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• PC/Mac: EU megaserver for maintenance – September 9, 22:00 UTC (6:00PM EDT) - September 10, 16:00 UTC (12:00PM EDT) https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/682784
Why can't we romance Companions yet?
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spartaxoxo✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭@ZOS_Kevin
This isn't a feature request, I am asking about the status of a feature that was already said to be upcoming. Could you let us know if this was scrapped or if it's something that may still come in the future?2 -
Treselegant✭✭✭✭✭
✭That is the only way one will find the romantic relationships with an NPC to be involving and interesting enough to talk about it a decade later as @Treselegant has found in their NPC relationships.
Yeah, this is unnecessarily facetious. If you don't like certain storylines then great but people are allowed to have different reactions to media than you.4 -
ZOS_KevinCommunity ManagerHey 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.Community Manager for ZeniMax Online Studio and Elder Scrolls OnlineDev Tracker | Service Alerts | ESO Twitter11 -
spartaxoxo✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭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.
Man, that sounds like a downgrade to "working on" and "it will be a big miss if we don't do it." But at least it's not scrapped as of yet. Thanks for the information!Edited by spartaxoxo on August 5, 2022 6:22PM6 -
Amottica✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Treselegant wrote: »I am not suggesting Zenimax should not add a "romance" system to the companions here but merely pointing out the fact that it will be extremely limited and shallow as it is in Bioware games
For a lot of people the romantic elements in these games were involving and interesting enough to talk about 10 or more years later
What Bioware game has such a rich and deep companion system to bring this about? I can attest it is not SWTOR as that has a very shallow companion system that once the initial line of dialogue is completed there is nothing more other than the random comments that are not all that different than what we currently have in ESO?
[snip] I expect the romance option in ESO will be no better for this reason.
[Edited for Inappropriate Content]
Edited by Psiion on August 5, 2022 10:03PM0 -
Treselegant✭✭✭✭✭
✭Man, that sounds like a downgrade to "working on" and "it will be a big miss if we don't do it." But at least it's not scrapped as of yet.
Agreed. It is a little sad though that we're not really seeing much in terms of story/immersion features at the moment. My main character has seen and done it all at this point and it would be nice to see her have a little happiness - the Vestige's story is overall a bit depressing.0 -
NotaDaedraWorshipper✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭[snip] I expect the romance option in ESO will be no better for this reason.
[Edited for Inappropriate Content]
No it isn't and it baffles me people are using this as an argument
Edit: Also, Bioware's romance (including the ones in SWTOR) is considered some of the best as those go in games. It's not like the ones Bethesda do, which is likely what we get. Which are the tamest, simpliest things ever. Just look at Skyrim. You do a quest for the npc, you wear a necklace, the Dragonborn and the npc nods at eachother, then marry, and in the end they will just call you an endearment.
Which is what would likely happen in ESO. We have some decision with the companions to become something more and now get slightly different dialogue and terms of endearments when talking to them.
How is that such a horrible thing for the people who want it?Edited by Psiion on August 5, 2022 10:03PM[Lie] Of course! I don't even worship Daedra!4 -
Treselegant✭✭✭✭✭
✭What Bioware game has such a rich and deep companion system to bring this about?
It doesn't have to deep and rich, a lot of people just enjoyed the stories and used their imagination where content was lacking. This happens a lot with rpgs, you know, ROLE PLAYING games.[snip]
[Removed response to removed content]Edited by Psiion on August 5, 2022 10:04PM3 -
the1andonlyskwex✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭spartaxoxo wrote: »the1andonlyskwex wrote: »Treselegant wrote: »So imagine a romance too.
I know your being flippant but a lot of people do but as it was brought up as being an option for the companion system then I think its reasonable to ask whether it's still going to happen. Regardless of your feelings on the matter.
I'm not really being all that flippant. If you're already imagining the Vestige with a personality and you don't really care about relationships progressing to "bedroom scenes", then it doesn't really seem like much of a stretch to imagine one of the more flirtatious (or friendly, depending on your preference) NPCs as a romantic interest.
Actually writing in a romance would be super-weird because real romances aren't nearly as one-sided as any of the existing player-NPC interactions in ESO.
Why would it need to progress to a bedroom scene? You just learn a little bit more about them, and then you can marry them and they'll say things like "Welcome Home, Sweetheart" at your place. If they did mention sex at all, it would just be "you're looking cute" and then a fade to black, like they did in Fargrave. But that's highly unlikely and totally unnecessary.
This isn't that kind of game, and that's fine. I mean Disney movies feature romance too. Romance stories do not always have to lead to featuring sex.
You're kind of making my point for me. There are other NPCs already in the game who will call you sweetheart. You don't need a "romance" storyline for that. Use a little imagination.
Actually writing a real romance into ESO is a huge minefield. Either ZOS gives the Vestige a personality and 90% of players hate it (because it doesn't match their head canon), or they don't give the Vestige a personality and the romance is awkward and meaningless. On top of that, there are also issues related to gift-based romance systems making romance problematically transactional, and people who will use the romance system as an excuse for inappropriate roleplay. The whole thing would be a PR nightmare.1 -
Treeshka✭✭✭✭✭
✭It is a good option of course but on the other hand none of the companions is suitable for romance for my character.0 -
NotaDaedraWorshipper✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭There is no harm in letting people get some extra dialogue with the companions and having them and their Vestige call eachother "darling" or whatever they prefer.[Lie] Of course! I don't even worship Daedra!4 -
Parasaurolophus✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭First you marry Mirri. And then you see how other Mirri`s walk next to other players. OkayPC/EU0 -
spartaxoxo✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭the1andonlyskwex wrote: »The whole thing would be a PR nightmare.
Romance is a common thing in RPGs and a feature of the Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchises in particular. I doubt continuing to offer the same thing they always do would be a PR nightmare.
You obviously know nothing about romance in video games. Why not actually try some out, [snip]. You'll realize they are nothing different to Disney movies and romance novels. A subject mankind has put into its media for thousands of years.
[Edited for Inappropriate Content]Edited by Psiion on August 5, 2022 10:05PM3 -
Treselegant✭✭✭✭✭
✭there are also issues related to gift-based romance systems making romance problematically transactional, and people who will use the romance system as an excuse for inappropriate roleplay.
This really isn't an issue. Giving gifts in a relationship, friendly or otherwise is a normal human interaction. Beyond that, there is probably people in game doing 'inappropriate roleplay' right now so nixxing a game feature for fear of that is quite unnecessary.4 -
Kiralyn2000✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭spartaxoxo wrote: »the1andonlyskwex wrote: »The whole thing would be a PR nightmare.
Romance is a common thing in RPGs and a feature of the Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchises in particular.
No, "romance" is a common thing in RPGs.
And considering how much shallower the companions are in this game as compared to the ones in SK/FO3/FO4, and how shallow those "romance" systems are, I can't see such a system here being at all meaningful.3 -
spartaxoxo✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Kiralyn2000 wrote: »spartaxoxo wrote: »the1andonlyskwex wrote: »The whole thing would be a PR nightmare.
Romance is a common thing in RPGs and a feature of the Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchises in particular.
No, "romance" is a common thing in RPGs.
And considering how much shallower the companions are in this game as compared to the ones in SK/FO3/FO4, and how shallow those "romance" systems are, I can't see such a system here being at all meaningful.
Yeah. It is
Witcher, Dragon Age, and Skyrim all give us romance options, for example. And some games feature romance as a subplot, but don't have the player play out dates such as Mario. Sex is uncommon, but romance is fairly common.
https://gamerant.com/rpgs-most-romance-options/Edited by spartaxoxo on August 5, 2022 7:34PM3 -
NotaDaedraWorshipper✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭spartaxoxo wrote: »NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »spartaxoxo wrote: »the1andonlyskwex wrote: »The whole thing would be a PR nightmare.
Romance is a common thing in RPGs and a feature of the Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchises in particular. I doubt continuing to offer the same thing they always do would be a PR nightmare.
You obviously know nothing about romance in video games. Why not actually try some out. You'll realize they are nothing different to Disney movies and romance novels.
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[Quoted Post Removed]
[Removed Response to Removed content]Kiralyn2000 wrote: »spartaxoxo wrote: »the1andonlyskwex wrote: »The whole thing would be a PR nightmare.
Romance is a common thing in RPGs and a feature of the Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchises in particular.
No, "romance" is a common thing in RPGs.
And considering how much shallower the companions are in this game as compared to the ones in SK/FO3/FO4, and how shallow those "romance" systems are, I can't see such a system here being at all meaningful.
Who says they have to be "meaningful"? It's just some roleplaying flavouring.Edited by Psiion on August 5, 2022 10:07PM[Lie] Of course! I don't even worship Daedra!4 -
Mascen✭✭✭✭spartaxoxo wrote: »spartaxoxo wrote: »Back in an old interview, Rich said that romance options were coming. They even gave us the Smolder Scrolls, so clearly the understand this is something people would enjoy. Has the idea being scrapped?
Because despite the lucrativity of it, romance options is a nasty can of worms best left untouched, or do I have to bring up the long history of rule 34 on the intetnet?
@emilyhyoyeon
As stated above, rule 34 is why we can't have nice things. People ALWAYS take it too far.
This is a good point.
It is also probably a better idea and less expensive to create a limited and shallow framework and let someone's own imagination and creativity run the show. That is the only way one will find the romantic relationships with an NPC to be involving and interesting enough to talk about it a decade later as @Treselegant has found in their NPC relationships.
I disagree. Rule 34 is already in effect, so therefore has no real bearing on added content. ZOS has mentioned adding romance to the companions, so I think it should be done. A few additional quests with the companions wouldn't be a bad thing. Especially if it was for the RP value and nothing was hidden behind them such as gear.
Just because its already in effect is no justification to throw gasoline on that dumpster fire. If you give the horny people romance they will demand more and more because its not enough for them. Skyrim's mod community is LITERAL PROOF of this, or do I have to drege up all the nudity and sex mods?
I mean, people are going to do that stuff regardless of what you do or don't put into the game. Pokemon has it for goodness sake, and that's one of the most PG, family-friendly franchises on the planet. Many RPGs have romances in their game, and they are quite tame. Some of them not any different than what you'd see in a Disney movie. Instead of worrying about what some rando will do with their private time, why not worry about how it would be handled by the actual designers of this game. And in this game, there is almost no chance in all of the universe where we get a real sex scene. So it's a complete non-issue.
Again just because something cannot be stopped doesnt mean it should be encouraged. Murder is illegal but you don't see lawmakers easing the penalties for it do you?0 -
Amottica✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Treselegant wrote: »What Bioware game has such a rich and deep companion system to bring this about?
It doesn't have to deep and rich, a lot of people just enjoyed the stories and used their imagination where content was lacking. This happens a lot with rpgs, you know, ROLE PLAYING games.
Thx for the verification as I have been saying from early on that it takes a good imagination and creativity to make such a thing rich and deep vs the shallow and limited aspects of the quests and conversations developers put into the companion dialogues and romance options.
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spartaxoxo✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭spartaxoxo wrote: »spartaxoxo wrote: »Back in an old interview, Rich said that romance options were coming. They even gave us the Smolder Scrolls, so clearly the understand this is something people would enjoy. Has the idea being scrapped?
Because despite the lucrativity of it, romance options is a nasty can of worms best left untouched, or do I have to bring up the long history of rule 34 on the intetnet?
@emilyhyoyeon
As stated above, rule 34 is why we can't have nice things. People ALWAYS take it too far.
This is a good point.
It is also probably a better idea and less expensive to create a limited and shallow framework and let someone's own imagination and creativity run the show. That is the only way one will find the romantic relationships with an NPC to be involving and interesting enough to talk about it a decade later as @Treselegant has found in their NPC relationships.
I disagree. Rule 34 is already in effect, so therefore has no real bearing on added content. ZOS has mentioned adding romance to the companions, so I think it should be done. A few additional quests with the companions wouldn't be a bad thing. Especially if it was for the RP value and nothing was hidden behind them such as gear.
Just because its already in effect is no justification to throw gasoline on that dumpster fire. If you give the horny people romance they will demand more and more because its not enough for them. Skyrim's mod community is LITERAL PROOF of this, or do I have to drege up all the nudity and sex mods?
I mean, people are going to do that stuff regardless of what you do or don't put into the game. Pokemon has it for goodness sake, and that's one of the most PG, family-friendly franchises on the planet. Many RPGs have romances in their game, and they are quite tame. Some of them not any different than what you'd see in a Disney movie. Instead of worrying about what some rando will do with their private time, why not worry about how it would be handled by the actual designers of this game. And in this game, there is almost no chance in all of the universe where we get a real sex scene. So it's a complete non-issue.
Again just because something cannot be stopped doesnt mean it should be encouraged. Murder is illegal but you don't see lawmakers easing the penalties for it do you?
Okay. Now this logic is crossing a line, imo. People living their life innocently are not encouraging crime. Someone deciding to go to a bar is not asking for murder penalties to be reduced, even if crime can occur at bars. And having a chaste romance in a game is not asking for anything else.Edited by spartaxoxo on August 5, 2022 7:44PM6 -
Treselegant✭✭✭✭✭
✭Thx for the verification as I have been saying from early on that it takes a good imagination and creativity to make such a thing rich and deep vs the shallow and limited aspects of the quests and conversations developers put into the companion dialogues and romance options
The roleplaying is in conjunction with the content most of the time. Thats how roleplaying in rpgs work. When people read books they imagine the events of the book in their head but they are still taking cues from the writing. I really don't get point you are trying to make.4 -
Amottica✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Treselegant wrote: »Thx for the verification as I have been saying from early on that it takes a good imagination and creativity to make such a thing rich and deep vs the shallow and limited aspects of the quests and conversations developers put into the companion dialogues and romance options
The roleplaying is in conjunction with the content most of the time. Thats how roleplaying in rpgs work. When people read books they imagine the events of the book in their head but they are still taking cues from the writing. I really don't get point you are trying to make.
Most RP players developed their own story. So yes, Exactly what I have been saying. The extremely limited dialogue for whatever the developers created for "romance" does not hold them back.
Heck, I expect there are players in ESO who do not let things hinder them as it is and have "married" their companions and developed backstories and such. Granted, while I do not RP, my experience with RP players was some that were really creative and wrote some serious dialogue and back stories so I have seen players go beyond what most can do.
Enjoy and they will eventually add such a feature.
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spartaxoxo✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Treselegant wrote: »Thx for the verification as I have been saying from early on that it takes a good imagination and creativity to make such a thing rich and deep vs the shallow and limited aspects of the quests and conversations developers put into the companion dialogues and romance options
The roleplaying is in conjunction with the content most of the time. Thats how roleplaying in rpgs work. When people read books they imagine the events of the book in their head but they are still taking cues from the writing. I really don't get point you are trying to make.
It's basically akin to saying you can write fanfiction without needing a novel or media franchise as a springboard, therefore novels and media don't need to exist. And therefore, should not exist. IMOEdited by spartaxoxo on August 5, 2022 8:14PM4 -
NotaDaedraWorshipper✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭As a long time roleplayer (Both in game and tabletop) who enjoys some writing as a hobby, I can say that even though I can and often do imagine and write more elaborate interactions and relationships between my characters, npcs such as companions etc. I'd still think it would be a nice roleplaying feature, because we simply don't have enough of those lately and any addition is nice.[Lie] Of course! I don't even worship Daedra!2 -
Amottica✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭spartaxoxo wrote: »Treselegant wrote: »Thx for the verification as I have been saying from early on that it takes a good imagination and creativity to make such a thing rich and deep vs the shallow and limited aspects of the quests and conversations developers put into the companion dialogues and romance options
The roleplaying is in conjunction with the content most of the time. Thats how roleplaying in rpgs work. When people read books they imagine the events of the book in their head but they are still taking cues from the writing. I really don't get point you are trying to make.
It's basically akin to saying you can write fanfiction without needing a novel or media franchise as a springboard, therefore novels and media don't need to exist. And therefore, should not exist. IMO
Nope.
I did not imply there was something that should not exist let alone state it.
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Carcamongus✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭[snip] Adding a little more depth, some more dialogue that might involve such dirty words as "darling" or "sweetheart" and maybe a quest or two won't bring about a flood of immorality to make Sanguine blush.
Granted, I don't expect companion romance to be comparable in depth to what Bioware has created, but I still look forward to it.
[Edited for Inappropriate Content]
Edited by Psiion on August 5, 2022 10:08PMImperial DK and Necro tank. PC/NA
"Nothing is so bad that it can't get any worse." (Brazilian saying)5 -
Treselegant✭✭✭✭✭
✭I did not imply there was something that should not exist let alone state it.
Then...what exactly is your point.4 -
TaSheen✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭I'm not at all interested in romance in the games I play, so I don't really care what happens with it when. But I don't see much point in all the arguing?______________________________________________________
"But even in books, the heroes make mistakes, and there isn't always a happy ending." Mercedes Lackey, Into the West
PC NA, PC EU (non steam)- four accounts, many alts....0 -
Amottica✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Treselegant wrote: »I did not imply there was something that should not exist let alone state it.
Then...what exactly is your point.Treselegant wrote: »Thx for the verification as I have been saying from early on that it takes a good imagination and creativity to make such a thing rich and deep vs the shallow and limited aspects of the quests and conversations developers put into the companion dialogues and romance options
The roleplaying is in conjunction with the content most of the time. Thats how roleplaying in rpgs work. When people read books they imagine the events of the book in their head but they are still taking cues from the writing. I really don't get point you are trying to make.
Most RP players developed their own story.
In short, that was my point. You may read the entire post again for further detail.
Of course, I am speaking to RP players who would actually get into the whole character romance thing vs just going through the limited dialogue the developers would create since that is extremely limited.
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Treselegant✭✭✭✭✭
✭In short, that was my point. You may read the entire post again for further detail
If you cannot make your audience understand your point then your explainations need work.Of course, I am speaking to RP players who would actually get into the whole character romance thing vs just going through the limited dialogue the developers would create since that is extremely limited.
Most roleplayers would still prefer the actual content to exist and to be available to them. It is entirely possible to enjoy a feature and also create fanfiction or whatever that goes more into depth.4
This discussion has been closed.