Romance. Scrapped or not?

xclassgaming

Good Timezone.

This has been on my mind lately, we are coming up to our third Chapter since companions were announced. I remember when they were first announced in Blackwood, reading a article which went along the lines of "We are hoping this paves the way to romance."

Article: https://www.gameinformer.com/interview/2021/01/26/the-elder-scrolls-online-gates-of-oblivion-is-the-next-step-to-adding-romance

So i'm at this point more curious then anything, this has been on my mind lately for some reason, and i'd like others opinions. Scrapped or still in development?

Danikat

I'm not sure it was ever actually in development, I know they said they were considering the idea for the future but I don't think they've ever talked about actually building it. On that basis I think it would be misleading to say it's been scrapped, you can't scrap something you never started making. But it's also inaccurate to say it's still in development for the same reason.

As far as I know they haven't said they're not going to add it. But for now their focus seems to be on other things and updates to the companion system are limited to adding more companions.

That might well be intentional. I suspect a lot of players would want to pick 1 companion for each character to be in a romantic relationship with instead of constantly changing it, and would likely want different choices for each character, so bringing in that system too early could be problematic as some players might feel pushed to settle for one of the currently available companions, then regret it when one who is a better fit for their character is added later on.

phaneub17_ESO

Scrapped

Not happening.

Elsonso

Scrapped

I voted "Scrapped" simply because "Never gonna happen" isn't an option.

VaranisArano

Here's the most recent comment I know about: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/7681817#Comment_7681817

"Hey all, so we don't have an update to share right now on this feature. It is still something the team is looking at, but nothing beyond that to announce at this time.

We'll also note the dev team does have feedback from players voicing their interest in having romance options for companions."

colossalvoids

Scrapped

Pretty sure it was never on the cards, their "never say never" stuff most of the times reads as "buy now thinking we'll build upon it eventually" so I'm looking at features as is to not have any disappointments. Not that I waited for this one, can't care less about companions personally, sorry.

AScarlato

Scrapped

At this point adding it for characters like Isabel and Sharp will probably open the floodgates of Twitter criticism and various outrage, so I won’t hold my breath.

Tenthirty2

Didn't vote in the poll because it reads like it's for the dev team and I'm Definitely Not a Dev

I wouldn't mind if they introduced romance options, but don't feel the game is lacking without them.

IMO I think they missed the boat with this already when companions were introduced. It should have been done then.
Most games with MC<->NPC romance arcs have it as part of the NPC's loyalty quests.
Since many ppl will already have their fav companion at max rapport, if they patch it in on the end now it will really feel tacked on as an afterthought.

Better would be to have it built in from the start as part of their loyalty\rapport building. Maybe add in little conversation cues with them every now and then where you could ask a question or have a couple different response options to move toward, or away from, romance.

So maybe it could be done, who knows. With their change in direction regarding the year-long DLC stories perhaps this will give the team more time to work on smaller projects like this.
With bug-fixes and QoL improvements coming first hopefully

Elsonso

Scrapped

colossalvoids wrote: »

Pretty sure it was never on the cards, their "never say never" stuff most of the times reads as "buy now thinking we'll build upon it eventually" so I'm looking at features as is to not have any disappointments. Not that I waited for this one, can't care less about companions personally, sorry.

Yeah, I interpret "never say never" as a measure to keep the fish on the hook, so to speak. They don't say they are going to do something until the reveal, so as to not spoil the surprise. Similarly, they don't want to say they aren't going to do something because people might stick around waiting for something that they are not really planning to do, but might do at some point in the distant future, but probably not.

Evaluate the game based on liking what it does, not what it is hoped it will do, and then pray that they don't come along and remove what is liked about the game in some future update.

Jammy420

Scrapped

This feature is right along the justice system allowing for bounties on people who commit too many crimes, and along the lines of the vampire hunters and werewolf hunters we were supposed to get with Greymoor.

Just another system with much potential, but ZoS just squanders the opportunity.

AzuraFan

Scrapped

I've noticed that ZOS rarely goes back to improve features and overpromises to sell chapters. Companions have been out for a couple of years now. This will be the third chapter with them, and apart from a few tweaks to make them less fragile, nothing has been done to improve them.

I now consider a feature done and done as soon as it's released.

chessalavakia_ESO

My impression is that the developers calling the shots don't want it in the game but, it might happen anyways with corporate overruling them at some point because it would likely be quite easy to profit from and some people would likely enjoy it.

jad11mumbler

Scrapped

Danikat wrote: »

I'm not sure it was ever actually in development...

With how enthusiastic Frior was when talking about companion romance, I'd be very surprised if it never got any development.

DinoZavr

Soon (TM).
We just have to wait only five short years for this feature to be eventually implemented

ghastley

Scrapped implies that there was something in the works that was removed. I don’t believe it got that far. Equally, there’s nothing to prevent it in future. If “we have ideas” was an option, I might have picked that.

They may be avoiding any changes that would close that option off.

Elsonso

Scrapped

jad11mumbler wrote: »

Danikat wrote: »

I'm not sure it was ever actually in development...

With how enthusiastic Frior was when talking about companion romance, I'd be very surprised if it never got any development.

Figure that it takes ZOS about 2 years to do anything that is not urgent, and that is when they really want to do it. In those cases, it is fairly high on the white board and it does not stay in the "to do" list for very long. If it is not high on the white board, start adding years as it settles in for a wait.

notyuu

What, is this the new spellcrafting/class change token/balancing pve and pvp sepratly?

Jarndyce

Still in development.

I voted still in development to show support. I would like to see it added.

rpa

They obiously need to add a fat male orc companion before they can start implementing romancing.

SaffronCitrusflower

There is no reason ZOS should put any dev time into romancing with their pixels. It would just take time away from developing things that would actually benefit the game.

Rebirthment

Jammy420 wrote: »

This feature is right along the justice system allowing for bounties on people who commit too many crimes, and along the lines of the vampire hunters and werewolf hunters we were supposed to get with Greymoor.

Just another system with much potential, but ZoS just squanders the opportunity.

Wait really? I never heard about them being added in Greymoor! Damn would've been cool to have

Treselegant

Still in development.

It just seems to be just one more interesting thing that gets dangled in front of the playerbase only for there to be little or no communication after. Which is bizarre considering how positive the reaction to the idea was and how often it gets brought up across ESO social spaces.

I voted for 'still in development' because I'd like to see it happen. Romance is a popular topic across most creative media, it's not exactly rare or unusual and it's definitely popular in rpgs.

Companions appear to be wildly successful for a lot of players but the overall handling of them as a feature has been awful. It's got a lot of promise yet seems to get very little effort and attention. I don't get it. I really really don't.

LunaFlora

Still in development.

only zos can answer that. though i believe it'll still happen, i doubt it'll happen this year

Tandor

Scrapped

I've no idea, but I'd be perfectly happy if it was scrapped.

AScarlato

Scrapped

SaffronCitrusflower wrote: »

There is no reason ZOS should put any dev time into romancing with their pixels. It would just take time away from developing things that would actually benefit the game.

Except that NPC romances are very popular in RPGs. Look at the endless obession with them in BioWare games.

Even Skyrim had romance-lite. To the extent this game has solo aspects that are reminiscent of their single-player games, and this is a recurring request, I don't see how it would not benefit the game to those players.

To me if they implemented this it would be a benefit. Things like trials I have no interest in. Different strokes for different folks.

Cazador

I don't think it has been scrapped since I don't think it had actually entered development in the first place. I assumed it was something that they had considered but hadn't done much more than that.

kargen27

On the back burner.

Elsonso

Scrapped

kargen27 wrote: »

On the back burner.

At this point, I suspect that the "back burner" is about the size of a warehouse. Someday, they are going to be going through it and run across the Ark of the Covenant. (The Dominion and Pact do not use arks.)

Ascarl

Scrapped

Romance will be in the same patch as spellcrafting

Vulkunne

Romance you say eh? Is that like the 'corporate version' of romance (as seen in the star wars prequels) or are we going fiddy shades of grey here? I didn't think people were allowed to fall in love anymore. Cannot wait.

Carcamongus

I can't vote because I'm in no position to say whether romance was scrapped or is still in development. Having greatly enjoyed BioWare's romances and even had some fun with Skyrim's, I'd like to see it added to ESO, even though I don't expect it to be very deep. Just be careful what you wish for: romance leads to marriage, marriage leads to divoce, divorce leads to divorce lawyers.