nails all of it.
I'm assuming VaporSnake are gay themselves. Would be a really weird post otherwise.
Honestly, I really don't know what people expect from realistically portrayed romance. Shakespeare quotations? Relationships in real life doesn't usually involve witty, multi-layered dialogue or groundbreaking revelations like it does in movies.
The fact that literally every single reply is either a) an indie game, b) an Uncharted game or c) a parody post, is such a damning indictment of the state of romance in AAA games. :D
Life Is Strange: Before the Storm is a great example of teen romance (The Tempest is still the best romantic scene in games), whereas Assassin's Creed Origins is a top example of a long-term married couple
Nah man. I mean if we're focusing on Kairi and Sora, she forgot him for years and I think throughout the games they've spent a total of like a day hanging out with each other.
Look, even Sixteen Candles and 10 Things I Hate About You
or! or! If we're going for hipster points - But I'm A Cheerleader
all have more engaging and believable young love experiences.
And those are comedies! TLOU is supposed to be a drama!
We've all got examples! Better examples! We know it's possible!
This game's script needed someone else in the room, that's just IMHO
I'm so very glad you mentioned The Darkness. The romance in that game is better than it had any right to be.
Damn straight! I can't tell you how happy I was that the LGBT people in TLOU2 were treated just like regular people and avoided the tropes we've seen given to such characters over the years.
Damn straight! I can't tell you how happy I was that the LGBT people in TLOU2 were treated just like regular people and avoided the tropes we've seen given to such characters over the years.
I have never watched any of these, since I'm not into romcoms (and that's kind of my point, really). Feel free to link to any scene you feel surpasses TLOU2's.
It felt pretty natural I'm just a bit irritated that
Florence is great though.
I knew they wouldn't be together at the end because media fucking trains you to see a an lgbt romance (especially in a horror setting) end in tragedy. Like I get it the game is fucking bleak but it's still another notch in the 'gays can't have nice things' section of the chalkboard. Like it's kind of sad that I'm thankful she wasn't murdered at least?
Florence is great though.
Aw jeez, that's like asking what words an author uses. You've got to see the whole film to get it.
I reserved any judgement, well as much as I could, until the credits for TLOU2. I just didn't dig that dialogue and story.
If we're talking the general theme of romance?...Pretty much any notable romantic movie without a fantasy element?
Just saying, there was a lot of time spent in a romance I never found believable because the scenes are poorly written
and the actors, who are good independently, don't gel together one bit. That's just how I felt about it though.
Not only an indictment on the state of romance in AAA games, but also writing in AAA games in general.
The upcoming Haven.
can't resist to post the opening movie again:
Had no idea this was being made by the people who made FURI! That intro is amazing. Was already keeping an eye on it but now it's at the top of the watch list.
Oh man, Owen is such a wet blanket. The only interesting part about him
was that he cheated on his pregnant girlfriend and didn't seem to care at all. Doesn't exactly make him likable though. The whole arguing leading to instant sex felt also super cliche and kind of out of place for the kind of story last of us wants to be
They leave it open ended enough with Ellie wearing the bracelet and the fact that she doesn't have any of her weapons. Obviously if/when part 3 happens, it will be answered, but it's vague like the end of 1.
There is a romantic relationship in the game? I only finished episode 1, when does it show up?
Another vote for Uncharted 4. Watching what felt like a very natural progression of a relationship between Nathan and Elena was something I think many people could relate to - even if we weren't out gallivanting around the world in wild adventures together prior to settling down.
I cant understand why anyone would ever write a game when instead you can write a movie or a TV show or anything else for way less time and have a much high chance of making significantly more money.
Games are still mad sketchy, yo
Uh, then you've seen it. The mc and his wife. It's very well done across all episodes.
I can. It's a young medium with boundless narrative potential. Keep in mind we're less than 40 years since the video game crash. 40 years after the first feature length movie was 1946. So stuff like It's a Wonderful Life and The Big Sleep was coming out. Classics, sure, but we've come a long way in the 70 years since.
People writing video games now are still pioneers. Being a pioneer is some exciting shit.
Please elaborate. This post have given me such anxiety.
After Dina and Ellie and Nate and Elena I would probably say BJ and Anya from Wolfenstein it was unexpected and surprisingly tender of all things.